Frequently asked questions about hypnosis

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is not falling asleep. It is learning how to slow your mind down, entering progressively deeper levels of relaxation until we get to a place where your conscious mind can be suspended in favour of your subconscious mind. While in this state, we can provide positive suggestions to your mind so that you can start participating in newer, more efficient, healthier behaviours.

In your normal waking state, your mind is functioning on what we call your "beta frequency", where your mind is operating at a frequency level of between 15-30 Hertz. As we begin to place you into a state of relaxation, your mind will then slow down and go into an "alpha state", which is between 8-14 Hertz. A light trance state is the state where your brain is operating at an alpha frequency. Your brain is still aware and it can sound like we're just having a conversation with your eyes closed.

As we create deeper states of relaxation using the techniques available to us through suggestive hypnosis, we can slow your mind to an even slower state called "theta state". You're not asleep in this state, but everything seems farther away. This is almost like falling asleep on a long car journey. You can hear what's going on around you, but your eyes are heavy and you feel very relaxed. Words and ideas reach you, but you're not consciously reacting to those ideas anymore.

Positively framed suggestions will only be successfully received by your subconscious if both the practitioner and you as the client are able to jointly do a great job of suspending your critical thinking. The job of your conscious mind is to be your waking gatekeeper for facts, ideas and beliefs.

Our conscious mind is a very strong gatekeeper, so it is very hard to slip a new, empowering idea or belief past it. Really you're just chipping away at the tip of an iceberg and the most we can do is make impact craters.

We use hypnosis techniques that employ specialist relaxation induction and deepening techniques to suspend the conscious mind and slow it down. The mind starts to slip into slower states, which allows us to connect to a hugely receptive and enthusiastic subconscious mind where these new ideas, beliefs and actions can be suggested to and received successfully by the subconscious mind. They can then be acted upon almost immediately.

Success depends on how willing a client is to be hypnotised in the first place, as well as on the trust in the practitioner. It's also important that the client is able to suspend their critical thinking.

Does everybody be hypnotised?

Some people make a more ideal candidate than others. Your susceptibility to hypnosis is dependent on the skill of the hypnosis practitioner, as well as your willingness to be hypnotised, your ability to follow instructions, and your ability to let go of the steering wheel for a brief period of time. This allows the hypnotherapist to become your guide.

How many hypnotherapy sessions are usually needed?

This will differ from client to client, depending on what your goals are. How receptive you are in suspending the critical faculty of your mind plays a role in determining how quickly you will experience results. For some clients that are highly susceptible to receiving hypnotic suggestion, one or two sessions are usually enough to experience pleasing, lasting results.

If a client finds it harder to trust a hypnotherapist, or has a very logical brain where everything is questioned and fretted over, it can take multiple sessions to first gain trust and our strategy would be to begin with light hypnotic states. As you become more receptive to hypnosis practices, we would look to move to heavier states of hypnosis in subsequent sessions.

How long will a client stay in a hypnotic state?

The length of time a client will be able to maintain a hypnotic state varies between individuals. Strictly speaking, once we have been able to induce a hypnotic state, we will be able to learn how to stay in that hypnotic state for longer and receive more of the benefits.

It is very usual for clients that are new to hypnosis to experience a very brief hypnotic state because they feel they have wandered off and not been listening for a few minutes. They can sometimes then apply mental force to pull themselves back into the conversation again. These kinds of experiences are very common, but over time as you develop your trust in your hypnotist, you will learn to stay in a hypnotic state for longer and longer periods of time. This is because you will realise that the experience is one of wellbeing and relaxation, as you enter a whole new dimension of activity within your subconscious mind.

Is it normal to feel nervous before entering a hypnosis session

The answer is "absolutely yes". Clients feel nervous because they're wandering into something new for the first time and they really want to make these gains. They're placing expectations on the session to be successful.

A good hypnosis practitioner will help clients feel at ease and prime their mind to produce the best possible outcomes from the very first session.

Can hypnosis take control over me and make me do things that I don't want to do?

Absolutely not. In fact, hypnosis will only enhance the things that you want to achieve that are in line with your values and your belief system.

This is why the diagnostic session is so important, as this will teach you what hypnosis is, what it isn't, and to make sure your goals are realistic, safe and healthy to achieve. We spend time explaining how your subconscious will only take on ideas that are aligned with your values and belief system.