When
thinking of hypnosis many people have images of swinging watches, the
subject in a coma like trance totally under control of the Hypnotist. In
reality, hypnosis is a state of heightened awareness and increased
suggestibility. It is very important to note that this can
only happen with the consent of the client. The Hypnotist can not make the client do anything that violates their morals or values. The
effective hypnotist will establish rapport and align with the
client’s wishes and desire for change prior to any hypnotic
induction.
To understand hypnosis, it is important to understand the difference between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is responsible for most of our rational thought processes. The subconscious mind is responsible for activities that seem to occur without our awareness . Many of our bodily functions are controlled by our subconscious mind, such as breathing and heart rate. If
you have ever experienced driving to a destination you go to on a
regular basis, and upon arriving don’t quite remember how you got
there, then it was your subconscious mind that allowed you to arrive
while you conscious mind was thinking about other things.
The
Hypnotist or Hypnotherapist uses hypnosis to access the subconscious
mind by distracting the conscious mind, or critical faculty, for
the purpose of imparting positive suggestions to the subconscious mind. These
suggestions may be for the purpose of altering some habit, such as
smoking, or possibly to modify the subconscious response to an activity
causing anxiety, such as flying in an airplane.
An advanced technique in hypnosis is Parts Therapy. This
is based on the hypothesis that the subconscious is partitioned into
various parts, with each one being responsible for an activity, or the
response to some external stimulus. Each one of these parts has an origin in time. For example, the part that deals with driving a car has an origin typically around the age of 17. The
part responsible for a phobia would have the origin at the time that
some trauma occurred in connection with an activity, such as driving
over a bridge. That activity would produce the same anxious response years later without the conscious mind being aware of the connection. Parts
therapy is a very powerful technique for isolating and modifying the
subconscious response, thereby freeing the subject from sometimes life
crippling maladaptive responses.
Occasionally during hypnosis someone will recount an experience from an alleged previous life. This is referred to as Past Life Regression. Because the subconscious mind has no sense of time, the accuracy of this experience is not important. The recollection of a past life could be from a dream that the client had at one time. Of course, it is impossible for the Hypnotherapist to conclusively prove or disprove the existence of a past life. The important thing is that the experience residing in the subconscious is just as real as if it had actually happened.
Hypnosis
is being recognized more and more as a powerful technique for rapidly
producing significant changes allowing a more productive and enjoyable
life experience.
