What happens in a session of Hypnotherapy?

Firstly the practitioner establishes the needs of the client and the changes the client wants to happen. The aims of the session and the nature of the suggestions to be made are all agreed between the client and the therapist. Then the practitioner leads the client into a trance state by helping client to feel physically comfortable and emotionally at ease, talking gently to the client, enabling the client to experience deep relaxation and a calming of the mind.

The concepts and suggestions put to the client in a trance state can bring about the desired changes at a deep level, and sometimes in just one session, because, in this state, we are more focused on the words of the practitioner; we are less distracted our thoughts; we are more receptive, perhaps to positive ideas about ourselves; unwanted habits of thought have less hold on us; we are less inclined to put up the barriers, which we typically put in our way and our unconscious mind is listening in and responding to the new information.

Do I remain in control ‘under’ hypnosis?

Just as we remain in control and can choose to bring ourselves out of a daze or a meditation, so too do we remain in control ‘under’ hypnosis. In a trance state, we remain fully aware of all that is going on around us, whilst being less distracted by it; we remain able to discern that which is for our highest good and our words and actions remain governed by our moral, ethical and spiritual code just as at other times.

About Hypnotherapy.

We all experience different states of trance in everyday life: we might gaze out of a window lost in thought; when what we’re doing fails to hold our attention we might go off into a daydream; simply driving quietly down a motorway can have a hypnotic effect. The trance state used in hypnotherapy is just like these. It is recognised as different simply because of the way in which the trance state is brought about, just like meditation is recognised as different again: rather than our state altering without an intention to do so, in meditation we aim to alter our state and in hypnotherapy we allow the practitioner to lead us gently into an altered state so that we can more easily make desired changes within ourselves.