Hypnosis or Hypnotic Trance is an altered state of consciousness which allows us to get in touch with our unconscious mind. This is where our memories, automatic thoughts and behaviors are stored and where our responses are triggered which are our default thought processes if you like. Hypnosis side steps the critical faculties of the conscious mind – the negative internal chatter we all hear inside our mind. New ideas with beneficial suggestions are then placed directly into the unconscious mind allowing us to accept new and beneficial thought processes to default to.

Most of us experience some form of hypnotic trance every day without ever realising it. If you drive a car and take a regular journey, you may notice on some occasions you get to where you are going without actually remembering some of the journey. Perhaps when travelling on a train or another form of transport, your mind may wander to a different part of your imagination, where reality fades into the background

Whilst all this is happening you are still conscious but are experiencing trance at an unconscious level.

Hypnosis is a very pleasant feeling of deep relaxation, calmness and peace. You may have your eyes closed but you can still hear, speak and communicate. Your awareness can actually become heightened the more you relax into hypnosis.

Different people experience hypnosis in different ways. Some may feel light and almost weightless while others may have a feeling of heaviness. Some do not feel very much at all and can be quite disappointed that they did not drift off into some strange “out of body” experience.

It is important to understand that hypnosis is not some strange spell created to make you do something you do not want to do. It is not like that at all. You are in control all of the time and can stop the process of any trance work whenever you wish to.

By understanding the process and concept of hypnosis most people can allow themselves to comfortably relax and listen to the hypnotherapists voice and instructions to allow an hypnotic trance to occur.

If you allow yourself to fight the process at a conscious level by thinking “I’m are not going under, this is not going to work, I’m not relaxing” etc, you may be mentally interfering with your critical mind and therefore could block the process of hypnotic trance occurring.

Almost everyone can experience hypnosis. It is not for the weak minded, quite the contrary in fact. You need a reasonable amount of intelligence to experience hypnosis. The people, who tend to respond best to hypnosis are those who can follow simple instructions, concentrate and use their imagination and mental dexterity.

You cannot be hypnotised against your will or be made to do anything you do not want to do. That is for the stage shows in Hypnosis with very willing participants. Hypnosis is a “to do with” process not a “to do for” process. That is to say during any therapy or coaching I do not just do a process that fixes you, I go with you on a journey to help find the right resources for you.

Hypnosis is not dangerous and in skilled hands can be used in a very therapeutic way to help treat all manner of different issues and complaints that people experience in everyday life. These can vary widely from stress and smoking to weight loss and positive thinking. The list is endless.