Hypnotherapy
What Is Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is a gentle, guided process that helps you reach a state of focused attention and deep relaxation. In this calm state, your unconscious mind can become more open to positive suggestions, reflection, and self-awareness.
It’s a safe and natural process — sometimes described as a “trance-like” state — where you remain fully in control and aware of what’s happening at all times.
Hypnosis began in the late 1700s, however did not gain scientific credibility until more recently. Now many researchers have seen the benefits of hypnotherapy.
People choose hypnotherapy for many reasons — including stress management, confidence building, goal setting, and emotional wellbeing. Some find that hypnotherapy helps them feel calmer, more focused, or more in tune with their thoughts and behaviours.
Responses vary from person to person. Some individuals experience noticeable shifts immediately, while others appreciate the deep relaxation and time for self-reflection.
This can be used as part of a treatment plan to help with phobias, anxiety disorders, pain management, weight loss, quit smoking, fertility and many other applications.
During a hypnotherapy session, you are guided through a process to induce a trance-like state that helps to focus the unconscious minds and respond to more readily to suggestions, whilst becoming deeply relaxed. It uses the hypnotic state to help you focus on the problem at hand.
What To Expect In A Session
During your session, you’ll be guided through relaxation and visualisation techniques that help quiet the busy mind. Many people describe the experience as peaceful and restorative.
In this relaxed state, gentle suggestions may be offered to support mindset, motivation, or personal growth goals. Sessions can also include tools from NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and mindfulness-based approaches to encourage clarity, focus, and self-belief.
Relaxation: as you are guided to many different visualisations, peaceful relaxation and imagery.
Suggestions: gentle suggestions for behavioural changes are made to help you deal with the current situation better.
Coping skills: You may be taught different certain cognitive-behavioral coping skills, using guided imagery, STOP techniques that can help you confront abd manage certain emotions.
Exploring past experiences: You may even be encouraged to talk about the first time you experienced a particular behaviour or problem that you are trying to overcome and how it made you feel during that time.
Hypnotherapy uses focused attention and relaxation to help reduce distraction and access deeper levels of awareness. In this state, your mind may be more receptive to positive ideas that support personal change, wellbeing, or new habits and positive emotions.
You are always in control — you can speak, move, or end the session at any time. The process is collaborative and empowering.
Benefits of Hypnotherapy
Some people may experience dramatic results with hypnotherapy. In other cases, you may simply feel very relaxed. Some of the benefits of hypnotherapy may include:
● Awareness: Different people experience various levels of trance during hypnosis, some go into light trance, medium or deep trance. You are able to recall everything that happens and even able to have conversations while under hypnosis. Some could be in such deep hypnosis they are detached from what is happening.
● Focus: hypnosis allows our unconscious brain to be aware our focus and attention when it is normally scattered and distracted by everyday noise.
● Relaxation: In the hypnotic state, you can feel deeply relaxed. Your conscious mind is quieted, allowing your unconscious mind to focus on your problem.
Misconceptions
Hypnotherapy is still quite controversial and is usually confused as being a stage show where people go on stage and do outrageous suggestions.
Hypnotherapy does not cause you to forget what happened. You will remember all the things that occur during your hypnotic state, whether you are asleep or unconscious and you have the power to break the hypnotic trance at any time. You are safe when performed by an experienced hypnotherapist.
Hypnotherapy doesn’t cause you to lose control of yourself. During hypnotherapy, you remain in control at all times. Nothing can be forced onto you or you do anything that is against your will during hypnosis. You are always in charge.
While some people believe that they cannot be hypnotised, research suggests that almost everyone is suggestible to a certain degree.
While hypnotherapy is generally safe, it is always best to have a chat to see if hypnosis may be beneficial to you.
Eli Huang is a qualified Hypnotherapist Trainer with the Amercian Board of Hypnotherapy and has had proper training to facilitate, guide and answer any questions you may have.