Hypnosis explained by top hypnotherapist in Geneva Switzerland

Hypnosis is an everyday occurring phenomenon or state of the mind where we are inwardly focused. We probably experience this state multiple times a day.

For example, we experience the phenomenon of hypnosis when we watch a good movie. We are so absorbed by the plot we are able to physically experience fear, joy, sadness or other emotions that the movie elicits. Even though we are always somewhat aware that we are sitting in a movie theater with other people around us, we temporarily put their existence into the background.

If you have day dreamed, you know how hypnosis feels like – a highly inwardly focused experience with heightened imagination.

Perhaps some times you are enjoying so much what you are doing (in the flow) that you don’t notice how time has passed? You have just experienced time-distortion, a well known hypnotic phenomenon.

In the state of hypnosis, we can hear everything, we are aware of what is going on around us all the time. We have heightened imagination and are inwardly focused.

Hypnosis is easy to get into. All we have to do is to focus and follow the guidance of the hypnotherapist. In other words, just tell ourselves “I’d like it to happen” and it will happen. Of course certain people get into hypnosis more easily and quickly than others, but everyone can get into the state of hypnosis if we want and allow it to happen.

With the idea of stage hypnosis in mind, it’s easy to think that hypnotists can control our mind. After all, the people on the stage are following the hypnotist’s suggestions and doing some strange things. It’s important to understand though that they are following the hypnotist’s suggestions because they WANT TO. They want to have some fun. Stage hypnotists do not take everyone who volunteers, they will do some exercises in the beginning and only invite to the stage people who are not inhibited in public and who are easily hypnotized. If the hypnotist suggests anything that is even just slightly uncomfortable to a person, that person will either not accept it or emerge from hypnosis.

In fact there are 4 possible mental attitudes we can have when we hear a suggestion

• I am not comfortable with it
• I am indifferent to it
• I like it and I hope it will work
• I like it, I am going to do it, and I know it will work
  In the first 3 cases, the suggestion will be rejected and only in the last case the suggestion will be accepted. So it is extremely important that during a session, we adopt the right mental attitude at the conscious level for the suggestions we want. The mental attitude “I like it and I hope it will work” trips up a lot of people. The word hope is like the word try, it implies failure already. Hope never leads to success, effort does.

If we know that we are going into hypnosis, which is the case for every session conducted at a hypnotherapist’s office, our conscious mind will be alert and protect us. We will reveal only what we feel comfortable with. Any suggestion that makes us slightly uncomfortable, we will reject. There is no danger of revealing anything we don’t want. The worst things that can happen during a session is the client could fall asleep or not go into hypnosis.

Our mind is a very complex system. We spend most of our time at the conscious level. Our conscious mind is analytical and rational – making decisions, analyzing situations, supplying a reason for what we do etc. Our working memory and will power also belong here.

We also have a much more powerful part of our mind – the subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is where our habits, emotions, and long term memory live. It also protects us against danger, imagined or real. The subconscious mind is like a computer, whatever programming we put in it, it executes faithfully. If our programming says “I am fat” then it will make sure that we eat and live in a way to become fat; if our programming says “I am a great public speaker” then it will make sure that we are one.

Do you know why it is so hard to stop smoking, lose weight or as a matter of fact change any of your habits? Because first we make the decision at the conscious level, we decide to make some change. However as long as that decision is not accepted at the subconscious level, we rely on will power alone for change, which is not enough for the change to last.

The reason our decision for change is not accepted at the subconscious level is because it’s blocked by our own critical factor. For example if we have problem with cats and being around cats makes us nervous and uncomfortable. We try to change it by repeatedly affirming “I love cats”; this won’t work because our critical factor receives the message and checks with our subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind says “That’s not true. He hates cats” and therefore the affirmation is rejected.

Hypnosis is a process that bypasses our critical factor and accesses directly the subconscious mind. When change is made at the subconscious level directly, our programming is changed. When that happens, our behaviors will follow. For example If our subconscious is re-programmed to “I am a non-smoker” then we are a non-smoker. We will behave as a non-smoker.

In summary, what happens in hypnosis is that a hypnotherapist will guide you into a special mental state where she accesses your subconscious mind and reprograms it for positive change. The changes will be transformational and lasting. There are many ways to do the reprogramming that we can discuss.

Just like any therapy, the success of the session depends on many factors, for example the rapport between the therapist and the client. We have already talked about the importance of taking the right mental attitude “I like the suggestion and I know it’s going to work” when we hear a suggestion that we want. In hypnosis this right mental attitude is the most important factor that determines the success of the session.

In fact, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. We don’t need a hypnotherapist to reach and stay in the state of hypnosis and we don’t need a hypnotherapist to give us suggestions. We can do all that with self-hypnosis. If we do not know self-hypnosis then a hypnotherapist can be our guide and show us how. What a hypnotherapist can ever be is a guide because the slightest thought on our part of not wanting to be there, then it is over. For the reason we already discussed, a hypnotherapist can not force a suggestion into our mind. We have to take the right mental attitude and allow it. We and we alone are responsible for the success of the session.

In sleep, we are unconscious because we are not aware of anything that’s going on outside of us. Hypnosis is a state between consciousness and unconsciousness and it’s a state with heightened awareness. So we not only hear everything, our hearing is likely to be more acute than when we are in the normal waken state.

Hypnosis is not lying down with eyes closed and staying motionless. The client can move – it’s better to scratch his nose if it’s bothering him than to hold still. He can talk and answer the hypnotherapist’s questions (in certain techniques the client will be having an active conversation with the hypnotherapist). The client can even be in hypnosis with eyes open. None of these by themselves will “break the state of hypnosis”.

There are similarities between hypnosis and meditation, as both are altered state of awareness and both are very inwardly focused. However in meditation the goal is to empty the mind, while in hypnosis the goal is to reprogram the subconscious mind. Hypnosis is not a state of thoughtlessness.