As a Certified Hypnosis Counselor, I would like to explain Hypnosis for those who are unfamiliar with this wellness treatment or, who are just  misinformed. In order to understand hypnosis, one must first understand the mind. We all have a mind, and therefore we should learn how to use it.

The Conscious Mind is analytical and logical, and is where we spend most of our time. The Conscious Mind is the reasoning mind, it it that phase of mind which chooses. You make all your decisions with your conscious mind. The Conscious Mind protects us against immediate threats and is where we problem-solve – assess situations and implement resolutions; it evaluates the specific concern or issue that has its attention at the moment. It then makes choices and decisions for day-to-day functioning. In the Conscious Mind, thoughts that are considered to be more important will replace those of less importance. Conscious change is temporal, because the capacity is limited. This makes subconscious reprogramming more effective. The Conscious Mind is also where “will power” comes into play. But as you may have noticed, quite often our will power is not powerful enough, and we often quickly revert back to our old habits and ways.

The Subconscious Mind accepts what is impressed upon it or what you consciously believe. The subconscious mind does not reason things out like your conscious mind, and it does not argue with you controversially. Your subconscious mind is like the soil which accepts any kind of seed, good or bad. Your thoughts are active and might be likened unto seeds. Negative, destructive thoughts continue to work negatively in your subconscious mind, and in due time will forth into outer experience which corresponds with them. The subconscious mind resists conscious change, but hypnosis can have immediate effect on the subconscious (Banyan). Hypnosis, allows our subconscious mind to learn new or healthier patterns by allowing into the subconscious mind a new set of beliefs, behaviors and options.

Let me give you an example, for the cigarette smoker, an association may be, “(Because) I get in my car and I (must) light up a cigarette.” Sometimes they will light a cigarette when they already have another one burning in an ashtray, because they automatically light up cigarettes after certain associative cues, even if they don’t necessarily smoke them. As an Hypnosis Counselor, I can help the individual actions become consistent with healthy release, rather than consistent with unhealthy release.