The Power of the Unconscious
While we cannot make the salivary gland secrete directly, we can make the mouth water by imagining something delicious. With hypnosis we direct and amplify the imagination while working with linguistic techniques. Trance gives us access to the raw power and intelligence of the unconscious, that part of us that is infinitely creative and whose every act moves us in the direction of balance, which is, by definition, beyond the powers of the conscious mind to define.
Scientific inquiry can only scratch the surface of what is possible with hypnosis, but even within those limitations the data is impressive. If you want to share some research with me, or critiques of the research presented, I’m interested.
The Science of Hypnosis
Wound healing
“post-surgical observation… the hypnosis group [was] significantly more healed than the usual care controls”
Anxiety
“the average participant receiving hypnosis reduced anxiety more than about 79% of control participants.”
Post-injury amnesia
“27 patients had a medium-sized improvement relative to 22 active controls and a very large improvement relative to 19 passive controls… Both groups reached a performance level at or above the healthy population mean”
Pain relief
“Of 523 records screened… the average participant receiving hypnosis reduced pain more than about 73% of control participants… hypnosis is a very efficacious intervention for alleviating clinical pain.”
General medical
“Medical hypnosis offers physicians the ability to effect beneficial change even in difficult cases. Often this change occurs quickly, and sometimes it appears in unexpectedly beneficial ways.”
Other conditions
• reduces drugs and hospital time
• improves asthma
• 58% success rate for IBS
• 50% headache reduction
Rewriting limiting narratives
We can also modify the narratives that bind us, rewriting and reframing stories that disempower us, crafting the kinds of futures we want to enjoy. I used to think I was terrible at public speaking, now I get headline spots at conferences and fill up auditoriums. The change happened rapidly, with a 30-minute hypnosis session under the guidance of a skilled practitioner. When I began to understand how powerful the technique was - or rather, how powerful the unconscious was - I decided to train for myself.
The unconscious mind is not limited by expectations. It holds contradictions and works outside of time. The conscious applies limitations, and reality applies other limitations, but the latter may be more flexible than the former can fathom.
Pushing the boundaries
Anything that the imagination can come up with is possible. Some people want to explore the timeline visiting places from their childhood or engaging with their ancestors, or projecting forward to an upcoming event or to communicate with their idealised future selves.
I’ve helped a cricketer with his forward drive, a digital marketer deal with IBS and vitiligo, an actor deal with sleeplessness and many meditators to deepen their practice.
I might not always agree with the suggestion but we can nearly always find something that is both safe and enlightening.