Self-Hypnosis
What is hypnosis?
What is self-hypnosis?
How can you learn self-hypnosis?
Limitations of self-hypnosis
Hypnosis is a natural state. You have probably been in hypnosis many times
without knowing it. It happens to everybody, children and adults, in every day
life and on special occasions.
Hypnosis is the original mind-body medicine. It has been in
use forever, every natural mind-body healing is based, more or less, on
hypnosis.
The essence of hypnosis is the intense concentration on the chosen subject and
the exclusion of everything else. Every hypnosis is self-hypnosis – only you can concentrate
your mind on a chosen topic. To be hypnotized by somebody else you
need to cooperate. Nobody can hypnotize you against
your will.
Self-hypnosis is self help. It is when you put yourself into a hypnotic trance and then go deeper and
deeper into that alerted state of consciousness, when you will be extremely
receptive to suggestions. And you give suggestions to yourself or perform
some other more advanced self-hypnosis techniques.
The common hypnosis theory assumes that during hypnosis the
subconscious mind is open to suggestions. The controlling conscious mind is in
a relaxed state, very much inactive and not evaluating any information which
is passed to the subconscious mind. It is as though the gates to the
subconscious mind are open and much more goes in. In this state suggestions
can go straight to the storage of information and can change its contents.
In my opinion the idea of a
conscious and subconscious mind may be a bit too simple and not accurate for
self-hypnosis. This is just a working model of our mind used for explaining hypnotherapy.
The open gate idea may apply to the external suggestions, given by a
hypnotherapist. But in self hypnosis it is the focusing of the conscious mind
which is most important.
Everybody is born with a talent for self-hypnosis. However, like every
talent, this talent needs to be developed by practise. The best way to learn
self-hypnosis is from within the hypnotic state. When you are in a hypnotic state,
you are given suggestions how to do it yourself. Then you do it under the
guidance of the therapist, to make sure you understand every step.
At each hypnotherapy session you learn more. Firstly you just learn to relax,
then you learn to induce the deep hypnotic state by yourself, using one
word. Later you learn how to give yourself simple suggestions, and you are given
instructions needed for your particular situation.
The most important part of learning self-hypnosis is to practice every day,
four times a day, for 10 to 15 minutes. It may seem like a lot, but it is needed only
at the beginning, when you learn. You will benefit
from it throughout your entire life.
Self-hypnosis is very powerful, and as you know
yourself best, you can create the powerful suggestions, because you will use
your own words, or you can even skip the words and just use your imagination, you
can feel the suggestions instead of saying them.
Howeer there are some limitations.
- Sometimes the problem is too
complex to be solved in self mode. It needs the outside help in the form of
professional counselling. It may just need another perspective and it is
difficult to get this perspective when you are depressed, in trauma, or
crisis, or in the power of a destructive habit, just to mention a few
situations. The rule is, if the problem affects you on a high level and
it causes strong personal distress, it is better to seek professional help.
This applies to everybody, even most experienced hypnotherapists seek
professional help on a regular basis.
-
Removal of pain before correct medical advice can be very dangerous. The
pain can be a signal that something needs an urgent treatment. It must be
checked by your doctor.
-
Healing of medical conditions is very effective with self-hypnosis, but only
under medical supervision; keep your doctor informed about any symptoms
that have been removed.
