How Does Hypnotherapy Work?

Hypnotherapy works by connecting the conscious mind with the unconscious mind, allowing you access to stored memories, deeper emotions, and internal belief systems. In this post I explain how hypnotherapy works to help you create positive change in your life by making changes in the unconscious mind. It will help your understanding to read this post first » What is Hypnotherapy?

Table of Contents

• Hypnotherapy and the Conscious Mind

• Hypnotherapy and the Unconscious Mind

• Hypnotherapy and Altered States of Consciousness

• Making Changes in the Unconscious Mind

• Hypnotherapy Changes Internal Belief Systems

• Working with a Hypnotherapist

Hypnotherapy and the Conscious Mind

There are some features of hypnotherapy which work directly on the conscious mind. This is the part of the mind which you are using right now, to read this post. Techniques like auto-suggestion and the use of positive affirmations are used at the level of the conscious mind, with the intention of affecting the unconscious mind. You can read this post to learn more about auto-suggestion » How to Do Self-Hypnosis.

In general, the conscious mind is the starting point for hypnotherapy because it is where your awareness tends to be most of the time you are awake. The conscious mind, however, is only 1% of the Whole Mind.

Hypnotherapy and the Unconscious Mind

The main goal of hypnotherapy is to affect changes in the unconscious mind, the other 99% of the Whole Mind. This is because all internal belief systems, deeper emotions, trauma, memories, and everything you have experienced in this lifetime, is stored, in some form, within the unconscious mind.

Hypnotherapy is a highly effective method for making such changes. Using hypnotherapy, you are able to enter the unconscious mind and interact with all of the information and experience within. This give you a more complete comprehension of who you are and why you are how you are, thus giving you all the resources you need to create positive change in yourself.

Hypnotherapy and Altered States of Consciousness

By default, the conscious mind tends to be rigid. It clings to belief systems, facts, and ideas which support your current perspective. This is one of the main functions of the conscious mind, and there is nothing wrong with this.

However, when you want to make changes in your life, it is likely that these changes require a new perspective of your world and yourself. This is when the normal function of the conscious mind becomes an obstacle.

Hypnotherapy uses techniques which actively shift the mind into a more flexible state. This allows you to bypass the rigid tendencies of the conscious mind and make changes to the unconscious mind. This altered state of consciousness is often called "trance".

People in various cultures around the world have been using intentional trances states for hundreds of thousands of years. Trance is a completely natural state of mind, and occurs automatically numerous times throughout your day. With hypnotherapy, you can enter trance consciously to make changes in the unconscious mind.

Making Changes in the Unconscious Mind

The unconscious mind operates very differently than the conscious mind. While the conscious mind uses logic and language, the unconscious mind uses emotion and imagery. Hypnotherapy applies this knowledge by using techniques such as active imagination to "speak the language" of the unconscious mind.

These new ideas are installed directly into the unconscious mind, which then makes adjustments to internal belief systems to align with the new ideas. With 99% of the Whole Mind aligned with a new idea, you are certain to experience the results in your conscious life.

Hypnotherapy Changes Internal Belief Systems

Most of your beliefs are unconscious, which means that you are not conscious of why you believe what you believe, or even what you are currently believing—until that belief is confronted. And when your beliefs are confronted, the conscious mind activates to reject the information or experience which seems to oppose your current beliefs.

Confronting your own internal belief systems can feel very uncomfortable. The conscious mind interprets such confrontation as a direct threat, not to your life, but to your identity. And if the conscious mind is clinging very strongly to your identity, anything which stands in opposition to it is strongly rejected.

Hypnotherapy changes internal belief systems by relaxing the conscious mind into a more flexible, receptive state, so that it does not automatically reject new ideas. This trance state grants you access to the unconscious mind, where you can interact directly with your own internal belief systems. You are then able to consciously interpret and understand why you believe what you believe. You are able to consciously choose which beliefs are supportive, and which beliefs are outdated, and consciously install new beliefs which align with the changes you want to make in your life.

Working with a Hypnotherapist

You really can do this work on your own, and it is my goal to teach you how through Hypnotherapy and Your Best Self. Of course, it also helps to work with an expert. I have been practicing professionally as a hypnotherapist since 2017 and studying hypnosis for most of my life, so I have a deep comprehension of hypnotherapy and the mind. There are limits to what I can teach through this website, limits which do not exist when working 1-on-1.

Some people simply want to solve their problem and be done with it, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, my favorite kind of people to work with are those who truly care about committing to a path of becoming their Best Self, which is a lifelong journey of personal evolution. This is the path I walk, and I am glad to share it with you.

Your Hypnotherapist,
Devin Ryback

As always, I am here if you would like more guidance.