I always try to explain to my clients how it feels to be ‘Hypnotised’ when I first speak to them or meet them. This is really tricky because it is impossible to experience someone else’s experience so this is what I tell them -
Some people tell me they remember nothing - for example they say they don’t remember anything after going down the steps or the count down, they just remember wind-surfing or open water swimming or playing on the swings.
Some people tell me they remember everything and that they are sure that it hasn’t worked and they weren’t ‘Hypnotised’.
The majority are somewhere in the middle. They tell me they remember bits, but were drifting in and out thinking about all sorts of things, remembering all sorts of things they hadn’t thought about for a long, long time.
People often want to be told how they will know they were 'under' or reassurance that they did it right. I tell them -
There is no right or wrong. All you have to do is relax, be open to it and follow my simple instructions. It doesn’t matter if you think you are doing it right or wrong, you just have to go with it. Of course, you could fight me, but that’s not why you’re here.
I also explain that there appears to be no relationship between how ‘deep’ the client thinks they go and how effective the therapy is. For example I had one lady who had come to me for insomnia.
She was adamant that she wasn’t ‘under’, she told me she remembered everything and it hadn’t worked. She was a bit grumpy with me to be honest.
Around 6 weeks later I received a call from a friend of hers. The lady in question had slept like a baby since the session and this friend wanted to see if it lasted before booking in herself. Apparently every time they met she asked - are you still sleeping? And she was.
These two had previously been buying sleeping pills from the internet because the GP had refused to prescribe them any more. Each of these ladies had one session with me. No more scary internet drugs and no more insomnia. However, neither had felt ‘Hypnotised’.
Those two ladies got me thinking about what it was people imagined Hypnosis felt like. From my own experience it feels like a guided daydream through memories and imaginings, and sometimes I remember everything and sometimes I remember very little.
We are all different and every experience of Hypnosis is different. I want to say that it always feels good and in my personal experience it does. However, sometimes people are dealing with very emotional or personal issues. They might smile, or cry, or even thrash around during the session, but, even then they feel ok - it is more of a cathartic release than a new trauma because the basic state of Hypnosis is one of calm.
So, that’s the best explanation I can give you. To really understand, you’d need to experience it yourself. My advice? Just keep an open mind and go with the flow and please remember the guys you see on stage clucking like chickens have been carefully selected for their compliance, their desire to please and their exhibitionist tendencies.
If you want to experience Hypnosis, check out my Youtube channel (@LucyTheHypnotist) where I have several recordings of sessions you can listen to for free.
