By Barrie St John - HypnoShop.com
Much of society’s resistance to hypnosis is based on false beliefs perpetuated by a fear of the unknown. I’ve compiled and addressed some of my favorite myths to help clarify exactly what hypnosis is, and more to point, what it is not.
Myth #1 - Hypnotists have some kind of special power:
Entertainment media plays a significant role in sensationalizing the word hypnosis. At the risk of demystifying the term, I submit that there is no trickery involved whatsoever. Skilled hypnotists operate from a basic understanding of humans and human experiences. The hypnotic state can be achieved alone, which refutes the point that hypnotists are somehow magical. It also suggests that anyone can induce hypnosis, either on themselves or on someone else. The real skill lies in how we use hypnosis to influence people.
Myth #2 – Only weak minded people can be hypnotized:
Interestingly, concentration is the basis for achieving hypnosis, and the ability to concentrate requires a strong intellect. The greater your ability to concentrate, the better a hypnotic subject you will be. Suggestibility is unrelated to intelligence, and our susceptibility to suggestion is not indicative of weakness or gullibility. The decision to accept a treatment or service that you feel will benefit you is a conscious, calculated decision, not an act of weak mindedness.
Myth #3 - Hypnosis can only work on certain people:
To this, I say, sure... if you really don’t want to be hypnotized, you can certainly impeach the process. Certain people will benefit more from hypnosis than others, because they are motivated to get more out of it. Your level of suggestibility cannot be altered, but your commitment and the degree of concentration that you invest can and will influence how much you get out of hypnotherapy. Hypnosis works for everyone. It’s the degree that varies, and this variable is entirely up to you.
Myth #4 – You will be able to recall everything that has ever happened to you:
If there is any benefit to you whatsoever in recalling certain specific times or events in your life, then a good hypnotist can help you do that. But typically, there is no real need to go back and remember the past. Hypnosis is a natural state of total relaxation. Regression is a different thing.
Myth #5 - You can be made to say or do something against your will:
Hypnosis is a natural state of complete relaxation, not a state of sleep. In this relaxed state, you become highly susceptible to suggestion, but you don’t become a different person. Achieving a state of heightened suggestion does not compromise your faculties, morals, ethics, or beliefs. Being hypnotized won’t lead you to say or do things against your will. If you’re asked to do something you don’t want to do, you will simply refuse.
Myth #6 – People who are hypnotized become dependent on the hypnotist:
Hypnosis when used as a form of therapy and carries no greater risk of dependency than any other form of therapy. While in hypnosis, you’re in full control of what happens to you. Hypnotherapy is a means of empowerment, achieved with the assistance of an outside entity. It’s not submissiveness, and it’s not a surrender of control. You have the ability to pull yourself out spontaneously, at any moment.
Myth #7 – Hypnosis is bad for your health:
The irony here is that the very essence of hypnosis is regularly recommended by physicians and psychotherapists. These trusted health professionals invariably advise us that we need to relax more, yet they seldom state how. When you are hypnotized, you are quite simply in a deep, natural state of relaxation.
Myth #8 – When in hypnosis you could get stuck and be unable to wake up:
Hypnosis is a natural state which we all reach from time to time on our own, without prompting of any kind. There is absolutely no danger of getting stuck in this state. It’s about as likely as getting stuck completely asleep, really. The worst that can possibly happen is that you drift off into deep sleep for a few minutes, because you are in that bridged state between awake and asleep.
Myth #9 - You’re asleep or unconscious when in hypnosis:
If people were asleep or unconscious when in hypnosis, they would not be able to report on what they were feeling. In fact, you are fully aware of what’s happening, and you are able to recall your state of hypnosis. Some describe it as feeling heavy, some light, others just very relaxed. Typically, the body will feel as though it’s gone to sleep, but the mind remains alert and receptive to the suggestion.
Myth #10 - Hypnosis is the devils work and is dangerous:
In the past I’ve heard some religious people refer to hypnosis as the ‘devils work’. Like anything else, hypnosis can be used for good or for bad, but it is left to us to find a trusted hypnotist. Hypnosis is a natural occurring state, widely used by respected health care professionals. There are lots of doctors who practice hypnotherapy. I doubt very much that they are in league with the devil.
As with other unknowns, we quite readily make assumptions or suppositions about things that we aren’t sure of, and usually when we explore more closely, we find the reality is in fact quite different than the impression we had formed.
I hope I’ve managed to dispel some of the untruths about hypnosis, as it would be shame to deny oneself the benefits of hypnotherapy because of unfounded doubt or false impressions.
About the Author
Barrie St John is a leading figure in the field of hypnotherapy and personal change. He is the author behind the best selling self hypnosis CDs and downloads at www.HypnoShop.com
Showing posts with label Hypnotherapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hypnotherapy. Show all posts
Can You Be Hypnotized?
A person’s susceptibility to hypnosis is dependent on several factors. Whether these factors work together or oppose each other is entirely in the hands of the individual.
There are factors that are outside of anyone’s control. They come down to the individual makeup of each person. For instance, if someone is naturally susceptible to suggestion in their everyday life, they likely will carry along that susceptibility in the hypnosis process as well. Everyone is susceptible to some degree, but this is one of the variable that will contribute to a person’s likelihood of achieving hypnosis easily.
But there are varying degrees of depth of hypnosis, and hypnotherapy doesn’t require a deep state of hypnosis. It can be beneficial at varying levels of depth. The self hypnosis CDs and downloads that I have produced are designed to take someone from a completely awake state into some degree of hypnosis.
Susceptibility to suggestion is also impacted by repetition. The more you hear a message, the more likely you will be to able accept is as fact, to buy into it, whether consciously or not. This is also true in everyday life.
Some people take to hypnosis quite effortlessly, while others need a bit more practice. Their degree of susceptibility might be influenced by other conditions around them, and they may find they need just exactly the right circumstances to achieve hypnosis.
But the most important contributor to someone’s susceptibility to hypnosis is really their attitude. If someone tries it and has immediate success, that’s terrific. But if the first time you listen to a hypnosis CD and you do not achieve hypnosis, some people will stop at that and conclude that it doesn’t work. That’s unfortunate, because if people are willing to commit to listening to the recordings regularly, and to finding the ideal conditions for themselves, they will achieve some degree of hypnosis, which will benefit them.
Hypnosis is about suggestion, and there is a degree of suggestion to all forms of therapy. If there are any prerequisites to qualify someone as a candidate for hypnosis, it’s attitude first and foremost. Sure other intellectual variances may factor in, like concentration and imagination, but they would likely affect the level of hypnosis, rather than the ability to achieve it in the first place.
About the Author
Barrie St John is a leading figure in the field of hypnotherapy and personal change. He is the author behind the best selling self hypnosis CDs and downloads at www.HypnoShop.com
All Healing Begins Within
Why would I say that all healing begins within? How can that be true?Physically, healing is an automatic response to injury isn't it? If you cut your finger, the body immediately goes into healing mode and repairs the wound in a matter of days. It is something that comes from inside us. What about emotionally and spiritually?
Science has shown that we consciously perceive at most 10% of what is going on around us. 90% is filed in the subconscious where it influences our thoughts, emotions and actions in a way that we are unaware of. What if you tried to balance your checkbook on only 10% of the needed information? It would be a disaster. Yet most people are forced to live their lives on that same principle because they don't know how to tap into that hidden reservoir.
Science also believes that 80% of dis-ease is psycho-somatic. Which means it is something we bring upon ourselves.
How is that possible? No one would knowingly cause themselves pain and sickness.
First you have to understand how the conscious and subconscious work. In a lot of ways we are like a computer. The subconscious is where the programing is stored, just like a hard drive. The things you perceive throughout your lifetime are stored there.
How do we perceive? With all five senses. Have you ever smelled an odor and it remained you of an event or person? Have you ever seen an incident occur and it brought about emotions in you that you could not explain? Have you ever tasted something that takes you back to a moment in your childhood? Or heard a song or touched something that puts you in a certain mood? Those are associated memories stored in your subconscious. For instance if you endured a traumatic event as a small child you might experience fears as an adult and not even understand why. Say you were in a car wreck. Your parents might believe you were too young to remember it. Consciously you might be, but the subconscious does remember. You might have a terror of driving as an adult as a result of the trauma you experienced. Sometimes these subconscious memories can be really positive and sometimes they can be really negative. Of course the ones that affect your life in a negative way are the ones that need to be dealt with.
The second thing to know is the subconscious does not understand the difference between real and imaginary. In one study performed on athletes, the brain was monitored while certain activities were performed. Then it was monitored while the athlete thought about the same activity. It was found that just THINKING about doing those activities produced the same results in the brain!! The brain literally did not know the difference between actually doing the action or just thinking about it. Are you beginning to see how powerful this can be?
The other thing to know about the subconscious is it wants to give us what we want and it thinks what we want is what we think, talk and feel emotions about. Pretty simple. We are actually wired to be able to achieve whatever our heart desires.
Now we understand a simplified version of how the subconscious works, but how does that explain psycho-somatic dis-ease?
Remember the subconscious brings about what you think, feel and envision. If you are constantly saying, "This job makes me sick to my stomach." Guess what? You just programed your stomach to get sick when you go to work. Depending on how much emotion you put into those words, you will eventually get sick to your stomach and not be able to go to work.
Your subconscious will bring about what you want (think, say and feel) and it doesn't know not to hurt you in the process because it is the program, not the body feeling the pain. The bad part is once you are in pain it is hard to not think about the pain, so you keep that vicious cycle going. You constantly think how miserable you are and your subconscious just keeps on giving you more misery. Every situation works the same way whether it is poverty, that feeling of lack, or self confidence or anything you can imagine.
How do you change this vicious cycle? You can do years of affirmations without results, unless you actually believe what you are saying, or you can have hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy accesses the subconscious and brings about changes in a very real way, very quickly.
Hypnotherapy is misunderstood by a lot of people. Some people think of hypnosis and immediately think of the stage hypnotist who makes people do silly things on the stage. Is there any danger you could be manipulated to do something you don't want to? NO.
Let's be clear. A hypnotist can not make anyone do anything they are morally opposed to. Think about it, all of the people on the stage are volunteers. They WANTED to be on stage and entertain the audience and that is what they do.
In a hypnotherapy session, a person WANTS to make positive changes to their lives. A good therapist is just the guide feeding the subconscious what the client wants and keeps the client safe at all times. The client is in charge.
To make true lasting changes in your life, you must go to the source. The programing. When the programing is corrected, the negative forcing functions are cleared up, and you can live a more self empowered life - the life you want to live.
Article by Vikki Haygood, an author, lecturer, hypnotherapist, needle-less accupuncturist, life/prosperity coach who believes that mind, body and spirt must be in balance for lasting healing to take place. Through personal experience, Vikki learned many years ago that healing must start from the inside, with the thoughts and emotions. The modalities she incorperates target the source of your problems and make positive changes.
Hypnosis Recordings vs. the Real Thing
I’m often asked the question:
"Are self hypnosis recordings really as effective as hypnotherapy with a real live person?"
My answer is yes, absolutely.
Certainly, there are significant differences to be found when comparing self hypnosis downloads or CDs to one on one therapy, but they are just that, differences.
What one individual considers a benefit may be seen as a drawback to the next person. It really comes down to each person’s natural makeup, which determines what works for them.
For instance, in the case of live one to one hypnotherapy, a session can be concentrated on a particular problem, which may be a priority to you at a given moment, especially if you’re easily hypnotized. With recorded self hypnosis sessions, you do not have the benefit of focalized subject matter. There is no doubt that for specific problems, particular deep rooted problems, live one to one hypnotherapy is the best option.
On the other hand, to someone else, successful hypnotherapy may be dependant on the need to hear the message repeatedly. The law of concentrated attention and the power of suggestion in hypnosis are proven and very real. In this case, a recorded self hypnosis session is really the best option. You have complete control over when and how often to hear the recording. With live hypnotherapy, you do not have the benefit of repeated play, or the convenience of selective timing.
There is nothing preventing you from trying combined therapy, wherein you see a hypnotherapist in person, and also benefit from self hypnosis recordings in your own time. There is no system to conform to; it’s really whatever works for each individual person. Each of us has to answer this for ourselves.
After several face to face hypnotherapy sessions, you may want to try a CD or a download, and see how it works for you. On the other hand, you may start with self hypnosis recordings, and after experiencing some degree of success, you may wish to have one or more face to face sessions.
From a cost standpoint, it’s certainly worth trying self hypnosis recordings first. It’s far more economical than face to face, and if successful, you can save a lot of time and money by directing your own therapy. I always give my clients one of my own self hypnosis CDs to use in between therapy sessions, so that they get the best of both worlds.
There is also the added advantage that by repeated listening of a recording you’ll have experienced the hypnotic state many times, which means you’ll no what to expect from hypnosis in general. Some people find it hard to enter a state of creative relaxation on the first few attempts. Since you’ll have experienced this many times from listening to a self hypnosis recording, it could save you both time and money should you wish to visit a hypnotherapist for live one to one sessions.
I’ve heard of a few hypnotherapists who question the effectiveness of self hypnosis recordings and I often get asked the question "do recorded hypnosis sessions actually work?" I say yes they do, without question. It’s like anything else; it may not work for everyone, but for those who are willing to listen regularly, it can be extremely successful. Hypnosis is about suggestion, the more you hear something, the more it penetrates. This is precisely why recorded self hypnosis sessions are so effective. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
About the Author
Barrie St John is a leading figure in the field of hypnotherapy and personal change. He is the author behind the best selling self hypnosis CDs and downloads at www.HypnoShop.com
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