What is hypnosis?

Hypnos is the name of the Greek god of sleep; the Roman equivalent is Somnus.

Which might make you think that hypnosis is all about sleeping. It isn’t! You may look as if you are sleeping from the outside; from the inside, a profound transformation is happening.

When you guide yourself into hypnosis, you can focus completely on your thoughts, feelings, or a situation. Another way to describe hypnosis is guided visualisation or strategic imaginings. 

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How do i go into hypnosis?

You gradually drift into hypnosis by settling into a comfortable, peaceful position, tuning into your breathing, letting go of body tension, and ‘switching off’ from the outside world. As with any practice, the more you train yourself to let go of body and mind tension and turn inwards, the easier it becomes*. 

Hypnotherapists have different protocols to help you glide gently away from your everyday here and now life and into hypnosis.

Once relaxed, calm and focused, you are then ready to guide your thoughts to imagine certain situations you want to overcome, strengthen or let go of.

For example, if you suffer from self-doubt and negative thoughts when you have to speak at a weekly work meeting, in hypnosis you see and feel yourself confident, with open body language, fluid words, and composure.

The more you use your imagination to practice how you want to be, feel and think and see yourself in that situation, the more your mind and body will take on this new information.

You override and cancel the old script of tension and fear.

When you believe you’re going to stutter, stammer, lose your words, and it will be a disaster, and you have this ‘play’ acting out in your head, you reinforce a negative scenario. You practise unwanted, automatic, negative hypnosis.

When you do the opposite and purposefully imagine it will go well and deeply feel this in hypnosis, you erase the old scenario and replace it with a more positive, helpful one.

Hypnosis is an active process where you purposefully direct your thoughts. 'Direct' is an appropriate word; you become the director of your film. You choose the scenario and how it will be played instead of being the passive onlooker watching a film you haven’t chosen.

The strength of hypnosis is that you’re not just playing a bit of lip service to imagining; you are fully there and present in your mind. You live the situation as if it were happening now. The very relaxed, peaceful yet focused mind and body give power to your scenarios.

In other words, hypnosis frees your mind and imagination from its normal constraints, interruptions, and negative thoughts. You step off the hamster wheel of daily life and its preoccupations and let your imagination flow positively, energetically and totally.

In hypnosis, there is no concept of linear time. You can go back or move forward in time. You can live a positive outcome in the future, rework a negative memory, imagine a different outcome. Everything is possible.

*Your mind may wander when you are practising hypnosis; this doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong or have ‘failed’ in some way. When or if this happens, just gently let go of the thought, ‘park it’, release any muscle tension, and guide your thoughts back to the situation you are imagining.

You usually learn hypnosis with a hypnotherapist. You can then gradually practice hypnosis outside of the therapy session, often with an audio to guide you.

What is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis in therapy to help you resolve and overcome challenges in your life. It’s particularly effective in helping you :

• Overcome unwanted habits and compulsive behaviours

• Overcome fears and phobias

• Manage sleep

• Manage chronic pain

• Manage stress and anxiety

  
  

How does the therapist use hypnosis?

Once you have had the space to share your current difficulties with your therapist, the hypnosis part of the session can begin.

The hypnotherapist will lead you into hypnosis and then use your words, ideas or goals to guide you to release, strengthen, empower, and embed this updated version of yourself in your mind and body, 

The number of therapy sessions depends on the problem and your active involvement in the process, but as a rule of thumb, between 4 and 8 sessions are usually sufficient.

There are several different ‘types’ of hypnosis; their central thread is that they use the power of your intuition, your deep dreamy mind to explore and resolve issues you face.

Can anyone be hypnotised?

The short answer is yes. You have the most active part in hypnosis. Your thoughts and beliefs around the therapy are paramount. Your trust in the therapist is essential. 

When you approach this with an open mind, with the belief that this will work, you are probably on the right track. 

What is Cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy?

As a cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist, I use cognitive behavioural therapy strengthened with hypnosis.

CBT is a popular, short-term therapy that explores how your thoughts and feelings influence your actions. It focuses on how to get better and feel better today. It’s based on the way thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and actions are interconnected. When you change a thought you change a feeling and you change a behaviour.

When hypnosis is used in combination with CBT tools, you not only use your rational, logical mind to work on solutions; you also tap into the immense reservoir of your imagination and intuition to help you.

common misconceptions about hypnotherapy and hypnosis

You lose control when you’re in a hypnosis

Not at all; you’re always in control. If there is a fire and you had to run, you could snap out of hypnosis.

On a deeper level, hypnosis helps you gain control! When you seek hypnotherapy to overcome a problem, it often stems from negative, undermining, self-doubting thoughts. 

Hypnosis lets you step back and take time out to explore these thoughts and behaviours to strengthen helpful thoughts and weaken useless ones.

It lets you practice what you think, feel and do in different situations before using this in ‘real’ life.

Let's take an example. Someone who has a fear of flying, when in deep hypnosis can see and feel themselves on a plane and flying, calm and peaceful. This new story is imprinted in the mind and erases the old useless story of fear, anxiety and panic. When the client takes their plane in ‘real’ life, the new story they have practised and rerun in their imagination several times activates. There is no fear.

You have gained control, not lost it! 

A hypnotherapist can make you do or think anything

Not at all! Your hypnotherapist will guide you and offer suggestions but cannot make you do or think anything. The hypnotherapist's role is to help you with words and images to overcome, change, or try out new behaviour that corresponds to your goals. Whether you do this or not is your choice.

People often confuse hypnotherapy (the use of hypnosis in therapy) with stage hypnotism, which is an entertainment act with a small amount of hypnotism and a big amount of entertainment.

Hypnosis and hypnotherapy can only work in person and not online

Not at all. Because hypnosis is something that you do to yourself, whether you are online with your therapist or in person is a matter of personal preference and not efficiency. Hypnotherapy, as with many other kinds of therapy and counselling, 'works' online.

Hypnosis works like magic; I don’t have to do anything

When you’re in a hypnosis, you work! When your hypnotherapist makes suggestions and creates images and situations for you to imagine, you use your mind to make these seem 'real' and as if they are happening now in your imagination. 

The more you practice hypnosis, the easier it becomes for you to guide your imagination.

Everything you imagine, your mind believes and sees as real. When you practice new behaviours. see yourself overcoming old ways of thinking, feeling or acting, your mind is training itself to 'do' this in 'real' life.

In a nutshell hypnosis and hypnotherapy is the art of strategically using the power of your mind to achieve your goals.

If you would like to find out more about how I can help you, I offer a free discovery session. You can ask your questions, and see if I am the the right person for you. You can book this free, freindly, no strings attached call here