Hypnosis Extravaganza!

2009-06-25T08:39:00.013+01:00

Well, I said I'd share impressions from the hypnosis conference I attended last Saturday for those of you who I call "seekers of the key" (i.e. those, like me, who are searching for the key to the enormous powers of the mind).

There was so much of interest to hypnotherapists, but I do realise that my audience is predominantly non-hypnotherapists and so I'm just going to give you a few things to think about and turn over in your mind that arose from the topics in the conference.

So let's first talk about hypnosurgery and pain control. Dr. John Butler regularly uses hypnosis to induce anaesthesia in surgery - very successfully, and here are some other ways research evidence has shown hypnosis to be effective:
reduces pre-operative anxiety and stress and post-operative nausea and discomfort;
improves the ability to cope with surgery;
reduces the need for chemical anaesthetic and all its side effects;
reduces infection, improve healing and speed recovery;
reduces pain;
reduces blood flow.

In addition, hypnosis can help in chronic pain, burn healing, cancer and the effects of its treatment, high blood pressure, IBS, back pain, childbirth, etc. etc.

Interestingly, hypnosis isn't always the deep state of relaxation we automatically associate with the word. Hypnosis is a state of mind whereby your subconscious mind willingly and completely accepts a suggestion. That state of mind can be achieved through active means such as chanting, tribal dance, healing ceremonies, rituals, walking on hot coals, etc. or simply by the acceptance of a statement by an authority figure! I can vouch for the truth of the last one, as evidenced in my own recovery from debilitating back pain! I have also personally experienced the effects of "waking hypnosis" on the healing of burns. And it's always worth being aware of what to say and what not to say in an emergency, when the mind is in shock, because that can make a difference to recovery!

Employing the power of the mind in a physical process makes absolute sense. Isn't it your mind that keeps everything functioning in your body? Placebos can frequently create the same effects as pharmaceuticals and I'll leave this topic with one of Dr. Butler's observations at the conference:
"The efficacy of 75% of drugs can be replicated by placebo."

And so to the thought-provoking and challenging presentation by Prof. Susan Blackmore! This certainly kept us on our toes and ended up with many of us questioning whether we were conscious or not!

Her talk centred around "Consciousness is an illusion" and I'm not even going to try and summarise it here. However, here's a link to her lecture on "The Grand Illusion of Consciousness" and I'll leave you to work it out for yourself!

I'm still puzzling over the question of whether something exists if I don't see it at the first look. For example, you go into a room and look around - some things you notice, some you don't. Suppose there's a bottle of water on the table. At the first look, you don't "see" it. Does that mean it's not there? If you have looked round the room when you first entered and didn't "see" the bottle, was there a "bottle-shaped space" where you didn't see it? Or did it not exist because it hadn't been "seen"?

If you work out the answer, do let me know so I can move on!

And finally, just to support the hypnosurgery theme, here is a link to a complimentary download of an audio "Successful Surgery" that I made for a client about to undergo surgery. It is designed to prepare the mind for a successful procedure and outcome, and to speed the healing and recovery process. Please share it with anyone who may benefit. The link will be available here until 4 July.

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Collapsing the Potential....

2009-06-18T14:35:00.008+01:00

I got very excited recently about an accidental insight into the Power of Intention (note the capitalisation!)gained from a book bought simply to while away the time on a long flight. It was almost a similar "Eureka!" moment to that I experienced when reading "Excuse me your life is waiting". However, this book isn't even intended to educate or enlighten - it's simply a thriller, and purely for entertainment.

The story follows experimentation to create the perfect human being by accelerating genetic evolution using a quantum-measuring device. (Stick with me - it's not as complicated as it sounds!)

It's quite a dark book, with lots of death and destruction along the way - just what you'd expect from a thriller! But what a nougat of wisdom in the final twist!

The passage that made me sit up came right at the end, where the addition of focussed intention in the form of prayer influenced the result of the experiment.

As I firmly believe in the Power of Intention (although have yet to master it completely) my P.I. radar started to bleep at these words:
"'What is prayer but a focus of the mind, a focus of consciousness... and if consciousness is a quantum phenomenon, then prayer is a quantum phenomenon.'
'And like all quantum phenomena, it will and must measure and influence the result.'
......'Human consciousness, in the form of prayer, acts as a perfect quantum-measuring tool.'"

And then.....
"It was quantum measurements that ultimately collapsed potential into reality."

Everything starts off as pure potential and "collapses into reality" once all the variables have settled into place. Those variables can include external circumstances and influences as well as internal influences such as thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, etc.

However, since human consciousness is the perfect quantum-measuring tool - the highest influencing factor - its application can determine which potential is ultimately "collapsed into reality"!

Every situation begins with the potential to end in a multitude of ways - good in varying degrees, bad in varying degrees, indifferent.........

We often believe that we have no control over events, that we are victims of fate, that circumstances are out of our control - and perhaps we really can't influence all the external variables. But until that potential situation has "collapsed into reality" we still have the power to manage the internal influences of our own thoughts and emotions, to introduce simple belief in the outcome, and to apply our own incredible resource of human consciousness to push it in the direction we want. You never know, that small effort might be all that's needed to give the potential that extra "push" that collapses it in the direction you want!

What can collapse potential into the reality we want? What can influence the outcome for us? Focus, prayer, consciousness, mindfulness, concentrated thought - whatever you want to call your Power of Intention.

We are influencing the reality of our lives all the time with the constant stream of thoughts, emotions, attitudes and beliefs that flit through our minds unmonitored a million times a day.

So, on my mirror is a sticker with the words "Collapsing the Potential!" just to remind me to do consciously what I'm doing unconsciously every minute, every second of the day!

Oh, and if you want to know what the book is, check it out here!

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Mind2Mind

Hypnosis Extravaganza!

Collapsing the Potential....