When you hear the word hypnosis, you may picture the mysterious hypnotist figure popularized in movies, comic books and television. This ominous, goateed man waves a pocket watch back and forth, guiding his subject into a semi-sleep, zombi-like state. Once hypnotized, the subject is compelled to obey, no matter how strange or immoral the request. Muttering "Yes, master," the subject does the hypnotist's evil bidding.

This popular representation bears little resemblance to actual hypnotherapy, of course. In fact, modern understanding of hypnotherapy contradicts this conception on several key points. Subjects in a hypnotic trance are not slaves to their "masters" -- they have absolute free will. And they're not really in a semi-sleep state -- they're actually hyperattentive.

Hypnotherapy is a way to access a person's subconscious mind directly. Normally, you are only aware of the thought processes in your conscious mind. You consciously think over the problems that are right in front of you, consciously choose words as you speak, consciously try to remember where you left your keys.

But in doing all these things, your conscious mind is working hand-in-hand with your subconscious mind, the unconscious part of your mind that does your "behind the scenes" thinking. Your subconscious mind accesses the vast reservoir of information that lets you solve problems, construct sentences or locate your keys. It puts together plans and ideas and runs them by your conscious mind. When a new idea comes to you out of the blue, it's because you already thought through the process unconsciously.

Your subconscious also takes care of all the stuff you do automatically. You don't actively work through the steps of breathing minute to minute -- your subconscious mind does that. You don't think through every little thing you do while driving a car -- a lot of the small stuff is thought out in your subconscious mind. Your subconscious also processes the physical information your body receives.

In short, your subconscious mind is the real brains behind the operation, it does most of your thinking, and it decides a lot of what you do. When you're awake, your conscious mind works to evaluate a lot of these thoughts, make decisions and put certain ideas into action. It also processes new information and relays it to the subconscious mind. But when you're asleep, the conscious mind gets out of the way, and your subconscious has free reign.

In a nutshell hypnotherapy can generally help with any problem where you can't help yourself doing or thinking something that you don't want, or not being able to do something that you want to do, or where you are suffering emotionally in some way. Some physical problems too can be treated effectively by hypnotherapy.

There is nothing mysterious or mystifying about hypnotherapy. All the fears that people associate with it are quite unfounded. Please remember that we differ from "hypnotists": performers who use hypnosis for entertainment, all too often without knowledge or regard to the person's psychological background whom they are hypnotising. We are hypnotherapists, professionals who in the very first place will regard you with respect and not as a stooge for the entertainment of others.

Life is what you make of it. So why not make it better in the way you function on a daily basis; the way you feel about yourself and the world around you? Hypnotherapy can change things for the better. You have little to lose except perhaps your old patterns of thinking and feeling, and those debilitating psychosomatic problems? Even if it means stopping smoking or sleeping better? But what you may gain may well exceed what you can imagine or expect to gain.

See our course calendar for your certified Hypnotherapy (American Board of Hypnotherapy) training courses or book now by clicking here.

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