FAQ

One of the ways the subconscious mind learns is by reinforcement through repetition. We recommend listening daily for at least a week, if not longer. Some changes you may see very quickly, and some may happen over time, even after you’ve stopped listening to the recording. In general, if you’re working on a longer-term issue, such as weight loss, continuing to listen to hypnosis recordings until you’ve achieved your goal is recommended. When the hypnotist, Cindy Locher, lost 73 pounds using hypnosis, she listened every day for nine months.

When you’re new to the recording, we recommend listening early enough in the day that you are sure not /to fall asleep, assuring that you stay in a hypnotic state. (Even if you drop into deep hypnosis, so long as you wake up at the end of the recording you can be confident you were in hypnosis and not asleep.) Once you become very familiar with the recording (after a week or two of consistent use), you may consider listening to the recording as you fall asleep.

Our hypnosis audios create an altered mental state, often called trance, and should not be listened to while driving a car or operating machinery, or at any other time when your full, waking attention is required. Occupying your mind with other tasks while listening will detract from and dilute the power of the suggestions, so it is best to make your listening time a special time for you, to relax, be comfortable and free from distractions.

Most people can be hypnotized, and different people go into hypnosis in different ways. Part of the hypnotist’s job is to identify what approach will work best for which subject. Those who have trouble trusting the hypnotist or the process, may take more time to go into a hypnotic state, and may not enjoy as many benefits.

There is a common idea that those with ‘a strong will’ cannot be hypnotized. It has been shown that intelligent people can be hypnotized faster because they have greater access to their imagination, and can follow instructions. In fact, those with an extremely low intelligence cannot be hypnotized at all. The biggest prerequisite to someone being able to be hypnotized is their willingness.

Yes, it’s real. Exactly how it works is still under investigation. Over the past few years, researchers have found that when someone is hypnotized, they actively respond to suggestions, even though they sometimes might perceive the dramatic changes in thought and behavior they experience as happening “by themselves.” During hypnosis, it is as if the brain temporarily suspends its efforts to validate incoming sensory information, allowing new behaviors and thoughts to occur. And, some people are more hypnotizable than others, although scientists still don’t know why.

Hypnosis was first officially recognized as a viable therapeutic tool by the British Government through the Hypnotism Act in 1952. Then, in 1958 both the British and the American Medical Associations (AMA) sanctioned the official use of hypnosis by physicians. In 1958, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) also approved hypnotherapy for use by professionally responsible individuals.

Prestigious hospitals in the U.S. now use and teach hypnosis, such as Stanford University School of Medicine in San Francisco, the Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Since the AMA sanctioned the use of hypnosis, many insurance companies cover hypnosis for medical and dental uses, including major surgeries. Now, more and more people are choosing hypnosis over anesthesia for surgery. Some choose hypnosis simply because they fear not waking up from anesthesia. The fear-factor aside, however, there are definite medical advantages offered by hypnosis; less bleeding, faster recovery time, and the need for fewer post-operative medications.

Patients who have used it say yes. During operations, they report that they can hear and see everything that is going on, but they feel no discomfort.

Myths still abound regarding hypnosis, although it is becoming more widely accepted and trusted. Hypnosis cannot be used to control someone’s else’s mind, or their actions. By using hypnosis, people gain greater control over their own minds and their own actions.

Hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep but one of altered consciousness. There is a feeling of well-being, an ability to recall past events and the acceptance of new ideas that are not in conflict with personal values. There is also a higher threshold to pain. The hypnotic state is like meditation, where the body is relaxed but the mind has heightened awareness. The ability to vocalize is limited, and the limbs feel leaden or light, tingly or somewhat numb. The perception of time is also distorted where an hour might seem like just a few minutes.

A common misconception is that a person needs to be “deep” in hypnosis to have the suggestions take effect. This is not true. Effective acceptance of suggestions leading to positive change will happen even at “light” levels of hypnosis that just feel as though you are resting comfortably.

Hypnotized subjects are perfectly capable of saying no, or terminating hypnosis, all by themselves. And there is research available to show that as well.

No one has ever been stuck in hypnosis. If you go deep and don’t respond to the waking suggestions, the worst that can happen is that you bring yourself out of hypnosis, naturally, a little later on; or you may fall asleep, take a nice nap, and then awaken naturally when your body is ready.

Hypnosis helps change attitudes, which is the key to changing behavior. With hypnosis, a person is empowered, and made independent enough to solve his/her own problems. With hypnosis a person can change behaviors that would otherwise seem difficult, if not impossible, to change.

Hypnosis can also improve your essential experience of life, in all its circumstances. Only within the past 40 years have scientists become equipped with instruments, techniques and methods for accurately separating the facts of hypnosis from exaggerated claims. The study of hypnotic phenomena is now properly held within the domain of normal cognitive science, with papers on hypnosis published in many major scientific and medical journals. Newest clinical research findings reveal, however, that hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion, when used properly, can powerfully alter cognitive processes as diverse as memory and pain perception.

Hypnosis is not talk therapy, and does not include advising, diagnosing or prescribing. That would be the domain of other professionals, usually licensed to counsel. The primary aim of hypnosis itself is self-healing, and self change. The hypnotist’s job is to assist the subject to achieve those natural states of mind where healing and change best happen. Used correctly, hypnosis is especially useful for tapping into that awesome power of the human mind.

If you can think it, and believe it, hypnosis can help make it so.