What Is Hypnosis?
Just about all cultures worldwide have used some form of hypnosis or trance state to assist community members to heal themselves. Chanting, rhythmic drum beating, music, dance or prayer are used in ritualistic ceremonies - both religious and healing. From the voodoo ceremonies of Africa to the chanting in St Peters Bascilica to the didgeridoos of indigenous Australians, no civilisation is exempt.
Archeological findings in France show us that nomadic tribes made drawings on the walls of caves showing their hunting triumphs. These drawings appear to be positioned in such a way that as the sun sets in the hunting season it casts light on the drawings. This has lead behaviourists to wonder if this could be to highlight the hunting scenes so they were the last thing cave man saw before kipping down for the night. This could possibly be one of the earliest forms of creative visualisation and the utilisation of positive suggestion.
Ancient Egyptians used places known as Sleep Temples or Dream Temples over 4000 years ago. These healing sanctuaries were established to overcome a wide range of issues, including emotional, mental, physical and spiritual problems - in much the same way we use hypnosis today.
Egyptians could be ensconced in a Sleep Temple for up to three days where the priests and priestesses would facilitate a trance like sleep (hypnosis) allowing early Egyptians to go deep within themselves to find their own healing. Upon wakening, the priest or priestess would interpret the persons dream to determine an appropriate avenue of therapy. I guess even back then they held an innate understanding that we each carry the seeds of our own healing deep within. Effectively the ancient Sleep Temple is the modern day hypnotherapists' office!
So what is hypnosis? Hypnosis allows access to underlying, unresolved issues that are often illusive to our conscious mind and, as such, remain beyond our normal level or awareness. Resolving issues at their source allows emotional healing to take place at the deepest levels of our being, so we can create the profound changes we want.
But to look at what hypnosis is we need to examine what consciousness is. If we think of the mind as a computer, the conscious mind, or cortical regions of the brain, is the software. This is the part we do our thinking with. We reason, work things out, analyse, deduce and make choices with our conscious mind. The conscious mind can only hold up to seven bits of information at any one time.
The hard drive of our computer is the subconscious mind which is located deep in the limbic system. Whereas the conscious mind can hold only seven bits of information, the subconscious mind can do any number of things without conscious awareness. The subconscious mind is responsible for regulating breathing, heartbeat, body temperature, thirst, sex drive, fight or flight responses, to name but a few of its functions. It also happens to be where emotions are generated from and where all long term memory and beliefs about yourself are laid down. This is also the place where all change happens. Until a change has been accepted by the subconscious mind then we haven't really changed.
So if we want to make changes in our lives, it stands to reason that the fastest way to allow that change to happen is by gaining access to the subconscious mind. We call this hypnosis.
Consciousness itself can be measured in frequencies or cycles per second, called hertz. Brain monitoring shows that during normal waking states our brain frequency is somewhere in the region of 14 to 40 cycles per second or hertz. The more anxious we become the higher the frequency. Researchers call this level of consciousness Beta.
During hypnosis, relaxation or daydreaming, however, the brain does something rather interesting. The frequency level slows to around 7 to 14 cycles per second. At around 7 cycles per second it could be said that you are in a reasonable level of trance or hypnosis. This level of consciousness has been called Alpha.
The next level of consciousness is called Theta. In Theta the range of brain frequencies is between 3.5 to 7 cycles per second. Deep relaxation, deep hypnosis, sleep and dreams happen here.
The Delta frequency is between 0.25 and 3.5 cycles per second and we call this coma. Not much is known about Delta, but it would appear that the body shuts down as much functioning as possible in order to heal itself. Although we lose consciousness at this depth it has been shown that some people in coma can actually hear what is being said to them.
So hypnosis can be measured in brain frequencies. It works so well because it allows access to the subconscious mind, which is where all change happens. It is also the seat of origin for our emotions, and where long term memories and beliefs about ourselves are stored. Normally the subconscious mind is heavily guarded by a filter system, which allows some things in and blocks other things out if they don't fit with what we already know or believe about ourselves to be true. For example, if I want to change a behaviour or a habit then I can just tell myself I won't do that any more and therefore I've changed...Not on your life. Because my filter system says, I don't believe that, and it literally throws it out. In other words I don't believe it to be true at a subconscious level. This is the reason why will power is so hard, and takes so long to get the results you want, because the new belief about yourself must get past that filter system and be installed in the subconscious mind. Once that has happened, and providing there are no other subconscious objections, then the changes can happen quickly, easily and effectively.
Inner TranceFormations
Upper North Shore
Hypnotherapy
&
Counselling
Wendy Bunning
94561190 or 0419163251
ABN 66 291 266 871
Upper North Shore
Hypnotherapy
&
Counselling
Wendy Bunning
94561190 or 0419163251
ABN 66 291 266 871