Questions and Answers about Hypnosis

Question:

I read the articles about hypnosis and gestalt therapy, which were in your websites, with great interest, and would like to know more about your experiences with these. Last year I worked mostly on my body, it is time I paid more attention to my head (and soul). I dabbled a little bit with hypnosis last year. I saw a hypnotherapist, had a couple of EFT sessions, and he gave me a CD with a basic hypnosis session. Allegedly if I listen to it often enough and follow through with some suggestions, I should be able to enter the trance state any time within a few seconds. I did not spend the time on it, so I do not know how it would go. If I understand it correctly, you have been listening to many different hypnosis recordings. Is that similar to the subliminal tapes, which were all the vogue some time ago, each with a different purpose? (stop smoking, overcome shyness etc). Is so, is that better than one “all purpose“ approach?

From your articles I think I understand the difference between hypnotherapy and gestalt therapy, but how is hypnosis different from meditation? It seems that both achieve a similar state of mind. And how is it different being hypnotized by a professional vs. listening to a CD? Or should there be a combination of both? When you did you program, where you dealing with a specific issue, or was it more general in nature? I would appreciate your input about what might be helpful components of a spiritual/psychological practice for me.

A friend of mine has a simple strategy to accomplish anything in life. It is this: first take stock of where you are, then decide where you want to be, and only then can you figure out how to get there. It makes surprising sense, does it not. So based on that, where am I? Vaguely dissatisfied, no clear goal, not enough joy in my life. Where do I want to be. I guess I would like to have a reasonable balance between worthwhile, purposeful activity and just plain fun and joy. I have all the prerequisites to accomplish this, but for some reason am not getting there. Can hypnosis help me? Or gestalt? Or should I get back to the Avatar Course, really using the tools. I seem to spend quite a bit of time reflecting on my life (maybe more this time of the year, New Year etc); sometimes it seems that I have had quite an interesting life, other times I feel a failure, who has been timid and indecisive. What I would really like is to be able to know and accept myself fully, to say “here world, this is me” and to laugh about it joyfully. Is that a tall order?

Response:

Yes, I listen to a lot of hypnosis recordings - one each night. They are making a real difference. I prefer the variety of different recordings - I have downloaded about 50 recordings from various sources and do whatever one I feel like at night - I ask my unconscious mind to draw me to the one that is best for me. Seems to be working. All hypnosis is beneficial because simply being in the trance state allows the unconscious mind to resolve inner conflicts that create stress and disease. But mostly I prefer the special topic ones because I find the therapy usefull.

It took me a year of listening to recordings before I became comfortable entering trance state and even now it's easier some times than others. You may find it easier than I did but if not, just keep practicing. Your unconscious mind is learning a new skill of taking you into trance and if you are accomstomed to being defensive, anxious and on-guard, like me then it may take perserverence. But if you are relaxed and easy-going you may get it straight away. Hypnosis is different from meditation in that it uses different parts of the brain and brainwaves and develops different neural pathways. Essentially, any focus of attention (on breathing, inner sensation, or external object) causes the brain to switch control from the left to right hemisphere and the person enters the trance state. The difference then is in what people do with the trance. Meditators focus on developing the skill of becoming aware of the spaces between the thoughts and releasing any thoughts that arise; whereas hypnosis users find and release stuff (inner conflicts and unresolved issues) which may be in the form of thoughts or images (hallucinations) or emotions or body sensations. Sometimes these happen below the level of conscious awareness and there is just a gentle change in behaviour emerging over the next few days. Hypnosis clients are thus developing neural pathways for finding and releasing stuff, whether they are aware of it or not. There does, in my experience, seem to be a time lapse of a few days from listening to the therapeutic hypnosis and noticing the changes in my life. And they are subtle changes that build up with every listen. Many people have healed themselves from cancer with hypnosis but we don't usually make that as a claim because it is very individual how each person uses the trance opportunity. One channel by which the unconscious mind talks to people is through body sensations.

Gestalt psychotherapy and The Avatar Course are the best I have found for learning to tune in to those sensations. There is a whole area of dialoguing with the unconscious that can be developed to enhance this whole process tenfold. Your friend is right about moving forward but sometimes that is not easy. From your description of yourself you seem to be in a similar place to me. Wanting to move more into joy but held back by something or many things unknown. My belief is that these are unconscious fixations of attention due to accumulation of unresolved issues (unfinished emotional processing). Avatar can help with these through the Resurfacing techniques of owning your reflection and releasing fixed attention. But personally, I think it's good to engage the unconscious mind as a helper a bit more deeply. Gestalt therapy with hynosis is a powerful synergistic combination that works for me, so that's what I'd recommend. It's mainly the theory and group therapy part of Gestalt that is the most powerful and the only way I know to get that is to enrol in a training course to become a Gestalt therapist. Training to become a hypnotherapist is also very healing - but make sure the method you are learning is Ericksonian hypnosis that is about resolving core unconscious issues.

Home page