For those of you that have seen stage hypnosis on TV, clinical hypnosis is nothing like that! We could spend quite a bit of time telling you how the stage hypnotist manages to get half a dozen willing volunteers up on stage and to flap around like chickens, shout like a Sergeant Major or engage in other hilarious activities. The bottom line is these people want to be there, and are happy to perform. They have usually been carefully screened and selected by the experienced stage hypnotist. Usually they will have gone through a process to whittle them down from a significant sized studio or theatre audience, to the chosen few. We however, work in a reasonably quite, relaxed, friendly atmosphere in a setting, which is not too far removed from a normal everyday office. The therapist and the client will both sit in comfortable chairs, (a hynotherapist has to protect their bottom too!) and the therapist will guide the client through a process that allows them to reach a state of complete and deep relaxation, more typically called the TRANCE. We DO NOT swing pocket watches in front of you, nor do we normally get you to "look into our eyes". It's all much more friendly and comfortable than that. For a great many people, a state of trance is not a completely new experience. We all go into trances everyday of the week and allow our subconscious,(or autopilot) to take over. Have you ever driven your car on a long or familiar journey, and then suddenly realised that you have little or no recollection of how you got there? And I am sure we have all sat at our desks and let our minds wander off to the golden sands and glorious sunshine of that desert island or other dream holiday destination, only to be jolted back to reality by the telephone ringing or your boss tapping you on the shoulder. That's your subconscious at work and in the main it does a pretty good job of looking after you. The process of achieving the desired state of deep relaxation has been described as simply boring your conscious mind to sleep! It's not a bad description, although throughout the hypnotic trance you are not actually asleep. When this state of complete relaxation is achieved, the therapist is able to talk directly to your subconscious mind and affect the changes that you want to make. It should be stressed that at all times you remain in control and that you ARE awake. If something like a fire alarm went off whilst you were in an hypnotic trance, you would simply open your eyes, return to a full state of consciousness and go to a place of safety. In other words your reaction to the situation would be exactly the same as at any other time in your life. It's also worth noting that nobody can make you do anything in a hypnotic trance that you would not normally be prepared to do in everyday life. So getting you to rob a bank, give away your bank P.I.N. number, credit card details, pay for lunch or take the therapist on an all expenses paid shopping trip is simply not going to happen! Amongst the difficulties of describing a hypnotic trance is the fact that there is not really one satisfactory dictionary type definition of 'trance'. Most dictionary descriptions will talk about "increased inner focus" and some talk about "inducing a sleep state", which hypnosis most definitely is not! For most people it's an enjoyable and pleasant experience. Some people say it feels like a greatly heightened sense of awareness. Most clients will report feeling incredibly and totally relaxed. Some people remember the total session, whilst other lose all track of time and don't recall a single thing, (at a conscious level anyway!). Many clients are surprised when they check the time at the end of their first session to find that an hour or sometimes longer has elapsed. Whatever your personal experiences of trance and the hypnotic process, you can be assured that the therapist will make it a productive and successful session.