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What is Hypnosis?

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‘Hypnosis’ is perhaps one the most misunderstood words that exists. It is actually the opposite of what most people think, which is often derived from stage hypnotists and movies. The two main myths are: 1) you are not in control; 2) you are not awake and aware. No matter how deep you go in hypnosis, you will be in control and you will always be wide awake and aware. For example, when you are swept up in the drama of a film in a movie theater, you are actually in a fairly deep state of hypnosis. In an engaging movie, you are very focused on the story that is unfolding on the screen to the point that you barely notice the people eating popcorn near you. But of course you’re not asleep…you know that if you wanted, you could get up at anytime and buy popcorn or use the bathroom. The same is true with any form of hypnotherapy – even at the deepest point of the session — if you wanted to, you could open your eyes and declare that you want to use the bathroom, or write something down, etc. It’s just a different level of consciousness that you’re accessing.

Hypnosis is a relaxation of the body and mind, together with a focusing of the mind. A definition of hypnosis is “a bypass of the analytical and critical thinking factor of our minds.” To apply this to the movie example, it’s when we don’t continually tell ourselves during the film: “what’s happening on that screen is not real, it’s only light images from a projection booth, and besides, those people on the screen are only acting, none of this is real, etc…”. If we continually focused on those facts, we could not let go and enjoy the movie. We go into varying states of hypnosis every day, such as when you are driving down a road while being lost in a daydream. Therefore, anyone can and has been hypnotized.

It’s important to know that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. I don’t actually hypnotize you – you hypnotize yourself using my suggestions and your imagination. Therefore, you can allow yourself to go into as deep of a hypnotic experience as you want to be, and you’ll always be awake and aware, knowing that you’re in the chair. During the experience, you may hear a car going by, or a dog barking outside, but none of that disturbs you as you continually focus inward.

The power of hypnotherapy is that we can use it to access and change the subconscious thought patterns that govern our lives. When we dream at night, sometimes those dreams are filled with metaphors that mirror the issues that are going on with us, whether we are aware of them or not. Who gives us these dreams? No one else does, yet we don’t consciously give it to ourselves. It comes from an unconscious, very wise part of us. Using hypnotherapy, we can easily access the same part of us that gives us our dreams, yet the difference is that we are awake and aware during the process. It is a very effective tool in healing because we can access and heal the emotional core of our anxieties or any stuck, limiting pattern where the root of the problem lies – the subconscious mind.

With spiritual hypnotherapy we can also access information from other lives that our eternal soul has lived, simply because we cannot separate ourselves from our indestructible soul self which exists outside of time and space. As we quiet our thinking mind and go deep within, we can tune into our “more permanent”, eternal aspect of ourselves.

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6 replies
  1. Larry Martin
    Larry Martin says:

    Why is it I’ve read about people speaking in a language, during a past life hypnosis regression, that they spoke during that life?
    Is that an example of someone being in a deeper state of awareness than would normally be needed to experience a past life regression?
    Also, how can I be sure that I’m not tainting information that I’m receiving while in a past life regression because I don’t want to hear what really took place, because it is not easy to hear that we were horsetheive’s , or worse, in a past life?
    I know my spirit guides want me to feel better about myself and not worse, but that is not how we learn and grow. Would spirit guides send you a message that they think you need to hear rather than the truth? Thanks

    Reply
  2. Eric Christopher
    Eric Christopher says:

    Excellent questions, Larry. I’ll answer them based on my own learning and experience. Regarding the first question, you’re referring to the phenomena of xenoglossy, which is speaking a language not learned in this lifetime. Ian Sevenson, MD, wrote a book, “Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy” which researches memories of young children who recall past lives, and have spoken other languages that no one has ever taught them. When this happens as an adult in a past life regression hypnosis session, it tends to be a rare occurrence, and it happens spontaneously.

    During the past life regression experience, all sorts of information drops in regarding that past life. Our conscious minds do not control which information about that past life comes to us. If our current body/mind system is being affected by that past life at a physical, mental or emotional level, we tend to get whatever information about that past life that is needed in order to get a soul lesson, expose a belief pattern that no longer serves us, or release left over “energy” at a mental, emotional or physical level, so we are no longer unconsciously affected by this past life. Our higher guidance system takes over and we see what is important for us to somehow grow, evolve and heal. In the process of that happening, other details of that past life may drop in, including, in rare instances, the language spoken. This happens on it’s own.

    However, it is possible, for the sake of research, to make an intention to go deeper into the life by going into the first person viewpoint of that life to focus on and pick up specific information about it, like names and dates, military units, etc. Research shows this information is very accurate at times, and sometimes it is mixed with information that not. Sometimes that type of information flows easily to us, and sometimes it feels blocked, as if it’s not necessary or helpful for us to know that from higher dimensional viewpoint. It seems that accurate and verifiable past life information may often come to a person if they need convincing that we are much more than these present bodies, and this convincing helps them to grow, evolve and open up spiritually if it is their time to “blossom”, so to speak, in their own soul’s journey.

    Regarding your second question, we seem to have a built in protection system so we only see information that we can handle. Many humans are already so guilt ridden, that if they also saw the hurt that they passed on to others in all their past lives, either directly or indirectly, it would be too crushing.

    The highest ultimate truth is that our souls come from the same one energy source, like individual waves that belong to one ocean. So ultimately, when one person harms another, the highest truth is that you are harming yourself. When one person harms another, it is seen from the highest viewpoint that they are subtly ignoring their conscience at a deep level, and they are operating from the normal human illusion of separation, which is ignorance of our interconnectedness and oneness. From a soul level, it’s seen that harmful actions happen often out of fear of what might happen if they didn’t follow the crowd or follow orders, or their environmental conditioning has shaped a bitterness or anger that encourages hurt to be passed on to someone different, or else family hurt just gets passed down through the generations like an unconscious, inter-generational virus. In short, all harm is done due to ignorance of our highest and truest nature, which is oneness. All harmful actions are based in fear and not love. We are partly here to learn who and what we really are behind this earthly dance of separation…in Hindu sanskrit, this human drama is called “God’s Lila.”

    From the vantage point of the highest level of our being, there is no need for forgiveness, because we are all one Being ultimately. It is seen that we as humans are all capable of good and bad. Humans do hurtful things, usually to the degree that we have overlooked our truest and highest Self.

    Reply
  3. Larry Martin
    Larry Martin says:

    I read in a book by Brian Wiess about a past life regression he was conducting on a female patient, where his patient regressed to a past life as a German ss officer in a death camp in WW2.
    When she was asked how she felt about what she was doing in that life, she answered in english with a german accent that why would she be upset by exterminating, ” undesireables.”
    After this regression,the patient who was a female Jew in this life, was understandably horrified. To be fair, she had a deep hatred of Arabs in this life and was repeating more hatred.
    My question is: is it possible we are shown our attitudes, in our past life regression, as they were at the time of our death because that is what we bring with us in the next life?

    Reply
  4. Eric J. Christopher
    Eric J. Christopher says:

    Precisely. It is very common to see in a past life regression something that we may be mirroring in this life, whether it be an attitude, perspective, or way of moving through life.

    Sometimes we see something about ourselves in a past life that can explain certain strong attitudes, fears, desires or talents in this life also.

    The theme of past life regression is that as you go within, a higher guidance system takes over and you tend to be shown whatever it is that will help you move to the next level; or to grow, evolve or awaken to an old, stuck pattern; or to gains some clarity into this present life; or to release something at a physical, mental emotional level, etc.

    Reply
  5. Larry Martin
    Larry Martin says:

    Is a life between lives regression longer ( 31/2 – 4 hrs.) than a past life regression (11/2-2 hrs.) because it takes more tlme to be put in a deeper hypnotic state?
    Typically, what questions are asked in a LBL regression?

    Reply
  6. Eric Christopher
    Eric Christopher says:

    An LBL takes longer because we spend most of the session after the past life death scene going deeper into the spiritual dimension. Often the deepening happens gradually and automatically as the client’s focus, attention and intention continues to focus on moving further into the spiritual dimension. If deepening is necessary by the hypnotherapist, it typically takes seconds or minutes.

    Questions vary from “What is the best way to deal with certain problematic relationships?”, to purpose(s) in life, to other past lives that are important to see, to the best foods to consume for the body, etc….whatever you can think of to ask. Although every LBL journey is different, often there is visiting soul groups, talking with guides telepathically, getting a flavor of what you do in the soul world, visiting place of planning for this life regarding what you wanted to learn and accomplish, as well as other places in the spiritual dimension.

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