Hypnosis is not at all related to any particular state of consciousness. The reason people confuse hypnosis as a state of consciousness is because we often associate the techniques of hypnosis as leading to a half-sleep and half-awake state. We picture patients lying on leather sofas with their eyes closed and their awareness facing inwards to their “subconscious.”
But the fact of the matter is hypnosis can be used to expand awareness just as effectively as it can be used to contract awareness.
A perfect example of hypnosis operating at “normal” consciousness is stage hypnosis. When a participant clucks like a chicken, or acts out a scene in Saving Private Ryan – it is not that the individual is unconscious and being pulled by his or her strings like a stuffed puppet – they are just in a situation where they are comfortable acting out behaviors they normally wouldn’t do in front of a crowd. They are not being “controlled” by the hypnotist – they are just being communicated to very effectively. The participants free will is still in-tact throughout the whole session. A participant can bring his or her self out of hypnosis whenever they choose, but why would they when they are having so much fun playing pretend?
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