Hypnosis is defined by specialists as a mental state which is produced by hypnotic induction, a long series of suggestions and instructions given to the subject; self-hypnosis, then, is basically autosuggestion and it refers to one person giving instructions and suggestions to himsel/herself to increase motivation in various therapeutic programs. There are numerous reasons why self-hypnosis is employed and doctors rely more and more on this technique to support various programs in which their patients are involved.

So why exactly is self-hypnosis relied on so much? To begin with, it can help a great deal in relaxing the individuals who resort to it, as it acts as a stress reliever. It is one method that involves no cost at all and comes quite handy considering that most of us are what previous generations would call workaholics. With all the stress induced at work these days, individuals need simple yet effective methods to break away from thinking about daily problems and find a bit of peace of mind.

Another reason why people rely on self-hypnosis is to motivate themselves in quitting smoking. The method itself involves saying various motivating statements to yourself very early in the morning, the result of which will maintain high motivation for staying away from the nicotine beast, to give just an example of possible applications. It can also be employed in losing weight especially when eating is no longer considered a necessity but rather a pleasure. It can help control eating habits and boost motivation for doing regular exercise in order to sculpt and tone your body.

Another benefit that self-hypnosis has is that of helping people to sleep better. Insomnia is to blame for states of daily tiredness that prevent us from functioning properly at work. Instead of relying on medication which is costly and sometimes dangerous because of side effects, people should try this technique in which sleeping more deeply and healthily is induced verbally by self-suggestion.

And last but not least, self-hypnosis is quite useful in boosting self-confidence, the lack of which is viewed as a current personality plague that more and more of us deal with regularly. It might present a great deal of benefit especially to teenagers and to people who need to assert themselves at work in order to gain respect from others.

And since hypnosis scripts are available online, you can imagine how fast you can start dealing with your issue; some are free while others charge you for the download. However, the amount of money that the hypnotherapy sites charge for these scripts is not big; it is somewhere around 10 US dollars and this is more than affordable. Some sites also require registration and once you have become a member, they will offer you access to numerous other hypnosis scripts and MP3s that could help you improve various areas where insecurities eat at your personality.

Membership is especially recommended to hypnotherapists who need to have access to as numerous hypnosis scripts as possible, considering that patients who come to their offices may present various problems. Hypnosis scripts, just like CDs and MP3s are grouped in various categories; therefore, it is incredibly easy to find the one that suits your interest. The main categories that they fall intoare confidence, personal development, relationships, addictions, fears and phobias, memory and learning, female and male problems, habits and disorders, etc.

Hypnosis scripts to be found online are very useful to both hypnotherapists and people who want to try self-hypnosis. For therapists, the benefit is that the scripts give them an insight into how other therapists tackle various issues and into what strategies are used for various ailments. For people who use self-suggestion, the hypnosis scripts are not useful during the self-hypnosis itself considering that they cannot read and hypnotize themselves at the same time.

However, they can help a great deal practically by explaining what a hypnotherapy session is like and what parts it consists of. So, there are five parts to one such session and they follow in this order: introduction, induction, deepening, therapy and awakening. The scripts are basically the written words that a hypnotherapist says to his patient during the session and they look pretty much like plays written by dramatists. Thus, if you are willing to become more aware of what hypnosis therapy is like, lay your hands on one such script and you will figure it out.

You should not let yourself hypnotized just by anyone, because toying with the unconscious is tricky and potentially dangerous. There are people who’ve ended up with false memories, amnesia, compulsions, nightmares and so on. Therefore, hypnosis induction should only be used by a therapist, psychiatrist or psychologist, despite what everybody says that hypnosis is safe. People are curious when it comes to the mechanisms of our mind. They may want to get hypnotized to see what it’s like, to improve something in their life or to deal with a serious health problem.

There are currently hypnosis CDs and tracks that are sold on the Internet, helping people use relaxation as a form of hypnosis induction. In fact, at the moment, hypnosis therapy represents an aid to lots of people who can’t live a normal life because of depression, anxiety, panic attacks and various phobias. Nevertheless beware of false gurus and self-proclaimed hypnotists because they are not trustworthy. You should go to a certified practitioner who offers you safety and professionalism, without exposing you to any risks.

The immediate stage following hypnosis induction is hypnosis deepener, which represents the advanced form of the trance when the unconscious becomes susceptible to suggestions. People respond differently to hypnosis induction. 80% of people have a normal response to hypnosis, 10% are very susceptible to it and another 10% cannot be hypnotized. I personally wish I were one of the those who can’t be hypnotized, but nothing is sure until proven so.

Hypnosis induction makes therapy possible at the subconscious level, conditioning the conscious mind to respond in the desired way to suggestions. This means that a person who suffers from chronic pain can be influenced at the subconscious level to the point where the pain is no longer felt. The mind does the trick and the body executes it. Too bad we can’t program ourselves while awake and without causing any imbalance. It is possible up to a point but with skills and method.

In the US alone there are numerous hypnosis training centers which offer certification and which allow you to become a hypnotherapist. But in order to become such a therapist, there is need of serious financial investment in books, CDs, tapes, DVDs, workshop participations and many more. This investment can mean nothing but something positive as it talks about the fact that this field of activity is developing and registering constant progress. Once you have become a hypnotherapist after having completed a hypnosis training programs, it is important to keep up with all the developments that appear in this realm.

Today, more and more people have started taking interest in hypnotherapy either because they need to supplement their income or because they love this profession and want to make a career out of it. Just as with doctors, there is incredible satisfaction that one can get when seeing that the hypnosis training skills acquired have helped subjects in dealing with their problems. But like in any profession, there is also risk of failure and this can cause harm in individuals. Fortunately, this harm cannot be as serious as it is in traditional medicine because hypnotherapy basically relies on positive thinking and on inducing the patient a healthy and positive state of mind that will impact advantageously on the patient. So if failure occurs, it will bring the subject back to the state of mind he or she entered your office with in the beginning.

All in all, this profession is getting more and more acclaim because of the numerous testimonies of people who have managed to find a break away from various addictions and to build self-confidence and respect. Hypnotherapy has also earned good reputation in the field of relationships improving human interaction and boosting motivation towards better communication and openness.

Yet, a hypnosis course is not going to make you an expert, nor will it make you capable of understanding the subtleties of the human mind. If you search online, you’ll come across hundreds of websites promoting courses, programs, books and all sorts of other materials meant to make you a hypnosis expert. You should take all the advertising blah blah with a grain a salt and not believe everything a product presentation tells you. An independent hypnosis course is a total waste of money and even a risk for the user due to the possibility that it contains subliminal messages of which you are not aware of.

You should only take up a hypnosis course organized by an academic institution or a school with accreditation and a long experience in this field of activity. Too often do we make the mistake of believing that a simple course represents the key to our problems. Both the individual and society are to blame for this state of affairs considering the fact that the rush for shortcuts and quick fixes is higher than ever. After all we live in a world where everything goes on at high speed, it’s normal that our mind feels conditioned to follow or give in to this trend.

In case you are interested in becoming a hypnotist, a single hypnosis course may not be enough in terms of training. You should check with academies and accrediting institutions to learn the actual certification procedure. There are mainly therapists and counselors who follow a specialization in hypnosis in order to integrate it as a therapeutic practice. Hypnotherapy is currently used for the treatment of numerous health conditions, including addictions and mental illness. Understanding the mechanisms of the unconscious mind may not be possible in just one hypnosis course. You may need more solid education than that!

Don’t believe any ill intended ‘specialist’ who tells you otherwise!

Without an understanding of what stands specific for each of these, one cannot become a hypnotist and should not practice hypnosis in the first place. The problem with many of the hypnosis tapes that you can order online or by calling the phone numbers presented in the TV shopping section is that they are called completely harmless. In the effort to make hypnosis popular, people who had a mercantile interest in its growing popularity had claimed that there are no risks whatsoever for the hypnotized during the hypnosis trance.

The truth is that there are risks. More knowledgeable and truthful experts actually recommend not to use hypnosis tapes because they are unreliable. And I will tell you why. Let’s say you want to lose weight, and you purchase a program that among other things uses hypnosis tapes for self-conditioning and self-suggestion that should help you overcome the food addiction and break the bad habit. So far so good. Weight loss can be achieved through hypnosis, no doubt about that.

But what if in the information on the hypnosis tapes there is more than just help for the weight loss problem? What if there is a subliminal message that induces you the idea that only by consuming a certain weight loss product, you will lose weight? And you listen to the tapes and when you’re done with it, you think it’s a good idea to start using a certain supplement. Catchy, isn’t it? This is a dishonest practice of manipulating the consumer and persuading one in favor of consume. And all for the purpose of financial gains.

Therefore, given this potential risk of being influenced at the deep levels of the unconscious and be manipulated into performing things that you don’t want to do, it is best that you don’t put your trust and hopes into hypnosis tapes that you order on the Internet. Better get in touch with a reputed hypnotist whom you can trust to help you solve your problem.

During the introductory stage of clinical hypnosis, the therapist and the patient become familiar with each other. Eye contact and body language from the therapist are incredibly important at this stage as the patient needs to feel comfortable in the presence of the therapist. The therapeutic environment is incredibly important here to create an atmosphere of trust and safety.

Then, there follows the induction stage of clinical hypnosis when the therapists uses a particular technique to divert the patient’s attention from the periphery of the mind towards the inside. The outside world runs at our periphery, and with clinical hypnosis there is a shift of focus. This is achieved by the eye-fixation method, by the use of bright colors and lights meant to induce a trance, or by some other technique, depending on the therapist.

The deepening represents the part of the clinical hypnosis session when the deep levels of the unconscious become accessible. At this stage the subject of hypnosis is fully susceptible to hypnotic suggestions. These could be verbal or non-verbal, authoritarian or permissive, depending on the situation. The suggestion contains the key to therapy.

There are cases when a suggestion made during a certain therapy session has a post-hypnotic response after years. It’s famous the example of a hypnotist who conditioned his friend to enter a hypnotic trance if he touched him with the finger. Years afterwards, when the therapist touched his friend on purpose with the finger, the latter entered a trance right away.

The awakening represents that bridge between hypnosis and reality, the passage from the unconscious mind to consciousness. In clinical hypnosis various techniques are used to awaken the patient. The therapist may count from one to ten, and when he/she gets to ten, the patient is fully awaken. Or other therapists use a word or a finger snap to reverse the hypnotic process. The passage from unconsciousness to consciousness is very important, and should be treated carefully.

Whatever your interest in clinical hypnosis, you should think twice before using it.

Covert hypnosis has its ups and downs, and although interesting to the point of fascination, it can be used in the wrong way. In the consume society where marketing rules, lots of sales people start practicing covert hypnosis to make profit. It happens in car sales, real estate, banking and in lots of other domains of activity. Under the circumstances, covert hypnosis is unethical, and although it cannot be proved, it remains condemnable.

Not every person is susceptible to covert hypnosis, and a hypnotist would have to work on a certain pattern, exploiting some weakness in the target’s mental protection in order to succeed. The suggestions that are received through covert hypnosis have no conscious meaning for the person who is being hypnotized. The role and purpose of this type of hypnosis is to reduce the use of the analytical mind in a person.

If you get online and you search for covert hypnosis you will come across a huge number of websites that promote this hypnosis variety as a way to improve persuasion and gain control over others. This feels all wrong, and I’m ashamed that the need to feel better, stronger or richer drives people to rely not on personal skills and values but on other people’s weaknesses. Used for such purposes, covert hypnosis represents an aggression to someone else’s mind, and in my opinion, this should be illegal and punishable by law.

And if indeed covered hypnosis has become a strategy in the mercantile activities that make up the consume society, it only remains for people to learn how to protect themselves. The only way to increase your mental power and not be susceptible to covert hypnosis is to expand your consciousness through meditation.

Only someone who is unaware of the body-mind reality can fall victim to a malevolent covert hypnotic influence. Pay attention to the way a sales person talks to you, what images it invokes in your mind and what body language signs he/she uses to reach at your inner structures.

The more you learn hypnosis, the better you will understand what instructions need to be given in order to make each phase of the session a success and in order to ensure success of the whole therapeutic process. The first phase is all about building rapport with the patient. There are few scripts available for this since there are really no rules that impose themselves on the therapist and his or her subject at this point. However, when you learn hypnosis, you will realize that experts lay a great deal of emphasis on establishing eye contact with and smiling to the subject. This is extremely important because you need to build confidence in the person you are interacting with in order for the rest of the session to unfold efficiently.

The next phase that is insisted upon when you get to learn hypnosis is the induction. This is the part when you ask your subject to close his or her eyes and to find enough relaxation to be able to continue with the activity. The deepener is the next stage and it involves meditation. The subject is expected to fall in a trance which will prepare him or her for the therapy. The various methods that can be applied during these two stages of the session are numerous and some more effective than others; all these will be discovered while you learn hypnosis and train yourself practically by following certified courses.

Then, the most important stage of the hypnotherapy session is the therapy. This is the part for which you can find most scripts available on the Internet; all you need to do is figure out which are truly high quality and effective ones so that you can achieve your goals during the sessions. The possibilities to tackle a problem during the therapy stage of a session are countless and they will increase in number by the day, offering a wide variety of chances to deal with various types of personalities.

And last but not least, when you learn hypnosis, you will find that the fifth and last stage of the session, called awakening, has a crucial role in how the subject reorients himself/herself to the surrounding reality. Counting down from 10 to 1 is the most common method of awakening a patient.

For the induction method, the most popular and generally known hypnosis technique was the original ‘eye-fixation’ strategy as created by Braid. Staring at a bright, colorful object induces a hypnotic state known as trance to the patient within which he or she becomes susceptible to the hypnotic suggestion. After Braid, many other specialists came up with eye-fixation hypnosis technique variations. At the moment, most hypnotists agree that the hypnosis induction technique was not mandatory for the success of the hypnotic suggestions.

For the suggestion stage, metaphors, insinuations and all sorts of rhetorical figures of speech can become a hypnosis technique. There are also types of non-verbal suggestion such as mental imagery, physical manipulation and voice tonality that can be used here. Some suggestions are made in an authoritarian manner while others are uttered permissively. Normally, the response to the suggestion is immediate or post-hypnotic, depending on the case. When hypnotherapy aims at producing long lasting behavioral responses that would remain around from a few days to a lifetime, the emphasis falls on the post-hypnotic response to hypnosis.

The applications deriving from the practice of hypnosis, regardless of the hypnosis technique are remarkable. So far, hypnosis has been used for entertainment (stage hypnosis), medical and cognitive-behavioral therapies, self-improvement and military purposes. There are also applications for rehabilitation, the treatment of addictions, education, sports and forensics. In the history of hypnosis, there are examples of the creative use of the practice.

A fine example is that of the surrealist Andre Breton who used hypnosis technique variations for automatic writing and sketches. Hypnotic methods represented for Breton a form of re-experiencing mystical or drug states. We should also mention that you should be careful with the use of any hypnosis technique on your own, because you may cause an imbalance or a reaction at the level of the unconscious.