What Is Hypnosis?

Maybe we should begin with what hypnosis is not. TV, and films have all too frequently portrayed hypnosis in a negative light. People often think that Hypnosis is some kind of “mind control”, that they will be unconscious or asleep throughout and have no control of what is happening, or that only people of limited intelligence can be hypnotized.

These misconceptions couldn’t be further from the truth.

All hypnosis is self hypnosis and the client is the one who is entirely in control of allowing themselves to deeply relax, (often led gently by the hypnotist.) Many clients report being aware of their surroundings and able to hear throughout the trance and yet feeling so deeply comfortable that they are quite happy to remain relaxed and enjoy the visual journey.

The kind of “healing hypnosis” I use for enhancing fertility does not involve any quacking like a duck, pretending to be a rock star or barking like a dog, but rather it involves deep relaxation, highly focused attention, positive suggestions and often visualization.

To begin to understand how hypnosis works we must consider for a while how the mind works, how it takes in and stores information and records experience and emotion.

We all have a conscious and an unconscious mind. Our conscious mind is very analytical, logical and rational. It attempts to analyze why things happen and to change our bad habits through the use of will power. Within the conscious mind is also the critical factor, the inner negative judger or critic. On the other hand, our unconscious mind is the recorder of all events, experiences, emotions and beliefs. It is the place where we come up with wonderfully creative ideas and the place where issues and problems are held. For this reason, it is to the unconscious mind that we need to go in order to begin to work through any issues or negative feelings. As this is the unconscious mind, some issues or feelings may have passed under the radar of the conscious mind and therefore, possibly, we have been unaware of them. Our unconscious mind is playful and creative and often communicates through images, metaphors and pictures and we utilize all these methods during hypnosis.

In order to access the unconscious mind we can use hypnosis or trance. By relaxing so deeply we are able to bypass the critical part of the conscious mind and gain access to the unconscious mind. We are then open to positive suggestions and can begin to creatively change negative behaviors, create good habits and alter attitudes and beliefs.