ALIVE HYPNOSIS

Hypnosis Information

Hypnosis is a state of relaxed concentration where the critical mind is bypassed. It is similar to being like a child who is open and receptive and rarely critical of his/her world. When you bypass the judging mind, your mind (the subconscious mind) is accepting of the things you want to change or goals you want to reach. In a hypnotic state, positive suggestions take root and can bring about changes in behavior, feelings, and thoughts. Hypnosis also reveals what may be blocking you from making the changes you want (subconscious saboteurs), and it assists people to replace unwanted behavior, feelings, or thoughts with more positive alternatives.

What is relaxation?

Relaxation is a state where the body and mind are calm, undisturbed. Normally, we are bombarded by information that comes through our sensory channels (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin). When this information comes in, it stimulates the mind, which sends signals throughout the body. This stimulation creates activity inside the body. For example, if you are at a rock concert, you may be hearing loud music, watching a band, and dancing in the aisle at the same time. You are using your visual, auditory, and tactile senses. The information that comes through your senses stimulates your mind to have thoughts. Perhaps you may be thinking, “this is such a great concert; I love this band!” Your brain processes all this sensory information, and you feel excited. You are not relaxed in this situation. Sure, you may be having fun and feeling happy, but technically, your body and mind are not relaxed. At a rock concert where you are having a good time, you feel positive stress called eustress (negative stress is called distress). Even positive stress uses up energy. Remember, relaxation is a state where your body and mind are calm and undisturbed. If you are being stimulated to the point of excitement, you are not relaxed, even if you are having a wonderful time.

What is mental focus?

Mental focus occurs as a result of excluding your sensory channels as much as possible. When you ignore the information that comes through your senses, you can focus your mind and improve your concentration. For example, imagine being in a quiet, serene place where no one will disturb you. If you shut your eyes, plug your ears, and remain still, you will be more likely to increase mental focus than if you are at a rock concert. In a serene place, there is less sensory stimulation and fewer distractions, so your attention can be placed wherever you want. During a hypnotherapy session, your attention will be placed on the problem you have or the issue you are interested in. Clients often have an epiphany or "aha!" moment that helps them remove their obstacles.

What is the conscious mind?

The conscious mind is the mind that rationalizes, thinks, analyzes, judges and makes decisions. The conscious mind upholds your beliefs, values, and ethics and uses language to communicate. It filters all your experiences through your beliefs and values. For example, if you are a person who believes that money is the root of all evil, you may judge others who are wealthy as greedy and materialistic. However, if you are a person who believes that money makes the world go around, you may judge others who have money as doing their part in society. The conscious mind makes judgements about all your experiences based upon who you think you are; and it creates a perception of reality that matches your beliefs, values, and ethics. Who you think you are is largely based upon your conditioning, which primarily stems from your karma, childhood family, cultural imprinting, significant relationships, social class, and critical events in your life. The conscious mind has more control when you are awake.

What is the subconscious mind?

The subconscious mind is the mind that feels, intuits and dreams. The subconscious communicates through feelings and images and reveals who you feel you are. Your subconscious mind stores all your memories throughout your lifetime. That is why it is possible to do regressions to a much earlier period in your life that you do not consciously remember. Subconscious literally means under conscious awareness, so even though you do not consciously recall what happened when you were two years old, the memory is still there in your subconscious mind.

The subconscious also controls many of your physiological functions whether you realize it or not. If you find this hard to believe, ask yourself if you tell your body what to do every second? Of course you don't; it is your subconscious mind that regulates all of these processes. Consider all the complex reactions that occur in your body every minute, what intelligence is controlling these events? It is not your conscious mind because if it were, you would make millions of decisions every minute. You would have to tell your skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, immune, respiratory, digestive, urinary and reproductive systems what to do every single microsecond. You would spend all your time solely on directing millions of bodily functions. Thank goodness our conscious minds are not in control of our bodies because we could not do it as perfectly as our subconscious minds. The subconscious is a vast intelligence that controls the body. That is why many people with physical problems use hypnosis to alleviate their physical pain, heal faster after operations, and much more. Mind/body healing is just one of the applications for hypnosis.

Most of our actions are controlled by our subconscious mind rather than our conscious mind. Even though we think that our conscious mind controls our behavior, it is the subconscious that impels us to act, not the conscious. For example, if our conscious mind controlled our behavior, then we would be able to do whatever we want just by making decisions. We all know that is not the case. For example, if you made a decision to run a marathon, would you follow through with months of training and run the marathon too? How about if you made a decision to lose 50 pounds or to stop biting your nails? Could you reason yourself to stop doing these things? Most likely you would not be able to because the conscious mind is not the mind that controls behavior even though we like to think that it does. It is the subconscious mind that contains our memories, habits (patterns), and feelings. It is the subconscious mind that makes us behave in these patterns and makes us feel the way that we do about our experiences. Even if we consciously believe that biting nails is not a good thing to do, the subconscious mind still makes us bite our nails until we break the pattern. The subconscious mind does not make value judgements about biting nails like the conscious mind does. It simply does what it is used to doing. The subconscious mind is like film in a camera. Film does not judge whether or not the picture you are taking is good or not, it simply records the image.

The subconscious mind contains our urges, desires, and motivations that are hidden from the conscious mind. That is why you must work within the subconscious mind if you want to change something in your life long-term. Some people may resolve to stop smoking and may do so for a week or so, but long-term change is more difficult. To prove this point, consider the millions of people who make New Year's Resolutions, but never keep them for long. For long-term change, hypnotherapy is recommended because hypnosis goes straight to the subconscious mind to release emotional charge, resolve problems, gain insight, and change behavior.

Hypnosis is an effective therapy because it bypasses the conscious mind and goes straight to the subconscious mind. In hypnosis, the conscious mind recedes and the subconscious comes to the forefront. Then, you can find out what your subconscious needs are and change your behavior.

Common Hypnosis Myths

Many people have erroneous myths about hypnosis, the most common ones follow.

• Myth: I'll reveal all my secrets. (Fact: You decide what you want to share or not share in hypnosis.)
• Myth: I'll be "under" someone's spell or mind-controlled by him/her. (Fact: You are in control at all times in hypnosis.)
• Myth: I'll have amnesiac blocks and not remember anything (Fact: You will remember everything from your session.)
• Myth: I'll be forced to do something against my will (Fact: In hypnosis, you will not do anything against your will.)
• Myth: I won't be able to be hypnotized (Fact: As long as you are not mentally impaired, you will be able to be hypnotized. People go into hypnotic states many times every single day.)
• Myth: I'll do something embarrassing (Fact: Clucking like a chicken or barking like a dog is reserved for stage hypnosis that is for entertainment purposes. In a therapeutic session, hypnosis is used to help clients make the changes they desire.)
• Myth: Hypnosis is dangerous, especially for the feeble-minded (Fact: Hypnosis is safe. A certified, skilled hypnotherapist will ensure your safety and success at all times.)

How is hypnotherapy different from psychotherapy?

Psychotherapists diagnose and treat people with mental disorders; whereas, hypnotherapists help motivated clients change their mental attitudes and behaviors. Generally speaking, pyschotherapists focus on the changing the client's conscious mind and/or awareness; whereas hypnotherapists work primarily on changing the subconscious mind. However, both therapies recognize the importance of both the conscious and subconscious minds, and both are helpful in different ways. People who have been in therapy with a psychotherapist before may also benefit from hypnotherapy.

Information on brain waves and hypnosis

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