Is Hypnosis Dangerous?

Questions About Hypnosis

Through the years, I have had scores of questions about hypnosis, such as ‘is hypnosis dangerous’. ‘what is hypnosis’ , ‘what’s the difference between stage hypnosis and ‘therapeutic hypnosis’, and ‘will I stay in control during hypnosis’ and ‘will I be able to wake up’ etc etc

So I thought it might be useful to go through a few commonly asked questions to help you put people’s minds at ease. I may well expand upon these topics in later posts.

Is Hypnosis Dangerous?

No it isn’t, not even slightly, although this kind of question is understandable if the only exposure to hypnosis a person has had is watching a hypnosis stage show where it looks like the stage hypnotist has made people do wacky things.

Hypnosis Is the Safest Form Of Complementary Help

Just ask the insurance companies. These companies make money from assessing risk, and for a complementary health practitioner, hypnosis is in the lowest band for insurance cover. An aromatherapist is likely to have to pay three times as much for insurance cover than a hypnotherapist will!

What Is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is relaxation, pure and simple. The word ‘hypnosis’ is based upon the Greek word ‘hypnos’, which means sleep. So it’s the wrong name really, because hypnosis is not like sleep, it’s just a state of relaxation.

When a person relaxes the mind becomes more open to suggestion, and one of the skills of a good hypnotist is to deliver multiple suggestions in a whole manner of ways. Almost invariably, visualization techniques are employed to begin to assist the person to ‘see’ the solution to their problem. How they will be when the problem is fully a thing of the past. In addition, the human mind seems to respond very well to metaphor, so sometimes the hypnotherapist will use metaphor to ‘teach’ or ‘train’ the mind to begin to think differently.

A well made self hypnosis recording will often use multiple layered hypnotic approaches to help the person achieve the desired effects.

What’s The Difference Between Stage Hypnosis And Therapeutic Hypnosis

Many people will only have come across hypnosis in the context of stage hypnosis, either at a theatre or on campus or on TV. The stage hypnotist will tend to use ‘command’ style hypnosis, an approach that works with some people, although not all. And it will only work with people that are ‘up for it’. You may have seen someone do an Elvis impersonation, or dance with a broom, or behave like a chicken etc etc.

Stage hypnosis is a bit of a double-edged sword for those of us involved in hypnotherapy. Yes, it demonstrates the power of hypnosis to influence behaviour, but it can make hypnosis look weird, or goofy, or scary.

And self hypnosis, or hypnotherapy, is one of the most comfortable and ‘safest’ experiences a person can have.

Will I Stay In Control Under Hypnosis?

Well, to start with you won’t be ‘under’ anything, you will just be more relaxed. With hypnosis you actually gain control rather than lose it. You will not accept suggestions that aren’t good for you and appropriate for you. It’s that simple.

Help Get Rid Of My Pain

Self Hypnosis For Pain Control

To view this video directly on YouTube go here - Pain Control Hypnosis

OK, here’s a brilliant technique for reducing or eliminating any pain you may be experiencing. This works, I have done it with many clients, and also on myself, from time to time, but before we start.

Go to the doctor’s

That’s the number one tip for pain relief. If you are in pain then for goodness sake seek qualified medical assistance. It would be silly to use self hypnosis to get rid of a constant chronic headache if that chronic headache was a sign of something more serious...

Go see other relevant practitioners

Just covering myself here but if you have a slipped disc then self hypnosis techniques to get rid of pain are going to be of limited use!

Here it is then, Self Hypnosis For Pain Relief

Now I don’t know what your idea of self hypnosis is, but my definition is quite broad as I think everyone is already in a trance of one sort of another. For the purposes of this exercise simply think of self hypnosis as a way of relaxing creatively.

Prepare Yourself

Do this in a time and a place when you aren’t likely to be disturbed, sitting down comfortably with your back well supported and your feet planted firmly on the ground and you hands relaxed in your lap. If you are unable to sit down for some reason then just get as comfortable as you can.

Select A Number

Think about the pain you currently feel and give it a number between 1 and 100, 1 being zero pain, 100 being excruciating agony. From now on we will refer to the ‘pain’ as the ‘feeling’

Look Around You

For the purposes of this I am going to assume that you will be doing this self hypnosis technique indoors. Anyway, look around you and notice what is in the room. In detail, If it is a room you are very familiar with you might think you know what is around you but look again as if you are looking for the first time.

Close Your Eyes

Obviously read this through first before you do it, otherwise you aren’t reading these words because your eyes are still closed!

Anyway, close your eyes and see the room, in your imagination, as if your eyes were still open, where the furniture is, the colour of the walls, the floor, the ceiling etc. Do this for about 30 seconds in a relaxed manner. Then open your eyes and look at the room once more. This time look for what you weren’t necessarily aware of before, the direction the light is coming from, the shadows. Look around and behind you.

Now close your eyes again so that you can begin to build a more detailed inner ‘picture’, or, as it is more usually called, memory.

Step Out Of Your Body

In your imagination, that is. Float to about ten feet in front of yourself and look back at yourself sitting in the chair. If something would be intervening (like a wall, for example), then just see straight through it as if it wasn’t there. See as much detail as you can, what you would look like from that direction, what the room would look like from that direction, what you would be able to see behind the ‘you’ sitting there ten feet away in the chair, the folds in the material of your clothes etc etc.

Rotate Clockwise

Once again, only in your imagination... See what you would look like, and what the room would look like, from ten feet away from the right of the ‘you’ sitting in the chair. You would be able to see the right side of your head and body, and the room would look different from that perspective, you would be able to ‘see’ different things.

Rotate Again

So that you are now imagining what you would look like from ten feet behind yourself. Once again, take time to fill in the details. Then do the same from ten feet from the left

Repeat The Procedure From Further Away

Now repeat the entire procedure from about thirty feet away, in your mind’s eye.

Float Up And Above

Now imagine you are fifty feet above yourself, looking down through the building as if there were no roof and no ceiling in the way. See yourself sitting down there in the chair, see the room from this new perspective.

Float Up And Away.

So now float upwards in your imagination so that the little ‘you’ down there in that room becomes more and more distant. See the town and or countryside around the building, and keep going, until the building itself is just a dot, until the land drops away so that you can see the horizon curve all around, until the earth itself becomes a shrinking blue, green and white ball, until you are surrounded by the vastness of space and thousands of distant, shining stars.

Then check what number the ‘feeling’ is now. Typically the number will have reduced, sometimes even down to zero...

OK, so it got a bit poetic towards the end but you get the general idea.

Get Someone To Help You

It can often be very helpful to have someone talk you through this process. Either way, do it softy and gently and take your time. It gets easier and easier with practice so be gently persistent.

This Often Works, I Have Used It With Dozens Of Clients

The first time I came across this disassociation technique was about twelve years ago during a hypnosis and NLP course. He had left the room because of a migraine headache and was standing outside, thinking of going home to lie in a darkened room. One of the trainers, Michael Breen, noticed my friend was in pain and just casually talked him through this process, it took about five minutes. At the end of the five minutes my friend’s migraine had totally vanished, to his total surprise. You may need to spend a fair bit more time than minutes, or, you may not...

This Is Self hypnosis for pain control

At least it is in my eyes. Those for whom this doesn’t eliminate their pain may well benefit from listening to Help Stop Pain – a full length hypnosis recording by Duncan McColl. It’s available on a couple of my websites, http://www.selfhelprecordings.com/ and http://www.justbewell.com/

Launch of Self Help Recordings Self Hypnosis Blog

Hello and welcome to my SelfHelpRecordings Blog.

My name is Steve Tromans and I operate this website: www.selfhelprecordings.com I am a practicing NLP Trainer and hypnotherapist and over the last eleven years I have seen more than 5000 clients from my Harley Street practice in London, England. I have a string of qualifications and hundreds of testimonials from happy clients. So I may not be the world’s leading authority on hypnosis but I do know what I am talking about.

This may not be ‘true’

However, this does not mean what I am writing is true and definitive. What I write is, after all, just my opinion, and even if it is based on extensive clinical practice, it is still just my opinion. Please always keep this in mind!

I am not always right, just ask my wife...

This is all about self hypnosis

Anyway, this isn’t about me, this is about hypnosis, or ‘self hypnosis’, or ‘self hypnotherapy’ or whatever name you care to give it. I will be writing about what hypnosis is, and what it isn’t, about how you can benefit from learning self hypnosis, what self-hypnosis can be used for, how to listen to self hypnosis recordings and more.

Many topics will be covered

Sometimes I will write about specific issues, such as pain control, or help to stop blushing or help for depression. Sometimes I will give you easy tips and techniques that you can do for yourself, and at other times I may comment on day to day news as and when it refers to these subjects.

Free Self Hypnosis Recordings By Master Hypnotherapist Duncan McColl

To start with here is something for nothing. The late Duncan McColl has produced some of the finest hypnosis recordings ever made. Duncan studied hypnosis and related disciplines for decades and so all of his work is based upon these decades of clinical success with his clients. This work is not super-flash hi-fi, it is just the voice of a wise old man who really understands hypnosis inside and out.

Rapid Relaxation

The two free self hypnosis recordings are entitled ‘Rapid Relaxation’ and they are about 13 minutes in duration each. One is designed for daytime use and one for night-time, or bedtime use.

Techniques To Make Sure Self Hypnosis Recordings Won’t Work For You

1. Download them to your computer
2. Listen to them straight away
3. Sit it an uncomfortable position with your legs crossed and your back unsupported
4. Keep the phones plugged in
5. Eat a burger while you listen
6. Contact your friends on MySpace while you listen
7. And, most importantly, only listen to them once

Techniques To Make Sure Self Hypnosis Recordings Will Work For you

1. Download them to your computer
2. Only listen at a time you are least likely to be disturbed
3. Sit with your back straight, your feet planted on the floor and your arms resting comfortably in your lap. Alternatively, listen at bedtime as you go to sleep. Some recordings are specifically designed for daytime or bedtime use (like these free ones), but most of them can be listened to t either time
4. Unplug the phones
5. Don’t eat immediately before listening (or while listening, obviously)
6. Listen regularly and often. When self hypnosis recordings aren’t effective it is usually because someone has listened a few times, not noticed any improvements in the way they feel, and have given up. Think of self hypnosis as if it is ‘going to the gym’ (just much, much easier). Sometimes there are amazing fast results immediately (unlike going to the gym!) but often it takes repeated listening for the positive effects to be experienced. Just like going to the gym. Be patient!