Before anyone experiences hypnosis and starts using it to make
wonderful, beneficial changes in their life, this article is
designed to perhaps to answer a few questions you may have and
also to dispel a few myths and misconceptions about hypnosis.
You know, I still meet people that believe that experiencing
hypnosis is like being unconscious. I always reply, "What would
be the point of that? Spending money and time to be unconscious
in someone else's company?? If I wanted you to be unconscious we
would simply bash you over the head!" So it is important that
you also know that hypnosis is not about being unconscious and
that you have the correct expectations about the hypnotic
experience that you are going to have, should you choose to
invest in one of our products or experience hypnosis for
yourself with a hypnotist.
In order to understand hypnosis, it is important to understand
and differentiate between our minds. By that I am referring to
our conscious mind, where we are now and just below that level
of awareness is our unconscious mind (also known as the
subconscious mind, for the purpose of easy understanding they
are the same thing).
The conscious mind is where we usually spend most of our waking
time, you know that internal dialogue we have that thinks "hmmm,
what shoes shall I wear today" that is your conscious mind. Your
conscious mind basically does four things;
Firstly, your conscious mind analyses. What is that? Well that
is the part of us that looks at problems, analyses them and
tries to create solutions to those problems. It is that part of
us that makes decisions all day every day "shall I open the
door?", "Shall I have something to eat", even though they are
automatic behaviours, we make a conscious decision about whether
or not to do these things.
The second part of our conscious mind is our rationale, the part
of us that, especially in western cultures, always has to know
"Why" things happen and "Why" we behave in particular ways. This
can cause us so many problems as we give any problems more and
more credence and power. More conventional and traditional
methods of counselling or psychotherapy are often very much
concerned with looking at causes of our problems and it is my
opinion that all this does is teaches us "why" they happen as
opposed to giving us the skills required to changing unwanted
habits and behaviours. The more we think about "why" we do
things the more we seem to embed the unwanted behaviour into our
psyches!
The third part of our conscious mind is will power, that
teeth-gritted determination that so many of us are proud to
demonstrate. How many times have we used our will power alone to
make changes and found that our will power weakens and that
change is temporary or non-existent.
The final part of our conscious mind is your short-term memory.
By that I am referring to the things that you need to remember
to function on a day-to-day basis, so that when your phone rings
you know to answer it rather than stare at it wondering it is,
or ensuring that you cross the road without being run over.
That is the conscious part of your mind, it is logical, rational
and analytical, a bit like Mr Spock from the Start Trek series
and as much as it pains me to say it, our conscious mind is
frequently wrong about things.
Your conscious mind is wherever you happen to be pointing it at
any given time. I am sure you have been in a busy, noisy
environment, such as a restaurant or a bar and have been engaged
in a conversation with another individual, and all the sounds
going on around you just seem to blend into the background. Then
someone else ten metres away can punctuate their sentence with
your name and you pick it out as if it was being spoken to you.
This illustrates that unconsciously, you are aware of many, many
pieces of information every second of your life, sounds,
colours, thoughts etc, yet your conscious mind allows you to
focus upon what is pertinent or relevant to you at that moment.
If you take that conscious awareness and point it inside of
yourself instead of outside into the world, you begin to become
aware of your inner self, your unconscious self, which is the
part of you that we work with in hypnosis.
Your unconscious mind is tremendously powerful and automates as
much behaviour as it possibly can so that we do not have to
think about it. For example, there was a time in your life when
you had to be shown how to tie your shoelaces, and you
concentrated on doing this. I suspect that by this stage in your
life you know how tie your shoelaces very well and you don't
even think about doing it, you just do it. I have a lonely
Auntie who as a boy, my mother would ask me to phone on a weekly
basis as she thought this would make her happy and I vividly
remember hearing her lighting up a cigarette and heavily
exhaling the smoke while on the phone, she didn't even think
about what she was doing, she just associated smoking with being
on the phone.
We are amazing learning machines and we learn behaviours and
habits and then our unconscious mind automates them and does
them on auto pilot so that we do not have to think about doing
them.
Your unconscious mind has within it all your long-term memory.
Just about every blade of grass that you have seen in your
entire lifetime is stored away in your long-term memory that
serves as an amazing storage centre. These memories affect us in
varying ways, some more than others. Sometimes our ability to
remember them is not as fluid as we need, as it is often not
necessary to have all our memory in the forefront of our minds.
For example, right now you are unlikely to be thinking about
everything that happened to you on your last birthday, however,
me just mentioning it, you can dig into your unconscious,
long-term memory and remember.
Another example is if you have ever seen a live stand up comedy
show. You watch the comedian and laugh (or not as the case may
be!) heartily as you listen to lots and lots of jokes. Then when
you leave the venue, you can remember none of them, or one or
two at best! Then, a week later, a friend that you were with can
say to you "do you remember such and such a joke from last weeks
comedian" and you think "oh yeeeaaah!" as you bring that
information out from your long-term memory. You know that you
know the joke, it was just not at the forefront of your
conscious mind, it was tucked away in the deeper unconscious.
Your unconscious mind knows more about you than you consciously
that you know. Sound confusing? Well, just think, you are
currently breathing, your heart is beating (I do hope!) you are
digesting, your body is regulating its body temperature, it is
doing a range of wonderful things without you having to
consciously think about it. You are not sat around thinking "I
really must remember to breathe". We are not machines, there is
an intelligence within us that knows how to do these things, and
it is that intelligence that we tap into with hypnosis.
Your unconscious mind is where you get your gut feelings, your
instincts and intuition that communicates with you sporadically
from time to time. Like when sometimes, someone can be saying
all the right words to you, but you get a different feeling
about them.
Your unconscious mind is a bit like a computer. Throughout your
entire lifetime it has been programmed with all your
experiences, relationships, interpretations of the world,
influences and all this has culminated in your computer
functioning with that programming. Hypnosis is simply a way of
accessing that computer and updating that programming so that it
becomes instinctive and intuitive for you to make the changes
that please you.
Your unconscious mind is the seat of your emotions and where
your behaviours exist and it is the part of you that we work
with in hypnosis. Hypnosis is a way of us stepping over your
conscious mind and accessing the unconscious mind to make
powerful and profound changes.
Now, I am sure that you have experienced natural trance states
many times before, in fact I know it. For example, when you have
been driving in a car and thought to yourself "ooh, how did I
get here?" or when you have been reading a book and you've
turned the page and thought "I have no idea what I have just
read, I am going to have to read it all again". I can remember
being at school watching my history teacher teach me, yet my
mind was a million miles away wishing I was doing something
else. All common experiences, daydream like states that we all
experience, many times a day. The only difference between these
naturally occurring states and those that we use in therapeutic
hypnosis, is that with the hypnosis, you intend to enter the
state, you are in control of it and it is just like a slightly
amplified, deeper version of the state. That is it. Sometimes it
is simply like sitting in a chair with your eyes closed, not the
magical mystical or unusual experience that some people are led
to believe it is.
It is important here to know that you cannot be made to do
anything that you don't want to do. Very important. I had a guy
that a doctor referred to me, came to see me and said to me "my
doctor told me come and see you as I have emphysema and am going
to die of it unless I stop smoking". I said to him, well I
presume you want to stop, he said "oh, no, I love smoking, it is
one of few remaining pleasures." I had to send him away as I
cannot make him do something that he does not want to. Can you
imagine if I could do that!! Wow. I could go and see my bank
manager and make him give me million pounds without returning
it! You never read about "Baddy hypnotists" making people rob
banks or anything else absurd, because it cannot be done.
People usually then say to me "ok Adam, I hear and understand
what you are saying and it all makes sense". However, I have
seen stage hypnosis and seen people dancing like chickens, are
you telling me that they want to do that?" I am saying that
these people are not being made to do things that they don't
want to do.
When someone buys tickets to a stage hypnosis show, they are
being permissive to the notion that they are going to see
hypnosis for entertainment; they expect certain things to
happen. Secondly, when the stage hypnotist asks the audience
"who wants to come on stage" the people that agree to do so or
put their hands up are saying "yes, I want to be hypnotised",
they are not being made to do anything they don't want to do.
The stage hypnotist ensures that the individuals on the show are
receptive and follow a large number of compliance exercises and
it begins to create the illusion that these people are doing
things that they don't want to do, when they are not. The
hypnosis can step over the inhibitions of the conscious mind, so
that the individuals behave with more openness, they just cannot
be made to do things they don't want to do.
Anyone can be hypnotised. I work with insomniacs, heroin
addicts, schizophrenics, people experiencing chemotherapy, these
are all people that are often convinced that they cannot relax
or cannot be hypnotised, and as long as they want to, they all
can and they all do.
All that is required is that you have an open mind, that you
expect it to work and have progressive, motivated thoughts about
the processes, follow the sessions and allow them to help you
help yourself to make the changes you want and deserve.
Finally, at the beginning of the recorded hypnosis sessions
and/or individual NLP or hypnosis sessions with me (I cannot
speak for other therapists, we all do things differently)
individually, you may be asked to do a number of different
things with your mind and you can be forgiven for thinking,
"well, he asked me to do this, and now something else, and now
another thing, what exactly am I supposed to be listening to?"
The simple answer is that you listen and follow as much or as
little as you want to, remember that is your conscious mind
thinking those thoughts and that is not the part of you that we
are working with and making the change with. I am sure that
there will also be times when you'll be thinking "hmmm... am I
in hypnosis, what am I supposed to be thinking or feeling."
Again that is your conscious mind thinking that thought and does
not matter what it is thinking. It can be attempting to follow
everything that I am saying or just wandering off and thinking
about whatever you like, just trust that your unconscious mind
is absorbing all that you want it to.
There will be times in the sessions when you may be asked to
imagine things. Imagining things does not have to mean
visualising. If I ask you to think of a favourite place, you can
imagine what it would be like, you don't have to be seeing a
picture perfect cinema version of it in your mind. You can
imagine, sense, think, or just know it without seeing it or
picturing it in every detail. If I asked you to imagine the
sound your feet make when you walk across gravel, you know the
sound I am talking about and you can imagine it, but you are not
necessarily hearing it in your ears, you can imagine it. That is
all you'll need.
So, hypnosis is not like being unconscious, it is almost like
having heightened awareness, it requires you to want the change,
have an open, positive mind, as best as you can, and allow
whatever happens to happen, without trying to grasp at what you
think should happen, just letting it happen.
I wish you all the very best with whichever hypnosis product, or
with any consultative sessions you are considering having with
any qualified therapist or any training you plan to attend and I
just know that having come this far, you really can do it, and
make the changes that you want to make with hypnosis.
About the author:
Adam Eason is an author, consultant, trainer and motivational
speaker in the fields of hypnosis, NLP, personal development and
human potential. His website is filled with information,
stimulating articles, resources and uniques products and can be
found here; http://www.adam-eason.com More of Adams articles can
be found at his hypnosis, NLP and personal development blog:
http://adam-eason.blogharbor.com/blog
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