Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis has been in use for thousands of years. There is a great deal of evidence to support the belief that Hypnosis was being used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans - for therapeutic benefit - as far back as the fourth Century BC. Hypnosis – coming from the Greek word Hypnos (meaning sleep) was so-called because while in the state of Hypnosis, a person is very, very relaxed.
There is absolutely no question of being ‘mind controlled’, manipulated or even being able to be made to do something you don’t want to do. A person in Hypnosis (often referred to as conscious Hypnosis) is not 'asleep’, in fact they are often more aware of what is taking place than usual and their senses function more efficiently than normal.
It is unfortunate that most people's perception of Hypnosis is tainted by their reaction to watching television and Stage Hypnotists at work. The 'showmanship' and the dramatic reactions from the 'volunteers' often leaves a lasting impression in the back of the mind that Hypnosis is somehow 'magical' or involves 'mind control' - however, this understanding of Hypnosis couldn't be further from the truth....
The state of Hypnosis, a totally natural phenomenon, is most pleasant and particularly relaxing, and a person can converse quite easily whilst within the state. It is therefore inconceivable that any harm could befall you.
To take you into the relaxed state known as Hypnosis I will simply talk you through relaxing your body and your mind, which will take a few minutes. Please bear in mind that there is no such thing as a hypnotised feeling. All you will feel is pleasantly relaxed. From a physical point of view you will in all probability feel heavy in your limbs, sometimes accompanied by a tingling or numb feeling in your hands/fingers. From a conscious point of view it is very much like day dreaming or like driving your car (if you drive) on a well travelled route or on a long distance when you suddenly realise you have travelled a distance and don’t quite recollect how you got there – almost like being on ‘automatic pilot’. Clearly, you are not in any way out of control in such a situation… but your mind somehow just drifts off somewhere else.
So now you at least appreciate that far from being controlled by some sort of ‘Svengali‘ you are actually in a nice, pleasant and relaxed state, so how is this going to help us with your problems or the things within yourself that you are looking to change ?
Well, firstly appreciate that your mind is rather like an iceberg if you like, the tip that sticks out of the water is your conscious mind – the part you use now whilst you’re reading this. Again like the iceberg, the big part under the water – 80% of your mind is at a subconscious level, and everything that makes us all what we are like in life today is stored up there.
So how does this help us ?
Simply, accept the fact that the use of Hypnosis is putting us in touch with our subconscious minds, so, this being the case we can put things in there that you want to have happen ie maybe you want to become a non smoker for instance, maybe you want to lose some weight etc.
Equally so, many people do not realise that it can be used to help you let go of "why" you are behaving the way you are. What do I mean by this ? Well, I’m assuming you are computer literate as you are looking at this website, so, think about it, what would happen if you never emptied the recycle bin on your computer ? In all probability it would gobble up the memory, be full of useless deleted items that you never use anymore and eventually slow down the computer, causing it to perhaps freeze or crash. So, figuratively speaking, this is an excellent way for us to free our minds of all those things from the past that affect us in the present and the future.
Does this sound implausible ?
I can assure you it is not and in fact many hundreds of my clients have benefited from this very technique.
Think about it a bit more, you go to your Doctor and he gives you tablets to take away pain, stress or whatever – is he treating the symptom or the cause ? What I do deals with the cause. Certainly some problems will respond in one or two sessions such as stopping smoking, others, like eating disorders or depression can take longer (six to eight). Obviously I will discuss this with you in more depth to ensure the best way forward and give you an honest appraisal.
Some people can have a jaundiced view of the use of Hypnosis, fuelled perhaps by the things that they have perceived from Stage / TV performances. I hope therefore that this brief description has at least helped to allay some of the fears, or perceptions.