Entering the hypnotic state
- Written by Marie-Anne Oswald
Hypnosis captivates your attention and focuses your mind on a particular task.
Even if today, rare are the therapists who offer their clients to enter hypnosis by following a pendulum of the eyes, this technique is incredibly effective for several reasons:
- The simplicity of the task is understandable for everyone
- Giving your brain an extremely simple task helps to calm the nervous system.
You may be familiar with this phenomenon if you like to drive and, by doing so, you can focus your attention only on the road.
Your body and automatic reflexes seem to be driving “instead of you”, allowing you to let your thoughts wander freely.
- The movement of the eyes from left to right, right to left, not only fatigues the eye muscles (so you don’t feel like opening them as soon as you are given the opportunity to close them), but it also replicates the eye movement you get during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
This sleep phase associated with dreams has the particularity of immobilizing all the motor muscles of the body (with the exception of the eye muscles) in order to let the brain work and organize the information of the day.
Just by entering into a hypnotic state, you’re offering your brain an extra opportunity to process the information that is going on in your mind, freeing up space and energy for the rest of your day.