Hypnosis in Everyday Life
Trance states are the natural narrowing of awareness experienced all the time in ordinary life. Typical examples are when you are absorbed in a film, or when you get that sense of flow while doing something active or creative.
There are two ways that our awareness is narrowed and natural trance experienced. These are on a spectrum from purely habitual responses to acting completely spontaneously when emotionally charged.
Trance States and Habits
Natural trance states are very useful and productive. Repeated practice takes the cognition of a new skill into the unconscious mind allowing the conscious mind to focus wherever else it is needed. For example, once proficient enough at driving a car we can reach a stage where sometimes we don't even remember the journey. And this is completely safe, because while we have relaxed into a trance state, our conscious mind will immediately be alerted if something out of the ordinary happens.
It's extremely important for our survival that habitual responses gradually sink into the subconscious to help prioritise awareness towards more pressing matters. However, this same rule applies not only to the learning of new useful skills, but also to the picking up bad habits such as smoking and nail biting. At these times the person finds themselves instinctively drawn in and entranced by their ritualistic behaviour, which can be extremely difficult to overcome with will power alone.
The reason this happens can be due to the subconscious inappropriately attempting to find a solution to a problem, or due to a change in priorities once the habit has been established. With the example of smoking the teenager may feel that smoking is 'cool or rebellious' which outweighs their future concern for health. They will happily smoke until they reach a certain maturity and their health gradually begins to take precedence. By this time the subconscious desire to smoke draws them into a 'now' focused trance state where at the precise moment of lighting up they are not concerned about the future consequences. Instead they crave the instant hit, which raises their blood sugar level, for a rush of adrenaline. And further more they find comfort in the ritualistic 'zoning out' that smoking provides.
Emotionally Charged Trance States
While many of our responses to stimuli are subconscious habits, we also have more emotionally charged reactions, which trigger a more instinctual response. The emotional brain can affect us to varying degrees and be of great help in times of crisis. At times like these it's not important to think about consequences, but is essential to act as quickly as possible. So nature has designed us to have the flight or fight survival mechanism. The information literally bypasses the logical brain and an instant response is triggered, which is known as an 'emotional hijack'.
After experiencing an emotional hijack people often report that they weren't the one who made the decisions, they simply acted. And while this can be of benefit for survival, it can also have negative effects if someone suffers from 'rage' or any other highly charged emotional state. When transfixed in an angry trance state the fuming individual finds there is little room for listening to another opinion and acts on pure impulse, often with great regret.
Problems also occur when there is a faulty pattern match to the stimulus, resulting in phobia. Experiencing turbulence on a day when already feeling vulnerable may trigger future anxiety associated with aeroplanes. Sometimes this increased sensitivity can spill over into other areas of life and if severe lead to agoraphobia.
Hypnosis and Awareness
Contrary to popular belief being in hypnosis does not entail a loss of awareness. While someone daydreaming while driving may have little conscious awareness, someone intensely focused while playing a sport, may have acute awareness. In fact, deep hypnotic trance states are simply characterised by a narrowing of attention. And if the person is completely aware and present in the here and now, hypnosis induces a very similar state to mindfulness meditations. You could imagine going into hypnosis as a beam of light narrowing in, while awareness is the brightness and intensity of this light.
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