What is Hypnosis & How Does it Work?
What is Hypnosis
We all have within us the inner wisdom to both identify and resolve the issues and problems that we face. At 3rd Eye Hypnosis for Life, through a process of self-discovery and hypnosis, I assist clients in finding what might be holding them back.
Hypnosis may be defined as an educational and communicative process that allows a person’s conscious and subconscious mind to receive the same message. The process produces an altered state of consciousness through physical and mental relaxation. The critical faculty of the mind is bypassed and the subconscious openly receives the communication. At this time, the senses are in a state of heightened awareness. The mind will accept only that which goes with the established morals and ethics. The person in the hypnotic state will respond only to suggestions with which he/she is in an agreement. Desire, belief, and expectancy are necessary for this altered state to shape and influence the behavior of the individual, (IMDHA, definition).
A state of mind in which the critical faculty is bypassed and selective thinking is established (Dave Elman).
How does it work?
Through hypnosis, my clients find their own answers by reaching beyond their personality, their ego and their discriminatingly logical consciousness to access the powerful part of their mind where their perceptions of themselves reside.
Stated simply, we create hypnosis by focusing the conscious critical mind into stepping aside and becoming an observer. It is there the conscious mind is listening, watching, or sometimes thinking of something. The conscious mind doesn’t interfere with the flow of information to the subconscious mind. This state allows me, the clinical hypnotherapist, to guide you in making the changes you desire at the deep subconscious level.
The success of your hypnotherapy session will be enhanced by your willingness and desire to allow yourself to go into a deep state of relaxation and focus so that you can work directly with your subconscious mind. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. Together, you and I are committed 100% to work towards your success.
When a person enters hypnosis, the critical faculty is bypassed, but you’re still able to hear everything that’s going on. Actually, all of your five senses become sharper and more powerful when you’re in hypnosis. Your ability to decide what you will do or will not do, or what you will or will not accept, is also much stronger when you are in hypnosis. The subconscious mind hears everything that I suggest. When you hear a suggestion, you will make one of four decisions about that suggestion. What mental attitude you take towards it will determine whether it goes into your subconscious mind, allowing change to begin, or whether it’s rejected, and there is no change.
Of the four mental attitudes you could take towards a suggestion, three will result in total failure, and there will be no change. The first of these three attitudes are, “Well, I don’t know – there’s just something uncomfortable about accepting that suggestion.” If there is even just a little bit of hesitancy or doubt, that suggestion is totally rejected, and there is no change. Therefore, there is nothing that the hypnotist can do or say that could make you do anything against your own moral code, or that would be embarrassing to you, or that would place you in any danger. Suggestions like these can never go into your internal organic computer your subconscious mind. Even in hypnosis, you are in total control, and if the hypnotherapist gave you an uncomfortable suggestion, you’d probably just spontaneously emerge yourself from the hypnotic state you were in, and instantly return to full mental awareness.
The next mental attitude you could have is if you’re neutral about the suggestion. You just do not care if you get it, or if you don’t get it – it’s no big deal to you either way. Well, there is just not enough energy behind that suggestion to cause you to want to make a change, and it is also rejected with no changes made to your internal computer. You may have talked to someone who said, “Well, I tried hypnosis before, but it didn’t do any good.” Well, providing that they really allowed themselves to go into deep hypnosis in the first place, they probably held onto the third possible mental attitude, and this mental attitude will cause everybody to fail with hypnosis every time. That attitude is simple: when they hear the suggestion, they say to themselves, “I like that suggestion… Boy, I hope it works for me!” Yeah, – HOPE is the twin sister of the word TRY, and to the subconscious mind, TRY means automatic failure. You can HOPE and HOPE and HOPE all day long for something to happen, but if you do not do something to HELP it happen, nothing will happen at all. If you say to yourself when you hear a suggestion, “I sure hope it works,” – it will not! And it will also be automatically rejected. The only way for positive changes to be made to your subconscious organic computer is for you to hold onto the mental attitude, “I like that suggestion, and I KNOW it’s going to work for me!” Otherwise, nothing happens.
As you can see, you are the one in control. You are the individual that determines whether you have changed or not. The reason hypnosis is such a powerful tool in changing the basic thoughts and beliefs you have about yourself is that hypnosis is the process of bypassing the critical faculty of the conscious mind. This allows the hypnotherapist to talk directly to your subconscious mind instead of only to your conscious mind. Suggestions given in the hypnotized state are all acted on by the subconscious mind.
Normally, people turn to hypnotherapy after they have exhausted all other options of therapy. Therapists hear clients say, “I am so sick and tired of being in this state” or “I have been stuck in this place for so long and I have tried everything but nothing worked” or “I am living in a rut, I want out, I can’t stand this anymore’’.
If you have been feeling this way yourself, then it is time for a change; a change that you will be directed from the depth of your subconscious mind. Remember you are the driver and I am the guide. Do not hesitate to start your process today, you will never look back. Now you understand more about why hypnosis is such a powerful and effective tool for working with the information and experiences stored in your subconscious mind.