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Wednesday 31 August 2011

Derren Brown Video - Anesthesia Using Only Hypnosis


Sunday 28 August 2011

The Rules of Suggestion in Hypnosis

No matter what kind of hypnotic suggestions you decide to include in your self hypnosis script there are a set of rules that must be applied when structuring and delivering those suggestion, with a certain method of speaking to the subconscious in order that the messages be understood as intended. Get this methodology learned right and you will be able to use an immensely powerful tool to your advantage without even having to give it much conscious effort. The power of self hypnosis:

1. MOTIVATING FACTOR must be strong. Your conscious mind will not be fooled into doing something without a core reason behind it. If you decide to learn to fly using only the power of your arms you will have a hard time making yourself accept such a duty as it has no reasonable sense. However if you wish to spend your day working in an unpleasant office but get paid well at the end of it you will stand much better chance of convincing yourself it is the right thing to do. What ever your motivating desire is it must counter any opposing desire, E.g. desire for health and wellbeing must outweigh desire to smoke cigarettes if you are to successfully quit.

2. ALWAYS BE POSITIVE! The law of reverse effect means that whatever you are trying not to think about you will invariably think about E.g. try not thinking about pink elephants… In the same way you cannot wish simply ‘to stop smoking’ as it will suggest to the subconscious the act of smoking once more as the mind does not understand ‘No’ or ‘Don’t’. What you must instead do is frame each suggestion positively and leave the negative components behind. ‘I am feeling healthy with clean lungs as I breathe freely and happily’.

3. USE THE PRESENT TENSE. Never say ‘I will do this’ or ‘I am going to do that’ because your subconscious mind only works in the present moment. ‘I am a healthy person’ must be the message, as though you are already doing whatever it is you wish to achieve. When you construct your suggestion do not merely read it; feel it, imagine yourself doing it and live it; the subconscious is linked in this way and it is the only method to truly connect it with what you are trying to achieve. Do not give the subconscious any excuse to delay!

4. SET A TIME LIMIT.  We have just said that the subconscious needs to always be in the present, but the conscious reasoning side of the brain still has its limits. Some things cannot be done overnight, such as learning a particularly difficult new skill, and will take time to develop, so a realistic time frame must be set. Find out how long it would typically take to learn a set skill and then set your time to half that amount. Once programmed towards a goal your subconscious will never stop working and will achieve the target far quicker than you could imagine. Don’t set a limit and the subconscious will wander less purposefully…

5. SUGGEST ACTION, NOT AN ABILITY FOR AN ACTION. Do not say ‘I have the ability to ride a bicycle’ but instead ‘I ride a bicycle with incredible skill’. This is for similar reasons as stated above in using present tense; it is the kind of language that works best for the subconscious mind.

6. BE SPECIFIC. You stand a far better chance of success if you focus on one single aspect at a time instead of multi-tasking on several different things. The more focused and specific the suggestion is the more likely it is to succeed with the all-important subconscious aspect of mind.

7. USE SIMPLE LANGUAGE. Suggestions should be tailored as if speaking with a bright ten year old child. Longer words are useless extravagances that expend energy needlessly in deciphering their meaning. Simple and direct commands translate best with the subconscious mind as they can only be interpreted one way.

8. EXAGGERATE AND EMOTIONALISE. The subconscious is the foundation of all our emotions, so stirring words and powerful images excite and influence it into following your commands all the more strongly.

9. REPETITION. The subconscious mind is heavily influenced by repetition. Repeat anything enough times and the message will be engraved into our memories. Use a suggestion on yourself as many times as you can and results will come to you; daily repetition is certainly recommended. Just think of that TV advert you hate with the all too catchy jingle that has stuck in your head…maybe you don’t like it but the message has certainly rung home! 

For even more information about hypnotherapy, why not visit http://bogcopper.com/

Thursday 25 August 2011

Ed Byrne: Smoking Jokes Video

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Animal Hypnosis Video


Tuesday 23 August 2011

Hypnosis Suggestions Please?

Hypnosis is a method of systematically shutting down the conscious mind leaving the subconscious open and susceptible to new ideas. First the body is made still, the eyes are fixated and then closed. Breathing is slowed and controlled as the body slips into relaxation, the mind urged into the subconscious realm. The senses have been nullified one by one leaving the client relaxed but at the same time focused only on the sounds reaching their ear, connecting directly into their subconscious mind. Once into the state of hypnosis the mind is perfectly poised to have changes made to its long held belief system, using something known as hypnotic suggestion.

So what exactly is hypnotic suggestion?

A suggestion can be simply defined as an act of offering a thought or an action to another person, but while a suggestion is given when that other is in a state of hypnosis this becomes a hypnotic suggestion. In regular waking state someone might tell you ‘your eyelids are feeling heavier and heavier with each moment that passes as though they are longing to close’ but your critical conscious mind would consider the idea and most likely reject it out of hand. However under hypnosis this critical aspect of mind is subdued leaving the whole mind more responsive to suggestions, and given the exact same command as above the eyes will typically shut most rapidly.

Hypnotic suggestions are designed to have positive effects on the mind and body in numerous different ways, and are basically a series of instructions aimed at making the mind realise it’s own potential. As humans we fail the majority of the time because we fundamentally believe we will fail, and is the very reason why highly confident people tend to be far higher achievers than persons with low confidence and self esteem. A saying goes that if anyone could bottle confidence they would become a millionaire. Hypnosis does not come ‘bottled’ but with due time and thought hypnotic suggestions are a great tool for bringing personal success through boosting confidence and maximising the potential of the mind, and can very well be worth an absolute fortune to anyone. In trance state suggestions can be used to alter perceptions, attitudes and behaviour in numerous ways, from increased self esteem to eradication of addictions or phobias.

Hypnotic suggestions come in a variety of different forms that fall into some easily defined categories:
  • Direct Suggestion (aka Primary/Authoritative): A simple straight suggestion that tells you exactly what to do. ‘You will notice your eyelids feeling heavier and heavier until eventually they will close and you will feel relaxed’ This is the traditional style of suggestion pioneered by James Braid, deemed authoritarian as it is worded and spoken like a command.
  • Indirect Suggestion (aka Secondary/Permissive): was made famous by Milton Erikson and is the opposite of direct suggestion. Indirect suggestions are insinuations or the rhetorical, anything that has a concealed meaning in the same way a metaphor would work. Indirect suggestions are used a lot in TV adverts, music and images combining to produce a scene that will translate to the viewer’s subconscious in a way perhaps not so obvious straight away. For example it is not just a video of a Land Rover moving through the countryside to opera music, subliminally it is representing the power and prestige owning such a vehicle would represent.
  • Verbal Suggestions: are spoken instructions as in the examples above.
  • Non Verbal Suggestions: are any suggestions that are unspoken. These can include physical manipulations of the body (physically swaying the body gently), mental imagery (as shown via pictures or video) or tone of voice (sounds rather than words) used to promote relaxation and trance.  These suggestions can be very helpful in hypnotising those with a language barrier or those that have strange associations with certain words that are best avoided. Non Verbal suggestions are the most ancient of suggestions and can still be seen in ‘shaman’ rituals of indigenous tribes based on dance, movement and rhythm to induce trance. 
  • Post Hypnotic Suggestion: these suggestions are designed to trigger an effect AFTER the client has come out of Hypnosis, E.g. the client may have had the suggestion that for the 30 minutes following awakening every time they hear the word ‘relax’ they will close their eyes and enter into hypnosis. The time frame can range anywhere from minutes, days, weeks or even years after the suggestion was planted, depending entirely on how the suggestion is worded. In the example the word ‘relax’ would be the ‘post-hypnotic cue’…the trigger for the suggestion to kick in.
  • Relaxation Suggestions: ‘Feel your whole body relax, and as it does so you will notice your mind relax in the same way’. These suggestions ease the mind and body in preparation for deeper levels of hypnosis and further suggestions. They are frequently used most at the onset of hypnosis.
  • Deepening Suggestions: make the trance state more enhanced often by focusing on a single task. E.g. ‘Your hands are locked together so tight the harder you try to pull them apart the tighter they will lock together and the deeper into hypnosis you will go’
  • Imagery Suggestions: create mental scenes or pictures to work directly or indirectly in producing a mental environment where alterations can be made to attitudes or connections made to one’s experiences. A common use of imagery is to find a person’s ‘paradise’ where every aspect of their surroundings is as they want it to be and where they are totally comfortable and relaxed.
Many suggestions will combine aspects from the different categories to form one single set of instructions, the content of which is dependant largely on the goal of the suggestion as well as the personal choice of the individual constructing it.

In the next post I will be publishing information on how to structure your own suggestion.

For a different perspective on self hypnosis why not try: http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Self-Hypnosis

Monday 22 August 2011

Video: The Future of Hypnosis - Richard Nongard


Saturday 20 August 2011

How to do Self Hypnosis... Part One

Provided here is the first part of a series of posts discussing what self hypnosis is, how to do self hypnosis and what self hypnosis can be used for.

Despite common misconceptions, a Hypnotist CANNOT make someone enter into a hypnotic trance, it can ONLY be produced at one’s own choosing.  The Hypnotherapist is present only to facilitate the process instead of actually producing it, guiding the client into their own state of mind that they are very much in control of. Hypnosis is something very easy to resist as it takes quite some degree of concentration first to attain and then to remain in, and without this ongoing acceptance hypnosis is simply not possible. For practically everyone allowing the mind to go into the deepest states of relaxation takes a considerable length of practice, and for beginners these levels are rarely reached at all. If you hear someone say ‘I bet no one could hypnotise me’ the likelihood is they would be right. No hypnotist can hypnotise someone against their will and that is something that must be kept firmly in mind.

It is true that almost everyone can go into a hypnotic trance, however people with mental impairment cannot if their condition does not allow them the concentration span to remain focused on any one thing for a length of time. It is the same reason that young children (usually under the age of ten) are not ordinarily hypnotised. People with a creative, strong imagination on the other hand typically find it the easiest to reach trance states, while practice appears to both speed and deepen the process.

Since hypnotism is a skill largely due to the individual allowing themselves to enter into a particular mind state, it is therefore perfectly possible for a person to hypnotise themselves without the need of a Hypnotherapist to guide them through the process. This is what’s known as Self Hypnosis or Auto-hypnosis. There are many ways to do this, the following is just one simple method to get you started with the basics. The method includes a technique known as FRACTIONAL RELAXATION.

Get yourself comfortable, either seated or laying down whichever you prefer, and remove any tight fitting clothes or shoes if they will cause a distraction. Close your eyes and take 3 slow deep breaths; holding the air in your lungs with an elongated pause each time before slowly exhaling.

With your eyes gently closed and your breathing steady, gradually count yourself down from 10 to 1 while you prepare your whole body for relaxation. Count slowly in your mind and with each number that passes notice how your body seems to sink into the chair or the material beneath it. When you reach the number 10 you will feel comfortable and relaxed.

Begin a new relaxation process from the top of your head, allowing the sensation of looseness to creep first over your scalp. Focus on your scalp for a few moments to fully allow the feeling to take effect, then allow it to drop gently across your face and then down your neck, giving every area of your body an equal amount of time and focus before moving on to the next area. Let the relaxation spread like a slow wave over your shoulders, then to continue down and around through your whole body until it reaches your toes; your whole body now glowing with the sensation throughout.

Once you have relaxed your entire body using this method it is then time to use your imagination. Visualise a door appear in front of you and mentally visualise yourself walk through it, as if you were actually doing so in real life. The door leads to a relaxing, calming place of your choosing, such as a secluded beach or a tropical forest; the choice is completely yours. Use as many senses as you can to submerge yourself in your new surroundings; smell the air there, listen to any background sounds, feel the ground beneath your feet or even taste something satisfying within your visualisation. The more you immerse yourself into your imagination the deeper you will go into hypnotic state.

Next you will see a perfect place to lay or sit down, and you walk toward it to find a place of great comfort with a beautiful view of your surroundings. Here you will notice that you fall even deeper into relaxed hypnosis.

While in this state of hypnosis your conscious analysing mind is placed into the background while the subconscious element comes to the fore where it is open to personal affirmations. Ideas or suggestions can be transferred directly to the powerful subconscious mind during this state; very important if you wish to make changes to your habitual behaviour or thinking. Personal affirmations need not be verbal messages or instruction, but can be in the form of further visualisations, imagining yourself achieving your goals or leading the lifestyle you wish to lead. These visualisations will be translated as commands by the subconscious mind, which will then strive to realise those commands from that moment onwards, so therefore it is essential to be 100% positive in this state. For example…if you want to be more confident, simply visualise yourself in different scenarios being the confident person you wish to be. If you want to excel at a particular sport, then visualise yourself doing just that – perhaps even winning an award for your sporting excellence. The subconscious will work around the clock both in waking state and in sleep to turn those visions into your living reality, as if by ‘magic’ you will feel more confident and perform better in your chosen sport!

Enjoy the hypnosis for as long as you wish to, although 15 minutes is thought to be the minimal amount of time required for any noticeable positive effects to take shape. When you feel ready to come out of hypnotic state visualise yourself once again in your location of choice, but this time get up from your comfortable spot and wander freely back towards the door you came in through. Once inside prepare to count yourself back to 10, and tell yourself that you will feel more and more awake with each number that passes, and when you reach 10 your eyes will open and you will feel wide awake and alert.

When you count to 10 and open your eyes, you will notice how calm and relaxed you now feel, refreshed as oppose to drowsy. The experience varies slightly from person to person, but 99% of people would say that it is an enjoyable and importantly a relaxing experience. With regular practice you should find yourself making strong improvements, not only in attaining the hypnotic state faster and deeper, but if you continue with the regular (daily is best prescribed) affirmations you will notice them taking their effect quite rapidly, be it in confidence or whatever you chose to work with. The relaxing effect of hypnosis in itself has been shown in research to improve ones life in several different ways; be it a decrease in stress, better quality of sleep, greater sense of contentment or increased concentration (to name just a few).

If for whatever reason you have tried the above method, or perhaps other self hypnosis methods, and not had the success you predicted my advice would be not to give up. There are plenty of different options for you to try. The above method is just one of numerous different types, and I will be posting more of them for you to try in the near future on http://healnowtherapyhypnosis.blogspot.com/

Another option would be to use audio files, found on the Internet or purchased in CD format. Here a Hypnotherapist has recorded their voice in guiding the listener through a hypnotic induction, with different recording made for different purposes. For instance you will find different recordings for ‘increased confidence’ or ‘a better night sleep’ and all sorts of different categories. This method is very useful if you have struggled with self hypnosis but do not want to take the step to see a Hypnotherapist in person, or perhaps even as in inexpensive ‘taster’ of what it would be like to actually see one.

Seeing a Hypnotherapist in person cannot be beaten for effectiveness, that I cannot be more clear about. A Hypnotherapist is trained to expertly guide their client into hypnosis and from their responses divert the session into different areas to learn more about the psyche; something that no audio recording can do. The human to human contact is also a known contributor to the success of in-person hypnosis. Regardless of this self hypnosis is still a very valuable practice, similar to that of meditation except that in meditation the goal is to simply clear the mind, whereas hypnosis has a structure of suggestions to make improvements or changes to oneself. It is possible to reach deep levels of trance in self hypnosis or meditation with practice, while a Hypnotherapist can reach these deeper levels with their client in a much shorter duration.

An effective option that suits many is for the Hypnotherapist to first work with their client for a couple of sessions to prepare them for ongoing self hypnosis. The successful experience of hypnosis with a therapist can greatly help them achieve the state when attempting hypnosis by themselves. The therapist will also work with the client to decide upon a suitable suggestion, and after that is agreed trigger words will be set up along with anchors and key words that will help the client reach trance state faster and achieve their goals of therapy. Often a Hypnotherapist will make a recording of suggestions that the client will play back to themselves at regular intervals after the sessions, but all of this will be explained in greater detail in another post.

The bottom line is that hypnotherapy is more effective with a fully certified Hypnotherapist conducting the process, but self hypnosis can certainly still be a useful tool in familiarising oneself with hypnotherapy and experimenting with the benefits of finding trance state, even in the lightest levels. A great deal can be learned about the inner mind using self hypnosis so long as the person has the will and determination to persevere with regular practise, and if this is the case a great many things can be achieved.

 I will be posting more self hypnosis methodology in due course as well as some audio files later for you to try out for yourself so you can see for yourself the advantages of self hypnosis.

For another perspective on self hypnosis why not try http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Hypnotize-Myself&id=984844

Saturday 13 August 2011

"Hypnosis in History" Video documentary; Facts, Photos, Mesmer, Braid & More...


How To Visualize in Hypnosis; Learn to Visualize by Wendi Friesen

Thursday 11 August 2011

Modern Uses of Hypnotherapy and the Future...

Today Hypnotherapy is being used to treat an ever-widening range of human problems. Practically any problem related to the mind can be treated using the method of hypnosis.

Phobia treatment, addictions/habits, weight control, self esteem and confidence, irritable bowel syndrome, motivation, stress and anxiety, academic performance, childhood behavioural problems, bedwetting, sports performance, pain management, anger management, skin conditions, sexual dysfunction, fertility, migraine control, birthing and pre-birthing, relaxation, sleep problems, memory retrievals, past-life regression, dream interpretation, physical healing…

These are just some of the issues that Hypnotherapy is successfully being used to treat today, often with a much higher success rate and speed than other ‘conventional’ therapies. The mind affects our lives in every way imaginable and therefore Hypnotherapy can be used to improve absolutely any aspect of our lives.

The art of Hypnotherapy is now being mastered on a global scale with more and more people gaining knowledge of the power of the subconscious mind and its influences. The phenomenon of the internet has allowed the passage of information to flow ever more freely, and in the past few years Hypnotherapy has even started being conducted via web-chat format whereby the client can literally be thousands of miles away from the practitioner but still receive treatment! Evidence of how Hypnotherapy is evolving in line with modern demands.

Research continues to gather pace in investigating how effectively Hypnotherapy works in a multitude of different scenarios, as well as gaining foresight into the neuroscience of exactly HOW it works. Suggestion leading to clearly identifiable physiological change is something quite hard to comprehend for most people, but only due to the fact that education or even mainstream science itself has found little way to effectively explain neurological processes. Modern research is gathering vast amounts of data on a complex matter, and is consistently throwing up new findings that seem to surprise the experts. But just how far can Hypnotherapy be taken, and how quickly?

Hypnotherapy appears to have the capacity to interconnect many different things. It is a road between the practices of ancient Greece and Egypt and modern day medicine. It is a connection between body and mind, the conscious and the subconscious. For some people it is said to connect past experiences or even past lives with our present. Brain wave monitors and other apparatus have proved objectively the effect Hypnosis can have on the bodily functions as well as identifying how deep Hypnosis can take the brain into previously disbelieved levels of frequency; the modern a proving connection with ancient practices of Yogi masters. There is more to learn from Hypnotherapy as much as there is more to connect – and therefore understand – at a much broader level.

We know what Hypnosis can do for learning, healing, relaxing, thinking and altering undesired behaviour or thought patterns; so why is it not being more practically applied in everyday life? The idea that the human brain/body can be trained to heal and regulate itself, as it did for countless millennia in ancient times, may not sit well with modern ideologies of wishing to ‘play God’ and fix all problems with a credit card, punishing chemicals and a scalpel. Although it would seem a rather more natural solution to a great many problems with far fewer side effects to consider. Hypnotherapy is increasingly being used to treat children for this very reason and perhaps in the near future we will see its introduction into mainstream education as well as medicine.

Fortunately for us Hypnotherapy is now readily available across the planet and we only need ‘Google’ it and the information will appear ready for our consumption. The technique has a connecting potential to bring us a new level of understanding in a great many things, none more so than exploring our own minds and bringing us closer to our own consciousness, surely an ultimate goal for any thinking persons life. The future for Hypnotherapy is bright for whoever has the motivation to reach out and learn its art, exactly something that more and more people are beginning to do.


If you are not sure about anything written either in this article or the blog, or you would like more information, why not leave a comment or email at the address at the top of the screen. We would love to hear from you and hopefully provide all your answers.

The simplest way to explore Hypnosis for yourself is to look into SELF HYPNOSIS. What I shall do next is post all the information required to get up and running with Self Hypnosis with detailed descriptions and later some audio file’s to make it as user friendly as possible. I have now completed my brief summery of Hypnotherapy which covers the main topics and fundamentals of the technique, so why not give it a try for yourself? Especially given that it is totally free and brimming with personal benefits there is absolutely nothing to lose…

http://fu-med.com/2011/07/14/hypnotherapy/ this article claims that Hypnosis could even be THE future medicine...

Wednesday 3 August 2011

History of Hypnosis

Hypnotherapy is not a new method of treatment by any stretch of the imagination, and much like many ‘new age’ methods of treatment it is in fact thousands of years old and easily predates many forms of so called ‘traditional’ medicine.

Findings report that in cultures such as ancient Egypt and Greece hypnotic healing houses were already in use, although no one knows for sure exactly how far back in time this practise goes as there are simply not the available records for such dating. During these ancient times the injured would be placed inside ‘sleep temples’ where shaman-like practitioners would induce them into a state of deep hypnotic trance. The injured would then be left to ‘rest’ as chants and music surrounded them, encouraging the ‘spirits’ to aid their healing process.

A more modern explanation of this remedy would be somewhat different of course! In trance state heart rate and other bodily functions decrease to near that of sleeping, where the body is able to concentrate it’s energies more fully on rehabilitation, in itself sometimes producing near miraculous results. It may not necessarily be the spirits or the Gods summoning such healing but rather the sub-conscious mind working nearer to it’s full capacity and demonstrating just what the human brain can achieve. But nonetheless the principles of hypnotic healing are still the same.

Since those ancient times Hypnotherapy had its bursts of popularity and decline, but fully came to the fore again famously in the 18th century due largely to an Austrian named Franz Mesmer and his ‘Mesmerism’, famed for the idea that human illnesses were caused by magnetic blockages in the body. Mesmer went about successfully healing people by getting them first to drink a magnetic fluid and then making a series of passes over their body with either a metal bar or his own hands to bring about a cure to these blockages. Mesmerism was at odds with the mainstream science of the times, but no one could explain his level of success. Mesmer’s healing processes became so famous at the time that even the French royalty took a great interest in him before he was eventually embroiled in scandal and disappeared from public view.

Another leading figure soon after Mesmer was Britain’s James Braid, the ‘father of modern hypnotism’ the person who first coined the term ‘Hypnosis’ in his writing. Braid rejected Mesmer’s explanation of magnetism as the cause of his phenomena, instead attributing it to a physiological process resulting from a prolonged focus to an object of fixation. Braid had discovered that getting a patient to fixate their eyes onto an object was a key component in successfully inducing a trance state and therefore healing. The famous pocket watch was often used as this object in Hypnotism’s early beginnings, thus explaining the strong stereotype aligned with the object.

At a similar time surgeons and physicians such as John Elliotson and James Esdaile found that Hypnosis could successfully be used in medical practice for pain control. Esdaile reported that he had conducted some 345 major operations while serving for the British army in India using only hypnotic sleep as an anaesthetic.  Chemical anaesthetic later become popularised and Hypnotherapy was not used so much in surgery, and from that time on hypnosis’ use was focused upon mental health.

In the late 19th century Emile Coue of France came up with the idea that hypnosis only existed in the subject rather than in the practitioner, who was there only to facilitate the hypnotic process instead of actually producing it. Coue was one of the first to understand the power of the human imagination and the effect it could have on the mind and body, and that belief in recovery from injury or illness is as much important as the physical recovery process itself. Importantly Coue discovered that prescribed medicines only worked when the patient had confidence in them and did not work when the patient was sceptical. This research lead to the creation of the term ‘Auto-suggestion’. Auto-suggestions are repeated mantras that have a significant effect on the body, if you tell yourself continually that you will be physically well again very soon from illness the chances are that you will make just that recovery, in much the same way that self fulfilling prophecy works. ‘Every day in every way I’m getting better and better’ was the famous auto-suggestion from Coue that inspired many others.

Hypnotherapy went through a period of wane after Sigmund Freud dismissed the practice in favour of his more preferable Psychoanalysis techniques, but Hypnotherapy was not dead. Instead it was brought back to life once more through the art of stage hypnosis thanks to the likes of Ormond McGill in the USA, bringing Hypnosis firmly back into the public eye. Ormond McGill, Charles Tebbets, Dave Elman and Milton Erikson were around at the same time in the early to mid 20th century, and through their pioneering work brought about Hypnotherapy being accepted by modern medical science due mainly to the great results they consistently achieved. Erikson himself was a well-recognised psychiatrist and thus drew respect from the medical community who could not ignore his demonstrations of hypnosis and what it could achieve so rapidly.

All the aforementioned names, as well as countless many others, have played key roles in propelling Hypnotherapy from the ancient world into the 21st century. Hypnotherapy has been transported from being a mysterious art form to where it stands today as a respected technique of modern medical care, used successfully in treating an ever widening list of personal issues right the way around the globe.

This blog will show you exactly how to utilise the pioneering work of these great men for your own personal growth and benefit…

Monday 1 August 2011

Understanding Hypnotherapy

To understand hypnosis and hypnotherapy some basic concepts of the brain must first be taken into consideration.

When we think and act we are using the conscious aspect of our mind where we process information and seek reason. However this conscious side of the mind takes up something like only 20% of our total mind capacity, with the remaining 80% (approximate figure) taken up by subconscious activity. This may at first seem strange but when you think that the entire regulatory system of the body, including temperature, hormones, blood flow, digestion etc is controlled by the unconscious mind then it is easier to accept how much work our brain is doing without our conscious knowledge. It is comparable to a computer’s RAM and hard drive, the RAM is the processing of information (conscious) while the hard drive is the far larger storage unit that encompasses everything else (subconscious).

Charles Tebbett’s listed the six main functions of the subconscious mind in his book ‘Self Hypnosis and other mind expanding techniques’ clearly identifying how much of what the brain does is done by the subconscious.

1. A memory bank, everything we have ever experienced is stored ready to feed information back to the conscious mind to make decisions.
2. Controls the involuntary functions of the body; breathing, circulation, digestion and elimination.
3. Base of Emotions. Emotions control desires and desires control behaviour.
4. Imagination. To create anything imagination is required.
5. Habitual activity. Once activities are learned they can be carried out without thinking i.e. riding a bike.
6. Generates and releases bodily energy.

Emotions come to us without our say so, why is it we wake up in a bad mood sometimes or feel happy for no apparent reason? The same can be said for habits or urges. We might wish we would not eat such a bad diet as we know it will make us fat, or we realise we should stop smoking because we know for certain that it is damaging our lungs. Our conscious reasoning mind can clearly see these facts, so why then does it seem such an impossibility to control ourselves and to eat a better diet or to stop smoking? The reason for this is because the subconscious aspect of mind is by far the more powerful. The conscious mind may have its reasoned opinion, but it can be in direct conflict with subconscious opinion that can be quite the opposite, and if there is a fight between the two powers the subconscious will always win in the end. The smoker may be able to hold off smoking for days if not weeks at a time, but if subconscious opinion is not fully convinced to stop smoking the smoking will always return in the end. The subconscious will bombard the conscious mind with cravings until it cracks and gives in, and thus the person fails in their ambition to quit despite their struggle.

This is essentially the foundation of all habit, or doing things without really thinking about them. It is also the reason why hypnotherapy has been proven a successful method with such issues as it immediately and directly tackles subconscious thought in a way that other methods cannot, and especially not so quickly. A point to remember here though is that the person in question must genuinely want to cease their habit first and foremost for hypnotherapy ever to succeed. Without this motivating factor for change in the reasoning conscious mind there is little to no chance of the subconscious mind ever being swayed into making alterations. Quitting smoking because your family has been urging you to is not enough, you would have to genuinely want to quit for your own reasons.

As mentioned previously, our brain can be compared to the model of a computer and similarly it can be programmed much in the same way. Like a computer our brains are programmed mostly in the all-important early stages of life when they are fresh and new. As youngsters many of us were told to ‘finish the whole plate of food’ whether we were hungry or not as it was ‘the right thing to do’. As children and without the learned sense to decide what is right or wrong, these kinds of messages were accepted as pure truths and were subsequently stored as a programme or belief in the subconscious mind and kept there indefinitely. As adults we then always finish our plate of food even if it is too much, all due to a program installed onto our system in youth, that got there without our reasoned say so.

Any idea at all that is allowed into the subconscious mind is accepted as truth (especially in these early years), and this goes some way in explaining the power and efficiency of television advertising. TV reduces us to a state of light hypnosis where the conscious mind is placated, then adverts implant ideas directly into our subconscious that affects our purchasing habits when out shopping. That is the power of Hypnosis and mind programming, and it affects our lives at every single level if we look at it closely enough.

Despite having negative connotation, we can also use this information for positive purposes to improve ourselves for the better. By using Hypnosis to systematically shut down the conscious mind and bypass it, the subconscious mind can be directly spoken to and reprogrammed much in the same way television advertising works. With professional Hypnotherapy positive suggestions can be implanted into the subconscious that can alter our attitudes and behaviours, allowing us to custom select which weaknesses are wished to be strengthened, and which habits are wished to be ceased for good.

Hypnosis allows you to take re-control of you life and make the changes you have always wanted to.

A source for more further reading/information http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/articles/category/understanding-hypnosis/