What Is Hypnosis?

It is the state of the mind that comes by using techniques to help enhance a persons' concentration and thus also helps them to increase their responsiveness to suggestion. You can naturally enter into an hypnotic state with the help of a trained hypnotherapist so that, for therapeutic reasons, beneficial corrections may be given directly to your unconscious mind. This can be beneficial to the person who is looking to change their behavior patterns, thought pattern, and It is also used to help relaxation.

We are, by using hypnosis, able to get to and access the subconscious mind.

Hypnosis and the hypnotic state is also something we are often doing several times a day without realizing it.

I know I often drive somewhere which is so well known to me that I sometimes feel like I almost drift off and forgot half of the journey there! Or I am watching a program on TV but realize I wasn't listening, just staring at it thinking of something else entirely. Or my most common one is when I walk my dog and my mind just wanders and before I have released, I have walked further than I had planned to. What happens is that your mind drifts from being alert into a different level of consciousness. This is a form of hypnosis known as daydreaming or also known as a light trance.

Many people will think that they will not know or have any control over what they do or say while they are hypnotized. It cannot make you do anything that you do not want to. You are actually in control of the experience not the hypnotist. Also I have learnt that you cannot get stuck in hypnosis and can leave the state when ever you wish to.

There are five different levels of consciousness (Hynosis for Change, Third Edition, J Hadley & C Straudacher ) which are as follows:

1. Alert - Normal response and function

eg: You are playing tennis

2. Daydreaming - Idly drifting off and not thinking about what

(Light Trance) - you are doing in the present - relaxed

Withdrawal into yourself

Eg: You are idly thinking about playing tennis

3. Moderate Trance - Closed eyes, loss of your surroundings and

awareness, increased awareness of your

breathing, increased imagery and senses.

eg: You imagine yourself playing tennis

4. Deep Trance - Feeling even less active and have less

energy. Limbs feel