Hypnotherapy

THE CONSCIOUS AND UNSCONCIOUS MIND:
the Hypnotherapist works with your unconscious mind.

A Hypnotherapist hypnotises by………using words. Pretty incredible, isn't it?
So how does Hypnotherapy or the Hypnotherapist work?

Hypnosis means "Sleep" and refers to a state of sleep where the person although being asleep to the outside world, has become totally focused on something in the inner world. To an onlooker this person looks asleep but the person himself will tell you that he experienced himself as if being on some internal journey in his thoughts; he will tell you he felt more awake, more alive and in control of himself than he usually does.

Ever been told to "snap out of it!" or "stop you reflections!"? Does it feel as if you are coming back from a long state of absence to the outside world but somehow the thoughts and images you were experiencing were more vivid and alive than ever and you defend yourself by saying "I wasn't daydreaming!" well you are right, you were in a slight state of trance!! Trance state occurs when the conscious mind feels asleep but the unconscious mind is fully focused and ready to work for us. Once occupied with sleep, the conscious mind permits the unconscious mind to provide it with information.

Roughly two million bits of information per second come into the human nervous system. To maintain sanity, our mind filters out most of the stimuli and as Miller (1956) the Psychologist discovered we can only handle seven plus or minus two (7+2) bits of information at a time.

If we imagine the whole mind a as darkened room in our house the 'conscious' mind represents a flashlight shining in this dark room. As you shine this flashlight on things, you see and bring to awareness different objects and their associated meanings to yourself. But that does not mean the room contains only those objects you can see. What we cannot see but know/feel is around us is representative of the 'subconscious' mind, that part of the brain that feels it can remember something but not with clarity. But there will also be objects that you had forgotten were there until the flashlight shine on them- those bits of information have slipped from your conscious mind into the depth of the subconscious, the unconscious mind!!

As neurologists probed the brain with electrodes people have reported recalling events that happened very early in their childhood. In describing these memories they may even talk as children. This implies that they had stored those memories in some unconscious part of their brain and the electrodes-probing activated the memory and brought them to consciousness.

This should not surprise us really-after all, our unconscious mind takes care of us all the time! We do not run our heart, lungs, kidneys, immune system etc… consciously do we? We have been given two nervous systems - a central and autonomic nervous system and the latter's function is to keep us breathing, sleeping, waking and thinking.

In Hypnotherapy we will seek to accomplish various changes to create long-term and lasting changes at theses unconscious levels. He/She will help the client access the depth of the mind and then change some of those learned behaviour that due to repression have become as if second nature with us. Let me give an example: some people find that they lose their sleep the moment they are slightly stressed; their mind will just not switch off even at night or early morning. When these people are under trance they access memories of times in their lives where they felt so vulnerable and insecure (due to abuse, trauma or fears) that they trained themselves to stay awake at night in case they are in danger again. So if a child is afraid of the drunken father he/she stays awake so that he/she is not attacked by surprise.

Growing up as an adult he/she has forgotten all about it and is now a successful business man/woman. But somehow he/she finds it very difficult to sleep either deeply or for long. His/her mind is still running on the old training-tape about sleep and its interpretation as loss of control for him/her and forces him/her on staying awake as a protective mechanism. In that case Hypnotherapy is perfect as it is one of the most efficient techniques to access the subconscious mind and uses different techniques to change the old mind-set into a more constructive, healthier one, both about sleep and dealing with stress as well.

Usually for most emotional/mental issues I deal with three to five sessions are sufficient to help those changes happen as I believe I am working with the most powerful tool in the human body- the brain and the mind. People struggling from symptoms such as depression, phobias, panic attacks, low self-esteem, anger, aggression have found that just by accessing their subconscious mind and changing the old triggers they are able to develop their inner potential lying just beneath those symptoms.

By Amreeta Chapman/Aujayeb
Psychologist/Hypnotherapist
www.innerpotential.info