Levels, Phases And A Closer Look At Hypnosis
You may have seen hypnosis on TV, or seen a stage hypnotist perform, but you might not know much about it. What is real hypnosis? How does hypnosis work? And what does it have to do with levels and phases? This blog post will answer these questions for you.
The first thing to realize about hypnosis is that all of us experience a form of it daily. When you are daydreaming or zoning out during the day, your brain is entering into what psychologists and psychiatrists call the alpha level state of consciousness. Alpha is the "resting" state of consciousness, and the things you are doing while in the alpha state are very difficult to recall. But beta is a different, "focused" state of consciousness -- where you can remember what you were doing. So when you are in a trance, your brain is in between those two states -- imagine a hypnosis receiver!
You might ask how all this stuff fits into levels and phases of hypnosis. It fits all because it has to do with learning. Your brain, like any other organ of your body requires different amounts of oxygen, different temperatures and different light exposure for it to function properly. The same is true of your brain's learning ability. Your brain must be in an optimal learning condition for it to learn new things.
The three areas where we can identify the learning conditions are level, phase and state. The different levels are:
1. The critical level: It is a part of the alpha state of consciousness, but at a higher standard than daydreaming. It is where you learn things that require concentration and focus for them to be remembered, such as learning about how to use a piece of equipment or how to play a musical instrument (or anything else, for that matter). This is also the area where beginners feel they need assistance from their teacher. They say to themselves, "I'm not understanding this..." and they look towards their teacher for some sort of assistance. It is also the area where you want to be at, when you are solving a problem or learning something new. If you are thinking about anything else but what your topic of study is, then it's a good guess that you need to be at the critical level.
2. The focused level: This is the level where we concentrate our minds on one particular topic, while excluding all else. This is the area where a person in trance spends his time -- he is concentrating on one thought to the exclusion of all others.
3. The conscious level: This is the area where we are alert and aware at the same time that we are learning something new. We are here, while at the same time we are also in one of the other two levels. Our conscious mind is open to suggestions, but it's up to us to make sure that we take them when they're offered.
The phasing aspect of hypnosis comes into play when we are working with our subjects. We phase them into a particular level or state because that phase is where they need to be for the work we want them to complete in a session. The word "fade" is often used incorrectly to mean when the subject just sleeps. It's not confusing if he or she is in fabled deep sleep, or even under anesthesia or in deep trance. When you go into a trance state and you're talking to yourself, it's just that: talking to yourself!
Now, let's take a look at how all of this works in real life. A hypnotist will always follow three basic rules:
1. Never allow the subject to recognize the fact that he or she is being hypnotized, because that would destroy the effect of hypnosis.
2. The subject must be in a positive mood of some kind, because if he or she is in a negative mood, the hypnotist cannot effectively work with him or her.
3. The subject must be psychologically prepared to allow the hypnotist to take full control of his or her mind and body. Remember that we are talking about a person who has come there precisely because he or she is willing to give up control to someone else for a time.
So the first thing the hypnotist does is use a number of techniques to make the subject feel positive. Anything that makes you feel good is a good thing for hypnosis, because once we are in a positive mood, our minds open up to suggestion. So the hypnotist might have the subject concentrate on his breathing or on an object in front of him or her -- anything that will get him or her into that alpha level state.
Next, he or she will tell the subject to look at a special light -- something that he or she can concentrate his attention on and follow around while he is concentrating on his breathing. This is the light that is going to be used in the next step. The hypnotist will tell the subject to give up control of his thoughts and feelings -- that he can let go of what he has been thinking about, and concentrate on breathing and following that light around.
Now we get into the stages of hypnosis. Even if you are already in a trance, but you are not focusing your mind on anything specifically, it's still a good idea to follow along with this because when you follow along with what I'm talking about here, it will help you understand how this all works in real life.
The first thing that happens after the subject begins focusing on his breathing or another object is something called "trance induction". The hypnotist is in control of the subject's mind and body. The subject is now under the control of the hypnotist, and will be carrying out some suggestions which the hypnotist will provide later. It should be noted that if you are not in a relaxed state, then you are simply not going to be able to work with hypnosis even if you do go into trance. That's why it's important to begin at step one, because if you don't start from there, then hypnosis won't work for you.
That first stage of hypnosis is called "negative hallucination". The subject sees and recognizes the fact that he or she is not seeing something, and yet they continue to see that object. That's what a hallucination is: it's seeing something when there is nothing there. This can be used in the future to make people see things that aren't there.
The next stage of hypnosis is called "positive hallucination". The subject sees an object when in fact there is none, but instead of being negative about it, as he was in the previous stage, he feels good about it! This can be used for later hypnotic inductions, where you don't want the subject to question anything that you say because he or she feels so good about it.
Conclusion
The third stage of hypnosis is called "dissociation", and it's the critical level. In this stage the subject begins to disconnect from his surroundings, but the critical part is that he or she does not realize what has happened. Remember that hypnosis is a very subtle process, and you want the subject to think that everything is still in control -- otherwise he or she might panic! At this stage the subject puts his or her subconscious at the disposal of the hypnotist. The hypnotist gives him or her suggestions, and tells them to put their mind at ease.
In order for a suggestion to work, it must go along with what you already want to happen.