What Is It Like To Be Hypnotized

If you have never been hypnotized, you probably ask yourself: what does it feel like to be hypnotized?

Maybe you’ve seen hypnotized people on some stage hypnosis show doing all kinds of silly things at the hypnotist’s command.

Maybe you’ve seen movies where a hypnotist has brainwashed somebody into doing something terrible – like killing himself or another person.

Maybe you’re afraid what will happen to you while in hypnosis. I know that some women are concerned that maybe a hypnotist will coerce them into sexual favours when they are hypnotized (and there are quiet a few urban myths floating around).

Or maybe you heard that hypnosis is like taking drugs, or having an out-of-body experience, or floating around in the universe…

The disappointing truth is: you’ve already been hypnotized in your life. You’ve already been hypnotized this year. You’ve already been hypnotized this month, this week, this day – this very moment.

You’re in a hypnotic trance right now.

Whether you feel it or not. Whether you believe it or not.

Now bark like a dog!

(Just kidding…)

(Sorry for the lame attempt at being funny, I just couldn’t resist…)

Fact is – we’re constantly in hypnotic states. We move in and out of them. Ever drove home in your car and then you arrived and you don’t recall what it was like driving there?

Ever “daydreamed”? Ever watched a movie and got “sucked into the story”? You’ve been hypnotized, and you’re very welcome.

Hypnosis really IS an everyday state. It basically is the targeted utilization of that state, that adds the “special effect” to hypnosis.

But let me assure you: it’s all right. I’m in a “writing hypnosis” as I’m writing this. I’m hallucinating you, the reader, reading this line. Yet, while I’m writing this, you are not here. You’re only “here” once this text is written, published and YOU take the time to read it.

There ARE hypnotic states that can be quiet adventurous. They can take you down memory lane. They can take you down “fantasy lane”. And even if your conscious mind might not be aware of everything that happens during a hypnotic session, your subconscious mind IS aware of everything that happens – and it will protect you better than the presidents best bodyguard can protect him.

In fact – your subconscious mind saved your life countless times only. You’d be toast by now if all you had was your conscious mind. It just doesn’t operate fast enough. (And this is not specifically about YOUR conscious mind… this is about THE conscious mind of humans, including me and everyone else).

We’re mostly run by our subconscious mind anyway. The conscious mind just gets little bits and pieces of what the subconscious is doing and experiencing.

Now, this is not to neglect the importance of the conscious mind. It’s what makes us the person we are, it’s what gives us the human experience.

But when it comes to making “lifesaving” decisions, our subconscious is a way better guide. And even hypnosis can’t erase the “survival program” of the subconscious.

Most people describe being hypnotized as a pleasently relaxed state, where you are either unaware of any bodily sensations, or you feel a pleasant warmth in your body. The mind is very calm and focused on one thing or one experience or one subject only.

But the variety of states that you can experience through the help of hypnosis is enormous, and so is the spectrum of sensations that are available to you.

As for being able to remember what you did during hypnosis… oftentimes that is NOT the case. But if you ever forgot your car keys, you already experienced “amneasia”, so it’s really not just a phenomenon that happens during hypnotherapy.

Oftentimes you will be convinced that you can remember everything that happened during hypnosis – when in fact, you only remember certain parts, but forgot other parts. This is what scares many people, because they think: “Oh my god, what have I done? What have I said?” Since they can’t recall it, they make up all kinds of worst case scenarios and worry about it. But as I said – your subconscious mind protects you, even when your conscious mind is occupied with other things. It won’t reveal any “juicy details” and you won’t spill your secrets or do anything that’s harmful to you.