TRANCE STATE AND HYPNOSIS

Many new clients that I see are very curious about hypnosis and particularly ask about the trance state - what it is and how it is experienced. Sometimes clients believe that when they are hypnotized, they will be unconscious. In actuality, people experience trance-like states all the time. When they go to a movie and get so involved with what is happening on the screen that they are no longer aware that they are in the theater, they are in a trance state.

I found that state while reading. Sometimes I can get so involved in a good book, I don’t hear someone speak or the phone ring.

Listening to music, attending a lecture, playing video games, working or playing on the computer can all trigger that “daydreamy” state of mind we call trance. A classic trance state that many people have experienced is when they are driving. “Oh, yeah. I found myself at a traffic light and didn’t remember driving the last couple of miles”, said one client. There is even the term “road hypnosis” to describe he trance state experienced by those who have driven hour after hour on interstate highways.

The only difference between those trance states and hypnosis is the way it is induced. It doesn’t make any difference whether it is induced by the extreme focus of a video game or book, the boredom of a long stretch of highway or a hypnotherapist’s induction. All can lead to trance.

Characteristics of hypnotic trance include: inner awareness, a context-free and literal understanding of words and phrases, an involvement in imagine events that can be vivid and realistic and the editing out of restrictions to abilities and responses imposed by the unconscious. A good hypnotherapy session is designed to use these characteristics of trance to full advantage.

Sometimes clients in traditional therapy are distracted and unable to focus their attention on critical issues because of defensiveness. They may spend much time consciously or unconsciously protecting their current perceptions and maintaining their commitment to the status quo.

Hypnotherapy allows the mind to go into trance state where the attention is more highly focused, In this state, that attention can focus on sensations, images or thoughts that might be ignored or denied during regular therapy. In the trance state, situations and evens can be merely observed, like an audience at the movies, rather than altered or censored.

Some real advantages occur in using hypnosis to change attitudes and states of mind. In trance, clients, can experience imagined events in very clear, realistic ways while being very relaxed. In this way, they can accept changes in belief and learning performance as if the situation had really happened. Clients will often comfortably accept statements from their hypnotherapist which might have been rejected in other therapies.

You can learn about and experience a trance state that will allow you to make real and positive changes in your life by making an appointment with a hypnotherapist. Hypnosis can help you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually to BE WELL.