5 Hypnosis Myths Exploded

Over the years, hypnosis has picked up all sorts of weird associations from stage hypnotists, the media, and superstition. This is a great shame, because in reality, hypnosis is your single most effective tool for change. Hypnosis is your birthright, and you should know how to use it so it doesn’t use you. Let’s dispel the biggest hypnosis myths.

Hypnosis Myth 1) All hypnosis is the same.

As with anything, hypnosis can be good, bad or indifferent. The most common is old-style authoritarian hypnosis of the type “You are getting sleepy, you are feeling confident”. Unsurprisingly, this sort of hypnosis doesn’t work well with many people. Good hypnosis uses subtle psychological principles and advanced communication patterns.

It’s like the difference between a football coach who thinks you’ll perform best if he yells at you, compared with the more elegant style of a great leader who knows that to get the best from his people, he needs to understand motivation, to cajole, encourage and reward.

Hypnosis Myth 2) Subliminals work.

Subliminals are words that you can’t hear. Common sense says they shouldn’t work, and there’s no research proving that they do.

Hypnosis Myth 3) Some people can’t be hypnotized.

The only reason you can’t be hypnotized is if you are incapable of paying attention due to extremely low IQ or brain damage. That’s not to say that every hypnotist can hypnotize you however. The more flexible the hypnotist, the more effective she will be with the largest number of people.

Hypnosis Myth 4) Hypnosis is something weird that other people do to you.

If you couldn’t go into hypnosis, you wouldn’t be able to sleep, to learn, or get nervous through ‘negative self hypnosis’. You know when you imagine things going wrong and it makes you feel anxious? Well that’s self hypnosis!

Hypnosis is simply a deliberate utilization of the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) or dream state. We’re not giving people medication here; if it wasn’t a natural ability, hypnosis wouldn’t work!

Hypnosis Myth 5) You lose control in hypnosis.

Crazy news stories, stage hypnotists and gossip have created the illusion that you lose control in hypnosis. In fact, when hypnotized, you are relaxed and focused – and able to choose to get up and walk away at any time. You choose to give your attention to the hypnotist, and you can withdraw it at any time.

If you have been scared of hypnosis in the past, this article has hopefully convinced you to at least give it a try. But remember, ensure what you’re getting is the real thing.

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Hypnosis and Pain Relief

There is a mysterious air to hypnosis. Few understand how it works. Lots of research has been done on it, but still there are many controversies between the experts on what happens in a trance. What is known however, is that hypnosis has been a very successful technique in helping heal the mind, body and spiritual aspects of life.

The hypnotic trance has many amazing properties that include experiencing numbness in not only the body but in specific areas of the body. This enables a skilled therapist to produce the absence of pain in any part of the body. Hypnosis is most often used for common problems, such as dental work, burns, headaches, giving birth and similar matters.

The body is designed to heal itself. Although this process works automatically, it can be accelerated and enhanced by hypnotic techniques. By directing the subconscious mind to focus energy on a specific system in the body, more of your natural resources will go there. That means that if you were burned, your body will naturally begin the healing process which may take a week to complete. If you were to employ hypnosis to quicken this process, you may complete the healing in half the time. At the very least, hypnosis is extremely effective to decrease pain. The effectiveness of this technique depends on several factors: one, the client’s susceptibility and willingness to use this approach, two, the skill of the hypnotherapist, and three, the severity of the problem. Hypnosis has its limitations, however it’s always worth trying to use it because there is no down-side to the technique. At worst, it may do no more than make the subject feel a little better from getting attention, but it cannot do any damage itself.

One of the more profound effects of hypnosis is in using it to minimize or eliminate pain. An important caution is that if you don’t know what is causing the pain, hypnosis may effectively remove the pain but, it may also coverup something serious that requires attention. If you know what is causing the pain, then it is safe to apply it to decrease the experience of pain and help with the general recovery. Most pain is possible to turn off the pain signals in the mind and minimize the sensation of pain. This can be accomplished in many ways using hypnosis. In general, positive suggestions are a good starting point, then these are usually elaborated to facilitate healing and remove discomfort.

There is a robust amount of clinical research using hypnosis to help heal the body or decrease the perception of pain. If you have a medical issue, consult with a specialist who is certified by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis to use hypnotic techniques. The scientific literature is full of case studies validating the power of hypnosis to promote healing. If you have a problem I encourage you to consider the power of hypnosis to help you conquer it.