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Hypnosis and The Mind
by Michelle Beaudry
see bottom of article
Hypnosis and the Mind
by Michelle Beaudry
Fundamentals of the Mind
The human mind may be subdivided into three parts: the
Unconscious, Subconscious and Conscious. These compare to a
computer:
~Unconscious - operating system
~Subconscious = hard drive
~Conscious = RAM
~Each part has separate and distinct tasks.
~The Unconscious mind operates your automatic body systems
such as the circulatory system, much as a computer's
operating system includes its basic functions.
~The Subconscious mind operates like a hard drive by storing
files of all kinds, from a full memory bank of your past to
your emotional spectrum, to its most vital task: protecting
you at all costs.
~The Conscious mind is our everyday mind, making immediate
day to day decisions like what to wear, eat, and drink. It
is the gatekeeper, choosing what information is to be acted
upon moment by moment. It's the mind you're reading this
book with right now, and its tasks include comparing,
reasoning, and explaining. These abilities are called the
Critical Factor and are bypassed in hypnosis.
Importance of the Subconscious Mind
To update a file on your computer, you must open the
original file and make the changes. In the human mind,
original files are stored in the Subconscious. To gain
access, we must reach the Subconscious directly, bypassing
the Conscious mind. In other words, one way to gain positive
changes in the present is to neutralize the negativity in
the past. We do not change the memories, we upgrade how you
feel about them.
This upgrading can only be accomplished in the
Subconscious, for that is where memories are stored, and it
can only be reached through bypass of the Conscious mind,
and that can only be done through hypnosis.
Why? It's what works. Hypnosis specifically sets the
Conscious mind aside temporarily.
Your Mind Must Protect You; Good News, Bad News
All levels of your mind work to protect you as best they can
at all times. And this especially applies to the
Subconscious.
It must protect you at all costs, and to do so, it may even
lie to you, or more to the point, to your Conscious mind. It
may lie about you, about others, it may even lie to your
hypnotist while you are in trance. It may hide memories from
you. And much, much more. This is because once it accepts
negative behaviors in the name of your safety, it hangs on
to those behaviors. Some examples are:
~~smoking anything
~~being obese
~~declining success
~~biting your fingernails
~~spending compulsively
You may well ask, how can compulsive spending possibly
protect me? It distracts you. Misdirection is one highly
effective way your Subconscious protects you by keeping a
lid on overwhelming emotions. Ergo the addict.
You may well ask, how can declining to be successful
possibly protect me? It limits you. Limiting exposure to
risk is another way to protect you.
It is when such protective efforts do not meet your current
needs that you desire change. Hypnosis sets aside the
Conscious mind, makes changes via the Subconscious mind, and
change is achieved.
How Hypnosis Upgrades Your Files
Hypnosis is able to change your perception of your memories,
and thus of yourself. We do not change the events
themselves, we upgrade how you feel about them, and thus
your daily life is upgraded.
By accessing the original files stored in the Subconscious,
you are able to see all of the reasons why your mind
specifies your behaviors in the name of protecting you, and
together we upgrade those behaviors since, typically, the
need of that protection is gone. You are no longer in the
middle of the event that had such impact on you.
Your Conscious mind does not have complete access to your
memory files; that is not its job. This is why merely
talking about change is such an ineffective means of getting
any. Talking happens in the Conscious mind. Change happens
in the Subconscious.
And here's the rub: the Subconscious outvotes the Conscious
mind. It is far, far larger, stronger, and more powerful.
This is why willpower fails so miserably for the dieter.
Unless the Subconscious agrees to a healthy diet and a
normalized body weight, your finest of intentions are
shortlived, having been overridden by the Subconscious mind.
Emotions are a function of, and are stored in, the
Subconscious. When you have had an emotional reaction to
danger, for example, real or imagined, those emotions are
felt and stored in your Subconscious. Hypnosis accesses
those stored emotions, upgrades your perception of them, and
results in changed behavior.
You must give yourself permission to make changes. You must
want to change. You must want to enter into hypnosis. And
this means not being afraid of hypnosis. So, let's define
what hypnosis is in several ways, as there is no single
perfect way to phrase it.
What Hypnosis Is
"Hypnosis is the bypass of the critical factor of the
conscious mind combined with the establishment of selective
thinking," says the US Government.
Hypnosis is a blend of physical relaxation and extreme
mental alertness. Yes, I said extreme.
Hypnosis is a state of focused concentration. This is why a
few minutes of emotional expression in trance is worth hours
in an alert state. Humans are so easily distracted, and the
Conscious mind is forever making excuses for everything. In
hypnosis, the conscious mind is set aside, and excuses are
seen for what they are.
Hypnosis is guided imagery combined with specific
suggestions to effect desired change. Ah, there's that
phrase: guided imagery. Many hypnotists dislike the
connotation of the H word, hypnosis, so they call themselves
practitioners of guided imagery. Be not fooled, they are
hypnotists. Guided meditation? Hypnosis. Relaxation
techniques? Hypnosis.
Hypnosis is the state you enter into every time you watch a
tv show you like, see a film you like, or sit down at the
computer intending to only be there for 10 minutes... and
suddenly it's two hours later.
Hypnosis also happens when humans fall in love, literally
entranced.
What Hypnosis Is Not
Hypnosis is not mind control. Svengali is fiction! As is
that Bugs Bunny cartoon where he walked like a zombie,
claiming to be hypnotized. Fiction!
Hypnosis is not a royal proclamation. We don't just say to
the tranced client, "You are a nonsmoker," and emerge her.
It can take anywhere from one session to a dozen to get the
changes the client wants.
Hypnosis is not sleep. We use relaxation, not sleep, to
enter hypnosis. You do not wake up from hypnosis, you
emerge. And you already know exactly what emerging from
hypnosis feels like! Remember the last time you went to the
movies, loved the film, and at the end when the credits
rolled, you suddenly "came to"? You just emerged from
hypnosis. That's exactly what it feels like, because that's
exactly what happened.
Hypnosis is not being unconscious. You can hear everything
that goes on around you during trance; you're just not
interested in it. You already know what this aspect of
hypnosis feels like, too. Ever been in the middle of your
favorite tv show when someone calls your name? Oh, you hear
them calling, alright, you're just not interested. Then it
takes a few seconds of emerging from the hypnotic effects of
television to bring back your Conscious mind to full alert.
Hypnosis is not relaxation. That's just an optimal starting
point.
Hypnosis is not being drugged. Although a trance state is
what drug and alcohol addicts strive for, hypnosis is not
addictive. However, one can easily mimic a drugged state in
hypnosis, provided you have previously felt the effects of
that drug. Your body remembers. This is useful for pain
control.
Hypnosis is not involuntary. Just as no one can make you
enjoy a movie that fails to entrance you, no one can make
you remain in hypnosis. The state is fully voluntary. You
can not enter it without your consent for more than a few
seconds, and more importantly, can not remain in hypnosis
without your full consent. If you become even the slightest
bit uncomfortable, you will automatically emerge. Hypnotists
know this. I typically teach my clients self hypnosis on the
very first session so that they know for certain that they
can emerge whenever they like. Anyone can emerge from
hypnosis instantly by making that their intention.
Hypnosis Can Not Override Your Standards
Hypnosis can not make you do things that make no sense to
you or that are against your moral standards. Should you
object to any of the work while in trance, you will react
one of two ways: you will either emerge or you will ignore
the suggestion. This is easily proven by observing stage
hypnosis. Go see a show, and you will see people emerge and
leave the stage throughout. Why? They rejected a suggestion.
Perhaps it was too silly, or it confused them, or it was
beneath their dignity. So, they either left the stage fully
alert or sat in their chairs without responding to the
suggestion. And there is nothing the stage hypnotist could
do about it except continue the show with the folks who were
responsive.
Of course the fun people on the stage are those showoffs
who would pretty much do all the same silly stuff without
the benefit of being in trance; they are the same people who
put lampshades on their heads at parties under the influence
of half a wine cooler.
You Can Not Get Lost in Hypnosis
Hypnosis is never a permanent state. Should the hypnotist
stop talking long enough, you will notice and emerge
automatically. Even more to the point, it is easy enough to
assign yourself a time limit when going into self hypnosis,
and your subconscious mind will automatically emerge you
when your time's up. Even the hypnotic trance of television
eventually gets boring, and we've all pushed the off button
of the remote while yawning.
All Hypnosis Is Self Hypnosis
The hypnotherapist is your guide, not telling you what to
do, but telling you what you want to do. You choose to enter
the state, to remain in the state, and to do the work. This
is why, ultimately, all hypnosis is really self hypnosis. So
why, then, would you need a hypnotherapist? It's better and
faster to have the help of a skilled professional.
How Does It Actually Happen?
Hypnotists use methods we call techniques. These include
Direct Suggestion, Regression To Cause, The Forgiveness
Pyramid, Parts, The Spa of Your Inner Mind, The Recording
Studio, Progression, and Higher Mind.
The Last Word
The media uses hypnosis on you all the time. Aaaalllllllll
the time. Advertisers have been known to employ hypnotists
to assess the hypnotic potential of a given advertisement,
and pay good money for it.
Everytime you watch tv and enjoy it, you go into a state of
trance. Ditto listening to music, going to the movies,
watching a DVD, hearing talk radio, reading a magazine, and
so forth. When you don't like a particular type of music,
that is expressly because it fails to put you into the
trance you listen to music for.
So here comes the big duh. Why should media have all the
fun? Please visit your friendly neighborhood trance
specialist and use hypnosis to further your own goals.
Ah, hypnosis. So easy you can do it with your eyes closed.
by Michelle Beaudry, CHt, fulltime clinical hypnotist in the
Orlando, Florida area; member National Guild of Hypnotists,
Hypnosis Educa
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