What is Hypnosis
Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness in which the unconscious mind becomes open to change and open to suggestion. In a person’s normal brain wave state, their conscious mind also known as the critical factor tends to reject suggestions based on the information stored within the unconscious. During hypnosis the critical factor is bypassed, therefore the unconscious becomes open to change.
Benefits of Hypnosis
There are several benefits involved with using hypnosis. First, since the goal of hypnosis is to influence the unconscious mind, it is more powerful than just relying on will power. After all think of how many unwanted thoughts or habits you have that seem to run on their own. A second benefit of hypnosis is that it is very simple to use and usually the client will be given a recording of their session that they can use for life. Finally, Hypnosis is very relaxing and just the act of hypnosis alone even without the suggestions part of the session acts a source of stress relief.
Making Changes with Hypnosis
Hypnosis can be used to change unwanted behaviors, habits that seem to be out of conscious control such as smoking or eating, beliefs, or even addictions. Studies have shown that on average the conscious mind is only able to focus on very small bits of information, whereas the unconscious is able to focus on millions or even billions of bits of data.
Emotions are the major drivers in human behavior such as smoking and overeating. Using tools such as hypnosis allows a person to alter and transform the emotional drivers so that they help the person achieve their goals instead of constantly battling themselves internally trying to overcome an unwanted behavior. Emotions are usually controlled by the unconscious therefore it is usually out of conscious awareness when emotions take over and drive us to do unwanted behaviors.
Heightened Awareness
When a subject goes into hypnosis, their ability to create and split associations becomes greatly enhanced. For example, when a person with a fear of flying goes into hypnosis, the hypnotist can give the client suggestions that will allow the client to experience calm and relaxation while flying going forward. In this case the hypnotist is splitting the association from fear and linking it to calm and relaxation.
In hypnosis, a client experiences an enhanced awareness of what goes on in their internal world and has the ability to experience an increase or slowing down of time. For example a person who deals with panic attacks may not be completely aware of the thoughts they are having before the panic attack; however in hypnosis they have the ability to slow those thoughts down to see what is happening in their mind right before they have the panic attack. With this knowledge, the hypnotist can give the clients suggestions of remaining calm and relaxed in those situations.
Final Thoughts
Hypnosis can be used to deal with issues such as weight loss, anxiety, panic attacks, grief and loss, smoking, stress management, fears, test anxiety, social anxiety, relationship issues, addictions, stress management, workplace anxiety, sports performance, increase confidence, self-esteem, focus issues, health issues, and chronic pain. Hypnosis can even be used to enhance memory recall.
Perhaps the most important question of hypnosis is can a hypnotist make you do something you don’t want to do? The honest answer is no. A hypnotist would not be able to hypnotize you to do something against your values such as hypnotize you to rob a bank. Also, if a person was dead set on not changing their behavior, seeing a hypnotist would be a waste of time.
Hypnosis can help you get more of the life you want. If you have obstacles that keep showing up in your life that don’t seem to go away, hypnosis is definitely for you. All in all, hypnosis has been safely practiced for thousands of years and remains one of the most powerful ways to help people achieve their desires and live their best life.