No need to point out that the word hypnosis frightens off a good many people. That it conjures up a feeling of a loss of control, of people making fools of themselves on stage or elsewhere, of revealing a secret - and much more besides. I know this because I used to be one such scared soul myself!There are so many myths and inaccuracies surrounding the word hypnosis. To which I say, okay, if you don't like the dreaded H word, then let's dump it. A word is, after all, well - a word.In fact the name was conjured up by the Scottish physician James Braid back in the middle of the nineteenth century. Braid's word was wrapped around Hypnos - the Greek god of sleep.I have to confess that I shared many of the prejudices and misconceptions about hypnosis when I first 'discovered' it some twenty years ago. I was rather dragged along, somewhat against my will, by my wife to a self-hypnosis course in London. She had a terrible fear of flying and was determined to find a technique which could help her.
She had been persuaded to sign up by a friend who had certainly caught a severe case of hypnotic fever - a tongue in cheek phrase to describe the infectious enthusiasm that people who have recently discovered the technique can sometimes display for it - a kind of evangelical fervour. Thank goodness she did though - because otherwise certainly neither of us would have attended the course. We both signed up for a four-day course - held over two consecutive weekends. I have to admit that I was undoubtedly the prized pain in the **** of that introductory course! 'Well, I was certainly very relaxed", was my mantra after each exercise. Whilst quickly adding "but hypnosis it ain't". Next exercise. Very nice, very pleasant, very relaxing - but its just not hypnosis. Get the picture? This was because I was expecting to be out of control, to have no recollection of what had happened - or - I don't know really - some other special out-of-the-ordinary trip. In a last ditch attempt to shut me up and to prevent me from ruining the course for some 15 others attending, the teacher asked me if I would like some proof that I had indeed been in hypnosis.Proof? Wow - of course! I had trained as a lawyer and the proof of the pudding, as they say, is certainly in the eating. Or in the hypnotising in this particular instance. "Okay", he replied, "if its proof you are after, then what we are going to do is to stick a sharp needle right through your arm and, trust me, you won't feel a thing." "What a good idea", I replied, "would you be so good as to demonstrate that on my wife?"
To continue reading this article click here…Hypnosis is not widely used in France, which is a matter of much regret to me. The main reason for this is because sessions of hypnotherapy are not 'remboursél' by the otherwise generous French social security/health system. The French, if truth been told, have been rather pampered by the state in terms of health care. The consequence of which is that as soon as you have to dip your hand in your own pocket - well, forget it - it hardly happens at all. That's just a word of warning for any English alternative health care professionals who might be thinking of setting up shop over here.

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