Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
Have you ever experienced a Hypnotic State?
If you have answered ‘No’, you are about to be surprised…
The ‘Driving’ Trance..
Have you ever been driving to a particular destination, when suddenly, you find you have arrived and you think “How did I get here so fast? I don’t remember driving past (add your own landmarks)” You may also have had a passenger in the car and held a perfectly coherent conversation whilst responding perfectly competently to the road conditions. Yet, when you ‘come to’ you cannot recall the journey or the conversation.
the ‘reading’ trance..
Have you ever been so engrossed in reading a book that you find you have been reading for over an hour, yet it feels like 10 minutes? Or you may even have a conversation with someone whilst reading, yet afterwards you have no recollection of it.
The Television and film trance..
When you are keenly engrossed in your favourite television programme or watching a film, you subconsciously filter out the environment surrounding your television, e.g. the wallpaper or the curtains, so that all you are intently focussed on is the actual television. You may also have experienced: somebody standing next to you talking to you and asking questions, yet you don’t even realise they are there, until they have to raise their voice a little louder to get your attention (bringing you out of your hypnotic trance) and they say to you “I’ve been stood here talking to you for at least two minutes and you’ve not even heard me!”
other everyday hypnoidal states
Just before you go to sleep.
just before you wake up.
daydreaming.
zoning out during repetitive exercise, such as, running.
Everyday, we all experience light stages of hypnosis, about 40 - 60 times per day.
During all of these trance states, your conscious awareness has split into two streams, so that your thoughts and actions are separated - you become aware of only one line of thoughts and actions whilst the other line of thoughts and actions are done on auto-pilot.
Your mind can be thought of as having 2 functioning parts to it: the ‘conscious mind’ and the ‘subconscious mind’
The Conscious Mind
The conscious mind is the tip of the iceberg. It’s the bit that you see sticking up out of the water. The conscious mind is your point of focus - its what you are thinking about at the time. It deals with; short-term memory, logic, rationality, will-power and sense of humour. It is critical and analytical and in terms of language - it is verbal and deals with words. It is temporal and understands and comprehends the concepts of past, present and future.
Your conscious mind is about 5% mental power.
It can deal with 7 + or - 2 bits of information (Millers Law).
It can handle approx 40 Environmental Stimuli per second.
Your '“conscious mind” can be thought of as the metaphor of a Conductor of an Orchestra, organising which instruments will play when and in which order. Or it can be thought of as a computer screen - it is your computers desktop and the apps on the screen are your conscious. Your subconscious is everything else. When you click on the screen and open an app, it brings up a file or a memory (the ram/subconcious).
The subConscious Mind
The subconscious is who you really are. It is all of your experiences. It deals with long-term memory. It is always listening and every memory you have ever had is stored in your subconscious mind. It does not deal with logic; it is extremely literal and it does not understand humour. It runs all your bodily functions and all your habits. Your brain is hard-wired to conserve energy, just incase you need to either run away from something or fight something (its an ancestral thing!), so it quickly learns to run habits of everything you do. For example, tying your shoe laces; when you first learn to do this, you have to consciously think about how to do it, you have to concentrate and this uses up energy. Pretty soon, your brain is running the habit of tying your shoe laces without you even having to think about it - it generalises the pattern of tying shoe laces and applies that pattern to all shoe laces, regardless of their length or colour or material.
Your subconscious mind is always in the ‘present’ tense. it lives in the now and has no concept of time. The language it uses is imagination and pictures and it cannot tell the difference between an experience that is real or pretend.
Its main job is to protect its owner. It turns all your observations and perceptions into beliefs. People tend to think we are logical beings but actually we are emotional beings - your subconscious mind is the one running your bus, not your conscious mind. Which is why fundamental changes are best made at the subconscious level - especially if you want those changes to be effective and lasting.
Your subconscious mind is like a Ferrari in terms of horse power.
It can handle approx 20 Million Environmental Stimuli per second.
it deals with 100,000 chemical reactions per cell (neuron)
A total of about 400 billion bits of information per second.
You can easily understand now why the conscious mind deals with only 7 + or - 2 bits of information. If you had to consciously think about everything all the time - you would explode!
What is Hypnosis and some myths debunked
Although the term ‘Hypnosis’ has been around since the 19th Century; the method has been around much longer, probably as long as man has been around. Whilst there is no universal definition of ‘Hypnosis’, there are some general themes, including: there is an altered state, there is a focused state, there is an operator (Hypnotist) who induces a change in the subject (Client), ‘suggestion’ is used to generate changes in perceptions, thoughts, feelings, sensations and behaviour.
Though you may feel relaxed, Hypnosis is not relaxation: it is a state that allows your “Conscious Mind” to step aside to create a reduced critical analysis and an increased state of suggestibility, in which ‘learnings’ and changes’ can be made by the “Subconscious Mind”.
In Hypnosis, your mind will be active and alert at all times, you will hear every word I say and remember as much as you would from any normal conversation.
Rather than being about a loss of control, hypnosis is about helping you take control of those parts of your life that don’t have to be out of control any more.
There is no ‘one specific way’ to feel in hypnosis, so you may experience a heavy feeling of relaxation. You may feel a light, floating sensation. You might just feel like you’re sitting in a chair. Whatever you feel is perfectly fine. There’s no ONE specific hypnotized feeling.
There might be some moments where you’re so deeply interested in every word I say, and other times your mind may just wander off to something else. That’s normal - that’s our normal ebb and flow of concentration. Hypnosis is simply a matter of following some very easy instructions. If I ask you to imagine something, just imagine it. If I ask you to think about something, think about it.
One of the main myths about hypnosis is that '“hypnosis is sleep”. Absolutely not… you are more awake in hypnosis than you are throughout your day-to-day “waking” state. Sleep uses your Delta Brain Waves and Hypnosis uses your Alpha and Theta Brain Waves. Besides, how would you follow instructions if you were asleep?
Another myth is that the Hypnotherapy will not work if you cannot remember what the Hypnotherapist said during the session. Again, this is another “no”… Think of it like this; if you went to the cinema with your friend, to watch a brand new film, at the end of it, you would both recall various parts and themes of the film, of which you may either recall the same or different parts to each other. Neither of you would be able to repeat the whole script of the film verbatim from start to end and the same goes for Hypnosis; you do not need to “consciously” listen to me, as I will be talking to your subconscious mind and your subconscious mind is always listening and will hear everything that it needs to hear to make the changes that you want.
The myth of “having your mind controlled” is my favourite. You (the client) are always in control. Your subconscious mind has an element to it that acts as a “Protector” and operates automatically for you: You would not accept any suggestions that are not in your best interest. In hypnosis, YOU ARE ALWAYS IN CONTROL and you will never do or say anything that is not inline with your belief system - the Protector would not allow it. So, contrary to popular belief, you will not be clucking like a chicken (yes, I’ve said the ‘chicken’ word!!) and you will not be revealing all your secrets. Besides, clucking like a chicken is so last century (or was it the one before?).
Your Brain
During the past 20 years, research and technologies have advanced and we have been afforded with a new understanding about how our brain operates. It was once thought that you were born with the brain capacity that you would have for the whole of your life. We now know that the brain is like a muscle and just like when we work and train a muscle, we can change and improve it. For our brain, this process is called Neuroplasticity. Our brain has neural pathways and synapses, that can be thought of as the roots of a tree. Changes to these neural pathways and synapses (neuroplasticity) is caused by factors, such as the environment, our behaviour or our neural processes (thinking and remembering). The brain engages in ‘synaptic pruning’ which is basically the removal and deletion of the neural connections that are no longer required, useful or being used, and the strengthening of the pathways that are useful and necessary and are being frequently used. So, if you hadn’t already realised; when you constantly replay a memory or a particular thought, you are strengthening the pathway every time, which is great with positive memories and thinking but not so great with negative ones.
Let’s take FEAR as an example… we are all born with 2 natural fears; a fear of loud noises and a fear of falling. Any other fear has to be learnt (and if you can learn a fear, you can unlearn it and learn something new!). When we first learn a new fear, the neural pathway is like a dirt path. Everytime you replay the fear, think about it, feel the emotion and perform a certain behaviour, you strengthen that neural pathway, so that the dirt path, becomes a two-lane road; the more you repeat those same thoughts, feelings and behaviours, the faster that dirt road, becomes a two-lane road, then a dual carriageway, then a multi-lane motorway with numerous entrance and exit slip roads. We have 60-70,000 thoughts everyday and 95% of them are the same as the day before, so you can see how easily a dirt path can become a multi-lane motorway.
There are 5 levels of brainwaves that you use to work your brain - Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta and Gamma. Each lelvel has its own characteristics and state of consciousness.
Beta: (14-40Hz) Normal waking consciousness. Beta waves are used when you are focused, alert and engaged in logical, problem solving and critical reasoning.
Alpha: (7.5-14Hz) These waves are active during times of deep mental relaxation or quiet thoughtful times. When you are engrossed in learning something new or a new language, you are engaging your alpha brain waves, and your imagination, memory, learning and concentration are at optimal levels. It is the gateway to your subconscious mind (with Theta waves following next - the territory of your subconscious mind).
Theta: (4-7.5Hz) These are the waves that are present during hypnosis, sleep (the start and end of sleep) and during relaxation. They are associated with pictures, imagination, inner focus and are the domain of your subconscious mind.
Delta: (0.5-4Hz) These are the slowest brain waves we use for deep meditation and sleep. During this state healing and regeneration takes place.
Gamma: (40+Hz) These are the fastest brain waves and are a fairly new discovery. They are associated with higher levels of consciousness: insight and high-level processing.
During Hypnosis, you will be between the Alpha and Theta brain wave states. You will be totally aware of your surroundings but much more interested in creating your new reality and the changes you want to make.