I'm struck by the fascination we have with hypnosis and the subconscious. Do you know how many movies in the last 20 years have had some sort of hypnosis link in them? Plenty. And even "street" magicians mixing up stage hypnosis into their acts in Vegas (this one had a TV show for a while).
Stage hypnosis is how most people are introduced to hypnosis: a show in Vegas or a night club act somewhere else. That's why when most people consult a hypnotist the first time they're quite concerned that we "don't make me cluck like a chicken."
It's no wonder. We've had images of Dracula burned into our psyche --- Dracula who could hypnotize his victims. We've seen movies where the plot unfolds with an amnesia victim undergoing hypnosis to try and sort out who she is, we've had movies show us how hypnosis unlocks our mind so we can see scary dead people, and we've seen movies where hypnosis is used to help Sybil and her 17 personalties become whole again. Mostly whole, anyway.
So why are we so fascinated by it? I have several theories about that, including storytelling sitting around campfires after a long day. Hypnosis is part of who we are as people. Its roots go back to Ancient Egypt, the first medicine people, and even Edgar Cayce was touched by hypnosis. A hypnotist helped cure Cayce of a throat affliction, and it was during that session that Cacyce's healing persona emerged. I bet you didn't know that, did ya? :)
We are so fascinated by hypnosis because it is US. It is a part of us and at the same time so alien to us to think we have some powerful force inside us that we have no control over. Or little control over. Actually, we *can* shape it and work with it and understand it. And if we don't work with it, then it controls us and we run around blindly reacting to things and wondering why. Or wondering why we can't stop some things.
Anyway, hypnosis has been accepted by the AMA (American Medical Association) since 1958 as effective treatment for some problems (stopping smoking). It is still recognized as the ONLY effective treatment for multiple personalities (or dissociated personalties if you prefer the newer terminology), and more and more clinical (double-blind) studies are documenting its efficacy for a number of problems, including controlling chronic pain, helping with cancer, reducing stress, and a number of other chronic problems. Did you know that before our modern chemical anesthesias were developed, that hypnosis was used instead? Yea, it is scary isn't it!
I think part of why it fascinates us (it certainly has fascinated me since the mid 70s) is because it seems "mysterious" and it has ties to ancient worlds and ancient times, and yes magical times and magical ties. For so long it was so jealously guarded by so many in power. And now, Anyone can learn it. Of course, that doesn't mean everyone is good at it (Freud certainly wasn't), but you can learn it.
I am often reminded during sessions that not everything in this world has been categorized and explained and cataloged and dissected to death. There is still mystery and wonder and beauty. And most hypnotists will tell you that after they had been practicing for a while, sometimes when they open their mouths---they have no idea where what is coming out is coming from. Technically, this is called an "up-trance" for the hypnotist---meaning that when we work with a client, we also go into a type of trance while working with you. And we do. And where do the words come from if we're not consciously pulling them out? Our subconscious? Possibly. A higher place? Probably. And you can follow that train of thought wherever it leads you....
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Just exactly how powerful is the subconscious mind?
I was talking to an old high school friend a few days ago in IM, one that I really hadn't had any contact with in the last 30 years, and was struck by something she said about not being able to do something: "you can't do that" was the comment. We were talking about special talents and skills and I had mentioned that I'd been doing a lot of work recently on re-opening one of my special gifts. The comment was in response to the fact that I had "shut it down" to begin with as a child. (This information that had come out in past hypnosis sessions, and it is not unusual at all for us to have "shut things down" as children, especially if we were told we had overactive imaginations.)
Obviously, we were not on the same page and not even in the same book on the subject. And rather than try and go into gross detail in IM, my reply was something like, "Yea, I did. I plugged it up" and let it go at that. But my Mind wasn't about to let it go so easily. :) So you get to hear about it here.
The mind is a very powerful thing, and the subconscious mind is even more powerful than the conscious mind. Think of the mind like an iceberg: only 10% is above the surface (conscious) and the other 90% is below the surface (subconscious).
The part that is below the surface (subconscious) is the most powerful, and can be the most "dangerous" if you are unaware of what it's doing. The subconscious is the part that trips you up on all of your good intentioned diets---it is the child-like part of you that says "Screw that! We're going to eat what I like and what tastes good." It is stronger than all the willpower you can muster, and then some. It is very child-like, often rebellious, and for it everything happens "now." It is the part of us that plays the "programming" we received as kids, and it's also where our values and principals lie. It is the keeper of all the hurts we have suffered (outside of time), and until it has dealt with whatever issues it has, our conscious mind and behaviors will be held hostage to the old patterns.
Thankfully, once you are an adult, it is not easy to reach the subconscious. There are controls in place to protect because once something is inside the subconscious mind --- it Believes it to be True, even if it's obviously a lie. Let me repeat that: Once something is inside your subconscious mind, it BELIEVES it whether it is correct or not.
The subconscious is protected by a barrier known as the critical factor (This mind model is based on Gerald Kein's well known mind model. Gerry is somewhat of a legend in hypnosis, known for his mind model and instant inductions, among other things, (and yes I have studied with him). The critical factor forms over time and is not complete until somewhere between the ages of 10 and 12. Our subconscious mind is there way before that, from birth and even before. This also dovetails with some traditional Cherokee teachings that say the child's spirit is not fully in the body before 7 years of age.
Now, before the critical factor is completely formed, the subconscious mind is rather easy to access. Pretty much all children are in their subconscious mind all the time. (Even late teens and early 20s are still go there very easily.) That means things that happen before the critical factor forms go strait in --- without being filtered or checked against reality. For example, if during this time someone teaches you that a square is actually a circle and vice versa, then that's what you'll believe until enough people challenge it later, then you start thinking maybe that wasn't actually true to begin with. That's also one reason why any form of child abuse in those early years is so devastating and destructive. It can be overcome, but it will take a lot of work to do it.
Once the critical factor is formed, it's a bit harder to slide things into the subconscious. Harder, but not impossible. Outside of working with a hypnotist, other ways to reach the subconscious are: (1) trauma, (2) boredom, (3) repetition, and (4) light / sound techniques, including binaural sounds. (The recordings I do have binaural sounds embedded to ensure that you reach not only a trance state, but the theta brainwave deep trance state. And please don't worry about "induced memories" --- my training in forensic hypnotism focused specifically on how to avoid doing that. :))
Once you have reached the subconscious, you and your hypnotist (if you're doing deep work, you really need a hypnotist or hypnotherapist working with you) can then proceed to get to the root of the problem and re-frame it. You can also implant new tools to help you, for example suggesting that you don't need to count how much water you drink every day because your subconscious counts and until you've reached the optimal amount your thirst won't be quenched.
A technique often used in the subconscious is imagining yourself in a control room of sorts. Some folks see this as like the bridge of the Enterprise. And this control room houses the controls to your body and your mind. And you can adjust these various settings up or down until they are just right and just perfect for you. Using this type of technique (among others) it is indeed very possible to re-open lost or buried talents and gifts you have tucked away. :)
until next time,
melodie
Obviously, we were not on the same page and not even in the same book on the subject. And rather than try and go into gross detail in IM, my reply was something like, "Yea, I did. I plugged it up" and let it go at that. But my Mind wasn't about to let it go so easily. :) So you get to hear about it here.
The mind is a very powerful thing, and the subconscious mind is even more powerful than the conscious mind. Think of the mind like an iceberg: only 10% is above the surface (conscious) and the other 90% is below the surface (subconscious).
The part that is below the surface (subconscious) is the most powerful, and can be the most "dangerous" if you are unaware of what it's doing. The subconscious is the part that trips you up on all of your good intentioned diets---it is the child-like part of you that says "Screw that! We're going to eat what I like and what tastes good." It is stronger than all the willpower you can muster, and then some. It is very child-like, often rebellious, and for it everything happens "now." It is the part of us that plays the "programming" we received as kids, and it's also where our values and principals lie. It is the keeper of all the hurts we have suffered (outside of time), and until it has dealt with whatever issues it has, our conscious mind and behaviors will be held hostage to the old patterns.
Thankfully, once you are an adult, it is not easy to reach the subconscious. There are controls in place to protect because once something is inside the subconscious mind --- it Believes it to be True, even if it's obviously a lie. Let me repeat that: Once something is inside your subconscious mind, it BELIEVES it whether it is correct or not.
The subconscious is protected by a barrier known as the critical factor (This mind model is based on Gerald Kein's well known mind model. Gerry is somewhat of a legend in hypnosis, known for his mind model and instant inductions, among other things, (and yes I have studied with him). The critical factor forms over time and is not complete until somewhere between the ages of 10 and 12. Our subconscious mind is there way before that, from birth and even before. This also dovetails with some traditional Cherokee teachings that say the child's spirit is not fully in the body before 7 years of age.
Now, before the critical factor is completely formed, the subconscious mind is rather easy to access. Pretty much all children are in their subconscious mind all the time. (Even late teens and early 20s are still go there very easily.) That means things that happen before the critical factor forms go strait in --- without being filtered or checked against reality. For example, if during this time someone teaches you that a square is actually a circle and vice versa, then that's what you'll believe until enough people challenge it later, then you start thinking maybe that wasn't actually true to begin with. That's also one reason why any form of child abuse in those early years is so devastating and destructive. It can be overcome, but it will take a lot of work to do it.
Once the critical factor is formed, it's a bit harder to slide things into the subconscious. Harder, but not impossible. Outside of working with a hypnotist, other ways to reach the subconscious are: (1) trauma, (2) boredom, (3) repetition, and (4) light / sound techniques, including binaural sounds. (The recordings I do have binaural sounds embedded to ensure that you reach not only a trance state, but the theta brainwave deep trance state. And please don't worry about "induced memories" --- my training in forensic hypnotism focused specifically on how to avoid doing that. :))
Once you have reached the subconscious, you and your hypnotist (if you're doing deep work, you really need a hypnotist or hypnotherapist working with you) can then proceed to get to the root of the problem and re-frame it. You can also implant new tools to help you, for example suggesting that you don't need to count how much water you drink every day because your subconscious counts and until you've reached the optimal amount your thirst won't be quenched.
A technique often used in the subconscious is imagining yourself in a control room of sorts. Some folks see this as like the bridge of the Enterprise. And this control room houses the controls to your body and your mind. And you can adjust these various settings up or down until they are just right and just perfect for you. Using this type of technique (among others) it is indeed very possible to re-open lost or buried talents and gifts you have tucked away. :)
until next time,
melodie
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