Relax: Let your subconscious do the thinking

Hypnosis is safe, powerful and effective. Hypnosis is very misunderstood due to the movies and television, but actually it is only a condition of deep relaxation. I call it “Relaxation on Purpose for a Purpose” because it is always directed toward a goal. This relaxed state is induced by a trained hypnotherapist or hypnotist.

There are only four brain wave frequencies that can be measured. Full consciousness is called Beta; the next level down is Alpha, which is in between being awake and asleep, and this is where most hypnosis occurs. Then there is Theta, which is light sleep, and Delta, which is deep sleep. If you use a snooze alarm, you get 10 more minutes to sleep; however, you usually don’t go back to sleep but just lie there very comfortably. This is very similar to what hypnosis feels like. In fact, most of us enter a light stage of hypnosis several times daily. It happens while taking a shower, watching a good movie, reading a good book, running and especially while driving. How many times have you been driving and missed your exit or can’t remember the last 10 or 15 minutes? These are all examples of light hypnosis.

A session with a certified hypnotherapist takes about an hour, and you are guided into a very relaxed and comfortable state and given suggestions that move you toward the successful accomplishment of a goal: The reason hypnosis is so effective is it communicates directly with the subconscious level of thinking. You have two very different and distinct types of thinking that take place at the same time. Your conscious thought is mainly responsible for reason and logic, and it can only do one thing at a time effectively. Your subconscious can do a multitude of things at the same time and is responsible for all of your autonomic functions like breathing, body temperature, heart rate and many other things automatically, so you don’t even have to give it any thought. Your conscious mind has to do with things external, while your subconscious has to do with things internal. I have always associated your conscious with the brain and your subconscious with the mind. When you stand up to walk, you don’t have to think about that because you learned how to walk as a toddler, so now after walking every day it becomes part of your subconscious, and walking is now automatic. Children from birth to about age 5 almost excessively use their subconscious, and that is why they learn so much so quickly. Then they learn vocabulary and start developing emotional intelligence and start using their conscious thinking more, and their learning curve slows way down.

Hypnosis has many applications, and though it will not make you do anything, it will help you with everything. If you have ever watched an athlete in a zone, they are doing everything perfectly because they aren’t thinking, they are responding to their subconscious. In the Olympics, the gymnast and the divers with their intricate routines can often be seen before their event sometimes with headphones on mentally rehearsing and doing everything perfectly, and when they perform, they do perfectly. If they just do it, they are responding to their subconscious and usually do perfectly. If they think about it too much, they are more likely to make a mistake. When they practice mentally, they always do perfectly.

Here is how it works, let’s say with a smoker. The first time this person ever smoked a cigarette, not only was it not a habit, but they also were not very good at it; but with practice, they get so good at it that they don’t have to think about it. Smokers tend to smoke daily and at the same intervals, and soon it becomes a habit and is now run by the subconscious, which among other things reminds you of your habits. So now when you hit those intervals, your subconscious sends an unconscious urge to remind you that it is time to smoke. After a hypnosis session to stop smoking, they now see themselves as a non-smoker and simply refuse to smoke going forward. So now as a non-smoker when they go through those same intervals without a cigarette, they are now teaching their subconscious a new lesson that we don’t smoke anymore, and soon it learns and then stops sending those urges to smoke. One of the nice by-products of hypnosis is a wonderful feeling of empowerment, confidence and relaxation when you finish a session. Hypnosis gives you more influence over your thoughts, feeling and behavior. My wife and I both beat a 27-year-old smoking habit with just a few doses of hypnosis.

Norman Bender, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist in Shreveport, LA. The office is located at 7840 Jewella Ave. He is a graduate of the American Hypnotherapy Institute and certified by the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Institute. He has been in practice since 1994. He specializes in smokers leaving as non-smokers. For more information, call 318-350-7707.