Hypnosis Works!

By Anne H. Spencer, Ph.D.

Have you ever daydreamed, or gone on a trip and all of a sudden you are at your destination? Where did the time go and where did your mind go? In both cases you were in an informal trance state that is called self-hypnosis. Hypnosis is a normal natural state of mind that happens many times every day. In this article we will speak of the formal induction of Hypnosis and/or Hypnotherapy.

The International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association® define Hypnosis thusly: During hypnosis, the body and conscious mind are in a relaxed neutral state while the subconscious mind remains awake and receptive to suggestion. Hypnosis is an education communication process to a person’s mind that allows his/her conscious and subconscious minds to believe the same message.

How can Hypnosis help? The ability to reprogram emotional attitudes and reactions to life’s situations is a latent talent within every human being. Hypnosis is the most functional and reasonable way to train life-long attitudes, rather than suffer a lifetime of emotional accidents the conscious mind is unable to change. Hypnosis is considered a brief therapy compared to traditional forms of counseling. Mind researches say that it takes thirty days to form a new habit. Hypnosis is the most expedient way of mentally developing the new habit. When done daily it reinforces the new program within the thirty-day time frame. Alas, the new habit now replaces the old and has effectively established new reactions and responses to old stimuli. Everyone with normal intelligence can use this modality for self-improvement.

Working with an IMDHA Certified Hypnotherapist is the best way to achieve the greatest benefits of Hypnosis. They are well trained in the art and science of Hypnosis and can facilitate the sessions in a timely fashion. They are available to help the client help herself find a satisfactory solution to her challenge.

People with average intelligence (unless there is some form of organic brain damage) can be hypnotized if they are willing and do not resist the process. All it takes is desire, belief and expectancy on the part of the individual and the hypnosis will do the rest. The depth of trance varies with a person’s ability to respond to the protocol. If one is not a naturally responsive subject, one can improve her receptivity to hypnosis with practice. Listening to a reprogramming tape once a day is good and three times a day is excellent.

All hypnosis reprogramming has these three elements; they are a relaxation induction, imagining the desired result and positive self-talk. Think about the last time you decided to buy a vehicle. You began to daydream (relaxing), imagined yourself owning the vehicle and you talked to yourself and others about your dream. You were using self-hypnosis to achieve your goal. By role playing in the theater of the mind the imagination is stimulated and the body responds instantly. Imagine for a moment or two that you are walking by a lake on a warm spring day. There are a few fleecy white clouds in a very blue sky. You feel the warmth of the sun on your back and a soft breeze caresses your face. The birds are singing in the distance and you smell the fresh green grass. With each and every breath you take you grow deeper and deeper relaxed. You tell yourself that being by your lake of peace is a positive break for you and that every day in every a way you are getting better and better. At the end of your time by the lake your body cells have been relaxed and your mind is refreshed ready to go about your daily activities. If you do this for 15 minutes a day you will receive profound mental and physical benefits. Persons of all ages can use this fabulous modality to achieve greater and greater effects in their life.

The areas that are most frequently attended to by hypnosis are weight control; stop smoking, stress, medical applications such as pain control and regression therapy. The list of uses is endless when employed in tandem with other modalities to change responses to life and living. Athletes use hypnosis, students use hypnosis, sales persons take advantage of this to become more confident and effective in presentations, mothers use this to help their children, nurses use it at the bedside to ease fear and tension of patients, doctors use it as anesthetic, and so on.

Hypnosis helps to teach one to use positive self-talk and positive expectations. For example instead of saying, I can’t help it if I’m always late. That is just how I am. If you want to be on time say, I am punctual and feeling good about being on time. Combine that with seeing you arriving ahead of schedule and note how good it feels. Can’t is not an acceptable word. Everyone can. Perhaps the correct words are, I won’t or I don’t want to. Often we hear people say: Don’t forget. What they want is for the person to remember. It would be better to say, Please remember to …

Hypnosis helps to keep the mind focused of what a person desires and with spaced repetition (done in the present tense) it soon becomes reality. James Allen wrote: Mind is the master power that molds and makes. And woman is mind, and evermore she takes the tool of thought, and, shaping what she will, brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills; she thinks in secret, and it will come to pass: environment is but her looking glass.

Today many women have used a form of hypnosis for self-help. It may have been called guided meditation, guided prayer, relaxation exercises, imagery, guided imagery, mental retraining, yoga, martial art mental exercises, regression, cell command therapy, reprogramming exercises and so on. They all have the three elements – relaxation, mental imagery and positive self-talk! Remember by whatever name you give it, Hypnosis Works!

Anne H. Spencer, Ph.D. is a life long resident of Royal Oak, MI. She is the founder and executive director of the Infinity Institute International, Inc., a state licensed Hypnosis Training School and the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association®. Her self-help CDs are sold worldwide through the website www.infinityinst.com Dr. Anne writes a monthly free email journal delivered through Yahoo. Email to request a copy aspencer@infinityinst.com. For information about getting a free referral to a Certified Hypnotherapist in your area or about state licensed Hypnosis Training call 248-549-5594.