Examples of Hypnosis: You Already Do It Every Day

I often get asked questions such as, "Will I be unconscious?", "What does hypnosis feel like?", and "How do I know if I'm in hypnosis?".

The way the media has portrayed hypnosis, it is no wonder many people think it is something foreign and unfamiliar. Most people have been exposed to "stage" or "entertainment hypnosis", which is a form of hypnosis used for the purposes of entertainment. The facilitators are trained to choose volunteers who are most willing to go along with what they say. 

In an office type of setting, where the goal of a session is to experience spiritual hypnotherapy or to process through painful emotions, engage in inner child work, or create mindset and behavioral shifts, the experience looks different. 

It is important to know that hypnosis isn't something that is done to you. It is something you already do all of the time on your own and likely don't realize it. 

There is no agreed upon definition of hypnosis, but what we do know to be true of it is that what you are experiencing bypasses the "critical faculty" of the mind, entering the subconscious. This means that the typical filer of your conscious, logical, rational mind is bypassed and access to the emotional subconscious space is achieved. 

Examples of Hypnosis

1. Highway driving:  You know how you start daydreaming when you drive for awhile? You are awake, aware and in control, but also having another experience at the same time. This is one example of hypnosis and most drivers can relate to this and have experienced it. As a matter of fact, ANY daydreaming is hypnosis. 

2. Feeling emotion while watching a show or movie: When a television show or movie is directed well, you will feel the emotions that the characters feel. Despite knowing in your logical rational mind that what is happening isn't real and is edited, you feel like it is real. This is hypnosis. 

3. Worrying:  That's right, it may be surprising to you to discover that worry is a form of hypnosis! Hypnosis does not always equate to relaxation. A person can be experiencing hypnosis while they are relaxed but it does not mean that hypnosis is relaxation. The way the subconscious mind communicates to the conscious mind is through imagination, and worry is a form of imagination. It is not what is happening now, but what it is you are afraid might happen. 

4. Daydreaming: As mentioned above, any form of daydreaming is hypnosis and it is likely we've all done before at some point in our lives. You might be doing a mundane task that does not require a lot of concentration like brushing your teeth or folding laundry, and find that you start daydreaming about something else. When you do this, you are experiencing hypnosis. 

5. Falling Asleep and Waking Up:  When you are in the process of falling asleep and waking up, you're going through a space within yourself where your analytical, conscious mind is not fully active. When this happens, you are more connected to the subconscious. 

Hypnosis is something you do every day! If you are human, you've done it at one point or another. Using hypnosis in a clinical setting where you experience a session to work more with the subconscious is one specific form, but the experience of hypnosis itself is something you are more familiar with than you may have otherwise thought.