Hypnotherapy works best when a person is in deep hypnosis. To get someone there, it is important to know the stages of hypnosis and what you can do in certain stages of hypnosis.
Light hypnosis
Let's start at the first stage, which is light hypnosis. This is also the brain activity of alpha, your brain activity drops to 14 herz and more and more down to deeper alpha. So you close your eyes and start relaxing. It is also the state of meditation.
Light hypnosis, then, is a relaxed state in which you are slightly open to suggestions[1]. The more relaxed you are, the more is possible.
You can then visualize more easily. You can imagine things better.
In that state, you can change things faster.
When you are in the beta state, the critical mind, that comes in children only from about 8 years old, which is a little higher in the herz such as over 14 herz. This state is also more about pressure and stress, but we call it the critical mind for now.
When you are more relaxed, you are less critical. Then you are more open to suggestions. You are still critical, but less than "normal. This is also a state that young children are often in[2].
In this state, hypnosis techniques and NLP techniques work better.
We test the first state through eye-lock. You are then unable to open your eyes. People who pass this test well can also make a change faster.
So this is light hypnosis.
A person may therefore already be deep in hypnosis, but we have another test for that.
In the light hypnotic state, you can work with techniques from our training. Because not everyone can go very deep into hypnosis right away and when you have a client you do want to be able to help them well and help them in a state. Especially when he goes awkwardly into hypnosis it is helpful if you know these techniques.
Then you are often more relaxed. This is not higher math, anyone can do it.
Deep Hypnosis
The second state is deep hypnosis. This requires a bit more training. This is also called somnambulism. Then we get more into the theta state of brain activity[3]. Which is between 4 and 7 hertz. This is more the state of REM sleep and daydreaming.
Also, the state you are in just before you wake up or just before you fall asleep.
Children ages 0-5 are in that theta state, making it very easy for them to learn. They are open to suggestions. Fantasy and reality are fully intermingled. They can also empathize tremendously with movies. Then they are that person, they are also you as a parent (when they imitate you). This has all kinds of effects, because if they are you and you break up, this is an identity crisis for your child.
This is why divorce is very intense for children.
That deep state of hypnosis, you can do super interesting things with that. For example, you can go right back to the moment when a problem arose. You can sedate people on suggestion.
This can be even stronger than chemical anesthesia. In 2020, a group was even compared who had to undergo thyroid surgery. One group was given local anesthesia and hypnotic anesthesia and another group went under complete anesthesia, that is, you really are no longer conscious. This study found that the group that had only had local anesthesia and hypnotic anesthesia achieved positive results sooner than the group that had gone under anesthesia, which also allowed them to go home sooner. This the researchers found to be a good alternative to anesthesia[4].
In addition, hypnosis can also be used in childbirth. Research shows that this can be better for both the mother and child. The mother then often needs no or less pain medication, has less blood loss and the children then often have a better apgar score. This is a kind of first overall impression doctors or midwives have of the newborn's health[5].
You can get people to identify, you can help them become a new person.
You can help people change faster[6].
There are all kinds of problems you can address with the first two depths of hypnosis, namely: headaches, migraines, abdominal pain, anxiety, depression, grief, bereavement, phobias, sleep problems, family stress and more[7].
The deeper the hypnosis, the less the word does not matter. For example, in light hypnosis the suggestion "You are no longer afraid of heights" is not a helpful suggestion, but in deep hypnosis it is a fine suggestion. In fact, they then just accept it.
You can work much more directly with people who are in deep hypnosis. You can just tell them what to do. You don't have to learn complicated language patterns to do that.
The deeper someone is in hypnosis, the more direct you can work. This is also much more convenient at the time. This is because a complicated suggestion that does come in well in light hypnosis, such as stories, is often of little use in deep hypnosis.
For example, you have Ericksonian hypnosis in which beautiful language formulations matter. These are perfect for light hypnosis, perfect for a presentation, perfect for a speech and perfect for in a conversation.
In deep hypnosis, none of that is necessary.
One test of deep hypnosis is amnesia. If someone can forget something, such as their name or whatever, that person is in deep hypnosis. This is the second state.
We work a lot with that in the master training. Again, you can do great things with that. For example, you can release emotions without feeling them. That's ideal if you've been walking around with grief for 20 years.
These types of techniques are possible in deep hypnosis. Also other phenomena such as astral travel, next or past lives, sedating people, seeing colors and paranormal phenomena. All of these can be done on suggestion.
Deep hypnosis (hypnotic coma)
Then there is a third state. Esdaile state[8]. Hypnotic coma. In it you can work with the subconscious mind. You can think of the unconscious as unconscious behaviors, habits and programs, then you can think of the subconscious as the functioning of your organs, the liver, kidneys, pancreas and things like that. You can influence those.
For example, I once helped someone with an inoperable brain tumor because it was adherent. I gave that person one session in which we asked his unconscious if he could become operable again by removing that adhesion. This was possible a week later. Then surgery was possible again.
Thus, I have experienced more such extraordinary things with hypnosis. I am convinced that the body can heal itself and hypnosis can play a role in this.
Before modern medicine, hypnosis was also used for this purpose. People in hypnosis then gave themselves a diagnosis and indicated how long it would take and how they would get better again.
Even today, hypnosis is still used to treat symptoms of illness, such as pain. Hypnosis and giving suggestions are also being increasingly researched for neurological problems[9].
Scientists even now indicate that hypnosis can be good for your physical health[10].
Hypnosis Sleep
It is difficult to bring someone into hypnosis from sleep. This state is difficult to use for therapy purposes. But in a hospital - in the dormitory - an mp3 with suggestions about self-healing can be interesting to speed up the healing process.
Hypnosis is already known to promote wound healing after surgery.
These are the four states of hypnosis and the deeper you go, the lower the brain activity. Do you want to learn this? Then it is helpful to take a training course.
Also listen to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/1613896-de-verschillende-stadia-van-hypnose?play=true
Want to learn more about hypnosis and how to bring people into light and deep hypnosis to help them? Then come to the free online master class. Then you will learn directly how to hypnotize people.
Want to get started right away and also learn the techniques to actually help people? Then enroll in one of the training courses of the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands. The training courses are given online from a professional studio and if possible classroom training in Wormerveer or Zwolle.
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810009001834
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3164825/
[3] http://heanoti.com/index.php/hn/article/view/hn20115/91
[4] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00405-019-05754-5
[5] http://www.hypnosisaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/journal/AJCEH_Vol25_No1_MAY97.pdf#page=80
[6] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207144.2017.1276360
[7] https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/4/4/19/htm?id=4081011
[8] https://www.jstor.org/stable/24619969
[9] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128017722000473
[10] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00029157.2018.1506636
