WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?
Hypnosis:
- a state of deep relaxation
- quiets the body
- opens the subconscious mind
- very similar to the state of mind we experience just prior to going to
sleep at night and prior to getting up in the morning
- the “twilight zone” between being awake and being asleep.
- a natural state of mind we go into all the time when we daydream or “zone out,” for example, while watching TV or sitting in a less-than-interesting lecture.

WHAT CAN HYPNOSIS BE USED FOR?
Hypnosis can promote changes and growth in all areas of your life.
You may wish to:
- Attain and maintain your ideal weight
- Decrease stress and increase relaxation
- Eliminate excessive fears, worrying or anxiousness
- Eliminate public speaking “jitters”
- Facilitate physical or emotional healing
- Gain confidence or charisma
- Improve athletic performance
- Improve your golf scores (and other sports)
- Improve sales skills
- Increase creativity and concentration
- Increase memory and learning ability
- Manage pain
- Sleep better – decrease insomnia
- Stop smoking
- Stop nail-biting, hair-pulling, other nervous habits

HOW DOES HYPNOSIS WORK?
Hypnosis is a method of relaxing the physical body and the conscious mind so that the subconscious mind can be reached through suggestion and visualization in order to effect change.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CONSCIOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS MIND?
Your conscious mind is the part of your brain that
- looks, listens, and learns
- reasons and judges
- analyzes and criticizes
- accepts and rejects
- makes decisions.
Willpower is a function of your conscious mind.

Your subconscious mind is the part of your brain that:
- runs all your bodily functions, like breathing and beating your heart.
- stores your permanent memory—all the images, ideas, concepts, and emotions that you have ever seen or experienced - like a computer hard-drive.
- acts out any image, idea or concept that you allow to be implanted in it, especially for 30 consecutive days or more.
Imagination is a function of your subconscious mind.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO ACCESS THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND?
If you think of your mind as a computer, the only document you can work on or change is the one in the foreground. Most of the time, your conscious mind is in the foreground. Your conscious mind is reading and interpreting this information right now.

Your subconscious mind is in the background most of the time. However, stored data in your subconscious may be sabotaging or interfering with your success in a particular area of your life – e.g., confidence and self-esteem, public speaking, weight loss, smoking cessation, sports performance, etc.

In order to re-program data in your subconscious mind so that it supports your conscious decisions, you need to send your conscious mind to the background and bring your subconscious to the foreground. This is exactly what hypnosis does!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY SABOTAGING MY SUCCESS?
Let’s say that you decide to eat a “good-carb only diet” in order to lose weight. Even though you’ve been unsuccessful in the past, this time you’re determined to use your willpower and make it work! That’s your conscious mind making that decision.

Meanwhile, your subconscious mind is saying: “Right! Like that’s ever going to work! You love pasta, you love bread, and you love chocolate! And you’ve been eating that way for 50 years! Do you really think you’re going to give that up and lose weight? I don’t think so! That’s not ever going to work.” And it doesn’t!!

We all have some programming in our subconscious minds from a lifetime of experiences - from childhood through adulthood - that has the potential to sabotage our wellness and success.

Hypnosis can turn that around by replacing negative programming with positive suggestions so that your conscious willpower and your subconscious imagination are “in sync” – working together to achieve your goals.

ISN’T WILLPOWER STRONGER THAN IMAGINATION?
No. Imagination always wins!

HOW WILL I KNOW THAT I HAVE BEEN HYPNOTIZED?
There is no such thing as a “hypnotized feeling,” so you may not actually “feel hypnotized” at all.

In fact, what is most likely is a deep feeling of calmness and relaxation, though not everybody experiences even that.

Some clients report:
- a sensation of numbness or tingling in their hands, feet, arms or legs
- feeling very heavy, like they’re melting down into the chair
- feeling very light, like they're floating up above the chair on their own little cloud
- feeling a bit disconnected from their body, even though they’re sure they’re fine
- eyelids flicker or flutter a little bit or eyes may move back and forth as though watching a dream
- having an extra need to swallow occasionally
- hearing every word that is said by the hypnotist
- allowing their minds to wander off to pleasant daydreams and then coming back to check in every once in awhile
-they aren’t sure if they’ve been relaxing for a very long time or just a few brief moments

In your experience with hypnosis, you may experience some of these, none of these, or other sensations.
Each experience is very individual.
However you experience it is right for you.
The important thing is that you enjoy the experience and welcome it.

WHAT IF I’M TOO STRESSED OUT OR TOO UPTIGHT TO RELAX?
You do not need to be relaxed before going into hypnosis. Relaxation is a by-product of having been in hypnosis, not a pre-requisite!

SOME FACTS ABOUT BEING IN HYPNOSIS:
* You are always in control and cannot be hypnotized if you don’t want to be.
* You are very aware of things going on around you. Hypnosis is a heightened state of awareness.
* You are not going to blurt out any deep, dark secrets under hypnosis.
* You cannot be made to do things you don’t want to do.
* You always have the choice to accept or reject any suggestions.
* You cannot get stuck in hypnosis – you can stop it or leave it at any time. However, it is such a pleasurable, relaxing feeling, most clients decide to remain there for as long as they can.
* You are not asleep – you are totally aware of yourself and your surroundings at all times.
* You cannot “lose your mind” or be in any way “possessed.”
* You will remember everything you choose to remember about the session.
* You are the one in control. If the hypnotist gives you a suggestion you are not comfortable with, you won't accept it.

This is why you see stage hypnotists send people back to their seats in the audience – they were not in agreement to following instructions and accepting suggestions. Does this mean the hypnotist wasn't very good? No. It simply means that even the best hypnotist cannot make you do something you just don't want to do!

* Remember, hypnosis is a consent state. You are making an agreement between you and the hypnotist that you will follow his or her instructions in order to be guided into hypnosis. No one can make you go into hypnosis without your agreement.

CAN EVERYONE BE HYPNOTIZED?
Most people can easily be guided into hypnosis. The guidelines are:
* You must have an IQ of 70 or higher.
* You must want to be hypnotized and be willing to follow instructions.
* Typically, hypnosis is not recommended for persons with severe mental illness.

CAN HYPNOSIS BE USED FOR PAIN MANAGEMENT?
Although hypnosis can eliminate or minimize pain, you should not ignore the body's warning mechanism. Pain is a symptom of a problem. You may be masking a broken bone or a tumor. Do not use hypnosis to eliminate or minimize pain without speaking to your doctor.

Pain management responds well to hypnosis but you should seek a qualified professional to help you. A certified hypnotist may be able to help you with pain management, but the hypnotist should first obtain your physician's permission and approval.