Hypnosis

Hypnosis and Meditation

2009-04-11T21:47:00.002+01:00

Welcome back to this hypnosis blog after a fairly long layoff. In this post, I'd like to briefly touch on the relationship between hypnosis and meditation as I'm often asked if they are similar.

Well, in fact they are very similar in nature. When you meditate, you focus your mind and allow all thoughts to drop away leaving your mind blank and in a state of complete relaxation. At the same time, you become completely unaware of your physical body for the duration of the meditative process. At any time, you are perfectly able to return to full conscious awareness and are similarly aware of your surroundings. In fact while in a state of meditation, you are not asleep, merely in an altered state of mind which enables inner healing in all areas to come about.

This is almost exactly the same condition as being in a state of hypnosis. Similarly, when in hypnosis, your mind is focused and your thoughts drop away leaving you in a pure mental state of complete relaxation. You are not asleep and are aware of your surroundings. You can return to full conscious awareness at any time you choose and at no time are you under anyone else's influence.

So in answer to the question "Are meditation and hypnosis similar?" the answer is a resounding yes!

That's all for this post. I'll be back with more frequent updates.

Terry Didcott
Hypnosis

Hypnosis for Health

2008-10-01T11:04:00.006+01:00

Hypnosis for health is a huge subject all to itself, but this blog post will try to do it some justice! My last post "Hypnosis for Weight Loss", covered how you can really learn how to lose weight using simple hypnosis and self suggestion techniques.

But now I want to turn my attention in some measure to the business of hypnosis for health. It may come as no surprise to anyone already familiar with the ability of the mind to regulate the health of the body, that further simple hypnotic techniques to relax a person and then by making use of suggestion can actually alter a person's health for the better.

Its not a quick fix, so get that idea out of your head straight away!

But for gradual and progressive improvement in your general health, using hypnosis coupled with powerful suggestions can make an incredible difference over time. It's all part of the natural order of things, in that in nature, nothing happens all that quickly. Grass may not struggle to grow, as its designed to do it with minimum effort, but neither does it grow rapidly in the usually accepted human sense of the term. A blade of grass will take a few days to grow into anything resembling a blade of grass!

In the same way, a person's health is simply not going to miraculously improve overnight. It's going to take some time.

As long as you are comfortable with that concept, then you probably have a good supply of patience and you'll need it, as gaining a change in your health may take several days or it may take several weeks depending upon how much change is necessary or desired. Hypnosis sessions with a qualified hypnotherapist over a period of several weeks (one session a week is all that is needed) will provide the basis for allowing your body to heal itself and improve its own health where other methods may fail.

How to achieve good health is in the hands of the person who wishes it and you can do yourself so much good by initially simply intending it. The process will look after itself as long as you stay focused on exactly what you want. Once you attain it, you'll want to keep up your general health levels by spending a little time each day for yourself, perhaps in meditation or simply relaxing with no interruptions and focusing on your good health.

So its worth going down this route when other things just don't seem to be working. There is one disclaimer that comes with this and it is that you have to truly want this to happen. No half hearted attempts or maybe's are allowed. You have to create your own foundations for anything you want to achieve in your life, no exception.

So if an improvement in your overall health is what you want, then hypnosis will work for you as long as you truly desire it.

Terry Didcott
Hypnosis

Hypnosis for Weight Loss

2008-08-20T15:41:00.006+01:00

Well, its apology time again for not getting here to post on this blog again! I've been so busy with other things this one just slipped my mind! Well, no use crying over spilt milk Following my last post here "Just What is Hypnosis?", I want to overview something about how hypnosis works for weight loss.

Weight loss tips abound on the Internet and many of them are quite sound in their advice. Unfortunately, most of them are geared up to selling you something, be it weight loss pills or weight loss products or even getting you to sign up for this or that weight loss course or promotion or whatever. All very well but how annoying when you find out that most of these are totally unnecessary as most of them will not work!

Ouch!

Well, its true. Most people you ever knew who tried this or that diet or course or program ultimately failed. They may have lost weight while they were on the weight loss program or diet, but when they stopped it, the weight went straight back on.

Sure we also probably know, or know of someone who did great at it and then kept the weight off by sticking with their diet or exercise routine indefinitely.

But the latter, as I'm sure you will agree with me, are in the minority.

For most people, losing weight just seems to be a pie in the sky wish that never seems to come true for them. Well, that doesn't have to be the case!

Weight loss is primarily a state of mind. Not so much about losing weight, but more about becoming healthy again and your body naturally re-assuming its ideal weight. This may seem every bit as crackpot and prone to failure as the previous ideas, but its actually not.

Hypnosis, when used properly by a trained and qualified practitioner, can really help a person to regain their ideal weight. Not as a weight loss program or diet or anything like that. But more basic and simple in terms of re-programming the way you think about your weight and your body shape. Instead of enforcing a strict regime of food denial or exercise strategy, where you are working against your own natural instincts and body makeup, hypnosis is used to bring yourself back into harmony with yourself.

For more information on how this works, visit my main hypnosis website an take a look at the weight loss tips page in particular to get the full quota of information covering this fascinating topic. Alternatively, for a more hard hitting article that really spells out what you need to do in order to lose some of that excess flab, there is a particularly good one that will spell out some no bullshit weight loss that will really get your blood boiling and motivation meter into gear!

Terry Didcott
Hypnosis

Just What is Hypnosis?

2008-04-28T15:08:00.004+01:00

Just what is hypnosis?

And what about this blog? Well, that depends on what I'm going to do with it. If I wase going to fill it up with ads and hope to make money from it, you're mistaken. Blogs like this rarely make any money for their owners. Better to keep them for writing in.

This blog has been rather neglected of late, so its time to put that straight and write something in here. Not that there is a whole lot that I actually intend to write in here about the subject of hypnosis, as I've said pretty much all I'm going to say on the subject in my main website, Hypnosis.

However, that doesn't mean there is nothing to say in this blog, as there actually is. About hypnosis too. You see its such a big subject that peopel are still generally in awe of, that it doesn't hurt to go back over the basics time and time again so that more people will understand it.

Hypnosis for starters is not magic, or occultism, or cultish mind manipulation. That's scaremongering poppycock.

Hypnosis is a natural form of consciousness that everbody enters several times throughout their normal day without them even knowing. Its otherwise known as daydreaming and that is an actual state of hypnosis!

If you don't believe me then go read something that better suits your level of intellect. Otherwise, lets look at the evidence:

Daydreaming is an altered state of consciousness.

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.

Daydreaming is where your thoughts are elsewhere and you're not aware of your physical body.

In hypnosis, your thoughts are elsewhere and you're not aware of your physical body.

A daydream may last several minutes, but you don't notice the passing of time.

A hypnotic session may last several minutes, but you don't notice the passing of time.

You can snap out of a daydream at any time if you have to.

You can snap out of hypnosis at any time if you have to.

Daydreaming is not harmful to your mind.

Hypnosis is not harmful to your mind.

Am I getting through? Good. There's the basics right there in black and white for you to see and understand. Just because you don't at first understand something, it doesn't mean its harmful or dangerous or should be labelled paranormal or somesuch.

We still don't fully understand electricity, yet we know that its certainly not paranormal, because we can cook with it, light our way and run our appliances with it. Think about that.

Terry Didcott
Hypnosis

New Series on Hypnosis and Phobias

2007-10-07T11:17:00.000+01:00

On my main Hypnosis site I'm running a series of articles in the blog all about Hypnosis and Phobias. The articles are quite lengthy and packed with information.

So if you're interested in how hypnosis and in particular hypnotherapy using hypno-analysis techniques works to help people to overcome and find a permanent relief from their phobia, then you should check out these articles.

Here's the link again: Hypnosis

Terry Didcott
Hypnosis

Changes are a happening

2007-03-22T08:19:00.000+01:00

The CD sales page of the website is having mild success. However, the trend seems to be moving away from CDs and moving towards MP3.

The popularity of MP3 has exploded in the last few years as more and more people use personal computers in the home and at work. MP3 has turned the music industry on its head. It has become so simple to download your favourite song from the various internet sites that going out to purchse CDs is a rapidly declining occurrence.

In the hypnosis, self-help audio sector, this trend is also evident. More people are downloading MP3 files rather than go through the rigmarole of purchasing CDs and then waiting for them to be delivered (which can be a few days if bought internationally). The other plus point is that it's cheaper as there are no postage costs to pay for. Better to simply download them and have them there and then and save money at the same time.

The audio quality of MP3 as far as the average human ear is concerned is pretty close to CD anyway. The only thing you lose out on is the ability to encode subliminal messages to enhance the effectiveness of the MP3. This is not too much of a problem for a good, experienced hypnotherapist as they can use vocal techniques to emulate the subliminal effect to some extent, so the effectiveness of the better hypnosis self-help audio recordings is not reduced with MP3.

HYPNOSIC.COM will shortly be introducing their hypnosis self-help CD collection for instant download as MP3 (without the subliminal encoding) at a reduced price.

Stay tuned for details of the release of the new premier MP3 collection from hypnosic.com. Details will be announced here!

Thanks for your visit
Terry Didcott DHP

Why Hypnotherapy is the Best Way to Stop Smoking

2007-03-07T12:47:00.001+01:00

There have been many studies into the different approaches to stop smoking over the years, with varying results and statistics. But one of those methods constantly out-performs all others in the quest to quit smoking. Hypnotherapy. Just why is hypnotherapy such a successful way to stop smoking?

Well, there's a great article just published over at www.hypnosic.com that spells out just why hypnotherapy is the most successful method to stop smoking. It beats not only all the other alternative therapies and methods, but also all the so-called mainstream methods too, including those nicotine patches, self-help books and the like. Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Check out the article on the site www.hypnosic.com

Thanks for calling in and come back soon for more additions.
Terry

How Can You Lose Weight With Hypnosis?

2007-02-21T17:26:00.000+01:00

A lot of people wonder just how you can lose weight with hypnosis. Well, the straight answer is that with hypnosis alone, you are unlikely to! There needs to be something more to affect the change in the body's metabolism combined with a modification in mental state. Sounds complicated? It's not really. I'll endeavour to explain in layman's terms some of the processes that go on when you use hypnosis to lose weight. You will need a few things for that to happen. For instance, first of all, before you enter the hypnotic state, you will mentally set yourself a goal in the amount of weight you want to lose. Then hypnosis itself is used as the tool needed to prepare you to accept the verbal weight loss suggestions. These suggestions are needed to subtly alter the way you perceive the necessary steps that you must take to lose that weight. Then you will be put in the correct frame of mind to action the steps necessary to lose the amount of weight needed to reach your goal.

Let me explain these points in greater length.

First of all then, you will make a goal for yourself in the amount of weight you want to lose. Make it a realistic goal, or, like any unobtainable goal, you will not reach it. So with your realistic goal in mind and, for good measure, a time span in which you would be happy to attain it, you can then prepare for hypnosis.

Hypnosis in itself won't actually do anything for you except to make you relax and feel very calm. That is great if you are under a lot of stress and need to relax. What most people think is purely the hypnosis, is actually a combination of hypnosis and suggestion. The hypnosis enables your subconscious to accept the suggestions that are given.

In a nutshell, the suggestions are along the lines of: You will lose weight by feeling good about eating less of the bad things that make you gain weight - and more of the good things that will boost your metabolism to burn off the excess fat that want to be rid of. That's pretty much how suggestions work, in their simplest terms. There is a bit more to it than that, in the way that those suggestions are delivered by the skilled hypnotherapist - if you want a fuller explanation why not go over to the full article published on my website at: www.hypnosic.com.

It is that combination of setting your goal, then using hypnosis to enable you to accept the powerful weight loss suggestions that will enable you to lose weight without any kind of formal diet.

Still sceptical? Well, you could go and see a hypnotherapist and pay their fee, which is your choice, of course.

A less expensive way of trying out weight loss without diet is to use a specially recorded CD which includes instructions on how to set your weight loss goal. You then relax in a comfortable chair or sofa, or even a bed and play the CD. You listen to the hypnotherapist as he takes you through the relaxation process followed by the suggestions for you to lose weight. At the end, you are brought back to full consciousness and you can go about the rest your day as normal.

These CDs are available at www.hypnosic.com for €14.95 + p&p.

CD Page is Open for Business!

2007-02-14T22:20:00.000+01:00

Finally, after weeks of tweaking and fiddling my first CD page is finally up, running and on the air ready and open for business. There are 5 separate self-help hypnosis CD titles ready for sale at the moment, although this list will be added to over the coming weeks. For now, though, those titles are:

Weight Loss Without Diet

Stop Smoking Today!

Stress Dissolver!

Boost Your Confidence

Success is Yours!

They are on sale for only €14,95 plus p&p. There is a special deal with postage and packing where there is a flat rate of just €5 (worldwide) for 1, 2 or 3 CDs, but the best bit is that if you order 4 or more CDs together (to go to the same address), p&p is FREE! There's a big incentive to club together with some friends to make a small bulk order and save on the postage.

The next project, which is coming along nicely, is an MP3 downloads page of hypnotherapy self-help recordings minus the subliminal enhancements (see article about Subliminal Messages here and on my website). Watch this space!!

Subliminal Messages to Further Enhance the Hypnotic Experience

2007-02-12T19:10:00.000+01:00

People often display a deep mistrust of anything to do with subliminal messages in any kind of media. This stems from certain abuses of subliminal messages in audio and visual form by the advertising fraternaty in the early days of cinema and television. In the late 1960's "subliminal cuts" as they were then known, were completely banned from all advertising in cinemas and on television.

Subliminal cuts were simply single frames picturing a product to be sold, that were spliced into a reel of film at certain points. In cinemas, these would be something that the cinema would be selling during the intermission, say for instance a picture of a hot-dog with a simple message, saying something like "Enjoy a delicious hot dog". Because the "cut" was only one frame, it passed by much too quickly for the audience to consciously see.

The beauty of subliminal cuts were that the human eye does see everything that is presented to it and that visual information is sent to the brain to be processed and stored in memory. So even though the unsuspecting audience would not have consciously registered the picture of the hot dog or the message that went with it, that picture and message was imprinted on their subconscious. The picture combined with the simple message would have been interpreted by the brain as something the individual might have thought of themselves, so an unconscious desire to eat a hot dog had been implanted in the subconscious minds of the audience. Not surprisingly, the cinemas found that sales of hot dogs went through the roof during the intermission!

Despite the discovery that using these one-frame pictures of products to be advertised increased sales of those product quite significantly, the advertisers ran afoul of broadcasting censorship boards for abusing the public's trust and so the use of subliminal cuts was eventually banned. It remains so today.

Of course, not all uses of subliminal messages are soley for monetary gain. Used in a positive way to benefit people, subliminal messages can be a powerful tool in assisting hypnotherapists to help their clients to overcome their particular problem. Simple audio messages buried in background music can be used to help a person to relax and then to feel comfortable working with their problem to affect a permanent cure.

Subliminal Audio

Subliminal audio messages work on the same principle to visual ones, in that the human ear also registers everything it hears and sends the messages to the brain to be processed and stored in memory. The brain then acts on those messages. If, for example, the message said simply "relax", the recipient would naturally begin to relax. This simple example is used often in the background music played along with self-help hypnotherapy CDs and is helpful and effective in helping a person to relax and nothing more.

There is a technical downside to this, however. When recording subliminal messages within music, the levels of those subliminals are set below that of the music. In the past, all music was recorded onto analog audio tape, so there was no problem because everything that was recorded, including the subliminal material was physically encoded onto the tape. So even though the subliminal messages were set at a threshold below the level of the music, they were still present and could be interpreted by the human brain..

To read the full article, please visit the articles pages of my webite where you will find this and other articles of interest about hypnotherapy. You can also follow the link in the sidebar to www.hypnosic.com

Relaxation

2007-01-21T00:01:00.000+01:00

Hypnosis with Music is not a new idea, in fact soothing music has been used to assist in various relaxation techniques down through the ages. There are a lot of reasons to try hypnosis for improving so many different aspects of your life. In its very simplest form, hypnosis can be a wonderful whole-person relaxant. It is in many ways very similar to meditation in that it focuses the mind by blanking out all extraneous activity, all unnecessary thought ceases and you focus only on one thing.

If you are in session with a hypnotherapist then you will be concentrating only on the sound of his or her voice. If you are practising self-hypnosis (having first obtained some training in this method by a qualified hypnotherapist) then you will be concentrating on your own voice inside your head. Your breathing becomes slow and rhythmic, heartbeat slows to a relaxed pace and all your muscles relax.

A half hour spent in this state is hugely beneficial to both your body and state of mind. When you have finished, you return to full conscious awareness feeling refreshed and revitalised, positive and motivated. That can only be good!

What is Hypnosis?

2006-12-15T20:44:00.000+01:00

Introduction:

Lets get this blog started for real with some actual information about hypnosis. That is its main reason for existing, after all! I thought the best place to start would be with an explanation about hypnosis itself, what it is, what the sensation is like, its benefits and limitations. Read on…

Hypnosis:

Hypnosis is a natural state of deep relaxation that is achieved by focusing the mind, thereby removing all unnecessary extraneous thoughts. It is best described as the state you reach just before you drift into true sleep, that point where you are still just conscious but feel totally relaxed and comfortable. For an in-depth description of hypnosis, see my website at http://www.hypnosic.com as well, there’s lots of other information to be had and its also growing as more articles get added.

There is no actual “hypnotised” feeling that can be described in textual terms. However, some people report various sensations, ranging from a feeling of lightness and even floating, to a softly sinking sensation, or even heaviness of limbs in some cases. Most people will feel nothing at all, except that deep sense of inner calm.

What surprises most people who enter the hypnotic state, upon regaining full conscious awareness, was that they were able to hear everything the hypnotist said and that they didn’t feel as though they had been hypnotised at all. That is quite normal, in fact, when a person is in a light hypnotic trance their senses are actually heightened. In my practice, I was often mildly amused, or even a little surprised at some of the comments my patients would come out with while deeply hypnotised.

“That pen of yours is awfully squeaky.” I always thought my old Parker was silent until after I was told this, so I put my ear very close to it as I slowly drew a line and was surprised to hear an almost inaudible whine as the pen moved across paper!

One day I’d just had the gas man carry out maintenance on my boiler when a patient deep in a trance said she could smell gas.

Or after a session I was often told by several patients:

“Do you know, while I was listening to you describe birds singing in the trees, I could actually hear those birds singing. It was so real!”

In actual fact they could hear the real birds singing some distance away in a local park – even though my consulting room was soundproofed and I couldn’t hear them (although I knew they were there as I could hear them when I went outside.

So bearing this in mind, a patient in hypnosis is very much aware of his or her surroundings, despite appearing to be fast asleep. They are not, of course, as hypnosis is not sleep. Once you fall asleep (and it has happened more times than I care to admit) you are no longer in the hypnotic state, you are well and truly asleep! This does often happen, as a patient drifts down into a deeper and deeper trance state, they can go all the way to sleep. When that happens, I have to bring them back a way, often by asking them to answer a mundane question, like: “What day is it today?”

That engages the conscious, rational part of the brain to think if it’s Monday or Tuesday, etc.

Also, when in a state of hypnosis, you cannot be forced to do anything that you would not want to do, or anything that would be contrary to your moral beliefs. Anyone who has watched a stage hypnotic show would doubt that statement, having seen a skilful stage hypnotist reduce even the most apparently strong-willed person into a screaming, baying child, or make them think they are a dog, or to eat raw onions thinking they are apples, or whatever.

What is taking place here, is the power of suggestion – something I will leave for a future posting, as that subject is huge and it would make this posting too big to digest all in one go!

So, to Recap:

Hypnosis is a natural state of relaxation combined with heightened awareness of the senses, where the person feels very relaxed but can still interact verbally or physically with the hypnotist. It is not sleep. It is not magic or hocus-pocus. Its just a very enjoyable, safe and natural state of consciousness.

Almost anyone can enter the state of hypnosis to varying degrees and can regain normal consciousness just as easily.

That’s it for now. Please come back in a day or two for my next posting.

Thanks for your visit

Terry Didcott DHP

Fledgeling Website

2006-12-10T10:58:00.000+01:00

My Own Website

Well, its always a good idea to promote a new website from what will now be its sister blog, so i'll be doing just that right here!

The idea of the website www.hypnosic.com will be

a) To act as a rich information site on the subject of hypnosis and hypnotherapy

b) To be a platform for the sale of my own collection of hypnotherapy CDs

c) To expound the concept of the use of music as an enhancement to hypnotherapy

In its current state, however, only the first point is being covered - this will and is growing gradually and steadily as I add more content to its pages. A lot of that content is taken from my old site from when I was in full practice in the UK in the 1990s. It was called Beacontree Hypnotherapy (www.beacontree.hypnotherapy.cwnet.com). A bit of a mouthful and no longer in existance, although if you searched it in google it still finds links to the defunct site.

Luckily, I had the foresight to back up the data files from the site to CD (all but one - I lost the "Sunday Magazine" article based on my therapy sessions with one of my clients - that was good advertising!). So I'm currently reformatting those old pages to fit in with my new site design, which all takes time but will yield good results in the end.

To start things rolling, and as money is tight, I've had to use free hosting (and have to suffer the banner ads of the hosting site), but as the site grows to its full potential and starts generating revenue I'll go to paid hosting and just have the ads that I want!

Retirement?

Did I mention retirement? Well, at the tender age of 42, it wasn't retirement from the workplace, just from practice as a hypnotherapist. After eight years I felt I needed a break. I was also planning my move to Spain which meant the end of that phase of my life. But not completely.

I've been here for over four years now and during that time of semi-retirement I met up with the husband and wife team from Elite Clinics, a hypnotherapy practice in Fuengirola. That rekindled my interest and sowed the seeds for this venture.

So now I'm active on the web - who knows, maybe I'll be tempted back into full practice in the near future?

Watch This Space!!!

Thanks for your visit. Do come again soon!

...and remember to check out my new site at: www.hypnosic.com ... Thanks

Terry Didcott DHP

Hypnosis & Music

2006-12-07T19:17:00.000+01:00

Introduction

Welcome to the hypnosis and music blog.

I've started to put this together because so many people have been asking me to put my ideas and work where people will see it. Well, here it is, or will be when I get it all typed up.

So, who am I and what exactly will this be about?

I'm a qualified hypnotherapist and practised in the UK from 1994 to 2002 as a member of the International Association of Hypno-analysts (I.A.H), the National Council of Hypnotherapists (N.C.P) and the British Hypnotherapy Association (B.H.A). They enabled me to put the letters MIAH, MNCP, MBHA after my name, which looked good on my advertising and brochures and gave my clients piece of mind that I was a bona fide practising therapist with the security of my three governing bodies. In 2002 I retired from practice and moved to southern Spain, where I now live. I cancelled my membership with the three associations, as I didn't see the point in keeping up the annual subscriptions if I wasn't going to be practising professionally any more.

After a gap of a few years, I have been persuaded to share some of my not inconsiderable knowledge (gained from my years as a practitioner), so this blog will be built with information about my particular variation of hypnotherapy (hypno-analysis using the freudian psychoanalysis base) as well as letting you know how to get your hands on the collection of hypnosis CDs that I am having re-mastered and reprinted.

That's for a later date when they are ready to be unleashed on an interested and receptive public.

So come back again soon when my first article will be ready.

Thanks for your visit

Terry Didcott DHP

(That stands for Diploma in HyPnotherapy, if you were wondering :)