ABestPost

Well last week my thoughts were mostly success bound as I was finishing off reading a great autobiography from one of the leading, current day entrepreneurs from here in the UK. Most of you in Britain will know of Duncan Bannetyne from the TV series, Dragons Den. In his biography he shares with his readers how an underachiever at school became a high achiever in business! It is a truly remarkable story and a must read for anyone.

In this article I want to talk briefly about beliefs and about 1 million pounds!

So first let’s get on to beliefs. Beliefs are strange things that steer us in different directions. They even let us know what we are capable of and worst still – what we are not capable of. Beliefs are great things to have as long as you are in control of them. For instance if you where on a tall cliff with only a map and a compass then the belief that humans can’t fly would be a good one to have – as to stop you from taking the fastest route to the beach below.

Now I want to get onto the 1 million pounds. This is a nice round figure. If you earned £20408.16 per month from the age of 16 until you were 65 you will have made it! However you probably would have just about spent it as well on living expenses. Too many, it seems like an unachievable goal and to others, 1 million pounds is a drop in the ocean. So why is this? Why do so many see fortunes as being unreachable? Well this comes back to beliefs.

The way we look at what one million pounds is, is important as if we see it as something that it is not, or even as something more than it is then we move it even further from our reach.

Now I propose an experiment. How easy would I be for you to take £1 and double it within a week? What Ideas could you come up with that could make that shiny little one pound coin turn into two shiny little one pound coins? If this is so easy then would it not also be achievable to take £500,000.00 and double it and turn it into a million? I guess you are seeing where I am going – but where would you get half a million in the first place to turn into that 1 million pound goal?

Easy! If you take the one pound from the original experiment and double it every week for 21 weeks you will have reached your 1 million pound goal! Now I bet that has made you look at what one million pounds is differently.

So there you have it! If you cut your big goals down into smaller ones you will achieve them quicker and easier than you think!

Richard MacKenzie is an expert in Self Hypnosis. He is also the bestselling author of a book on Self Hypnosis, called Self-Change Hypnosis.

Hypnotizability is the ability to experience hypnotic trance, usually via self-hypnosis or under the instruction of another person, such as a hypnotherapist. People vary in their ability to go into trance at will and on purpose. As a human trait, hypnotizability seems to be “normally” distributed throughout the population. In other words, statistically, the distribution of hypnotizability in the general population follows the bell-shaped curve. This means that a small percentage of people, about 10%, are highly hypnotizable and access trance quite easily. They seem to have a natural, inborn ability to go into trance. At the other end of the continuum, there is a small percentage of people for whom accessing trance (at least on purpose or at someone’s instruction) is difficult. The rest of the population, about 80%, are in the middle of the continuum of hypnotizability—they are low average, average and high average. In this sense, hypnotizability varies from person to person, just as other naturally-occurring traits, such as intelligence or height.

Certain psychological, social, and physiological factors correlate with hypnotizability, and may actually contribute to hypnotizability. When a hypnotherapist conducts formal or informal “tests of hypnotizability” he or she is asking the client to perform some simple exercises designed to elicit one or more of the factors that correspond to hypnotizability. According to Dr. Steven Gurgevich in his Self-Hypnosis Home Study Course (Sounds True, 2006) there are many common indicators of hypnotizability. These factors, or indicators, of hypnotizability are discussed below in the following paragraphs.

Ability to Follow Instructions

Some people follow instructions willingly when they believe it is in their interests to do so—and are very compliant with a hypnotherapist’s instructions. These people will have go into trance more easily than other who do not like being told what to do and will often have a compelling drive to disobey or ignore instructions, just to maintain their own sense of self-direction and independent thinking. People in the latter category (independent) can be hypnotized, as long as the hypnotherapist does not use an authoritarian approach.

The authoritarian approach usually will not work well with independent thinkers. To have success with independent thinkers, the hypnotherapist must reinforce the client’s own decision-making capabilities throughout the hypnosis process, and allow the client to consider options on how to best use and respond to the hypnotic process.

Capacity for Daydreaming and Deep Concentration

If you easily slip into daydreaming, and you get easily absorbed in movies, books, and video games, then you probably have a good level of hypnotizability. If you are distractible and find it hard to sit still for even a few minutes, you will probably have less hypnotizability.

Imagination

If you have a good ability to visualize and imagine new possibilities, then you are a good hypnotic candidate. The success of hypnosis often relies on your ability to imagine carrying out new behaviors. If you are lacking in imagination, your hypnotizability may be less than optimal.

The Eye-Roll Phenomenon

In the 1960’s Dr. Herbert Speigel conducted studies that showed a strong correlation between the ability to tilt one’s eyes up toward the forehead, and hypnotizability. The more white area one can show on the underside of the raised eyeball, the higher the hypnotizability. No one is sure why this correlation exists.

Interest in How the Mind Works

People with an interest in the mind and how it works usually become adept with hypnotic trance. People with an interest in the mind are those who often seek self-improvement by attending seminars, reading self-help books, listening to self-improvement CDs and DVDs, and spending time in activities such as meditation, journaling, yoga, relaxation, and hypnosis. People who have little interest in the mind will usually not even consider hypnosis as a viable option for solving a personal problem or for self-improvement.

An Open Mind

People usually succeed with hypnosis when they maintain an open mind about the process. They are curious and willing to explore what hypnosis is and how to use it. They maintain a positive expectation that hypnosis will be a pleasant, perhaps beneficial experience. People who are dead set against hypnosis or who want to prove that hypnosis doesn’t work or won’t work for them will usually not succeed with hypnosis.

Ability to Think Non-analytically

A person who thinks only in a logical, analytical manner will not have high hypnotizability. People with high hypnotizability can easily shift between analytical thinking and intuitive, creative, imaginative thinking.

Intellect

It is a common misconception that hypnotizability is usually linked to mental weakness or gullibility. Actually, the opposite is true. Those with high intelligence are often very good candidates for hypnosis.

A Word about Control Issues

Some beginners who don’t know much about hypnosis are reluctant to pursue hypnosis, and difficult to hypnotize, because they worry that hypnosis will cause them to give up self-control. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hypnosis actually helps people acquire more control over their thinking, actions, and emotions. In fact, many people seek hypnosis because they are habitually engaging in some behavior that is out of control (smoking, overeating, gambling, etc.). A person with control issues will do best in hypnosis with a thorough understanding of the process in advance.

Paper and Pencil Tests

There are some paper and pencil tests of hypnotizability, but not all are well-documented for predictability and msny have not been subjected to rigorous scientific analysis as to what they actually measure. The tests that are well-documented are usually used in scientific studies in which hypnotizability is a variable. Hypnotherapists rarely use these tests in actual practice because:
1) The tests are time consuming and expensive.
2) Most people are hypnotizable under the right circumstances, regardless of what the tests might show.
3) Hypnotizability also depends on one’s own expectations. If you think you are hypnotizable, your chances of going into trance are improved. If a test says you have low hypnotizability, it may lower your expectations and your low expectations may actually reduce your ability to go into trance.

Other Factors that influence the Success of Hypnosis

There are other factors that influence the success of hypnosis. Rapport with the person conducting hypnosis is one. Even if you want to be hypnotized, if the hypnotist or hypnotherapist working with you doesn’t seem completely trustworthy, or sincere, or skilled in working with you, you may encounter difficulty accessing trance. If you don’t feel comfortable with the individual conducting hypnosis with you, some part of your mind will be on guard.

Motivation is a very important factor in hypnosis. Motivation is highest when the individual sees benefit to accomplishing the goal, is willing to engage in the processes and steps that lead to the accomplishment, is totally congruent about wanting the accomplishment, and believes in his or her own capability to accomplish the goal. The most hypnotizable people are those who sincerely want to be hypnotized, expect hypnosis to work, and who want real results from hypnosis. A person who is not motivated to make a change will not be easily persuaded to do so with hypnosis.

If you feel half-way motivated to make a change, but still have some concerns or conflicts, it may be necessary for you to do extra work with with your hypnotherapist to get satisfying or lasting results with hypnosis. Your conflicts may be due to:
•Competing goals: You can have result A or result B but not both.

•Competing values: The goal is linked to a significant personal value or belief, but having it also violates another significant personal value or belief.

•Wanting the goal, but not the work or steps required to achieve it.

•Wanting the goal, but not the attendant problems and/or responsibilities that might come with the accomplishment.

•Wanting the goal, but not knowing how to accomplish it.

•Wanting the goal, but feeling blocked by fears, inhibitions, and limiting beliefs rooted in past experiences.

To complicate matters, the exact source of the conflict often resides in the subconscious and is not available for cognitive, conscious analysis. In this case, the conflicted individual has to contend with dread, procrastination, or self-sabotage, without actually getting at the heart of the matter.

Reaching resolution on one’s own is tough. A psychotherapist who is also a hypnotherapist can use a variety of hypnotic processes to help you identify the type of conflict you may be encountering and can assist you to work through it, reach resolution, come to terms with it, and put it behind you.

What to do if You Think you have Low Hypnotizability

Surprisingly, belief in one’s own hypnotizability does not seem to be a significant factor in hypnotizability. I’ve had several clients who came to my practice doubting, for one reason or another, that they could be hypnotized. Yet, once I explained the process to them, and worked with them, they easily accessed trance. I’ve also had a few clients who were told by other hypnotherapists that they were not hypnotizable, or who found they could not access trance with previous hypnotherapists. Many of these clients have also accessed trance, under my guidance and instruction. Most people can access trance once they understand the hypnotic process, and they truly have motivation to be hypnotized.

If you think you have little hypnotizability or believe you could be a poor candidate for hypnosis, don’t give up. Find and work with a skilled hypnotherapist with whom you feel comfortable. Sometimes people with low hypnotizability require a few sessions of practice before they can access trance. A skilled hypnotherapist will experiment with different approaches and inductions to find the methods that work best for each client.

Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D. is a licensed psychotherapist, counselor, life coach, writer, and speaker. She maintains a private practice in Springfield, Virginia, specializing in hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. She is a certified Master Clinical Hypnotherapist and Certified Master Practitioner and Trainer in NLP. Her web site is http://www.engagethepower.com

Your inner wisdom…your intuition…the mind-body interface…your guiding spirit…all these are definitions of the subconscious mind. Your subconscious is the part of your mind responsible for mental operations that seem beyond the purview of normal consciousness—dreams, hunches, intuition, moments of insight, flashes of creativity, precognition—even self-sabotage when we act upon motives of which we are unaware.

If you learn to trust, understand, and communicate with your subconscious you can tap into dimensions of thought that may be new to you. Your subconscious mind can serve as a source of inner guidance, self-knowledge, creativity, better health, and the motivation to accomplish goals.

How do I know? I am a certified master clinical hypnotherapist as well as a licensed psychotherapist with over 20 years of professional experience. I use hypnosis as a tool to help people manage emotions, improve health, eliminate bad habits, sleep better, reduce chronic pain, relax, develop confidence, visualize goals, and overcome phobias, fears, stress, and anxiety. A large part of my job is teaching people how to access their strengths and develop effective mental strategies, by using both the logical, conscious mind as well as the elusive, magical, subconscious. In this article, let me tell you how you can access and strengthen your connection with your subconscious to enhance the quality of your life.

Definitions of the Subconscious Mind

The concept of the subconscious was developed by psychologists early in the 20th century. The subconscious, sometimes called the “unconscious” mind, is a catch-all construct describing mental workings that don’t seem to be under conscious control. Freud theorized the subconscious to be a dark place of inner drives and demons, a repository of childhood fears and frustrations, and the storehouse of repressed memories that spawn seemingly inexplicable fears, obsessions, compulsions, and psychosomatic illnesses.

Freud’s colleague, Jung, theorized that the subconscious mind is every individual’s link to the cosmic consciousness—the universal intelligence, the shared mind of the human race. His theory explains how disparate cultures develop similar symbols, beliefs, and rituals, and why similar inventions and innovations appear in various locations across the globe, yet all at the same time.

Some psychologists characterize the subconscious as naïve and child-like—with no awareness of good and bad, right and wrong. This definition explains why we persist in unhealthy habits, such as overeating and smoking. Logically, we know these habits are destructive, but we feel compelled to do them anyway because the subconscious seeks only instant pleasure and gratification. Being child-like, this version of the subconscious doesn’t understand the difference between real and imaginary—thus the theory that the subconscious mind can be influenced by story-telling, guided imagery, and visualization.

Other theorists describe the subconscious as a source of wisdom and healing—an inner genie that grants insight, intuition, spiritual guidance, and recovery from illness. To those who believe in metaphysics, the subconscious mind is a direct connection to the universal creative mind that brings ideas into physical reality.

With its many attributes, perhaps it’s no wonder hypnotherapists and psychologists seek to engage the subconscious to help their clients toward self-improvement. One stated purpose of hypnosis, in fact, is to “bypass the conscious mind,” in an effort to reach the part of the mind that holds the key to real, lasting change, healing, and motivation.

So what is the subconscious mind? The subconscious mind is a construct. We cannot see it, touch it, or measure it, because it is not a physical thing. It is an abstraction that describes functions of the human mind that are unlike the conscious, cognitive functions we can perform at will, like spelling, arithmetic, typing, reciting, recalling facts, using logic, and following instructions.

The subconscious seems comprised of somewhat mysterious mental operations that seem to operate beyond conscious control. Here are the functions of the subconscious mind.

•Stored Memory: A repository for long-forgotten memories that may be a source of inexplicable fears, preferences, and idiosyncrasies.

• Creativity and Intuition: The ability to pull together seemingly unrelated bits of information and arrive at new conclusions and possibilities, which we’ve never before formulated.
•Intuition: The ability to sense cues and patterns of activity in the environment of which we are not consciously aware, and yet, which alert us to events that are about to happen—a near accident, for example.

•Mind/Body Monitoring and Healing: As the link between mind and body, the subconscious seems to exert an influence over personal sickness and health. The mind is the true healer, fueled by the power of belief.

•The Dream Weaver: Hypnotherapists believe that the subconscious remains active during sleep, processing the events and emotions of the day via dreams, while the conscious mind rests.

•The Connection to Cosmic Consciousness: In sleep, meditation, quiet contemplation, or prayer, and sometimes in what some have described as a blinding flash of enlightenment and insight, the subconscious opens up a link, an interface, to universal knowledge and understanding. The result might be a religious conversion, an epiphany, innovation and invention, a solution to a previously unsolvable problem, or a miraculous and spontaneous healing.

•The Inner Spirit and Higher Wisdom: There are those who say that the subconscious is very much a part of our spiritual nature—the essence of God, the kingdom of heaven, within ourselves.

Accessing the Subconscious

By accessing your subconscious, you might become more creative, intuitive, healthier, and insightful, with more control over thoughts, emotions, habits, and motivation. It doesn’t happen overnight. This level of self-understanding, mental discipline and personal empowerment can take years to develop. Yet, there are ways to facilitate the process. Begin with the intention to increase your awareness of your subconscious and establish a communication with it, and cultivate a desire to learn what it can teach you.

How the Subconscious Mind Communicates

The subconscious mind communicates its guidance in often unexpected and creative ways. That communication might be an intuitive hunch, a flash of insight, or a creative idea. It might be a dream or an image, seemingly irrelevant at first, yet, after a while one that begins to make sense. Some say the subconscious is that still, small voice within that speaks to us in quiet moments of curiosity, wonder, awe, or reflection. Sometimes the subconscious mind warns us of danger or threat with a sensation—a tightening in the stomach, a chill down the spine, a feeling of physical discomfort. I have often had the experience that when I am searching for something I’ve misplaced, I get an intuitive push to look in a certain place, and I usually find the lost item.

Strengthen Your Connection

To increase your connection to the subconscious and foster its participation in your daily life, turn off the radio, the computer, the television and put down the magazine and the newspaper and take time for quiet, solitary reflection. Here are a few more recommendations.

•Get comfortable listening to your own thoughts and traveling your interior landscape. Stop thinking of everything you have to do and all the things you worry about and communicate with your inner spirit. Learn to occasionally exist fully in the moment. Figure out who you are, what your life is all about, and what brings you fulfillment and inner peace. Think deeply about these things and perhaps your inner wisdom will begin to listen and guide you to conclusions.

•Give attention to your dreams. In Conscious Dreaming, Robert Moss, shaman and professor of philosophy, writes that dreams are spiritual tools through which we can learn about the future, receive guidance, and resolve unfinished business. Moss recommends keeping a dream diary, to understand the symbols, patterns and themes of dreams. He advises us to ask of our dreams: “What do I need to know? What do I need to do?”

•Engage the services of a board-certified hypnotherapist who can help you understand more about your subconscious. With hypnotherapy, you can eliminate undesirable habits, resolve inner conflicts, enhance your motivation and self-confidence, heal traumas, and surmount irrational fears and phobias.

•Take time to relax, quiet your mind, and develop an inner focus. If you have trouble relaxing, purchase a relaxation training CD—you can find them on Internet web sites such as The Hypnosis Network. Relaxation will help you with reflection, meditation, sleep, and self-hypnosis, all of which will enhance your ability to access your subconscious.

•Eliminate fear-based, negative self-talk. Your subconscious listens to every thought you think and carries those messages to your body, and out to the universe. Monitor your thoughts and start thinking positively about the things that really matter in your life.

•Develop a capacity for curiosity and creativity; states in which the subconscious is most likely to be attentive and responsive. These states allow you to open your awareness and engage in possibility thinking.

There are several “tools” that will help you communicate with the subconscious. They include journaling, mind-mapping, treasure-mapping, affirmations, focused thinking, and prayer.

•Journaling: Keep a diary to capture feelings, dreams, goals, impressions, and insights. In this way, you become more aware of your patterns of thinking and feeling.

•Mind-mapping: Choose a project you want to carry out and then create a pen-and-paper diagram of your thoughts. The diagram starts from a central point on the page and then branches out in all directions, as new ideas occur. Describe each idea with a few key words. The branches will develop “twigs” as you think of the details that accompany each major idea. Mind-mapping allows for creative, non-linear thinking that lends itself to planning and problem solving.

•Treasure-mapping: Assemble a collage of pictures of the things you want in life, so that the images are more easily communicated to the subconscious. The pictures can come from photos, sketches, and clippings from newspapers and magazines. Look at your treasure map often, for reinforcement.

•Affirmations: Get into the habit of positive thinking about the things you are accomplishing in your life. Affirmations are the “slogans” you say to yourself that keep you optimistic and focused on your goals, and motivated to achieve them.

•Focused thinking and visualization: Take some time each day to dwell on your future. Visualize that you are accomplishing your goals and dreams.

•Prayer: Become a co-creator of your own reality, by meditating and conversing with the Deity, according to your spiritual beliefs. Ask for guidance, affirm that your needs and wants are satisfied, and express gratitude.

Perhaps Dr. Joseph Murphy sums up the ideas in this article best in his writings:

You can bring into your life more power, more wealth, more health, more happiness and more joy by learning to contact and release the hidden power of your subconscious mind. …Within your subconscious depths lie infinite wisdom, infinite power, and infinite supply of all that is necessary, which is waiting for development and expression…Your subconscious mind takes the orders you give it based on what the conscious mind believes and accepts as true…Remember, your subconscious mind does not engage in proving whether your thoughts are good or bad, or true or false, but it responds according to the nature of your thoughts. (From: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Prentice-Hall, 1963)

Dr. Judith E. Pearson is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Certified Master Clinical Hypnotherapist with a private practice in Springfield, Virginia. She owns Motivational Strategies, Inc., offering counseling, life coaching, hypnotherapy, psychotheapy. She is also a speaker and a free-lance writer. Her web site is http://www.engagethepower.com.

As a clinical hypnotherapist, I occasionally receive requests from my clients to help them remember something they’ve forgotten, or to help them forget something they no longer wish to remember. It’s not always possible or advisable to fulfill these requests. The idea of using hypnotherapy to manipulate memory is more complex than most people realize. The general public seems to have much confusion on the subject. I’d like to clear that confusion with this article.

Remembering

First, let’s talk about whether hypnosis can facilitate memory. People want to remember things they have forgotten for a number of often legitimate reasons. Here are some reasons I’ve heard:
•People want to remember where they left some item that they cannot find.

•People want to search through their past to discover the original cause of seemingly inexplicable and troubling emotions, thought patterns, or behaviors. This is often the case when people suspect they may have suppressed memories of childhood abuse, or when people want to explore “past lives”. Many believe that by uncovering the “cause” of the problems, they will be “cured” or at least they will understand themselves more fully.

•People want to remember what happened when they have a “gap” in time. For example, during a fever, or while inebriated, or under the effects of certain drugs, people may lose memory. When they recover their senses, they might wonder what happened while their minds were incapacitated.

•In legal cases, people may want to remember the details of a crime they have witnessed, in order to give a more accurate report to the police or more complete testimony to the courts. In legal cases, forensic hypnotherapy is often employed by hypnotherapists specifically trained in eliciting information for legal purposes.

Can hypnosis really help in these kinds of cases? The answer is “Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no.” It is a myth that the human brain stores every memory of everything that has ever occurred to the individual. There is no scientific way to prove that every memory is stored intact for a lifetime. It is far more likely and logical to conclude that the brain maintains memories based on whether they are recent, useful and frequently recalled, and eventually deletes those that are not. This theory makes sense due to the fact that most of us forget far more than we remember. It would simply overload the brain to have to remember every detail of every waking moment of our lives.

Another myth is that memories are stored accurately and intact. Memory erodes and changes over time. Memory is almost never completely accurate. The mind retains bits and pieces of memories and then fills in the rest. Memory blurs and changes over time. The ability to accurately remember is affected by many variables, such as the meaning of the event, and your mental and emotional state at the time. You might recall your vacation in vivid detail, if it was just last week. How well do you remember a vacation you took ten years ago? Just because someone “remembers” an event via hypnosis doesn’t mean the memory is accurate or complete.

Hypnotherapy may or may not be effective in retrieving a memory. One person may recover a memory in just one session of hypnotherapy, while another may require several sessions. The ability to recover a memory in hypnosis depends on a number of factors. One factor is the client’s degree of hypnotizability. Hypnotizability (the ability to access the hypnotic state) varies among individuals. Another factor is the motivation of the client. A client may be less amenable to hypnosis if he or she feels conflicted about recovering the memory. For example, suppose an individual want to remember the details of early childhood abuse at the hands of an unknown assailant, and at the same time, suspects or fears that the assailant may be revealed as a loved family member. A person wanting to reveal what happened during a “gap” in time may worry that he or she will remember something embarrassing or shameful.

Another factor is the skill of the hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapists do best when they can put their clients at ease, adjust procedures to the needs and preferences of the client, and maintain the flexibility to work with a wide variety of client personalities. Hypnotherapists must also have a repertoire of trance-induction methods so that if a client is not responsive to one method, another method can be used.

Finally, when it comes to recovering memories, the hypnotherapist must be careful with wording the instructions and questions to the client in trance. The hypnotherapist should make every effort to avoid “leading” instructions or “presuppositional” questions. Let’s say, for example, that during hypnotic regression, the client reports a memory of being in a room with an adult and feeling afraid. At the point, it would be inappropriate for the hypnotherapist to say, “Give me the name of this man” The instruction assumes that the person is a man, and that the client should know his name, when perhaps neither is the case. An example of a presuppositional question might be, “Where did he touch you?” when it hasn’t been established that the client was touched at all. A more neutral question would be “And then what happened?”

Careless wording in hypnotherapy may lead to a phenomenon called “false memory.” False memory occurs when the client produces a memory of something that did not happen, and believes it to be true, especially since it emerged during hypnosis. Just because a memory emerges in hypnosis, does not make it true. Some clients are very compliant in hypnosis and are likely to go along with leading instructions and presuppositional questions, producing inaccurate recall. Even with the most scrupulous instructions and questions, false memories can emerge. Sometimes clients want to remember something so badly that the mind actually fabricates a memory to satisfy the desire. A hypnotherapist should never vouch for the accuracy of truthfulness of a memory that a client produces through hypnotherapy.

In the case of remembering events that may constitute the origin of troubling behaviors, thoughts or emotions, there are additional considerations. First, when no memory emerges, it doesn’t mean nothing happened, and it doesn’t mean the individual cannot change. People make significant changes in their lives without always understanding the origins of their problems. Second, human problems might result from other factors, not just past events. Biology, cultural influences, brain chemistry, and genetics can play a role. Third, sometimes the basis of the problem is an omission—and no memory exists for something that didn’t happen. A lack of validation and affection can be as emotionally damaging to a child as criticism and belittling.

Finally, when it comes to lost memory, perhaps it is a survival mechanism that the mind can mercifully block out a memory of trauma or tragedy. I recently met a man who asked my professional opinion about this. His niece was assaulted in her home by an intruder, who beat her severely. After months of medical care and recovery, she is doing well, with no memory of what happened that night. Her psychiatrist concluded that it is unnecessary for her to recall the trauma, and to insist that she do so would be unkind and perhaps unethical. Did I agree? Under the circumstances, yes.

Forgetting

Next, allow me to discuss how hypnosis can facilitate forgetting and the ethical considerations involved. Over the years I’ve had a few clients tell they wanted hypnotherapy in order to forget something painful. It can be done. Again, hypnotizability, motivation, and rapport are all factors in how well someone can be hypnotized and how completely one will follow the instruction to forget something.

Stage hypnotists often give their volunteers instructions for temporary amnesia—say, failure to recall one’s address, or middle name, or the number between six and eight. As long as the instruction is not threatening, the hypnotized individual will often comply. At the end of the show, the stage hypnotist always tells the volunteer that he or she will once more recall the information.

Hypnotherapy is different. The goal is not to entertain, but to change people’s lives for the better. I’ve had mainly two types of requests for forgetting. One I often encounter is from someone who has just gone through a painful break-up. One man told me that the thought of his former girlfriend caused him so much anguish that he wanted to totally erase her memory from his mind. I’ve also met some people who have told me they want to forget that they ever smoked, so they can stop smoking and never be tempted so smoke again.

In every case, I have refused on ethical grounds. Here’s why. The mind stores information like a database stores data. Much of the information is cross-linked to other pieces of information. Delete one category of information and other, cross linked information becomes incomplete and confusing. Associative memories may be lost as well. Suppose Joe does forget Jane via hypnosis. What happens when he encounters her one day on the street and she begins to talk about her memories of their relationship? What happens when he finds a card or letter in his drawer with her signature at the bottom? Suppose Sam forgets he was ever a smoker, but can’t account for the lighters in his desk and briefcase. Will Joe and Sam think they are going crazy?

It’s not a good idea to purposely remove memories, even painful ones. Besides, there are other ways to get over a break-up or stop smoking. It’s still possible for hypnotherapy to help in both cases.

Conclusion

Tampering with memory via hypnosis is a delicate and uncertain business. There are no guarantees. Please understand this when you go looking for a hypnotherapist to help you remember something. Additionally, for your own piece of mind, don’t ask a hypnotherapist help you to forget something of vital significance in your life.

Dr. Judith E. Pearson is a licensed pyschotherapist, counselor and life coach with a private practice in Springfield, Virginia. She is a Certified Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Certified Master Clinical Hypnotherapist, a speaker and a free-lance writer. Her web site is http://www.engagethepower.com

After over 20 years as a Licensed Professional Counselor, Hypnotherapist and Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, I continue to find that clients come to me with misperceptions and unfounded expectations about hypnotherapy. The purpose of this paper is to clear up some of those misperceptions, so that you know what to expect in working with me or any other hypnotherapist.

First, some clients expect they can just walk into my office for the very first time, sit down, be instantly hypnotized, and walk out 60 minutes later a changed person. I wish that were the case, but it isn’t. Like most therapists and medical specialists, I want to interview you to learn about your issues and concerns and about your personality. I will ask you these questions in order to develop a plan that I think will best serve you.

Second, some clients have a very antiquated and narrow definition of hypnotherapy. They think I am going to wave a watch before their eyes and I’ll say, “Go into a deep sleep,” and they will instantly lose consciousness. I think this attitude is due to the influence of too many Hollywood movies. I am a solution-oriented therapist and counselor. That means that I use several methods to help clients get the results they want. I draw upon traditional hypnosis, guided imagery, visualization, metaphor, Ericksonian hypnotherapy, eye-movement therapies, client-centered methods, cognitive psychology, reframing, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to meet my clients’ needs.

There are many approaches to hypnotherapy. Some are structured and direct, while some are more creative and indirect. I select the methods from my repertoire that I think will best work for you. However, it is a trial and error process. If one method doesn’t work with you, perhaps another will, or you might benefit from a combination of methods. Hypnosis is a learning process and clients sometimes have unconscious concerns they need to work through, or they may need to hear the message more than once, in various presentations. For this reason, I cannot always predict with accuracy the number of sessions that will be optimum for your needs.

Third, many clients expect trance to be some magical, mysterious state in which they will experience strange sights, sounds, and sensations, like being on some mind-altering, hallucinogenic drug. Or they might expect to have no memory for the experience at all because they equate trance with being unconscious. Let me explain that trance is not an all-or-nothing experience. Trance is just part of the continuum between alertness and sleep. Therefore, trance is a naturally-occurring state, and people access trance every day.

With hypnotherapy, the depth of trance can very. Some people reach a light trance, and some are very adept at easily accessing a deep level of trance.

Here are some basic descriptions of trance levels:

Light Trance: This is a state of curiosity and concentration, like daydreaming. I may ask you to close your eyes and visualize or remember something. You don’t have to close your eyes if you don’t want to. You remain aware of your surroundings. You can carry on a conversation. You still have complete control over your actions. You can hear every word and remember what happened during the session. You won’t feel weird or spacey or zoned out.

Medium Trance: You will feel more relaxed with a deeper concentration. Questions or new ways of thinking about things may enter your mind, because it’s easier for you to make new associations, imagine, entertain new possibilities, and obtain insight. You still remain aware of your surroundings, although you may lose track of time. You may or may not notice that you feel more compliant and suggestible. You won’t feel weird or spacey or zoned out.

Deep Trance: At this stage, your mind is so free of distractions that you can ignore anything not relevant. You can have spontaneous amnesia, and not remember what happened, and rationalize later that you were asleep. Suggestibility is highest at this stage, in which the conscious mind is resting (not participating) and the subconscious mind is most active. You might enter that twilight stage between waking and sleeping known as the “hypnogog.” Beyond this state, you will fall asleep.

Any stage of trance might be appropriate for the issues you want to address with hypnotherapy. Most clients experience light and medium trance during their first few sessions of hypnotherapy. Although a minority of hypnotherapist say that clients can achieve results only with deep trance, this view is not widely accepted and is easily dismissed. Many people get results from hypnotherapy and were not even sure whether they were hypnotized because they felt so “normal” during the process.

Fourth, while some clients worry as to whether they are hypnotizable, many hope and expect that they will achieve deep trance instantly and easily. I too wish that were the case. It would make my job much easier. Most people can be hypnotized, if they want to be hypnotized. However, not everyone will easily reach deep trance. Some clients exhibit a natural capacity for trance work, and they readily reach deep trance. On the other hand there are many people who simply cannot reach deep trance, or who can do it only after hours of practice.

One of the aims of hypnosis is to help you work more closely with your own subconscious mind—the source of your inner wisdom. It is my philosophy that everyone creates their own experience of trance, and that your subconscious mind will take you to the level of trance that adequately solves your problem. I will do my best to help you do just that.

Finally, some of my clients expect that I will take control over their thinking and actions, and after hypnosis, they will behave as an automaton—achieving results without any conscious effort. The purpose of hypnosis is not to take away your control—its purpose is to give you back control, so that you can have the results you say you want. The purpose of hypnosis is not to stop you from thinking, but to enhance your ability to think in productive, healthy ways, so you can make a decision about what you want to accomplish and carry it out faithfully.

My job as your hypnotherapist is to convince you of the truth that I believe about you, but you haven’t yet begun to believe about yourself: You already have within you all the internal resources (strength, power, motivation, determination, creativity, intuition, insight, intelligence) you need to solve your problem and get the results you want. All hypnosis does is help you find and tap into those resources that have been there all the time.

Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D. is a licensed psychotherapist, counselor, coach and Certified Master Clinical Hypnotherapist with a solo practice in Springfield, Virginia. She has recently published The Weight, Hypnotherapy and You Reduction Program: An NLP and Hypnotherapists Manual (Crown House). She is the Executive Director of the National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists. Her web site is http://www.engagethepower.com

Self hypnosis is a great way to reach your goals in life. It is grasping for that inner power to achieve your objectives.

Numerous people have successfully used self hypnosis to quit smoking, to lose weight, to fight shyness, to make better choices of partners, to sleep better, to release creativity, to reach your income goals, or even to keep your every day mood balanced.

Let’s first clear the misconceptions on hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a deep state of relaxation. You are aware of your environment. You can hear everything. It is the best way to gain control of your brain. Now you have real power to change or re-program some harmful emotional patterns in your mind.

Hypnosis is a new branch in psychology. The patterns are located at the subconscious level of your brain. Hypnosis enables to reach that place and give a direct cure to the problem.

When you are in a deep state of mind it is easier to fix the problem right away because you are in the emotion that leads you to the compulsive behaviors.

Sometimes we just need that extra internal push to have the guts or the energy or the motor to jump at doing what we know we need to do. Self hypnosis is a possible answer.

I have used self hypnosis to change my eating habits. It worked, and it is still working. I got rid of my constant craving for chocolate. It was a difficult battle without it.

I have a friend who has been on medication for his panic attacks. He used hypnosis as a complementary treatment. His medication dose has been reduced at the time this article is published.

There are even cases where women even gave natural birth with the power of self hypnosis. It is exciting to see the different applications of hypnosis to enhance your life.

However, self hypnosis alone cannot solve all. You need to have a minimum of focus and determination to do the mental exercises that leads you to change your everyday choices. As you do them, it is getting easier and easier to reach your goal.

You can use the help of a professional, who has a long experience career. They will charge you an hourly fee between 50$-100$. The sessions last for about an hour each. You have a number of sessions for the treatment that can range from eight to twelve sessions per problem to solve. It can be more or less.

You can also download and unlimited number of mp3 hypnosis from hypnosisdownloads.com.

You can put them on a CD later and listen to them on your computer at work or in your peaceful living area corner in your house. The membership fee is far more affordable then going to see a professional.

You have the privilege of receiving two daily inspirational quotes that will help you keep your hard earned peace of mind. You’ll also have access every two weeks to the 2 newest hypnosis mp3 downloads.

With self hypnosis, you have help to reach all your goals and lead and happier life. You get all what life can offer because of the power of your healthy mind.

To continue receiving tips, subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.everydaybetterliving.com/hypnosis/self_hypnosis.html