| HYPNOTHERAPY |
| by Tara Ciampa / Editor |
..WHAT
IS HYPNOTHERAPY?..What
is taking place during hypnosis is a guided relaxation and intense
concentration
which helps one achieve a heightened state of awareness.
You are 2000 times more aware than in a conscious state. Yes,
it’s
basically a -trance- state. You will be so focused
that you can block out what is going on around you. This allows for
this state of hyper
focus and letting ideas you introduce really remain in your mind
on a subconscious level and working behind the scenes to produce
results
for you.
..Did you know that at least two times a day everyone is in a state of hypnosis? Daydreaming is one example. But some would argue… "I don’t daydream, Okay…". I have some other examples then for those of you that don’t daydream or don’t recall doing so. The other occasion is prior to first waking up in the morning. At this point you are in a {hypnagogic} state. The other time is when you are just about to enter sleep which is called hypnopompic state. (Further information on these mind states can be read about in my "DREAMS" article).
..The goal with hypnosis being to let your mind be of service to you rather than to rule over you. This article will challenge you and hopefully allow you to break free from those more limiting beliefs. I am talking about the ability to tap into our inner resources. Think of hypnosis as a tool to achieve things that otherwise place limitations on you. The hypnotic state allows a person to be more open to both discussion and suggestion. Here are some things that Hypnotherapy is being used for today:
| Sleep Disorders | Depression/Stress | Post-Trauma Anxiety | Grief-Loss | Fears/Phobias | Weight Loss | Memory Enhancement |
..For example, everyone experiences stress. Naturally some people have more stress than others. Some individuals have more stressful financial situations, job situations and family situations to deal with. If they don’t find an outlet for this stress it could jeopardize their health. This is just one of the things hypnosis is designed to relieve, that intense stress we all have to deal with on one level or another. During my first hypnosis session I remember feeling that wow, I don’t ever remember feeling this relaxed in my life. I truly liked the feeling of becoming that relaxed during my sessions. Another good thing is that this can all be achieved in a private setting if you choose to use a hypnosis session that is conveniently recorded on a CD. I don’t know about you but my time is at a minimum and I want to use it wisely. Convenience is certainly a benefit to me and I also like the privacy aspect as well.
..The Encyclopedia Britannica describes hypnosis quite well. It does liken hypnosis to sleep but only superficially. It states that the subject in hypnosis is in a special psychological state characterized by a receptiveness and responsiveness more attuned than would be the case in the ordinary conscious state. Or we could look at what Ivan Pavlov, a Soviet physiologist has to say about the hypnotic state. He calls it partial sleep and understanding it as a state of sleep in which a “point of vigilance” persists in the cerebral cortex. In the simplest of terms he describes Hypnosis like this: “Hypnosis is nothing but the manifestation of an emotional state of increased intensity.”
..To interject some history into the subject at hand, it is vital to take a look at its use throughout ancient civilizations. You could say hypnosis as far as being used as a therapeutic tool, has probably been used throughout the history of mankind. One could argue that the healing brought about by the village witchdoctor, shaman or wise woman, can often be attributed to a strong belief in the one being healed. For example, the chanting and singing that is part of these cures often takes the form of what we would term as suggestion. These healers believe that the body, thoughts and emotions influence one another so they understand it is possible to influence a physical sickness by changing thoughts, emotions and behavioral patterns.
..Let's
use for example how Hypnotism was practiced during numerous medicinal
practices and rituals. Celtic druids and Chinese religious leaders used
hypnotism. There also seem to be evidence of its use in the pages of
the Jewish Scriptures and the Hindu
Vedas. There are also historical records of its practice in Persia and
South America.
..One
of the first visual accounts was through the -hieroglyphics- decorating
tombs dated at 3000 BC that show ancient Egyptians using hypnosis in
the Egyptian sleep temples. These temples were places where worshippers
were put to sleep and priests suggested cures. The procedure for formal
hypnotic induction as it is known and used today actually came from these
priests. The success of the Egyptian sleep temples led to their introduction
in Greece in 4th Century BC and in Rome 100 years after that. The temples
remained popular and functioning during the flourishing period of the
Roman Empire.
..A very legitimate question to ask about hypnosis is, “Is it at all like brainwashing?” This is quite a popular misconception. Perhaps brought on by stage hypnosis where the audience is led to believe that the subject has no power to refuse the instruction in which they are given. Research shows that the achieve brainwashing on subjects they could only accomplish this with imprisonment, sensory deprivation and drugs. It was necessary to change the subjects perception of his world and basically physically alter the subject’s world to bring brainwashing about.
..Ernest
Hilgard, noted author of Divided
Consciousness (1977) states that, “Hypnotism
is merely a state of high suggestibility, it is not gullibility.” Hilgard
found out the hypnosis and hypnotherapy simply could not be accomplished
without the co-operation of the subject. Making hypnosis truly a consent
state and with some degree of awareness. He also claimed that hypnotized
subjects could not be persuaded to cause harm to themselves or to 
become
anti-social.
.Ormond McGill is popularly known as “The Dean of Hypnosis” and has spent years studying both hypnosis and meditation. He puts forth the notion that hypnosis is the opposite of meditation. During hypnosis you set out to achieve a goal and that right there makes it different from meditation. He states, “Hypnosis is best understood by regarding it as a way of instructing the mind or programming the mind, so it will affect the autonomic nervous system rather than the sympathetic nervous system, as is most noticeably the case in everyday behavior".
..Sigmund Freud concludes that Hypnosis gives access to a less sophisticated part of the mind. Among Freud’s claims is that if a person could easily be hypnotized that actually meant that a person was psychologically healthy. In a book entitled “Clinical Hypnotherapy” written by David Cheek and Leslie LeCron, Hypnosis is described as “A state of having increased suggestibility, literalness of understanding and willingness to comply with optimistic suggestions.”
..IS HYPNOSIS A CONDITION OR A STATE OF MIND?
..There were investigations taking place in America during the early 1970s which were designed to measure the electrical changes that occur in the brain during hypnosis. The results of these investigations produced proof that hypnosis did indeed alter the brain wave patterns and slow the chemistry of the nervous system. Research conducted in the former Soviet Union succeeded in establishing definite changes which were both physical and psychological during hypnosis. By using electronic equipment it was proved that it was a “state” which was different than sleep and being awake. You may have heard of the recording technique called biofeedback. Through the use of bio-feedback it was determined that definite physiological changes do take place when a subject is undergoing hypnosis.
..Bio-feedback is a treatment technique in which people are trained to
improve their health by using signals from their own bodies. Physical
therapists
use biofeedback to help stroke victims regain movement in paralyzed
muscles. Psychologists use it to help tense and anxious clients learn
to relax. Specialists in many different fields use biofeedback to help
their patients cope with pain.
..Chances
are you have used bio-feedback yourself. You've used it if you have
ever
taken your temperature or stepped on a scale. The thermometer
tells you whether you're running a fever, the scale whether you've
gained weight. Both devices "feed back" information about
your body's condition. Armed with this information, you can take steps
you've learned
to improve the condition. When you're running a fever, you go to bed
and drink plenty of fluids. When you've gained weight, you resolve
to eat less and sometimes you do.
..Clinicians
reply on complicated bio-feedback machines in somewhat the same way
that a person would rely on a scale or a thermometer. Their
machines can detect a person's internal bodily functions with far greater
sensitivity and precision than a person can alone. This information
may be valuable. Both patients and therapists use it to gauge and direct
the progress of treatment. What
takes place during hypnosis is that the parasympathetic nervous system,
which can be described as a subconscious nervous system is
switched on during hypnosis. Then, as a result a person’s breathing
slows down and their heart beats slower and all the muscles in the
body become profoundly relaxed. Another important signal that was witnessed
during hypnosis is the appearance of REMS (rapid
eye movements). That
is something which cannot be faked.
..Your
brain can be likened to a computer. The weight of the average brain
is around 3 pounds and contains in the region of 30 billion neurons.
These neurons are like the circuits in a computer and each one is a
collection of molecules which act together to process information.
The sheer number of neurons in the brain emphasizes the potential of
mind power. Let us break down the three
specific areas of the brain, which
according to neurosurgeons house the subconscious mind: 
..-The Temperal Lobe of the Cerebral Cortex: This area is located near your temple. The portion of the brain contains memory. Surgeons have released various memories by stimulating nerve cells in this area and results in the recall of different memories interestingly enough.
..-The Cerebellum: This is the area in the back of your brain stem. What happens here are the coordinating of the voluntary muscles. This part of the brain is used when first learning to crawl, walk and doing things like tying your shoes.
..-The Hypothalamus: This area is just above the pituitary gland and is deep inside the brain. The portion of the brain controls the major part of the subconscious mind. It is the center controlling the autonomic nervous system which regulates the glands and all involuntary functions. The hypothalamus is triggered by emotion and directs a great deal of subconscious activity.
..Einstein estimates
that we use no more than ten percent of our mind in actuality. There is a term for the mind called the mental iceberg since
so much of the brain’s activity takes place below the surface
and much of its capacity goes unused. Our subconscious mind is our
servant as far as habits are concerned. Habits learned early on such
as learning to walk, riding a bike, eating with a knife and fork etc.
is a product of the subconscious mind and are never forgotten. They
are habit patterns that happen automatically without having to put
much thought into it.
..Now we understand the subconscious mind is in control of all of the involuntary functions of the body such as breathing, digestion and heart rate etc. Things such as stress and anxiety can negatively affect these functions and produce psychosomatic illnesses. Hypnosis can directly contact the subconscious mind and its not an exaggeration to say could facilitate recovery.
..The subconscious mind is your own memory bank and stores everything we have seen, heard and done. Nothing is ever truly erased unless the brain gets injured. That is why by using hypnosis memories can be retrieved. There are times when some memories have been buried by the subconscious for our own protection as a word of caution here. All of our emotions are stored within a person’s subconscious mind. Its important to know that one of the rules of the mind is that emotion is usually stronger than reason. This leaves us at the mercy of the subconscious mind unless we do learn how to take better control of it by using hypnosis.
..Are there drawbacks with using hypnotherapy? Hypnotherapy is usually not appropriate for a person who has psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions. Also it’s not for those who are using drugs or alcohol. It could be used for pain control but doctor has evaluation is recommended to see what kind do the actual diagnosis of your pain and what it is.
..Is hypnotherapy dangerous? Hypnotherapy is not a dangerous procedure. It is not mind control or even brainwashing. A therapist cannot make a person do something a person doesn't want to do.
..On a final note, author Napoleon Hill writes in his book {Think and Grow Rich}, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” It's safe to say that most of the people who do succeed in life are those that know the power of their own mind. The ones that fail spend much of their lives searching outside themselves, expecting help from others rather than looking to themselves.
|
TARA's - RECOMMENDED- HYPNOTHERAPY CD's | ||||
..Dave Elman, an eminent American hypnotherapist, claims a client under hypnosis can be 2000 times more aware than in a conscious state. It is through the hypnotherapy that a person learns how to increasingly take control of his or her mind. ..The titles available are STRESS RELIEF, STOP SMOKING, WEIGHT LOSS, IMPROVED STUDY HABITS and SELF CONFIDENCE. Do not operate a motor vehicle while listening to these CD's. |
..The CD's consist of 2 tracks. Track -1- is an introduction explaining the method of hypnotherapy. Track -2- is your estimated 30 minute hypnotherapy session. Suggested use is once or more weekly. ..All CDs are only $12 each, which includes postage and handling. The "best" deal is to purchase -2- CDs for $20, which also includes FREE shipping. |
||||
2 .HYPNOTHERAPY CD's |
|||||
| 20.00 includes shipping | |||||
| STRESS RELIEF - $12.00 | STOP SMOKING - $12.00 | WEIGHT LOSS - $12.00 | STUDY HABITS - $12.00 | SELF CONFIDENCE - $12.00 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
| . |
| ALL CONTENTS / IMAGES / VIDEO / TEXT © 2009 VISIONS MAGAZINE ONLINE / TARA CIAMPA - EDITOR |