WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?

Most people think of hypnosis as something that they associate with stage hypnosis. Hypnosis in a therapeutic situation is very much different.

As a matter of fact, hypnosis is an age old method used to assist people to find relieve of pain and other somatic conditions, anxiety, stress and some psychological conditions. Hypnosis is a trance (focused) state where the individual is very focused, absorbed in the self (inner focus), concentrating, or even absorbed in guided imagery by a professional. Some call it inner time, whilst some may call it meditation, inner focus and yet mindfulness.

We all from time to time naturally gets into a trance state (some may call it absent-mindedness). Most people have had an experience, whilst driving, and when reaching their destination, not remembering a part of the route and not remembering how they have reached the destination - the drive suddenly felt so short. How many times do we miss an offramp just because we got absorbed in something?

More examples of absorption: sitting in a meeting and dwelling back to a recent holiday; sitting in a classroom or lecture room and daydreaming about a nice experience or planning for a pleasurable event later the day; reading a book and switching off from the surroundings, or even not noticing the pain in the knee or elsewhere.

A hypnotic state/trance is a natural focused phenomenon we all experience in our daily lives.