People believe many myths about hypnosis. I could get stuck in it! I’ll tell all my secrets! I can’t be hypnotized! I’ll come out barking like a dog! The fears are endless. Everyone goes into hypnosis many times a day.
Simply speaking, hypnosis is a natural state of consciousness between wake and sleep. You enter a hypnotic state several times a day without even knowing it. While driving and you miss your exit or can’t remember driving there; while reading a book and you lose track of time; while sitting in front of the TV and nodding off to sleep. These are all examples of self-hypnosis, and everyone goes into this concentrated, focused state every day.
Being hypnotized merely is relaxing the conscious or critical mind and releasing limiting beliefs stored in your subconscious mind. But what is the subconscious mind? A perfect metaphor describes the conscious mind as the office, and you are the manager of the office. Now every experience you have is filtered through your critical mind. In other words, you make judgments about the experience, right or wrong, and file them in the file cabinet. When the cabinet is full, the files get moved to the file room in the back. This file room is the subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is nothing more than a warehouse for all of your experiences since your conception.
Imagine that! Here’s an example of how this works. Think of an elephant. A picture an elephant just popped into your head. How is this possible? Because at some point in your life, you learned about an elephant, colored a picture of an elephant or feed an elephant peanuts at the zoo. But you could not go around living life with a big elephant in your office (or your conscious mind)! So your conscious mind realizes there was no need for the elephant experience and moved him to the back file room or the subconscious mind. So how does this help us change behaviors? The answer is easy, and we will continue with the metaphor. With your conscious mind, turn the elephant pink, and put white polka dots all over it and add a blue bow on its tail. Now this image which is not real, will get filed next to the gray elephant. Since there is no judgment in the subconscious mind, no critical factor to say, “Hey, that pink elephant is not real,” it goes right in and becomes as real as the first elephant, The next time you think of an elephant guess which one will come up for you? That’s right, the pink one because it makes you feel better.
So how does this help heal us? If we can reframe an elephant, we can reframe an experience you had which has caused you pain, fear, anxiety, stress, lack of confidence, etc. by merely creating a new image in your mind. A certified clinical hypnotist can relax your mind and body so much that the hidden or forgotten memories can be found and recreated to a more healthy experience. Just like the pink elephant. But what if I get stuck in it? It is not possible. It is the working beta state you are in; you open your eyes like you would from a short nap. No one has ever gotten stuck in hypnosis. It is impossible. Can everyone be hypnotized? Yes. Hypnosis is a natural state of mind. Everyone goes into it every day. Will I reveal my secrets? No. It is impossible. Hypnosis will not work if your morals or belief system is challenged. In other words, if a hypnotist told you to jump off a bridge, you would immediately awaken.
What can clinical hypnosis do to help me? Hypnosis is a healing technique for a variety of concerns; anxiety, fears, stress, lack of worthiness, loss of confidence, weight control, smoking cessation, test anxiety, and many other issues. It’s the easiest and most relaxing way to get joyful today!
