Hypnosis, explained

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a state of focused attention in which you can become more absorbed in your inner experience and more responsive to helpful ideas and suggestions. It is not sleep, unconsciousness or mind control. Most people remain aware of what is happening and can speak, move or stop at any time.

Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis alongside therapeutic techniques to help you work with thoughts, feelings and automatic patterns that may be difficult to change through conscious effort alone.

There is nothing to get right and no special depth you need to reach.

Understanding hypnosis

What hypnosis is not

Hypnosis is not sleep, unconsciousness or mind control. The familiar images of swinging pendulums and people being made to cluck like chickens come largely from films and stage entertainment—not from professional hypnotherapy.

In a hypnotherapy session, you remain an active participant. We agree on the purpose of the work beforehand, and any suggestions I use are intended to support the changes you want to make. Suggestions are not irresistible commands: you can speak, move, ask questions or stop the process at any time.

I will explain everything clearly before we begin so that you feel comfortable and know what to expect. Please ask me anything you are curious or uncertain about. I genuinely love talking about hypnosis and helping people understand what it can be like for them.

How your mind works

Your conscious and subconscious mind

Your conscious mind includes what you are actively aware of right now: your thoughts, decisions and the things holding your attention. The term “subconscious mind” describes processes that happen automatically or outside your immediate awareness, influencing thoughts, feelings and behaviour; often without you noticing.

The conscious mind

Focuses on what you are aware of now
Thinks, analyses and makes deliberate choices
Works with goals and intentions
Has a limited capacity for attention

The subconscious mind

Operates outside immediate awareness
Develops learned patterns and automatic responses
Influences habits, emotions, expectations and reactions
Handles familiar routines efficiently

These are not two separate minds, and the subconscious is not a hidden little person controlling you. They are useful everyday terms for different ways in which the mind processes information: deliberately and consciously, or automatically and outside awareness.

This matters in hypnotherapy because you may consciously know what you want to change while an older, automatic pattern continues to produce a different response. Hypnotherapy can help you work with those patterns so that new responses become possible.

How patterns become automatic

Think of your mind as a car

Your conscious mind is the driver. It chooses where you want to go, makes plans, considers the options and pays attention to what is happening.
Your subconscious processes are like the skills that allow much of the driving to happen automatically. They include learned habits, emotional associations and familiar responses.

When you first learn to drive, you consciously think about every movement, including the mirrors, clutch, gears and steering. With practice, much of this becomes automatic. The pattern has been learned, leaving your conscious mind free to think about the route or hold a conversation.

Your mind also learns from emotional experiences. If something once made you feel frightened, embarrassed or unsafe, a protective response may be triggered in similar situations later. This can happen even when you consciously know that there is no present danger. It helps explain why someone can genuinely think, “I know this fear is irrational,” and still feel anxious.

During the session

What happens during hypnosis?

I will guide you into a more focused and absorbed state using words, imagery and attention. There is no test to pass and no precise moment when you have to feel “hypnotised.” I will pay attention to your responses and adapt the session to you.

Depending on what we are working on, the therapeutic part of the session may include imagery, metaphor, suggestion, exploration or other techniques. Any suggestions I use will support the aims we have discussed together. You may speak, respond and take an active part in the process.

At the end of the session, I will gently bring your attention fully back to the room. Many people feel calm or refreshed, while others feel thoughtful, emotional or simply much as they did before. You may notice changes immediately, or they may continue to develop after the session.

Have any questions?

Ask me anything you like about hypnosis.

You don't need to understand hypnosis before getting in touch. I'll explain it clearly and answer your questions.

What is hypnotherapy?

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