WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?

Most importantly, hypnosis is a natural and normal state of consciousness, yet you are in a very focused state of mind - referred to as a trance.

As you are reading this, you may be in a state of Hypnosis right now! You drift in and out of hypnosis throughout your day as you are reading literature, watching TV and YES even while driving your vehicle! Have you ever arrived at your destination and not clearly remembered driving there? You were in the state of Hypnosis!

Many people refer to this state of profound comfort in which you allow yourself to enter as that very comfortable relaxed state you have experienced just before you become fully awake from sleeping - not quite awake and not quite asleep.

It can also be defined as concentrated and directed daydreaming. Whereas the word sleep is sometimes used to describe the trance state, the person is far from being asleep. A person in hypnosis is aware of his or her surroundings in a detached sort of way and is more receptive to acceptable suggestion.

All hypnosis is essentially self-hypnosis, because unless you are prepared to go with it you simply don’t. It is a consensual state of heightened focused concentration combined with deep physical relaxation allowing access to the subconscious mind effecting positive change and improvement. You are mentally focused and aware of what is going on, and your body is deeply relaxed in a comfortable state of calm.

In this special mental state, people tend to feel uninhibited and relaxed. This is because they tune out the worries and doubts that normally keep their actions in check. You might experience the same feeling while watching a movie: As you immerse yourself in the plot, worries about your job, family, etc. fade away, until all you're thinking about is what's up on the screen.

In this state, you are also highly suggestible. That is, when the therapist tells you do something, you'll probably embrace the idea completely. This is what makes stage hypnotist shows so entertaining. Normally reserved, sensible adults are suddenly walking around the stage clucking like chickens or singing at the top of their lungs. Fear of embarrassment seems to fly out the window. The subject's sense of safety and morality remain entrenched throughout the experience, however. A hypnotist can't get you to do anything you don't want to do.

Simply stated, hypnosis is nothing more than a way to access a person's subconscious mind directly. Normally, you are only aware of the thought processes in your conscious mind. You consciously think over the problems that are right in front of you, consciously choose words as you speak, consciously try to remember where you left your car in the parking lot.

But in doing all these things, your conscious mind is working hand-in-hand with your subconscious mind, the part of your mind that does your "behind the scenes" thinking. Your subconscious mind accesses the vast reservoir of information that lets you solve problems, construct sentences or locate your automobile. It puts together plans and ideas and runs them by your conscious mind. When a new idea comes to you out of the blue, it's because you already thought through the process subconsciously.

Your subconscious also takes care of all the stuff you do automatically. You don't actively work through the steps of breathing minute to minute -- your subconscious mind does that. You don't think through every little thing you do while driving a car -- a lot of the small stuff is thought out in your subconscious mind. Your subconscious also processes the physical information your body receives.

In short, your subconscious mind is the real brains behind the operation -- it does most of your thinking, and it decides a lot of what you do. When you're awake, your conscious mind works to evaluate a lot of these thoughts, make decisions and put certain ideas into action. It also processes new information and relays it to the subconscious mind. But when you're asleep, the conscious mind gets out of the way, and your subconscious has free reign.

The deep relaxation and focusing exercises of hypnotism work to calm and subdue the conscious mind so that it takes a less active role in your thinking process. In this state, you're still aware of what's going on, but your conscious mind takes a backseat to your subconscious mind. Effectively, this allows you and the hypnotist to work directly with the subconscious. It's as if the hypnosis process pops open a control panel inside your brain.

The subconscious regulates your bodily sensations, such as taste, touch and sight, as well as your emotional feelings. When the access door is open, and the hypnotist can speak to your subconscious directly, he or she can trigger all these feelings, so you experience the satisfaction of contentment and any number of other feelings.

WHY CHOOSE HYPNOTHERAPY?

Simply, because hypnotherapy works! With Hypnosis you can access the subconscious mind where your past experiences (we like to call it your "life script") are stored to discover the core issues causing the symptoms, such as; stress, anxiety, depression, habits & addictions, insomnia, chronic pain, fears, phobias, sexual dysfunction, procrastination, weight gain or loss, and much more.

The conscious mind consumes about five to ten percent of one’s cognizant ability, while the subconscious employs the largest part of our mind involving 90 - 95 percent of our mental capacity.

Today most people recognize that the mind and body interact. Our mind and body are fully integrated parts of a whole being - a change in one part affects the other.

Your mind is an untapped source of amazing power. If you change your mind, your life must change too. There is nothing in your outer world that did not begin from your inner world. Everything starts with thought, and problems arise when thoughts become toxic. When we purify the thinking process it has an affect on every aspect of our lives.

The power of hypnosis can create rapid change and help you achieve your self-improvement goals.

"Feelings come from thoughts, either conscious or unconscious. You can change your thoughts and thereby your feelings”

Thoughts themselves have power. Often it seems like we have no control over our thoughts. It’s like a wild monkey in there – thoughts going rampant without supervision.

"As a man thinketh so he becomes”

If we learn to guide our thoughts when we want, so that we are the masters of our thoughts and emotions more often, we could use it as a huge advantage.

As we use our thoughts and feelings more creatively, uniquely, wisely, and positively, we obviously become happier and more efficient. We also help the world in general, don’t you think?

Training your self-talk and your thoughts is a skill and a practice. It’s an exercise the way fitness, lifting weights, dance, and doing yoga is exercise and also like brushing your teeth, a daily practice.

"He who masters his thoughts masters his life”

Without consciously putting in strong positive thoughts it is easy for negative thoughts and past hurts, big and small, to replay in the mind. The past will then continue to hurts our daily lives and us. The unhappier our thoughts become the more negative chemicals flow into our bodies, and the worse we feel. It becomes a cycle that gets hard to break. At any given time many of these cycles are going on at a low level and we ignore them like small rocks we are carrying about, but get so accustomed to that we forget that we have them strapped to our shoulders.

It takes a clear decision to put a new program in place. To turn down the volume on something that may have given your self-esteem a knock, or your ego a bruise, or been a serious wound in the past. Then the more the incident hurt, or was repeated, or sustained and the more we relive these moments in our minds, the more charge they have for us. The more potent they are and the more we see the parallels with current moments, the stronger and more repeated the new suggestions need to be to reprogram the ideas.

This is where hypnosis makes such a big difference.

CAN ANYONE BE HYPNOTISED?

Anyone who wants to be hypnotised can be hypnotised.

In fact, healing by trance state (or an altered state of awareness) is among the oldest phenomena known to man and is found, in one form or another, in virtually every culture throughout the world.

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ISN’T HYPNOSIS FOR THE WEAK MINDED?

Intelligence is directly correlated to suggestibility. The more intelligent you are, the more easily you can be hypnotised. People of a below-average IQ find it difficult to go into a hypnotic state. Geniuses are naturally close to a hypnotic state of Alpha most of the time and therefore enter hypnosis easily. This accounts for their ability to transfer information from their subconscious mind to their waking life and bring to the world their creations.

WHAT IF I DO GO TO SLEEP?

It has been discovered by several research groups that the hearing acts like a surveillance camera. Your eyes close, but you ears cannot close. They remain open always, taking in information constantly. When a mother is "asleep" and hears her baby cry, she will "awaken" immediately.

The truth is, we never really sleep, and a part of our brain is always stays alert. That part is our hearing. It stays alert to protect our offspring and us. Your hearing is "on" 24/7, taking in information and recording it. In hypnosis, we use this to your advantage, so even if you fall "asleep" during the session, your brain is still recording all of the information in your subconscious mind.

WILL I LOSE CONTROL or CAN IT HARM ME?

Hypnosis is not done to you, it is done with you. I, the Hypnotherapist, am the facilitator who induces this naturally occurring state, hypnosis, whereby information and suggestions are processed more readily and rapidly without so much influence / sabotage from the critical, analytical, conscious mind.

Some people are afraid that their mind will be "controlled" by the hypnotist, or that they will "lose control" and do things or say things they do not wish to do.

A person in hypnosis does not lose control, and more importantly, hypnosis cannot make you do anything that goes against your morals or belief system or harm you in anyway.

In fact, there is nothing dangerous about hypnosis. If there were, we would certainly know it. We would have to tell ourselves not to slip into another state of consciousness, not to daydream, not to concentrate deeply, not to become totally absorbed in things of compelling interest.

A person entering the state of hypnosis feels total relaxation, and upon leaving this natural state they are wonderfully calm, extremely relaxed and are never skeptical of hypnosis again.

WHAT IF I DON'T WAKE UP?

Contrary to popular belief hypnosis is not a sleep state. It is a state of FOCUSED concentration where you are physically relaxed and mentally focused. As it is a natural state, if I, the Hypnotherapist, were to ‘disappear’, you would come out of it like you would a natural day dream state or slip into sleep and wake up naturally feeling energized and refreshed.

Hypnosis is a perfectly safe, natural state of mind. You are always in control.

You do not get ‘stuck’ in hypnosis.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SESSION?

To me, it is an honour and a privilege to have the opportunity to meet with you and work with you in this way. I approach each session with the deep reverence and respect it deserves, and I give you my undivided attention and presence throughout the entire session.

You remain aware and in control during all hypnotic sessions. Initially, we will discuss your requirements and I will be getting to know you and understand you and your individual needs. During this time any questions you may have about the process will be answered. It is very important to me that you feel respected, comfortable and safe at all times.

I will always communicate to you what is happening and why.

Being induced into hypnosis is a gentle, relaxed process, guided only by my voice. There are no pendulums or bright lights. In the hypnotic state, you are by no means asleep, even though would appear to be. There is a heightened awareness, so you know everything that is happening around you, while still being able to recall very fine details of what you are seeing and hearing in your mind.

I will offer suggestion by way of various techniques and/or help you, where needed, to find the root cause of your problem by age regression. As a result, we have greater access to your subconscious attitudes and feelings that shape your behavior.

Once the underlying reason of the problem has been defined, gentle suggestions are used, helping you to untie the subconscious knot and free you to live a healthier, more productive life. The old negative thought patterns are replaced using positive suggestions, which, in turn, can lead to a more emotionally balanced, happy & healthy individual.

Most people will remember the beginning parts of the session and perhaps the last thing that occurred before coming out of hypnosis. The rest may be remembered in snatches like pieces of dreams, but it begins to fade quickly and only major parts may be remembered. I do record the session for you to take home, either on tape or CD.

HOW MANY SESSIONS WILL I NEED?

Just as each person is unique, so is each presenting issue with the individual. Therefore there are no predetermined number of sessions. Each session is catered to the individual client, and conducted in a professional clinical environment with complete client confidentiality.

Mostly all of my clients notice a significant and positive change after their first session, and many elect to come back to work on another aspect of their wellbeing or for the enjoyment of deep relaxation and personal development.

90% of clients I see to STOP SMOKING give up after their first session.