What comes to mind when you hear the word hypnosis?  Mind control, creepy guys with pendulums yelling ‘sleep’, someone on a stage in Vegas clucking like a chicken?  If so, you are not alone.  But this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Hypnosis is just a goal-oriented meditation.  And all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.  Let me explain.

Hypnosis is a natural state of being.  A very relaxed state where your brainwaves slow down to alpha or theta waves. You experience this natural state throughout your day.  Have you ever zoned out and finished a task or got to a destination while driving and not remembered finishing or getting there?  Or maybe you’ve been so into a tv show that you clearly know is fiction but you are crying like it’s real?  Your brain waves lowered at these times and that is the same state we reach during hypnosis.  At the very least you go through them every morning when you wake up and every evening as you drift off to sleep.

In this state, you are more open to suggestion and that is why you can make change more easily or cluck like a chicken in front of an audience.  But remember, those who take the stage in events like that, raised their hand and then went through a series of “tests” to see who was most likely to follow the suggestions.  That’s why there is usually one person left on stage doing the silliest things.  They proved to follow the directions because they were open to it.  They were there and wanted to be a part of the show. 

What you experience while listening to a guided hypnosis or in a hypnotherapy session is for your betterment but you still have to decide you want to make the change that is presented to you.  If we work together I will ask you on a scale of 1-10 how much you want to make those changes because if it is less than a 7 your subconscious won’t choose to follow the suggestions.  It’s not magic.  You have to want change and if you do, it puts you in the perfect state to start your positive shifts.

I find it terribly sad that Hollywood and stage hypnotists have given this wonderful healing modality such a bad rap that is so false.  There are literally tons of scientific studies showing how beneficial this modality is.  Here are a three of them:

This study shows a 93% improvement rate after only 6 sessions of Hypnotherapy.  While psychotherapy reports only a 38% improvement rate after 600 sessions.

Source: Barrios, Alfred A. “Hypnotherapy: A Reappraisal,” Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice (1970)

Another study showed amazing results when hypnosis was used with women who had breast cancer.  The results from the study were those who received hypnosis experienced 50% less pain and their survival rate doubled compared to the control group who did not receive hypnosis.

Sources: Spiegel, D. & Bloom, J.R. (1983b).”Group therapy and Hypnosis Reduce Metastatic Breast Carcinoma Pain.” Psychosomatic Medicine, 45, 333-339.

Spiegel, D., Bloom, J.R., Kraemer, H.,C. & Gottheil, E. (1989a) “Effect of Psychosocial Treatment on Survival of Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer.” Lancet pp. 888-891.

Another incredible study at Harvard Medical School showed that broken bones healed 40% faster with hypnosis.

Source: Harvard Medical School, Carol Ginandes and Union Institute in Cincinnati, Patricia Brooks, Harvard University. Gazette Online at http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/05.08/01-hypnosis.html

If you had misconceptions about hypnosis before, I hope this information has given you a new perspective and you’ll give it a chance.