Have you ever been driving down the freeway, listening to music or chatting with a friend on a long drive, and then suddenly realize you’re already there? Or missed your exit? Have you ever got sucked into a great book, movie, or game and lost all sense of time?
All of this is hypnosis. You go in and out of a hypnotic state every day without realizing it because it’s the most natural thing in the world. Hypnosis is simply a hyper-focused state of concentration where you have deep access to your subconscious mind. In hypnotherapy, this state is simply directed toward a specific outcome and uses hypnotic suggestions to affect change.
There two parts to the mind. The conscious, or analytical, or what you might call the reasoning or rational mind. This controls day-to-day thinking and conscious decision making. Then there is the second part of the mind called the unconscious, or subconscious mind. This part of the mind regulates your heartbeat, breathing, and all other autonomous functions. It’s also where all your memories are stored. It is also known as the emotional mind. The creative mind.
The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between an experience that is real or one that is imagined. It also has no sense of time. Meaning that whatever experiences you went through as a kid, teenager, or adult could still be affecting you now, without you realizing it!
There are several ways that suggestions get into the subconscious mind. The conscious mind’s job is to protect you from unwanted suggestions. But when you’re a kid, you’re in a hypnotic state 70% of the time up until you’re about 12, when your rational mind has had enough time to fully form. But during your first 5 years, you’re in a hyper-suggestible state nearly all the time.
When parents and well-intentioned caregivers say things like shame on you, you’re bad, no, no, no, don’t do that, be careful, these are all taken in as suggestions by your subconscious mind and when they are repeated over and over and over again day in and day out it becomes the programming that runs your day-to-day life.
The problem with most therapies is that you’re trying to use your conscious mind to figure it all out, when in fact it’s a negative belief (suggestion) in the subconscious mind and it may have nothing to do with anything you’ve consciously figured out. It may have nothing to do with reason or logic or anything rational at all. You may discover it and then think, “I never would’ve guessed it could’ve been that!”
The following is an example from a stage hypnotist. There is a world of difference between stage hypnosis (entertainment) and hypnotherapy. Keep in mind that this is to illustrate the power of the subconscious mind and suggestion.
During hypnosis you maintain 100% control. All hypnosis is really self-hypnosis in that you, the client, control the process. You are always aware of what’s going on. Even during this stage hypnosis example, she was in complete control and felt safe and allowed herself to be the subject of his act. Remember, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.
When I was in college, they brought in a stage hypnotist. He was very, very entertaining and funny. At one point, he took one of the most hypnotized subjects from the stage, had her get up and open her eyes (but she was still hypnotized) then he picked someone from the audience.
He told her that somebody stole her belly button. She lifted up her shirt, looked down, and was horrified. Her belly button was gone! The hypnotist then pointed to somebody in the audience and said “he stole it, he stole your belly button” and the guy held up his fist as if he had it. She then yelled, “give it back, give back my belly button!” He threw it, she caught it and put it back. The audience laughed hysterically.
(This is the reason why little kids can freak out about the most innocent thing like when you say lovingly, “I’m going to eat you up” and they freak out and say, “don’t eat me!” It’s because their subconscious mind takes it literally.)
If the subconscious mind is capable of believing that your belly button can be stolen, even though your rational mind knows it’s there, can you imagine what kinds of negative beliefs can get programmed into your subconscious?
Through hypnosis, it’s possible to find out what those negative beliefs are, and replace them with new ones. It’s possible to release all the stress triggers that are constantly plaguing your body and mind, and instead create an oasis of love, peace, tranquility, harmony, hope, and joy.
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