Hypnosis - Dreams, Catalepsy and Why's This Man Standing on My Chest?

Stage hypnosis takes two basic forms. Either a number of people are invited up onto the stage, where the 'hypnotist' puts them into a trance. This is where you have one or more on the floor, quacking like ducks or on their hands and knees acting like dogs. This is not hypnosis, but pure entertainment.

However, the other type, where someone is put into a trance, laid across the backs of two chairs while another person stands on his or her stomach, is most definitely hypnosis. (Unless you're an adept, please don't try this at home. It's really not too good for the old back!).

The person who's been hypnotized is particularly good and/or experienced at 'tuning out' all outside noise and distraction so that the hypnotist himself brings him or her into a state of catalepsy.

Now, there are two meanings to this word as far as we're concerned, although both have the same end result. Catalepsy is a medical term where a nervous condition causes a person's muscles to become rigid and fixed. This can be duplicated by hypnosis. The person is then carried to two chairs, the backs of which face each other, and laid across these backs, their ankles resting on the back of one chair, while their neck rests on the back of the other.

They're completely rigid. The hypnotist then mounts a little block of steps so that he or she is able to step onto the subject's stomach and simply stand there without the subject 'bowing' in the middle. The person remains absolutely rigid.

When we consider the dream state, the reason that this 'trick' is possible becomes clearer. Dreaming is the deepest state of trance that there is. When you see an Australian Aboriginal standing on one leg for hours at a time, which apparently they're able to do, this could well be an ability to attain self catalepsy. You hear them talk of the 'dream time.' Perhaps they have a highly developed ability to use hypnosis to simulate the dream state. I don't know. I'm simply throwing these ideas out as possibilities.

Our brains have this incredible ability to mimic reality. Since it's quite common for a hypnotized person to experience vividly an imagined reality, it clearly shows why hypnosis works.

During hypnosis, the R.E.M., or Rapid Eye Movement of dreaming is frequently noticed. Dreaming, as we've seen in previous articles, is the way in which the brain is cleared of emotional arousal. It's easily understood from this, therefore, how useful hypnosis can be for helping people with certain mental conditions, especially those that fall into the emotional category.

The traditional way to hypnotize someone is to swing a watch before their face. I know myself that staring at a swinging pendulum can assist in taking me to a very focused state

Mike Bond, telling us more about hypnosis. His Website, The Hypnosis Attraction, carries a fund of information and interest which is well worth seeing. Not only this, but there are two excellent FREE downloads to which you'll automatically be taken, just by clicking on The Hypnosis Attraction