What Is Hypnosis

When I ask that question, do you immediately imagine bearded, pocket watch waving men with pipes, or stage shows where someone is quacking like a duck or pretending to do a striptease in front of an audience? Am I close?

Thanks to mainstream media and the entertainment industry’s contributions, I generally have to start with setting the record straight by telling you what hypnosis isn’t…

Hypnosis isn’t:

Mind control: I mean if hypnosis were mind control, surely all hypnotists, and hypnotherapists would be very rich, right? Speaking personally, my children’s rooms would be spotless, my husband would always put the toilet seat down, there would never be dirty dishes in my kitchen sink, and I would have already achieved world peace.

The fact is, all your morals and values remain completely intact during trance, and you remain in complete control of your will at all times. For example, if I suggested you should open your wallet and hand me all your credit cards, it’s very likely, your eyes would fly open, and you’d be asking me why I was asking for your credit cards.

Just for the weak minded: Everyone is capable of entering a state of trance if they are open to the process. In fact, most people have entered a state of trance at some point in their life. For example, maybe you’ve driven a familiar route and not remembered how you got from point A to point B? That is a trance state.

CEOs, elite athletes, and others use hypnosis and self-hypnosis to improve their performance. Would you consider them weak minded?

You cannot get stuck in trance:  As previously stated, trance is a state of deep relaxation. When you’re ready to emerge, even if the hypnotherapist isn’t present to help, you simply open your eyes and your trance is over.

Hypnosis IS all about the brain, and how we use it. 

As of this writing, scientists have identified five different brainwaves, and there’s still much we don’t know about the most complex organ in the human body. I am definitely not of the science-y persuasion, but the following is my explanation of what we currently understand about these brainwaves, and how they work.

Since I find it helps to engage your imagination, I’m going to describe the brainwaves as five distinct personalities.

Gamma is the most recently discovered brainwave.   Gamma is Quicksilver frequency (pardon the Marvel reference). In fact, Gamma is so high frequency, the technology to measure it was only recently developed.  If Gamma had a personality, it would be “In The Zone.” When you’re Gamma, you’re focused, on top of your game, intense and performing at your highest level.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is super low frequency Delta. Picture Delta under the covers, mouth open, sound asleep, maybe even snoring.

Two steps up from Delta is Alpha. Imagine Alpha lying in bed, still early in the morning, eyes still closed in that place between asleep and awake. Alpha is just conscious enough to try to think about whether he can slip back into that dream about flying, or if it’s time to get up to pee. Alpha is aware how nice and warm it feels under the covers and is ready to slip back into Delta, but also hears the call of the waking, or conscious mind nagging about the alarm that’s about to go off.

Beta is the conscious mind. Beta thinks about everything, all the time. Like what it takes to read this blog, scheduling your dentist appointment, changing the oil in your car, and staying on task at work. Beta controls the conversations we have, and everything else we do on a conscious level. Beta is the critical mind, and would not like to hear that it’s actually a very small percentage of our total brain power.

And then there is Theta.

Theta is your subconscious, and controls everything else. Yep, everything, all our autonomic body functions  like breathing, digestion, how the blood flows through your body and more.  Theta is also in charge of your emotions, and the things you’ve already learned to do by heart. For example, tying your shoes, or the basics of driving. Once you’ve learned these activities, Theta tells Beta, “I got this, you don’t have to worry about it anymore, you can concentrate on other things.”

Theta also learns and stores our belief systems. Picture Theta like a computer programmer, or a gardener. Once it learns something, it sends out algorithms, or plants seeds, and only things consistent with the algorithm, or the plants already in the garden are seen, and can get in.

For example, something scary, a traumatic event, occurs in your life, and Theta  determines you need to be on guard at all times and therefore, YOU are an anxious person. Theta then sends out an algorithm, or plants seeds in the garden of your mind, looking for information to confirm you are an anxious person, or only allowing in the anxious plants and other plants that fit in with the anxious person landscape to grow.  Theta blocks out any inconsistencies, often together with Beta. So if, for example, someone tells you, “there’s nothing to worry about,” or you even experience days, weeks, or even months without a traumatic event, Beta and Theta will find every reason why that person is wrong, and will always keep you on alert waiting for the next traumatic event they know is going to occur. And the more evidence Beta and Theta gather to confirm the belief that you are an anxious person, the stronger the algorithm, or the deeper the roots of the plants in the anxious garden grow.

You might wonder if it’s possible to get through to Theta by bombarding Beta with different information, and the answer is yes, that’s the goal of CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and it does work. But studies have found the best, longest lasting results occur when we speak directly to Theta. When we go directly to the source, we can change the algorithm, weed the garden and plant new seeds, and the best way to get to Theta is through hypnosis.

Hypnosis is similar to meditation in that, you relax both the mind and body. The difference is, in hypnosis, you have a goal. As mentioned above, an induction is used to help create that state of relaxation and bypass Gamma and Beta, and even Alpha, so we can speak directly to Theta, correct any misinformation Theta has received and assimilated, change the algorithms, weed the garden, and plant new seeds, so your life begins to move in the direction you want it to go. In the example above, suggestions for could be, “you are a calm and peaceful person.” “You know how to handle all situations confidently.” “You can speak to people easily and with confidence.”

These phrases can also be changed to first person and used for self-hypnosis, but that’s a topic for another blog.

Then we guide you to fully experience what it is like to embody this new state while still in Theta. By doing this, and continuing to practice it in self-hypnosis, as well as on the Beta level, you begin to create new neural pathways in your brain, and change in your life.

If you want more information about whether hypnosis might work for you, schedule your free 15 minute consultation now.