003 - Misconceptions

Look - we all get it wrong. I get it wrong. But here’s where people regularly get it wrong.

The details here don’t always matter recreationally. But it’s useful to have some perspective when…

Things aren’t going as expected.
Your concept of hypnosis is holding you back.
Your hypnotist starts indiscriminately and incorrectly mansplaining their home-cooked theory.

Hypnosis is Trance, Right?

I spoke about this a bit in the last section, but here are a few key points:

Trance is one of the cooler subjective hypnotic experiences. It’s usually the result of following a hypnotist’s instructions during an induction.
Hypnosis is the thing you and your hypnotist are doing together.
A state of hypnosis is (sometimes) defined as focus. (And while there are neural correlates indicating a ‘state’ of hypnosis, none of them are isomorphic. Which is nerd speak for - the brain does cool stuff during hypnosis, but brains all behave differently, so there’s no one single definable state of hypnosis aside from subjective experiences.)
Trance is that old-school subjective experience of maximum-chill, usually accompanied by an emotional feeling of ‘entrancement.‘

Isn’t Hypnosis Just Meditation?

Some theories of hypnosis suggest it’s the opposite - or at least hypnotic mechanisms go counter to the intentions of some meditations. In guided awareness practices, the goal is to objectively be aware of your experience while watching your metacognition. In hypnosis, the goal is to introduce “errors” to the system and reinforce them, similar to some proposed theories on conditioning hallucinations in humans.

There are similarities between guided meditation and hypnosis, but they’re not the same thing.

Is Hypnosis Sleep?

Look, I know you’re tired of reading this - but that does not literally mean that you can take a nap right now.

Hypnosis is not sleep. Some recent (poorly reviewed) studies suggest Stage 1 REM may be related to ‘trance,’ but it’s a long shot, and an aberration from the norm in academia. If you fell asleep during hypnosis, you need to fix your sleep schedule.

Two things worth knowing:

If you do hypnosis while tired, your response will be less than ideal. It’s usually better to sit comfortably than lie down in bed.
Some people do respond in Stage 1 REM. It always weirds me the F out when I watch a hypnotee’s arm levitate while snoring.

I don’t think I’m susceptible.

LOL okay, bye!

Here are things that can get in the way of you experiencing hypnosis:

Massive amounts of anxiety.
Cats jumping into your lap mid-session.
Being physically or mentally exhausted.
Toxic masculinity or insecurity.
A lack of privacy or an unstable environment.
Listening to Pulse Demon during your session.
Not following suggestions.
Not understanding suggestions.
Lack of interest or engagement.
Expectations that don’t match your response.
Needing to prove to your friends that you can’t be hypnotized.

You’ve got a brain, you can experience hypnosis and it’s phenomena. The better question is how much phenomena you experience, not if.

So… I just sit back and wait for shit to happen?

If you wait for something to happen - you’ll be waiting for quite a while.

I can’t make someone focus, I can’t make someone relax, and I can’t make someone accept a suggestion if he or she isn’t inclined to do so. What I am able to accomplish during any hypnosis session is the product of the collaborative efforts of my client and me.

Yapko, Michael D; Yapko, Michael D.. Trancework: An Introduction to the Practice of Clinical Hypnosis (pp. 30-31). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.

Your best bet going in is to be actively engaged with the process. Avoid analyzing and do your best to follow your hypnotist’s suggestions. Experiencing this is an active process - otherwise you’ll turn it into a boring lecture.