thebodymindandsoul - mind - hypnotherapy - what is hypnosis
Hypnosis in your daily life
You may not be consciously aware until now, but hypnosis is
a natural state that we all enter many times each day. A lot
of people I meet say, “I couldn’t possibly be hypnotised.”
However, everybody is able to be hypnotised by themselves or,
if you choose, by someone else. The hypnosis state is experienced
when we daydream. For example, when we are on a train and we
lose memory of the last five stops. It is a state where our
conscious mind starts to move into the background, as the unconscious
mind starts to come forward. As you drift into sleep you must
pass through the hypnotic daydream state. You cannot go to sleep
without this process.
As we fall asleep our breathing starts to slow down, our heart
rate drops, our circulation slows down as well as our metabolic
rate. This process can take approximately 5 to 20 minutes. During
this stage we are in hypnosis. During this time we are highly
receptive to new learning. It is a very creative time. A lot
of new ideas, businesses and inventions have been created during
this time.
The Unconscious Mind
The unconscious mind, which is also called the right brain,
is an amazingly powerful tool. We use it every second of the
day and night, without most of the time being aware of it. There
are some important facts following that will help you to understand
why you have created certain habits and behaviours, and that
you have the tools to change the ones you want to change and
enhance the ones you like, such as being more confident, or
becoming a non-smoker.
Firstly it would be beneficial to demonstrate to you the role
of the subconscious part of your mind.
Time
The unconscious mind has no concept of time. That is why, when
we sleep at night, we are not aware of how long we have slept
until we check our watches or bedside clock. If we were aware
of the time that we had slept, we would be exhausted. The reason
why we sleep is to rest the body and the conscious mind. The
unconscious mind never stops working. It is available 24 hours
a day and it is fully functioning even while you are sleeping.
Your BodyTBMS - What is Hypnosis?
It manages all the bodily functions such as your heart beating,
lungs breathing, digesting, processing and eliminating food
without you thinking about it. How much your unconscious mind
manages is almost incomprehensible. We just trust that this
part of the mind knows what to do and we just let it get on
with it.
Your Memory Bank
Every single moment of your life is stored in this part of your
mind. The unconscious mind does not operate chronologically.
If you wanted to recall anything from 10 years ago, your mind
would not go back through every day until it arrived at that
particular moment. If this was the case, you would be spending
a very long time sorting through your memory bank! It is able
to pinpoint that time accurately and efficiently. An example
of this would be if someone mentioned their experience of seeing
the Eiffel Tower in Paris. If you have had the pleasure of seeing
this magnificent structure, your mind would be able to recall
instantly your memories of the Eiffel Tower too. It could have
been 20 years ago or yesterday. The point is, your mind locates
any experience that you have stored almost instantly.
Everything is Real
The unconscious mind comprehends every experience as a real
experience. Unlike the conscious mind where there is rationale
and logic, this deeper part of your mind doesn’t know
the difference between imagination and reality. This is the
most important point to remember when it comes to making positive
changes. It is the core part of the success of hypnosis.
When you daydream, your conscious vision fades and your unconscious
minds vision of whatever you are imagining becomes real. You
can see, feel and hear what that thought is about, even though,
in reality, it is not really in front of you at all. When you
stop daydreaming, your conscious mind acknowledges that you
were daydreaming but your unconscious mind saw that experience
as real.
All of our Senses are Positive and Negative
The unconscious mind works solely on emotions and memories.
It uses one or more or all of the senses to recall any memories,
whether good or bad. We immediately associate situations and
places not just by our visual recall but by all of the senses.
A great example is Sarah a client who came to see me regarding
her anxiety about hospitals. As a child Sarah experienced disapproval
of her love of the arts. Her parents both wanted her to be a
lawyer or a doctor, as they were both in the medical field.
They told her she wasn’t smart enough to go to university
and so she started to believe this to be true. Sarah had a phobia
about the smell of hospitals and was in urgent need of an operation.
Her mind had associated hospitals with authoritive parents,
which frightened her. This had become an unconscious habit that
she wanted to move on from and by retraining her mind through
hypnosis she learnt that hospitals were a safe experience, that
the past is the past and that she has the ability to move on,
enabling her to have the operation.
The smell of a roast in the oven could be associated with love,
warmth and homeliness. The song 'Hotel California' from the
Eagles could be associated with hot balmy summers and feel really
relaxed.
The point is the unconscious mind uses all of the senses, often
without much conscious recognition. Sounds and smells can be
immediately associated with positive or negative experiences
and often become habits that consciously we would like to change.
One Trial Learning
In therapy, some emotional habits can be described as one trial
learning. This expression is used when a client has trained
their unconscious mind by one powerfully emotionally charged
experience. This experience leads to a behaviour that becomes
an instant habit.
Sally’s One Trial Learning
When Sally was 15, her father left her mother. Sally watched
the pain her mother went through, and her mother reacted by
developing an eating problem. When Sally was in her early 20s,
her first really serious boyfriend broke up with her without
any explanation. She was devastated. Her mind scanned her memory
bank to find out how to deal with this rejection. Without any
conscious interaction, her mind remembered that how her mother
dealt with a break-up was with food, so Sally then started to
binge. It was immediate, unconscious and at the time, very effective
in reducing her emotional pain. This one experience then went
on to become a habit.
The Unconscious Mind and Vulnerability
Sally is a classic example of how the unconscious mind works
so efficiently when it comes to finding immediate emotional
support. The memory bank, or perhaps a better term the library,
recalled what seemed right at the time, using all of her senses.
When the emotional experience isstrong, the mind will find the
most powerful example of how to deal with the situation even
if it is to the detriment of you. It is impersonal. It doesn’t
know the difference between positive and negative, it just knows
what you have experienced.
The mind experiences the fight or flight scenario and the unconscious
mind has to make a decision as to how to alleviate the vulnerability.
The scenario could have been dealt with in many ways. Sally’s
mother could have stopped eating due to the anxiety, or even
have turned to alcohol, or her mother could have dealt with
it in a completely healthy way. Whichever way it was dealt with,
the unconscious mind deemed to be right, because of Sally's
memories.
The 4 different Brain Waves
There are 4 different brain wave activities that we use throughout
the day and night.
Beta
The Beta state is called the waking state, where the conscious
mind is going about its daily life involving rational thinking.
It is a logical state. An example would be buying a train ticket
immediately because the timetable says there is a train in 3
minutes. The brain is working rapidly to achieve what you need
to achieve in your daily life. The conscious mind is the most
prominent part of the mind during this time.
We are conscious most of the day, but it is important to know
that at some stage the unconscious mind has to absorb your daily
experiences.
Alpha
The Alpha state is a half awake/half asleep state. It is when
you daydream, or when you can’t remember reading for the
past 10 minutes. It’s a time when your conscious mind
is sending the information to the unconscious mind to be absorbed
and stored, ready to be recalled at any time.
During this time the unconscious mind is very intuitive. It
can be a time when you find answers to questions, resolve problems
and find solutions.
We all need to daydream just as children do. Children between
the ages of 7 and 14 are predominately in the alpha state. This
is the last stage of learning before becoming more adult, where
we make logical choices and develop a sense of self.
Alpha state is the lighter state, more awake than asleep, as
you drift into sleep or the last stage of coming out of the
sleep state.
Theta
Theta is an experience of a much deeper state. Some would describe
it as a meditative state, where you are highly open to new ideas.
It is an experience where you may feel you have fallen asleep.
Delta
Delta is when you are completely asleep. This is when the day’s
experiences are updating themselves fully so you can wake feeling
refreshed the next day. This is also the state you are in when
you are under a general anaesthetic.
Out of Date Information
As we naturally go into hypnosis many times every day, you can
utilise this time to supply supportive messages that your mind
will view as real and true. Your memory bank will start to store,
in your library, these suggestions of who you are now rather
than using the old, out of date information. As the mind doesn’t
know the difference between reality and imagination, your unconscious
mind can store anything which it then believes to be true.
Willpower
There is no such thing as lack of willpower. If you have consciously
tried to lose weight, stop smoking, get on that plane without
fear or improve your self esteem without success, it simply
means your unconscious mind thinks this is normal. Your unconscious
mind thinks that these behaviours are simply how you deal with
life. When both parts of your mind are disagreeing, the unconscious
mind will win the argument, because it thinks it is protecting
you.
By working with your unconscious mind, you can start to build
a new library that represents both parts of the mind supporting
each other. Everybody knows that smoking is no good for us but
on an unconscious level a smoker will have trained themselves
to deal with life by smoking. For example coffee break = smoking,
waiting for the bus = smoking, drinking alcohol = smoking; these
things become automatic where once they were not automatic,
but over a period of time your mind learnt that you just wanted
to smoke and now all of these moments plus more are automatically
playing out their daily role because your mind thinks smoking
is a normal behaviour.
Willpower is simply your conscious and unconscious mind agreeing
on what is right for you. It means both parts of your mind have
exactly the same opinion.
Repetition
If there is one important thing to take on board about hypnosis,
this is it. Your inner library, at present, represents every
memory and some of them maybe holding you back. In order for
you to build a new library that is stronger than your past habit,
you need repetition, such as hypnosis with one of our hypnotherapists
or a self hypnosis CD. This is where the repetition begins.
The only way to combat old out of date information is to build
your new library with the opposite information. Repetition is
extremely important, and those who actively feed positive thoughts
and images to their unconcious mind in a relaxed state or who
use the aid of a hypnosis CD every day or, at worst, every other
day will experience much more effective results.
By reprogramming the unconcious mind you will no longer question
your self esteem improving or losing weight etc, it will just
become a habit. Emotionally, you will find yourself better able
to sleep, to de-stress and to have time simply to look after
you. Having a CD tailored to your own requirements will help
speed your progress.
The Self Hypnosis CD's
You must be stationary throughout the CD. If you need to wake
at any time you can, by simply opening your eyes.
Before you start to listen to the CD, let us explain how it
works. A lot of people have many misconceptions about what it
is meant to feel like. Below are the most common questions.
.
Some common questions about listening to a hypnosis CD:
1. Will I fall asleep? Some people do fall asleep. This will
not change the results of the self hypnosis. Remember, the information
is still going in. The unconscious mind is open 24 hours a day.
2. When is the best time to listen to it? The best time is before
you go to sleep, but ifyou don't want your partner to know,
then perhaps at lunchtime in a board room, or when you know
you will not be disturbed. Some people love waking up to the
CD and feel that it sets them up for the day. A little tip:
if your down time is associated with smoking, overeating etc
when you get home from work, you can pop the CD on as soon as
you get in. This will start to break the habit you want to move
on from. In fact, you can pop the CD on whenever you are feeling
down, negative or having a difficult time. It will really help
to put things into a healthier perspective.
3. If I am interrupted during it, does it mean it hasn’t
worked? No, not at all. It just means that you haven’t
completed the CD track, so maybe try it again later.
4. Can other people listen to the CD? No, you made the effort,
you spent the money and they should make the effort too if they
are serious about it.
5. What if I fall asleep and the CD repeats itself five times?
Fantastic! Not essential, but a big blast of hypnosis is brilliant
for anybody. It will only enhance your progress.
6. If my mind is busy is it still working? Yes, absolutely.
It doesn’t make any difference. You will, on some level,
be absorbing the information. It will also help you to relax.
7. If I move around will it bring me out of hypnosis? No, just
move around if you need to during the CD. A lot of people, when
they are relaxed, recognise how much tension they hold in their
body, so any adjustments are beneficial. If you want to cough,
scratch or sneeze it will not make any difference.
Please Note: If you suffer from epilepsy you will not be able
to listen to the CD. If you have any questions please consult
your doctor first.
Please
view the Book and CD section for the range of products available.
