Hypnosis myths.

FACT: It is impossible to get ‘stuck’ in a trance. Left in a hypnotic trance, one would merely move into a normal sleep from which they would awake refreshed after a very short time.

FACT: You have already been hypnotised countless times in your life, so have all your friends, family and indeed everyone in the world. It’s just very different from what you expect that you don’t notice it.

For example, ever remember the exact moment at which you fall asleep at night? Exactly, that’s because at the moment you fall asleep, you are deeply hypnotised. Similarly, you are driving along on a long journey and suddenly realise you have lost half a dozen motorway junctions or cant remember the last three roundabouts you came across – it’s a form of deep trance called hypno-amnesia. Some people can do it by losing themselves in a good book or a magazine.

How many times in your life have you scratched, bruised or injured yourself in some way, then got home or to work and thought: “I don’t remember doing that?”

That’s the deepest form of trance there is! Way deeper than anything that is used on stage.

FACT: Anytime there is direct communication with your unconscious mind, without the simultaneous interference of the conscious mind, then that IS hypnotic!

MYTH: When you are hypnotised properly you are going to feel ‘dead’, asleep or at least like a zombie with no free will of your own.

FACT: People assume that they are going to feel dead or asleep or like a zombie, but what you actually feel when you are hypnotised is – absolutely nothing at all! This is simply because when you are entranced, you’re not aware of it! That’s the paradox.

That is why if you ever go to a hypnosis stage show or watch one on TV, you’ll notice that one or two of the volunteers usually get interviewed afterwards and seem genuinely confused. They are! In their mind, if it had ‘worked’ then they clearly would have felt dead or asleep or like a zombie – but that never happened and so they think it didn’t work. Even if they can sort of remember kissing that mop, but they thought she looked beautiful at the time and they're now wondering why everyone is laughing at them, it’s all very confusing. But of course it was never explained to them as it just has been to you, and so of course they had no idea what to expect.

FACT: Children have the most amazing ability to play pretend and use their imagination in the way it was originally intended to be used – to the point where you can actually experience it as reality. That’s why so many small children of that age have imaginary friends – they are very real to them – but we have just forgotten how to see them!

It’s also why when I was five years old, I could be in the back garden with the ball at my feet and I really WAS scoring the winning goal at Wembley. Or the little girl next door could be there with her dolly and bandages, and just for a while she really was a real nurse and dolly was a real patient. That’s all a hypnotist does on stage – we just put people back in touch with a time when they could play pretend, to the point where they can actually experience it – as reality – just for a while.

FACT: Stage hypnosis targets imagination, hypnotherapy targets self-image, behaviours and habits, which are in a different part of the psyche.

FACT: Hypnotic trance is relaxing and refreshing as well as therapeutic.

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