The alert trance is a type of trance used by many hypnotherapists.

“What is hypnosis?
Will I be unconscious?
I don’t want someone controlling my mind while I am under!”

"Since I hear these remarks with such regularity I figured it was best to address the issue in an article.

Some kinds of hypnosis therapy do indeed depend on the client being in a deep, nearly unconscious, state of hypnosis. In this state the client lies silently with eyes closed and may appear to be sound asleep. This is a restful, soothing, and very blissful state in which the body is floating, the mind is drifting, and one is mostly unconscious of the hypnotist’s words.

Such a state is sometimes referred to as somnambulism. This state is quite useful for hypnotic anesthesia in surgery and is an excellent state in which to deliver hypnotic suggestions, because it is a highly suggestible state.

Since it is the state preferred by many clinical hypnosis practitioners, it is the one most often associated with the word “hypnosis” in the public imagination.

It is indeed a state in which the client’s conscious mind is mostly gone, and the subconscious can be manipulated by the hypnotist’s words.

The client often awakens with no memory of what happened, as if they were in fact asleep.

It has been repeatedly documented that a hypnotized subject will never do anything to violate their internal ethical standards of behavior. Your subconscious mind will keep you safe in a hypnotic trance. Hypnotherapists who have proper training operate in an ethical fashion.

The alert trance is another type of trance used by many hypnotherapists.

The client is in a state of expanded awareness, similar to meditation, in which the client is completely, acutely aware of everything that is happening in their inner world, although they may be largely unaware of the normal stimuli of their physical environment, like the sound of traffic outside or the buzz of a phone. In this relaxed but alert state, the client may experience very powerful memories that emerge from the subconscious mind.

During the alert trance session, at no time are you asleep or in any way unconscious. Nor will you ever feel out of control or experience any loss of memory of the guided imagery trance journey. Instead every detail is recalled.

We have discovered that we don’t need to be unconscious in order to be hypnotized effectively! In fact in the alert state of trance we may have more energy and clarity to do effective emotional release than in deeper states.

When we hypnotists use the alert state of trance, we empower our clients to continue this powerful work on their own to create the results they desire. "

Summarized from
Hypnosis and the Alert State of Trance
By David Quigley