Can you be hypnotised?

I have people who come to see me that say: ‘I can’t be hypnotised!’

So why come to see a hypnotherapist using hypnosis?

Can I be hypnotised? Yes you can and here is why?

I think because they don’t really believe that but fear I will have them doing the “funky chicken” and they won’t remember.

Or maybe they feel that if I can make people do that, in spite of themselves, I can also perform a miracle cure.

In short there is no miracle cure and I can’t make you do something you wouldn’t want to do and would not want to. It takes work and we do the work.

Hypnotic trance is something we ALL do during our day.

We learn to walk, drive, play sports UNCONSCIOUSLY.

We also get lost in a task, forget a familiar destination as we drive by it, or lose ourselves in a sports programme or film – all examples of trance.

Sometimes people are so afraid of being out of control they don’t allow themselves to relax enough to be hypnotised. … Someone on drugs, someone with a severe mental disorder and on psychiatric medications that alter the mind are examples of the few that may not be susceptible to being hypnotised.

Hypnosis is a trance state,  otherwise referred to as a focused state, state of relaxation or altered state of mind. More often than not, we need to be de-hypnotized!

People seem to freak out because of the word ‘trance’, or ‘altered state’ but It’s not what you think. It’s not the zombie apocalypse or the twilight zone. It’s as natural as breathing.

An altered state of mind in hypnosis is one that allows access to the resources of your subconscious mind.

Your unconscious mind drives 95% of your daily behaviour.

The mind that stores your automatic responses, limiting beliefs, negative programming and learned patterns of behavior.

For the adopted person (my area of expertise), their life begins with a loss which mimics a brain injury. That gets stored in their nervous system and explains why they often have abandonment and or attachment and rejection fears.

These are unconscious memories that the adopted person will act upon and not know why. What often happens is, they then get into trouble for acting out which consequently reinforces their unconscious belief.

The adopted child enters this world taking on a great deal of trauma.

Being in a state of hypnosis until 7 years old, everything they experience is interpreted through the lens of that trauma.

This applies to you, too. Everything that you experience is what will form your view of reality as you grow.

The only difference is the adoptee has that added layer of complexity.

You are in waking hypnosis when you are doing daily activities such as:

  • driving and getting to your destination; remembering how you got there
  • engrossed in a television show with no awareness of what’s going on around you
  • lost reading a book
  • listening to music that has you mesmerized

Choosing to get hypnotised then is more about control or fear issue.

Hypnosis happens to us all day every day, much like breathing but when we bring our awareness to it, for some, it appears impossible to achieve. Similar to test anxiety. You know your material yet the thoughts of the written exam seem to shut you down.

Sometimes people are so afraid of being out of control, or being controlled, they don’t allow themselves to relax enough to be hypnotised. Part of that is because of past influences such as television that exploited hypnotists to look like charlatans.

Some expect stage hypnosis where they seem to be doing things beyond their control – this is a different and the topic for another blog. Rest assured therapeutic hypnotherapy is NOT that.

It is about us working together and putting all your natural knowledge to work and taking on new perceptions. The unconscious part of you runs the show and it is an excellent learning machine – if you can learn to drive a car or ride a bike then you can easily learn new and different beneficial changes. You realise you are in control WITH hypnosis!

Someone on drugs, someone with a severe mental disorder and on psychiatric medications that alter the mind are examples of the few that may not be susceptible to being hypnotised.

Actually, You CAN Go Into Hypnosis

1. You hypnotise yourself with every repeated thought you think. 

Whatever you say to yourself repeatedly is a suggestion that your brain takes as a command. That’s a form of hypnosis. Any habit is learned and is generally a reaction that initially had a positive intention. However this can lead to habitually smoking, using drugs, overeating or reacting anxiously in certain trigger situations or feel depressed.

2. What you expect isn’t what you get.

Hypnosis escapes many people. They expect the experience to be different than it actually is – so they assume it didn’t work for them. If you are expecting to be actually unconscious or away with the fairies then you are doomed to disappointment.

Actually when we are working together most of the time you are well aware of what is happening – but when you trust the process you will fell happily to drift deep and dream your solutions. It’s actually a really pleasurable state.

It is an easy state to achieve and it’s natural which means it’s simply a different focus of attention. In hypnosis, you hear and understand everything but because the expectation is an experience of  ‘woo woo’ you think nothing happened.

3. You might be trying too hard.

Hypnosis is natural, – realise if you try too hard, it becomes unattainable. You can’t pull a blade of grass to make it grow faster and equally, you can’t force yourself into hypnosis. Or observe yourself in hypnosis in a conscious state. It’s natural to use trance when concentrating or when you are manifesting an habitual response.

Give yourself permission to relax and stop telling yourself stories. Stories are suggestions that the mind has accepted as reality and in order to have the stories, you have to be in trance.

So if you want to make a change and work with a caring hypnotherapist we can sow the seed to make that change, lose that habit, and master that addiction or deal with that trauma.

FREE CHAT 07875720623 01473 879561

Email: grahamahowes@me.com

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