What Is Hypnosis?

Can I Use Hypnosis to Stop Smoking?

Can I Use Hypnosis to Lose Weight?

Can I Use Hypnosis to Influence or Control Others?

Have you ever driven a long distance and found yourself staring at the road ahead, not really paying attention to what you were doing, but almost letting the car drive itself? Congratulations, you have been hypnotized!

"Hypnosis" is a term coined in the 1800's by a Scottish physician named James Braid. Dr. Braid based his work on the "animal magnetism" theories of Franz Mesmer. Mesmer was the first to document the state of suggestibility we now call "hypnotized". To this day, we still say someone in a focused, trance-like state as being 'Mesmerized'. Braid discovered that the state of hypnosis was not driven into a person by another, as Mesmer believed, but that the person was in a heightened state of awareness or 'nervous sleep'.

Our mind is divided into two realms: The conscious and the subconscious. The conscious handles the logical, practical affairs of everyday life. Balancing your checkbook is a conscious activity. Breathing, on the other hand, is often handled by the subconscious mind. You don't really need to think much about it, you do it automatically.

The conscious mind is the 'parent' of our everyday activities, or what Sigmund Freud called the 'superego'. It is what enforces our modes of behavior. The reason you wouldn't consider walking down the street singing bird calls is that your conscious mind would make you feel ridiculous. Your subconscious, however, the more childlike and playful aspect of the mind, might just believe it was fun and wouldn't think twice about doing it.

Hypnotism is the process of convincing the conscious mind to diminish its control over the person, while the subconscious is allowed to become more dominant. This is why the stage hypnotists in Las Vegas are able to persuade audience members (under hypnosis) to cluck like chickens or bark like dogs. Their subconscious minds think it's fun, and aren't worried about being embarrassed or looking silly.

While it is possible for someone in a hypnotic state to lose inhibitions, that person's conscience and moral code are still in place. It wouldn't be possible to convince someone to commit murder while hypnotized.

The hypnotic state is one of relaxed, hyperawareness of one stimulus, while the other surroundings are being ignored. This is how we fall into a hypnotic-type state when driving long distances, focusing on the road ahead to the exclusion of everything else. In the old days, hypnotists would have subjects concentrate on the swinging pocket watch we're all familiar with. Their attention on the watch would set up the focus for their induction into the trance state. Nowadays, most hypnotherapists use relaxation techniques and a steady, soft tone of voice.

Relaxations technique is the basis for the practice of self hypnosis. You train yourself to enter an extremely relaxed state, while concentrating your attention on your desire to quit smoking, or lose weight.

NLP, for neuro-linguistic programming, is a technique similar to hypnosis to produce a desired result. You would create an inner talk using key phrases and images to get yourself to take an action or quit a behavior. An NLP practice used to influence others is called modeling. You would literally 'model' your target's speech and movement patterns, getting them comfortable with you (we tend to be attracted to people like ourselves) while you implant suggestions into their subconscious creating desire to say, hire you or buy your product.

Articles in this website will go into detail on all these subjects, hopefully giving you options and methods for creating your own desired result, be it smoking cessation, weight loss or attracting a mate. Please check out the links on this page for more information.