Our entire lives are controlled by our mind. All that we are, all that we think, all that we feel, all that we perceive and all that we do, starts and finishes in our mind. This of course offers us a great opportunity when we recognize this basic fact of the human experience. This is because in recognizing it, we come to a place where we can control it, thereby making it possible to control everything in our life. In fact, we can control everything to the finest detail, once we learn how it is done. Once we realize that we not only have all the tools necessary to do that, but that we have had them all along.
The brain is two major parts, the left brain and the right brain, separated by a barrier known as the Corpus Collosum. This barrier when examined in fMRI imaging, has a bit of activity passing back and forth between the two halves of the brain. However, when we go into hypnotic trance and take another image, we find that the activity passing through the barrier is markedly increased. There is scientific proof that hypnosis changes the function of the brain. But how is that useful?
It is in fact very useful! I speak of the brain and I speak of the mind. These are two different things in my vocabulary, because we know quite a bit about the brain, but the mind is vast and complex beyond our current ability to fully understand. It is likely that a good hypnotist understands the mind the best out of any profession. Can a brain surgeon change your mind? Your habits? Reactions? Beliefs? No, of course not. An experienced hypnotist however, can do all of that and more, simply with words.
The mind is composed of two parts, the conscious mind or “CM” and the subconscious mind or “SCM.” They protect us and they protect each other. The CM is the part that contains our awareness. Everything you perceive during your waking hours is filtered through the CM. The CM examines it, compares it to what is stored in the SCM and looks for things that match up before allowing anything to be transferred to the SCM. This is why changing a habit with willpower alone is so difficult. The SCM is where all our basic programs are running and therefore, it is in charge of all change.
You see, when the CM compares something to what is stored in the SCM and finds that it does not substantially match up with that, it rejects the incoming information and thus, it never reaches the SCM, where all changes are made. So, when we tell ourselves, for instance, “I am quitting smoking Right now, today. I am no longer going to smoke!” The CM looks at the SCM and finds the SCM has you as a smoker, thus the CM, having found a discrepancy, rejects the change you desire. And in very short order, you are smoking again.
And know this, smoking is not an addiction. It is a habit which is worse for us. First, there is not enough nicotine in cigarettes to addict you. Now, perhaps in the thousand chemicals the tobacco companies put in them there is an addictive substance. I have no clue. However, look at the heroin junkie, they have to keep increasing the dosage to get the same effect. Why? Because they are addicted and their body adjusts to the heroin. Same with pills. But, as I said, quitting is very difficult on your own. You have to break the habit. The CM protects that habit.
If when you were a child, your parents taught you that a football or soccer field is square, when you got into school and the teacher puts up a rectangle, you would identify it as a square, right? Because that is what you have been taught it is and that is the information in your SCM. So, when the teacher corrects you, you would reject the correction and insist it is a square. You would be very resistant to changing the identification of that shape to a rectangle. This may well wind up with a trip to the principals office.
In hypnosis, we move the CM to the side and deal directly with the SCM. Therefore, a hypnotist can change that perception very rapidly, because the CM is not able to interfere in the change process. Now, that is a very simple example and a simple yet direct fix to the situation. Hopefully you can extrapolate that out to see the great potential of hypnosis. But can someone deal with their SCM directly? Yes, absolutely they can. But, it is not as easy as it may seem. Let us look at a simple case of someone dealing with their SCM directly without understanding the basic principals involved. Actually, doing it unwittingly and without awareness of what is happening.
You are getting ready to leave the house. You realize you are not sure where your keys are and you start searching for them. Eventually, when you do find them, they are right where you left them and right where you looked a dozen times. What were you repeatedly saying to yourself as you looked for your keys? Likely something like “I can't find my keys, I am going to be late!” The SCM picked up on that and thought that you did not want to find your keys and so made them invisible to you. That is negative hypnosis and I use it all the time in street and stage hypnosis to appear to the subject I turn invisible.
Understand, the SCM in an adult though it has great wisdom, has the maturity of a 6 year old. So you have to know how to handle that mix for good results. Whats the old saying? “Be careful what you ask for, you might get it!” Yes, that's the one and it is very good advice when communicating with the SCM. Because the SCM does not care what you want, it will give it to you if you can frame the request so it understands. When looking for your keys, say to yourself “I am going to find my keys quickly” so that if the SCM picks it up, it helps you.
So how does a hypnotist make changes in our mind? First, they move the CM out of the way. Then, they will deepen the trance sufficiently that they can work directly with your SCM and change the programs that make you who you are. You want to get rid of anxiety? Great, a hypnotist can do that. You want to get rid of a phobia? No problems for the seasoned hypnotist.
Anyone with an IQ above about 85 can be hypnotized. When people tell me they cannot be hypnotized, I immediately ask to see their death certificate and autopsy report. Without that function of the mind, your heart, lungs, liver, immune system.... well, everything stops working. The death certificate would be enough, but I am curious how the coroner would explain that death. Selfish me.
And when they tell me they are too intelligent to be hypnotized I laugh! Because the more intelligent you are, the easier it is for you to enter trance. That intelligence is communicating with the SCM all on its own already, so the connections are already half made.
And children from about 6 to 18 are very susceptible to hypnosis. More susceptible than someone with the same IQ who is 35. Why? Because they do not have the preconceptions and their mind is not closed. They are using their SCM, that is where the imagination is. That is where the artistic and musical abilities are. And children, as most know, have very vivid imaginations!
Thanks for reading, I hope this helps someone.
