The nature of hypnosis is so subjective that there is no actual consensus as to what it is. It is about as difficult as defining "love" and "spirituality". The best I can do is offer my own imperfect explanation on the characteristics of hypnosis.

Hypnosis involves an experiential absorption, a powerful focus on some stimulus (such as a thought, a feeling, a memory, an expectation, a sensation, the words of the clinician, or any specific aspect of experience). 

First, hypnosis is not sleep or something you are "in". Hypnosis is a process. The hypnotherapist offers you suggestions, so it is very much a language-based intervention and requires a certain mindset to be open to those suggestions. You have the choice to fully accept or reject the suggestions if they don't sound right for you. So it is you that inevitably has control over your mind and not the often mis-conceived idea that it's the hypnotist. Can I command you to make your palms sweat right now? No, but this happens when you imagine things. Can I command my bank manager to hand me over a million euros? Certainly not, otherwise we would all be wealthy hypnotherapists now, wouldn't we? 

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In hypnotherapy the suggestions are therapeutic ones. They may be for bringing about a state of relaxation, or helping you let go of what is not useful to you, or changing your perception of an experience...this makes it different from the concept of stage hypnosis.

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To benefit from any type of therapeutic hypnotic induction, you need to engage your imagination, focus on instructions, and absorb yourself in the process. Or you can choose to do nothing, but where's the benefit in that?

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Second, hypnotic phenomena is a natural state that you go in and out of daily: like being lost in a piece of music, or daydreaming (something I did a lot of in school!), and driving. Have you ever had that experience of not remembering part of a journey, yet were able to drive well and react when necessary? Being totally absorbed in a great book or a story or a movie, experiencing emotions and reacting to scenes that are not real, just like with the movies we play in our mind.... Some people refer to this as being in a 'trance'. However, the word 'trance' is often conveyed as being in a magical, mystical state as opposed to hypnosis being a natural state of focus and inner absorption.

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Put another way, hypnosis is a simple way of accessing that computer that's been programmed with all your experiences, relationships, interpretations of the world and influences, and up-dating that programme so that it becomes instinctive and intuitive for you to make the changes that please you.

Why choose hypnotherapy?

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Hypnotherapy is a safe stand-alone or complementary therapy and has no side effects unlike many prescribed drugs, although you may experience deep relaxation as a bi-product.

Click on the article that says the “ NHS should use hypnosis as a standard”.
“NHS should use hypnosis as a standard”.

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Hypnosis can instigate profound transformations in the way we think, feel, and act.

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Hypnosis empowers people to discover and develop strengths in themselves they didn't know they had, and the consequences in people's lifes are often nothing short of extra-ordinary.

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There is growing evidence that combining hypnotherapy with Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy and other psychotherapies generally increases the benefit of treatment (Schoenberger, 2000).

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Research has proven its effectiveness in pain management, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, children's disorders, phobias, and irritable bowel syndrome.

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Allow me to help you help yourself to make the changes you want and deserve. Here's to taming dragons!

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