What is hypnosis?

A hypnotic trance is a state of altered awareness, it is like being asleep and awake at the same time. It is achieved by narrowing your attention and maintaining a willingness to be in an altered state. The hypnotist or hypnotherapist’s role is similar to a swim coach or aerobics instructor, if you follow the instructions you enter into a hypnotic trance if you don’t, you won’t. The choice is yours, the hypnotist cannot do it for you or to you, this is why we often hear the phrase, all hypnosis is self hypnosis.

As you follow the hypnotic process the altered state is achieved and maintained by continuation of attention with intention. Imagine you are in a swimming pool treading water. You need to maintain just the right amount of arm and leg movement to keep your head comfortably above the water. If you stop moving your legs and arms you will begin to sink. In hypnosis, the consequences aren’t so bad, loosing focus or changing your desire will result in changing your state. Fortunately, instead of drowning you will either return to normal consciousness or perhaps drift off to sleep.

Can I be hypnotised?

Absolutely, everyone can be hypnotised because the hypnotic trance state is a naturally occurring function of the body/mind. It is the same attentive state that you naturally enter whilst watching a captivating movie, reading a great book, driving a familiar road or even playing a sport you enjoy.

Everyone is also capable of resisting hypnosis so if you are not ready or willing, you can just continue holding onto the edge of the pool despite what the swim teacher is telling you. I did this many times during swimming lessons! You are always in control of your own experience.

My role is to provide instructions designed to guide your mind down a pathway into the hypnotic state. As you follow my instructions, the hypnosis opens your mind and together we can explore what lies below.

For some of us, the conscious mind has trouble sitting still and focussing even with a strong intention. We refer to it as a ‘monkey mind’, as it jumps from one thought to another and another and another. When we are caught up by thoughts, entering a state of focussed attention can be difficult. Fortunately, many skilled hypnotists have developed a range of techniques to tame the monkey mind and assist you into a suitable hypnotic trance.

My favourite part about hypnosis is that once the state is established, it is almost effortless to maintain, like riding a bike or swinging on a swing, once you settle in, your mind and body become so comfortable, relaxed and balanced that you will find it to be a wonderful and easy experience.

What are the benefits, what can hypnosis do?

Imagine having a computer that isn’t running the way it used to, it has become loaded with applications some of which you no longer use and there are files spread all over the place some of which are important others not so much. Every few minutes a window pops up alerting you to some thing completely irrelevant, you close it down and two seconds later another one pops up. The entire system is running infuriatingly slow, making your life totally exhausting. Your attempts at completing a desired task feels impossible. After a while you accept this is just the way it is or maybe you become angry, irritated, disappointed or perhaps constantly worried, as if you have been given a dysfunctional computer and now you are stuck with it for the rest of your life.

Now imagine finding out that you can actually start up this computer via a different account. An account which has additional levels of access, allowing you the options of deleting or updating apps, scanning for bugs and cleaning up and consolidating files. You boot it up and as you clean out the old files and folders you notice the system is beginning to run faster than ever before. You become energised and focussed and decide to run a full system scan, alerting you to a couple of bugs in the system but instead of a disaster warning it also presents an effective solution. The bugs are resolved, and all those alerts and pop-ups disappear! You’re thinking clearly again, having fun again and in control again. You have a functional computer running applications that benefit you and is in-tune with you, your needs and your desires.

Hypnosis + Therapy = Hypnotherapy

1. A hypnotic state can be both physically and mentally relaxing - helping the mind and body to release stress, tension and anxieties whilst calming the nervous system and providing mental clarity.

2. Hypnosis can bypass the critical factor of the mind allowing for positive suggestions to take hold in the sub/unconscious. Providing a therapeutic opportunity to deliberately change negative habits, beliefs and associations.

3. Hypnosis is an excellent way to explore your own consciousness. Get to know yourself by recovering resources, resolving trauma and connecting with your highest self for guidance and wisdom.

4. Combining hypnosis with other therapy techniques has proven to increase the effectiveness and longevity of standard interventions.

5. Hypnosis has also proven to help enhance performance and alleviate physical symptoms.

Effective uses of Hypnotherapy:

Treatment of Habits and Addictions
Relief from Anxiety and Depression
Resolve Post Traumatic Stress
Stop Smoking
Relaxation and Stress Relief
Weight Loss
Overcome Fears and Phobias
Improving Confidence and Performance

Everyone is unique, consciousness is complex and therefore all results, benefits and outcomes will vary from person to person.

Hypnosis is safe when provided by a skilled and certified clinical hypnotherapist.

Will I loose control? What will you make me do?

No. Hypnosis is empowering and any changes that are made are completely through the power of your own mind.

Each client must be meaningfully invested and have a desire in the process for the trance to be maintained. You have complete free will and control at all times. I remind all clients that it is absolutely okay to stop, pause, or postpone a session for whatever reason.

I won’t make you do anything, because I can’t make you do anything. I will offer suggestions, ask you questions and give you options. During normal waking consciousness our minds are often closed off to new information and any information that doesn’t match with our belief systems is disputed or automatically rejected.

Under hypnosis new information is allowed in. The mind is able to consider it, play with it and perhaps it choose to accept and apply it or perhaps not. Hypnosis helps open the mind to change by opening it up to new ideas, behaviours and solutions. If you are ready to change, then the mind/body can take on these changes.

I am finding it a little hard to grasp.

Thats right! The thing is, hypnosis is an experience, I can’t just explain it to you, you need to experience it for yourself.

You cannot grasp hypnosis with your hand, just like you can’t point to where your mind is located. Yet we know the mind exists. One could argue that the mind is all that we know exists… Anyway, it is normal to feel uneasy when we are unable to measure and define things. Any discussion about non-physical and subjective experiences is a challenge especially when we lack vocabulary and the shared experiences to communicate about it.

When we are talking about the mind, we are talking about something intangible, the non-physical side of reality which includes everything from the energy of thoughts and beliefs to each of our individualised perspectives of awareness, floating like a crouton in the soup of expanded consciousness! It is hard to be precise, coherent and understood.

So if you are still feeling confused, feel free to book an appointment, or try and online hypnosis video and experience it for yourself.