Absolutely! Some people feel that when they are in hypnosis, that they are asleep. On the contrary, your mind is two to three hundred times more alert than it is at this very moment. A state that is extremely opposite of sleep. Hypnosis has nothing to do with sleep.

There is only one thing that you "wake up" from and that is sleep. Since you are not asleep, then... yes, you don't wake up. What you do is emerge. Anytime that you want to emerge from hypnosis, all you have to do is have the slightest thought that you don’t want to be in this relaxed state anymore. Instantly, the hypnosis is over and you are back to your normal state of awareness.

Nothing could be further from the truth! You are in complete control from beginning to end. First, you decide if you even want to be hypnotized... No one (not even a hypnotist) can hypnotize you against your will. All hypnosis is self hypnosis.

Once you choose to go into hypnosis, the hypnotist can give you suggestions. When you hear a suggestion you have one of four choices to make. One of those choices is having the thought "I like it, I know it is going to work." When you think this way about a suggestion, then that suggestion is allowed by YOU to enter your subconscious mind. Learn more, Creating Wonderful Change. The hypnotist can not force you to accept a suggestion. Lastly, at any time, if you choose to emerge, all you have to do is have the slightest thought that you do not want to be in this relaxed state and you instantly return to your normal awareness. The hypnotist has absolutely NO CONTROL over you at any time! You are completely responsible for your own success. You are completely responsible for your own failure. What mental attitude you take when you hear a suggestion determines your success or failure.

Sorry, they are not being controlled by the hypnotist. Even though some people would like to claim that their actions were out of their control! Starting at the very beginning, a stage hypnotist advertises that he is coming to town. People that are excited by this type of entertainment decide that they are going. Many of those people want to get up on stage. When the show begins, the hypnotist asks for a show of hands, those people that would like to volunteer to come up on stage. Numerous hands go up. But the hypnotist doesn't stop there and settle for those volunteers. He tells those volunteers, "really good subjects are those with the best ability to concentrate and who have wonderful imaginations." So he says he will give the audience a test for concentration and imagination. In reality, the hypnotist is testing the audience for two very important things. First, which people allow themselves to go into hypnosis very rapidly and easily. He has a show to put on and doesn't want to waste time with long hypnotic techniques. Secondly, and more importantly, he is testing those people to find out who wants to have fun and who is uninhibited public. These are the people that he invites up on stage. And since these people want to have fun, when they hear a suggestion, they take the mental attitude, "I like it, I want it to work." And the suggestion is accepted. Now, as you may remember from the stage show, some people, once on stage, didn't respond to the suggestion. They did not accept the suggestion with the right mental attitude and so the suggestion was rejected. These people are usually asked to return to their seats. If it is late in the show, the hypnotist will just ignore them for the rest of the show. All hypnosis is the same, whether it is on a stage or in a hypnotherapy office. You always have the choice as to whether or not you want to accept the suggestion. If you don't want it, it will be rejected and there will be no change.

No! When in hypnosis your mind is two to three hundred times more alert than it is at this very moment. You are in more control of what you say or do then you are right now. If there is something that you don't want to talk about, then you won't. No one can make you divulge information that you feel is prohibitive. As a matter of fact, a person would be more likely to get that kind of information from you in your normal state of conscious awareness. Since, while in normal consciousness, your mind is mentally dull compared to your mental capabilities when in hypnosis. 

A hypnotist can show you how to place yourself into a delightful state of hypnosis, feeling physical relaxation and mental alertness. If you allow the hypnotist to be your guide, they can show you how to stay in the state until the session is over. At any time, if you do not want to be in this relaxed state, you simply decide not to be and it is over. You then return to your normal state of awareness. But, if you follow the hypnotist's guidance, you will be shown how to stay there.

If you are using hypnosis for change, you must allow yourself to accept the suggestions with the correct mental attitude, "I like it, I know it is going to work.". If you have any other attitude, you will not accept the suggestions. A hypnotist can not force a suggestion into your mind. You must consent 100% to allow change to happen. If you do not want change to happen, you can stop it from happening with the slightest thought. Anyone with an IQ above 70 can go into a very deep level of hypnosis. How fast can you get there? As long as it takes to snap your fingers! The only thing that could stop you from going into that state of physical relaxation and mental alertness is if you have any fears or misconceptions about what hypnosis really is.

Transcript: Ok, so there are people that will say to me “I can't be hypnotized” or “I tried it and it didn't work for me.” Yeah, those are two misconceptions. If a person actually understands what hypnosis is — and you can look in the video that explains in detail what hypnosis is — that everybody can be hypnotized because it's a natural process for the conscious mind to go from very active to less active to less active to what we call asleep. And the fact is hypnosis is the state of mind between wide awake and asleep, and a hypnotist helps a person to go into that state of mind and then we try to help them to hover there. So the only reason a person can't “do it” is if they won't let their guard down, and there's a lot of reasons for that. It can be I don't really trust this hypnotist, I don't really trust hypnosis, I have a lot on my mind and I'm stressed out, I have a lot of misconceptions about hypnosis and so I don't want to really go into it. So there's a lot of reasons why a person would keep themselves in more of a beta state. It can be because they're anxious, it can be because they don't want to let their guard down, they're fearful, whatever the reason is, or they just don't really believe in it. Whatever it is, they're keeping themselves at beta by their free will. Hypnotists can guide anybody into relaxation, but you have to be a willing participant. So you can see like if somebody just doesn't trust me or doesn't trust hypnosis then it doesn't matter if they're in my office, they're barely going to close their eyes let alone follow my guidance on helping them try to relax. So everybody can be hypnotized. It's a natural process for the brain. It's just a matter of whether or not a person's a willing participant, wants to follow along, trusts the hypnotist, trusts the situation. I feel it's part of my job for them to be successful, to set them up for success by explaining to the best of my ability what hypnosis is and whatever they need to know to help them trust me and the process.

When you are in hypnosis, you are not asleep. You are extremely alert, probably more alert and clear minded than you have ever been before. The conscious mind takes on a different role when you are in hypnosis. It is guardian of the gates, there to protect you. When you receive a suggestion in hypnosis, you hear it loud and clear. Your choice determines whether or not the suggestion is allowed to enter your subconscious mind, dictating success or failure. If it is allowed to enter, you will have the change that you desire. If it is rejected, there will be no change.

After hearing the suggestion, you have four choices.
1. "I like that suggestion, I know that one is going to work for me!"
With this mental attitude at the conscious level, the suggestion goes into your subconscious mind, and change begins.
2. "Well, that suggestion sounds good, but I do not think it will work for me."
With this uncomfortable, mental attitude, the suggestion is rejected, and there is no change.
3. "I am not sure if I like that suggestion or not."
With this neutral, mental attitude, the suggestion is rejected, and there is no change.
4. "Oh, I like that suggestion, boy, I hope it works for me!"
The word hope sets you up for failure. It is similar to saying, "I will try," versus saying "I can do it." When you decide that something is a priority in your life and that you can do it- then there is no need to hope for it. And so with this mental attitude, the suggestion is rejected, and there is no change.

Suggestions enter your subconscious mind when you take the mental attitude of, "I like that suggestion, I know it is going to work for me!". You are completely responsible for your own success and your own failure. The success rate of hypnosis is 100% but it is up to you to have the correct mental attitude. If you choose to accept the suggestions, you will have wonderful change. If you choose to reject the suggestions, you will have no change.

The unconscious mind is responsible for basically two things. It controls the strength / weakness of your immune system and your automatic body functions. Automatic body functions include the beating of your heart and blinking of your eyes. Our unconscious is fundamentally unaffected by hypnosis.

The conscious mind is where you spend most of your time. Primarily, it has four responsibilities. First, it analyzes information or an event and then decides how to solve it, making thousands of decisions that you face throughout a typical day. Decisions that appear to be automatic, but in fact, are not. Examples of such decisions are "Should I turn the light on?", "Should I open the door?", "Should I dry my hands?". These types of decisions may appear to be automatic but really you make a choice as to whether or not you want to do them.

The second part of your conscious mind can actually get you into trouble some times. It is the rational part of your conscious mind. It provides reason as to why you behave in a particular fashion. Understanding that if you do not have a reason, you become anxious, nervous, and frustrated. If this goes on too long, it can lead to serious mental illness. Now, just because the rational, conscious mind gives us a reason, does not mean it is an accurate reason. The biggest problem is that the reason is never original. Examples of this problem include a smoker saying, "I smoke because it helps me to relax.", "I need a cigarette when I drink coffee.", or "I need a cigarette after I eat.", an overweight person saying, "I eat when I am bored", "I eat when I am upset.", or "I eat when I am happy.". Really, before the habit was developed, they heard other people say these things. One of the reasons people smoke or are overweight is because of a need for security or belonging. Security is a basic need for all human beings. Generally, a smoker starts when they are young and because they want to belong to a group of people. If they feels that they don't belong to this particular group, their subconscious mind, which must protect against real and imagined danger, recognizes the lack of security as a danger. In order to feel secure, they accept a cigarette and are immediately rewarded with feelings of acceptance and increased level of security. It has nothing to do with feelings of relaxation.

The next part of our conscious mind is often referred to as will power. This part of your conscious mind is relatively weak and likely very familiar to you. A person might say, "I am putting down this pack of cigarettes and I am never going to smoke again!". You know how long that lasts. This is just as familiar for the person who tries to diet. Will power weakens in time and the old, poor habits return again. The last part of our conscious mind is called working memory or short term memory. It is the memory you need every day to get through an average day. "How do I get to work?", "What is my spouse's name?", "What is my phone number?", etc. In summary, the conscious mind is very logical, rational, and analytical; and frequently incorrect.

Where the real you lives, the level below the conscious, is called the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is extremely powerful. It is the most powerful part of your mind. It can make you anything you want to be. Whether you think of yourself as rich, famous, poor, thin, overweight, happy, or sad, that is the real you. To understand the subconscious mind, you need to know that it is very similar to a computer.

A computer, if bought new, with no programming, will not respond when given a command. It will only respond to a command once the programming has been installed. The computer must operate according to the programming, it has no choice. If you purchase new programming, install it in the computer, and eliminate the old programming, the computer can no longer operate according to the old programming. It must respond and operate according to the new programming. This is how your subconscious mind works, functioning with the same type of rules and regulations as a computer. Only your subconscious mind is much more powerful. When you are born, your computer has primarily not yet been programmed- there is some programming, but not very much. You program your computer each and every day through your life experiences. The primary rule of your computer is that it must make you into the type of person that it perceives you to be based on the programming that has been placed into it. Programming is continually added to it, day after day, until you die. If your subconscious mind says you are fat, then you are fat. If it says you are a smoker, success, or failure then that is what you are. By adding up all your programming, it makes a decision about you, about the type of person that you are, and then that is exactly what you are. To rise above any label, you must change your perception of yourself.

Continuing to think along the lines of a computer, your subconscious mind has operational software. The first software is your memory. Your long-term, permanent memory goes as far back as birth or prenatal, depending on your beliefs. The subconscious mind is similar to a video camera. Everything that has ever happened to you, that you have heard, seen, touched, smelled, and tasted is locked permanently into the memory banks of your subconscious mind. You never 'forget' anything. If necessary, in hypnosis you can access that memory bank and appear to travel back in time. In regression hypnosis, you can travel back and re-live your first birthday or birth. The sensation is much strong than recall, it feels like you are actually there and it is happening all over again. You can hear, see, feel, smell, and taste very clearly. You never forget anything in the subconscious, only at the conscious level.

You also have habits programmed in your subconscious mind. You really only have three kinds of habits, some are good and some are bad. Most are utilitarian, automatically responding in a certain fashion when something else happens. When the telephone rings, you do not look at it wondering what it is and why it is making that sound. You decide to pick it up or not depending on your mood.

Emotion are stored in your subconscious mind as well. Of course, you would not want to be without emotions like love, caring, and all the other good emotions but, sometimes your emotions get you into trouble. The conscious mind can not deal with emotions in any way, that is not part of its job. Any time you need emotion your conscious mind parts like the Red Sea and you deal with the particular situation from your irrational, juvenile-like yet highly intelligent subconscious mind. Hence, sometimes it gets you into trouble. Many times you deal with situations with an extreme amount of emotion that are not necessary. After the situation is over and the analytical conscious mind takes over again, you find yourself thinking or saying, "Why did I say/do that?".

Your need for self-preservation is likely the most important part of your subconscious mind. It must protect you against danger, real or imagined. A threat imagined by your subconscious mind is just as real as something truly experienced. It can not tell the difference, it simply must protect you.

There is a negative part of you in your subconscious mind. Even though the subconscious is the most powerful part of your mind, it is extremely lazy. It does not like to do the work that is required to accept positive suggestions and change in areas where you would like. It likes to keep things the way they are, it takes too much work to make positive change. Positive suggestions are one of the most difficult things to get into your subconscious mind. On the other hand, negative suggestions flow into you like a hot knife through butter, because it does not take any work to accept a negative suggestion. Even negative self-talk goes right into you subconscious. When you continue to think poorly of yourself, there is continued reinforcement of negative programming. Therefore, your negative self-image becomes even stronger, causing you to feel worse. If you randomly decided to think positively of yourself, your subconscious may reject the suggestion because it does not match your programming.

It is important to understand that if a thought or concept is allowed to go into the subconscious mind, it must happen. You can revise or eliminate the old programming and your subconscious mind would only respond to the new programming. If only it were that easy. There is one more part of your conscious mind, it is the critical factor. Its only job is to stop positive suggestions from entering your subconscious mind. If you want to change a habit, your critical factor communicates with your subconscious and asks if it can be let in. If you remember, once a suggestions enters your subconscious mind, it must happen. But your subconscious mind rejects the entry of the the suggestions because it realizes there would need to be years of re-programming and does not feel up to the job. The only place left for the suggestion to see the light of day is will power in the conscious mind and you know how long that lasts.