Are We New To Hypnosis?

YOU may be surprised that you and I encounter hypnosis on a daily basis. Not convinced? Here are some proof:

1) You are reading a book or watching your favourite TV program, time flies and it is already half a day gone. (we call this "Too absorb into task")

2) You attend a singing concert by a superstar. You sing, express, jump, party, move your body vigorously and in sync with the crowd and the stage. (we call this "being mesmerized")

3) Companies repeatedly flashes their commercial advertisement to we, the consumer. In most instances, we may see the same advertisement more than 5 times in a day. The repetition itself is a form of hypnosis OR the advertiser makes a quick flash of advertisement within seconds that our eyes barely see or hear what it is but undoubtedly it stays with us, in our deeper part of the mind(we call this method "subconscious appeal")

4) You walk in the lift, press 10th floor button. The lift opens and you walk out, then you see the environment is different. You realize you are supposed to go to 15th floor OR you go to your kitchen to look for salt but just could not find it, but actually you know where it is placed (we call this "absent mindedness")

5) The teacher is teaching in the class and the student is dreaming away thinking about his favourite game station. (we call this "daydreaming")

6) You are feeling dizzy during the last 5 minutes before you drift into your sleep. (we call this in hypnosis term "hypnagogic")

7) Your alarm rings and you sleepily open your tired eyes early in the morning, you are already back to your senses but still feel drowsy. (we call this in hypnosis term "hypnopompic")

8) You are feeling only a little giddy and you keep telling yourself to take MC and rest at home. You add on with images of you looking so tired and resting on the bed. Actually you detest to go to work. (we call this "suggestion & imagination")

9) Since young, your parents and teachers repeatedly told you things like “you are not smart”, “life is tough” and unnoticeably you accept them as true. (this is called "negative conditioning")

From the above, we could see that hypnosis encompasses conditioning, suggestion, imagination, subconscious, sensory appeal and concentration. Hypnosis is therefore very commonplace in our life. It is not some far-fetched method that most people conjure up in their mind or simply heard it from misleading naysayers.

Suggestibility Tests in Hypnosis

Before a hypnotist decides to hypnotise a client, he should be diligent enough to use suggestibility tests on the client first. The objective of using suggestibility test is to provide the hypnotist with more understanding of his client as well as to allay any fears that the client might have about hypnosis.

In hypnosis, we have induction. Induction is basically a process for the hypnotist to relax the client so that he can enter into the state somewhere in-between the conscious and unconscious. Prior to using induction (and there are many forms of inductions available), hypnotist can use suggestibility test to help determine whether the client is a good or poor client (not in terms of financial ability but in terms of hypnotizability). Fundamentally, there are two types of suggestibility tests - authoritative (forceful, dominating) and permissive (non-directive, soft).

Once the hypnotist applied them on his clients, he will more or less able to tell what personality his client belongs to, and from there he chooses the induction method most appropriate.

I will broadly list out the few types of suggestibility tests here:

a) Chevreul Pendulum - this is a good test and it works quite well with most clients. It is non-threatening. Furthermore, in most people's mind, pendulum is part of the hypnosis process. That is why they can accept it rather than find it repulsive.

(Method - let client holds on to the pendulum and see in his mind what direction he wants the pendulum to take. If he focuses well, what he thinks will be translated into physical movement and he will send the pendulum swinging in the direction he wants without moving his hand)

b) Arms Rising and Falling - This is a very common test and is important because it engages the client's imagination. Imagination is an important aspect in hypnosis.

(Method - asks client to extend his arms on both sides of the body so that they are parallel to the ground. Get him to imagine one of his hand is tied to a balloon and it feels so light while the other hand is holding a phone directory. This makes one hand light and the other heavy. If client follows the hypnotist's suggestion, when the process completes and he opens his eyes he should see a "lop-sided" body)

c) Hand Clasp - this is rather simple.

(Method - hypnotist asks client to extend hands sidewards, again parallel to the ground. Asks him to use force to bring the two hands together and firmly clasp the hands. Suggests to him that he feels the tightness, the hands are now stuck like glue and that he has no strength to pull them apart. Then count one to three and asks him to pull them apart. Suggest to him that he cannot do it because it is stuck like glue. If client follows the hypnotist's suggestion, he won't be able to pull his hands apart)

d) Progressive Relaxation - this test may take longer because the hypnotist will have to relax the client until he feels totally relaxed and at state. When test is over, hypnotist will check with client to see any sensational experience - numbness, tingling, lightness, heaviness, eye-fluttering, time distortion, salivation etc. If client follows hypnotist's suggestion, he will experience one or more sensational experience)

Experience Hypnosis

Here is an exercise to let you understand a similar hypnosis experience that you might have when you are in hypnosis:

Close your eyes.

Take a deep breath and exhale from your mouth (repeat 5 times)

Relax every part of your body, starting from the sole of your leg upwards...to the abdomen..to the hand..neck...face...crown.

Now I want you to visualise yourself at home. Walk to your refrigerator. Touch the outer surface of the fridge (feel the warmth and smooth texture). Open the fridge door (feel the cool air coming towards you and feel it literally). Extend your hand to reach out for a cold green lemon (feel the skin - its coldness and smooth surface). Close back the fridge. Bring the lemon to your face (again feel the short spark of coldness on your face). Take a knife and cut the lemon into halves (feel some of the juice that flows on your hand). Bring a half of the lemon to your mouth, gently squeeze it (feel the sour sensation so much so that you squeeze your eyes).

Now count 1 to 3. On the third count, open your eyes and return to full sensory. Be fully engaged in your present surrounding.

Myths About Hypnosis

The common myths about Hypnosis:

~ Hypnosis is sleep.

~ Hypnosis is like stage hypnosis, whereby the person undergoing it has no control but to react.

~ Hypnosis is not safe (tendency of giving bank account no. and confidential info away).

~ Lose sensibilities or alertness of the surrounding.

~ The hypnotist controls the mind of the person undergoing hypnosis.

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a state whereby a person is relaxed and is somewhere in-between the conscious and unconscious. At this state, the person's mind is highly receptive to positive suggestions. All the sensibilities are heightened, thus resulting in an increased awareness of things happening around us. Hypnosis is a subconscious method and is very effective to resolve a wide range of issues because it relaxes the Critical Faculty (the layer that separates our conscious and unconscious) so that positive suggestions can seep into the subconscious mind to take effect.

Though it is a subconscious method, and people in general tend to believe that the subconscious is greater than the conscious (at least in controlling our life), hypnosis is a conscious effort because it engages the hypnotist to do the relevant input of suggestions so that the suggestions can seep into the vast subconscious mind to effect the change.