23H East Market Street
Rhinebeck, NY 12572
(845) 473-
Hypnosis and its Uses
Hypnotic Trance, as a means of healing and expanding possibilities has been evident throughout the history of mankind and practiced in many cultures. Modern Hypnosis is a natural extension of this human potential to tap resources and learnings outside of the conscious mind, and to put them to novel and creative use. Other possible uses for hypnosis are:
- Overcoming fears and phobias
- Relieving stress and promoting health
- Managing pain and other physical symptoms
- Improving memory and study skills
- Improving athletic performance
- Facilitating childbirth
- Stopping smoking
- Changing habits of diet and exercise for weight control
What Hypnosis Is…
Hypnosis is a focused state of mind where one learns to soften one’s connections to the external world and to enter more deeply into one’s own inner experience. We have all probably spontaneously experienced this state when we have become so absorbed in some experience, like reading a book, watching a movie or engaging in a favorite hobby, that we lost track of time, sensation, or external stimuli.
Most participants in hypnosis report a delightful state of relaxed attentiveness in which they are free to explore fully their own ideas, feelings, and learnings. With practice they can learn to utilize their experience to promote change and the achievement of specific goals.
What Hypnosis Is Not…
Popular culture and the media’s fascination with hypnosis often have distorted the perception of what hypnosis is. Portrayals of hypnosis as mind control, satanic practice, or supernatural ability, while making for exciting plot lines, are far from the actual truth.
Hypnosis utilizes naturally occurring human abilities. Rather than mind control, it relies on the mutual cooperation of the hypnotist and the subject. No one can be forced into a trance or made to stay in a trance against their will. Nor can the hypnotist make someone do something they do not wish to do — either in trance or out. The job of the hypnotist is to cooperate and to facilitate trance experience so that the participant can achieve his or her desired goals. Control remains in the hands of the subject although the locus of this control shifts to the person’s unconscious mind.
