There has been much misunderstanding about hypnosis over the years, and I will attempt here to explain just a little about what hypnosis is and what it isn’t.
First of all, you don’t actually have to believe in it for it to be successful, (someone asked me that recently) and no, it isn’t faith healing so needing to believe in it isn’t necessary.
Someone else told me that they don’t believe it’s real and there is no such thing as hypnosis, and added quite emphatically that “those people on stage cavorting around are just pretending!” Not true! Those people having fun on stage are just very good at trance, and not everybody is able to do that.
Several people were worried that I might make them do something weird, (squawk like a chicken and so on). Of course not! That is not the aim. The aim of hypnotherapy is to help a person to enjoy their life more than they are at the moment - which could involve a whole raft of human emotions from something as simple as a lack of motivation to phobias and anxiety. And no, no-one can make you do something you don’t want to do. All of us have an inbuilt security system which prevents that.
So, what is hypnosis? Trance is another word for it.
Everyone is in trance, many times during the day. Hypnosis is a natural phenomenon. For example, every time you drive to work over the same road or repeat something you do often, your mind is drifting with your own thoughts, like in a kind of a daydream, and yet…if when you are driving for example, and a dog suddenly runs out in front of you, or the vehicle in front of you suddenly stops, you slam on the brakes (hopefully). You were inside your head thinking about stuff and yet you were driving responsibly (hopefully). Another example is watching a good movie or reading a gripping book, where outside distractions are minimised. So, trance is natural and we all experience it.
Why do we need a hypnotherapist? The therapist can guide our subconscious to be more aware of what we want in life, rather than be stuck in our addictions. It is difficult to get past the conscious mind off our own bat and that is where a therapist is most useful. You tell the therapist what you want and they guide your subconscious to the success that you asked for.
Many people seem to be frightened of hypnosis. They think that the hypnotist will make them do something weird. Not true. No one can “make you” do something you don’t want to do. Some religions tend to think that hypnosis is dangerous, and “of the devil” or “evil”. This is ignorance and a total lack of understanding of the science of the human mind.
Hypnosis, or being in trance, funnily enough, is a very relaxing and enjoyable experience.
Janice McMurdo
What is Hypnosis?
