Day 331 of 365 - The Power of Suggestion
You may have heard before that we generally only use a small portion of our brains, mainly the logical intelligence and linguistic parts, which are the areas where development is amplified by traditional teaching methods in school. Other areas of our brain, such as the visual-spatial, kinesthetic, musical, and so on, tend to operate at more of a subconscious level. We used to activate all our brain potential when we were little kids, but by adulthood we usually are not, at least at a conscious level.
As has been described in other blog posts which refer to the mind-body connection, our thoughts and feelings influence our physical well being and the reverse, that our physiological responses, though experienced at a more subconscious level, influence our thoughts. Our bodies become conditioned to respond in particular ways, based on our past experiences and personality.
Hypnosis and self-hypnosis are powerful tools to help us unlearn old patterns and replace them with more desirable patterns. It provides a way to talk directly to the subconscious mind. There are many applications of hypnosis, for clinical or medical purposes as well as to enhance learning and success. Contrary to some popular beliefs, hypnosis is much more than what we see in stage entertainment. You may have heard of it being used to help people stop smoking, to treat phobias like fear of flying and to relieve physical symptoms like pain. Hypnosis has been used as a healing tool for centuries. Prior to anesthesia in the form of drugs, it was used for that purpose.
The process of hypnosis is facilitated in a way similar to learning how to meditate. You do go into a trance state, by choice, but are always in control. A trance is a waking state. If you fall asleep during hypnosis, you have come out of the trance, since sleep is not a conscious state. Think of it as a relaxed form of concentration or self-absorption. There have been thousands of studies of its effectiveness.
Your subconscious mind experiences everything that you sense, but interprets those sensations in a literal way, differently from the way your conscious mind interprets them. Pictures, images and words used during self-hypnosis are designed to be mindful of this. When we want to change conscious thought patterns which we know are limiting us, self-hypnosis allows us to shift from fear, pessimism, blame and catastrophic thinking about behaviors or patterns to enhance our lives in a positive way.
I've had exposure to self-hypnosis tools in the past. I own a book and CD which I bought several years ago. I also own several audio recordings, called paraliminals, which are for many different purposes. Like various other things, it's a tool I have tried for awhile and then forgotten about.
Just recently I've watched a couple of webinars where a psychotherapist named Dr. Mike Dow is presenting his personalized style of self-hypnosis techniques combined with other therapeutic strategies. You can find free videos on YouTube or other resources via an internet search if you want to get a taste of what I'm talking about here. Just do a search for his name and they will come up. In this webinar series, he is using enhanced videos to amplify the suggestions made on the audio track. I'm enjoying trying them out and it has rekindled my interest in all the audios which I already own.
The experience is very relaxing and positive. Beyond that, it's a bit hard to describe, so I suggest you look up one of his videos and try it for yourself. You cannot be hypnotized against your will, or do or change anything you do not wish to, so don't worry about that. It's possible you will fall asleep, which I did for part of one that I watched, but as mentioned above, this is a way that you take yourself out of trance. If that happens to you, I suggest you try it again at another time and see if your experience is different. I was personally astounded after repeating one on another day, how much I had 'missed' the first time around. I'm curious now to keep using them and to monitor how my beliefs, feelings or behaviors change.
Through the power of suggestion, we can activate and take advantage of the many benefits our subconscious mind can provide for us. It can help us move from states of stress to ease and it can give us confidence to move forward in life knowing that we have access to a greater store of skill sets than perhaps we previously thought.
As has been described in other blog posts which refer to the mind-body connection, our thoughts and feelings influence our physical well being and the reverse, that our physiological responses, though experienced at a more subconscious level, influence our thoughts. Our bodies become conditioned to respond in particular ways, based on our past experiences and personality.
Hypnosis and self-hypnosis are powerful tools to help us unlearn old patterns and replace them with more desirable patterns. It provides a way to talk directly to the subconscious mind. There are many applications of hypnosis, for clinical or medical purposes as well as to enhance learning and success. Contrary to some popular beliefs, hypnosis is much more than what we see in stage entertainment. You may have heard of it being used to help people stop smoking, to treat phobias like fear of flying and to relieve physical symptoms like pain. Hypnosis has been used as a healing tool for centuries. Prior to anesthesia in the form of drugs, it was used for that purpose.
The process of hypnosis is facilitated in a way similar to learning how to meditate. You do go into a trance state, by choice, but are always in control. A trance is a waking state. If you fall asleep during hypnosis, you have come out of the trance, since sleep is not a conscious state. Think of it as a relaxed form of concentration or self-absorption. There have been thousands of studies of its effectiveness.
Your subconscious mind experiences everything that you sense, but interprets those sensations in a literal way, differently from the way your conscious mind interprets them. Pictures, images and words used during self-hypnosis are designed to be mindful of this. When we want to change conscious thought patterns which we know are limiting us, self-hypnosis allows us to shift from fear, pessimism, blame and catastrophic thinking about behaviors or patterns to enhance our lives in a positive way.
I've had exposure to self-hypnosis tools in the past. I own a book and CD which I bought several years ago. I also own several audio recordings, called paraliminals, which are for many different purposes. Like various other things, it's a tool I have tried for awhile and then forgotten about.
Just recently I've watched a couple of webinars where a psychotherapist named Dr. Mike Dow is presenting his personalized style of self-hypnosis techniques combined with other therapeutic strategies. You can find free videos on YouTube or other resources via an internet search if you want to get a taste of what I'm talking about here. Just do a search for his name and they will come up. In this webinar series, he is using enhanced videos to amplify the suggestions made on the audio track. I'm enjoying trying them out and it has rekindled my interest in all the audios which I already own.
The experience is very relaxing and positive. Beyond that, it's a bit hard to describe, so I suggest you look up one of his videos and try it for yourself. You cannot be hypnotized against your will, or do or change anything you do not wish to, so don't worry about that. It's possible you will fall asleep, which I did for part of one that I watched, but as mentioned above, this is a way that you take yourself out of trance. If that happens to you, I suggest you try it again at another time and see if your experience is different. I was personally astounded after repeating one on another day, how much I had 'missed' the first time around. I'm curious now to keep using them and to monitor how my beliefs, feelings or behaviors change.
Through the power of suggestion, we can activate and take advantage of the many benefits our subconscious mind can provide for us. It can help us move from states of stress to ease and it can give us confidence to move forward in life knowing that we have access to a greater store of skill sets than perhaps we previously thought.
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