What is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is " a process which produces relaxation, distraction of the conscious mind, heightened suggestibility and increased awareness, allowing access to the subconscious mind through imagination. It also produces the ability to experience thoughts and images as real. " (Krasner, A.M. The Wizard Within: ABH PRESS, 1990/1991). A simplified definition of hypnosis is: BELIEF + EXPECTATION = HYPNOSIS When you believe in something the brain sends a message to the body how to respond. When you have an expectation of the outcome, the expectation changes your behavior in such a way to make the event more likely to happen. The combination of Belief and Expectation must be present for hypnosis to be effective.
A. Hypnosis is a very normal and natural altered state of consciousness that we all experience from time to time in which the mind remains clear, alert and focused. Have you ever become really absorbed while watching TV or reading? Or driven to work on autopilot unable to remember landmarks or events along the way? Well, during those times you were being looked after by your subconscious mind. Your experiences during these times are the same kind of altered, but natural state that hypnosis is. Some people will ask if they’ve really been hypnotised, just because it feels like such a normal state and they were expecting something very strange. The zombie-type states you see in movies and on TV are pure fantasy. Q. What is the difference between Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy? A. Hypnosis itself is unlikely to assist in a relief of symptoms, whatever those symptoms might be. It is the therapy – hypnotherapy – which is carried out within the hypnotic state that is significant. Hypnotherapy, bei
Hypnosis is a completely natural state of mind which most of us experience on a daily basis. Your mind is in a hypnotic trance during the moments before you fully awaken in the morning or fall asleep at night. Rhythmic movements or sounds such as lapping waves or strobe lighting can also bring on hypnotic trance, as can monotonous tasks such as long-distance driving or pleasurable experiences such as massage and relaxing baths. Children are particularly open to trance – just watch them playing with a favourite toy, enjoying their own inner world!
Hypnosis is actually a natural state of mind. People, whether they know it go in and out of hypnosis all day long. For example, if youve ever been driving, and catch yourself daydreaming and wonder who has been driving the car, you have been in a state of hypnosis. You are not asleep while in hypnosis. Sleep is a state of rest. Hypnosis is a state that is useful for self-improvement.
Even as we enter the 21st Century, opinions still vary on the exact definition of this natural state of mind. First of all, contrary to what many commonly believe, hypnosis is NOT a “sleep” state even though a person in hypnosis may appear to be sleeping. James Braid, a 19th Century English physician, gave us the name “hypnotism” because the people he mesmerized appeared to be asleep. Within a few months he tried to change the name that he coined, but instead found that hypnotism is here to stay. Some people assume that a hypnotized person is asleep, especially because one who goes into a very deep trance can sometimes have partial amnesia. I prefer the way my late mentor, Charles Tebbetts, defined hypnosis, so let me quote his exact words as written in MIRACLES ON DEMAND (which is currently out of print): “There is no legal definition of hypnosis. Webster’s dictionary describes it incorrectly as an artificially induced sleep, but it is actually a natural state of mind and induced norm
