What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnosis is a trance state that all people experience in every day life.  For example, have you ever driven your car to work and wondered how on earth you got there? Or become so engrossed in a good book that what seems like 20 mins has passed, is in fact an hour!  Watching a movie, day dreaming etc all these are examples of being in a hypnotic trance!

However, the aim of hypnotherapy is to access the subconscious mind and bypass the conscious mind with it’s every day distractions and chatter. In the normal waking state, the conscious mind is discriminating, selecting, rational, objective and decision making. It is the analytical faculty of the human mind. In the hypnotic state the questioning of the conscious mind is set aside for a time and the unconscious mind becomes more literal. This allows an increased availability of thoughts and memories previously hidden from awareness and a greater openness to new concepts and behaviours. This means that we can go straight to the truth of the matter, pull out any negative conditioning and find solutions and answers that are already within you – you just don’t know it yet!

Hypnosis is a tool that can be used to help someone overcome emotional or physical difficulties; it does not create new abilities, but enables existing capabilities already present but which you are unaware of to be used in a more productive way.

Hypnosis can also be used as a way of de-stressing and for relaxation purposes and this alone can produce very positive, life-changing effects.

Virtually anyone who wants to be can be hypnotised.  Remember we all go in and out of trance states naturally every day of our lives.  All hypnosis is self-hypnosis; you will decide whether to accept the suggestion that you are feeling more relaxed.  However, it is not appropriate for people with certain mental disabilities.

Many people worry that they are not in control during hypnosis. It is impossible for you to be made to do anything you don’t want to. Your subconscious mind will not allow it!  Stage hypnosis can seem that way, however this is entertainment at the expense of a willing volunteer.  Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic tool and must not be confused with anything else.