As a hypnotherapist, it can be difficult keeping pace with the multitude of changes in my field –medical discoveries, new findings about the mind and how it works, new medications.

Hypnosis is one of the few areas of life that is unchanged after thousands of years. It has been around that long and effectively used. In ancient Greece, vestal virgins were hypnotists. The famous Oracle of Delphi, was, too. Chinese emperors, rulers of ancient empires in the East and West were hypnotists. Priests, monks and other religious people were hypnotists. Doctors also. Sir James Braid, a British army captain, applied it in the 19th century to help battlefield victims tolerate amputations and other major injuries. He is recognized as the father of modern hypnotism.

Some believe Jesus was a hypnotist. Rasputin, the Mad Monk, a peasant from the back woods of Russia, rose to fame through his use of hypnosis. A confidante of the tsar and tsarina, he was assassinated because he appeared to have too much influence over the royal family. He did not die easily. He was 1) poisoned with a bottle of wine, 2) poisoned with a box of chocolates, 3) beaten, and 4) stabbed 15 times. Still he would not die. Finally Rasputin was overmatched when he was pushed over a 500-foot cliff.

He Was Sneaky, Too

Franz Mesmer is a famous hypnotist whose name inspired the term “mesmerized.” He believed hypnosis came to him through a magnetic power. He always used a magnetized iron bar to conduct his hypnosis. In Paris, he would hold mass hypnosis meetings where he would have iron bars lodged  in bathtubs filled with iron filings. Members of the audience were asked to hold the bars and turn them clockwise,  created a hypnotic effect that influenced many.
French doctors would demonstrate hypnosis with patients of a local asylum to show what people can do under hypnosis, even when they were supposed to be mad.

During that period, Benjamin Franklin was in Paris. He served on a five-man committee created to look into Mr. Mesmer’s claims about magnetism.

Mr. Mesmer was asked to perform hypnosis in front of the committee. Mr. Franklin handed him an iron bar, and he proceeded to hypnotize a nearby volunteer. His success impressed the Franklin committee. However, Mr. Franklin took the iron bar from him and broke it in half to reveal that the bar was merely wood painted to resemble iron. The disgraced Mesmer  was forced to flee France to save his life. Even though he was shown to be a fraud, he still was able to hypnotize.

Sleeping Through Experiment?

Experimentations continued. One experiment was an individual was placed in a room and asked to go to sleep. A second person was placed in a different room and hypnotized. Both appeared to be asleep.  Several sentences were read to both. The person who was asleep could not remember anyone coming into his room.  The other repeated the reading verbatim. It was clear that hypnosis was a deep relaxation but the hypnotized person was completely aware his surroundings.

Operators of hypnosis, as they used to be called, create hypnosis through either a point of fascination – an object in the air – or overload, a person who tunes out because his crowded mind cannot absorb all too much information too fast.

All of us experience hypnosis more often than we know.

The last time you drove, how many cars do you remember seeing? None? Not surprising. We drive unconsciously.  The moment we see a red light or something else out of the ordinary, your attention snaps back to a conscious level.

Hypnotism is becoming more widely accepted in medicine, dentistry and other areas. \Will insurance companies recognize hypnosis as a valid healing art and offer coverage.

While hypnosis has come a long way, it is fundamentally the same as when vestal virgins roamed the world. It helps people in wide and varied ways.

If you want to eliminate panic, anxiety or chronic pain, improve your personal motivation or relationships, improve your sports or work performance, increase your self-confidence, self-esteem or gain the relationship you want, quit smoking, lose weight, give hypnosis a try.

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