The Science Behind Self-Hypnosis

More information from Dr. Alman's Self-Hypnosis site:

"Everyone has a deeper mind than their everyday conscious part of the mind that plays the largest role in determining your conscious (everyday) behavior. If you have ever wondered why you can't seem to quit smoking, stop overeating, or achieve your biggest goals? The answers are 100% available in you at your deeper, and always available, levels of awareness.

Research has revealed that the mind operates on both a conscious (or real-time) level and a deeper sub-conscious level. The sub-conscious mind affects your conscious thoughts, actions, and emotions-but it is rarely accessible by your conscious mind. In other words, your conscious mind may "justify" certain behaviors but it cannot get to the actual root cause of that justification, your true personal needs and your own best resolutions.
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Another way to explain this is to think of your mind as a computer. There are a set of "core commands" that are "hard-wired" into the subconscious part of your mind. Just like a computer, your conscious choices and actions cannot change unless you change your "core commands", or subconscious (software) part of your mind. Using self-hypnosis, you will "re-write" your subconscious and alter your conscious actions so you will finally attain your true potential.

No Smoke and Mirrors... Just the Power of the Mind
Hypnosis isn't some sort of mystical, smoke and mirrors approach and the science behind why self-hypnosis works is quite simple.

During hypnosis a person's heart rate and respiration may slow down, but this is due to the relaxation involved in the hypnotism process, not the hypnotic state itself. However, change does occur in the actual ... electrical activity of the brain. EEG research shows that that brain produces different brain waves and rhythms depending on a person's mental state. For example, deep sleep has a different rhythm than dreaming and a person who is fully awake has a different rhythm than someone totally relaxed.

The four categories of brain wave patterns are: Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. When it comes to brain waves speed is the thing that determines your state of mind, and in this case faster isn't better. You need to learn how to slow brain waves...here's why...

Beta patterns are the fastest brain waves, and are associated with normal alertness and concentration. However, this stage is also where you experience feelings of stress, anxiety and the flight or fight responses.

When you learn to relax and calm yourself you can move your brain into Alpha patterns, which is the pre-sleep, twilight stage where you have access to your subconscious. In this stage serotonin production increases, allowing more relaxation, focus and learning and heightened levels of awareness.

Theta is your dream state and the stage where you have the most potential for behavioral change. In this stage we are open to heightened levels of learning, memory and creativity- basically an open hallway to your subconscious mind and true healing. You can see why the Theta stage is so beneficial and also why we would want to have the ability to tap into the power of this stage.

Delta are your intuitive and healing brainwaves. This is deep, dreamless sleep and where human growth hormone is released, a natural anti-ageing hormone.

Why Care About The Speed Of Your Brainwaves?
If you are hovering in Beta all of the time you never open your mind to it's full healing potential. Relaxation cannot be achieved and a "wall" is always between you and where you want to be.

Self-Hypnosis allows you direct access to the slower brain stages so that you can over-come behaviors that are holding you back and give yourself a chance to heal and improve your life.

By using self-hypnosis to control brainwaves you can improve overall well-being.

Researchers Elmer and Alyce Green show in their book, "Beyond Biofeedback" that persons experiencing enhanced Theta waves have "life-altering insights leading to deep feelings of psychological well-being."

Slow Aging...A study conducted by Dr Giampapa, the ex-President of the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine, revealed the alpha, theta and delta brainwave patterns affect the production of cortisol, DHEA and melatonin --- three hormones important for increased longevity and well-being.

Become a "super-learner"...Bulgarian psychiatrist Georgi Lozanov combined guided relaxation and "synchronized rhythms" to create Alpha brainwaves in his students. He found that subjects learned five times more information and remembered materials better in a given time that the "non-treatment" subjects.

Researcher and biofeedback expert Dr. Thomas Budzynski, describes Theta as: "A transition zone between wakefulness and sleep in which one can absorb new information in an uncritical, non-analytical fashion." He believes Theta brainwaves allow new information to pass directly to the right hemisphere of the brain, bypassing the "self-sabotaging filters" of the left brain.

Manage Pain...English pioneer, Dr. Margaret Patterson found that when the brains Alpha waves were stimulated the production of serotonin brought increased relaxation and pain reduction.

Recover from Addiction...In 1989 Doctors Eugene Peniston and Paul Kulkosky, at the University of Southern Colorado gave a group of alcoholics induced alpha and theta training. Their subjects had much faster recovery rates than a non-trained control group.

This information about the activity of subconscious mind is important because it shows us the patterns in the brain's cerebral cortex that occur during hypnosis. During hypnosis the activity in the left hemisphere of the brain (the self-sabotaging area) is reduced, while activity in the right hemisphere is increased. When left-hemisphere activity is reduced with hypnosis the conscious mind takes a back seat and allows the right-brain, or subconscious mind to take over.

Can you see the healing possibilities...the potential for change...that are at your fingertips when you are able to tap into the power that lies within your own subconscious?"