What is Hypnosis?

You might be surprised to know that you have already experienced a form of hypnosis, many times in your lifetime and just like formal hypnosis, the experience is satisfying enough for you to return to it.

While watching a movie, you often enter a form of hypnosis - you are involved in an experience in which your body is relatively still, though your mind is quite active, you are silent, focused, sufficiently involved to allow yourself to be transported to other worlds and to identify with situations and people you have never met before. Your imagination and emotions are activated by the words and images on the screen. You may physically be at your home or at the movie theater, but you are somewhere else entirely in your mind. Yet, you remain in control and at any point you can leave the theater if you choose. You choose not to because you’re sufficiently engrossed to want very much to see what happens next. So you are invested in the experience. So much so that your body has it’s own set of reactions. You don’t want to leave this movie because like in a good dream, you are so completely engrossed in it that you feel compelled to find out what happens next. This experience is a form of hypnosis.

Daydreams are another type of informal hypnosis we all experience. Who hasn’t attended a boring lecture, where your only salvation is to imagine you are somewhere, anywhere else. Usually it’s a kind of mind-journey to a place that interests us. So, informal hypnosis is very comforting and an experience we often welcome.

We have selected the following hypnosis resources to offer you a richer appreciation of what hypnosis is and what it is capable of achieving:

"Hypnosis: Another way to manage pain, kick bad habits" - Mayo Clinic

"During hypnosis, you might receive suggestions designed to decrease your perception of pain and increase your ability to cope with it. Alternatively, you might receive suggestions designed to decrease cravings." For entire article, please visit the Mayo Clinic page on Hypnosis.

"Stroked, Poked and Hypnotized In the Search For Relief" - New York Times

"NOT long ago, the idea of treating pain with acupuncture or hypnosis would have raised many an eyebrow within the medical mainstream. But now a growing number of hospitals are offering patients alternative or complementary therapies, combined with traditional medicine." For entire article, please visit the New York Times article on hypnosis. 

"Hypnosis Works" - Discover

"The power of trance can no longer be disputed, a psychiatrist at Stanford University says. Now we just have to use it." Read entire article, by visiting Discover's article on hypnosis.

"Stanford Study Shows Hypnosis Helps Kids Undergoing Difficult Procedure" - Science Daily

"Elaine Miller desperately wanted to find a way to help her daughter, Hannah, endure an awkward and painful medical examination in which doctors insert a catheter into her bladder, inject a dye and ask her to urinate while being X-rayed. The girl had been through the procedure four times by age 7, and she dreaded going through it again. So when researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine offered hypnosis, Miller welcomed the chance. "I had tried every angle I could to either avoid the test for my daughter or make it less traumatic," she said. Researchers found that hypnosis lessened distress in Hannah and other young patients who, because of an anomaly in their urinary tracts, must undergo the difficult annual exam called voiding cystourethography, or VCUG, to see if urine is backing up into their kidneys. "Hypnosis was really the only thing that helped," said Miller." Read entire article, by visiting HealthNews.

"Hypnosis Eases Pain of Breast Cancer Surgery" - Bio-Medicine (HealthDay News)

"Other benefits: Less anesthesia, faster recovery, less cost, study finds. Instead of pills and needles, hypnosis may ease the pain of surgery -- both during and after the procedure. According to a new study, women who received hypnosis before breast cancer surgery needed less anesthesia during the procedure, reported less pain afterward, needed less time in the operating room and had reduced costs. " Read entire article, by visiting Bio-Medicine's article on hypnosis.

"Hypnosis is a state of consciousness" - New York Presbyterian

"Hypnosis is a state of consciousness resembling sleep, but the person can still concentrate on memories, sensations, or other things. Hypnosis is an altered, relaxed state of mind, often used to help learn to control bad habits, pain, and stress. Nine out of 10 people can be hypnotized. However, hypnotism will not work if the person does not want to be hypnotized. Hypnotism requires trust and imagination." Read entire article, by visiting New York Presbyterian's article on hypnosis.

"Hypnosis helps healing: Surgical wounds mend faster" - Harvard Gazette (archives)

"Marie McBrown was invited to test whether or not hypnosis would help heal the scars from her breast surgery. Marie (not her real name) and 17 other women underwent surgery to reduce their breast size." Read entire article, by visiting Havard News page on Hypnosis.

"Hypnosis Goes Mainstream" - WebMD

"By learning self-hypnosis, you can help reduce pain and anxiety. Hypnosis is no longer just a stage-show act. During the past 10 years, it has slipped quietly into mainstream medicine -- helping people quit smoking, even cut back or stop using pain and anxiety medications. There's good research backing it up. But many people don't really understand what hypnosis is all about. " Read entire article, by visiting WebMD page on Hypnosis.

At Long Island Hypnosis Center, we use scientifically modern hypnosis, not mythical hocus-pocus. "You are not able to move! The more you try, the more you find you just can't even lift your arm off your lap!" - this is simply not what hypnosis is.  We use hypnosis that is based on psychological priniciples that are the basis for emotional growth.

How do I know if I can be hypnotized?

Have you ever heard the idea that some people can't be hypnotized? Well that came about because old-fashioned hypnotists would order people around (you know the sort of thing: "Your eyes are heavy, you are getting sleepy"). Since most people don't enjoy being treated in that manner they wouldn't go into hypnosis - it's as simple as that.

When you experience the wonderful sensation of being gently directed how to use your mind to create an incredible state of internal calm, you will learn just what hypnosis is, and why you can do it.

Hypnosis is a powerful, effective and 100% natural part of you

The ability to go into hypnosis is as much a part of being a human being as speech.

If you couldn't go into hypnosis, you wouldn't be able to learn, to sleep, or to get yourself nervous through 'negative self hypnosis'. (You know when you imagine things going wrong and it makes you feel anxious? Well that's hypnosis!)

Over the last century thousands of pieces of research have been carried out by highly trained professionals into clinical hypnosis, the most powerful tool we posess for improved performance and change.

At last, hypnosis is moving out of the realm of wizards, magicians and magic and into the clear light of modern science - exactly where it belongs.

In hypnosis, you are in control

Crazy news stories, stage hypnotists and gossip has led many people to believe that when you are in hypnosis, you are under someone else's control. Nothing could be further from the truth. When you are hypnotized, you are just really relaxed and focused - in fact, the most common comment is "Was I hypnotized?". The only reason people stay in hypnosis is because it feels fantastic. Any time they want to, they can get up and walk away.

Going into hypnosis isn't the same as being asleep

People often say things like "I could hear every word you were saying", or "I felt like I could open my eyes if I wanted to". It is vital to learn that hypnosis isn't like being asleep - you can be aware of everything around you, just like when you meditate (in fact the two states are nearly identical). In hypnosis, you simply have a stronger focus internally, plus wonderful deep relaxation." (Uncommon Knowledge).

Long Island Hypnosis Center

Long Island Location 23 Linwood Road South Port Washington, New York  11050 Phone: (516) 570-0647

Queens, New York Location 110-50 Forest Hills, New York 11375 Phone: (718) 263-1300