A common misconception about Hypnosis is that you “lose control” in some way and surrender your power to the therapist. This may arise from places where hypnosis has been used for entertainment, such as stage hypnosis, and other experiences that people haven’t fully understood. The reality is that losing control is a long way from the truth, and in fact it’s actually the other way around; i.e. that we gain control of ourselves by using hypnosis. For hypnosis is a naturally occurring state that can be used to help us to access our subconscious mind, where old patterns from the past can still be running. These old patterns may cause us to “re-act” to certain stimuli (be it people or situations etc) that we encounter in our everyday lives in ways that we don’t entirely like or want. By using hypnosis we can re-frame those re-actions and learn to respond in a more empowered way and thus take back control of our lives….

Prior to an actual hypnosis session, I am mindful to explain to clients that they do not let go of their own self-control when being hypnotised, and that in fact they are able maintain total self-control throughout their hypnotic experience. The reality is that there are very few people in the world that can be hypnotised unless they really want to be.

A useful metaphor for describing how control works during the session is of the therapist and the client driving a car down the street. The client owns the car and is driving it, whilst the therapist is sitting in the passenger seat with their “directions for the journey”. Whilst the therapist may make suggestions for turning left or right, the truth is that the client is in control of the journey as they are driving, and they can determine their journey or indeed stop the car and get out (or choose to terminate trance) any time they like. That being said, the idea is of course is that the driver listens to the wisdom of the passenger (who knows this area well), so that the journey can in fact be conducted as a co-operative

I love hypnosis and the power that it can help us to restore to ourselves

Love & blessings 

Doug Buckingham