What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a natural state of mind that you experience many times a day, such as when you're reading, daydreaming, engrossed in a movie, performing a repetitive task, and sometimes while driving.  When in a hypnotic state you are very relaxed and fully in control.  The two major differences between the hypnotic state and your regular waking state of mind are:

a) In hypnosis, you are far more relaxed and open to suggestion.

b) In hypnosis, though you are still aware of your surroundings, your focus becomes more concentrated, allowing you to attend more fully to your inner mind, enabling you to better use your imagination and perceptions to understand and alter your beliefs, experiences, thoughts and behaviours, including bodily processes that are normally under the jurisdiction of the subconscious mind.

Is hypnosis safe?

The short answer is a resounding YES!  If you have epilepsy, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder or any other significant psychological diagnosis, hypnosis is best performed by a mental health professional familiar with you and the disorder.  Barring any of these medical conditions, hypnosis is safe for all ages, especially evidenced by the fact that it is a naturally-occurring state of mind.

Common concerns about hypnosis include:

Being controlled by the hypnotist...

While in the hypnotic state, you are fully in control of yourself.  You  will behave only in accordance with your morals and can choose to accept or reject any imagery or suggestions given.  The antics of stage hypnotism are misleading, causing people to believe that the hypnotist is in control of the participants.  In truth, those on stage who are clucking like chickens are doing so because they choose to -- they enjoy performing and acting and therefore accept the suggestions to do so!

Getting "stuck" in hypnosis...

This simply cannot happen.  In addition to having me guide you out of the hypnotic state, you can always choose to bring yourself out of the state at any time.  For example, if you were listening to a hypnosis track and your smoke alarm went off, you would automatically alert yourself and respond appropriately.

Being "unhypnotizable"...
Virtually everyone experiences hypnosis on a regular basis.  While some people will experience the hypnotic state more easily or more deeply than others, hypnosis is an innate ability we all have, and practice serves to enhance our ease of transitioning into this state of mind.

How does hypnosis effect change?

Hypnosis has a wide range of applications:

 1. Hypnosis enables you to deprogram yourself of the negative, limiting beliefs you learned in the past and provides you with an opportunity to replace them with more empowering beliefs and convictions.  Because your subconscious mind houses beliefs and emotions (among other things), it serves as the driving force of your life.  It is what determines, in great part, what you think, feel, do and create in your life.  Hypnosis is a powerful tool you can use to change your mind, and thus change your life!

2. Regular relaxation and hypnotic practice enables you to automatically be more calm and centred, leading to better decision-making, greater health and an increased sense of peace and happiness.