How Does Hypnosis Work?

Hypnosis is defined as “A heightened state of suggestibility.” Suggestibility means that you act upon suggestions given to your subconscious mind. In order for you to understand how hypnosis works, it is very important for you to understand the relationship between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind.

Before I describe the conscious and subconscious mind, let’s talk about yet, a third part of your mind that lies somewhere between the two; the "Critical Factor."

The “Critical Factor” is kind of like a guard at the gate between the Conscious Mind and the Subconscious Mind. It has the power to accept or reject suggestions from entering the Subconscious Mind. It has very good intentions. Its job is to protect you. Because change is viewed as a threat to your nervous system, any suggestion that does not match the existing programming automatically gets rejected. That is how it accomplishes its goal of protecting you.

The only way to get to the subconscious mind is to bypass the critical factor.

There are several ways to accomplish that:

Memories: Created only through life experiences. You may need many positive experiences to diminish the effects the negative experience, which may take time.
Habits: Require willpower and time in order to become habits.
Emotions: Either happen randomly or require changing the way you think about a situation and that can be enormously difficult to do and also takes time.
The Hypnotic State: A deep state of relaxation and concentration and requires very little time or effort. The Critical Factor actually goes to sleep when you enter this deeply relaxed state and therefore new suggestions can easily be accepted by your subconscious mind.

Victoria's Secrets to Life

How Does Hypnosis Work?