How Hypnosis Can Help You Gain Mastery Over Your Mind
Your brain is the most complex organ in the universe. It weighs about three pounds, or roughly 2 percent of your body’s weight, and yet it uses 20-30 percent of the calories you consume, 20 percent of the oxygen you breathe, and 25 percent of the blood flow in your body.
What’s more, your brain is 85 percent water! We estimate that the brain has 100 billion nerve cells and more connections than there are stars in the galaxy.
Your beautiful brain is the organ of learning, loving, and behaving. When the brain within a family or an organization work properly, for example, the family or organization tends to be positive and effective. When the brain of one or more family members or an organization is troubled, the family or organization may experience increased stress and strain.
Hypnosis may help change all that.
How Can Hypnosis Combat Negative Thinking?
It’s simple. Negative thinking disrupts healthy brain function. And chronic stress also kills cells in the memory centers of the brain. Hypnosis is a powerful tool to help you gain mastery over your own mind and body.
Hypnosis can also be helpful for sleep problems, as well as for anxiety and pain.
Before trying hypnosis, your health professional will first help you eliminate anything that might interfere with optimal brain function and positive thinking: These include lack of sleep, drug abuse or alcohol, too much caffeine before bed, being sedentary, and simple tips like unplugging electronics before bed to allow for more restful and brain rejuvenating sleep.
One Fascinating Case Study in Hypnosis
I have used hypnosis as a tool to help many patients. When I was an intern at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center years ago, many of my patients wanted sleeping pills. As you can imagine, it’s hard to sleep in a busy, noisy hospital. Before I gave them the pills, however, I asked if I could hypnotize them first. Almost everyone agreed, and it was very helpful. Several of my first professional papers came from using hypnosis for sleep issues.
One of my patients, a decorated World War II hero, had Parkinson’s disease and when he was in hypnotic trance for sleep, his intensive tremors went away. When I told the attending neurologist about it the next morning, he thought I was crazy. So, I repeated the exercise in front of the doctor, and the astounding results became my first clinical paper.
Just as negative thoughts can make a body sick, promoting positive and nurturing thoughts (via hypnosis) can help you heal the brain.
What Does It Feel Like to be Hypnotized?
First, let’s admit that real hypnosis is definitely not the woo-woo Las Vegas trickster magician scenario, where he’s up on stage making his audience cluck like chickens just for laughs. Not at all.
Hypnosis is another tool to help you (and other professionals) understand your brain. It is often accompanied by talk therapy, lab tests, and doctor’s visits.
When you are under, some people claim being hypnotized is more like a heightened state of relaxation that helps you get more in touch with your unconscious. The term “hypnosis” may mean different things to different people, but it generally entails becoming fully relaxed by entering a trance-like state, then listening to a hypnotist as he or she communicate in a rhythmic, calming voice.
Dr. Amen says hypnosis is quite effective for becoming much more aware of what your body needs.
For one example, a small study from the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that women who were hypnotized for weight loss shed an average of 17 pounds within 6 months, compared to a mere half a pound in the control group.
If you’d like to investigate how hypnosis can enrich your brain function, better induce sleep, help you with food cravings, smoking cessation – or just help you understand certain difficult situations with deeper clarity – ask your health professional to steer you to an appropriate pro.
If you’d like to read more about Dr. Daniel Amen’s real-people case studies, pick up his newest book, The Brain Warrior’s Way. Until then, you may find yourself getting very, very sleepy!
- Veterans Day: One Warrior Shares Some of the Best Ways to Heal from Trauma - November 2, 2023
- Could Your Mood Issues Be Linked to a Pain In the Neck? - October 13, 2023
- What’s At the Root of Your Sciatic Nerve Pain? - September 20, 2023
Would hypnosis be good for debilitating anxiety/depression? I don’t really have negative thoughts..the symptoms of anxiety come crashing in without any thought having occurred. I’m losing my ability to make it through the symptoms and need help desperately!
I had no idea that you could use hypnosis for weight loss but that is super cool. I have been looking more into hypnosis programs but for anxiety not weight loss. I wonder what kind of effect hypnosis will have on my anxiety.
What an enlightening post on the incredible power of hypnosis in gaining mastery over our minds! It’s truly amazing to learn about the intricate workings of our brains and how hypnosis can positively influence them. Thanks for shedding light on this valuable tool and its potential benefits. I’m inspired to explore the possibilities of hypnosis for enhancing brain function and overall health. 😊🌟