The experts are not certain yet EXACTLY how hypnosis works but they are certainly in agreement that it does work. Let's take a look at what happens in your experience and how the experts think it works in the brain to change response and therefore behavior.
Let's take the behavioral changes required to stop smoking and how they are created. Some of what we do is cognitive, i.e., looking logically at the reasons that someone smokes. We discover through talking that the client has these beliefs and experiences: 1) he believes that it calms him down, 2) he believes that there is no other good way to accomplish that, 3) he has had this habit for 20 years, 4) he believes that it has never failed him. There are many other factors, but we will start with these four.
Logically, cognitively, we examine each belief and begin to challenge it with logic. This in itself begins to change the entrenched idea that cigarettes are a good tranquilizer for stress. As these beliefs start to change, even just a little, the brain starts making new connections. Maybe there ARE other, better ways to relieve stress? What about the stress that smoking itself causes?
Then we induce hypnosis, which is a relaxed state of mind and body in which new beliefs and responses can be created in the neuropathways of the brain. In hypnosis, these new ideas imprint themselves more easily than with a simple logical change in ideas
Think for a moment about the last time you decided to quit. Maybe it was after a particularly bad coughing spell. Maybe it was after you burned a hole in a $600 jacket or your new couch. You vowed to quit and perhaps you quit for half a day. Then the addiction got the better of you and you lit a cigarette.
What if inducing hypnosis can allow that determination, that change of belief to imprint deeper and longer in your brain, in your neurological pathways? What if hypnosis expands that positive change in your brain and behavior to last a week, a month, a year? Might it not be worthwhile to try?
Ask the many ex-smokers who have used hypnosis successfully to do do just that. Better yet, give it a try today. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT A BAD HABIT.
