Hypnosis

Benefits and Misconceptions about Hypnosis


We all have heard about Hypnosis and today I want to clarify

a few things about what Hypnosis actually means.

 

Hypnosis is a state where the body and conscious mind is

relaxed and the subconscious mind is alert and awake.

 

What is the conscious mind? That is your analytical, rational

thinking that develops from the approx. age of 5.

 

What is the subconscious mind? That is the seat of your deep believes about yourself (self-confidence for example), what’s right and wrong in your opinion, creativity, imagination, emotions, feelings, your inner critic, monkey mind, habits that you do without thinking (brushing teeth, getting dressed, driving a car, riding a bicycle, writing, reading and many more). I bet you put the same foot first on the floor when getting out of bed and I also want to bet that you do not know which foot it is!

 

grief

Therefore, you don’t need to look at a swinging pocket watch and listen to a seductive voice to enter a state of hypnosis. In fact you are in trance multiple times a day, for example doing the above mentioned activities.

 

Did you know that your subconscious mind is responsible for about 95% of your decisions and what you do when during the day? That’s right, most of what you do or don’t do is decided by the programs that run in the background of your subconscious.

 

Did you also know that hypnosis is always self-hypnosis? You cannot be hypnotised against your will or be forced to do something that you don’t want to do. We all have an inner radar for our protection which is always alert and awake and should you hear a suggestion that goes against your inner belief system you will instantly come out of trance and your mind will reject the suggestion.

 

The danger in today’s world is however that we are bombarded with negativity, violence and acts against humanity and the environment. And we have become pretty complacent about it. Therefore, the seed of acceptance towards these atrocities have been successfully planted into our subconscious minds and it gets easier and easier to swallow injustice or look the other way.

 

Just think for a moment about the violence in kids’ movies, cartoons, toys that children from an early age are exposed to…  And watching TV or playing computer games is for sure hypnosis – be mindful what you expose yourself and your children to!

 

As a new-born baby we are totally aware that we are enough and loveable. And from the moment of birth (and some even say in the last trimester of pregnancy) our precious subconscious hard-drive gets programmed. Depending of your upbringing that can be more or less empowering and fact is that these initial programs will follow you throughout your life or to the point when you decide to change them.

 

Let’s look at language for example. You grow up in an English-speaking community and you will learn to speak English and most likely continue for the rest of your life. Same goes for Chinese, German, Hindi, French etc. And interestingly you can’t forget once you’ve learned something. Sure, it can be quite hidden in our memory banks but when you relax enough or go into the state of trance/hypnosis all the knowledge can be retrieved.



And this is where the power of hypnosis comes into full play. Let’s say you have accumulated limiting programming about yourself that you are not worthy, not good enough, weak or stupid. This program lies on top of the initial knowing of being loveable and enough. Through constant repetition and reinforcement from your caretakers in the early years of your life, the initial self-confidence gets pushed deeper and deeper into the memory banks. Later on in life it may surface as longing and protest but generally always gets pushed back and limiting beliefs gather evidence to reinforce the message that you are indeed not worthy, not good enough, weak and stupid.

This often comes in forms like “I knew this wasn’t going to work, it always goes wrong, these things don’t happen to people like me …” Sounds familiar?


And when you decide to make a real change in your life and come back to your initial state of knowing that you are enough and lovable, you can rewrite your operating system into a more empowering story. It is as simple as that. How long does it take? Depending on your desire a change can be instant or it might take some time.


Look at tobacco addiction for example. Nicotine is not physically addictive; the addiction is in the mind only. And there are plenty of people that quit a tobacco habit instantly and never go back. Others have 1 or 2 hypnosis sessions and are free afterwards.

 

What about trauma? Like physical or emotional abuse during childhood when the child was too small to stand up for itself or didn’t even realise the behaviour from the others was wrong?

 

While hypnosis is very powerful one thing you cannot do is erase a memory. But what you can do is change the emotional charge that goes with the memory and with that the incident can fade away so that you can move on.

 

These sessions are very safe and empowering because you cannot get stuck in trance and never come out of it. You also don’t need to relive a traumatic event as if it happens in real time.

 

I say they are safe and empowering provided you have a good hypnotherapist that can guide you through the process. How do you know you have a good one?


  • Firstly, the therapist should have proper training and ideally be accredited by an international association
  • As a client you need to resonate with them and have trust into their ability and code of conduct
  • A good therapist asks you plenty of questions about your desired outcome and takes your personal circumstances into account
  • The therapist should stay with you the entire time and not put a CD on for trance induction, leave the room and come back later (it happens …)
  • There needs to be opportunity to verbalize your thoughts and feelings during the trance section, otherwise how does the therapist know where you are in the process?
  • You need to be comfortable and feel safe
  • Therapist needs to be client centred, listen without lecturing or preaching, asking the right questions so you can reconnect to your inner wisdom and strength
  • A session should leave you better than before
  • In a one to one session the trance work needs to be tailor made to you for maximum results, not just a generic script that gets read.
  • Therapist needs to check that you are relaxed enough, have permission from the subconscious/ higher self and be able to handle objections, concerns, emotional outpours, generally be able to hold space for you
  • Therapist needs to be competent to adapt any session (group or one to one) in the direction that serves the clients highest good and not be stuck on one particular approach

 

And what benefits can you expect from hypnosis? Frist of all to be relaxed, focused, calm, feeling good. After all stress is also just a belief, just look at 2 people in a traffic jam. One get’s stress, other one doesn’t.

 

What stands out for me as one of the benefits is the ability to come home to my birth right of joy, love and abundance. It is in my belief system only where limitations exist. The default programming of us as conscious human beings are of connection to all that is life, to all that is abundant, to all that is love and joy. Everything else is not the truth.

 

Everyone has way more potential than what they give themselves permission to express and by making your mind (subconscious mind) your best friend you can achieve your goals and create the life you desire. Allow the inner voice that let’s you know you can be your guide and compass. Have the courage to embrace change and transformation, accept help and be open for support. After all you are going home to yourself as you truly are. Hypnosis is a beautiful and effective way to speed up the journey while creating lasting change.