HYPNOSIS:  GATEWAY TO INNER WISDOM  (Article written for The Voice Magazine, Jan., '02)

 “I won’t have to do anything and my voice will just come out of me and say things?”  That’s right, the hypnotherapist assured me in my first hypnosis experience, all you need to do is just lie there.  Two hours later I was still waiting for “it” to happen, getting a little irritated, since I was paying by the hour.  At this point the therapist perceptively said, “I’m picking up on some anger.”  (No kidding!)  Years later, after getting my Doctoral degree in clinical hypnotherapy from the only state-approved institute and after many successful hypnosis experiences, including being put across two chairs, stiff as a board, I look back on that first experience as invaluable.  It taught me no one can truly be hypnotized unless they want to be. 

I tell my clients, “only you can hypnotize yourself – will it, want it.”  All hypnosis is self hypnosis.  The client participates as much as the hypnotherapist in willing the physical and mental relaxation.  It’s hard work to will your body to relax, actually.  Go ahead and relax your entire body.  Hold onto that relaxation tightly while trying to move your body.  Did you move?  If so, you know you’re in control, but you couldn’t hold onto the relaxation, so try again.

Those of you who have never experienced hypnosis may be wondering what is hypnosis, anyway, and how does it feel?   Most people don’t realize they are in a trance when they do go into one.  They’ll be doing a bizarre thing and when asked if they’re in trance will say no.  Ever get on an elevator and watch peoples’ faces as they look up at the number indicators – going, going, down, deeper   - 5, 4,….2…  Or watch the body language of someone deeply engrossed in a T.V. program?  Couch potato may merely mean “in trance”.  Naturally-occurring trances happen all the time.  Any time you visualize something or pay close attention to how your body feels, you go into trance.  If you listen to a lot of data, particularly technical, trying to follow and understand it, you may feel sleepy, the more you try to concentrate –  tranced again!  Hypnosis is the suspension of your critical faculties, your left brain, your logical, discerning, intellectual part.  At that point things may seem plausible but actually make no sense.  I was listening to a very hypnotic presentation once, supposedly as an evaluator, and she said, “remember there are no rivers, there are only bridges.”  I mused how profound that statement was, only to realize later, its plausibility was only because I was tranced out. 

How can hypnosis help me?  For simplicity, let’s say you have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind.  Your conscious mind rules (usually), making decisions, judgments and evaluations all day.  The only trouble is, your unconscious mind holds the keys to all change and all learning.  You can consciously say you’re going on a diet or going to quit smoking.  You can consciously want to stop biting those fingernails or even get to that project you’ve been putting off.  But until the unconscious mind accepts those suggestions, it doesn’t happen.  Like the old adage of leading a horse to water but can’t make it drink, you can overrule your heart with your head, but until both are in accord, its an uphill struggle.

Benefits:  hypnosis allows you to slip suggestions into the unconscious, so it will uncritically accept and act on them.  My clients have experienced:

	reduced dental visit fear and pain
	shorter post surgery recovery time
	uncovering and dealing with old hurts and wounds
	more tolerable female pelvic exams
	stopping nocturnal teeth grinding
	stopping bed wetting in children
	deeper meditations
	increased learning

Everything we learn is stored at the unconscious level.  Think of the name of an early school teacher, how many inches in a foot, or your email address.  Where was that information before you consciously thought of it?  Stored at the unconscious level.  We learn to drive consciously (hopefully) and then driving habits are stored in the unconscious.  Ever drive somewhere and not remember how you got there?  If you had to scratch your nose consciously, moving all 600 muscles in your arm to get your hand to your nose might take hours! 

Trance is the natural learning state.  Teach children to go into trance in school and their learning and recall increase.  Compare a hyperactive kid in school with that same child zoned out in front of the T.V.  Because T.V. produces the hypnotic state, s/he is more likely to absorb what is on the screen.  Ever wonder why kids know all the words to popular songs, raps and ads but can’t memorize history, math or language?  All learning is the domain of the unconscious mind.

For years we have been taught to emphasize our intellect, the rational, our conscious mind.  In truth we are much more than our conscious mind.  We have the wisdom of our life experience stored in our cells, our bodies, our unconscious minds.  We have access to the wisdom of the ages through our unconscious.  It is our doorway to spirituality.  (Ever try to consciously, intellectually meditate?)  Hypnosis is not losing control, it is a gateway to our own inner wisdom.