What is Hypnotherapy/Hypnosis?
Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic modality that can help people to realize positive changes in their lives, to set and achieve goals and to change behaviors. Hypnotherapy can also help some people to relieve and control pain, and to minimize anxiety and stress. The American Stress Institute says that stress is the number one health issue in the US!
Hypnotherapy is a wonderful tool to help both children and adults. It uses the power of one's own mind and imagination to bring about the desired results. A person being helped by hypnotherapy is in a peaceful and relaxed state of mind....they are in hypnosis!
Rest assured that hypnosis is a very natural state of mind for both children and adults. Hypnosis is similar to "daydreaming". The difference is that when we are daydreaming, our mind can jump from one thing to another before we "come back to full awake consiousness"; whereas, when we are in hypnosis, our mind is highly focused on the achievement of a reasonable goal.
Have you ever been reading a book or watching a movie and suddenly someone calls your name and you literally "jump" and feel startled? Well, you were in hypnosis, that's all! Your reality had become the story. You were aware of your surroundings but you suspended that awareness for a while when you were immersed in the story. Most people do this quite often.
There are four (4) measurable brain wave states: Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta.
Daydreaming and
hypnosis occur in the Alpha brainwave state. And you might just be
curious as to what the Alpha state is, might you not? Well, here is a
simple explanation....
Imagine
for a moment that you are looking at a picture of an iceburg. The tip
of the iceburg above the water line is very much smaller than the rest
of the iceburg beneath the water, is it not? We can use the image of
the iceberg to help us understand the different brain wave states or
patterns. We can also liken the "waterline" to our "imagination".
BETA - The tip of the iceberg is Beta, our wide awake functioning state.
ALPHA - Alpha is immediately beneath the "waterline", the gateway to our
very powerful unconscious mind. Mental stillness and absolute
awareness without processing data. This is where hypnosis
THETA - Theta is beneath Alpha.
Typical during the falling asleep/waking up process.
Theta is important for organizing memory,. The thinking done in
this state is based upon images and creativity.
DELTA - Delta is beneath Theta.
Delta is the state of deep sleep. Our bodies engage in cellular repair
in Delta. If we do not get enough Delta sleep we wake up feeling
still tired.
Thus, everyone who falls asleep and wakes up must pass through the ALPHA state. Our minds already know how to enter Alpha, this is not something a person has to learn how to do. All hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis. The hypnotherapist is trained to guide their client into Alpha and use the tool of hypnotherapy to help that client achieve their goals.
