http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr122007/dheducation1659102007411.asp
Karnataka, India
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Hypnotherapy to Alter Behaviour
Hypnotherapy can be used to alter self–esteem
and motivation and program a person to achieve
specific goals for success.
What is Hypnosis? Hypnosis is a state of altered awareness
where you are still in control of your body and mind. It is a
pleasant state of deep inner calm and physical relaxation. All
of you have been in a hypnotic trance state many times. The
reason you may not have recognised it, is because it was such a natural state of mind.
Let us look at the case of a well known speaker or an effective trainer who grabs the
complete attention of the audience, so that they are mesmerised into listening to every
word he speaks. In such a situation people actually go into trance just by a person
talking to them. All of you must have experienced this at some time in your life.
Hypnosis is an effective tool to access the power of the sub-conscious mind – the
storehouse of all our learning, habits and experiences. Learning — storing, connecting
and retrieving information — are all facilitated and enhanced by communication with the
sub-conscious mind. Driving is a learned ability which is stored in the sub-conscious
mind, however when you were learning to drive, everything that you had to do was in
the conscious mind, that is using the clutch, the brake and accelerator and at the same
time watching the road, using the indicators and moving the steering wheel. With
repetitive practice however, it became an automatic activity and you could drive with
ease without thinking and therefore this ability was moved to the sub-conscious mind.
Imagine, it is a Saturday morning — to begin your journey, you get into the car, put on
your seat belt and move into traffic, your conscious mind then drifts off and might be
preoccupied with thoughts, allowing your sub-conscious mind to be more active and you
drive in the direction of your office when your actual destination is a grocery store.
Therefore when you are involved in doing any automatic activity your conscious mind is
diverted from the sub-conscious and you are likely to drift from an alert state to an
altered state of consciousness — a trance state
The conscious mind and sub-conscious mind are not two parts of the mind but mainly
different functions of the mind.
We move through five levels of consciousness – an alert state, a light trance state like
when you are day dreaming, a moderate trance state when you may be imagining
yourself doing something, a deeper trance where you might actually feel like you are
doing something and sleep where you might have a dream of doing an activity.
The three middle levels are the ones where you will be most susceptible to hypnotic
suggestion and therefore where behavioural change takes place either by Hypnotherapy
or Self Hypnosis.
Hypnosis therefore is a method by which any person may be guided into an altered state
of conscious awareness ('hypnotic trance') in which psychological and physical changes,
beyond normal conscious capability, may be achieved. Though a person may be
oblivious to things in his immediate surroundings in a hypnotic trance, he has a very
sharp and focussed awareness at the sub-conscious level of the mind, which enables him
to take in the inputs given by the hypnotherapist.
Hypnotherapy is basically any therapy done in conjunction with `hypnotic trance`. It can
create desired changes in behaviour and facilitate mental and physical well-being. It is a
drugless therapy to facilitate healing and enhance the immune system.
Self Hypnosis is a tool to align your conscious desires with the sub-conscious mind in
order to achieve your dreams and goals. It also makes you alert and intensely focused,
while giving you an empowered and relaxed state of mind.
Science has verified the mind-body connection. Quantum biologist Deepak Chopra and
many other researches are now certain that nuero-transmitters which were previously
thought to be only in the brain actually have contact with every cell in the body. As
neuro–science has the capacity to measure the presence of neuro-transmitters we are
now sure that the mind has the ability to affect every cell of the body. Therefore
hypnotherapy which can make contact and work with the sub-conscious mind has a
great chance at making a difference at the physical level. Hypnosis therefore is a
scientifically verified technique that is effective because of the mind - body connection.
Today hypnotherapy is recognised by the British Medical Association & the American
Medical Association as a complementary therapy
Some of the areas where Hypnotherapy is effective for Behavioural Change are —
Self–esteem and Motivation: Improves self–projection, reprograms past negative
behaviour, increases confidence and self-acceptance and programs a person to
achieve specific goals for success.
Learning: Improves study habits, enhances memory, focus and concentration and
instills positive attitudes towards learning.
Sports Performance: Refines athletic performance by focusing on areas that need
improvement, creates a sense of success in the execution of skills, increases stamina
and co-ordination and enhances overall attitude & performance.
Sleep: Breaks bad night time habits, restructures pre-bedtime mental activity.
Stress: Employs techniques to reduce or eliminate stress, promotes relaxation and
reprograms specific behaviour patterns and emotion that cause stress.
Behavioural change under Hypnotherapy in all these areas may be achieved first with
inputs from the hypnotherapist and later on the process can be reinforced under
Self Hypnosis, thereby giving the individual a tool to empower oneself continuously.
A workshop on Hypnotherapy for Behavioural Change would look at developing skills and
techniques to handle the process of conducting hypnotherapy sessions to change limiting
behaviours of clients, learn language patterns for trance communication and Self
Hypnosis to empower self. This therefore is a very powerful and simple tool for
counsellors and therapists to empower others and anyone who wants to be the `master
of his destiny`.
Ahalya Shetty
(is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified Hypnosis Trainer, a Behavioral Trainer &
Life Coach. She can be contacted on 99720 – 32989 or E-mail:
ahalyashetty2001@yahoo.com)