Hypnosis is a powerful and versatile tool rooted in centuries of various healing traditions found and used all over the world. Hypnosis also holds a fundamental role in the exploration and expansion of human consciousness. In recent years, research has significantly improved our understanding of hypnosis, particularly in its therapeutic applications.
The practice of Clinical Hypnosis, also known as hypnotherapy, is a therapeutic technique used by licensed healthcare and behavioral health professionals to help people manage a variety of conditions. During clinical hypnosis, a person enters a state of trance - a unique experience of focused attention and concentration coupled with physical relaxation and heightened suggestibility. In this state, individuals are more open to suggestions that can help them modify perceptions, sensations, behaviors, and emotions. The work done in this pleasant, unique state is self-directed and discussed in advance to ensure that the suggestions are personalized, welcome, and in alignment with each person’s highest goals and objectives.
Self-hypnosis is a self-guided practice where people learn to enter into a hypnotic state without the aid of a therapist. It involves learning and practicing techniques such as deep breathing, progressive relaxation, visualization, and repeating affirmations while entering a state of focused attention and deep relaxation. Self-hypnosis is a profound tool for self-care and personal development — allowing individuals to direct their own personal growth, manage stress, boost confidence, access creativity, solve problems, improve sleep, increase motivation, improve physical health & wellbeing, and alter behavioral patterns to create positive change.
Hypnotherapy, with its roots tracing back to ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Greece, has been utilized for centuries to treat a wide range of conditions. Historically, it was used for pain management during surgeries and childbirth, treatment of physical ailments such as digestive disorders and skin conditions, and to address psychological issues such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Spiritual leaders and healers also employed hypnosis for spiritual attainment and enhanced focus during rituals and meditations.
In contemporary practice, hypnotherapy has expanded its therapeutic range and is supported by a growing body of scientific research. Research supports the use of hypnotherapy in:
Hypnotherapy is also widely utilized to enhance performance — helping individuals to improve self-esteem, boost stage and public speaking confidence, attract meaningful relationships, promote spiritual connection and insight, and to enhance athletic and academic performance. Modern research continues to validate and expand the applications of hypnotherapy, confirming its versatility and effectiveness as a therapeutic modality.
Before we explore how hypnotherapy enhances our "mind-body connection" to improve health and wellbeing, it's helpful to understand the role of our Nervous System in health and disease.
Our nervous system is a complex network that regulates and coordinates mind-body activities and can be divided into two main parts: the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS consists of our brain and spinal cord —and it acts as the “control center” processing, storing, and sending out information. The PNS consists of all the nerves outside of the CNS (brain and spinal cord) and serves as a communication relay between the CNS, the rest of the body, and the outside world.
The PNS (Peripheral Nervous System, i.e. our body’s nerves) is further subdivided into the Somatic Nervous System (SNS) and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).
The Somatic Nervous System (SNS) has nerves that go to our skin, skeletal muscles and sensory organs and it helps regulate our sensory functions such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. The SNS is also responsible for all of the body functions we can consciously influence, including the movement of our limbs, facial muscles, hands, and other parts of the body we consciously control. The nerves of the SNS are like a relay from the environment to our CNS (brain and spinal cord) — with our sensory (receiving) nerves carrying messages received by the body to our brain and spinal cord and after being processed by the CNS, and our motor (sending) neurons taking messages back to our skeletal muscles and sensory organs.
The other branch of the Peripheral Nervous System, the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), consists of nerves that connect the CNS (brain and spinal cord) to the visceral organs such as the heart, stomach, and intestines. The ANS regulates and controls unconscious, involuntary functions such as heart rate, immune system function, digestion, and respiratory rate.
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is further subdivided into two systems: The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), which triggers the fight-or-flight, survival response during stress, and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), which promotes rest, digestion, and repair — maintaining homeostasis, lowering blood pressure, promoting relaxation and healing for the body. Together, these systems work in harmony to ensure survival, regulate necessary body functions, and respond appropriately to the internal and external world around us.
However, when our body’s Sympathetic "fight or flight” system is activated, blood and energy are diverted away from our body’s systems and functions that are not “essential” for survival. So in “fight or flight,” our energy resources are diverted away from body systems like digestion, reproduction, immune system functioning, and our “executive” brain functions; and instead, our blood is directed towards our cardiac and skeletal muscles, primitive survival circuits of the brain, and to the adrenal glands (for adrenaline and noradrenaline production) — to help the body run or fight in response to the emergency.
This balance between our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems is dynamic and continuous, allowing the body to maintain homeostasis and respond appropriately to changing conditions. However, in our modern environment, many of us live in a chronic state of “fight or flight” and recurrent sympathetic nervous system activation. Whether this is due to trauma, PTSD, or a chronically stressful environment, the research is clear: over time, this imbalance in sympathetic activation contributes to physical disease and poor mental health.
The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) plays a crucial role in helping the body return to a state of calm after the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). When a threat is no longer present, the brain, particularly the hypothalamus, signals the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) to “activate.” This system is primarily managed by the Vagus Nerve, which is the longest nerve in the human body and extends from the brainstem to various organs. The PNS then releases neurotransmitters like acetylcholine (which produces a calming effect) to slow down our heart rate and reversing the effects of “stress-hormones” (like adrenaline and noradrenaline) released by the SNS. The PNS also re-stimulates digestive and immune system functions, which were inhibited during the "fight or flight" response, to return to normal capacity.
While the autonomic nervous system controls automatic responses that are primarily unconscious, or beyond our voluntary control, we can learn to consciously influence and activate this system. Just as breathing happens unconsciously, whether we think about it or not, we can still learn to regulate and control our breathing to benefit our physical and emotional health. Similarly, through hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis, we can learn to consciously influence and activate our Parasympathetic Nervous System to promote relaxation, wellbeing, and improved health, and cognition.
The research shows that hypnosis can reduce sympathetic hyper-arousal and promote self-guided parasympathetic activation through a variety of mechanisms:
Furthermore, functional MRI (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) studies have shown that hypnosis can lead to changes in brain activity that are associated with relaxation and PNS activation. For example, there is often increased activity in brain regions involved in attention and relaxation, such as the anterior cingulate cortex and the default mode network.
Learning to shift out of “fight or flight” and into parasympathetic dominance through hypnotherapy brings a variety of benefits that promote physical & mental health and well-being.
Hypnotherapy can help us understand and harness the power of our nervous system and facilitate mind-body communication to enhance and transform our health and wellbeing.
According to Stanford neuroscience and psychiatry researchers, “trance” or “hypnosis” is a unique mental state, capable of inducing neuroplasticity.
As discussed, neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to “rewire,” change, and adapt… Thus Hypnosis is a unique form of therapy — allowing us to develop neuroplasticity and shift from wanting to change (while still repeating the same ingrained patterns and habits) to creating rapid and profound change with lasting results.
“Hypnosis is a state of calm and high focus. So, context is restricted – it’s like looking at something through a telephoto lens – you’re eliminating the surround. So it’s a state of high focus, which normally… would be associated with a high degree of excitement or stress. But hypnosis is a unique state, because you have a high degree of focus, but you’re very relaxed. And just to remind people that Neuroplasticity is triggered by states of high focus followed by periods of relaxation later, in deep sleep or in non-sleep deep rest. In hypnosis, it brings both of those states together at the same time. And this is one of the reasons it’s effective in accelerating neuroplasticity.”