Deep Down

You might have heard that hypnosis is not sleep at all, that sleep and hypnosis are really two entirely different states. though when James Braid coined this word, he took it from Greek which indeed means “sleep”; but little do most people know that later on he tried hard to change the term into “monoideism” but “hypnosis” had already found its life in societies.

However, people still associate hypnosis with sleep and I think the main reason is that, unless you are experiencing it yourself, people close their eyes and body relaxes and that does look like sleeping from the third person perspective.

Everybody knows how sleep feels like. Your bodily functions slow down. Respiration gets slower and deeper, blood pressure and heart action slow down, reflex action slows down. Mental processes slow down consderably, and in deep sleep, there is an apparent loss of consciousness.

But how do we know the hypnotized person isn’t asleep? Because you are not snoring! And because you responds to the instructions including waking up when you are softly asked to. These behavioural observations aside, the EEG patterns of someone sleeping, relaxing, meditating, or in hypnosis show that all of these are different states. In fact, even though the hypnotized person looks as though they are sleeping, their thought process is very active. Their attention is so focused, like a laser beam, on an idea or theme that their body systems slow or quiet down, making them look asleep.

When you experience hypnosis yourself, however, you will find it is a state of relaxed alertness. Actually, hypnosis is a state of heightened awareness. You will sometimes find the mildest of slowdowns, but most of the time, none at all. If you test reflex action in hypnosis, you will find it quite normal. Respiration does not decrease; heart action remains normal; blood pressure remains normal. It is true that thsese functions can be made to slow down by suggestion, but you can’t get them all to slow down simultaneously as occurs in natuaral sleep. You can think, talk, open your eyes, respond to suggestion, and move in any way. You are more aware of what’s going on around you and within you when you are in a hypnotic state, because you open a little door to your subconscious mind, there is more “mind” involved in this state of deep relaxation and focused concentration. In this heightened state of awareness there is greater access to the imagination and the subconscious mind is more susceptible to suggestion.

Another association to sleep is that, every night when you fall asleep and every morning when you wake up, you naturally pass through a state of hypnosis. It’s that very pleasant in-between state when you’re not wide awake but you’re not asleep anymore either.

You can hear sounds around you, like a dog barking or a phone ringing, but you don’t even respond to them . . .even though you could if you wanted to.

If you’ve ever been driving in your car and missed your exit, chances are you had drifted into a light state of hypnosis.

Just like when you are reading a book or watching a movie, you are fully conscious, but you tune out most of the stimuli around you.

In this relaxed state your subconscious mind is more available to positive suggestions . . .

As many hypnotists, I use the words “Deep sleep” and “wake up” even though I know that the person is not sleeping. It’s simply because everyone understands what they mean and how to physically and mentally recreate the experience. These are common terms that save us time and make our work as therapists more efficient.