Dispelling the Myths Surrounding Hypnosis

Jun 22
23:39

2005

Emily Clark

Emily Clark

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You’ve seen the stage acts where a hypnotist selects someone outof the audience and when he claps his hands, the unwillingparticipant struts around the stage clucking like a chicken. You’ve also seen movies where the hypnotist waves the pocketwatch in front of the subject as he utters, “you’re gettingsleepy … very sleepy.” Hypnosis is a little more than whatHollywood or Vegas make it out to be. Below is a briefoverview.

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Hypnosis is a naturally occurring altered state of consciousnessin which the critical faculty is bypassed (mind in the consciousmode) and acceptable selective thinking established. Wow! That’s a lot of technical jargon! Simply put,Dispelling the Myths Surrounding Hypnosis Articles this means thatthe reasoning, evaluating, judging part of your mind (conscious)is bypassed.

Hypnosis deals with the subconscious. Have you ever driven towork or home or anywhere, arrived at your destination but thenhad little to no recollection of the drive? Your reasoning,evaluating and judging parts of your mind were still intact andfunctioning (read: you safely arrived at your location) but yourcognizant mind was bypassed. Hypnosis feels very much like that.It’s the same or similar feeling as when you day dream. Peopleunder hypnosis know exactly what they are doing.

What about control? Many people fear being hypnotized becausethey falsely believe they will have to give up control of theirmind. Not true. Think about when you are so engrossed in a movieand you find yourself in tears. If you’ve ever watched SavingPrivate Ryan, the Titanic or the Passion of the Christ you knowthis scenario all too well. During these movies you were soinvolved that you actually felt emotion. You were literally in ahypnotic trance. Most importantly, though, you still had thepower to emerge from that state if desired.

Your mind may be guided by a movie, self-hypnosis tape, orhypnotist, but you still have the power to resist. If you fullybelieve and acknowledge that you have the power to resist anycontrol of emotions, then hypnosis is nothing to fear. Unfortunately, some people seem to give up partial control oftheir minds because they misunderstand who has the power.Unquestionably, someone can be fooled into believing that he hasgiven up control in some forms of stage hypnosis or otherexperiments. That is likely what often happens in stage shows. But just because someone was tricked doesn’t mean it is right orthat it will happen to you that way.

Think about it. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. You are the onewho allows your mind to be placed into deep states. You are theone who has the power to resist any unwanted suggestions. It’sreally a misnomer when people say they were hypnotized. Whatthey really mean is that they allowed their mind to be hypnotizedor they allowed a hypnotist to give suggestions that they choseto follow.

Just remember that no one controls your mind unless you firstgrant permission!

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any health care program.

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