Hypnosis - What is Hypnotism

The image of the man dangling the watch back and forth before the patient's eyes and saying "You are getting sleepy... You are getting sleepy... You are getting sleepy" is ingrained into our brains as the primary mode of hypnotizing someone. Once a person goes under, the hypnotist can get the unconscious to say or do just about anything on command. While hypnotism is accepted in the entertainment industry, the scientific community generally snubs such practices. Nevertheless, recent therapeutic trends suggest that the power of the mind cannot be discounted.

Austrian physician Franz Mesmer is sometimes called the father of modern hypnotism, and in the late 1700s, he proposed that it was a mystical force called animal magnetism that flowed from the hypnotist to the patient.

Hypnotists James Braid and Hippolyte Bernheim argued that mesmerism is something far different from hypnosis and that their work centered on the idea of passing a direct suggestion, while simultaneously encouraging deep relaxation, occasionally under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

However, modern Ericksonian hypnosis, popularized by Milton Erickson in the sixties, purports that indirect suggestions have a greater influence over the mind.

While there is much dissension over who is right, the hypnosis techniques are practiced in centers, clinics and living rooms around America to help folks mentally and physically.

In 2000, Harvard researchers sought an answer to the question:

• Does being hypnotized change the brain?

In their study, they asked a group of men to hold a brick out in front of them as long as they could, which was five minutes for most fully conscious subjects. However, under hypnotic suggestion, they held the brick out for fifteen to twenty minutes.

Next, subjects were hypnotized and placed in an MRI scanner. A computer screen showed them patterns of yellow, red, blue and green rectangles and recorded their brain activity. Then they were shown the same rectangles in shades of gray and were asked to imagine the colors. When they were not hypnotized, both activities showed brain activity on the right side only, but when they were hypnotized both the left and the right hemispheres responded. "What we have shown for the first time," lead researcher Stephen Kosslyn concluded, "is that hypnosis changes conscious experience in a way not possible when we are not under hypnosis."

So, if being hypnotized can change the way the brain works, can it change our habitual behavior? Can we use hypnotherapy training to lose weight? While not all studies have been conclusive, there are some signs that a hypnotic suggestion for weight loss really works.

In a 1985 study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, two groups underwent a nine-week weight management program and the hypnotized group continued to lose weight two years later, while the non-hypnosis group showed no future benefits.

In another study of sixty women, the thirty hypnotized women lost an average of seventeen pounds, while the control group only lost an average of half a pound (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1986). In 1996, it was discovered that adding weight loss hypnosis to a weight loss plan increased weight loss by 97% and increased post-treatment effectiveness by more than 146%!

Hypnosis center therapists use a number of different hypnotic techniques to help their patients. For example, age regression and revivification can help sufferers of mental disorders who need to connect with repressed past memories to regain something.

Folks suffering from insomnia, anxiety or anger disorders will benefit from guided imagery hypnosis sessions instead.

Hypnoanalysis, pioneered by Sigmund Freud, has patients recall moments from the past to confront them and release pent-up emotions. Folks may benefit from direct suggestion and repetition tactics or from confusion and indirect suggestion. Different techniques of hypnosis work for different folks, so it is good that therapists are familiar with more than one technique.

Hypnosis Techniques

Have you ever thought about using hypnosis as a way to get over an illness, break a habit, or cope with a traumatic experience? While many traditional doctors do not subscribe to the theory of hypnosis, there is something to be said about the power of the mind to change the body's actions. Here is some information about hypnosis techniques and hypnotherapy that you will need to know.

First, you will need to understand that hypnosis techniques will only be as effective as you want them to be. Folks agree to be hypnotized because they feel that it is the best way for them to break a habit or stop a behavior that they have been trying to improve on their own. Your willingness to let your mind relax is one of the biggest success factors when it comes to hypnosis, so make sure that your body is in a peaceful state and that you are not skeptical or doubtful about the process.

Hypnosis techniques work when folks understand how their minds work. Folks think in pictures, and these pictures are either snapshots of things that actually are, such as the house you live in or the way your mother looks and things that could be, including such thoughts as how you would look if you lost ten pounds or moved into a bigger house.

Thoughts are also made up of the things that we feel. For instance, if you are around certain folks that make you feel happy, you will think happy thoughts when somebody mentions their name, or when you see a picture of them.

Hypnosis techniques may also work to calm you down. If you are in a situation that is stressful, such as a job that is very demanding, whenever someone mentions the name of your company, you will feel a pang of stress.

Everybody has coping mechanisms that help him or her to reduce stress, which is why some folks eat things that they enjoy when they are stressed, or develop another unhealthy habit such as smoking.

Your hypnotherapist will be able to use these principles, after you are relaxed and ready to enter different things into your mind. You will have to create new associations for your thoughts and feelings, so that you will not associate things like eating excessively with relieving stress. A pendulum will not always be used in the treatment, but you will be asked to calm your body down into almost a state of sleep. Hypnosis techniques will include speaking to you gently and suggesting to you that you can live differently after you have been revived.

The Power of Hypnotic Suggestion

If you have already been hypnotized or meditate on a regular basis and are thinking of going to a hypnotist, you may want to know more about hypnotic suggestion. During this process, your hypnotherapist may supply you with more thoughts and ideas that will help to enhance the treatment that you have already received.

Here is some additional information on hypnotic suggestion, as well as how you can practice these principles on your own.

One of the main components of this principle is post hypnotic suggestion, which is the coercion of a patient into a pattern of thinking that will start to come to life after the patient has been hypnotized. This is mainly what folks think of as the silly things, such as stand on one leg or bark like a dog that a hypnotist may tell a person to do when they are being hypnotized. However, hypnotic suggestion can be very important when it comes to therapeutic hypnosis, since this is what will help patients to overcome habits or bad feelings after their treatment.

Hypnotic suggestion is particularly helpful in patients that are undergoing hypnotherapy in order to lose weight, since the hypnotist will be feeding the patient positive and healthy ideas about weight and health while that individual is hypnotized.

Studies have shown that folks that are overweight have an improper relationship with food in many cases, or have negative feelings about their bodies, or about doing the things for themselves that will help them to lose weight.

During a hypnotherapy session, the hypnotist will be able to replace these thoughts with positive associations of health and food. The hypnotic suggestion comes afterwards, because the patient is able to remember and apply these things after their session, and will most likely make different diet and exercise choices.

Hypnotic suggestion can also help folks to overcome addictions such as alcoholism. Folks turn into alcoholics for a number of different reasons, including genetics, depression, and the need for approval. The hypnotist may ask the person about the reason for alcoholism while the patient is under hypnosis, and this will help the hypnotist to replace these thoughts with positive ones. When the patient comes out of the hypnotism, he or she will be able to think about why they are drinking, and will not engage in the behavior mindlessly. It may take more than one session in order for this treatment to be effective, but many folks have reported being significantly cured from this addiction after the first session.

Stop Smoking Hypnotherapy

If you have been trying to stop smoking but have not had much luck in doing so or if you are looking for a way to improve your health after smoking, stop smoking hypnotherapy may be the answer you have been looking for. Here are some of the main components to this therapy, as well as some ways that you can hypnotize yourself if you do not want to go to a professional or attend multiple sessions.

First, it is important to understand how hypnosis works. The process is successful due to retraining of the mind. The brain thinks according to feelings and pictures, and some of the thoughts are associated with smell as well. When you see a picture in your mind, either it is a picture of something that already exists or a picture of something that looks the way you want it to look. When you feel an emotion, it is based on either something that you have already experienced, which will show up as a picture in your brain, or something that you want to experience, which will also show up in your mind as a picture.

Then, you will need to figure out why you smoke. Some folks smoke as a way to relieve stress, while others like the look of having a cigarette in their hands. Some folks have realized for years that smoking is bad for their health, and they do not want to do it any longer, but the habit is just too difficult to break. You will need to do some serious thinking about how you feel when you smoke and how you think it makes you look. This will make the stop smoking hypnotherapy much more effective.

During your stop smoking hypnotherapy session, you will be asked to relax and empty any other thoughts from your brain. If you are particularly stressed or upset, the session may not be effective, so going to get your treatment when you are in a generally good mood will definitely help. You should also make sure that you are well rested before your stop smoking hypnotherapy session, since you will be still and have your eyes closed for an extended period. While you will need to get rid of conscious thoughts, you do not want to feel as though you are falling asleep. Your hypnotherapist may ask you questions while you are hypnotized about your smoking habit, and will give you new words and pictures to incorporate in your thinking whenever the urge to grab a cigarette comes to mind.

Certified Hypnotherapy Training Courses

If you are interested in hypnotherapy and would like to know more about what it would take to practice the principles of hypnosis on patients, you may want to consider undergoing some hypnotherapy training.

Here is some information about some of the schools and training institutes that will offer you the instruction that you need for a career in hypnotherapy, as well as some additional information that will help you to understand the process a little better.

One of the main things that you will need to understand before you undergo any hypnotherapy training is that this treatment involves the full participation and willingness of the patient. While the folks that come to you for hypnosis sessions may have some additional questions about the process before you begin, folks that are particularly skeptical or doubtful about what hypnotherapy actually is will not benefit from the treatment.

Your hypnotherapy training will also be more effective when you are dealing with patients that have tried other methods for getting rid of the issues that they are coming to you for. This way, they will most likely be more willing to take certain bold steps during the hypnotherapy session.

The hypnotherapy training that you will receive will also let you know how to understand the human brain and its thought processes. The training will teach you the different ways that folks think, and the power of mental association.

For instance, folks often think in pictures, which means that they will visualize a picture of something that actually is, or a picture of an ideal. Therefore, if folks think that there body is not beautiful, and they are constantly visualizing themselves with an ideal body, these two pictures are going to be very prevalent in their minds. This is the reason that hypnotherapy is effective for many folks that are trying to lose weight.

If folks are trying to break a habit, such as drinking or smoking, pictures of relieving stress or being happy may be associated with these destructive habits in some folks. Therefore, your hypnotherapy training will teach you how to help patients 'retrain' their brains to think differently, and to make different mental associations that will lead to better health.

If you would like to know more about where you can get the hypnotherapy training that you need, the Hypnotherapy Training Institute is a leading hypnosis school that offers training courses in hypnosis therapy. The HTI is a licensed school so you will be certified at the end of your training, and will learn more about advanced methods and hypno-healing in the process.

Hypnosis Meditation for Inner Peace

Most of us have heard of hypnotism, but there are still a lot of skeptics out there. Meditation has become more of an accepted practice in the Western world, although folks in other countries have been using this technique for years.

The pace of life that we all lead nowadays involves many stressful situations that can leave us feeling rundown and stretched to our limits. What with work, family life and all of the other responsibilities that plague our days, it can be difficult letting it all go and finding a little peace. However, peace is exactly what the body needs to function properly. Many folks find that they cannot sleep at night with all of their responsibilities running through their minds. If you think that you may want to try hypnosis meditation, here are a few tips that may help you to get started.

Combining the principles of hypnosis and meditation may be very effective in helping you to re-organize your life, get your health in order, or even deal with grief. If you are interested in practicing one of these at a time before you combine them, this may help you to provide treatment that is more successful for yourself. Therefore, if you know that you have a very busy schedule and are looking for a way to take some time for yourself, you may want to engage in meditation every morning before work.

All you will need to do is find a quiet place in your home or outside where you know that you will be able to be in complete silence for at least ten minutes. Then, you can focus on your breathing and calm your body down, while filling your mind with positive or peaceful thoughts. This is part of the reason why hypnosis meditation is very helpful for many folks, since the process does involve being relaxed and changing certain mindsets.

During hypnosis, you are undergoing a process of changing the way that you interpret certain things in your life. Folks develop habits and emotional complexes because of things that have happened to them in life, and this causes them to associate certain folks and things with pain or confusion.

When you are under hypnosis, you are essentially changing the pictures in your mind, whether they are real or perceived that lead to bad habits and replacing these thoughts and images with things that will benefit you.

When you add hypnosis meditation to this process, your hypnotherapy sessions may be more effective, and you will find that you will begin to behave differently in a number of social and intimate situations.

Another one of the great things about hypnosis meditation is that it is an affordable therapy. You can go to a professional to have the services done, which is recommended if you are undergoing the process for the first time, or you can do this for yourself once you get information on how to undergo the process.

Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss

If you have been exploring a number of options for losing weight, it may be a good idea to try hypnotherapy weight loss in order to help you meet your fitness goals. Here are a few of the things that you should think about before you engage in hypnotherapy weight loss, as well as some resources for finding the literature and suggestions you need for performing the procedure at home.

First, you should be aware that hypnotherapy weight loss is not the only thing you will need to do in order to lose weight. While achieving your optimum health is a matter of your willpower and determination, you will still need to follow a great exercise program, as well as a healthy diet, to make sure that you are achieving your goal weight. However, hypnosis will definitely help you to make better decisions concerning your health, so if you discover that you are veering from your diet because healthy food is becoming boring, or if you are not motivated to exercise, the treatment may definitely prove to be effective.

During your hypnotherapy weight loss session, your hypnotherapist will most likely ask you why you are overweight. This answer is different for everybody, so be sure to think intently about this question. Most folks may say things like 'because I don't have time to cook' or 'because I have not been able to lose weight since having my baby', but this is not really the answer to the question. Somewhere along the way, you most likely have lost sight of your importance as a person, which is the foundation of the reason for weight loss. Events from your past may also be hindering you from losing weight, or doing the things that are necessary to stay in good health, and your hypnotherapist will help you to find the underlying cause of this as well.

Hypnotherapy weight loss will help you to find the answers to why you may associate food with happiness, stress, sadness, or comfort as well. While you are being hypnotized, your therapist will offer you alternative images to the thoughts that you may negatively associate with food, so that after your session, you will start to think of food differently, and will make better choices. Some folks claim to be cured from being overweight after just one session, but if you find that you are still struggling with certain habits, you may need to go in for another hypnotherapy weight loss session.

If you want to perform hypnosis on yourself, you can also find a number of great reading materials that will help you to do this if you are unable go to a hypnotherapy weight loss session as often as you would like.