Another word for hypnosis is trance. Being in trance is a very natural state. We go in and out of trance multiple times everyday. Most people never even notice it. But did you ever have a time when you were driving and you missed your exit? Or worse yet, you drive to your destination, turn off the ignition, and not remember driving there? Believe it or not, that is a very common experience.
All new learning happens in some state of trance. If you watch someone’s eyes as you’re speaking to them, their eyes will move in different directions. They may look up, side to side or look down. That is know as eye accessing cues and is indicative of trance state that last only seconds in most cases.
There are deeper, more prolonged states, and deeper learning happens in these states. When people go into these states, I will often guide the conversation helping them to make new distinctions by disassociating them from the experience. In other words, I will ask them to close their eyes and make a picture or movie of themselves experiencing their “stuck state”. This allows for some space between the person and the experience. This new perspective often is enough for the person to find a new resourceful way of handling the challenges of their life. Often as the open their eyes, they tell me,”I didn’t think I was that deep.”( in trance) The reason they say that is because they were completely aware of outside noises such as a phone ringing, sounds from outside, music in the background etc.
Hypnosis is a very powerful tool that is often misunderstood and subsequently feared. But going into a light guided trance is a powerful way to move yourself rapidly forward in life. I have personally seen multiple people who had suffered from anxiety, many for years, let go of it in a single session.