Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a state of mind where the body is very relaxed. The person in hypnosis looks like they are asleep like they are when they are in bed at night, however when a person is asleep at night they are unconscious or it could be said that they are unaware. Certainly unaware that they are asleep, unaware of what is going on around them. Their conscious mind is asleep.

When a person is in hypnosis or in the hypnotic sleep they are very conscious. They hear very clearly, and are aware of where they are and who is there with them. They are very conscious, can think and reason and they have full control of themselves.

Hypnosis is a conscious state where the body is asleep and the mind is awake.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is the “Giving of therapeutic suggestions to a person when they are in a state of hypnosis”.

Everything we have learned has been learned by suggestion and these suggestions lodge in the subconscious mind and become our knowledge. That knowledge in the subconscious mind is what causes us to behave the way that we do.

The conscious mind is the mind that we think with, whereas the subconscious mind does not think but simply records all the things that we experience through the senses. Learning carries on throughout life and lodges in the subconscious mind.

Programming in the subconscious mind is very strong, far stronger than conscious will. If the conscious mind wishes something and the subconscious mind is programmed for something else, the subconscious programming will in most situations dictate behavior. If the conscious mind wishes something and the subconscious is programmed for the same, we have the two minds working for the same goal, and we have a winner.

The easiest way to re-programme the subconscious mind is to talk to it directly by-passing the conscious mind, and this is what happens when a person is in hypnosis. By-passing the conscious mind is important so that the critical factor in the conscious mind doesn’t interfere with the suggestions. In fact the by-passing of the conscious mind and talking directly to the subconscious mind is the only reason for using hypnosis.

“Hypnotherapy is the name given to the giving of suggestions directly to the subconscious mind”

It is important that in order to be helped with hypnotherapy, the hypnotherapist must along with the client, decide on the real problem rather than trying to deal with a symptom of the problem, and often the presenting problem is a symptom and not the real problem. Hypnotherapists give appropriately compiled suggestions to the subconscious mind in appropriate therapeutic language and there is a large counseling component in hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapists should be well trained in aspects of human behavior and aspects of physical and mental activities both normal and abnormal. A hypnotherapist should have completed a course of significant length and depth that comprises at a minimum counseling, human sexuality, psychology, physiology & anatomy, human behavior, pain management, regression, self hypnosis, and supervision, both theory and practical. A hypnotherapist should belong to a reputable hypnotherapy society.