When discussing the experience of hypnosis, it is important to understand that there is no single hypnotized feeling. There is no specific sensation, yet there are feelings that can be recognized as belonging to the state of hypnosis.
Hypnosis is almost like taking a nap (but not sleep mode), where your body and mind can finally let go fully and release the stress, tension, or whatever else you store there and wish to release. The difference is you’re guided to experience change during the hypnotic trance. When you’re hypnotized your subconscious mind is a state of heightened awareness. You are fully aware of your surroundings, yet you are so deeply relaxed that you feel as if you could stay in that mode all the time. But make no mistake: no one can be hypnotized against their will and it only works if you agree to let it happen.
Some people say that their body feels like a lead weight, others say they feel as though they’re floating away. Most people will agree that they are more relaxed than they have ever been before. The depth of a hypnotic trance varies, it can be very light or extremely deep. There are many effects that hypnosis can have on a person.
Observable indicators of the state of hypnosis:
- Body Relaxation
- Feeling heavy or light
- Tingling
- Facial Flush
- Itching
- Lowered Respiration
- Swallowing
- Time distortion
- Realization
- Emotional Arousal
- Increased Suggestibility
During hypnosis:
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Your eyes are closed
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You are not moving, but resting — comfortably relaxed
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Your breathing slows down and most of your muscles become relaxed
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Blood pressure safely drops
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The sense of where you are becomes blurred
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Passage of time is distorted
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You feel a pleasant, almost euphoric peaceful state
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Your mind becomes open to all things — the conscious mind drops its barriers to change
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The Hypnotherapist guides you to visualize the changes you desire
You sit comfortably reclined in an easy chair in a softly lit office. As you listen to your hypnotherapist with your eyes closed, you find your body relaxing more and more. Guided by the calm and confident voice, you allow your mind to let go and turn inward. You drowsily notice a mildly curious floating sensation in your body, as if you are not really sitting in the chair anymore, but rather floating – in the air, or in water. The voice talking to you gradually becomes more distant, and you even find yourself forgetting that it is there… but somehow the soothing voice continues to affect you, gently and almost automatically. As you relax even further, your awareness of where you are, why you are there, and who is speaking to you, recedes into the back of your mind. You just content yourself with effortlessly allowing the voice to act on you, and with enjoying this state of profound relaxation and deep calm… You are having a typical hypnosis experience.
Have you ever found yourself driving for long time and not even notice how you got home, and what was around you on the way because your mind was somewhere else fully absorbed in that experience? Or have you ever caught yourself sitting at a stop light daydreaming then suddenly someone behind you honks the horn that the light already turned green? Or have you ever been watching a show where the main characters get a drink and suddenly find yourself grabbing your bottle of water? Hypnosis is very similar. It’s a daydreaming like state where your mind is very open to suggestion. The mind, when in trance, feels absorbed in a zone, lost in thought and is in a state similar very similar to meditation.
Hypnosis is a journey. A journey into becoming who you truly want to be. It’s a journey that begins with saying “yes” to yourself.
