You may think of someone swinging a pocket watch and saying, "you're getting very, very sleepy..." when you hear the word hypnosis. 

Maybe you remember seeing people act silly on stage during a hypnosis show, such as clucking like a chicken. 

Or, perhaps, all that comes to mind is a man dressed in a black cloak shouting the command “sleep!” at his participant.

This type of hypnosis, called stage hypnosis, is meant for entertainment. It involves a charismatic hypnotist and volunteers who enjoy pleasing others. They're more likely to follow suggestions and go along with the show. 

While it's entertaining, it's not the kind of hypnosis we'll talk about today.

In this edition of the Unstuck Yourself Newsletter, I'll explain what hypnosis really is, clear up some misconceptions, and tell you how and why it can be a powerful tool for overcoming self-sabotage.

You’re getting very, very curious…

Let’s dive in!

What Hypnosis Is and Is NOT

Let's set the record straight: hypnosis is not sleep. 

Despite what you might have seen portrayed by Hollywood or elsewhere, you're fully awake, alert, conscious, and in control when in a hypnotic state.

Furthermore, it’s important to know that hypnosis isn’t a truth serum, and it definitely doesn't make you do things against your will. In a hypno-mindset coaching session or a stage performance, you always have the power to accept or reject suggestions, as well as the agency to decide what you do and do not say.

When in a hypnotic state, you’re awake, alert, conscious, and in control every step of the way. 

Another misconception about hypnosis is rooted in fear of remaining stuck in this state, unable to come back to reality. This, too, is false because hypnosis is a natural state of mind that you and I both enter into multiple times per day.

Common periods of the day when you’re in a hypnotic state include:

• When you transition from a sleeping to a wakeful state each morning

• When you transition from a waking to a sleeping state each evening

• When you’re caught up in a good book or lost in your favorite TV shot

• When you’re deeply focused on a project at work

Given how often you naturally enter this state, you can see how safe and familiar it is, right?

So, what is hypnosis, really? 

Google might call it the "induction of a trance-like state." 

My mentor describes it as "meditation with a goal." 

And, I like to think of it as "a state of deep relaxation with intention."

Fortunately, science can actually measure the specific brain waves to tell us when we're in this state and when we're not.

The Hypnotic State

When you're in a hypnotic state, your brain produces what's known as theta brain waves. These brain waves are like electrical signals emitted by your brain tissue, measured in cycles per second or hertz (Hz). 

The frequency of these waves varies depending on your mental state or activity. For example, slow waves are linked to deep sleep, while fast waves are associated with active thinking and speech.

There are five different brain wave frequencies, each with its own characteristics representing a specific level of brain activity and a unique state of consciousness.

1. Gamma 

2. Beta

3. Alpha

4. Theta

5. Delta

Photo credit: Muse

As you ease into a deeper state of relaxation, your brain activity starts to slow down. This is when yourt brain begins to trend toward producing more alpha, and, eventually, theta brain waves. In this state, you can directly connect with your subconscious mind, which houses your memories, emotions, habits, and values.

Moreover, time in this hypnotic state enhances your ability to experience vivid visualizations, tap into your intuition, unleash profound creativity, gain exceptional insight, and access your mind's most deeply ingrained programs.

Interestingly, the voice of the theta brainwave frequency is silence. 

However, the main challenge in achieving this state of mind is often your conscious mind...

The Bouncer Outside the Night Club

Your conscious mind serves as the gatekeeper of logic and reason, as well as the inner critic that can sometimes stifle your intuition, creativity, and imagination.

Consider the following analogy to illustrate this relationship:

Imagine your conscious mind as the bouncer outside a trendy nightclub and your subconscious mind as the diverse crowd inside (comprising emotions, memories, habits, and beliefs).

Just as the bouncer decides who gains entry to the nightclub, your conscious mind filters which ideas can enter your subconscious based on their familiarity and fit.

Interestingly, your conscious mind doesn't differentiate between good or bad ideas - like a bouncer can’t truly differentiate between good and bad people - but rather by how familiar they are. 

Ideas must "fit in" with the existing beliefs to gain access; otherwise, they get bounced.

For instance, if the nightclub has a gothic theme and you're dressed in formal New York City attire, you won't align with the club's identity and will be denied entry. Similarly, if you hold a deep-seated belief of being unlovable, it creates a disconnect with seeking love, thus, making it hard to find.

Hypnosis works by bypassing this gatekeeper. It's like discreetly giving the bouncer a one-hundred-dollar bill to gain entry. Once inside, you have the floor to confidently declare new beliefs. Those who resonate with it will join, while those who don't will naturally move away. This process reshapes the collective identity.

In essence, to introduce new information past the conscious mind, it’s essential to enter a deeply relaxed state (theta waves) to directly connect with the subconscious mind. 

This allows for effective communication and transformation.

Hypnosis is the tool to communicate directly with the subconscious mind!

Hypnosis to Heal and Get Out of Your Own Way

When you enter a state of hypnosis during hypno-mindset coaching, we work together to bypass the critical factor of your conscious mind and connect directly with your subconscious mind.

Your subconscious holds memories, emotions, stories, and beliefs. Hypnosis provides an opportunity to connect back to when you learned the self-sabotaging behavior affecting you now - the source of this learned behavior.

By revisiting the source, like a traumatic experience at the age of six, you can:

• Reframe the experience

• Reconsolidate the memory*

• Help heal and console the younger you in that moment

• Be the parent or role model you needed in that moment to heal and close any open emotional wounds

• Reprogram and upgrade the beliefs and habits formed due to that experience

*Memory reconsolidation is the process of reframing the learning and emotions associated with certain memories, with the goal of developing new emotional associations with established memories.

This direct work at the source has a long-term positive impact on significant moments in your life from that event until today.

Take my client, JJ, for example.

She grew up in a single-parent home with her mother.

In her teenage years, her mother began to seriously date another man. The first time JJ met this man, she came downstairs to find him lying on their couch with his feet up like he owned the place.

This was her first impression - a strange man intruding on her and her mom’s home as if he lived there.

Looking back, this angered the little girl.

She felt replaced. 

She felt angry.

And, as a result, she entered a period of rebellious teenage tendencies that only fractured the relationship with her mother further, despite wanting nothing more than to feel closer to her mother due to feeling replaced. 

In one of our coaching calls, we connected with this intensity of anger she felt and revisited this memory to connect with that little girl.

We gave her the chance to express her feelings and share them with her mom. We created an opportunity to reparent this little girl with the knowledge and wisdom she now had as an adult and mother herself.

This helped the younger her feel seen, heard, and validated, and, most importantly, important and not replaced. As we’ve continued to work on this aspect of JJ’s life, she’s been able to release a significant amount of pent-up anger, resentment, and rebellious tendencies that had been plaguing her.

This has not only led to her feeling lighter and happier but it’s strengthened her relationship with her mother, as well as provided her with a newfound boost of energy, which has helped her solidify some of the new habits that she’d been working on building (without much consistency to date). 

Your Next Step

You now have an accurate depiction of what hypnosis is - and is not - and how and why it can help you heal and unstuck yourself. 

If you’re interested in learning how Hypno-Mindset Coaching can help you stop self-sabotage at the source so that you unlock your full potential and 10X your impact (and income) you can apply to work with me and schedule a coaching discovery call here. 

You can’t change unless you change.

Thank you for reading this week’s newsletter.

In next Friday’s Unstuck Yourself Newsletter, I’m going to shift our discussion to the topic of procrastination - you won’t want to procrastinate reading this one!

You may catch up on previous newsletters here. 

If you have a question about anything I discussed in this week’s Unstuck Newsletter, feel free to drop me a message on Twitter (@pauljsalter7) or Instagram (@unstuckyourselfcoaching).

My email inbox is always open, too: [email protected]

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