Some basic facts about self-hypnosis
Hypnosis is a state of mind where we find ourselves using our imagination and focused on an idea or image. It is often accompanied by relaxation, increased focus, and most often an increased capacity for self-control.
It’s a natural extension of what we normally do every day. We spontaneously change our state of awareness as we go about our usual activities, usually without thinking about it. For example, we can easily go from paying attention to “spacing out” or daydreaming. It’s what is happening those times when you find it hard to get your child’s attention when he/she is so absorbed in a TV show. All of us have found ourselves in an altered state of consciousness when absorbed in a book, a video, or a sporting event, and in those times the outside world just seems to disappear. Perhaps you have even experienced what is referred to as “highway hypnosis”. Most of of us have had the experience of driving home and realizing that we do not actually remember the entire sections of the drive itself. It’s almost as if we were on auto-pilot mode, even though we were perfectly safe and in control the entire time.
Learning self-hypnosis skills is about learning to do on purpose something we do naturally several times every day – alter our state of awareness – in order to bring about a change that can be helpful and make us feel better. It’s about paying attention with intention.
There are some common misconceptions about self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis is not anything mystical or magical, and it is not a form of mind control by others. Actually, the use of self-hypnosis increases ones self-control. There is a lot of research demonstrating how well self hypnosis can work to help kids and adults feel better and more in control.