“Hypnosis is an altered state of mind or consciousness, whereby the critical, judgmental part of the conscious mind is distracted or temporarily suspended or held in abeyance, so that positive suggestions for beneficial change can slip by the conscious mind and be offered and accepted by the subconscious mind without logical or critical interference”
- It has been around in one form or another for thousands of years; in 1950’s the British and American Medical Associations acknowledged the value of hypnosis as a tool for healing & pain management
- It is a natural state or that we enter into many times each day (e.g. we don’t think about how to do something we just do it; we drive from point A to point B and don’t recall passing streets or how we got there)
- It is a state of deep relaxation where we are responsive to suggestions for the beneficial changes – changes to limiting beliefs, habits and behaviour patterns that no longer serve us
- It is relaxing, safe and voluntary – you will hear everything around you and be aware of what is going on at all times; you are in control and will not do or ay anything that you would not normally do or say (you will not violate your own sense of morality or give any secrets away); you cannot get stuck – if not brought out of a hypnoidal state, you will naturally and gently come out of the hypnoidal state or trance just as you do each morning coming out of sleep
- Suggestions for beneficial change can be delivered by a hypnotist or be self-administered (self-hypnosis)
- Children under the age of 7 – 8 cannot be hypnotised. The conscious mind which includes the critical judgement factor (5 – 10 % of our total mind) is capable of both deductive and inductive reasoning. The subconscious and unconscious mind which controls our memory circuits (90 – 95%) can only reason deductively and takes everything literally. Children under the age of 7- 8 have not developed inductive reasoning and “live” primarily in their subconscious where they basically take everything literally and their belief patterns, habits and behaviour patterns are being formed
