There are many other misconceptions surrounding hypnosis. Let’s look at some of the common ones:

Myth 1: Once hypnotised, you might reveal all your secrets

Fact: No one can control your mind. Hypnosis is simply a focussed state of mind in which the therapist only helps you to focus your thoughts on issues you choose. Contrary to popular belief, a therapist cannot put anything in your mind against your will. So you can decide what you want to reveal and what you don’t. In fact, under a hypnotic trance people can become quite creative with the truth, implying that you are in full control of your thoughts. That is why courts do not accept the testimony of a person under hypnosis.

Myth 2: You could be made to do undesirable things such as bark like a dog, kill someone, rob a bank etc.

Fact: During hypnosis, your conscious mind is always awake. If you hear a suggestion that you don’t agree with or don’t understand, you can simply reject it. Remember, stage hypnosis and clinical hypnosis are two different disciplines and this misconception may be stemming from the performance of stage hypnotists. In fact, no one else can hypnotise you; it’s something that you do to yourself with the help of a therapist. The therapist can only guide you to your aware state of mind with the help of suggestions.

Myth 3: What if I stay in the hypnotized state forever?

Fact: Nobody stays stuck in a hypnotic state. Think of hypnosis as guided meditation: the moment you open your eyes, you are out of it. Often, because it’s very calming, people drift off to sleep. And they wake up in a while, feeling refreshed.

Myth 4: Hypnosis is a special state of mind

Fact: Hypnosis is just a trance state of mind. Everybody experiences it at least twice daily: once, before we just fall asleep and the other when we wake up from sleep, just before stepping out of your bed. We often even go into a trance when we are deeply involved in watching TV or while engrossed with work.

Myth 5: I am too strong-headed to be hypnotized

Fact: Hypnosis has nothing to do with a weak or strong mind; willingness of the person is all that matters. However, I have observed that one must be relatively intelligent in order to engage in the hypnosis process. Using Dr John Kappas’s Suggestibility Test, we can determine the suggestibility of a person and then appropriate techniques are used for hypnosis. Because the person has an intention to be hypnotised, he can use the guidance and reach the hypnotic state. Remember, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. If you really want it to work, and you co-operate, it will work for you. So just loosen up and let go.

Myth 6: Hypnotherapy gets you instant results

Fact: Hypnotherapy works on your subconscious mind, which takes time to change. It’s is not a miracle cure and many issues often require more than one session. You will notice subtle changes in the beginning such as you will feel calmer and clearer. As your perception changes, everything around you also begins to change. Of course, everyone makes progress at his or her own pace. The experience can be different for different people; it can even vary from one session to another for the same person.

Myth 7: The sub-conscious mind records everything like a video

Fact: Your mind stores a particular event based on how you perceived it. That may or may not be the complete and unbiased picture. We store information based on how we interpret it, rather than simply recording the actual events.

Myth 8: Hypnosis is akin to black magic or voodoo

Fact: Far from being voodoo, hypnosis is a natural state, as established by several scientific studies. Many stalwart psychologists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Milton Erickson carried out significant amout of clinical research on the subject. A variety of medical and scientific organisations such as the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, British Medical Association and British Psychological Society have independently endorsed hypnotherapy as a valid form of treatment.

Myth 9: You are unconscious or asleep when in hypnosis

Fact: While in hypnosis, your conscious mind is awake such that you are constantly aware of what is going on around you. But yes, each individual experiences it differently. How we remember things is unique for each of us. For example, not everyone can recollect all the details of a movie after watching it.

It’s true that you may drift off to sleep during your session. But if the therapist feels that you need to be woken up, she will do so during the course of your session.

Myth 10: You are not hypnotised, if you can hear the hypnotist

Fact: Each person is different. Some people consciously hear the therapist, whereas others don’t. A few individuals simply cannot resist allowing their minds to drift away, as they gain so much relaxation from it. But this has no effects on the success of the session.

When you are armed with the facts, hypnotherapy doesn’t seem magical or mysterious. It’s is a scientific process of using techniques to help your mind focus, to facilitate the unconscious mind to absorb pre-agreed suggestions, to bring about change. I urge you to try hypnosis once. If you don’t find it useful, you can simply discard it. But if it helps, it can open a whole new world of possibilities for your personal growth.

The post Are you scared to try hypnotherapy due to these myths? appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

And recent dream research has led to the possibility that dreams serve no purpose or function. Some researchers lean in the direction of these ideas:

• Dreams are not necessary for either physical or psychological health.
• There is reason to doubt that dreaming helps solve our day-to-day problems.
• Dream interpretation may be a complete waste of time. And those who claim they know what dream symbols mean, may know nothing.

For example, if you dream that a person is chasing you down a dark street, does that mean you are running away from confronting someone about an issue? If you fall off a cliff and hit the ground, does that mean you, or someone you know, is about to die? Doubtful.

These above comments may surprise or annoy you. Yet you should be aware that much is new in the world of dream research. Let’s begin with a big myth that most people seem to believe—everyone dreams.

The world of non-dreamers

Some people don’t dream at all. It’s true. And they carry on with their lives and remain mentally healthy. You may scoff and say these people do dream but simply cannot remember their dreams. Research proves you wrong.

Many people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury, perhaps from a stroke or tumour, lose their ability to dream at all. Damage to the front area of the brain often leads to a condition known as global cessation of dreaming. The person no longer dreams or has completely lost the ability for dream recall.

You may also be surprised to learn that a small percentage of healthy people who have not had an injury do not dream either. How do researchers know this? It has to do with REM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement. Back in 1953, REM sleep was discovered by two researchers who noticed that the eyeballs moved beneath the lids when people were dreaming.

Until recently, REM sleep was always thought to mean a person was in the dream state. However, when sleep lab researchers observe some people in REM sleep and wake them up and ask them if they were dreaming, they say no. By the way, another new finding is that people can dream in non-REM sleep also.

Children who don’t dream

Another surprising finding is that young children under the age of nine have limited capability for dreaming. Renowned dream researcher David Foulkes points out that the brain has to develop the ability to dream. So contrary to popular belief, young children don’t dream much and the dreams they do have are not well developed until about the age of 10.

As for Krishnamurti’s comments above, he said a mind that is fully alive and aware has no need for dreams. When you are awake and intently observing the world around you, without judging or comparing, simply watching, your mind becomes so alive that dreams are unnecessary. Sleep then becomes a time of complete renewal and you enter a different state of being that is beyond the mind and dreams.

Yet, dreaming is something that most people do. However, we remember less than five per cent of what we dream about. So why do some people have such vivid, elaborate dreams? There are bad reasons and good reasons.

The dark side of elaborate dreams

Some people have dreams that are so elaborate; they act them out in a negative way. These are people with a sleep disorder called REM sleep behaviour disorder, also sometimes abbreviated as RBD.

Normally, during the dream state, the body is completely paralysed. Nature has made sure we cannot move while dreaming. The muscles go completely limp. Thankfully, we sleep in beds for the most part because if you were sitting in a chair and dreaming, you might find yourself on the floor.

However, in REM sleep behaviour disorder, the muscles are not paralysed. This can be dangerous because whatever vivid dream this person is having, they begin to physically act it out.

Imagine a person with RBD who is dreaming of being attacked by giant, poisonous butterflies. This person may swat and swing at the insects. Their arms flail; they may kick. There are many instances where bed partners have been hit with fists and severely injured. Sometimes furniture gets broken as the dreamer jumps on it or throws an alarm clock across the room.

The alarming dreams of new mothers

Postpartum infant dreams are another type of dream that can be quite vivid for new mothers. The dreams revolve around danger to their new babies. A mother may feel the child is lost or suffocating in their bed.

While sleeping, the mother may call out, cry, or feel around in the bed searching for the infant. In some cases, she may act out the dream and grab her bed partner, looking for the baby. There are even instances where the dreams are so real, the mother will sleepwalk in search of the infant.

The bright side of vivid, elaborate dreams

When I was a young boy, many moons ago, I had a favourite uncle I spent a lot of time talking with. He told me fanciful stories about his dreams. As long as he could remember he was able to fly in his dreams. I found this fascinating and was captivated by the wild tales he told me of the things he did and the people he met, all while he was asleep.

Not only could he fly, he could control everything that happened in his dreams. If he wanted to talk to someone, he had no fear of doing so. If he wanted to go somewhere, he’d go. He remembered colours, details, and exaggerated themes in these dreams.

This type of dreaming is known as lucid dreaming and is perhaps the most elaborate and fun type of dreaming. In lucid dreaming, just as with my uncle, a person is able to do almost anything they want. There are no rules. There are no limitations. There are no consequences. It’s almost as though you become a director of your own movie.

Prepare yourself to dream what you want

There are two possible reasons why some people have more elaborate dreams than others. First, some people are intently interested in their dreams. They make it a point to remember their dreams and write them down. If you would like to do the same, keep a dream journal or dream diary next to your bed. As soon as you wake up, write down what you were dreaming.

Second, some people, with practice, can tell themselves to dream about a particular topic, and they do. This can produce a more detailed dreaming experience.

Whether you dream or don’t, I think it’s clear there is a bridge that connects your waking life and your sleeping life. What happens when these two worlds merge into one? Only you can discover that for yourself by driving across that bridge. The vehicle that carries you is awareness.

The post What dreams may come appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Similarly, when we wake up and aren’t fully aware of our surroundings, we are in a natural hypnotic state. This is when the control is gradually returning to the conscious mind.

Often, we are so absorbed in watching TV that we are unaware of our surroundings and our responses are totally with the programme, this too is a state when the mind is under hypnosis.

Thus, hypnosis is nothing esoteric, but a state that occurs naturally many times a day—a time when our mind is narrowly focused on a single stimulus such that all the other stimuli fade off. Our minds are, therefore, accustomed to it.

In clinical hypnotherapy, the hypnotherapist inducts the subject into a hypnotic trance with the help of suggestions. Under trance, the frequency of our mind increases from beta to alpha, theta, delta and even deeper states.

In the state of consciousness, logical and analytical thinking is muted. The vibration increases and you get connected with your sub-conscious memories, which resonate at these higher frequencies—depths of your mind that are essential to reach for therapeutic results.

Research shows that the conscious mind accepts signals up to 16 bits per second, whereas, the sub-conscious receives 11 million bits per second.

Hence, a hypnotic trance is an opportune condition to look for the source of problems in the sub-conscious and clear negative emotions attached to them such as fears, phobias and other emotions that disrupt your life. Thus, in many ways, hypnotherapy is like meditation.

However, people are scared of trying out hypnotherapy as they don’t know what it really is. They have false ideas about it in their mind that inhibit them from taking advantage of hypnotherapy, which can be life-transforming. Here, I’d like to discuss some of the common misconceptions I have encountered as a qualified hypnotherapist.

11 Myths about hypnotherapy

1. Hypnosis can be forced on a person or cast like a spell against her will

No one can be hypnotised or made to follow any suggestion that contradicts with the person’s values in any way against her will. A client relaxes herself with the help of the therapist’s suggestions.

The therapist does not do it alone, but you do it yourself by co-operating with the therapist. A therapist merely navigates you through a hypnotic trance through guided imagery, trance music and direct or indirect suggestions.

You are expected to have complete faith in the therapy and the therapist to allow a relaxed state to build and follow suggestions. Resistance caused due to wrong notions, doubts, fears, challenges, conscious analysis, sub-conscious triggers and apprehensions, inhibit the trance state from being induced.

Discussing the myths and fears with the therapist during the consultation, prior to the therapy session, helps eliminate them.

2. Hypnotherapy is unsafe and can harm a person’s mind. A hypnotherapist can brainwash anyone

Hypnotherapy is totally harmless. It is not the same as brainwashing or mind control, which are done without consent. It is a therapeutic technique, which allows removal of negativity in a safe manner.

When your sub-conscious mind is being addressed and the source of the problem rooted there is being traced, a fair amount of control is with your conscious mind as well. The analytical part of your conscious mind still allows you to think and judge.

Therefore, you are still in-charge of yourself and your abilities. Your secrets can never be probed into against your desire. Your mind is wakeful and alert enough not to receive and act on any suggestion that doesn’t agree with you. At any stage of the session, you are so much in control that you can interrupt the session if required and return home.

3. You are forced to sit in one position for long, so you feel tired later

In deep hypnosis, your body goes limp, loose and numb. You are so relaxed [just like in sleep] that you lose the desire to toss and turn.

However, whenever necessary, the therapist gives a suggestion to move and turn to maintain the level of consciousness you have achieved. With another appropriate suggestion, you can even drink water or answer a nature’s call.

As for feeling tired, the moment your mind rises beyond the beta state, it starts relaxing and your body feels energised. Some people even feel euphoric after a session.

4. Hypnosis is an occult and esoteric art. It has no scientific basis

Hypnosis is neither a supernatural nor a magical art. It neither falls under any esoteric and occult phenomena nor does it make you follow religious, spiritual or any other belief systems or doctrine.

It is a therapeutic tool recognised and approved by The British Medical Association, The American Medical Association, and courts of law in India and abroad.

5. The trance is induced with the help of medication

Consciousness is altered with the help of guided imagery, direct and indirect suggestions or trance music like isochronic and binaural sounds, chants and mantras. These methods increase the frequency of the mind, taking it beyond beta into alpha, theta, delta or even deeper states.

There is no need of using medication. Drugs are used in narco tests/narcosynthesis/narcoanalysis to bypass conscious resistance and unwillingness of the person. This technique does not fall under the category of a therapeutic procedure and instead is considered an illegal torture.

6. A person can get stuck in a hypnotic state

To reiterate, under hypnosis you are consciously alert to a great degree and can enter or exit the hypnotic state any time you desire and allow yourself to be guided through it. A human mind, in any case, is accustomed to naturally going in and coming out of a trance.

Therefore, you cannot get stuck or lose your mind in hypnosis at any stage. Throughout the session, you are in conversation with the therapist and not left on your own. After the session, you have complete recall of the experiences you had during hypnosis.

7. Hypnotherapy can only help cure mental illness

The root cause of every physical, mental or emotional problem is in the sub-conscious or super-conscious mind. With the help of hypnotherapy, a therapist is able to help a client tap into these areas and address the condition completely and successfully.

Hypnotherapy can successfully address and eliminate physical ailments as well. Many well-known medical practitioners are even using it to cure acute and chronic ailments.

8. Hypnotherapy helps dull the effect of pain but doesn’t cure anything

Hypnotherapy not only addresses pain, but also eliminates the problem. It allows access to that area in the mind where all types of conditions are rooted.

Thus, with the help of this therapeutic modality, one can successfully address and eliminate the cause and its manifested physical, mental and emotional effect and not just the pain alone.

9. Only chronic cases require hypnotherapy

The words acute and chronic merely indicate passage of time. Irrespective of how much time the illness has prevailed, it still has its roots in the same place—the sub-conscious. And that’s where hypnotherapy helps you reach. In fact, if you try hypnotherapy when the problem is acute, you’ll be free of it soon.

10. Hypnosis should not be used in cases of severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia

Like in other conditions, the root cause of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorders also lies in the person’s mind. These conditions manifest due to certain causes in the sub-conscious as well as the super-conscious zones.

Medicines are unable to reach these places and only keep the symptoms suppressed. With the help of hypnotherapy and its applied branches, a therapist is able to even tap these areas and release the causes.

Hypnotherapy has been successfully used in treating schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, manic depression and multiple personality syndrome.

11. In a hypnotic state, you become unconscious

In hypnosis, your awareness gets heightened. Since your conscious mind is still wakeful, you are alert and conscious throughout the hypnotic state, and not asleep or unconscious. You are fully conscious of your self, your surroundings and are oriented to people, place and time.

Hypnotherapy has been successful in almost all areas of physical, mental and emotional conditions the world over. It takes into its fold the body and mind of a person and much more.

It is complete in all ways as it goes into the areas of the person’s zone no medical doctor would even consider looking into—the conscious, sub-conscious as well as the super-conscious mind. Now that you know facts about it, approach it with an open mind.

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