Organizations, counseling agencies and businesses need the practical application of theoretical knowledge from this research to predict future behaviors or to help explain current behaviors. Practical application of psychological knowledge can help to relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety in people and enhance their overall sense of well-being. It can also be used as a therapeutic tool for many diagnosable conditions of the mind. Looking carefully at psychology and can see similarities to hypnosis even though the actual methodology known as hypnotism is not present.
Psychology as a science generates knowledge through its different perspectives, which collectively construct the basis for unlocking the hidden potential within our minds. The main perspectives of psychology are:
Behavioral
Biological
Cognitive
Humanistic
Evolutionary
These main perspectives are the basis of many subfields in psychology. As earlier mentioned, it’s a vast field of study. I am not advocating that you dig too deeply, but a basic awareness of psychology can be useful.
Chapter 5
Dispelling the Myths About Hypnosis: How Hypnosis Can Help You
I perform over 500 hypnosis shows each year and see hundreds of clients for one-on-one hypnosis consultation for life improvements, and by far the most frequent question I am asked is whether hypnosis is real or fake. I teach new hypnotists regularly with The Hypnotist Stage Academy and through our annual hypnosis cruise (http://hypnosiscruise.com). I teach them how to remove people’s fears and misconceptions.
People are very suspicious and skeptical of hypnosis partly because of the movies and because you cannot see it, taste it, or, to a degree, even feel it. There is no lotion or potion or magic dust. When I hypnotize someone they expect a zap or some kind of electro-magnetic force or a similar, tangible feeling, but there is nothing.
Some people feel I will control their mind or extract their ATM PIN number from them under hypnosis, which simply isn’t the case. I cannot make anybody do anything against their will and the person being hypnotized is always in full control. Can you imagine if I could make people do things against their will? Another misconception is thinking you have to be weak-minded to succumb to hypnosis. In my experience, the opposite is true. Those with an above-average level of intelligence and who can focus, relax and concentrate usually do much better than those who cannot follow simple instructions and directions.
There is no universally accepted definition of hypnosis, and probably never will be. There are dictionary definitions and discussions about what happens but nothing is set in stone and even hypnotists differ in their interpretations of what hypnosis actually is.
I like to define hypnosis as a heightened sense of suggestibility. In other words, in the normal waking state we have a normal level of suggestibility, but when hypnotized we are much more suggestible to the words of the hypnotist or even our own thought processes. Hypnosis is everywhere all the time and each one of us falls into a trance naturally and without any effort. Hypnosis is based largely on imagination and visualization.
Every human action must have a thought attached to it first; everything starts with a thought. The thought then may or may not translate into an action, feeling or even a chemical reaction. What if I could change or reprogram that thought process and in turn enable a different response or outcome? I believe we do not walk around in life seeing the world; we actually think it. We have millions of thoughts all day and through a hypnotic process I can make the outcome of a thought and even the thought itself change in a certain direction. There are no such things as random thoughts; everything is triggered by the sub conscious mind—the part of the mind we use during hypnosis.
A classic scenario was presented by someone coming to see me recently with a fear of birds. I can get to the root cause of this fear through hypnosis quickly and efficiently. The fear is usually anxiety borne from a past experience. What you see is never ultimately what you get and I always look for the underlying reasons behind the behavior. As kids we do not grow up with fear; we actually learn it over the period of growing up and during our formative years. We spend a significant part of our lives forming fears and phobias, habits and beliefs, that later transcend into adult life and cause us to behave a certain way. In the bird scenario I can erase the cause of and reason for the fear and put in place mechanisms to ensure it does not reoccur. Smoking is another habit I can remove because the habit is in the subconscious mind and I can easily effect change while the client is in a heightened sense of suggestibility (hypnosis)
What is expected tends to be realized. I can change the expectation for the positive. For example, some of my clients used to suffer from tinnitus (ringing in the ear) which in the most part is caused by the expectation of the noise; erasing the anticipation removes the reason for the tinnitus.
The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your internal thoughts and communication. I can dramatically improve them and influence positive change with the use of hypnosis. I regularly teach people how to self-hypnotize and improve aspects of their lives they want to change. If you say to yourself, “Every day in every way, I’m becoming better and better,” the mind will pay attention and achieve the affirmation.
Hypnosis is nothing new and the benefits are outstanding. In Western culture we have learned to rely too much on the diagnosis of others and psychological drugs—yet deep down we honestly know our own issues if we care to listen. Hypnosis helps you listen and react. When I help someone lose weight I focus on the mind first before suggesting any exercise or diet plan because I know the weight of the mind is the weight of the body; a heavy, troubled mind produces a heavy, troubled body. There is a direct correlation. I believe you are just a thought away from perfect health.
Chapter 6
Exploring The Mind
The human brain, a tiny, amazing organ in the human body, regulates voluntary as well as involuntary actions.
The brain is the communication and decision center of our body. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and is associated with higher brain functions. Broadly, it is divided into four parts called the frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes. All four lobes perform different functions, as follows:
Frontal lobe: associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movements, emotions and problem solving.
Parietal lobe: associated with movement, orientation, recognition and perception of stimuli.
Occipital lobe: associated with visual processing.
Temporal lobe: associated with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory and speech.
We are aware of some functions of the brain while some functions continue within the body without our awareness. Every part of the brain has a dedicated function. The brain requires almost one third of the energy and one fifth of the oxygen available to the body because it is responsible for all human activities.
Types of Brainwaves
Dr Hans, a psychiatrist from Austria, first discovered electrical waves in the brain in 1908. He named those “alpha brainwaves” because they were the first brainwaves discovered. He also invented the EEG machine, i.e. the electroencephalograph. The EEG machine helps researchers to understand brainwave activity. It works by amplifying, recording and creating graphs of electrical activities taking place in the brain. With the help of the EEG machine, researchers quickly found other forms of brain activity. Beta waves were discovered next, then delta waves, theta waves and lastly gamma waves.
The five main types of brainwaves are:
Alpha brainwaves
Beta brainwaves
Delta brainwaves
Gamma brainwaves
Theta brainwaves
Eventually, in the 1950s, scientists discovered that it is possible to learn to take full conscious control over your brainwaves. They found that some techniques allow people to slow down their brainwaves from common beta-range to alpha- and theta-range.
The consciousness is the part of the brain responsible for logic and reasoning. If you have been asked a sum of one plus one, then it will be calculated by the conscious mind. The unconscious part of the brain is responsible for all involuntary actions. Heartbeats and breathing rates are controlled by the unconscious.
Your emotions are controlled by the subconscious mind. This is why sometimes you might feel afraid, anxious or down without knowing why you experience such feelings.
As shown in the figure, the conscious mind is working at a higher level and contains less power, i.e. 10-12% of your total mind power. On the other hand, the subconscious mind is very powerful and works at a lower and deeper level. It occupies 88-90% of your total mind power. Whenever your conscious and subconscious minds are in conflict, your subconscious mind invariably wins. This is known as the Law of Conflict. This means that whenever logic and imagination are in conflict, imagination wins. The conscious mind always works with logic while the subconscious mind works with imagination.
The goal of hypnosis is to access the subconscious mind, which is where all our programming and long-term memory are contained. This is the part of mind that lies beneath ordinary consciousness, beneath the constant bombardment of thoughts, feelings, outside stimuli and other assaults on our awareness. The subconscious mind functions at a level deeper than our usual awareness. In the subconscious mind, mental processes occur without our conscious perception of them. We experience moments of intuition, wisdom and creativity when these subconscious processes flash into our conscious awareness.
The subconscious mind is not limited by our imposed boundaries of logic, space and time. It can remember everything from every time. It can transmit creative solutions to our problems. It can transcend the ordinary to touch upon wisdom far beyond our everyday capabilities.
The subconscious mind will accept any sustained impression or thought, particularly those fueled by emotions, and bring them into manifestation without doubt. It is the task of the conscious mind to choose carefully which sustained messages and thoughts the subconscious mind receives.
The subconscious mind does not need a reason to make things happen. When an impression is made upon it, with or without conscious awareness, it will proceed to work upon that impression automatically. But its effect will be noticeable to the conscious mind and will be interfered with. If the conscious mind cannot accept what is happening because it reasons against it, then it will send a conflicting message that will undo the task done by the subconscious mind.
If the subconscious mind has been programmed by suggestions to do something, the conscious mind will “invent” reasons to justify it. It is an inbuilt mechanism to make us feel consistent with our actions. A suggestion can easily influence our subconscious mind, providing it bypasses the conscious mind with hypnosis or passes the logic test of the conscious mind. The brain is like an iceberg: above the surface is the tip (10%), the conscious mind, and the subconscious (90%) is that which lies unknown beneath the ocean.
To understand the difference between the conscious and subconscious minds, let’s perform an exercise. Control your breathing rate like we do at times of relaxation. While you control your breath, your conscious mind is in charge. Now stop controlling your breath and let it flow naturally. Once you forget about this exercise, you will notice that your subconscious mind brings your breathing rate back to normal.
To achieve personal growth the best thing you can do for yourself is allow the conscious and subconscious minds to work together. Then, try to take advantage of their combined power. Let us consider one simple example that explains how the conscious and subconscious minds can be used together to control our emotions. You are now aware that emotions are triggered by the subconscious mind and it’s not possible to stop them. But we know that the conscious mind processes thoughts, which are the primary trigger for emotions, so if we can control our thoughts, ultimately our emotions are controlled.
There are six main functions of the subconscious mind:
Memory Bank - Store everything like a computer
Regulate involuntary functions - Heart beat, breathing rate, etc.
Emotions
Imagination
Control habits
Dynamo which directs energy for motivation and tasks.
The conscious mind has the following three main functions:
Logical
Analytical
Willpower
Hypnosis is the bypass of the conscious (analytical, logical, rational) mind, allowing direct communication with the subconscious (automatic pilot) mind. Hypnosis makes it easy to convince the subconscious mind of our true desire, which undoubtably causes that desire to manifest in reality. The subconscious accepts truth as reality.
Charles Tebbets, the Grand Master of Hypnotherapy, said:
Every thought causes a physical reaction: The mind can make you sick or keep you well. Ideas that have strong emotional content always reach the subconscious mind, as it is the feeling mind. Once accepted these ideas continue to produce the same bodily reactions over and over again. In order to eliminate or change chronic negative bodily reactions we must reach the subconscious mind and change the idea responsible for the said reaction.
Once an idea has been accepted by the subconscious mind, it remains until it is replaced by another idea: The longer it is held, the more it tends to become a fixed habit or thought pattern. This is how habits are formed, whether they are good or bad.
Opposing ideas cannot be held at one time: Many people try to hold opposing ideas simultaneously. A person might believe in honesty and expect his children to be honest and all the while engage in some dishonest business practices, and may find a reason to justify it. However, they cannot escape the conflict and its effect on their nervous system.
While dealing with the subconscious mind and its functions, the greater the conscious effort, the less the subconscious response: This is why “will power” fails sometimes. The motto of the subconscious mind is “TAKE IT EASY.” You might know a person who has insomnia; the harder they try to go to sleep, the more wide-awake they become. This implies that you must work to develop a positive mental expectation that your problem can be solved.
What is expected tends to be realized: The brain and the nervous system respond only to mental images, either self-induced or from the external world. The mental image formed becomes the blueprint, and the subconscious mind uses every means at its disposal to carry out the plan. That is why it is important to always maintain a positive state of mind, as we become what we think.
Imagination is more powerful than knowledge when dealing with the mind: Any idea accompanied by a strong emotion such as anger, hatred, love or political and religious belief is difficult to modify by use of reason. By forming new images and removing old ones from the subconscious mind, it can be done easily.
Each suggestion acted upon creates less opposition to successive suggestion: Minor victories lead to major victories. Small commitments lead to large commitments. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, whether it is a speeding car, an emotion, a habit or a belief.
An emotionally-induced symptom tends to cause organic change if persisted in long enough: We are mind in body and these two cannot be separated. Therefore, if you continue to fear ill health and constantly talk about it, in time organic changes will occur accordingly.
if you can bypass an individual’s critical, conscious mind you can reach the subconscious mind and plant suggestions there relevant to your show, sales pitch, or relationship. The subject responds to positive suggestions with something like, “I really want to complete the task, so here is how I will do it.” Boom! Without any judgment, argument, or criticism, the subconscious accepts the suggestions for achieving what you want.
Transformation occurs when the mind changes how it processes. But in order for successful transformation to occur, the change must be made at both the conscious and subconscious levels of the mind. Changing our minds at the conscious le
vel is easy; however, reprogramming the subconscious mind requires a bit more. It requires a high level of desire and a very strong commitment.
Let us discuss some ways of bypassing the critical faculty of the conscious mind in detail:
1) Repetitions and Affirmations:
Repeating a thought over and over again changes the belief at the subconscious level. As we grow up we hear and accept repetitive thoughts, which become the basis of the belief system we carry with us as adults. As adults, affirmations can be used to change some of the old belief systems that we have decided are no longer in our best interest. Affirmations are more effective if they are repeated in a relaxed alpha state with powerful, confident energy and visualization.
Simply repeating affirmations is of no use unless the old thought pattern related to the affirmations is removed. Generally speaking, repetition and affirmations are time consuming.
2) Group and Parental Influence:
Identifying strongly with ethnic or cultural groups, religious organizations or parents can have a strong impact on the subconscious mind.
3) Emotionally Charged Events:
An emotionally charged event can have great impact on our belief system at the subconscious level, e.g. children who are abused physically or emotionally may develop abusive behavior towards other children. When they grow up, they may abuse their own children or the children of others. Emotionally charged events can have deep positive or negative effects.
4) Authority Figures:
Authority figures are people to whom we give the power to have great influence upon our subconscious beliefs. They can be doctors, parents, spiritual leaders, athletes, professors, politicians or anyone to whom we give the power of unquestioned authority. At some point we make a choice to accept without question whatever our “designated” authority figure(s) may say is true. When told by a doctor that we have a terminal illness, we accept what we are told by our authority figure (doctor) and pass away. Yet others may refuse to accept what the doctor says and end up surviving and living a long, healthy life.
Selling Hypnotically- the Art of Suggestion Page 3
