Control Pain with Hypnosis

Chronic pain can be debilitating, and even pain that isn't lasting can severely impact our quality of life. For this reason, the ability to control pain with hypnosis has come into the public eye a great deal recently.

Many of us live with pain every day. Arthritis, fibromyalgia, and depression are just a few chronic diseases which are known to produce long-lasting pain for which traditional pain medications to little or nothing to relieve. An injury can also cause pain long after the initial broken bone or sprain heals, for a variety of reasons.

This pain may sound trivial to others, but for those living with it, it can become a waking nightmare. Every movement is a trial; every day is a painful eternity which must be merely endured, not truly enjoyed. Popping medication all day long is simply not a healthy way to deal with this pain, and it can cause damage to our bodies.

Thankfully, due to a renewed interest in hypnosis and the phenomenon of mind-over-matter, pain control through hypnosis is getting a lot of attention lately. This is because it can offer a completely safe and natural alternative to medication, and quite literally give people their lives back.

How Hypnosis Works

Hypnosis is really just a very relaxed, trance-like state. Most of us experience this same state every night, just before we drift off to sleep. In hypnosis, this state is sustained. We don't fall asleep, but our conscious minds are nearly asleep, leaving our subconscious, which never sleeps, much closer to the surface. It is the subconscious which regulates our bodies. When using hypnosis for pain relief, the hypnotherapist will literally tell the subconscious that it doesn't feel the pain. It's not there, it doesn't exist. Pain that signifies a serious medical condition, which should be paid attention to, will be felt, but chronic and widespread pain are simply to be ignored.

How is this possible? It's possible through a phenomenon known as mind over matter. This is simply exercising mental control over the physical body. If you play sports, you may be able to remember a time when you were injured, but desperately wanted to continue the game. You simply put the pain out of your mind until the game was over. This was mind-over-matter in action. You wanted the pain gone, and so it was gone. Maybe you felt a small discomfort, but it was quickly displaced by your passion for the game.

Hypnosis for pain relief simply uses this natural function of the mind in a more long-lasting manner. The pain you're feeling as a result of chronic disease does you no good. It impairs your enjoyment of life and your ability to perform normal daily tasks. This pain is not a signal that you need to get to the hospital, so there's no real need to pay attention to it, or even to feel it. Hypnosis simply communicates this truth to your subconscious, and in turn, your subconscious stops paying attention to the pain messages it receives from your nerves. It's really that simple.

Too Good to be True

You may be thinking that something this simple just can't possibly work. Consider the examples of people who have undergone surgery while under hypnosis without the use of any other form of anesthetic!

In order for hypnosis for pain relief to work at its full potential, you should believe that such a thing is possible. Here's an extremely quick exercise to show you the power that your mind has over your body.

Concentrate on a part of your body. We'll use your foot as an example. Shut your eyes and picture your foot, really feel it. Wiggle your toes and flex the entire foot. Now begin to imagine a sensation of heavy, pleasant warmth filling your foot. This is similar to the sensation you would feel when very tired and pleasantly drowsy. Concentrate on your foot feeling warm, heavy and comfortable.

After a few minutes of this concentration, you'll likely notice that your foot actually feels warm and heavy. This, all by itself, shows you that you have much more control over your body than you every imagined!

Once you understand the amazing potential for controlling pain with the mind, you'll see that controlling pain with hypnosis is a very real and very effective form of pain relief.