What Is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a mental state defined by focused attention, extreme suggestibility, and heightened imagination in which you have access to valuable self-healing resources from the unconscious mind.
Being a little pragmatic, we can say hypnosis is simply the mental state in which your mind is between 4 and 8 Hertz.
Hypnosis is like the daydreaming state in which you are conscious but somehow dissociated from what is happening around you. It bypasses the critical part of the conscious mind and creates a stronger connection to the unconscious mind.
In your daily life, you are only aware of the thoughts in your conscious mind so you are consciously thinking about the problems and events right in front of you. Under hypnosis, you are aware of a broader range of thoughts, memories, and emotions. Hypnosis opens the doors to the unconscious mind.
What Is Hypnotic Trance?
A pleasant state of focus in a single stimulus. Deep Hypnotic trance is so intense that all distractions fade away. Thus, the mind can create important changes in tiny periods of time and without any effort from your part.
Do I Lose Control Under Hypnosis?
Under normal circumstances, the person that gets into a hypnotic trance does not lose control. The subject stays conscious and aware of every word the therapist is pronouncing.
The subject is able not to follow directions or even to lie. That would be against the therapy but it shows the kind of control the subject has throughout the session.
Can a Hypnotherapist Force Me to Do Something I Don't Want to Do?
Definitely not. It is not possible to force someone under Hypnosis to do something that goes against its will or moral principles.
There is no danger either in receiving a hypnotic suggestion to do something incorrect after the Hypnosis session, unless of course the suggestion happens to be acceptable by the person.
How Does Hypnosis Work?
Under hypnosis, the unconscious is in contact with the conscious mind so we can suggest changes and it has tendency to accept them.
You do the same thing when you change a habit.
Let’s say you wake up at 6:00 a.m. every day, but you want to change this routine and wake up one hour earlier at 5:00 a.m.
What you will do is set your alarm one hour earlier and get out of the bed as soon as it goes off. After several days doing it, your unconscious mind will accept the new behavior and you will wake up by yourself at 5:00 a.m. even without an alarm clock.
There have been experiments on this proving that a person can form a new habit after 21 consequent days of doing or applying that specific behavior. With hypnosis, you can shorten this time and change or adopt a habit in 1 to 3 sessions. Hypnosis is not only easier but also faster.
Why Does Hypnosis Work?
Hypnosis works by incrementally taking your concentration to deeper levels in the subconscious mind, in order to gain access to the area that allows recollection of deeply hidden events that are forgotten to ordinary consciousness.
The reason that hypnotherapy produces such wondrous results is because it combines the Science of Psychology, with the real-life tools of Hypnosis. It therefore opens up access to the emotional baggage of past traumatic experiences, and allows you and the hypnotherapist to change your belief patterns. This replaces the old, negative memory with a new foundation for a positive and healthy belief pattern—thereby completely changing your old reaction to the same situation 24 hours a day.
Let me give you an example.
There is this woman whom I will call Wilma. She could never experience pleasure during intercourse. As a matter of fact, she would feel pain and would sometimes feel numbness in her genital area.
Wilma had gone to all the “experts” in sexual therapy, yet had gotten absolutely no results from anything.
During Hypnosis, it was revealed that her father had raped her when she was 12 years old, and had threatened her not to tell anyone. Her father and her fear worked so well that she completely buried this memory so she didn’t have to face this pain.
Under Hypnosis, she remembered the experience, and using the techniques of reprogramming she was able to root out the trauma, eliminate it, and have healthy relationships with men again.
For the very first time in her life Wilma was able to reach an orgasm. After just 5 sessions, she was able to completely eliminate a huge problem that had crippled her life for over 20 years.
What Is the Unconscious Mind?
Only a small part of an iceberg is visible above the surface of the water. Our mind is similar to an iceberg. The conscious mind, the visible part, is only a tiny portion of our mind whereas the unconscious mind is the bigger part of it. Coming back to our iceberg analogy, the unconscious mind corresponds to the gigantic piece of ice under the water, invisible to our eyes. In the iceberg, the power is underneath. In the case of our mind, it is in the unconscious.
The information in the unconscious mind is invisible to the conscious mind. Our thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes are in the conscious mind.
The conscious mind is the aspect of our mental processing we can rationally think and talk about. However, the awareness that is not present in the conscious mind is held by the unconscious mind.
The unconscious mind is also called the subconscious, or dreaming mind. Part of it is a storage of repressed feelings, thoughts, urges, habits, desires, reactions and hidden memories that are not in our conscious awareness. It also runs our body systems such as circulatory, digestive, endocrine, and nervous systems, while keeping all of them in harmony with each other.
In a hypnosis session, I will put you in a relaxed trance state and address your unconscious mind to create the desired emotion or behavior without effort.
What Is the Relation Between Unconscious Mind and Trauma?
The subconscious mind is an ancestral heritage we carry since the caveman times in which the main priority for an individual was the physical survival in case of an attack, for example from a dangerous animal. This part of our mind takes decisions automatically and lightning speed based on stored information, principally on things that have occurred in the past and from “logical” conclusions on its own.
In the case of an individual who was attacked by a lion and survived thanks to a formidable leap, the subconscious mind will store such triumph and will place it in a high category to increase his survival probabilities for the next time the person finds himself in danger.
Normally this process works well. The problem is presented because the subconscious mind’s logic is too primitive and does not take into consideration the variations of the scene in which its applies its knowledge. If the subject in the example were to find itself in danger of being bit by a snake while on top of a giant tree, his subconscious mind would command a spectacular jump, causing him to fall and die.
A single person can have dozens of traumas and negative patterns in the subconscious mind and live all his live confronting imaginary obstacles that seem very real. Hypnotherapy is the most proficient tool known today for cleaning the mind from these negative patterns.
What Is Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is the use of Hypnosis to treat conditions such as phobias, bad habits, addictions, low self-esteem, and many others.
There is also Stage Hypnosis, which the one used in a circus to impress the audience with tricks that appear to be magical.
In Hypnotherapy, we are forbidden to use circus hypnosis because it will deteriorate the trust between the hypnotherapist and his client, making it impossible the use of Hypnosis as a healing tool.
What Can Hypnotherapy Treat?
Hypnotherapy can help in the treatment of many conditions, including:
- Addictions: Hypnosis can help you get rid of smoking addictions such as smoking cigarette, tobacco, and marijuana. It is also effective as an aid to treat other addictions such as cocaine, drugs and alcohol abuse, sugar, caffeine, gambling, porn, internet addiction, and almost any other addiction.
- Phobias: Claustrophobia, fear of animals, insects and spiders, flying, touch. Also, fear of men or women, the dentist, illnesses, heights, fear of water, public speaking, and many more.
- Pain: Hypnosis can help you alleviate and manage chronic pain such as migraines, headaches rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, pain caused by cancer, and many other
- Weight Loss and Gain: Eating disorders, comfort eating, sweet tooth, overeating, and cravings
- Stress and Anxiety: Panic-attack, nervousness, worrying, apprehension (fear of something bad will happen), feeling overwhelmed, anger, belligerence
- Depression: Moodiness, loneliness, isolation, sadness, guilt, feeling hopeless, feeling helpless
- Sleep Disorders: Insomnia, inability to fall asleep, hypersomnia, excessive sleeping, nightmares, sleep paralysis, bedwetting
- Bad Habits: Like nail biting, nose picking, procrastination, hair pulling, eyelash or eyebrow pulling, lip biting, skin picking, thumb sucking, excessive blinking, jaw clenching, teeth grinding, tics, tardiness
- Obsessive Thoughts and Behaviors: Obsessive checking, obsessive hand washing, obsessive cleaning, hoarding
- Sexual Issues: Sexual abuse, low libido, difficulty or incapacity to orgasm, low sexual enjoyment, lack of lubrication, fear of sex, erectile dysfunction, difficulty to focus on the intercourse, painful vaginal penetration
- Low self-esteem
Can I Be Hypnotized?
Most probably, yes. There are two basic things that you need to be hypnotized:
- You should be willing to receive hypnosis and cooperate with me during the session.
- You should be able to concentrate and follow the basic instructions I am giving you. I create the hypnosis induction using simple instructions, so most people can follow them in a hypnotic induction. As a rule of thumb, anybody who can daydream can be hypnotized as well.
Will I Be Asleep Under Hypnosis?
Every person experiences Hypnosis in a different way. I also have observed that sometimes a client experiences it differently from one day to another. Most people are alert during their first sessions and as they move forward into the work, they trust their hypnotherapist more and that helps them to get into a deeper trance.
Will I Remember the Experience I Had During Hypnosis?
It depends on many factors. If you are getting into Hypnosis with the purpose of having a Regression or a Past Life Regression, then you will remember the experience or at least the parts related to your memories and traumas. If you have a different reason to get into Hypnosis, I may not give you instructions related to remembering the session. Still, most people remember about 60% of their session.
I give post-hypnotic suggestions related to remembering the session only to those who come for Regressions and to those who tell me they want to remember the event. So, please tell me if you want to remember the experience.
Can I Die Under Hypnosis?
The single one requirement for death is to be alive, so if you are alive, then you could die at any given moment and under any circumstance. Now, Hypnosis does not create any condition that favors a sudden death.
Is Deep Trance Required to Benefit From Hypnosis?
No, hypnosis is effective no matter how deep you go into your trance, but the deepest the trance the more quickly you will ripe the benefits of hypnosis.
What Can I Do to Get Into a Deep Hypnotic Trance?
Here we have some tips you can apply to go deeper into your hypnotic trance:
- Try not to sleep too much the night before the day of your appointment. This will improve the odds of landing your brain into Delta waves, increasing the chances of getting into deep trance.
- During your hypnosis session, do not analyze yourself. Some people think things like: “I am aware of what he is saying, so I am not really getting into hypnosis,” or “Shouldn’t I be sleeping or unaware of what he is saying?” This analysis makes it difficult for your unconscious mind to get into a deep trance.
- Follow my directions. Try to focus on doing what you are being said. If some of my suggestions make little sense to you, just ignore them and continue paying attention to what I am saying.
- Enjoy the session. Hypnosis is one of the most enjoyable stages you can experience, and the hypnotic trance is easy to achieve. Just give yourself the opportunity to get there by enjoying whatever sensations and emotions you come across during the session.
- Try not to move during the session. I can’t stress this too much. Every time you move, especially during the induction stage, you are making your trance a little lighter, so we will have to work more to get there. Remember that our time is limited. Do not waste it.
- Trust your hypnotherapist. I have an impressive percentage of hypnosis success, so please relax and enjoy the trip. I am in charge. You will get there.
Does Hypnosis Weaken the Mind?
No, hypnosis does not weaken the mind, but it helps people to use their mind more effectively and reach their inner strength. It is an interesting fact that the strongest the mind, the more easily it gets into hypnosis. On the other hand, the weakest the mind, the more difficult to put it under a trance.
How a Typical Hypnosis Session Is Like?
If it is your first Hypnosis session, it differs from the following ones because it’s necessary to complete the training on how to behave during the session. This helps you to get the most out of it.
Once this training is completed, we will move onto the Hypnosis which comprises the following stages.
- Relaxation. In this step, you will be induced to relax and enjoy the session. Every person is different, but on average this stage lasts for about ten minutes.
- Induction. In this stage, you will be taken into the hypnotic trance which is experienced differently by every person. Some are aware of everything that is happening, some are not. That is not important. What matters here is that you are going to start feeling the effects of the hypnotic trance.
- Therapeutic Suggestions. This is the therapeutic part of the session. In this stage, I will give you the desired suggestions. If the session purpose is to have a regression, then in this stage I will take you to a past event to clean the mind of impressions and negative patterns.
- Post-hypnotic Suggestions. In this stage, I will give you some suggestions that will work after the hypnosis session. They look like this: “As soon as you open your eyes you will feel well in every way. You will feel happy and optimistic about our work, and you will know for sure you can reach your goals.”
- Awakening. This is the final stage of the hypnosis session per se. I will direct you to regain control of your mind and body and to remember or not remember what happened during the session, depending on what is required.
- Evaluation. I this stage we will discuss your feelings and impressions during the hypnosis session. This is the moment to ask questions about whether you felt under hypnosis, and questions you may have about the hypnosis session you experienced.
- Benefits. I do not carry out this stage in the office, you do, but throughout your daily life. You will apply to normal life what was learned during the hypnosis session. The strength of the suggestions during the session will be felt during this stage. If you received a suggestion like “every time a new challenge presents you’ll feel calm and you will quickly find an adequate solution,” then you will find that problems will no longer worry you and that your mind works with clarity, helping you to solve the problem.
Can I Be Hypnotized Against My Will? Will I Do Things I Don't Want to Do?
No, you cannot be hypnotized against your will. During hypnosis, unlike common belief, you are the one in charge and control, not the hypnotherapist. Your eyes may be closed but you are aware of the suggestions I am giving to you.
You will know what you are doing, and you will not do anything that is against your will, moral and ethics. It also worries people they will reveal secrets or personal information when they are under hypnosis. No, you will not disclose any secrets or personal information unless you want to do so.
Does Hypnosis Work on Physical Problems?
Yes, hypnosis works in every area of our lives that are affected by the mind. The body is affected by the mind in many ways, so yes, we can work on many physical problems.
The limits of Hypnosis are very difficult to find for what today seems to be a limit, tomorrow is found to be surpassed. In other words, the power of Hypnosis goes as far as the power of the mind and who knows the limits to the power of the mind?
Can I Fall Asleep in a Hypnotic Trance and Never Come Back?
No. It is impossible.
The hypnotic trance is one of relaxation. If I suppress the suggestions related to relaxation and give you other types of suggestions, you will gradually or rapidly get out of the trance.
This is obvious with clients who attend hypnosis sessions via Skype. Sometimes the Internet connection fails in a moment that the client is already in a deep hypnotic trance. What happens in these cases is that the person wakes up a few minutes later when he realizes that his hypnotherapist is not talking anymore.
Does Hypnosis Work in Kids?
Although I do not work with children, I know they are easy to hypnotize and they get results fairly easily. Since the tool for Hypnosis is the language in the form of suggestions and instructions, the child should be old enough to understand the language.
I do not recommend hypnotizing very young children because they will not understand it.
Can I Force My Kid to Take Hypnosis Treatments?
No, you cannot force someone, not even your children, to receive hypnosis or accept suggestions.
Besides the fact that it would be unethical, the kid is not going to cooperate and the hypnosis trance will not be achieved. Remember that hypnosis requires relaxation, and that is not possible if the kid is afraid of the process.
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Thanks for explaining how the unconscious mind is invisible to the conscious mind and can also be called the subconscious. My sister is thinking about getting some hypnosis so that she can try and improve her life. She would really like to get it done by professionals so that she can learn more.
I have a daughter with severe depression she is 13 years old, is possible that hypnosis will be the best for her?, you treat at 13 years old ?
Thank you Cristel for your question.
It depends on what is causing her depression. The way I deal with young boys and girls in depression is that I conduct an evaluation session on their closest one, normally their mother. Then I conduct an evaluation session on the young one. This will give me a more accurate picture of the problem and the personality I am going to work with.
In the majority of cases, I help young ones through the use of the following tools:
1. Hypnosis
2. Hypnotherapy
3. Energy Healing
4. Training
Since parenthood tends to be the cause of most problems, in most cases, it is necessary to work with the closest parent and in some cases, I have to work with both parents.
In some cases, the work has to be done 70% on the parents, 30% on the kid.
And yes, I do work with kids as long as they are 11+ years old.
You can contact me at 305-305-0441
Is it possible to delete bad memories? Can hypnosis be a tool for that? Thanks
Thank you Ari for your question,
We cannot delete memories, we can just hide them, however, that is exactly what trauma is, a hidden bad memory. I am sure you do not want to transform your bad memories into traumas. It will only make your life more difficult.
When I am helping somebody to overcome anxiety, depression, panic attacks and many other problems, one of the main things I do is precisely helping the person to uncover the bad memories, so they become memories instead of traumas.
I understand your concern. Every time you think about that event or the bad memory, you feel sad or angry. Therefore, what you need is not to delete or hide your bad memories, but to heal them.
What I always do with my clients is to use Hypnosis to get the person deep into the memory and then Energy Healing to help them get rid of the traumatic energy. Once the person is under hypnosis, it takes just a few minutes to perform that kind of healing.
During the hypnosis part of it, the person gets deeply in contact with the trauma which always makes the person very emotional, but that will be the last time that you cry about it, so it is worth it.
I have a fear of dentist and today I went to a hypnosis session in order to overcome my fear. Soon after she started to work on me, I fell asleep and I do not remember anything about the session. Do you think I was really hypnotized or just fell in a deep sleep?
Yes, Alex, you were under hypnosis. There are no doubts about whether a person felt into hypnosis when this person falls asleep.
To recognize whether a person got into a trance, we need to test whether the person felt different, in peace, floating, heavy, etc. Any change in perception of the body or mind means the person got into a hypnotic trance. Of course, falling asleep is the king indicator, but not everybody experience hypnosis falling asleep. Some stay awake and aware during the whole session. Those are the analytical minds afraid of losing control. They are the worse hypnotic subjects, but they can also ripe the benefits of hypnosis.
Is it possible to hypnotize a person who cannot relax?
I am asking because my boyfriend is hyperactive and has a very stressful job, so even when he is at home his mind goes like a thousand miles per hour.
He has several problems and so far, his psychologist did not help at all. He is also taking antidepressant pills.
I know you already answered this question, but I would love to get an answer with a little more details if it is possible.
Yes, Katherine, it is possible to hypnotize a person like him. I would not use the traditional “Relax and go deeper” induction. I would approach it in a different way.
In these cases, it is necessary to study the personality to find its strong mental skills. Let us say that he is an architect or an engineer. It means that he is capable of visualizing easily because he trained his mind to see the problem and its solution happening in his mental eye.
Therefore, making him visualize relaxing scenes will work better than telling him “your feet are getting relaxed”.
In some cases, asking the person to stress and relax his muscles one by one takes the person into a very deep state of relaxation. With the proper guidance, it will turn into a hypnosis trance.
I am a very busy business owner and I can’t relax. Can you take me into hypnosis?
Yes, Diana, I can put you under hypnosis.
There are several methods to hypnotize a person. On the day of your session just remind me about your problem and I will have that in mind to use a special technique. Basically, I will make you focus on something different, not on your progressive relaxation. Since your mind is very active, most probably it is also very good at visualizing, so I will make use of that to put you into a trance.
Kind Regards,
Ivan Gil