Clients sometimes ask me, ?How will I know if I am hypnotized?? Well, there are several answers to that question. In this article, I will cover those answers and explain what hypnotic trance is all about.

First, we come to the issue of hypnotizability. Most adults and adolescents of average intelligence or better can be hypnotized to some degree, under the right conditions. Some school age children are good candidates for hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is the act of facilitating trance, for yourself, or for someone else. The factors that facilitate trance are Relaxation, trust, rapport, and the ability to ignore distraction. In its broadest definition, trance is simply a state of focused concentration. It is subjective and varies from person to person, and from one trance experience to the next. Trance can be experienced on a continuum from light to very deep.

Contrary to popular opinion, deep trance is not necessary for getting good results with hypnosis. People can achieve profound changes with light trance, as well as in deep trance. Most people improve their hypnotizability with practice and, therefore, may find it easier to go into deeper levels of trance, following practice and repetition. Each level of trance has its own ?markers? that a trained hypnotherapist can recognize. The paragraphs below describe various levels of hypnotic trance.

Light trance states occur naturally to everyone throughout the day. Daydreaming is light trance. Everyone who drives a car has had the experience of driving a familiar route, getting lost in thought, and then missing an exit, or winding up at the destination, but not remembering the trip. That is light trance. If you get absorbed in a novel or movie and lose track of time, that is light trance. In light trance, the breathing is steady and even, the muscles are somewhat relaxed, and the attention is fixed. This level of Relaxation is ideal for concentrating, meditating, and visualizing. Many therapy procedures can take place at this level. Neuro-Linguistic Programming generally uses light trance work. Analogies, metaphors, and guided imagery facilitate suggestions at this level. It is easy to enter and exit light trance. This level is ideal for working with many problems such as phobias, lack of confidence, fear, depression, anxiety, Stress, anger, grief, interpersonal difficulties, and minor pain management.

The next level of trance is called somnambulism (literally: sleepwalking). At this level, people can open their eyes, move and speak, as in light trance. Suggestibility may increase for some people. Some athletes enter this state when they are ?in the zone?---performing in a flowing, effortless manner. This kind of trance is what you observe in stage hypnosis. The stage hypnotist makes it look easy, but in truth, less than half the adult population (estimates range from 20% to 30%) can get to this level without practice. The stage hypnotist merely chooses ideal candidates, based on observations during the audience warm-up. Movies and stage hypnosis acts promote two misconceptions:

1. The first misconception is that a hypnotist has power over people. This is false. Hypnosis requires cooperation. Hypnotherapy only facilitates the client?s ability to carry out specific behaviors that he or she wishes to achieve. People cannot be hypnotized to go against their morals. The ability to go into trance is based on trust, rapport, and comfort. Unethical or untrustworthy behavior by a hypnotherapist would only bring about confusion, mistrust, anger, or non-cooperation by the subject.

2. The second misconception is that anyone can easily enter trance in no time at all, with just a few instructions. This may not be the case. Some people may need explanations, practice, and conditioning in order to comfortably reach the somnambulistic level of trance.

Somnambulism is good for habit control, alleviating psychologically-based physical ailments, regression, and some problems that are not responsive to lighter levels of trance. In somnambulism, most people remain completely aware of their surroundings. People use their imaginations more freely at this level. Occasionally, upon reorienting, some do not remember what occurred (this phenomenon is called "spontaneous amnesia"), or how much time has passed (losing track of time is called "time distortion.")

At light and somnambulistic levels some people will insist they were NOT hypnotized because they were awake and aware of their surroundings the whole time, they knew they could stop cooperating at any time, and they often remember everything that was said. This is another misconception. In light and somnambulistic trance, people can do all of these things.

There is a more profound level of trance, called by many names. One name is the Esdaile State (named after physician, James Esdaile, who used hypnosis while performing surgery in poverty stricken populations, where anesthesia was not available). In this trance state, and only under the guidance of a trained hypnotherapist (certified in hypnotic anesthesia), people can undergo surgery (and childbirth) without drugs. They feel no pain. People in this state can turn off sensation in all or any part of the body. Again, few people can achieve this level of trance without extensive conditioning consisting under the guidance of a hypnotherapist trained in depth hypnosis methods.

The deepest level of trance is somewhat identical to REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Breathing and heartbeat are slow and regular. The body is relaxed, although small movements can occur, under command. The person can speak, but the voice may be soft and slow. Some people will not speak at all, because they don?t want to. If worded properly and very concisely, direct suggestions to the subconscious may be effective here. Sometimes the person will remember what occurred during hypnosis, and sometimes not. While this level of trance occurs naturally during sleep, few people can achieve this level of trance in hypnosis, without some practice and conditioning under the guidance of a skilled hypnotherapist.