Judy, Erickon's work extended its effectiveness into the group usually thought to be resistant to hypnosis. I don't know what version you tried, but I think being human means that you have access to these states. I don't know if anyone is resistant to the states themselves. Inducing them is up to the skill of the hypnotist. Being resistant to induction is just another category in Erickson's system. Many people who are resistant to verbal hypnotic techniques find that physical techniques like massage put them into a hypnotic state. If you have ever had a massage that the floaty state that makes the time fly by is a version of a hypnotic state.
Although I agree with your caution about being overly broad in the definition of hypnosis, I am not sure that is not the same as with the definitions of the development of consciousness in traditional systems. In my understanding of hypnosis, which is very influenced by Grinder and Bandler's view, our "usual" state of awareness can be summed up as the percentage of attention we pay to the various sensory input, combined with our internal awareness of mental pictures,talking to ourselves, and kinesthetic awareness of our bodies. We have habits of how we spend our awareness on each of these because there is a limit to how much we can pay attention to at one time. But the activity continues outside our conscious mind, so we are still getting sensory input while ignoring it consciously, as well as phrases and images that can run internally without our being conscious of them. With that long winded intro, I come to my understanding of what a hypnotic state is: Any time we disrupt the ordinary percentages of what we pay attention to, and shift if from outward to inward, hypnotic conditions are present. We become aware of input we were ignoring and begin to pay attention to the mind's subjective ability to generate detailed experience. I know this is not definitive. But is it useful to me. If you have ever looked both ways in driving and not seen a car that was right in front of you because you were internally directed, that negative hallucination is a symptom of trance. To imagine and plan our futures or be creative, we utilize these states every day. But knowing their limits and uses seems important. There are also ways to enhance the state and I would propose that meditation is one of them. There are various depths of trance that can be achieved. I don't mean "trance" as a pejorative although I understand that people with a traditional model of understanding consciousness might see it that way. After all that your point is well taken. The physiological approach of differentiating states is still in its infancy, but may help in the future. Till then I think was are ALL winging it, combining our words with our experiences. I am enjoying the ride. --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > <snip> > > Although I have an obvious bias towards the hypnosis theory > > perspective on my own subjective experiences in TM over MMY's > > version, I am aware that there is a whole lot more interesting > > consciousness expansion information in these ancient systems. > > If we can get beyond the words used there is much to be > > learned from both perspectives that could be valuable. > > > > Thanks for your response. This topic fascinates me and > > any insights you or anyone else wants to share would be > > appreciated. > > Just as a data point, I'm one of those people who > is extremely resistant to hypnosis, but that didn't > seem to interfere with my TM experience. > > It may or may not be relevant in this context that > I had very little success generating alpha waves > on an EEG machine when I took a biofeedback course > (pre-TM). There was a distinct element of what I > think you would call "hypnotic induction" in the > instructions. > > And a caveat: You're coming awfully close to using > "hypnosis" to mean "anything that alters one's state > of consciousness." The broader you make your use of > the term, the less meaningful it becomes, and the less > useful for drawing the kinds of distinctions you're > looking to make. > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
