Hypnosis vs Meditation

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Introduction:

I have been asked a lot about the similarities and difference between Hypnosis and the Ancient art of meditation. I will keep this post short but simple. General understanding would say that Meditation and its adjacent practies such as the various kinds of Yoga, are about mindfulness and making your mind still i.e. focus. While hypnotherapy is about changing your beliefs and illiciting an actual response or what convential wisdom suggests is "Meditation with a Goal". 


Communication is key:

However anyone that has studied hypnotherapy and Meditation knows that this is wrong. The lines actually blur quite a lot. My simples definition of hypnotherapy is to say that it is a way to "communicate" and that is really it. I say that because it emcompasses even self hypnosis and active alert hypnosis. Now is meditation and yoga the same thing? You can pretty much say yes! 


Mindfulness practices where you attempt to focus your mind may be different in how it is done, however the "communication" aspect remains the same. You are communicating through with your mind through deciding what to pay attention to and. With more adjacent techniques such as Yoga which requires full visualization or body movement, you are "communicating" with yourself and your body through what you pay attention to. 

Let me explain:


You can say I am stretching the definition, however when you think about it, the difference between a "clearing self hypnosis" and a "chakra cleaning meditation" isn't too much. One may emphasis "attention" and spirituality more than the other - as in hypnosis it is perfectly ok to get lost, but then again it is so in meditation as well - the overlap is quite substantial.

To explain my point even better, you can note how the required effect is generated in hypnotherapy and meditation. The "intent" itself is a big part of the "cure" so to speak. Not only that, a "regimental routine" itself can bring good benefits where a person can simply step back from a busy day and recaliberate. On top of that, the relaxation aspect itself gives benefits. Even in group settings, you can see how it creates "bonding" and also supports the change through what is expected of you from the group (or a therapist in a single setting).

Outro:

This "communication" aspect is something that I believe ties together hypnosis -which is an umbrella on top - with Yoga, Qigong, Meditation, even herbal medicine and the associated placebo. 

Ofcourse there are other aspects of mindfulness movement, very specific breathing exercises, that too have analouges in science of relaxation and movement, and perhaps this is something hypnosis should learn from and/or incoporate within their realm in the future. In fact I have looked at some ideas around this which we can discuss.  

Remember, a good understanding of hypnotherapy can truly help us understand what these ancient practices are all about and make us make better decisions about our health and life in general. 


Umair Usman is a Businessperson, Rapid Transformational Therapy Practitioner, and blogger. You can know more about the family rug business on www.uch.com.pk My blog 'Convincing Ourselves' is now featured on https://blog.feedspot.com/psychology_blogs/

You can know more about him at www.thecognitiveconsultants.com. To book a free consultancy session, please fill the form https://tinyurl.com/y6n2vv8w 

My blog 'Convincing Ourselves' is now featured on https://blog.feedspot.com/psychology_blogs/


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