Advanced Hypnotherapy South London – Bromley | Beckenham | Croydon | Dulwich and local areas
Call on: 0208 658 1269 or 07712 007052
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Hypnosis is often thought to be strange, weird or mysterious.
Of course the truth is it’s none of those things
What is Hypnotherapy?
A state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterised by a greatly enhanced capacity for the unconscious mind to respond to suggestion.
Hypnosis Is A Natural State
What many don’t realise is that we ALL experience hypnosis on a daily basis mostly without realising it. For example: if you’re a driver, you will almost certainly have experienced being fully conscious of driving to your destination but not really remembering any of the journey details, the roads, the surroundings etc, maybe even missing your turn-off, that’s because you were actually in a mild hypnotic trance but still in full control of the car. It’s referred to as Highway Hypnosis.
Daydreaming
We all daydream and experience that often pleasant feeling of being ‘miles away’ deep in thought or ‘lost’ in a book, movie, music, or been intensely focused on something to the exclusion of all else, (which explains that old saying, ‘the lights are on but there’s no one at home)!’
Ever found yourself staring hard at an object or a point in a room and been unable, or unwilling, to pull your eyes away from it for a few seconds? All these occurrences are normal, natural and very common and all examples of a hypnotic trance. So you see, you already know what it feels like to be hypnotised without even knowing it, so I’m sure you’ll agree that hypnosis doesn’t bad, scary or mysterious at all!
Let’s Dispel A Myth – Or Ten
- Fact – You cannot get ‘stuck’ in hypnosis, it’s just not possible.
- Fact – Hypnosis is not mind control, a hypnotist cannot take over your mind.
- Fact – You do not lose control during hypnosis.
- Fact – A hypnotherapy session is absolutely nothing like those entertainment stage shows you see on TV.
- Fact – You are not asleep during hypnosis, you are awake, aware, hear everything and can also speak if required too.
- Fact – Hypnosis is a lovely feeling of relaxation and calm but you are fully aware at all times.
- Fact – You can take yourself out of hypnosis at any time.
- Fact – A hypnotherapist cannot force you to do stupid things against your will.
- Fact – You will never do, say or divulge anything you don’t wish to during a hypnotherapy session. You are always in control.
- Fact – There is no ‘trigger’ word that days later will turn you into a werewolf, a chicken or Elvis impersonator, that’s just the stuff of the stage entertainer and Hollywood! Remember, people use hypnotherapy to take control in their lives, not lose control!
Just one final misconception and it’s an important one.
The Unfortunate Link With Stage Hypnotists
Many people’s knowledge of hypnosis seems to stem from stageshows, this is really very unfortunate because serious hypnotherapy work is nothing at all like that. Remember, stageshows are just entertainment, pure and simple.
You’ll notice how a stage hypnotist will begin with maybe 25 or 30 subjects but whittle them down to about 10 for the performance, there’s a reason for this process, the remaining subjects will have passed covert, (secret), suggestibility tests, those who fail that test are sent back to their seats. (TV hypnotist, Paul McKenna, gave up stage shows, realising that the frivolous nature of them was damaging what is a serious therapeutic resourse).
Myths Exploded. Now Let’s Delve A Little Deeper
The human mind is in two parts, the conscious and the unconscious (or subconscious) mind.
The Conscious Mind (just 10% of our total)
This is where we spend most of our time, it’s where we ‘live’ during our waking hours and is made up of four areas – (rational, analytical, willpower, temporary memory).
Rational – Example, smokers instinctively know it’s bad for their health but will rationalise that smoking helps them *relax. In reality smoking raises the heart rate and blood pressure – so much for relaxing but if the rational area of our conscious mind says it helps us relax then we feel ok about it. As you can see, our rational mind is not always right!
Analytical – this part of the mind recognises problems such as a flat tyre or smashed window and figures out how to fix them, it’s as straightforward as that.
Willpower – This is only temporary. You may have tried using willpower to change a bad habit such as smoking, improve diet or take more exercise but willpower is controlled by the conscience mind, therefore, in most cases it quickly fades away, (like new year resolutions). Willpower alone is very weak and just cannot effect permanent internal change.
Temporary Memory – This is very limited, we use it in our daily lives to remember for example, our names, other people’s names, where we live, our age etc. Science has proven that the conscience mind can hold only about 7 bits of information at any one time which confirms just how weak it is.
* The ‘relaxation’ a smoker feels is simply due to the deep breath needed to inhale the smoke, relaxation is created by deep breathing which can of course, still be done but without a cigarette!
The Unconscious Mind (90% of the total)
By far the most powerful and controls the parts listed below, the unconscious mind is the other 90% and is where I do my work to change any behaviours and erroneous perceptions.
Imagination – More than just creativity, imagination is also our perception of the world around us and everyone’s perception is different and is their own personal truth. So be aware that perception is not reality; it’s just a perception!
Permanent Memory – Every piece of data ever received through our 5 senses is stored here from even before we are born. Everything we see, hear, feel or experience leaves an imprint which turn us into the complex individuals we are today, (our habits, emotions, beliefs, behaviours etc).
Think of your permanent memory being like a computer hard-drive – a highly organised system that works by association. For example, you hear a ‘special’ song that brings back feelings and emotions from the past because it reminds you of an old friend, relationship or some other memory associated with that particular song. So compare our unconscious mind to that of a computer hard drive – and sometimes we need to re-program our computers don’t we?
Habits, Feelings, Beliefs, Emotions, Dreams, Intuition and more
Our unconscious mind is our feeling mind and all these are stored here. Hypnosis helps you become aware of a feeling, habit, emotion etc connected with your particular issue. Hypnosis allows your unconscious mind to come to the fore whilst sending your conscious mind into the background, clearing the way to establish the permanent change you need or desire. Such changes can only be made in the unconscious mind, which we can access when in a sufficiently deep level of hypnosis, (that lovely relaxed state of mind).
Our Autonomic Nervous System
This is all the things we do automatically, (breathe, swallow, heartbeat, blood circulation etc), all these functions just happen without any input from us. We don’t have to tell ourselves to heal from an injury or to breathe etc; our unconscious mind takes care of all that for us.
How Changes Pass From The Conscious To The Unconscious Mind
The Car Analogy
This explains how the unconscious mind takes control. If you’re a seasoned driver, you just get in and drive, you don’t need to think about what you’re doing with the pedals, the gear stick and other controls etc, you just do it instinctively. But when you were first learning to drive, you had to focus, practice, concentrate hard on what you were doing and in what order and you probably forgot much of it again a few hours later, that’s because at that time it was your conscious mind in control, (remember, the temporary memory). But eventually with repetition and familiarity, it all ‘clicked’ into place, that click, was your unconscious mind taking over – permanently.
Now a bit of fun
Try to read the following paragraph and see how your unconscious mind still seems to understand it. When you read, your mind has the ability to skim over the all words and make an assessment so you don’t actually need to see every single letter. There are plenty of other examples like this but you get the point.
Yuor scubsoncuois mnid is so fmialair wtih the wrods taht you raed taht it can roceiznge the wdros eevn if tehy are not sellepd croetclry. As lnog as the frist and lsat ltteer of the wrdos are in the rgiht pclae, you can frugie out the rset on yuor own sicne wehn you raed you dnot look at erevy ltteer.
…when all else has failed, call me, I know exactly what to do.
Then please download my free 20 minute recording 'The Truth About Hypnosis,' it should answer most, or maybe all your questions.
FREE NO OBLIGATION CONSULTATION
Advanced Hypnotherapy South London – Bromley | Beckenham | Croydon | Dulwich and local areas
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