Dispelling the myths
At LLLY, one of the tools that Steve uses is hypnotherapy. Whilst some clients love this technique to help empower their lives, others can be a bit more skeptical about it.
Hypnotherapy has a long and colourful past. It was actually used as early as 1791 in medicine and, at that time, doctors were able to perform surgery on hypnotised patients without any anaesthetic.
However, hypnosis then got into the hands of “entertainers” and quickly fell out of favour as it was seen as a form of quackery. We’ve all seen people like Deren Brown put willing volunteers into trances and make them do weird things… But, in this blog post, we are going to dispel these myths and explain the wonderful benefits of hypnosis.
“Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state of intense concentration coupled with deep relaxation” Professor David Spiegel, Stanford University
Contrary to what most people think, hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep where you have no control over what happens to you. In fact, when people who are being hypnotised enter into the trance-like state of deep relaxation, they are actually in a heightened state of awareness. This is because they are concentrating entirely on their hypnotherapist’s voice.
People often think that those who are being hypnotised are subject to the power of the hypnotist and can be forced to do things that they don’t want to do. This is not the case at all. You can’t hypnotise a person to do something that they don’t want to do. You can’t make a hypnotised person do something that goes against their morals. Hypnosis reinforces the things that you want to do.
What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis is simply a technical term for something that most of us do all the time – day-dreaming! Many times a day a person will go into a deeply relaxing day-dreaming state without even noticing it. So, hypnosis is something you’ve actually been doing your whole life!
In this state, your conscious mind (what is sometimes called the monkey-mind where the constant chatter takes place) is suppressed so that your subconscious mind is revealed.
What is the subconscious mind?
At LLLY, we know what a powerful tool your subconscious mind is. It’s like a huge storage room for your memory with unlimited capacity! It permanently remembers everything that has ever happened to you.
Using hypnotherapy, people can often recall events that happened to them even 50 years before! And your subconscious memory is the tool that helps them to do that perfectly. Your subconscious mind is trustworthy – it’s your conscious mind that isn’t!
Your subconscious mind obeys. It obeys the commands that your conscious mind sends to it. If you think of your conscious mind like a gardener which plants seeds, the subconscious mind can be seen as the garden where those seeds grow.
What happens when a person enters a state of hypnosis?
When a person enters the deep relaxation state of hypnosis, their hypnotherapist is able to suggest ideas to the person – things like lifestyle changes or new concepts. These ideas are then picked up by the subconscious brain and planted in the garden of the subconscious mind.
Hypnotherapy works so that our analytical, logical left-side of the brain is turned off while the non-analytical, “go with the flow” right-side of the brain really switches on. This means that the subconscious mind is truly engaged and can take on the hypnotherapist’s suggestions so that the hypnotised person’s behaviour and physical state start to change in day-to-day life.
For an example, let’s pretend a person has a terrible fear of spiders. They have consciously tried everything to get rid of this fear, but it’s still there. This is because their subconscious mind is keeping this fear stored. With hypnotherapy, a person can start to reprogramme their subconscious mind so that this deep-rooted fear is eliminated.
What can hypnotherapy help you with?
The success of hypnotherapy has been seen in a wide variety of fields, from stress-management to dealing with phobias and even quitting smoking. There is also a lot of research at the moment which shows how hypnotherapy can help control the level of pain that we feel. This is because, during hypnosis, your brain releases endorphins – the body’s natural painkillers. Because of this pain-numbing effect, “hypnobirthing” has become a popular tool for mothers who are preparing for labour.
Hypnotherapy can also help people overcome addictions, like smoking and alcoholism. It can help with bulimia and anorexia. It can even help people conquer problems such as blushing or stuttering which can really affect their lives.
There are a whole other range of issues that hypnotherapy can help with, including calming down panic attacks and OCD, and it can even alleviate stress-related problems such as IBS, insomnia and teeth grinding.
Want to find out more?
If you want to hear even more about the amazing effects of hypnosis, Steve will be hosting a free workshop called An Introduction to Hypnosis on Thursday 13 October from 5:30 pm at Octavo’s Book Café and Wine Bar in Cardiff Bay.
In this talk, Steve will demystify hypnosis and reveal its amazing results. Make sure you grab your tickets soon before they run out!
Click the button below to get your free tickets:
