(when was the last time you had a really good daydream?)
Now that’s what I call a question!!
Some say that hypnosis or trance is something that we are in all the time. One trance to the next, the morning trance to the commuting trance to the work trance to the TV trance and so on…
Others say that it is a specific state, like the state of relaxation, like the state of concentration… It may be both?
It’s a state.
It’s a specific state. While you are reading this on the computer and your eyes are moving along the line you are in a specific state. You may be relaxed, you may be tired or even be in a rush and a few maybe excited. These are all states and hypnosis is just another state.
So when I am asked “can I be hypnotised?” it’s a bit like asking “can I be relaxed? “
Everybody can have it, it is part of you. I cannot give it to you, I am only a guide and I invite you into this state.
Okay if it is a state, so what?
For me to explain how this state can be useful, I have to 1st explain about the two minds. The brain is split into the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere and they are joined by a bunch of nerves. (I think the bunch is bigger for women than for men?). Now some can say that these correspond to the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.
These two minds are metaphors, do they exist is reality, ?? , but let’s work with this metaphor because it makes most sense.
The Conscious/Subconscious mind
The conscious mind and the subconscious mind have completely different/opposite functions.
The conscious mind is aware of everything that you are conscious of right now. You can see the screen; you can see the words that you are reading.
The subconscious is aware of everything that you are not conscious of, that is the temperature of the air against your skin, the difference in sensation of your hands, the pressure of the ground against your feet, the chair supporting you. This was all not-conscious until it was pointed out and made conscious.
The conscious mind works things out one at a time, sequentially.
The subconscious mind does many things at once, at the moment you may be aware of your heart beating, your diaphragm is going up and down while your breathing and you may be ware of your blinking. All of this is automatic and taken care of by your subconscious, because it is not conscious…
Your conscious mind only has short term memory.
Your subconscious remembers everything, since you were born. If I ask you to remember someone’s telephone number (ok that may not be possible because everything is now on the mobile), but if you did, then before it became conscious where was it stored?
Your conscious mind, the main job it does is that it works things out that are logical and practical. Like you had to work out how to get to this site and this article and had to use your logical conscious mind. It can also, if you let it start working things out that can go wrong and that causes anxiety. It’s that chit chat that goes on in your head.
The most important thing about the subconscious is that it cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. It’s also where your beliefs are kept, not only your religious beliefs, but what you believe to be true about the world. It is where your creativity comes from.
Also it’s where your habits are kept. Like if you drive then at one point when you started to drive, it was hard work and you thought you’d never be able to do it. Then suddenly it become automatic and you didn’t have to think about it consciously, because the subconscious mind took it over and it became a habit.
Hypnotherapy
Now in this state of hypnosis, the conscious mind is out of the way with its forever chit chat and analysing things out and what is left is the subconscious where we can make the changes that we desire, because this is where the important things are kept that may need changing.
Now what does it feel like, that is different for everybody although there are a few similarities. In this state there is no noise, there can be peace and quite and hence why it is so good for anxiety.
I believe it’s the body’s self-healing system. Daydreaming is similar to hypnosis, some forms of meditation, being absorbed in a book or TV program, to the extent that someone can be standing next to you and you’re not aware – hypnosis.
Did you know that there is an subconscious process going on right now as you’re reading this!
At one point you didn’t know what the scribbles on this page meant, you learnt and now they make sense and you can put meaning to them without even trying, it is an automatic process now, you learnt.
I hope you have learnt something new today!
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