How Will I Know I'm Hypnotized?
First of all, I don't even wait for people to ask the question. The question has to be answered along with all the other questions folks *might* have in your pre-talk. Here's what I tell folks (and I've said it so many times I could say it in my sleep - and sometimes I do!; - )"
Hypnosis feels very much like that gray area between awake and asleep, where you are so relaxed that you could just float away, yet you are aware enough that you could respond to anything going on around you if you had to. You are not asleep or unconscious when you are hypnotized. Hypnosis is profound relaxation accompanied by heightened awareness (I usually say this twice). So you will hear everything that goes on, in fact, your hearing will be enhanced. All of your senses will be enhanced. It is not a very dramatic sensation - to be hypnotized. But it does feel nice – nice and relaxed. You may even question whether you *were* hypnotized at all! But we will perform some tests that will prove to you that you are. (I don't always do tests - some people would tell you that is a big no-no!) But when you have your results, you will know that you were!"
I usually change it a little here and there to keep it interesting for myself, but the basic premise is the same. And I always say the phrase "hypnosis is profound relaxation accompanied by heightened awareness."
I should tell you that even with the pre-talk, and even with tests, and even with everything I might do to educate folks ahead of time, and even when they get the results that they came to get, they may still insist they were never hypnotized. Maybe they weren't. Maybe it was all intention. Who really knows.
I believe that as practicing hypnotists we have a duty to ed-u-mi-cate the public on what hypnosis is and what it isn't. We have got to be the dispellers of myth and misconception where hypnosis is concerned. Of course, the reality is that we do not know what hypnosis is or how it works - truly - but maybe someday we will. But we have got to inform the public, as best we can, of the realities of hypnosis (as we know them), since the media (movies in particular) do such a sad job portraying it.
Hypnosis feels very much like that gray area between awake and asleep, where you are so relaxed that you could just float away, yet you are aware enough that you could respond to anything going on around you if you had to. You are not asleep or unconscious when you are hypnotized. Hypnosis is profound relaxation accompanied by heightened awareness (I usually say this twice). So you will hear everything that goes on, in fact, your hearing will be enhanced. All of your senses will be enhanced. It is not a very dramatic sensation - to be hypnotized. But it does feel nice – nice and relaxed. You may even question whether you *were* hypnotized at all! But we will perform some tests that will prove to you that you are. (I don't always do tests - some people would tell you that is a big no-no!) But when you have your results, you will know that you were!"
I usually change it a little here and there to keep it interesting for myself, but the basic premise is the same. And I always say the phrase "hypnosis is profound relaxation accompanied by heightened awareness."
I should tell you that even with the pre-talk, and even with tests, and even with everything I might do to educate folks ahead of time, and even when they get the results that they came to get, they may still insist they were never hypnotized. Maybe they weren't. Maybe it was all intention. Who really knows.
I believe that as practicing hypnotists we have a duty to ed-u-mi-cate the public on what hypnosis is and what it isn't. We have got to be the dispellers of myth and misconception where hypnosis is concerned. Of course, the reality is that we do not know what hypnosis is or how it works - truly - but maybe someday we will. But we have got to inform the public, as best we can, of the realities of hypnosis (as we know them), since the media (movies in particular) do such a sad job portraying it.
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