Hypnotism-Hypnosis
You are completely relaxed…there is a wonderful .1 warm feeling spreading through your body…you have a great desire to sleep…your eyelids are getting heavy…heavier…and heavier…you hardly can keep them open any longer…now they are closed…with every word I am saying, you are getting sleepier… and sleepier…you are going to Sleep…deep, sound sleep…deeper and deeper asleep…Sleep!” You just read the exact words of a hypnotist, using the classical technique of verbal suggestion. Nearly everyone has experienced a trance-like state many times, though they might not have called it hypnosis. Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming and not noticed routine things happening around you? Have you ever been absorbed reading a book or engrossed in an intricate project and not heard someone speak to you or not noticed how much time had passed? Perhaps you have had the experience of being so engrossed in a movie that you realized that it was almost over and yet it did not seem like an hour and a half had passed. Or, you may have been driving on the freeway, absorbed in your thoughts, and the noticed that you had missed your exit. These are hypnotic-like trances. The main differences between these sorts of trance and self-hypnosis are specific motivation and suggestions toward a goal. Hypnosis channels the trance to achieve some desired result, like relaxation or relief from pain. It is common for people to disbelieve that they have been hypnotized the first time or two that it occurs. The reason is that the hypnotic trance is not a completely unique feeling. The absorption you may feel is familiar. Hypnosis is not a form of sleep, though a person in a trance often appears to be asleep.
