We all go in and out of hypnosis at least twice a day: right
after you wake up and before you fall sleep. Hypnosis is not
sleep; in fact, you are relaxed but focused and alert. It is
similar to meditative or daydream states. You simply relax your
conscious mind and that allows your subconscious mind to come to
the forefront. You are under hypnosis when you are reading a
really good novel, watching a good movie, or suddenly become
hungry while watching a food commercial. Have you ever driven in
your car, arrived at your destination safely, but forgot how you
got there? Your subconscious mind was in control of the driving,
while your conscious mind was thinking about something else.
While in this natural state of being, you are always in control.
The hypnotherapist is a facilitator to help you get from one
place to another. You always know where you are and what you're
doing and you will remember the session. Your subconscious mind
will not give you anything you can't handle remember, it is a
part of you. One would not do anything under hypnosis or after
they emerge from hypnosis which goes against their moral values
or good judgment. In order to go under hypnosis, one must be
somewhat intelligent, be a willing volunteer, be able to follow
instruction and must have the desire for change.
What is the clinical definition of hypnosis? Hypnosis is the
bypass of the critical faculty of the conscious mind and the
establishment of selective thinking. You see, the critical
faculty of our mind exists to protect the vulnerable nature of
our subconscious mind. It takes all incoming information and
compares it with the information already being held. If it’s not
in harmony with the current perception, it rejects it. The
hypnotherapist’s job is to bypass the critical faculty of the
mind so that’s its uninvolved with the flow of data into the
subconscious mind. It is in the subconscious mind that all
learning behavior change takes place. It was in the subconscious
state when the mind first accepted those negative emotions and
limiting beliefs, so it’s there we must go to release them.
But most of the time we are in a conscious state of being that
is logical, judgmental and thinking. The subconscious mind has
no logic, judgment or thinking, it is childlike.
Is there a difference between Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy?
Yes, there is a difference. Simplified, hypnosis is great at
modifying one’s behavior, getting rid of symptoms. It is
relaxing and tranquil. Hypnotherapy deals with the cause. For
example: if you have a migraine headache, an aspirin may rid you
of the symptoms of the migraine, but the cause is still there.
This could be any number of things, such as unresolved anger,
grief, resentment, or any other repressed emotion. Your
subconscious mind is a perfect memory bank and holds everything
that you've ever thought, done, felt, dreamed, said or
fantasized about. Sometimes it represses traumatic memories for
our protection. One can get to the root cause with regression by
going back to the memory of the event that initially caused the
problem. Once this event or memory is desensitized or
transformed, the negative emotion or limiting belief will most
likely disappear. A successful hypnosis intervention usually
leaves the client feeling as though they have seamlessly moved
on to a happier chapter of life.
If you’re serious about your personal development, want to make
significant changes to your physical, mental and/or emotional
state, in a relatively short amount of time, hypnotherapy is the
tool of choice. Hypnosis is safe, natural and effective.
Jean Conway has been Certified Hypnotherapist by the National
Guild of Hypnotists, is certified in advanced hypnotherapy
techniques and lives and works in Greenfield, MA. She has been
practicing
hypnotherapy in Massachusetts for nearly six years. She can
be reached at
Blue
Moon Hypnotherapy.
