How Hypnosis Works

Hypnosis has this sort of sinister connotation. Often when people hear the word “hypnosis” they seem to flash instantly to images of people clucking like chickens, doing stupid things on-stage, or careening around like zombies, mesmerized by the evil villain in the B movie reel.

Hynpotist, Woman and Angels on Stage, ca. 1850.

Adding to the aura of mystery, hypnotists and those who describe them have been famously unable to agree on just “what is hypnosis”.

I won’t attempt to answer the question of the centuries in this short piece. What I will do is offer a working definition:

Hypnosis is a state of being in which the mind and body are relaxed and the mind is also extraordinarily and intentionally focused.

Most hypnotherapists and brain researchers would probably agree that when we are in a hypnotic state, the brain cycles down from the normal waking frequency range of 13-40 Hz (Beta) and is operating in the Alpha (8-12 Hz) or Theta (4-7 Hz) frequency ranges.

The Alpha level of the mind is the threshold at which the egoic or rational mind begins to lose its ironclad grip on our reality. The Alpha level is the gateway to the deeper, meditative states of consciousness. Consciousness at Alpha level is characterized by increased visual flow, feelings of relaxation and peace, and a sense of openness to life. At Theta, the mind relaxes even more deeply, entering a dream-like trance state where time becomes fluid and one can experience oneself simultaneously in different time and/or places.

Now, we enter the Alpha and Theta levels many times a day, without seeing a hypnotist or plugging into a hypnotic recording. When your mind drifts into a pleasant daydream as you’re driving to the grocery store and you find yourself not even consciously looking at the road, you just slipped into Alpha mind. Those moments right before you fall asleep, when the waking reality and the dream time seem to overlap like waves washing up on the beach and receding again? That’s Theta.

In fact, it’s easily arguable that we spend our whole lives in one trance or another. Even the typical stressed-out or linear-focused Beta state of mind (“Got to get that project in by 5 pm, what am I going to have for dinner, got to call Ed back, the kids need shoes, I wonder if he really likes me, do I look fat in these pants…”) is a trance for most of us. We get so focused on the missed opportunities or disappointments of the past or the impending disasters of the still-imaginary future, that we zone out in a mental world of ego language, almost completely oblivious to the vibrancy, beauty, intensity and possibility of the present moment.

We like to think we’re the masters of our own destiny, but in reality most of the thoughts in our so-called conscious mind are just repetitive loops of thoughts that were implanted in us with strong emotion by a parent, an ex-lover, a boss, coworker, book, pop song, movie, preacher, teacher, etc.

“Our fellow men are black magicians,” Don Juan said:

Think for a moment, can you deviate from the path that your fellow men have lined up for you? And if you remain with them, your thoughts and your actions are fixed forever in their terms. That is slavery. The warrior, on the other hand, is free from all that. Freedom is expensive, but the price is not impossible to pay. So, fear your captors, your masters. Don’t waste your time and your power fearing freedom.

Why Is Hypnosis So Important?

As children we spent most of the first seven years of our lives at the very receptive Alpha and Theta levels of the mind — brain states in which we were extremely malleable and impressionable and highly programmable. And so we got programmed, with our parents’ insecurities and fears and belief systems. And then most of us got another massive helping of fear and self-doubt and self-loathing at school and in church.

Photo Credit: Leslie F. Miller

And if you’ve ever watched much TV in your life, TV is a medium that is designed to put you into a mildly pleasant trance state. When you “tune in” to the TV, you automatically slide into an Alpha (daydreaming, relaxed, loosely focused) state of mind. Meaning the the biases of the commercially-underwritten “programming” and the ritualized images of violence and the overt, direct, authoritative, repetitious behavioral commands of the advertisers easily bypass your critical judgment and go directly into your subconscious mind. Where they operate as hidden programs that rob you of your free will and your happiness.

Reprogramming at the Deeper Levels of the Mind

Why is hypnosis so important?

• The subconscious mind controls most of what we do. The rational mind cannot create anything new — it just analyzes, commentates, and ultimately acts upon programs sent up from the deeper levels of the mind.
• You have spent your whole life being hypnotized by people who want your energy and attention.
• The hypnotic commandments embedded in your subconscious mind can only be changed at the subconscious level of mind.

Recent research indicates that the subconscious mind is responsible for 96-98 percent of our daily experience. The programming stored at the subconscious level of the mind influences not only your “conscious thoughts” and behavior, it determines how the world appears to you.

The subconscious mind — the mind that operates at the Alpha, Theta and even deeper frequencies — is the key to manifesting reality.

If we want to change our experience, we can’t do it from the Beta/waking state/ego-mind level. The only way to change your life is to change it at the level of your mental and emotional programming.

Photo: Shannon Brinkman, www.shannonbrinkman.net

“When the imagination and will power are in conflict, are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception,” said the great French psychologist Emil Coué.

Hypnosis, as I practice it for myself and for my clients, is simply the act of intentionally entering the spiritual levels of the mind in order to erase faulty programming and reprogram ourselves to be the beautiful creators we came here to be.

A single hypnotic session can often produce miraculous results. Especially when we are ready to let go of negative programs and self-limiting beliefs, one session with a competent hypnotist can unlock the floodgates and release our trapped creative energy. But there as many ways to enter positive (generative) trance states as there are ways to be negatively en-tranced.

For me, hypnosis is not a quick-fix or a desperation cure (although it often will act as such). Hypnosis, or positive trance therapy, must be a way of life for us. We live at a unique time in history. While the Internet has given us access to centuries worth of hidden wisdom and esoteric thought that until very recently belonged only to a handful of initiates, we have also been subject to more programming than arguably any population in the history of the world.

We can think all of the positive affirmations we want at the Beta level of mind, but only repeated journeys into the deep self will free us from the forces that have enslaved our minds and allow us to think the beautiful thoughts that will create the world we long to live in.