Self Hypnosis. Valerie Austin

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СКАЧАТЬ the information is not edited and, consequently, you may touch on a particularly distressing incident. This unhappy memory may cause the person in hypnosis to undergo what is called an abreaction. This means that he or she is in the middle of the emotion and may burst into tears. This outburst can sometimes be very exaggerated, due to the trance and the lifting of inhibitions. To the untrained it can be quite frightening and is another reason why hypnosis has for so long been rumoured to cause people actual mental or psychological harm.

      This concentrated raw emotion will usually only come to the surface while a person is being treated with advanced hypnosis, but there are occasions, though very rare, when it can surface during suggestion hypnosis—just as you can strike a raw nerve, by accident, in the middle of an innocent conversation.

      I became aware that abreactions are in fact not that serious and that anyone can have one without warning. Just watching a film, listening to the radio or hearing someone speak can trigger off an emotional memory. When I had my memory loss I was told that someone whom I knew had died. I took it in but did not react. Six weeks later I was walking through the busy passageways at a London tube station when I suddenly burst into tears. Something had triggered off the memory of my friend’s death.

      The conscious is the thinking, logical part of the mind. If there is no reasonable explanation for a behaviour pattern the conscious will invent one that seems to it to be logical. You can see an example of this thought process in the typical smoker. Asked why he smokes his reply could be simply: ‘I enjoy it.’ Yet this same person will probably have a list of objections to smoking as well, such as ‘I hate the smell,’ etc. He may even claim that he wants desperately to quit. There is definitely a conflict here, but not one so great or complex that the smoker cannot easily be treated by hypnosis. Because smoking is rarely trauma related, quitting with the help of hypnosis is a straightforward matter.

      The person who overeats may say he does so because he enjoys it. This may be partly true but there are most likely other, deeper motivations. He may crave comfort, protection or even punishment, and overeating satisfies this craving. We all have to eat to live and therefore we are all programmed to be tempted by food. Our senses are tuned to pick up on the smell, taste, texture and look of food. Our bodies are also programmed to provide a feeling of fullness or satisfaction when we have eaten enough. When there is some trauma-based condition, however, a new behaviour pattern is created causing a person to overeat not just because he enjoys it, but for other reasons as well.

      The answer from the conscious of ‘Because I enjoy it’ for the two entirely different problems of smoking and overeating gives little indication of what treatment is necessary. In either case the answer is the most ‘logical’ the conscious could generate, given its limited information. The full story is filed away in the subconscious filing system and, if trauma-based, is probably completely unknown to the conscious.

      When I had my memory problem I was regularly told that I should write a list of things I needed to do each day. If you know you have a list to look up, then this method works. But if as in my case you forget you have even written a list in the first place, then this ‘solution’ is useless. Because I was not aware I had written a list it would be treated as just another scrap of paper. I did not associate it with a list of things to do and, therefore, either threw it away or popped it into a drawer for inspection at another time.

      If the conscious has no knowledge of the information that has slipped unnoticed into the subconscious, it has no cause to retrieve it. The subconscious receives no instruction from the conscious to look for the stored, relevant information, so it is not supplied. Hypnosis allows us access to the subconscious so the files can be retrieved and the underlying causes of a problem can be looked at. Therefore, it is not surprising that what the conscious mind thinks is the logical reason for a habit or problem bears little resemblance to its actual cause.

      There are differing beliefs about how the subconscious works. Some think it has an intelligence equal to that of a bright six year old. I prefer to believe it is completely automatic—like a sophisticated computer system that can hold a conversation and talk as if it were human only because it has been programmed that way.

      WHY IS A BAD HABIT SO HARD TO BREAK?

      The subconscious is often called ‘the unconscious’ in many teachings. I prefer ‘subconscious’ because this term is not so misleading. The word ‘unconscious’ perpetuates the popular myth that hypnosis is sleep. This brings us to the importance of another misunderstood facet of human behaviour, the bad habit. People are surprised that bad habits are hard to break but rarely consider what a blessing it is to be able to keep good ones. Imagine learning to ice-skate or drive a car and then suddenly losing the habit! The consequences could be fatal.

      To form a habit you practise it and, when practised enough, it becomes automatic. You first consciously work at it, then, if you continue for a long enough period, the subconscious takes over. The subconscious does not judge whether it is a good or bad habit. It presumes that if you do it enough, then you must want it to be permanent. Likewise, when you want to put an end to a habit you have to practise until you ‘automatically’ stop doing it.

      The subconscious is programmed to ensure that the conscious retains this newly-learned habit. Part of the ‘job’ of the subconscious is to create an obstacle course to prevent any change to the acquired habit.

      Once the subconscious has taken a habit on board it provides an ‘urge’. It is, therefore, the subconscious that we need to access in order to persuade it to cancel the programme that triggers this ‘urge’. Hypnosis provides instant access to the subconscious and allows an immediate change of attitude which, in turn, changes the unwanted behaviour. Simply put, with hypnosis it is not necessary to practise unlearning a habit because the work has already been completed. The conscious mind is more or less bypassed—only, however, if it is in the individual’s interest.

      If you were to decide at a later date that you wanted to regain an old habit, very little practice would be needed. The programme would already be set and could easily be retrieved. For example, if you had not ridden a bike for 10 years and then had a go, you might be a bit shaky at first but, nevertheless, your confidence would soon return. Or, just walking down a flight of stairs, try thinking which foot goes where and notice how difficult it is. Since you have formed the habit it has become an automatic instinct and you are no longer conscious of the action. Consider amnesia victims: whatever else they may have forgotten, they always remember how to open doors, how to talk and how to perform most habitual, simple tasks. I should know, if anyone does!

      Just as you can eliminate a bad habit without practice through hypnosis, it is also feasible that you can create a good one in the same way. I have proved this in developing a speed reading programme in which I can guarantee at least to double a person’s reading speed, while increasing retention and concentration, in less than three hours (20 minutes if there is no trauma involved which may be preventing the subject from accepting the speed reading technique). To speed read properly you have to use a pointer, such as a pen, pencil or even your finger, to lead your eyes across the page. Without hypnosis it could take as long as 40 hours’ practice to master this. It may sound simple but involves a complicated procedure, linking eye movement and the correct maximum speed for optimum concentration. To achieve the 100 per cent success rate I have been able to claim with my speed reading clients there may be a need for advanced methods of hypnosis, but suggestion-only therapy can reach a healthy 60 per cent of those who try it. Obstacles to the success of the suggestion therapy arise in the form of trauma-based problems, which more than likely date from early childhood. The trauma can be as simple as that when you first attended school your teacher slapped your hand if you used your finger to point to the words as you read.

      Our actions are dependent on the information we receive in early life and, therefore, many problems have begun with a ‘programme’ that was СКАЧАТЬ