What is hypnosis? Conscious mind vs sub-conscious mind

What Is Hypnosis?

This video is just going to explain a little about what is hypnosis? So let’s get started, what is hypnosis? Well, you may already know that hypnosis works with the subconscious part of the mind. So to really understand hypnosis you have to understand how the mind works.

You see, you have two very different minds- the conscious and the subconscious. Two very different minds with different functions. So let’s have a look at those functions now.

Starting with the conscious mind, this is where we spend most of our time and it has four functions. The first will power. We are all familiar with this part of the conscious mind. With will power, you might say, “I quit, I am not smoking anymore.” And the strength of your willpower decided how long this lasts before the old habit returns. Number two, temporary memory.

This part of the conscious mind is your working memory that you use every day. Finding your way to work and remembering your family’s names, this is the memory you use every day. Now, the third part of the conscious mind, the analytical thought process.

This part looks at a problem, analyses it and looks for a solution. It makes hundreds of decisions every day. These decisions seem automatic but are in fact conscious and deliberate. This is where you decide whether to do something or not. Now, the fourth part of the conscious mind, rational thinking.

What Is Hypnotherapy?

This part gives us the reasoning why we do the things we do. In order for us to remain sane, we must be able to rationalise our behaviour, even if it only makes sense to us. You can say, “I smoke because it relaxes me or calms my nerves,” even though cigarettes are stimulants and it is impossible for them to relax you or calm your nerves. But if you believe it to be true, then it is. Now, the language of the conscious mind is logic. However, the real you lives in the level below the conscious mind, in the subconscious mind.

So let’s have a look at that part of the mind.
The subconscious mind is where you will find habits, not just the good, the bad and the ugly but also our practical habits we do without even thinking about it, like answering the phone when it rings or brushing or teeth, or for some possibly biting nails, grinding teeth or trolling hair.

Now, another part, emotions. Our emotions are also in the subconscious mind- love and hate etcetera. And our logical conscious mind has no control over our emotions, it is left to our child-like subconscious mind. This causes the problems that we have with emotions. Now, the third part of the subconscious is the permanent memory. Everything that has happened in your life is recorded here, including the associated sights, sounds, smells and feelings.

And using hypnotic regression, you can relive any memory from your life vividly, even if you do not remember it consciously. Now, another part of our subconscious mind is the security and protective part. This is the number one job of our subconscious mind- our personal security. Now, the language of the subconscious is imagination. The only communication between the logical conscious mind and the imaginative subconscious mind is that we use will power to suppress emotions and will power to control habits.

But unfortunately, will power is temporary and suppressed emotions get redirected in a negative manner, causes stress and can cause illness.

And in most cases, the habits return sooner or later. Remember, the language of the conscious mind is logic; the language of the subconscious is imagination. When logic and imagination conflict, imagination wins every time. The subconscious mind is the boss. Because the language of the subconscious is imagination, it cannot tell the difference between what is real or true and what is not real or untrue because everything is real or true to the imaginative mind. If it believes it to be true, then it is.

So, let’s explain hypnosis now in the simplest of terms. Normally, the conscious mind is in front and the subconscious is in the background. And in between these two parts of the mind is a filter that we call the critical faculty.

This part is critical of information before we let it enter our powerful subconscious mind or our belief system or our permanent memory. So if I told you something that you thought was crazy your conscious mind would filter it out and would not allow it to enter your belief system or your programming. However, children from the age of zero up to seven years are in their subconscious almost one hundred percent of the time.

This is why a child’s mind is fertile ground. Whatever seed you plant in it is what is going to grow. So these children do not have the critical faculty yet. So what is hypnosis? Hypnosis is when the conscious mind moves aside and the critical faculty is bypassed, allowing your subconscious mind to become receptive to positive suggestions for change. So these positive seeds or suggestions are planted in your subconscious mind. Now, entering hypnosis happens to you on a daily basis.

Hypnosis is a natural state you have experienced thousands of times before. Have you ever felt sad or cried when watching a movie? Well, your logical mind knows it’s only a movie, knows it’s not real, yet you still feel sad and maybe even cry. Now, why is that? Because the conscious mind has disappeared. You are not thinking about work, family or kids; that thinking mind has disappeared.

That critical faculty has been by-passed and you are in your subconscious mind.

So with hypnosis, we do the same thing- we move the conscious mind aside and bypass the critical faculty in order to plant positive seeds of change into the subconscious mind where they can grow and cause incredible changes in our beliefs, thoughts, habits and behaviours and even our health.