WHAT IS HYPNOSIS? (IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK)

Hypnosis has proven applications in medicine, dentistry, psychology, obstetrics, counseling, law enforcement, habit management, pain control and in virtually every area of education. Major hospitals are now including hypnotherapists on their staff.

While more research is needed to support the efficacy of hypnosis for Parkinson’s Disease, studies show that hypnosis reduced about 94% of rest tremors as well as anxiety and depression. Hypnosis also improved sleep quality, pain, stiffness, libido, and quality of life.

I’ve been supporting people living with Parkinson’s since 1997 and I have witnessed the transformational power of hypnosis. Clients have learned how they can reduce and stop tremors, improve their gait, speech and memory.

In the September 27, 2006 issue of Newsweek magazine, Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote: “One of the interesting ironies about hypnosis is that old fantasy that it takes away control. It’s actually a way of enhancing people’s control, of teaching them how to control aspects of their body’s function and sensation that they thought they couldn’t.” (Dr. David Spiegel quoted in Noonan, David, Newsweek, “Altered States” October 3, 2004).

What does a hypnotist do in a session?

That is what I do, I teach you how you can control your body.

Thanks to Hollywood, there are so many misconceptions about hypnosis. The reality is that there is no single, definitive, or official definition of hypnosis. Every definition that you read will be different, and every hypnotherapist you talk to will tell you something different. 

For instance, Wikipedia states, “Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention . . . reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.” 

The Mayo Clinic defines hypnosis as “A trance-like state in which you have heightened focus and concentration.” 

I tell my clients and teach my students that we are always in trance. And, in alignment with Dr. David Spiegel, I define hypnosis as taking control of the trance that you are in. In other words, hypnosis is the ultimate state of self-control. And, from my perspective, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

What do I mean by, “We are always in trance?” Trance occurs naturally throughout your day. It’s when you are on autopilot, living your life, thinking about one thing while doing another. 

Remember those times when you got in your car to go to the grocery store and, the next thing you knew, you were parking in the store lot? You do not remember leaving your driveway. You were not even certain you closed the garage door. Somehow you arrived safely at the grocery store, and sure enough, when you got home, you saw that you had closed the garage door. 

What about your worries, anxieties, and fears? What about the negative, self-defeating thoughts that pump adrenaline into your body and put you on full alert? 

All of the above are prime examples of how you might enter automatic and natural states of trance.

Many people come to a hypnotherapist thinking there is something about trance that is different than their normal state of consciousness, but this simply is not the case. A light trance feels no different from relaxation. If you want to know what hypnosis feels like, close your eyelids, and then open them. That is exactly what trance feels like.

A very light state of trance is all that is necessary for real change to occur.

Hypnosis is so normal and so natural and so familiar that when we go into trance it just feels like the same old thing that we have done before, even in deep trance. For most situations, a light trance is all that is necessary to obtain results.

You too can learn mindful self-hypnosis to move out of the fear, anxiety, and self-defeating trances and create pleasurable trances that relax, support, and empower you.

Learn more about Roger Moore and Palm Desert Hypnosis in the Wellness Village Resource Directory at  ParkinsonsResource.org/PalmDesertHypnosis. Join Roger Moore for our Mindfulness Meeting every third Tuesday of the month at 2:00 pm.