Hypnosis and the Human Mind - written by Milos Pesic

Even though a subject put under hypnosis appears to take on the peculiarity of somebody sleeping, they are actually totally aware. Hypnosis is extremely complicated to explain, as nobody truly knows what is hapenning inside the mind of a hypnotized subject. What we do know is that whilst in hypnosis the hypnotic subject becomes truly suggestible. A subject`s attention, while they are going into trance state, is narrowed down slowly. Firstly, the sense of sight is lost as the subject is demanded to close their eyes. After some time it is not unusual for the subject to lose entire responsiveness of their body. Though one by one the senses are bit by bit slipping away, one sense is exceedingly enhanced by the induction process. This is the sense of hearing. A subject under hypnosis can often hear distant sounds that they wouldn`t be able to hear in the standard waking state. This, obviously, means that during the course of the whole process the subject can easily hear everything that the hypnotist might suggest. When you begin inducing hypnosis in people you will frequently find that upon awakening the hypnotic subject, they will suppose they could not have been put under hypnosis as they could still hear your voice. The misapprehension that they won`t be able to hear your voice repeatedly comes from those subjects who think hypnosis to be like sleep.

A person in the trance is pretty suggestible. One of the reasons for this is that, whilst in the state of hypnosis, you are only able to concentrate on one thing at a time. For example, if I were to tell you that you are a pretty ballerina, you would immediately compare this hypnosis suggestion with what you already know to be right, and, lest of course you are a ballerina, you would tell me I am talking nonsense. The hypnotised subject on the other hand is not able to entertain the thought that they may not be what I have suggested, as their restricted awareness is taken up by the thought that they are in fact a graceful ballerina. The result, as desired, ends in the hypnotic subject jumping to their feet to carry out a series of pirouettes across the stage.

The human mind is split into two so diverse areas. The conscious mind, which is accountable for all our conscious thoughts and decisions, and the subconscious mind, which regulates our autonomous activity. The mind can be best called a computer, the subconscious as the processor and the conscious as the monitor and keyboard. Our subconscious mind is a kind of protector; it protects our body and helps us to go on.

Although our subconscious can do lots oftasks that consciously may be unviable, it also has one astonishingly plain feature. Somewhere between our two minds is what we call the critical factor. This is undoubtedly best explained as a door, at which is a guardian. Our subconscious mind will process anything that enters it no matter how out of the ordinary. So, as long as you can push a suggestion through the door it will be adhered to. This is exactly why hypnosis works. The guardian's door can be hastily opened while we are under hypnosis.