The two most common questions clients ask me are:

• “Will I remember what happened while I was hypnotized?”
• “Are you going to take control of my mind and make me do weird things like they do at stage shows?”

Answers:

• Yes, you will remember everything.
  No, I cannot take control of your mind or make you do anything you would not do in a waking state.

Stage shows do more damage than good to people considering hypnosis.

Hypnosis has been around thousands of years. The vestal virgins, rulers of Chinese dynasties, Rasputin the Mad Monk, a Russian peasant who gained influence with the czar and czarina, the Oracle of Delphi, priests and royalty – all used hypnosis.

Believe it or not, you are more alert in a hypnotic state than in a waking state. Hearing is sharper. Sense of smell is keener. Concentration and listening abilities are, too.

Hypnosis is a state of hyper awareness.

In the late 1700s, Franz Mesmer (the expression mesmerized comes from him) believed hypnosis was created by magnetic currents flowing through the body, leading to a hypnotic effect.

This was disproved by a six-man committee that included Benjamin Franklin.

Even though they disproved Mesmer’s claim, they knew a hypnotic effect was real.

Capt. James Braid, a British Army surgeon in the middle 1800s, used hypnosis to help with battlefield casualties.

He discovered casualties that had been hypnotized suffered less recovery pain, needed less recovery time, suffered fewer infections and blood loss.

Following up, hypnosis began to be used in regular hospitals with similar results.

French doctors would bring asylum inmates to the banks of the River Seine in the late 1800. They would conduct hypnotic tests in front of crowds for entertainment purposes.

They sought to prove even insane people were hypnotizable. They would appear to be normal.

A hypnotist showed a room full of doctors 50 years ago how beneficial hypnosis was at child birth.

He showed that on command, after telling the hypnotized mother-to-be she would feel no or scant pain, it would come true. Doctors were dumbfounded.

Five years ago I went to an orthopedic surgeon for severe back issues. He looked at the MRI and asked what pains meds was I taking.

My reply – “none” — stunned him. The MRI showed him I should be screaming in pain. I told him that the pain was there. But by using hypnosis, I compartmentalized the pain and ignored it.

“I never have heard of such a thing,” he said. Even though he held a position of powerful responsibility, he had forgotten all about hypnosis as a useful tool for his patients.

Hypnosis is taught to doctors, but only in an eight-hour seminar.

My surgeon sent me his most difficult patients. Again he was amazed hypnosis helped them feel better when additional pains meds did not.

People who take pain meds find that pain continues but the amount of medication they need increases with diminishing effect.

Many clients who suffered extreme pain and had been using medications changed from their meds to daily hypnosis. Pain heavily decreased. Dependence on pain meds stopped.

Hypnosis is not a mystery.

It can be learned by anyone who wants to learn it.

Hypnosis is an excellent tool for improving any area of life.

Do not hesitate to contact me by telephone, 310.204.3321, or by email at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net. See my website at www.hypnotherapy4you.net