What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis has been researched and debated for hundreds of years and has yet to have a universally agreed definition. The one we like most is the simplest ‘hypnosis is a focused state of attention’. Most of us strive to achieve focus in much that we do; we know that when we are truly focused we seem to be able to achieve so much, with ease and flow. Therefore it should be no surprise that it is a naturally occurring state that almost everybody experiences at least twice a day when waking up and just before falling asleep.

These are known as hypnoidal states and are light hypnotic or trance-like states that are induced by other than hypnotic means. These states also occur when we do repetitive tasks like ironing or driving, on these occasions the part of our mind that is responsible for the safe completion of the task becomes subconscious while the conscious part of our mind can wander. Other examples include being absorbed by music or visual media to the point we become emotionally involved, or when we are completely focused on a task, even time becomes irrelevant.