What is Hypnosis

By Georgina Powell,CCHt

What do Albert Einstein, Jackie Kennedy-Onassis, Henry Ford, and Mozart have in common? Give up? All have benifited from hypnosis to make positive changes in their lives.

Hypnosis can help you to better understand yourself. It can help you to change bad habits into good ones. It can help you turn your negative or sad feelings into positive or happy ones. It can help you to effortlessly focus on almost anything in your life that you would like to change, while leaving you unburdened by analytical or pessimistic thoughts.

Unfortunately, hypnosis and hypnotists have long been portrayed in a negative light by television, films, and other media. Most people are familiar with the image of hypnosis as a traveling stage show in which people are made to bark like dogs or act like chickens. We've been led to believe that, while under hypnosis people are unconscious and unaware of their surroundings. These and other misconceptions could not be further from the truth. A person of normal intelligence can only be hypnotized if he or she is willing to follow the hypnotist's instructions. The vast majority of hypnotists practice in offices not circus tents, and are deeply committed to helping people.

To understand how hypnosis works, we must first learn about how our mind works. In simple terms, our mind consists of two components: The conscious mind, and the subconscious mind. Our conscious, or logical, mind performs analytical duties, rationalizes, uses willpower in attempts to change personal habits, and serves as our short-term memory. The conscious mind also contains what is known as the critical factor, which operates automatically when you are using your conscious mind. The critical factor can be thought of as protecting the status quo of your beliefs and must be bypassed in order for you to accept any suggestion that conflicts with your existing beliefs.

The subconscious mind is where our brain deals with habits, emotions, long-term memory, and self preservation. It is the subconcious that the hypnotist focuses on. It is the part through which it is possible to bypass the critical factor entirely in order to open the door to positive change in your life. A good metaphor is to consider the subconscious as a hard drive in your computer which the hypnotist reprograms. When you have targeted a specific glitch, such as a bad habit, the hypnotist is able to guide you into a relaxed state where it is possible to reprogram your subconscious with positive suggestions that replace negative elements.

Our conscious mind finds it difficult to change bad habits. For example, when a person decides to try and quit smoking, he typically thinks he can accomplish this through willpower alone, however willpower simply initiates the desire to change and is usually unsuccessful at eliminating the problem. The subconscious mind is able to change bad habits by readily accepting positive suggestions. Therein lies the secret to the effectiveness of hypnosis. Through positive suggestion hypnosis changes your beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors which you would like to improve.

Some things that you can accomplish with the help of hypnosis are change your eating habits, stop smoking, conquer phobias, and improve athletic performance.

If hypnosis is going to work for you, it is crucial to understand that a doubtful or negative response to given suggestions leads to their rejection. On the other hand, if you really want the change and focus on the suggestion with a positive attitude, trusting that it works, the suggestion is accepted and positive change happens. Trusting and believing in hypnosis is the first step to a successful new you! For more information, visit www.performancehypno.com.

Georgina Powell, CCHt is a board certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and member of the American Board of Hypnotherapy, the National Guild of Hypnotist, the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association, the International Association of Counselors and Therapist and the American Alliance of Hypnotists. She has also been profiled by Psychology Today. For more information visit www.performancehypno.com.