Hypnotherapy aims to bring about a deeper sense of relaxation and an altered state of consciousness in order to choose new and better ways of thinking, being and doing without being controlled by certain past experiences you might have.
How Hypnosis Works
Hypnosis is not meant to put you into an unconscious trance which you’re not aware of. On the contrary, it’s meant to put you in a deep sense of relaxation where you’re truly at ease with yourself physically, yet at the same time, your mind is fully receptive but focused on the element of suggestive thought.
The process involves a trained hypnotherapist listening to the problems you’re trying to resolve. He/she will then reframe the problem and will then help to bring you to a state of deep relaxation. He/she will then help to disassociate you from holding on to critical negative thoughts through you complying with their suggestions through your subconscious mind and then you’ll be brought back to your normal level of consciousness where you can reflect upon those thoughts.
You will also be taught the principles of self-hypnosis using aids such as audiotapes or CDs so that you can practice the same techniques at home on your own.
How Does Hypnosis Differ From Relaxation?
Most people will, effectively, be ‘relaxing’ as they perceive the meaning of the word in their day-to-day lives. You might think of yourself relaxing when you’re sitting down in a comfy chair in the evening watching TV, reading a book or listening to music but whilst your body may be relaxing, your mind is likely to be dealing with a lot of ‘chatter’ inside.
Sometimes we can actually be in a kind of hypnotic state without even trying. For example, you may be driving along a quiet country road for several miles without actually being truly conscious of what’s going on around you or being aware of the time that’s elapsed.
Where hypnosis differs from relaxation, however, is in you making an intentional and conscious effort to allow access to your deep subconscious mind in order to create a reality which you desire. For example, if you’re asked to think of a sun kissed tropical beach then, without hypnosis, you’ll probably simply conjure up a visual image of what it might look like.
In a hypnotic state; however, you’ll be able to feel your feet walking along the white sand and the warm breeze blowing through your hair, experience the colour of the water and the ripples of the waves as well as making an association between the smells and the sounds you experience. This is because you’ve allowed hypnosis to pervade your subconscious mind.
Therefore, you can translate that experience to the suggestive powers of hypnosis in ways which can benefit you. For example, you can tell your subconscious mind that the next cigarette is going to taste awful or if you suffer from panic attacks, you can train yourself to be able to relax at will.
Hypnotherapy Benefits
Hypnotherapy has many benefits. It can help you to re-establish new patterns of behaviour and good habits whilst getting rid of old ones that were only serving a negative purpose. It can help unblock inner feelings which might have led you to not being able to resolve certain issues you’ve had for a long time which have resulted in negative behavioural patterns.
It can also help to teach you the difference between what truly matters and what doesn’t. It can also benefit your health in a number of ways – teaching you how to manage pain better, helping you get over unhealthy habits and making you less reliant on medications by learning how to establish self control in areas such as chronic illnesses which affect you.
Once you have mastered the techniques of hypnotherapy, you will find that you will be able to live your life in a calmer and more relaxed manner to create a better life for yourself.
