What Can Hypnosis Really Do?

What we can definitely conclude is that hypnotherapy is not a panacea or cure-all. It is very effective, especially for those who are susceptible to it. For such people, it can be something to use throughout life, much like meditation or yoga, to enhance wellbeing.

For some people, unfortunately, it will not work at all. It is thought that hypnosis is highly effective for approximately one out of every seven or eight people, and that it will not work for approximately one out of every seven or eight people.

For those for whom it does not work, reasons can include lack of confidence in the hypnotherapist, resistance due to fear of losing control, or in some cases brain damage. For the majority of people, however, hypnosis works to varying degrees.

What is certain is that you cannot know what hypnosis can do for you unless you make a serious effort with the method. As with most things in life, the more you put into it, the more you get out.

[Read more…]

Self-Hypnosis

This technique is to be practised daily for five to ten minutes. The need to practise must be emphasised in order to obtain permanent results.

Whenever you wish to go into a state of self-hypnosis, make yourself as comfortable as possible and close your eyes.

Take a few deep breaths. Make them deep enough so that you can feel both your chest and stomach rise as you breathe in, and fall as you breathe out. This should be done at a level comfortable for you.

As you breathe in relaxation, see if you can give it a colour. This is optional — it is equally acceptable simply to feel more relaxed.

As you breathe out tension, you may see a colour or something that your mind links with tension leaving your body, or you may simply feel the tension leaving.

If you see a colour that your mind links with relaxation coming in, see if you can bring it down through the muscles of your body, as this will help them relax even more.

[Read more…]

Other Uses of Hypnotherapy: All the “S’s”

Self-healing

Self-healing is perhaps a less well-known use of hypnosis and is sometimes linked in people’s minds with faith healing. It differs from faith healing in that people themselves, through self-hypnosis, deal with disease or disorder through positive suggestions and creative imagery.

Faith healing is a passive process in which the person submits to the will of the healer and allows healing to occur. This can work, just as self-hypnosis can work, but in either case not for everyone.

There has been a great deal of research into the use of hypnosis in healing, and hypnosis has been shown to be very effective. A hypnotherapist will usually guide the person through the procedures until they feel confident enough to practise self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis for relaxation and focus can be particularly effective.

[Read more…]

What Is Hypnosis? What Hypnotherapy Really Is (and Isn’t)

To give you an idea of what hypnosis is, let me tell you two brief stories.

One involves a woman who went to a hypnotherapist to stop smoking. The session was a great success and she found that she could not smoke after it. Unfortunately, she later decided that she wanted to smoke again because she missed it too much. She returned to the hypnotherapist to have the suggestions removed. This was successful too, and several years later she was still smoking.

There are several things to be learned from this. First, hypnosis can be very powerful. Secondly, the individual ultimately remains in control and can make their own decisions about what they want to happen. For this reason, I do not refund the fee for smoking cessation hypnotherapy. When clients are properly informed, responsibility for change ultimately lies with them.

The second true story illustrates this point about control even more clearly.

A man was given the suggestion under hypnosis that if he ever held a cigarette without thinking, he would crumple it up. He left the session feeling it had not worked and reached for the emergency packet of cigarettes he had kept. As soon as he took one out, he crumpled it up. He tried another — the same thing happened. Every cigarette in the packet met the same fate. He bought another packet, assuming the suggestion would wear off. It did not.

When he returned to the hypnotherapist, he was told that his subconscious mind had accepted the suggestion, even though his conscious mind doubted it. Once he understood this, he allowed the process to continue and did not smoke again.

Although hypnotherapy is always under your control, it can still work even when you are not consciously aware of it. Suggestions can be modified at any time — they are only permanent if you want them to be.

[Read more…]

What Can Hypnosis Really Do?

Self-Hypnosis

Other Uses of Hypnotherapy: All the “S’s”

Self-healing

What Is Hypnosis? What Hypnotherapy Really Is (and Isn’t)

Set up a consultation

Hypnosis FAQs

More About Hypnotherapy

Contact