Hypnosis:

1. Hypnotic trance; an altered state of awareness ('trance') in which unconscious or dissociated responses to suggestion are enhanced in quality and increased in degree ('hyper-suggestibility').
2. Hypnotic induction ('hypnogenesis'); the process by which hypnotic trance is induced in the operator ('auto-' or 'self-hypnosis') or in others ('hetero-hypnosis').
3. Hypnotism; the field of study which encompasses, among other things, hypnotic trance; its induction, management, and application; and related subjects such as the phenomena of 'waking suggestion' and naturally occurring ('hypnoidal') trance states. (Abbrv. of 'neuro-hypnotism' meaning 'sleep of the nervous system.')

Hypnotherapy: The use of therapeutic techniques or principles in conjunction with hypnosis.

First of all, the name hypnosis can often be misleading.  It comes from the Greek word “hypno” meaning sleep, but in hypnosis the subject never actually goes to sleep, it is only the nervous system that sleeps.  German-born physician Anton Mesmer (that’s where we get the word mesmerise!) is often—and incorrectly—credited with having discovered hypnosis.  In fact, his beliefs were more spiritual and supernatural than psychological, leading him to his theory on “animal magnetism”.  It was James Braid, a Scottish doctor, who first discovered hypnotism in 1841, and coined the phrase “neuro-hypnotism” or nervous sleep.  Having followed Mesmer’s work on “animal magnetism” he developed the theory of hypnotism as “a peculiar state of the nervous system, induced by a fixed and abstracted attention of the mental and visual eye, on one object, not of an exciting nature.” [Braid, Neurypnology, 1843]

It wasn’t until some 40yrs later that French philosopher Hippolyte Bernheim wrote “I define hypnotism as the induction of a peculiar psychical condition which increases the susceptibility to suggestion.” So in the nutshell, hypnosis is a state of sleep of the nervous system that facilitates the subconscious acceptance of suggestion.

All hypnosis is self hypnosis, and it is in fact a remarkably natural state that we all enter, to varying degrees, everyday.  Have you ever had you mind wander off, only to have someone wave their hand in front of your eyes to “bring you back”?  When they ask you what you were thinking about, quite often you can’t really remember.  You were in a very light state of trance.

Have you ever had a tune stuck in your mind all day?  (Possibly even one that you don’t like.)  It may well be that you heard it on your radio alarm that morning before you were fully awake.  As such, the tune has embedded itself in your subconscious and keeps repeating itself in your mind like a continuous loop.

That brief period in the morning when you are neither asleep nor fully awake, is the same place we go to under hypnosis.  And we go there again at night as we are falling asleep.  Through hypnosis, we simply stretch that period.  It is during that time that we are most susceptible to the power of suggestion, and that’s what makes hypnosis so powerful, and so successful.

By suspending the mind in this state of relaxation, we unlock the immense power of the subconscious, opening it up to the positive suggestions being made by the hypnotherapist.  When something is accepted by the subconscious mind, it becomes much easier for us to do.  For example, try this simple exercise:

Repeat the alphabet out loud.

Now say it again, only this time say only every second letter.

The power of the subconscious mind is so huge that we cannot really begin to fathom it, but when we tap into it, it can have phenomenal results.  Hypnosis works by doing just that.  It allows us to make conscious changes to the way that we feel, the way that we think, and the way that we behave, in a subconscious way.

We cannot “unlearn” fears or habits, but we can teach our minds to deal with them differently.  Doing this consciously is often very difficult because in doing so, we are concentrating on the issue at hand, and by “thinking” about it too much we make it more difficult for ourselves, just as in the alphabet example above.  People who go on diets to lose weight struggle because as soon as they start their diet, they suddenly crave all the things they can’t have.  That’s a perfectly natural reaction.

Hypnosis taps into the subconscious mind so that these changes feel natural.  Suddenly smokers just don’t feel like smoking.  Dieters don’t even think about having the foods they don’t need, and people wishing to improve their memory, or motivation, or whatever their personal issue is, simply find these changes coming about in a very natural and enjoyable way.