What is hypnotherapy? Although I am mainly known for hypnotherapy, I have a whole range of qualifications and skills at my disposal. These include NLP, Mindfulness and coaching. Most sessions include some hypnotherapy and coaching also happens in many sessions, both supported by a range of qualifications and also my personal life experience.
This blog is all about hypnosis and hypnotherapy, so what are they? The description that I learned in my early training and the one accepted by all modern practitioners is that hypnosis is ‘a state of focused relaxation’.
Now, for the type of clients that I see, clients with anxieties and fears, the relaxation element is wonderful. When I ask a new client how they felt about their first experience of hypnosis, the most common answer is “Oh I haven’t ever been that relaxed” or “I can’t remember when I was last that relaxed”.
Relaxation as Part of Hypnotherapy
So the relaxation itself is of value, particularly to my clients. The focus element is also important because that supports the therapy work. The fact that my clients are in a relaxed, receptive state means that they are able to focus much more than they could out of hypnosis. Again, most of my clients are in a state of anxiety or fear, and in those states it’s very hard to focus on what is going on, even if it that is therapy that is going to help them.
So for me the reason I use hypnosis and do therapy in hypnosis is because, in my experience, it’s quickest and often the most effective way to do the therapy work.
What is the experience of being in hypnosis really like?. It’s hard to explain but the most common first word I get after bringing a client out of hypnosis is “Weird” and I’m happy with that because it’s usually said with a smile. The other client description that I get quite often is “It was like I was here but I wasn’t” and that’s about as close as you can get.
When you’re in hypnosis you can hear everything I say, you can try to remember it if you want to but you don’t have to. If I want you to remember something I will suggest that you should do so, but that word suggest is important. I am not putting you into hypnosis and taking control of your brain and making you do things you don’t want to do, I can’t do that and, thankfully, neither can anyone else. I am eternally grateful that is the case because I think it would be a highly dangerous thing to do. What I’m doing when I put you into hypnosis, apart from relaxing you, is making suggestions and you will not follow any suggestion that conflicts with your values and beliefs (I obviously avoid those if I can). In addition, your subconscious mind will take my suggestions and do what it thinks is best for you. I am constantly surprised by what my clients do with the same suggestions!
I Believe Everyone Can be Hypnotised
Many clients are worried that they may not be able to go into hypnosis but, in my experience, everyone can. They may not believe that they have been in hypnosis because it was not how they expected it to be, despite my careful explanations. The clincher is when I ask them how much time they thought had elapsed, typically they will say 5/10 minutes when it’s more like 20/30 minutes. The ability to go into hypnosis and the depth of that state are not as important as the client suggestibility but even the most sceptic client will get some benefit. Maximum benefit comes with being very open to my suggestions and that, of course, is based on the trust, which I have to earn.
Hypnosis is an All-Round Winner
So as far as I’m concerned hypnosis and doing therapy within hypnosis is an all-round winner. It relaxes my clients, it gives them a space where they are more able to access the therapies that I’m doing with them and it is a tool that they can learn to use and continue to use, if they choose to do so, for the rest of their life. All of my clients are offered the opportunity to learn self hypnosis, which is a learnable skill and the benefits of it, the usefulness of it to a client is really very dependent upon how prepared they are to practice, so that when they use it it’s familiar and easy to do. I haven’t ridden a bicycle for years but I’m pretty sure I could get on a bike and ride it now because I practiced and have ridden quite a lot. It’s exactly the same if you practice self-hypnosis consistently for a while and use it on reasonably regular basis then it becomes easy to do when required The benefits are that it relaxes you, can help you get to sleep and enables you to use any techniques that I have taught you. For me, it is a way of going inside and just being with yourself, which we don’t do enough.
If you are considering hypnotherapy or are curious about hypnosis, then I am very happy to give you a free hypnosis experience, either in person or online.