Do you know anything about hypnosis? Just what you've seen on television and at the movies, yes, I see. Some character with a pointed beard, dark piercing eyes and swinging a watch, while a young girl lies, rigid with fear, upon his couch. He advances on her with slow, deliberate steps and stands over her. You think he plans to have his way with her? So that's why you're afraid of hypnosis?

Well, that may be the case in the movies, but actually in real life, it's about as far from the truth as you can be. You see, hypnosis is perfectly natural. It's as natural as breathing or eating or any of the things we do without thinking.

But it's no wonder that hypnosis is feared by so many people and why it has such a doubtful reputation.

Myths abound about hypnosis. One of these is that you must believe in it for it to work. Do you believe in the existence of your car for it to take you to one place or another? Or the weather. Do you have to believe in the existence of the sun or rain for it to make you hot or wet?

There are two parts of our mind. The conscious and the unconscious. Suppose you blush. I know as a kid I used to and boy, was I teased over it. But the blushing comes directly from the unconscious mind. The conscious mind looks on and that's when we say in horror;

"Oh no, I'm blushing again. Here comes the teasing!"

Now, provided my wife comes into my study quietly while I'm in a state of high concentration, in other words 'focused', she can come in and out without my even realizing it. That's because I've been in a hypnotic state. There are times when she comes in like roaring lion and frightens the life out of me!

A good, ethical hypnotherapist may keep his subject very still for a long time. This is a state called 'catalepsy'. They may become quite immune to pain, see very powerful images with the eyes either closed or open. They're so inwardly absorbed that time and their surroundings become meaningless.

But we experience this for at least two hours a night. It's called dreaming. It happens when the R.E.M. stage of sleep cuts in. That's Rapid Eye Movement. The pupils of our eyes move from one side to the other very quickly. During this period, our bodies are rigid, because Mother Nature, in all her thoughtfulness, doesn't want us to actually act out our dreams. My word, what a shambles that would be!

The same sort of thing happens during hypnosis, when you hear people say that their eyelids are getting heavier. Now, you remember we mentioned the swinging watch? That isn't as theatrical as it may sound. What it's doing is to mimic the movement of our pupils during the R.E.M. state. The patient looks at the watch swinging, and his/her eyes automatically start the R.E.M. phenomenon.

A fascinating fact is that R.E.M. sleep is totally different to the deep sleep our bodies need so much. The reason for this is that our brains and nervous systems are acting in much the same way as when we're awake. Indeed, some sleep experts call this phase 'paradoxical sleep'.

So, let's go one step further. You're wide awake when you walk into your therapists office. Then he hypnotizes you. You're in the R.E.M. state, but without being asleep.

There's so much more to examine on this amazing subject, but I do hope this explanation has been of some help.