It is a formal induction into a relaxed state or trance.

It is therapy done on a client when they are in that relaxed state or trance. The client will normally have their eyes closed and the therapy works on resolving issues at the unconscious level.

It is a relaxed or altered state of consciousness that we as human beings go in and out of naturally. It is the daydreamy state, the medititive state or the state we go into when we are doing things on automatic – especially driving on a motorway or becoming very engrossed in something we do regularly

Even in a deep trance you don’t completely lose awareness at the conscious level, it is just turned down and if you really didn’t want to answer a question you won’t, however you may find that you actually do want to talk about things in a safe space if it is going to assist you in resolving issues

You would simply snap out of the trance and be able to open your eyes and behave as normal

As the trance state is simply a slowing down of the brain waves, there are only two things that can happen – either the brain waves slow down further and you fall asleep or the brain waves speed up again and you come back to full waking consciousness

You will always be in control, however often answers will pop into your mind that you don’t really know where they came from which is because they have come from the unconscious mind which is more than willing to give out information if you ask it nicely

These are two interchangeable names for the same thing. What the unconscious/subconscious mind is, is the part of your mind that is in charge of keeping all the bodily functions going – eg heart beating, lungs breathing as well as storing all your memories in a Time Line and storing all your information and knowledge. It is programmed to keep you alive and moves you away from what it perceives as a threat. All habits are programs for behaviour stored at the unconscious level and so for lasting changes in thoughts, feelings and behaviours the unconscious mind needs to be reprogrammed.

Nobody can be hypnotised against their will in a hypnotherapeutic environment but if you want to be hypnotised you can be, although different people respond to different hypnotic inductions. However, there are different depths of trance and these vary from person to person and also from session to session. Also, we can learn to relax more deeply with practise.

The hypnotic trance is not actually a sleep state but for stage hypnosis it is what the audience and participants expect. In stage hypnosis, only people who are highly suggestible participate and also they must secretly want to take part!!!

For hypnotherapeutic purposes, it is against our code of ethics to make suggestions that a client would forget what we have said so it is a very different experience. Also, hypnotherapy has to work with anyone from highly suggestible to mildly sceptical. If the hypnotherapist is the only one doing the talking then you are much more likely to go into a more relaxed state, however if you are answering questions then you are likely to be in a much lighter trance

It means that the therapy was effective and there was a good communication with your unconscious mind, however probably your expectations of what a hypnotic trance is, were probably unrealistic