frequently asked questions
"Does hypnosis really work?"
Yes. Hypnosis is approved by medicine as an effective approach for many medical purposes, even including hypnotically anesthetized surgeries, labors/childbirths, and dental procedures for those with conditions for which anesthesia is contra-indicated. You don't need to take My word for it. The Internet is full of information about the effective use of hypnosis for many applications.
"Am *I* able to trance? / I've tried hypnosis before, but it didn't really seem to work."
Nearly everyone can be tranced, or hypnotized, barring brain damage or a serious mental health disorder. Some things that can interfere with an optimal trance are certain pharmaceutical and recreational drugs; alcohol; caffeine and other stimulants; bright lights, loud noises, or other significant distractions in the environment; trying to trance while doing other things (trancing is a time to lie or sit down with your head supported and focus your attention onto the session).
Other reasons:
1. Video inductions might work effectively enough for the top 5% - 10% or so of hypnotic subjects (for most of us, hypnosis is a skill we must develop; I optimize your hypnotic abilities using My clinically based Deep Relaxation Hypnosis Training induction). Many subjects come to Me after having mediocre trance experiences by watching slideshow-style text inductions or sexy videos elsewhere that actually stimulate rather than guide the subject into the necessary state of relaxed concentration necessary for becoming receptive to hypnotic "suggestions" (the technical term for what are more commonly called "triggers" or "commands").
2. Many professional *and* amateur hypnotists, alike, use very brief inductions, aware that merely relaxing will make the subject receptive to suggestions. While this can be true, in My own experience working and playing with My subjects, taking the time to do a deeper induction than the current norm yields better results, and it's far more pleasurable, besides.
3. As mentioned, for most of us, hypnosis takes practice! Some will be natural hypnotic subjects; most of Us will experience more powerful effects with continued use. My hypnosis training induction makes this very easy and effective.
4. Sometimes you will trance and remain completely aware of your surroundings. This does not mean that it didn't work. Sometimes you will have a "falling asleep" experience, and this doesn't mean that the suggestions didn't "take." In fact, this means that you tranced more deeply. If you did in fact fall asleep, your subconscious mind still absorbed the suggestions.
5. Not all suggestions are right for all people, so not all suggestions will be experienced as fully or at all. This is all part of the disussion below, "Can you make me do things against my will?", below.
6. Most hypnotic suggestions need at least some reinforcement, and this reinforcement should follow fairly soon after your initial session. these things take practice. Initially, daily sessions for at least a few days are recommended in most cases, then reducing to every other day for a few days, and then maintenance listening should continue 1-3 times per week, depending on the subject, thereafter, though some will find that listening a couple of times per month is all that is needed.
7. If you tried hypnosis to achieve certain things, like overcoming an addiction like smoking, or doing other things that you are ore or less committed to, hypnosis is NOT the most effective application for those things. (Neurofeedback is better for quitting smoking or other addictions.) No one methodology is a panacea. Acupuncture is not the way to go to fix a broken leg. You use each type of approach for its own strengths and don't fault it as a whole because it has areas where it can be found less effective for treatment or play.
"Can you make me do things against my will?"
This is a common myth about hypnosis. But hypnotists all know that a subject will only do what feels truly safe and morally right for him or her as a person. Volunteers at a stage hypnosis performance allow themselves to be made to bark like a dog because they feel safe and they have an excuse. "The hypnotist made me do it!" But if asked to, for example, rob a person at gun-point, then, unless this behavior is desired, they'll simply come out of trance, all trust will be broken, and future trancing with this hypnotist - and likely others - will be impossible or difficult to achieve.
Yes. Hypnosis is approved by medicine as an effective approach for many medical purposes, even including hypnotically anesthetized surgeries, labors/childbirths, and dental procedures for those with conditions for which anesthesia is contra-indicated. You don't need to take My word for it. The Internet is full of information about the effective use of hypnosis for many applications.
"Am *I* able to trance? / I've tried hypnosis before, but it didn't really seem to work."
Nearly everyone can be tranced, or hypnotized, barring brain damage or a serious mental health disorder. Some things that can interfere with an optimal trance are certain pharmaceutical and recreational drugs; alcohol; caffeine and other stimulants; bright lights, loud noises, or other significant distractions in the environment; trying to trance while doing other things (trancing is a time to lie or sit down with your head supported and focus your attention onto the session).
Other reasons:
1. Video inductions might work effectively enough for the top 5% - 10% or so of hypnotic subjects (for most of us, hypnosis is a skill we must develop; I optimize your hypnotic abilities using My clinically based Deep Relaxation Hypnosis Training induction). Many subjects come to Me after having mediocre trance experiences by watching slideshow-style text inductions or sexy videos elsewhere that actually stimulate rather than guide the subject into the necessary state of relaxed concentration necessary for becoming receptive to hypnotic "suggestions" (the technical term for what are more commonly called "triggers" or "commands").
2. Many professional *and* amateur hypnotists, alike, use very brief inductions, aware that merely relaxing will make the subject receptive to suggestions. While this can be true, in My own experience working and playing with My subjects, taking the time to do a deeper induction than the current norm yields better results, and it's far more pleasurable, besides.
3. As mentioned, for most of us, hypnosis takes practice! Some will be natural hypnotic subjects; most of Us will experience more powerful effects with continued use. My hypnosis training induction makes this very easy and effective.
4. Sometimes you will trance and remain completely aware of your surroundings. This does not mean that it didn't work. Sometimes you will have a "falling asleep" experience, and this doesn't mean that the suggestions didn't "take." In fact, this means that you tranced more deeply. If you did in fact fall asleep, your subconscious mind still absorbed the suggestions.
5. Not all suggestions are right for all people, so not all suggestions will be experienced as fully or at all. This is all part of the disussion below, "Can you make me do things against my will?", below.
6. Most hypnotic suggestions need at least some reinforcement, and this reinforcement should follow fairly soon after your initial session. these things take practice. Initially, daily sessions for at least a few days are recommended in most cases, then reducing to every other day for a few days, and then maintenance listening should continue 1-3 times per week, depending on the subject, thereafter, though some will find that listening a couple of times per month is all that is needed.
7. If you tried hypnosis to achieve certain things, like overcoming an addiction like smoking, or doing other things that you are ore or less committed to, hypnosis is NOT the most effective application for those things. (Neurofeedback is better for quitting smoking or other addictions.) No one methodology is a panacea. Acupuncture is not the way to go to fix a broken leg. You use each type of approach for its own strengths and don't fault it as a whole because it has areas where it can be found less effective for treatment or play.
"Can you make me do things against my will?"
This is a common myth about hypnosis. But hypnotists all know that a subject will only do what feels truly safe and morally right for him or her as a person. Volunteers at a stage hypnosis performance allow themselves to be made to bark like a dog because they feel safe and they have an excuse. "The hypnotist made me do it!" But if asked to, for example, rob a person at gun-point, then, unless this behavior is desired, they'll simply come out of trance, all trust will be broken, and future trancing with this hypnotist - and likely others - will be impossible or difficult to achieve.