Your First Session

handshake Hardly a day goes by when I don't get a question about hypnosis from someone who has yet to experience the feeling first hand. This article has been put together to help the prospective client achieve their best experience from that very first hypnosis session.

What do you hope to achieve from the visit?

You have booked a session after consulting a therapist, and now you are preparing mentally for the goal that you desire. Daydream as often as you can about how it will be when you succeed. If you want to stop smoking for instance, see yourself a month ahead in your minds eye, enjoying a new fresh attitude to life, and proud of your achievement. This process of internal dialogue gives you a head start as it begins to condition your mind for success. Perhaps a good example is the feeling you get when you apply for a new job and are asked to attend for interview. Most of us project ourselves into the future, seeing ourselves in the new job, perhaps in a new location, looking confident and enjoying our new found success. The very same idea can be used to make it happen as you want it to. If someone comes to the practice and tells me "I hate my habit and want to stop" or "It's time for me to change" it is very clear they already programming themselves for success.

The hypnotherapy visit

The day has come and you arrive and settle in after meeting the therapist. A skilled hypnotherapist will make you feel at ease by answering all your questions about hypnosis, the therapy itself, and discussing the goal you have set. They will also explain the hypnotic process before they guide you into the state.

The hypnosis session

This part of the visit determines how much you get out of the therapy. If the therapist has prepared you properly for the hypnosis session you will be at ease, aware that you are in control of the whole process, and you will not do, say, or reveal anything unless it is acceptable to you to do so. During the hypnosis session the skilled hypnotherapist will empower you to make the changes you desire a reality. You alone have the power to determine the outcome, so it goes without saying that the more a client embraces the hypnotic process the more effective will be the outcome.

Inducing hypnosis

Let's assume that the therapist has answered all the concerns you have, you are ready to go into hypnosis, and are comfortable reclined or seated in the chair. There are many ways that hypnosis can be induced but the most popular is by use of the spoken voice and a gradual entry into the state.

A small percentage of the population enter hypnosis rapidly, the rest take a little longer, but both achieve the same state of relaxation and indeed the same ability to change their life. These slow inductions allow you to relax physically, like a yoga or relaxation class, then as a natural progression you allow your mind to relax. To achieve your best result from this process you should adopt a carefree, lazy sort of attitude, letting the process take place without trying hard to make it happen, or conversely resisting it. Most people reach a point in the induction where they realise just how nice the feeling is and simply allow themselves to drift deeper. There is no need to analyse every word as you listen, for to truly gain the best effect it is best to let the words sort of wash over you, not really thinking about them too deeply.

The more relaxed you allow yourself to become the better generally is the therapeutic effect. The rest for you is relatively easy, as the therapist will converse with the subconscious part of your mind to help you make the changes. You may engage in conversation or indicate the answers to questions, just as you do in normal day to day activities.

This is perfectly normal in hypnosis. You can move about in the chair, scratch that itchy nose, or cough,etc. without affecting the therapy; after all if one is tense perhaps due to struggling to stifle a cough, then it is impossible to truly let go and relax.

"Whether you believe you can or believe you can't you are right" - Henry Ford

Self-empowerment is the key to success. It is really true that most of the successful people in this world have the belief in their own ability to achieve. Many get knocked down on the way, but they get back up again, and never lose sight of the goal.