Everyone is in a state of hypnosis everyday!
Actually hypnosis is poorly named because its simply the utilization of a state of peaceful relaxation. You see, your brain goes through many different levels of consciousness and brain wave states throughout your day. Sometimes you feel tired, or sleepy, other times you feel awake.
Every mood and feeling has a corresponding change in the body and brain. Wouldn’t you agree you feel a difference in your body when you compare your state of being angry with being happy?
What hypnosis does is put you into a state of peaceful relaxation and then through language and language patterns speaks to your subconscious mind in a way that, with your help, reprograms your subconscious mind to follow the new, wanted behavior instead of the old unwanted behavior.
You go into a state of peaceful relaxation because these are the levels of the brain and body where your conscious mind has the least resistance to suggestion. If I told you you could make a million dollars this year when you were busy and using all of your mental faculties, you would look at me and say “No way!” If I told you that you could make a million dollars this year after work, right before bed, you would say, “maybe.” But if I told you this right before you fell asleep you would groggily say, “you know, I bet I could!” That’s what we want! That’s why you relax and quiet your mind when you go into hypnosis.
If you are thinking that hypnosis sounds a lot like meditation, you would be right! Meditation is an unfocused form of hypnosis. With meditation there isn’t a goal and you concentrate on what comes up in your consciousness to try to understand your subconscious mind. Hypnosis on the other hand uses the same states of consciousness as meditation, but it’s purpose is to implant suggestions into the subconscious mind and shape the subconscious to help you achieve what you want to achieve in your life.
Now to some people this “reprogramming” business sounds scary. The truth is, it’s just me talking while you’re in a calm peaceful state. it’s amazingly normal, calm, peaceful and wonderful!
Reprogramming the mind simply means that the habits you have in your life are the result of a program that is running. Such as: “I just got done eating, now it’s time for a smoke!” What if you changed the program to: “I just got done eating, now it’s time for a walk!” Can you see how your life would change? There is nothing scary about it, it’s actually quite wonderful!
Just as when you are falling asleep at night, you will feel warm, comfortable, and relaxed. But you won’t fall asleep. Once you reach sleep you are not suggestible at all. It’s a special state between awake and asleep that we are looking for called somnambulism. Once in that state, you will be completely relaxed, but extremely aware of your surroundings. In hypnosis, even with your eyes closed, you would know if a kitty cat walked into the room, whereas in normal waking consciousness your diverted attention would allow the cat to sneak up on you unnoticed.
For this reason, you could never be forced to do something against your will or to believe something that you wouldn’t want to believe.
Also, hypnosis is safe. Even though I hate writing that it is safe because saying something is safe implies that there is a small chance of danger. Like airline travel is safe. Put another way, there is no reason to worry about your safety while in hypnosis because you pass through this state at least twice a day as you go to sleep and wake up. If you daydream at all, you just went into another state of hypnosis. Quite honestly, when you crave a cigarette or chocolate – you are in a state of hypnosis! We pass through different states of consciousness all the time. States that have been attributed to hypnosis are actually just normal states that researchers who use hypnosis have labeled. Since they named them, they became synonymous with hypnosis.
I have links to many articles from outside resources on the main articles page where you can see just how effective hypnosis is. I also have an article named Hypnosis is Effective, where I discuss just how effective it is (obviously). Let me just say, I personally quit smoking with hypnosis, learned to control and then eliminated the anxiety and panic disorder I had, gave myself the confidence and courage to strike out on my own as a hypnotist, and now I am losing weight with hypnosis. It has always worked for me. Most likely because I expect it to. There are instances of people who refuse to change and only went to a hypnotist because their spouse pressured them into it. In these cases, hypnosis is ineffective.
Hypnosis can used for many different purposes: from stopping smoking to weight loss, removing anxiety and panic, irritable bowel, giving those who suffer from intense pain a method of relief, helping students absorb information and test better. There are many, many uses for hypnosis – anything your mind and body is involved in and can control. I have a good sized list of uses on my homepage.
If you have any more questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me at michael@millerhypnosisatlanta.com
