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Hypnosis Myths
Hypnosis is:
- Un-judged (unfiltered) imagination
- Self-hypnosis
- Imagination, it's what we create
- A heightened state of concentration
- An awake state
- A state of relaxation
- Exercise for your mind
- Rapport with your unconscious
- The ultimate display of control
Hypnosis is NOT:
- Sleep
- A state of unconsciousness
- Being gullible
- Being weak-minded
- Being controlled by someone else
- A loss of self-control
If you are like many people, all you know about hypnosis are the misconceptions popularized in movies and on television and the great myths that are told by people who have never studied or experienced hypnosis.
Frequently, people fear they will be controlled by the hypnotherapist and that they will be out of control. It is even taught by some fundamentalist Christians that hypnosis opens one up to Satan himself! It is obvious that anyone promoting such misconceptions is uneducated in the facts about hypnosis. For example, mindless eating is trance, and being in that mindless eating state, a gluttony trance would seem to be of Satan. What is more of the devil--being in control of yourself or out of control in a trance of gluttony? The number of overweight Christians who fear hypnosis is astounding. They are in fear of a God given solution, when they should be in fear of the problem.
Modern day methods and applications of hypnosis have made it a trusted and valued discipline of the healing arts, social sciences and human services. Old-time myths and misconceptions about hypnosis have given way to allow for responsible professional uses that have been a major benefit to thousands of people for many years.
The use of hypnosis was approved by the American Medical Association in 1958, and is now being taught at major universities and respected learning institutions across the country. Hypnosis has proven applications in medicine, dentistry, psychology, obstetrics, counseling, law enforcement, habit management, pain control and in virtually every area of education. Major hospitals are now including hypnotherapists on their staffs.
In the September 27, 2006 issue of Newsweek magazine, Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University School of Medicine, said: "One of the interesting ironies about hypnosis is that old fantasy that it takes away control. It's actually a way of enhancing people's control, of teaching them how to control aspects of their body's function and sensation that they thought they couldn't."
There are unlimited applications for hypnosis in self-improvement for both personal and business use.
- For example: Ellen DeGeneres spoke on her talk show in 2006 about overcoming a long-standing cigarette addiction with hypnosis, and in the December 31, 2006 Parade magazine, she said that hypnosis worked and that she will continue using it.
- Professional, Olympic and collegiate athletes use hypnosis to enhance concentration and performance.
- More and more sports teams employ their own hypnotists and even provide training to their players in self-hypnosis techniques.
- Amateur athletes successfully use hypnosis for style correction, speed and strength.
- The use of hypnosis in sports has been around for hundreds of years. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the Russian Olympic team took no less than 11 hypnotists to develop mental clarity and help the athletes with visualization.
In hypnosis it is possible to communicate with the unconscious mind in order to promote healing or even speed up a slow metabolism. You can use hypnosis to create new conditioned responses as well as to change your perceptions of things like food and exercise. Repeated reinforcement makes it last.
Never in recorded history has there ever been any danger linked to hypnosis. Hypnosis is fun, feels good, and is relaxing and beneficial.
In the December 2006 issue of Oprah Magazine, in an article titled: Losing Weight: The Mind Game, Aimee Lee Ball writes that "Because the hypnotic state is characterized by heightened concentration and responsiveness to instructions, proponents say it can help break routines, separate a desire to eat from the impulse to act on it, and imprint new eating patterns on the subconscious mind." She goes on to quote Deirdre Barrett, PhD, of Harvard Medical School: "What hypnosis does is get around having to wait for change." Ball interviewed a number of clinicians who described their success using hypnosis for weight control. Then she quoted Debbie Competello, who shared her success story: "I had allowed food to be the controlling element in my life. Nothing else mattered. Hypnosis was important in getting to some of the underlying issues." After a lifetime of failed diets, Debbie was finally able to release 163 pounds.
When in trance you may not even feel hypnotized. Hypnosis is so normal and so natural and so familiar that when you go into trance, it just feels like the same old thing that you have done before, even in deep trance. For most people, a light trance is all that is necessary to obtain results.
Almost everyone experiences a light state of hypnosis several times throughout an average day. Driving long distances often puts us into a daydream state we call highway hypnosis. You drive your car subconsciously while your thoughts are somewhere else. If you've ever lost track of time while watching TV or listening to music, you may have been in light hypnosis. The advertising industry counts on it. When you are listening intently to someone with rapt attention, you are in trance.
Many people come to a hypnotherapist thinking that there is something about trance that is different than their normal state of consciousness and this simply is not the case. A light trance feels no different from relaxation. No matter how deep into trance one goes, there is a feeling of familiarity. Do not expect to feel hypnotized. Do expect to feel relaxed.
One client's reaction to her first experience of hypnosis is typical. "It was so much easier than I thought it might be, and so relaxing. When it was over, I felt like I'd just had a refreshing nap. Very mellow, very enjoyable. I didn't have any trouble wanting to do it several times a day."
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HYPNOSIS FOR YOUR HEALTH
Conditioning the unconscious is a far more useful way to make long term goals--most healthy thing I've done so far. |
