“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe
it can achieve.”
- Napolean Hill
Hypnosis is an enjoyable, easy and effective way to
change our bad habits into good ones and our
negative feelings into positive ones. All of our
emotions, beliefs, and habits reside in the
subconscious mind and hypnosis provides direct
access to the subconscious mind to replace any
negatives with powerful, positive beliefs.
While many people think of it as “deep sleep”,
hypnosis is a comfortable and relaxed state that
focuses attention and concentration, bypasses the
conscious mind filter, and allows the subconscious
mind to be open and receptive to positive
suggestions, tapping into the power of the body-mind
connection. Most people experience a heightened
state of awareness when they are hypnotized, while
only about 10% will enter into a state where their
mind is so relaxed that they do not remember the
session.
People experience this natural, normal state at
least twice each day – before they go to sleep and
when they wake up. If you have experienced arriving
somewhere and can’t remember actually driving there,
or if you have missed a freeway exit then you have
been in a natural hypnotic state often referred to
as “highway hypnosis”.
Natural hypnosis may also occur when you become so
involved in an activity, reading a book, or watching
a movie that everything else seems to be blocked
out, even to the point of not hearing people who
talk to you. Whenever concentration is intense, it’s
easy to slip into a natural hypnotic state.
Hypnosis has been used for thousands of years as a
powerful tool to help and heal. Early records mark
the Egyptian sleep temples and the Temple of
Aesculapius in Greece as sites where hypnosis was
used as an important part of the healing treatment.
The ancient Hawaiian Kahuna’s, healing masters,
routinely used hypnosis in their healing practices.
A resurgence of the use of hypnosis began in the
1700’s with the work of an Austrian physician named
Franz Anton Mesmer. In the 1800’s Dr. James Braid
brought hypnosis to the medical arena with his work
in hypnoanesthesia.
Hypnosis was used as an effective and rapid
treatment for “shell shock”, now referred to as
post-traumatic stress disorders, following World War
I, World War II, and the Korean War.
The American Medical Association approved hypnosis
as an effective treatment in 1958 and recommended
that training in hypnosis be included in medical
school curriculum. Hypnosis and guided imagery
continue to be integrated into modern medical and
health care systems.
The National Institute of Health recognizes hypnosis
as a Complimentary and Alternative Medicine
treatment modality and continues to fund research to
validate the importance of hypnosis.
Research results have shown dramatic results in a
variety of areas, particularly as an adjunct to
conventional cancer treatments and for pain
management. Moving even more into the traditional
arenas of medical care, hypnosis remains as one of
the most powerful healing modalities by utilizing
the power of the subconscious mind in motivating the
mind-body connection for balance and health.
Hypnosis is probably best known for breaking habits
with stop smoking and weight loss success and yet it
has been found to be effective in reducing and
managing stress, achieving deep relaxation,
increasing energy, overcoming fears, overcoming
insomnia, and reducing the experience of pain.
Hypnosis has also been shown to be effective in
overcoming test anxiety, improving test performance,
improving sports performance, improving motivation,
setting and achieving goals, improving memory and
concentration, increasing self confidence, and
building self-esteem.
Most of us have habits or feelings that we’ve tried
to change and yet nothing we do seems to make a
difference. We know how we want to act and feel, but
our decision-making and will power doesn’t seem to
be enough to have any lasting effect. Although our
conscious mind has made a decision to change, the
beliefs and ideas held in our subconscious mind
won’t allow the change to take place. Hypnosis
allows the subconscious mind to move into agreement
with conscious desires and goals so you can live a
life of freedom and success!
Debbie Friedman, M.S., C.Ht.,
is the Manifesting Maven who helps people
consciously create the life they love to live. She
is the creator of the popular Cleaning Out the
Closet of Your Mind for Wealth series.
www.CleaningOutTheCloset.com
