How does hypnosis work?
A little science...
... because knowledge leads to consciousness.
In fact, in french when someone faints we say “perdre conscience” as well as “perdre connaissance”, which is translates by “losing awareness or consciousness” as well as “losing knowledge” ;)
And awareness is the first step towards transformation.
So that’s for a start.
Disclaimer:
‘Consciousness activates the unbconscious, which in turn mobilises body and mind, which we become aware of.’
‘I've stopped being an addict! (thanks to self-hypnosis)’ Olivier Lockert & Gérard Cervi ’
Perhaps you've already heard that we only use 10% of our brain. Well, of course we use 100% of our brain, except that a large part of it is unconscious (much more than 90% in reality). Here we're going to talk about the conscious, the unconscious and Consciousness (the part of our brain that doesn't have its own area, the part that uses our brain).
1 - The unconscious, the conscious and Consciousness...
a - The unconscious
Our deepest mind, the part of us that functions in automatic mode, the 90% (except that in reality there are many more, we're talking about 100 billion neurons, each with a thousand synapses that don't function in binary mode but in quantum mode... it's enough to make you dizzy ^^). It's like a supercomputer with a multitude of programmes, that of our survival, our history, our education... thanks to which we are alive, made up of 3 strata:
- the reptilian brain (from the time of the reptiles), which deals with the way our bodies function, as well as primitive reactions such as jealousy and possessiveness (this is the layer targeted by advertisers ^^) but it is also in this layer that we find our instinctive automatisms, and thanks to which we are alive.
- the limbic brain, the layer of our emotions and practical learning
- the Neocortex brain, the stuff of the intellect, the mind, logic.
The unconscious is extremely powerful, directing a large part of our existence, and it's also thanks to the unconscious that we live, breathe and that you're reading this text .... It's said that its memory has a capacity of 2.5 million gigabytes, equivalent to a 300 year old HD video !
Now that you have all this information, you can start to think of yourself as much bigger than you were before, that's the 1st step <3
b - the conscious mind
The part of us that makes the link between Consciousness and the unconscious. This is the ‘everyday us’. It's because we're conscious that we realise whether we're feeling bad or happy, it's the part that cares about us and our lives, and the one we're going to act on in Humanist Hypnosis.
It's the part of us that grows: in fact, the unconscious could be likened to programmes without consciousness, and Consciousness could be likened to universal Consciousness, like a ray of sunlight or a drop of water and an ocean of information at the same time - it's neither of them that we're going to grow. The unconscious doesn't grow, it becomes a well-oiled machine that works fluidly, Consciousness doesn't need to grow ;). the conscious mind is the bridge between the two, it's that part of us that gains in understanding and in the possibility of action on our overall being.
When you become aware of your unconscious, you have the possibility of letting the light of Consciousness express itself better and better in your life.
c - Consciousness
It is ‘you’ who does not have a ‘you’ zone in your brain. The ‘you’ that uses your brain.****
This is the part of you that remembers having dreamt (the unconscious remains unconscious and the conscious is asleep, which is why you sleep, and yet you know that you sleep, you may even remember your dreams). It is said that it watches over and protects us, and that although the unconscious directs a large part of our lives, it has the right of Veto (it's thanks to it that we don't eat chocolate every time ^^), in other words it can let the unconscious do what it wants or block it.
Your Consciousness and Universal Consciousness are the same thing, like a drop of water in an ocean or a ray of sunlight. This is what we contact in Humanist Hypnosis.
According to Libet (a Nobel Prize-winning American physiology researcher), the only explanation for the specific characteristics of our brain is that it's the same.
2 - ... and concretely, how does hypnosis work? 2 ways of acting because 2 families of Hypnosis :
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In Humanist Hypnosis, we increase the field of action of the conscious mind (through conscious transe) so that it reaches the level of the Consciousness and activates the unconscious mind (which is no longer unconscious ;)) which mobilises body and mind.
You don't make a wish, you make an intention, you leave passivity behind and become the creator of your life. -
In dissociative hypnosis (New Hypnosis, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Classical Hypnosis) the therapist ‘depotentialises’ the conscious mind to access the unconscious and ask it to change.
You can see why when we talk about Humanist Hypnosis we are talking about Hypnosis in consciousness ;)
‘Knowledge is power”, at least in part.
Becoming aware of all this considerably widens the field of possibilities, and yet, why is it that for some people it's super easy to act on their unconscious automatisms and generate change and for others it's not?
1 - Knowledge, see above.
Before knowing this, it was harder to imagine having an impact, wasn't it ;)
2 - the wounds that can punctuate life. And then a shell is put in place, which protects but also suffocates, usefully for a while, and when that's no longer the case, how lovely it is to leave them behind. to open a new page, to fall in love again, to let go of an addiction, to mourn, to open the windows, to risk living fully and let your best light shine. Sometimes we keep the automatisms in place like a crutch, very useful, perhaps even necessary, and sometimes we can get rid of this crutch, shed this shell, to be able to turn over a new leaf, This is where we talk about time, resilience, this is where Hypnosis comes in ;)
3 - Training. This heightened state of consciousness, this way of rising above the storm and living in Consciousness is accessible on a daily basis, at every moment. It means being firmly anchored in everyday life and at the same time opening your blinders, seeing far ahead and taking action <3