What Is Hypnosis?
One of my favorite quotes is “Hypnosis is not what you think it is, but it’s also exactly what you think it is” hypnosis is not like what you might’ve seen in the movie Get Out or in the Friends episode with the hypnosis tape. However, hypnosis is exactly what you think it is in that your results and experience are determined by you. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, the hypnotist is merely a guide to help facilitate you through the experience to help you get the desired result.
Sometimes to help answer what hypnosis is, it’s best to start off by saying what it isn’t. Hypnosis is not mind control. You can not be hypnotized to do anything against your will or anything you’re uncomfortable with, you are in complete control at all times. Hypnotic subjects are fully awake and focused (hyper-focused) with a corresponding decrease in their peripheral awareness.
"Hypnosis is to consciousness what a telephoto lens is to a camera.”
Dr. David Spiegel
Hypnosis is not meditation either, though it can feel very similar for some people. The main difference is that with hypnosis you are looking for an end result or goal (stop smoking, more confidence), while with meditation there is no goal and it’s more of a practice where results come spontaneously and with continued practice.
Lastly, hypnosis is not sleep. Unlike a sleeping person, a hypnotized person is completely alert, awake, and hyper-focused. Sometimes people think of hypnosis as sleep because they might become so relaxed and focused that they might not even consciously remember taking in all of the suggestions during the session but if you emerge from hypnosis when the hypnotist tells you to then you were not asleep and just in a deep trance.
So, what is hypnosis then? Hypnosis is a mental state in which people experience increased focus, awareness, and suggestibility. You can then use this state to introduce beneficial suggestions to the subconscious, the subconscious where people hold most habits, beliefs, and fears. Once your subconscious has accepted the suggestions you are then brought out of hypnosis by the hypnotist or you can emerge all on your own.
