Chapter 1: The Conscious & Subconscious Minds According to the theory of hypnosis, the mind functions on two levels: the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. M ost people go about their daily lives using ...at an optimum...about 10% of their conscious minds, while leaving the other 90% to the subconscious. This 90% has enormous information-processing capabilities. Think of a stereo system that has a right speaker and a left speaker. When one of the speakers is turned down, the other is turned up. So too with the conscious and subconscious…when the conscious is more active the subconscious is turned down. When we are awake the conscious is more active. When we are hypnotized the subconscious is more active and the conscious is turned down. Also according to the theory of hypnosis, the subconscious remembers everything. I’ve hypnotized many individuals and regressed back in time to the day they took their first steps. And they remembered everything. They would describe where they were, who was with them, what the room looked like, how unsteady their legs felt and even the emotions they experienced after their Mommy or Daddy picked them up and told them what a good little girl or boy they were. Now to understand why hypnosis is so successful, we have to have a basic understanding of the brain’s functions. “Consciousness” means awareness. The conscious part of the mind is that part we use to reason from cause to effect. Your conscious mind takes information in by the senses—sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing—and uses that information to think and make judgment based on past history. Full conscious awareness is where we spend most of our waking hours.  In this state, our mind is attentive and uses logic to reason, evaluate, assess, judge, and make decisions.  Unfortunately, when making life changes, the conscious mind often gets in the way. Think of your subconscious as a file cabinet where the past history is stored.  Every time your conscious mind wants to make an opinion, action or decision, it refers to a past experience; so it goes into the file cabinet for information. Think about the type of information you may receive from a file cabinet that has not been updated since 1987! Would you want to use this as a reference guide? The fact is that you do and you do it all the time!  We use old information to make new decisions in new environments all the time...and that is a huge problem in many people’s lives. Why? Because if the information we filed away is negative...then we can’t make a positive action. We use old information to make new decisions in new environments all the time...and that is a huge problem in many people’s lives. Why? Because if the information we filed away is negative...then we can’t make a positive action. Let’s say you hit your golf ball into the water off the tee on the 8th hole the first 3 or 4 times you played a particular course. Years later, you go back to the course and you begin to feel fear and apprehension as you go up to the 8th tee. Perhaps since you last played that course, you’ve had dozens of lessons and tons of experience playing golf; yet you still feel the dread. If you are like most golfers, that subconscious memory will cause the physical reaction of tension and you will miss hit the shot. The conscious mind takes all of your experiences and stores them into the unlimited space of your subconscious mind.  Your conscious mind then draws upon this stored information to make decisions – even as simple as putting on a sweater when you are cold. Your conscious mind also controls your voluntary bodily movements. Your subconscious controls your involuntary bodily movements. Your subconscious mind consists of associated sense impressions and memories of all of your past. It is made up of your brain, your spinal cord and a network of nerves that branch out through your entire body. Therefore, every single body activity is controlled. Your subconscious mind controls the health and function of every cell of every organ, bone tissue, etc. that is contained in your body. Subconscious communication is active whether you are awake or sleeping. You don’t have to consciously think about breathing. Your subconscious controls your breathing...and unless you take control of your breathing consciously your subconscious will do it for you...so you don’t even have to think about it. Imagine what a difficult life we would live if we had to consciously think about each breath. Take a breath now. That one was under your conscious control. If you happen to notice your breathing 2 or 3 minutes from now...your subconscious IN RESPONSE TO THE NEEDS OF THE BODY will have provided those breaths to you.  All the memories located in the subconscious mind of every experience you have ever had are also memories of the emotions and the environment that were present during that experience. The subconscious is mechanical, automatic and impersonal; it will work to achieve what it is programmed to do. When programmed for success, it will work to achieve what it is programmed to do. When programmed for failure (“I can’t do that.”), it will be equally effective in obtaining negative results. O.K. Here's Where It Gets Interesting Think of your subconscious as a “SERVO-MECHANISM” which is, by definition, a machine constructed to automatically steer its way to the goal, target or solution. The subconscious is very literal and responds by retrieving the information in its memory bank. It accepts WITH NO OPINION OR JUDGEMENT all suggestions and ideas given to it by the conscious mind. It cannot differentiate what is real or what is imagined. Four Brain Wave States The brain operates in four general states determined by the frequency of the electricity generated by the exchange of chemicals in the neural pathways. The four states include Full Conscious Awareness, the Hypnotic State, the Dream State, and the Sleep State. These four states correspond to electrical activity in the brain and are defined by frequency ranges on an EEG.  Full Conscious Awareness occurs when the majority of the electrical activity in the brain is in the beta range (14-35 Hz).  The Hypnotic State occurs when brain activity is in the alpha range (8-13 Hz).  The Dream State occurs when brain activity is in the theta range (4-7 Hz). The Sleep State occurs when brain activity is in the delta range (.5-3 Hz). In the Hypnotic State, the doorway between the conscious and the subconscious is opened, memories become easily accessible, and new information is stored.  In the Hypnotic State, you are not really “thinking” in the traditional sense.  You are “experiencing” without questioning, without critical judgment or analysis, like when you watch a movie. During this time the hypnotherapist…or you…can make suggestions that are very likely to “stick” - precisely because your conscious mind is not getting in the way.  You are not “judging” or being “critical” of the suggestions. We pass through all four bands sequentially as the electrical activity decreases on our way to sleep and as it increases up on our way to total wakefulness.  Regardless of whether we are on our way to sleep or to wakefulness, when we pass through the upper theta/lower alpha range we go into hypnosis automatically.  There is no power on earth that can stop it from happening but likewise, there is no person or power on earth that can force you into it; you must want to go into hypnosis. Hypnosis is in essence a bridge directly to the subconscious mind. Once we have the new desired goals “filed” in the memory banks of the subconscious, our conscious mind will access this new information, hence changing our behavior to the desired goal. If you ever read a “self help” book, the following will sound familiar. If you truly believe in a desired goal, and could visualize it, then will become a reality. However, if you think to yourself – “Sure easy for them to say.” and then you list all the reasons the desired goal CANNOT be accomplished then you wont accomplish your goal. If we believe we are capable of the desired goal, if we can visualize the result and have the dedication to achieving the result, it will be accomplished. On most occasions, this is easier said than done…unless you use hypnosis. Hypnosis goes straight to the source – it advises your subconscious mind that the desired goal IS possible and available for you and…as of the moment you are hearing the suggestion…the desired goal is no longer only desired, but is becoming a reality. Once you are fully conscious, your conscious mind will refer to this new information and act accordingly. Hypnosis is in a sense a short cut to the subconscious, assisting your conscious mind to accomplish all of its goals. Chapter 2: Dispelling The Myths Surrounding Hypnosis Most of the myths and misconceptions surrounding hypnosis are fabrications of novelists and movie scriptwriters. It is so important to be aware of all of the myths and misconceptions surrounding hypnosis in order for it to be very successful. The more you understand the facts about hypnosis and discredit the myths, the easier it will be to attain your goal. When many people hear the word hypnosis, they think of a weird “stage hypnotist” making people quack like ducks. In hypnosis people do not do anything they do not want to do, so these people that are quacking on stage are choosing to do so for the amusement of the audience Hypnosis bypasses the critical faculty of the conscious mind so that specific thoughts, ideas and suggestions can be lodged in the subconscious where they can propel the client toward a desired goal or change behavior in a positive, permanent way.  Yet, any such suggestions must be acceptable to the client. They would have no effect otherwise. When a person is hypnotized they are not controlled. Understanding these myths that are untrue is an important first step before practicing self-hypnosis. Fear of loss of control:    “I do not want anyone to control my mind” is a common concern. The truth is the hypnotized person will NOT do anything that they do not want to do. In fact, you cannot hypnotize a person (or yourself for this matter) if you do not really want to be hypnotized or if you think it is not possible. Most of the time people cannot be hypnotized because of the very fears we are discussing now. The hypnotized person is always in full control and would be able to depart from the hypnotic state if they were not comfortable with what was occurring. If you are presented with an idea or suggestion that you find objectionable in full consciousness, you will most certainly find it equally objectionable in hypnosis and you will reject it outright. The will located in the conscious is always present, always working.  If for some reason you will yourself not to allow the suggestions to be accepted, they won’t be.  The smoker, who comes in to quit smoking but is not really committed to that goal, cannot be forced to do so. I can’t be hypnotized Myth: There are different levels of hypnotism and while it may be true that one cannot go into a deep state of hypnosis when they first try, even a light trance will get the message to the subconscious. The more a person gets into the “habit” of relaxing when they sit down to listen to the CD, or practices self-hypnosis,  the deeper the state. About 20% of people are hypnotized into a deep state right away. About 65%, the large middle group can be hypnotized to lighter states and with practice and experience will eventually reach a deep state. Of the remaining 15% most can achieve only light trance and a few cannot reach any state at all. There are usually circumstances why a person cannot reach a light trance. These are taking certain medications, psychosis and extreme fear. Have you ever driven your car to your house and then did not remember how you got there? Have you every gotten completely absorbed in a movie so you do not hear goings on around you? Have you ever been in a conversation only to get completely lost in other thought? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, you have already experienced what it feels like to be in a light trance. Hypnosis is truth serum myth: Although hypnosis allows you to access memories, with great attention to detail, you can always censor what you say. This, of course would only be relevant if someone else was to hypnotize you. Hypnosis is a form of sleep myth: Unlike sleep, hypnosis is a state of focused concentration. Although there is decreased physical activity, you are aware and responsive and can remember what went on during and after the experience. The EEG’s (electroencephalograms) of people in hypnotic trance do not resemble these of people who are asleep. Feel free to send an email addressing other specific questions you have and we’ll add them to this section. Ken@KenGrossman.com. To find out more about Dr. Kenneth Grossman's hypnosis CD programs for smoking, weight, stress, pain and golf please click here. To continue to Chapter 3 click here.