Hypnosis

Certified by the National Guild of Hypnotist in 2010 - www.ngh.net  

Additional certification in 5-PATH Hypnosis with Cal Banyan in 2017 - www.5-path.com

Certification in 7th PATH Self Hypnosis with Cal Banyan in 2017

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a state of relaxed, focused attention and it is a normal part of everyday living. Have you ever sat in your living room completely engrossed in a good book and not heard your spouse or child come in the house, or the telephone ring, or someone knocking at the front door? That is hypnosis. That is just what a session is like. You are completely relaxed, yet totally focused. The brain goes into an Alpha brainwave state and time gets distorted. You sat down to read for only 30 minutes while dinner was in the oven and the next thing you know 90 minutes have gone by and the smoke alarm is going off. That's a hypnotic state. It can happen while driving, (especially easily in a snowstorm - that's why you never 'watch' the snow while driving), reading, watching television, or in a boring meeting. Hypnotic states really are part of your everyday life, it is not strange or exotic, magical or supernatural. All hypnosis is Self-Hypnosis and the hypnotist is just a facilitator - leading you into the hypnotic state and then guiding you to help you make desired changes in your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

What can hypnosis be used for?

• Hypnosis can be used for almost anything.  Professional athletes use it to enhance sports performance.  Law enforcement uses it to help people remember things and details that they can't consciously remember.  Hospital surgeons and dentists use it to anesthetize patients who are allergic to anesthesia.  Hypnosis is used in research to learn more about the nature of hypnosis itself.  On a more down to earth basis, hypnosis can be a useful tool to combat pain, childbirth, depression, addiction, stress, and anxiety and it can be used to improve learning, memory, build confidence and self-esteem.  It can be used as a tool to deepen your spiritual awareness, becoming part of a daily spiritual practice.  And it can be used as a form of entertainment to explore past lives and other realities.

Can everyone be hypnotized?

• Yes, everyone of normal intelligence can be hypnotized but there are varying degrees of hypnosis.  Everyone can reach the lightest states of hypnosis and in the lightest state of hypnosis, you don't think that you are hypnotized. That's OK, hypnosis still works.  You only have to be at the deepest level of hypnosis for surgery with no anesthesia.  For everyone else somewhere between those two states is fine.  Some people go into trance quickly and deeply, while others take longer and are lighter.  

Hypnosis is Not...

Sleep  - 

• You may look like you are sleeping and you will be very relaxed, but you will be awake and alert the entire time.  Your mind may wander and drift off, dancing from thought to thought.  This is perfectly fine and desired.  There is no need to listen intently to every word being said.  

Mind control or surrendering your will -  

• You can not be made to do something that you do not want to do. That's why hypnosis for smoking doesn't work for everyone.  If you are not 100% sure that you want to quit.  You won't quit.  Hypnosis can't make you do anything that you wouldn't do in your normal, everyday life.  

Losing control -

• You will not tell all of your deepest, darkest secrets and private personal information in a hypnosis session.

• Hypnosis is not a truth serum.

• Hypnotized people can still lie.

Passive - 

• Although the client is very relaxed with their eyes closed, the client is actively participating in the process, following suggestions, using their imagination, completely engaged.

Issues that Hypnosis can help with... 

• Anxiety, stress, depression

• Shyness, self-confidence, self-esteem

• Sports enhancement, motivation, public speaking

• Breaking habits, addictions, substance abuse

• Reducing test anxiety and improving test scores

• Pain management, health issues, sexual dysfunctions

• Life changes, loss, and separation, heartbreak

• Preparing for surgery and post-surgery recovery

• Fears, natural childbirth, panic attacks

• Improving relaxation, sleep, concentration and relating to others

• Enhancing creativity, remembering where misplaced objects are                                                     

I'll stop here but the list is literally endless.  Anything that you can think of... hypnosis can help with.

What does a hypnosis session feel like?   

• Hypnosis feels different for everyone.  I know, that sounds like I'm dodging the question but it's true.  Some people feel very heavy and dense while others feel light and buoyant.  Some people listen intently to every word that I'm saying and others drift off to the ocean, forest or even other worlds.  People see vivid scenes and brilliant colors while others are wrapped in the darkness of their closed eyes.  People have told me that their bodies felt like they were vibrating, humming, full of energy, connected to the Life Force Energy itself and others said they felt like they were floating on a cloud in complete bliss, in total harmony.  Every person's experience is going to be different so I can't tell you what your experience will feel like but I can tell you that you will love whatever experience you have.  No one has ever come out of a hypnosis session and said- "That was horrible!  I never want to experience that again".  Usually what people say is - "Wow! That was amazing!  I didn't want to come out of that".

Is Hypnosis safe?

• •  Yes, hypnosis is safe!  Scientists, medical professionals, psychologists, and hypnotists have been using hypnosis for over 200 years and no one has ever been hurt.  Hypnosis has been sanctioned and used by the medical community since 1958 to help patients overcome chronic pain and create hypnotic anesthesia for anesthesia-free surgery.

A brief history of hypnotism

• The earliest references to hypnotism go back to the Sleep Temples of Ancient Egypt, over 4000 years ago.  The "Father of Medicine", Hippocrates, used hypnosis as a psychotherapeutic tool to help his patients, but the person who brought hypnotism into the mainstream, as we know it today, was Franz Mesmer.  Mesmer' contribution lived on in the works of James Esdaile, the British surgeon, who completed over 300 radical surgeries using 'mesmerism' as his only form of anesthesia.  The word 'hypnotism' was coined in the 1890's by James Braid, another British doctor, who likened the mesmerotic state to which his patients attained as a modified sleep state.  He used the Greek word 'hypnosis' to describe this state.  Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung contributed to the field of hypnotism.  In the 20th century Ormand McGill, Ph.D., Milton Erickson and David Elman convinced the American Medical Association (AMA) to approve hypnosis for medical use in 1958.   David Elman, was an American radio host, comedian, songwriter and most notably a stage hypnotist who amazed his audiences and trained thousands of clinical practitioners in hypnotism.