Magic, Mind Control, or Something Else: How Does Hypnosis Work?

I have been fascinated with hypnosis since I was a child, reading endless novels about evil hypnotherapists who controlled the minds of their helpless clients. As an adult, my first hypnosis appointment was a lesson in the vast chasm between fiction and reality. It started off similarly to the many novels I had read: a dark, cramped office filled with a variety of strange objects and tokens from other cultures. My hypnotist was in his 70’s, and there were newspaper clippings of stories about his work with various celebrities scattered throughout the room.

“So, let’s chat. What brings you here today?” he asked.

"I'm a smoker," I replied. "I'm not a heavy smoker, but I’m doing it more lately. I guess what I’m looking for, overall, is just to be healthier, to get into a mindset where I’m making better choices in every area of my life regarding my health.”

“Look up at the ceiling without moving your head. Just roll your eyes up to look.”

I complied. “Wow, that’s great,” he said. “Very interesting.”

“What are you checking for?” I asked.

“The higher your eyes roll up, the more suggestible to hypnosis you are,” he said. "Are you highly imaginative?”

“Oh yes,” I responded.

“People who are imaginative are very good hypnosis subjects. People who daydream are also very quick to go under, and they tend to go deep.”

“So once I’m in hypnosis, you can make me do anything you want?" I asked

“Absolutely not. In hypnosis, the recipient is always the one in control. In fact, we spend much of our day in a mild state of hypnosis. Every time you "zone out" while you are doing something repetitive, you’re in a subconscious state. When you drive long distances on the highway and fade into that place where you feel as if you are on autopilot-that’s hypnosis. You will never do anything that you don’t want to. This also means that if you aren’t ready to change something, it will not change. Are you ready for things in your life to change?”

“I am,” I replied. “I really want to get back into taking care of myself and living a better lifestyle.”

“All right then, let’s begin,” he replied.

He brought me into another room with a cozy black recliner, put a pair of headphones on me, and told me that all I needed to do was listen and relax.

As he spoke, I found myself analyzing his words at first, but they slowly became a comforting, hazy blur. As I drifted into a place between sleep and waking, I first felt light, then heavy. There were times when I would suddenly feel as if I was rising up to the surface, becoming more aware of my environment, but then I would sink back into this deep, floaty place.

“Five…four…three…two…one.”

At “one,” I opened my eyes are blinked heavily, feeling as if I had just awakened from a brief but deep nap.

“Welcome back,” he chirped. “Let me ask you a question. How long do you think this session was?”

My brain felt like pudding, but I knew that the session had been very short. “I don’t know…ten minutes?” I ventured.

“Over an hour,” he responded. "Time distortion is typical during a session of hypnosis. You were under since…4:17."

It was now 5:30. I could not believe it.

“So now that we’ve done this, what should I expect? Am I going to feel different somehow?”

“You won’t feel much difference, but you will notice a change in habits. Sometimes the changes take place very quickly; other times it takes a while. Every client incorporates the session differently. And I do recommend follow-up sessions to stay on track.”

I left the office and got into my car. Aside from being almost eerily calm, I felt normal. Within an hour, I might almost have dreamed my whole experience in the office. It felt distant and hazy.

I decided to test out my results immediately. I went to my mother’s house, who was serving an elaborate Italian meal, as usual. I filled my plate with food and waited to feel revulsion at the sight of my stuffed cannelloni. It did not happen. It smelled and tasted just as delicious as it always had.

Throughout the course of the week, I wasn’t consciously aware of any changes taking place, but I did find that I was craving fruits and veggies a lot, which was very unusual for me.

At other times, I would just wander away from my plate and forget to finish it. And one day I took a sip of diet soda and almost spit it everywhere while I was at work. It tasted HORRIBLE, like someone had filled it with salt.

I normally despised drinking water, but for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about how good a cold glass of water would taste. I poured myself one glass, then another.

Somehow, I never connected these small but strange changes with the hypnosis session. But, they continued. The changes were so subtle and gradual that I honestly believed that they were just random.

One night, months later, I asked my friend for a cigarette. I went outside into the crisp fall air and anticipated filling my lungs with a Marlboro light.

I lit it, inhaled, and then exploded into a hacking cough. “What IS this?” I asked, between coughs. "It tastes SO BAD!"

After that night, I found that I was so hypersensitive to the smell of cigarettes that I couldn't bear to be around smoke at all.

Once I stopped smoking, it became a catalyst for a chain reaction of better choices. I could not abide the taste of Diet Coke, and I found myself drinking much more water. I began to gravitate toward foods that were fresh and unprocessed. And as I continued to make better food choices, I had more energy, which spurred me to join a gym.

Yet, throughout all of this, I never put it together with the hypnosis. It was only in retrospect that I realized, yes, a whole lot of changes had taken place within my life after that session.

This is why I always tell my clients to leave with no expectations. I know first hand that it is possible to create massive shifts in your life with this modality, and not even notice it until your bad habits are behind you.