Maximizing Your Brain and Body Potential: Tapping into the Power of Your Mind through Hypnotherapy

By Erin Del Toro, Registered Clinical Hypnotherapist, ACHE

Since the era of silent films, hypnosis has been generally misrepresented by the media, showing silly, swinging watches and hypnotized individuals who are blacked out or under the control of someone else during a hypnosis experience.

In my last article, we discussed how the brain and its neural pathways can be rewired in order to change habits, behaviors, and feelings through the process of hypnotherapy. In the second part of this series, we will talk about what you can actually expect during a hypnotherapy experience if and when you decide to try it.

Hypnosis is a challenging thing to describe to someone who’s never experienced it— like trying to explain bread to a person who has never eaten or smelled it. The best way I can describe hypnotherapy is this: It’s a therapeutic, peaceful, and dreamlike experience in the mind which brings a person more in tune with their intuition and with the ways to heal or change. It’s somewhat like having an emotional massage.

All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, meaning you must be the person to allow your mind to slow down and relax in order to be hypnotized. Whether you do that with self-hypnosis or by letting yourself follow the words and directions of a hypnotherapist, it will be you who allows your mind to drop into a deeper state of consciousness.

Have you ever seen a hypnosis stage show where halfway through the production, a volunteer was thanked by the hypnotist and told to take his or her seat in the audience? This was likely the result of that person popping out of a relaxed state of hypnosis, usually because something was beginning to feel out of bounds or uncomfortable. The volunteer’s mind naturally responded by saying, “No, thank you. I’d rather be fully conscious and present.” For hypnosis to take place, you must feel that things are safe and right.

Hypnosis occurs as the brain cycles begin to relax, slow down, and lower into deeper states of consciousness, allowing the conscious mind and the subconscious mind to converse. Most people are only aware of their conscious and sleep states of mind, but your mind and body are also very familiar with the five different stages of consciousness in between. Hypnosis occurs in the lower stages of these.

In consciousness, the first phase, we can think clearly, and we are present with the things happening around us as our brain waves, measured by gamma and delta waves, move most rapidly.

As we go a little deeper, the brain cycles a bit lower, and we go into the waking hypnosis phase. This is also the space where daydreaming occurs. Have you ever driven somewhere and then couldn’t remember how you got there once you arrived? You were in waking hypnosis. Waking hypnosis is helpful for humans because it allows us to be present physically but thinking about other things deeper in our minds.

As the brain relaxes even more, we find ourselves in the hypnoidal phase. When we measure the brain cycles of somebody who is intently praying or meditating, this is the phase we would likely find them in. As the brain lowers toward alpha wave levels, the subconscious mind becomes more accessible, bringing people closer to their intuition as they pray and meditate. In this stage, feelings and intuition are stronger.

The next phase down is the place where we begin hypnosis work: catalepsy. As the brain waves lower deeper into alpha waves and make their way toward theta waves, the body feels very heavy and very relaxed—like you don’t want to or you can’t move. You are probably very familiar with the catalepsy phase; it’s that feeling you have when you wake up in the morning with dreamy or floaty thoughts in your head. It’s a very comfortable, relaxed space, and the ability to connect the conscious mind with the subconscious mind here affords us some good opportunities for intuition work in hypnotherapy.

As we go deeper down, we enter the somnambulism phase, also a prime stage for hypnotherapy work. Somnambulism means sleepwalking. It’s kind of interesting in this relaxed stage because even though you are closer to sleep, you will feel more mobile—like you can move around. Here, you will have strong feelings, an awareness of your deeper, inner self, and the ability to really get in touch with parts of you that are unhealed from traumas. You may even experience vivid imagery and memories.

The last stage just before sleep is the esdaile phase, where delta brain waves begin. You will feel very heavy and relaxed, even drowsy. In the esdaile phase, the conscious mind slips away even more and the subconscious is very open and impressionable. Because it’s so close to sleep, it’s not a great place to do therapy work. But when you decide you would like to build the new habits and feelings you acquired in other stages, esdaile is a great space in which to imprint positive feelings in your memory. In esdaile, you may have vivid imagery and deep intuition.

A good clinical hypnotherapist will guide you through the different stages of consciousness and the thoughts and feelings you have. They’ll help you to locate the root of your problem, do the healing work necessary, and begin to open your mind to the possibilities of a new, different future.

As you move through this process, you are left with a new understanding of the problem and a peaceful, encouraging perspective on how things will begin to change for the future.

Erin Del Toro

About the Author

Erin Del Toro is an ACHE Registered Clinical Hypnotherapist and owner of Balanced Modern Hypnotherapy. She’s passionate about changing the effects of trauma, rewriting unwanted habits and behaviors, and helping others unlock the power of their true potential. Erin lives in St. George with her twin daughters and enjoys participating in the ninja warrior sport and playing in the beautiful outdoors of southern Utah.