What is Hypnosis?

The word hypnosis is derived from the Greek word “Hypnos”, meaning sleep... Hypnotism is a means of bringing on an artificial state of sleep to the client and is more accurately described as “a state of reduced consciousness whilst one is awake”.

It is more like daydreaming than sleep, because the client remains alert all the time and it can be compared to driving a regular route and suddenly realising you’ve reached your destination without thinking about it consciously, or you’ve totally immersed yourself in a good TV programme when you're pretty oblivious to the world around.

Hypnosis is a type of trance state where the client is very open to whatever the hypnotist suggests – if he tells you that you're eating chocolate ice cream, you'll "taste" it and "feel" a cool sensation in your throat as you swallow. However, your sense of morality and safety are entrenched deep in your subconscious so you won't do something that you really don't want to.

There is a change in the brain wave activity, similar to that time just before sleep when the Alpha state is entered. Your brain's waking state is a Beta brain wave, just as you are going to sleep it changes to Alpha and then to Delta and Theta in deep sleep.

The Alpha state is a very dreamy, pleasant state. During this time the mind is very open to visualizations and creating a rich sensory experience. The more real the experience becomes in the subconscious mind during this state, the more effect it will have on your waking behaviour.

For most people they simply feel relaxed.