You Don't Need To Be A Woo-Woo To Try Hypnotherapy
- Aug 14, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 31, 2024
Written by: Alice Gossé, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
On the surface, you have everything to be happy, yet you have a more profound feeling that something is missing. You make enough money to lift off the foot from the paddle, yet you feel financially insecure. You have a successful career, yet you still need to prove yourself and go thru life like a good soldier.
You are not alone. I've been there too. Let me tell you why hypnotherapy works and why it is worth it for you to try.
It is not woo-woo. I will share everything you need to know to take the leap, book your hypnotherapy session with a professional hypnotherapist, and get free of whatever keeps you stuck once and for all.
Where did hypnotherapy originate?
"Hypnosis" comes from the Greek word for sleep, "Hypnos."
However, hypnosis is falling awake. It is nothing like the sleep you sleep at night. Hypnosis creates heightened awareness.
Hypnosis is a natural state. We all go in and out of hypnosis several times a day. It is a state we go in naturally all the time.
The hypnotic state would be familiar to anyone with a greater sense of being, such as when functioning smoothly as part of a team, during a peak athletic or creative performance, or moments of breakthrough creativity.
Or you can recall a time when you were on the freeway, driving past a familiar exit, and you suddenly become aware of yourself behind the wheel as you respond to something that startles you while driving.
The thought may have floated through your mind that you hadn't been paying attention to the road for a lengthy period.
Your attention and conscious mind became absorbed in something other than what your body was doing because the part of YOU that had learned to do specific actions automatically, such as driving, took over. Your automatic functioning continues until something out of the ordinary or dangerous occurs.
What is hypnotherapy?
First, let's debunk Hollywood myths about hypnosis.
Have you seen the movie Hypnotic with Ben Affleck and Alice Braga? Well, this is different from what Hypnotherapy is.
The reputation of the word hypnosis evokes images of strange and mysterious powers and people, faith healers, and sideshows. There is a lot of science behind hypnosis. Hypnosis has such a rich and powerful history of creating change that Hollywood uses it to embellish movie plots. The human mind is fantastic, and while I enjoy watching those movies for fun, I would like to debunk the Hollywood hype and common misconception that distort the usefulness of this natural human function.
These are the most common misconception I hear about hypnosis:
The hypnotherapist has strange and unknown powers.
I will give up control to the hypnotherapist.
I might get stuck in hypnosis.
I might do things I usually wouldn't do.
I might tell my secrets.
I might get hurt.
I will be unconscious, unaware, unable to move, think, speak, say, or hear anything.
I can't be hypnotized.
How does hypnotherapy work?
It is a state in which the therapist uses techniques that promote direct and automatic communication between what you are consciously aware of and the subconscious, emotional, imaginative mind, the warehouse of your learning and knowledge.
Inside you is a knowing that knows everything about you, and it knows that it knows. It knows what you like, dislike, and want or need you still need to get. Hypnosis is a tool that brings astonishing and often rapid results through simply learning to relax and get access to all the answers stored in the subconscious mind.
Today science estimates that 95% of our brain activity is unconscious.
The Six truths you need to know about hypnosis
All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The therapist is only a facilitator using a set of tools and skills to create rapid transformation in human growth and development. In hypnosis, with the help of the hypnotherapist, the client becomes much more aware of their perceptions than in a fully waking state. The client is always aware and in control. A hypnotized person cannot be made to do anything against their will. (Imagine, otherwise, I would be a billionaire, and I could make clients buy me all the things I want and write me cheques!)
People in hypnosis laugh, cry, move, open and close their eyes, talk, think, and feel just like people in the full waking state. The client is always aware at some level and must be able to hear for the suggestions to work, must be able to see in the mind's eye, hear with the inner ear, and perceive with an inner knowing.
You can't get stuck in hypnosis any more than you can get stuck in sleep. Sometimes clients say they didn't want to return to the full waking state because they were enjoying the relaxation so much that they voluntarily postponed returning to the stresses and strains of daily life.
In hypnosis, you know everything going on, and you know that you know, you know what you are saying, hearing, and doing. Your perception capacities become enhanced.
All people have a natural ability to respond to hypnosis. The quality of response varies from individual to individual, moment to moment. Fear, misinformation, lack of trust, and unwillingness are the only things that prevent a complete response to hypnosis.
Hypnosis and meditation are similar in the goal of ease, peace of mind, and relaxation. The difference between meditation and hypnosis is the purpose and intent. The purpose of hypnosis is to relax the conscious mind so that we get access to the root cause of the issue we want to work on. Root causes are stored in the subconscious mind. And understand why the brilliant mind has created your current issue as a solution or coping mechanism is vital. It is all about identifying the root cause of the problem.
Will hypnotherapy work for you?
The best answer I can give you based on my experience is: try for yourself. I can guarantee you will get something out of it. You will get a decisive AHA moment on why you feel the way you feel and don't want to feel anymore. The most important goal is to get to the root cause of why you have this issue you don't want anymore.
Understanding is the magic key you need to get.
There is no healing if there is no understanding.
I stopped smoking 18 years ago with Hypnotherapy. I improve the quality of my sleep by using self-hypnosis when I wake up at 3 am, and I get back to sleep immediately.
I like to say Hypnotherapy is not magic but magical in its results.
What hypnotherapy can help you with?
Most clients come to me regarding addiction, anxiety, stress, lack of confidence, insomnia, fears, burnout, depression, a relationship with food, or a deep sense of not feeling good enough. However, this is not an exhaustive list.
If, to make you feel safer, you need to read the opinion of a well-known and reputable scientist on Hypnotherapy, I recommend Doctor Daniel Amen.
Doctor Daniel Amen is an American celebrity doctor who is a psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist. He wrote several articles on hypnosis and how hypnosis can help you. You can check his blog for additional information.
I also invite you to read the fantastic interview of Marisa Peer in Brainz Magazine. Marisa Peer is a globally acclaimed therapist and best-selling author.
Alice Gossé, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Alice Gossé is a therapeutic coach, clinical hypnotherapist, and an international sought-after speaker. Like the beginning of many great stories, Gossé learnt her skills from influential experts to deal with her own health and emotional struggles. As the founder of blissup, she has since worked her magic on individuals all around the world using technology to bring her therapeutic approach at their doorsteps and partnering with large corporate organizations to create a more human world of work. Her passion is to help human beings understand and manage their mind which is where all potential for great things begins.
