"As you start to walk on the way, the way appears." Rumi
Sylvia's New Beginnings - Solution Focused Hypno-Therapy
Improving your mental health
Putting a spring back in your step
HYPNOSIS
What Hypnosis Is
Hypnosis is a sleep-like state, artificially induced in a person by a hypnotherapist. In this state your mind is more receptive to suggestion but doesn’t involve any loss of control. ​​It is perfectly natural and we pass through this state as we fall asleep.
Trance
Hypnosis is the natural harnessing of focused thought and is the state of mind which involves the total concentration on a thought or idea. This state is often referred to as a ‘trance’ and occurs naturally throughout the day – for example when we experience episodes of ‘day dreaming’.
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We can be in a trance as we go about our normal everyday tasks, allowing our subconscious to take care of the well-rehearsed, tried and tested functions of our day to day life. For example, we don’t have to consciously concentrate as we tie our shoe laces. We can free up our mind from the task in hand to consider whether to take a brolly on our shopping trip.
What Hypnosis Is Not!
It is not mind control. And as such, it is not a magic bullet to stop you smoking, drinking too much, overeating etc. with just one suggestion of "Thou shalt not . . .".
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Nor does it harness supernatural occult powers.
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It isn’t dangerous or threatening and it cannot damage you.
A hypnotic suggestion cannot make you do anything that is against your own moral code.
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You cannot get 'stuck' in a hypnotic state: you can choose to leave a trance whenever you wish, then being perfectly capable of functioning just as fully as you did before.
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What Does It Feel Like To Be Hypnotised?
There is no such thing as a standard hypnotised feeling. People react as differently to hypnosis as they do to any other life experience, so tying the process down is more than a little complicated.
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Researchers are able to record various patterns of electrical activity during sleep. These brainwave traces show that subjects' brain activity stays the same as that for normal consciousness, with all the characteristics of an awake but relaxed person. ​You will not enter a pattern of deep sleep.
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​Some people feel as though nothing different has happened. That's also a normal reaction.
So a hypnotised person is:
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Fully conscious and aware of their surroundings.
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In a relaxed state more open to the ideas or suggestions put to them by the hypnotist.
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Not asleep.