Is There A Difference Between Meditation and Hypnosis?

 

Is There A Difference Between Mediation and Hypnosis?   

I have found that in many talks that I do about Hypnosis and with clients on our initial session, people think that meditation is different from Hypnosis or they ask if it is.  Some feel that they can meditate but not master hypnosis.  Well, the good news is that they are very similar. 

Many of the techniques that are used in meditation are the same with hypnosis.  The principle of both is to relax the mind.  To do that, guided visualization is used in both techniques.  In hypnosis, Hypnotherapist use a technique called Progressive Relaxation which focuses the mind on relaxing the body.  Each part of the body is relaxed, one at a time.  It is deliciously calming.  I also use visualizations that the client has informed me work well to relax them, such as sitting in a meadow among wild flowers, sitting in an Adirondack chair gazing at a still lake, or strolling along the ocean shore at sunset.  Those people that have used meditation before hypnosis recognize the similarities right away.

So what is the difference?

Meditation is used to quiet the mind.  There is no thinking involved.   When conscious thoughts creep in, then repeating mantras or just finding something quite to focus on will move them away.  Focusing on breathing is one of the simplest ways to quiet the mind because focusing on one thing (breath, image) quiets the mind.

Hypnotherapy happens when there is a specific aim to provide therapeutic healing.  There is action involved once the quiet state of mind is attained.  A Hypnotherapist will use meditation techniques to attain the level of mental quietness needed in order to work with the subconscious mind to make change.  This is when the mind is open to therapeutic suggestions for change that the client is looking to achieve in their lives, such as overcoming anxiety, a phobia or fear, healing their sense of self esteem, reducing weight, etc.

Even though both Hypnosis and meditation require a calmed mind, the mediator reaches their goal from stilling their mind and relaxing it.  With Hypnosis, the benefits happen after this state.  A quiet mind is the spring board into the depth of the mind that holds and protects feelings attached to beliefs that are causing the client discomfort physically, emotionally or both.

A Hypnotherapist will use imagery and metaphor, as well as Regression Therapy (if they are trained in its mastery) in order to best create the changes within the subconscious mind to attain mental and physical health… to facilitate change.  It is the subconscious part of the mind that is then power behind all of your feelings, thoughts, actions and habits. It is the single most powerful and goal oriented mechanism known to mankind and it is not rational.  As much as a person can tell themselves (or be told) to stop smoking because it’s harmful to her health, they continue.  The subconscious mind has another plan.  The smoking is a coping mechanism that masks hurtful feelings from the past, such as sadness, loneliness, anger. And because the conscious rational mind and the subconscious mind do not communicate, the conscious want (to stop smoking) doesn’t reach the subconscious mind.  It’s actually in the way of the subconscious mind which is the ONLY part of the mind that can make the changes we desire!  Our logical mind is a ‘thinker”.  Our subconscious mind is a ‘feeler’.  It’s like the languages Mandarin and Cantonese. Both are Chinese languages but completely different.

Hypnotherapy is simply the vehicle which provides the bypass of the thinking, logical, rational mind so that the positive messages can be passed to the subconscious mind for change.

Hypnosis is not better for you because it adds another level to the meditation.  Simply quieting the mind can bring up deep and powerful insights without any effort. The mind, just like the body, needs to have down time.  Meditation is an excellent way to give the mind a break, so that it can work more efficiently.  And hypnosis and meditation can both be used to help someone change.