What Is Hypnotherapy ?
Hypnotherapy is simply a combination of hypnosis and therapy.
Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state. People who state they have never experienced hypnosis do not realise that they actually must have.
When in the past you have sat in a chair and just simply stared in front of you taking no notice of what was actually there but rather thinking about whatever else you chose to, that was hypnosis.
When you have been watching television not realising someone else was speaking to you, that was hypnosis.
When you drove your car along that old familiar route so that when you arrived at your destination and were asked did you see such and such on the way and you realise you haven’t a clue, that was hypnosis.
I could give further examples but in essence hypnosis is something you have experienced before whether you realised it or not at the time is a different matter.
So you might describe the experience of hypnosis as being like a focussed daydream.
A focussed daydream which you now know you already have experience of is obviously perfectly natural. You are already aware that you are completely used to doing this yourself many times a day.
The human brain is designed in a way that allows, what is referred to as our ‘sub-conscious’, to oversee many everyday tasks for us without the need for ‘conscious’ attention. The terms ‘conscious’ & ‘sub-conscious’ are concepts all of this happens within the one brain we all have. The skills exercised by the ‘sub-conscious’ allows us to do different tasks safely and efficiently while thinking ‘consciously’ of other things. It’s an energy saver for us.
When you ‘just do it’ that is the sub-conscious at work. When you ‘just’ boil the kettle, ‘just’ open a door, ‘just’ make the tea, ‘just’ drive the car, ‘just’ pop to the shops, ‘just’ make a sandwich it is your natural sub-conscious at work overseeing the activity so you don’t have to think through every little detail of what you are doing. You may actually have to interrupt it, alter it’s flow in order to get the result you want. For example when making a sandwich with the question “What shall I have in it ?” as the sub-conscious moves on rapidly with the task in hand without hesitation and if you don’t interrupt it you might end up with the filling you didn’t originally intend to have. It is the same process with many other aspects of your life, the sub-conscious is always overseeing it, so if you don’t like some of the filling you need to alter the process which is where hypnotherapy excels.
Hypnotherapy is a method of helping you interact with your own ‘sub-conscious’ to develop the changes which you wish to achieve. It is you that is doing the interacting so it is you that is always in control. Just as with the sandwich making, if you go to add a filling which you don’t like, even if you are thinking of something else, you’ll go “Ah! What am I doing!” and you stop, naturally and immediately. This is because you are always ‘aware’ and the ‘wrong filling’ activates the ‘Alert conscious mind’ button and you forget where your mind had wandered off to and immediately ‘wake up’ and deal with the issue at hand.
This replicates across all activities being undertaken when the conscious mind has been bypassed so for example when driving you brake when seeing brake lights in front of you or stop instinctively at red traffic lights or ‘come to’ when someone shouts at you if you were watching the television oblivious to the conversation that someone else was having with you.
By combining hypnosis and therapy you are able to work on specific things of your choosing. Whilst in this state of mind, this focussed daydream, you are able to benefit more fully from the power of your own sub-conscious and direct it more easily to influence your conscious experience of life for the better.
Hypnotherapy is essentially then your ability to daydream in a focussed, positive way for your own benefit.
Hypnotherapy has a considerable history, if you wish to read a brief overview of that history and how it influences how I work then click here for an extended read.
If you are interested in discussing Hypnotherapy further with me then click here and arrange for a free initial consultation.