Imagine going through life without worrying about stress, disease, or headaches. But it's possible with the use of hypnosis.

When most people encounter the word hypnosis, a picture comes to their mind of a hypnotist swinging an object in front of the clients face; however, that is not how hypnosis works. John M. Polarkoff said, "It taps into your subconscious mind. Nobody knows how it works. Of all the books I have read, none of them can explain it. It helps you to help yourself. It alerts your subconscious mind and your subconscious mind helps you." (DeLauter, G9)

Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation in which the subconscious mind is extraordinarily receptive to positive thoughts and suggestions. It is not something a hypnotist does to you, but it is something you give to yourself. Nobody can make you do something you don't want to do or have the desire to do. Through hypnosis, your behavior can be modified to benefit you.

Dating back from 2600 BC to the present, different methods of hypnosis have been used. Wang Tai, the father of Chinese medicine, used medical procedures that were of hypnotic nature. There were many other people and scientists that used various forms of hypnosis, but the most influential of them all was Frank Anton Mesmer. He is remembered for the term "mesmerism" which is a process of inducing a trance through a series of passes he made with his hands and magnets. Working with a person's psychic and electromagnetic energies, he performed mesmerism on many people across the world, and taught his students of his works. Many of his students got greatly involved in the study of mesmerism and other types of psychological subjects. He was admired, and scientists followed his example and came up with their own ideas.

Another influential person in the field of hypnosis is James Braid. He opposed mesmerism originally, but soon he became interested in the subject and began studying it. He said cures were not due to psychic and electromagnetic energies, but to suggestion. He developed the eye fixation technique of inducing relaxation which became known as hypnosis, after the Greek God of Sleep Hypnos. He characterized hypnosis as deep concentration by a person in a single dominant idea. He realized that ideas could be implanted while in the hypnotic state. He could not explain it, but he knew that it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. He thought this phenomenon was a form of sleep, but when he realized his error, he wanted to change the name to "monoeidism", or the influence of a single idea, but the rudimentary name hypnosis prevailed.

As other scientists researched the aspect of hypnosis, they discovered that not only could it be used to induce relaxation, but was also beneficial in treating other ailments, both physical and mental.

When you are hypnotized, you are in a tranquil state of relaxation. While in this state, your mind is permitting profitable and productive suggestions to be accepted. You are fully aware of what's going on around you and you respond only to suggestions that are right and benefit your beliefs.

Relaxation is the first and most important step of hypnosis. Your eyes are closed, you breathe deeply at a diaphragmatic, laggard pace, and be unfettered of any jewelry or any other accessories that would cause uneasiness. When you are relaxed, tension is released in your muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. This also reduces the blood circulation which puts your body at well-being. Relaxation is the key to overcome a fear, habit, and many other symptoms. An experience a young woman had with the fear of going to the dentist was overcome because of the relaxation methods her dentist used. While she was being prepped to have her tooth drilled, her dentist had told her to stay relaxed and imagine something that she would rather be doing. She thought it would be difficult to concentrate in the situation she was in, however, she tried it. With her eyes closed, she imagined herself to be at her favorite vacation spot, and before she knew it, 3 the dentist told her that he was done working on her teeth. She was puzzled at how she didn't seem to feel a thing, and how she wasn't frightened. He explained to her that he had learned a technique of hypnotism. When you are relaxed and have your mind on other things, the pain and fear seems to go away. She was in awe of her experience.

Before you can concentrate on goals and enrichment, you must clear the mind's passageways. When relaxed, suspend all conscious thinking, postpone decisions and judgments, make no demands of your mind, but concentrate on peace of mind. If a negative thought enters your mind, just let it go. Stay at the state of tranquillity your body desires, then you can concentrate on other things. When you are concentrating on an every day basis, the mind focuses on a problem from the outside. During hypnoidal concentration, your mind is focused on an issue from the inside. Using your mental and emotional powers, concentrate on goals that will give you the spirit you need to reach your destination. While in the deep state of concentration, your mind is clear of other thoughts that might have been troublesome or irritating. This is valuable and necessary when conscious reasoning must be performed, but fatal to the success of suggestion.

A new kind of reality is created with suggestion. It puts a positive image in your head to replace any bad thoughts. Any suggestion given to you, while in the hypnotic state, will have an effect on you because it is impossible to separate the body from the mind. Therefore, they are dependent on each other. The mental element is always dominant and our physical organism is governed by it, so that we actually make or break our own health according to the ideas at work in our subconscious. We can freely implant whatever ideas we desire in the subconscious. Suggestion has always been and always will be the keystone to hypnosis, and it plays a significant role in nearly every aspect of medical treatment.

Pain begins and ends with the brain. If we constantly have our mind on a broken 4 finger, headache, or anything else that might be causing pain; it will hurt worse than if we think about other things. As long as we keep our mind distracted from the pain, it will be lessened. The major components of pain are stress, fear and anxiety, so people who suffer from chronic pain illnesses, which can be caused and or aggrevated from stress and anxiety, can decrease their pain with the power of the mind.

For example, a group of people with chronic headaches were split into two groups. One group took hypnotherapy and the other group acted as a comparison group. The hypnotherapy group was taught to reach a state of mind-and-body relaxation; then they created a clear picture of the headache in their minds, and soon they were able to control and reverse the painful image. Dr. Egulius Spierlings said, "The hypnotherapy group did reduce the number and length of headaches, cutting the intensity to thirty percent. The improvement isn't huge, but the results are impressing in such a difficult and hard to treat group of patients. Obviously, this isn't a cure for the common headache. But for someone who just won't respond to other treatments, this might be one possible alternative." ( 26)

Our mind is powerful, and we can control the pain using only brain power. The brain is the center of pain. We can tap into that area of the mind and create an image of what is causing the pain. Simply picture you're throwing the source of pain away. This puts the pain in your own hands, and you are in control. Creating images is not the only way to control pain. Focusing your mind on something other than the pain, know as dissociation, has the same effect.

Distraction plays an important role in soothing aches and pains. Hypnosis for the relief of pain focuses one's attention away from the source of the pain. The subject just puts it out of his or her mind. An easy way of distracting the pain from our mind is to imagine a pleasant scene, imagining that one's body is numb in the area of pain, concentrating on breathing, or even singing a song. Simple tasks such as these would be able to take your mind off of the pain that you are feeling. Pain is the single most 5 common reason for going to a physician, and it is the number one reason why people take medication. It has been proven that eighty-five percent or more of the illnesses that physicians are called upon to treat are self-limiting, or without any help at all, the human body can prescribe for, treat, and heal itself. Although hypnosis wasn't approved by the American Medical Association until 1958, doctors have been using it for medical treatment instead of anaesthetics for many years. Hypnosis has become a well established part of current medical, dental, and psychological practice. It is considered to be a valuable therapeutic aid.

The mind and body interact with each other, and our emotions affect our biology. The nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system are all related to each other. More recently, better understanding of exactly how these various systems interact lead to the newer science of "psychonueroimmunology." Psychological factors play an important part in causing diseases of all sorts. Everything from cold sores to cancer. Physicians that study in this new specialty have discovered that our health and emotions are closely related. Through the process of hypnosis, the mind focuses positively on issues, mental or physical, and eliminates them. Whether the problem is a disease, stress, fear, or any other kind of issue, hypnosis can help or cure it.

The immune system becomes weak from stress, panic, negative attitudes, and a pessimistic outlook on things. It is made up of many cells that travel through the body to all organs and glands. These cells work in close contact to the brain which contains neurotransmitters which are like messengers that carry chemical messages to all the organs and glands. These "messengers" serve to activate, instruct, and regulate the immune system.

If a person is in a depressed, stressed, or panicked mood, the brain sends a negative message to the immune system which affects the organs throughout the body in a 6 negative fashion; On the other hand, if a person is in a humorous or optimistic mood, this stimulates the immune system increasing it's ability to attack cancer cells, infectious diseases, allergies, and other autoimmune illnesses.

Lupus is a disease which causes flushing in the face like a mask around the eyes of a wolf. It is one of many autoimmune illnesses that can be helped by hypnosis. Katherine Fox, C.C.H.T., a certified clinical hypnotherapist, tells about an experience she had with of her clients, "A woman in her thirties came to me with a lot of stress. In our initial consultation she told me that she was diagnosed with Lupus L.E.) several years ago. Stress causes Lupus, an autoimmune illness, to flare up and it can be fatal if it is systematic, (throughout the entire body). I asked her if she knew what her Lupus looked like. She gave me a puzzled look. I said 'Doctors diagnose us and we accept that because in our society we give doctors a lot of power!' So, I had her close her eyes, and I did some Neuro Linguistic Programming, (NLP), by having her visualize what her L.E. looked like and what it felt like in her body. She described it as small shiny black concave disks all through her blood stream. I had her imagine gathering all of those disks in her right hand and when she had gathered them all, I instructed her to throw them all away. After that exercise, I put her in trance and did the NLP again through the subconscious mind, and to this day she is in remission." When her client had a mental picture of what her illness looked like, it gave her control of it. Lupus is a disease aggrevated by stress, so when the mind and body are relaxed, you are stress-free. This results in the termination/remission of the disease.

The individuals who can hypnotize themselves have an advantage towards those who can't. Self-hypnosis is the same as hypnosis being done by someone else, however when you are doing this by yourself, more seems to come to your mind in a clearer sense than when someone else is giving you suggestions. When a person learns to hypnotize themselves, they can induce relaxation any time, place or situation. There are few people that have a day go by without being under stress or 7 have a headache from a hard day at work, school, or home, but with the help of self-hypnosis, issues such as these can be solved on your own.

Have you ever noticed that when a person is under stress, they seem to be in a bad mood? The negative feeling seems to spread to those around that person feeling stressed.

Using self-hypnosis, you can have a stress-free life. All it takes is the three main components of hypnosis which are relaxation, concentration, and auto-suggestion, the process of a person suggesting thoughts to him/herself. This reduction of stress will make you a better person, and those around you will enjoy your company.

Picture a rubber band extremely tight around your head. Now, imagine it loosening slowly relieving the intense pain that you feel within your head. Soon, the pain is gone. Where ever you are, headaches seem to be a common ailment. Self-hypnosis can relieve the pain just by imagining the rubber band tight around your head or even a balloon expanding- then the balloon deflating. These suggestions work as the rubber band or balloon being a symbol of the headache. When in the hypnoidal state, it is possible for you to take control over headaches, relieve stress, most any other situations at work which would inhibit you from being the best you are capable of.

Many people have irrational fears which limit their daily existence. In order to overcome a fear, just face it. Confront in your mind whatever frightens you. Instead of letting your thoughts run away from the phobia, focus your concentration energy right into the anxiety.

Hypnosis, by yourself or with a hypnotherapist, is used for many purposes by psychologists, dentists, and physicians. It can be a powerful tool in behavior control by helping people to cope with many serious issues; whether they be physical or mental.