What Does It Feel Like To Be Hypnotized?

“It kind of feels like how Dave the astronaut felt in “2001 A Space Odyssey“, doesn’t it!?” I remember someone telling me way back when I announced I was going to college to study hypnosis.

“Umm..well, no, actually, it’s not quite that dramatic”, I replied, feeling bad that I had squashed his illusions. (He seemed pretty excited.)

As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, you already know what it feels like because it’s a natural state you go into regularly. Some people seem to spend most of their waking day in a trance state. (This is called hypersuggestibility, resulting mostly from being overwhelmed.) In fact, people that spend a lot of time feeling like that will often say after their first session “I didn’t really feel any different.”

When you are in a hypnotic state under controlled conditions, such as in  my office, you will be awake, aware, and thinking thoughts. Even thoughts as to whether or not you are really hypnotized. You hear everything that is being said and are in control enough so that you are not going to reveal anything you don’t want to. Also, you certainly are not going to do anything wacky unless you want to. (The only one allowed to be wacky in my office is me.)

So what about stage hypnosis? A good stage hypnotist asks for volunteers. Think about this: “Who would like to come up on stage and experience hypnosis?”  asks the stage hypnotist. The people in the audience wildly waving their hands to be picked  already know that to expect. We can say that thay they are already suggestible to the idea of going up on stage and getting a little uninhibited. If the hypnotist sees that there is resistance from any of the volunteers during the induction, he will put that person back into the audience. The people on stage are really hypnotized and can be given suggestions that they will act upon. That’s how stage hypnosis works.

Tell you what I’ll do. Anybody out there that would like to experience hypnosis, email me or give me a call and I’ll give you a first session for $75 just for reading my newsletter. New clients only!

I promise not to make you cluck like a chicken or bark like a dog unless you want to, and remember, I charge extra for working with animals.

If you liked this post, please leave a comment and/or share it with your social networks.  

Tman

 Ted A. Moreno

Personal/Small Business Coach

Certified Hypnotherapist

Specializing in Your Success

www.TedMoreno.com                                                                       

 (626) 826-0612

 

Hypnosis 101: What is Hypnosis?

So exactly what is hypnosis? How does it feel? How is it created?

Last week I talked about how hypnosis is a natural state we all go into. Let’s discuss this further.

As children, we do not have the ability to analyze incoming information; we believe everything we are told. We are said to be very suggestible. We actually learn how to be human. We learn likes and dislikes, what we are capable of, what we are not capable of, what is fearful, desirable, etc. This is the creation of our so called Life Script: a collection of beliefs and “knowns” that shape our behavior and thinking.  This happens at the level of our subconscious mind, we are not aware that it is occuring.

Somewhere between 7 and 9 years old, we start to develop an inhibitory process, called the critical mind. This blocks suggestions into the subconscious. We began to question incoming information, we began to ask why, and to seek to understand the information presented to us. At this point we begin to develop our conscious minds, which we use for decision making, reasoning, analyzing, and logic.

As you can see from the diagram above, the subconcious mind makes up 88% of our total “mind power” according to some estimates. The conscious mind, only about 12%. The subconscious mind has a much greater influence on our behavior.

Throughout our day, there is much information coming into our minds. Let’s call this information “message units”. These message units come from our environment, our bodies, our conscious minds (thoughts), as well as our subconscious minds.

Remember my story of me standing in front of a stack of boxes, having just moved into my new home, overwhelmed with the idea of unpacking?  That’ s how hypnosis is created: an overload of message units, causing the critical mind to fail, allowing a state of hypersuggestibility, where we lose the abiliy to critically analyze incoming information.

As Yoda said, “No more will I teach you today, clear your mind!”

More next week.

Have a stupendous week,

Ted

How To Put Yourself Into A Trance

Buy a house. That’s how I did it. Walk into the garage of your new house  filled with your life in boxes and try to decide where to start. Immediate overwhelm.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that we can buy a house. Here’s the point: this is an example of how we go into trance pretty much on a daily basis. Hypnosis is trance, and hypnosis is a natural state we all experience. Ever miss your offramp on the freeway? This is a classic example of environmental hypnosis; your eyes are fixed on a point in front of you, the drone of the motor lulling you, your mind far away thinking about something else. There’s lot’s of other examples: getting so caught up in watching television that you don’t even hear someone calling your name. (If you have kids you know what this looks like.) How about when you’re listening to music that transports you to a different place? Trance.

I sometimes wear my hypnotherapist badge when I’m out and about trying to help the ailing economy by spending my hard earned money. Oftentimes, the person behind the counter will say “Oh, you’re a hypnotherapist, I’d better not look at you”. (I can’t help but come back with a smarty pants answer like “You’d better not or I’ll turn you into a toad.” )  This is a common misperception many people have, that hypnosis is something done to you. In fact, all hypnosis is self hypnosis. When you come  into my office for a hypnotherapy session, I will help you to achieve a state you have been in countless number of times. The difference is,  it’s under controlled conditions where positive suggestions are given to you that are in line with what  you (the client) wants. You will not bark like a dog or cluck like a chicken unless that’s what you want, and I do charge extra for working with animals.

An example of an hypnotic state under uncontrolled conditions is watching the news on television. You become hypnotized by sitting still, fixing your gaze on the talking heads, and having a passive mental attitude. Televison news is designed to provoke an emotion. Most of the time these emotions are  fear, sadness or anger. You may have an inner commentary about these emotions such as “That’s terrible!” “Oh my God, how sad.” “Boy that sucks!” “I’d better watch out for that (virus, terrorist, murderer, economy, etc.) Lately, the message from the news media has been loud and clear “Be afraid, be very afraid!” Think about how this affects your mental state.

Another example of uncontrolled, environmental hypnosis: It’s monday morning in my new house after spending the weekend moving. There’s boxes everywhere. I can’t find my underwear. I’m tired. Which box do I start on? Then the inner dialogue starts: “This is going to take forever. I have no idea why this coffee doesn’t seem to be working, is it decaf? Renting was easier. God, I have so much to do. Where the heck is my underwear??!!”

Fortunately, I am fairly present to when I am becoming overwhelmed. And here’s what I do, and you’ve heard it before: Sit down, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and say to yourself, “It’s going to be OK, I can handle this, just take it one box at a time.”

Have a superb week~

If you liked this post, please leave a comment and/or share it with your social networks.  

TMan

 Ted A. Moreno

Personal/Small Business Coach

Certified Hypnotherapist

Specializing in Your Success

www.TedMoreno.com                                                                       

 (626) 826-0612