The first part of the process of hypnosis, is the “induction” of the relaxed trance state; a day dreamy state of mind, often experienced when listening to music, or driving for a long time on a boring road, listening to a long lecture, or during meditation. Think how many times you have driven home from somewhere and you can’t remember the actual journey; or in the middle of listening to someone you have drifted off to somewhere else; you are engrossed in a book or TV program to such an extent that you have forgotten the time; that half-awake feeling as you drift to the surface of sleep caught between wakefulness and sleep, these are ‘trance’ states or ‘altered states of mind’.

At this point, I want to lay to rest any misconceptions you may have about the power of hypnotherapy and the hypnotic trance state. Despite publicity in the media, and those that ‘perform’ on the stage using hypnosis for entertainment, hypnotherapy cannot make you do anything, or say anything or behave in any way that is unnatural to you. It cannot override your sense of morality, alter your judgement about what is right and wrong, or make you more susceptible to the unethical behaviours of others. During a hypnotic trance, you will always be aware of your surroundings when you need to be, you will still hear a fire alarm go off for example, and be able to open your eyes, get up and walk away, or respond to a question asked and answer. You will always be in control just as you are in a fully wakeful state. A hypnotic trance state is arrived at by ‘agreement’, not by way of coercion!

The Induction sequence of a trance state, is to allow the body and mind to move into a state of complete relaxation. This prepares the mind and body to transfer on to the next stage of the hypnotic process.

Breathing techniques, relaxation, visualisation imagery, use of metaphors or bombarding the critical mind with an overload of information can all induce the mind to start to alter its state of awareness. The old stereotypical image of swinging a watch in front of a subject’s eyes is to some extent valid; it was just another technique to get the conscious critical mind to switch off, to allow the subject to concentrate on what was being said to them and to start to focus on the inner self.

Today there are allsorts of hi-tech gadgets about that create moving shapes or noises, but they are just that – gimmicks, and when it comes to listening to Self-Hypnosis Audio Recordings, there is no concrete evidence that using headphones with two different voices in stereo sound, overlaying of voices one on top of another, subliminal messages, or special sound effects, actually increases the success of the process at all, on the contrary, these effects can often be most annoying, and rather than allowing the listener to focus on the voice, they can actually create such a distraction that the process ceases to work.

The next stage of the hypnotic process is called the “hypnotic trigger".  Depending on the therapeutic training of the Hypnotherapist, and their personal preferences, different techniques will be used to increase the depth of the hypnotic trance state, sometimes a word is offered, or a particular behaviour, such as touching ones ear or pressing a finger and thumb together. This trigger can be used in the normal waking state to reproduce the same state of calmness and relaxation achieved during hypnosis. It can also be used to bring back to the conscious mind any imagery or suggestion that the unconscious mind has visualised or heard during hypnosis. It is always emphasised by the Hypnotherapist, that this “trigger” word or action, will ONLY take on this special significance when used in relation to hypnosis, in all other circumstances the word or action will have the same meaning as it always has.

The next level of the hypnotic process is called the “hypnotic deepener”,  this stage takes the mind through a process that encourages the critical conscious mind, to fade into the background and the unconscious mind to come into the foreground, and a much deeper hypnotic trance state is established. This state is associated with a vivid involvement in imagined events, a shift into a context-free literal understanding of words and phrases, and a removal of the restrictions ordinarily imposed upon conscious abilities and responses. Hypnotherapy is designed to take full advantage of these characteristics. The trigger and deepener stages are interwoven with each other, and the listener is taken ever further from the conscious world.

During the next stage, the "therapeutic" (Hypno-therapy) stage of the hypnotic trance state; the unconscious part of the mind is spoken to; as it is comfortable and ready to accept more precise language, with either direct or indirect suggestions offered by the Hypnotherapist. The unconscious part of the mind is encouraged to accept and experience new ideas, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. The listener will experience the actual event or events that they are struggling to deal with, or the health issue, but this time they will only experience positive sensations, they will see the goal they want and actually be there.

The listener will use all their senses, of smell, hearing, taste, touch, and feelings to experience this achievement; feeling all the positive emotions associated with that achievement. All negative non-productive thoughts, concepts, ideas, feelings, and behaviours are reduced or rationalised and put into their true perspectives. Post-hypnotic 'anchors' are introduced at this stage, to enable the listener to make an instant connection between the thoughts, feelings, and emotions they have experienced during the hypnotic state, to the here-and-now situation they may find themselves in later, when in a fully wakeful state.

When Hypnotherapy is used for improving health, the process can actually affect the way the body functions. By focusing on certain biological and physiological aspects of the body, whilst in a state of hypnosis, it is possible to cause blood to flow better, veins to dilate, heart rate to reduce, and white blood cells counts to increase, thus improving the immune system.

Once the unconscious mind is reprogrammed, using a variety of techniques such as deep relaxation, therapeutic language, positive imagery, metaphors, indirect or direct suggestion, and post-hypnotic anchors, the unconscious mind can then positively influence the conscious mind in any given situation or series of events. Our perceptions of the situation can be altered, we feel differently about it, and depending on the reason for the hypnotherapy in the first place, we may feel more relaxed, calmer, optimistic, energised, healthier, motivated and more in control of our responses, habits and behaviours.

This control increases our confidence; with growing confidence comes the realisation that we can actually achieve those goals that we never thought possible – and the actual subsequent achievement is our biofeedback, and as mentioned before, hypnosis can actually change the way our body functions, causing blood to flow better by dilating blood vessels, reduce heart rate, increase cell production to improve health, as well as may other recorded improvements.

All through a Hypnotherapy session and the hypnotic trance state, whether it be face-to-face or listening to a Self-Hypnosis Audio Recording, positive language is used to encourage, motivate and reward achievements, positive confidence building are the foundation blocks of the whole process, and added to this are other more specific elements. Interwoven within the language are suggestions, concepts, and ideas that will help the listener long after the session has finished.

The final stage, "The Termination", is when the hypnotic trance is brought to an end, and the listener is gently brought back to full consciousness and wakefulness.

During this process, the listener is offered the option of bringing back with them into their conscious world, all the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that they have experienced during the hypnotic trance, and they can also leave behind any that they do not want. This suggestion allows the listener to decide what feelings, thoughts, and emotions they have found most pleasurable and beneficial, that they may wish to hold in their conscious mind.

When the session is finished, the listener should be left feeling very calm, relaxed, and peaceful. Very similar feelings experienced by those that use meditation.

What might you feel during Hypnotherapy?

Often during hypnosis, you may experience various physiological and biological changes; your Legs and arms may feel particularly heavy as if they weigh more than normal, or they may feel light as if they are floating or you experience a tingling sensation in them, or sometimes they feel as they are not there any more. You may be aware of your heartbeat slowing down, and your breathing becoming shallower. Sometimes the stomach can start to bubble and gurgle and be quite noisy.

There maybe increased watering of the eyes and fluttering of the eyelids. Others report that they feel as if they have become at-one with the chair or couch they are resting on, there can be a reluctance to move, and there is a distortion in the passing of time (often an underestimation of the time spent in hypnosis). As you start to drift back from the hypnotic state, you may experience a feeling or euphoria and wellbeing.