Let me be clear, despite extensive medical study and academic research, nobody is 100% certain what Hypnosis is precisely. However the the findings of the research make it clear in its efficacy and application of apporpriate use.
It is real, it is effective and it has many sources of highly credible research and evidence, such as Universities of high standing and Medical Schools for it’s positive uses and measurable effect.
Hypnosis is also very safe, with only a very few contra indicators.
My description of hypnosis is this:
- Hypnosis is a natural psychological skill that we all have to some degree.
- It can be trained, enhanced and used to create positive effects within many areas of our lives.
- Hypnosis can be developed as a personal tool to increase our psychological health and our physical health.
- Hypnosis can reduce things we don’t want and to increase things that we do.
- We all have used self – hypnosis, and we all do use self – hypnosis, we are just not aware we are doing it.
What is Hypnosis?
“I consider hypnosis as a set of approaches and techniques, that engage the mind to use a form of automatic imagination, a set of flexible heuristics to turn a perceiving to a psychological and physiological happening”
Other descriptions of hypnosis by eminent professionals:
Len Milling, Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Hartford
“If you asked 10 hypnosis experts how hypnosis works, you would probably get 10 different explanations.”
Kev Sheldrake, Master Hypnotist
“Hypnosis is a social construct, that causes the cognitive processes of automatic imagination, hypnotic responses are defined by their subjective sensation, automaticity or involuntariness, because they lack the knowledge or feeling of intention.”
Adam Eason, Master Hypnotist and Phd on Sport Mental Performance
“We explain hypnosis in terms of a hypnotic “mind set” comprising of ordinary processes such as beliefs, imagination, expectations, attitudes towards hypnosis, level of motivation, depth of engagement with the role of being hypnotised and other factors.”
“Hypnosis is a verb not a noun”
James Tripp, Master Hypnotist and Psychological Coach
“Hypnosis is the use of language and communication to direct attention, lead cognition and seed ideas for the purpose of leading someone into an altered experience of reality”
Barry Neale, Psychological Coach
Hypnosis is capturing and leading the imagination
Hypnosis is a suspension of disbelief and the utilisation of the imagination
Hypnosis is believed in imaginings
What happens in an average hypnosis session?
During the induction into hypnosis, the subject is typically asked to make themselves comfortable and focus their attention. Then working with the hypnotist mutually, they create the experience of going into and developing hypnosis.
This stage could last anywhere from a few seconds to 10 minutes or even longer.
The goal of induction is to quieten the mind and focus it’s attention on the given guidance.
The “suggestion” phase involves guiding the hypnotised person through hypothetical events and scenarios, intended to help them address or counteract unhelpful behaviours and
emotions, or enhance helpful behaviours and emotions even more.
Clients may be invited to experience imaginary events as if they were real, or even turn real events into something more emotionally manageable at that time.
The type of suggestions used, depends on the client and their unique needs.
In some ways, hypnosis can be compared to a guided meditation or mindfulness; the idea is to set aside normal judgements and sensory reactions, and to enter a deeper state of concentration, creative focus and receptiveness.
Hypnosis is much like losing oneself in a book or movie, those times when the outside world fades away and a person’s mind is completely absorbed in what they are reading or watching.
Hypnosis is “not a state of eyelids” (Anthony Jacquin) nor anything to do with relaxation, meaning it can happen with eyes open or closed, nor does it require physical relaxation.
It can be described as a cultivated sense of focus, intention and possibility.
In fact athletes and sports performers are very capable of entering hypnosis.
Each time they play or practice and they enter “Flow State” as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, they enter a state of “Performance Hypnosis”.