(A video of this content has been posted at the bottom of this blog). One of the most common questions i get asked about hypnotherapy is: ‘can everyone be hypnotised?’. Or sometimes people will say to me ‘I can’t be hypnotised’, or ‘not everyone can be hypnotised’. And yes, it’s true not EVERYONE can be hypnotised, but chances are you’re not one of those people who can’t experience hypnosis and here’s why.
Being in the hypnotic state, believe it or not, is a very normal natural state that we all experience about 7 to 9 times a day. Yep, thats right. We’ve all experienced those times when we are driving our car, we get to our destination and forget the route we took. Or we all of a sudden wonder if we slowed down for that speed camera. Or maybe you drove right past your highway turn off and didn’t even realise until you were a few kilometres further down. These are moments when we are driving on ‘auto pilot’. Your auto pilot IS your unconscious / subconscious or non-conscious mind. It’s a total safe, normal state of mind to be in, while you remain completely awake and alert.
Other examples of this state include watching TV. You’re so into your movie that someone calls your name in the other room and you don’t even hear them. Gaming is another example, so focussed that nothing else around you seems to exist. You could be writing an important email, knitting, basically anything that your hyper focussed or attentive on while relaxed.
We also all go into that state just before we fall asleep at night and just before we open our eyes in the morning. Its that state where you’re kind of there, but kind of not. It can be a half awake/half asleep state.
The only difference between the normal, natural states of hypnotic trance mentioned above and the state we create in a hypnotherapy session, is that during the session you as the client, are following some verbal guidance to make that state happen on demand, rather than letting it happen randomly. What this means is that the only people who ‘can’t be hypnotised’, are those people that for whatever reason, have some kind of barrier to following verbal instructions. These barriers might be severe brain damage, severe autism, an intellectual disability, or a severe mental illness that makes it impossible to follow verbal instructions.
The other type of people who ‘can’t be hypnotised’, are those who are so unwilling to participate in a hypnotherapy session, that they simply will not go with the flow and follow the instructions because of their misconceptions about what they THINK being hypnotised is. Once the process is explained however, that totally disappears. If you’re going to try hypnotherapy for smoking cessation, make sure that the hypnotherapist puts you through a very thorough preparation process. The more you’re prepared about what’s going to happen and why, the more you’ll be able to relax, go with the flow and get the result you want.
Please let me know what you thought of this blog, did it help you? Do you have any questions? Feel free to call me directly any time on 1300 883 272.