All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. We have hypnotised ourselves into believing that we are the embodiment of our thoughts, such as ‘I am a failure, I can’t stop smoking, I am afraid of spiders, I will never amount to much.’  Well, if you unknowingly fell into the trance of disillusion, why not knowingly allow yourself to fall out of negative trance states. Hypnosis is the fast track to doing that.

Hypnosis is simply a state of relaxed focused awareness. It is completely natural and safe in the hands of an experienced hypnotherapist. Clients are often surprised (and sometimes disappointed) to discover that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The most frequent comment is ‘I didn’t feel hypnotised’. That is because hypnosis is not a feeling; it is an altered state of consciousness that occurs many times naturally over the day for every person when we go into ‘automatic’ mode. This ‘automatic’ mode occurs when we daydream, become engrossed in a good film or find ourselves arriving at a destination in the car and being unable to recall how we got there. The same thing happens when we are on the computer or smartphone; time seems to speed by and we are ‘entranced’ or hypnotised by endless texts, YouTube videos, news bulletins or social medial platforms.

Hypnosis is the doorway to our unconscious mind where all these automated processes work away unnoticed until they produce results that we don’t want. Studies have shown that you control your behaviour during hypnosis and can refuse to respond to suggestions and even oppose them (Lynn et al, 1990). Going into hypnosis, deepening, maintaining and using the trance states are all skills that are acquired through practice. It’s like learning how to walk for the first time-but this time, it is walking through your mind in both an objective and subjective way to discover how your internal belief systems and programs are working. When you find a belief system that is negatively impacting your life, you have a greater chance of changing it into a positive belief system through mental imagery.

According to the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the state of inner absorption, concentration and focus attention that is brought on by hypnosis may help us to use our minds more powerfully. Hypnosis has multiple uses including treating symptoms of anxiety, impact of traumas, fears, phobias and sleep problems, to mention but a few.