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History & Facts

Hypnosis is a very safe therapy for a wide range of conditions and as a tool for personal empowerment.

History & Facts

Hypnosis is a very safe therapy for a wide range of conditions and as a tool for personal empowerment. It is probably the fastest way to access the subconscious and positively stimulate the imagination. In the hands of a skilled therapist it is one of the best and easiest ways to facilitate and encourage positive change.

To give it a working definition it is: "an altered state of consciousness brought about by total concentration on an external stimulus, normally the hypnotist's voice. It will result in measurable physical, neurophysiological and psychological changes in which may be produced distortion of emotion, sensation, image and time".

The principles of Hypnosis have been known for a very long time and probably date back beyond written history. Most of us will have seen the stereotypical “cowboys and Indians” in old movies where the Indians are on the warpath and are beating drums and dancing round a fire to gain courage before an attack. The “ghost shirts” of the Lakota Sioux were given protection at such a ceremony although obviously they did not give the desired protection against bullets that was desired.

Siberian Shamans amongst others beat gongs or use other musical instruments to enter a hypnotic state. The repetitive chanting in various religions also induces a hypnotic effect which is relaxing and generates a feeling of peace and well being. Sometimes people will combine rhythmical movement with music and or chanting to induce the desired effect.

An anthropologist may suggest that most ancient or primitive societies had some form of knowledge or use of hypnosis long before the word was fist coined. This may have been used to build a common sense of purpose and teamwork or it may have been used as a form of control for people with a more suggestible nature. Even today we see examples on the internet where companies are advertising fire walking for companies or individuals where to some degree hypnotic preparations are required to undertake the fire walk.

The thing that in my mind differentiates hypnosis from hypnotherapy is that hypnotherapy seeks to apply the principles of hypnosis to enable the recipient to obtain desired therapeutic outcomes from the process. Hypnotherapy should always be about achieving good outcomes for the client and should never be about the therapist trying to force solutions on people against their will. As I have already stated elsewhere you cannot make someone do something they are unwilling to do even if they are very suggestible. When you see this in the form of entertainment it is actually a trick using the cooperation of people to entertain.