I continued talking, mentioning that he could now notice that his eyes were becoming unfocused and that was a good thing. His breathing became deeper and more steady, and I pointed this out to him as well saying in smooth tones “As your breathing becomes more relaxed, you can find it easier to relax, listening to my voice. In a moment I’m going to have you close your eyes and when I say ‘sleep’ you won’t actually go to sleep, but instead will sink even more into this state of relaxation.”
A few moments later I ask him to close his eyes and immediately tell him to sleep. His head drops to his chest and his shoulders slump. He appears to be completely asleep on his feet. I’ve learned to be careful with the sleep command on some people however. Sometimes they take it so literal that their knees will buckle and I have to catch them if they’re not sitting down already.
But what is Dan experiencing as he “goes into hypnosis?” Is he aware of what he’s doing, or what is going on around him? Is he just playing along?
That is a fair question, when most people think of hypnosis, they think of mind control, magic, and psychic powers.
This has a lot to do with how the media has portrayed hypnosis on the screen. They like to make it seem like this strange and mystical power that allows certain people to control the weak minded, or weak willed. While this does make for entertaining television, it is a very far cry from what actual hypnosis is.
I tell Dan that he can hear the sounds around us still, and because he can hear them he can continue to drift deeper into that state of relaxation and comfort, listening to my voice and understanding that we are going to work together for his good. I ask him to nod if he understands.
His head bounces once on his chest.
Dan can hear me, and in fact he may be standing there thinking that this feels perfectly normal. And that’s just fine.
I tell Dan that there is an enormous balloon tied around his right wrist, and as he continues to sink deeper into that state of hypnosis, that the balloon will just get lighter and lighter, and it will begin to pull his wrist upwards.
His right hand twitches, “That’s right.” I say, “You’re hand just twitched and you can feel that, and you can just imagine that big round balloon getting lighter and pulling your hand upwards.” His hand twitches again and his arm slowly pulls away from his body.
As I encourage the balloon to pull that hand up he may be thinking to himself “I’m just wanting my hand to go up.” And that is just fine by me.
As his hand gets above his head I tell him that the balloon has popped, as I clap my hands and then tell him to sleep deeper. His hand drops and he droops forward even more.
You see it doesn’t really matter, how he views the hypnosis. He may feel that balloon, pulling him up, or he may not.
All I care about is that his hand goes up.
Later on in the session when I tell Dan that he is an absolutely amazing soccer player, and I tell him that his powerful subconscious mind is making the needed adjustments to how he moves and how he thinks when he kicks for the goal, I can know that I have his entire mind focused onto that goal, and that is how changes are made. Whether he thinks he is in a “hypnotic trance” or not doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he is focusing on the outcome.
Hypnosis can be a lot of fun. It is entertaining to convince someone that their feet are glued to the ground, and watch them battle their own minds as they attempt to move.
It can also be a very powerful force for good in someone’s life.
When I get someone who is hypnotized to focus all of their powerful subconscious onto understanding that they are perfectly capable of getting to their goal weight, or that they are able to easily brush off a panic attack then I know that they are much more likely to actually make those changes in their life.
If you find yourself a bit curious about this, and how it might change your own life, I would love to talk.
