Hi Dawn, thank you for taking the time to write and say so.

I just wanted to pick up on a point you made here – self-hypnosis does not “induce a state of extreme relaxation” necessarily. Hypnosis and relaxation are not correlated and are not dependent upon one another to exist.

A couple of pieces of research by Eva Banyai (one with the well know Ernest Hilgard) showed that people can respond to hypnotic suggestions just as well, regardless of whether they are relaxed or not. Similarly, the field of neuroscience has shown that the effects of hypnotic suggestions upon the brain indicate that relaxation does not need to be present for suggestions to be effective.

This is great news for people like myself who wish to use self-hypnosis during high intensity and endurance sports, for example, when we are unlikely to want to be “in a state of extreme relaxation” and it is also good news for people who we work with in hypnotherapy sessions who worry that they’ll not be a good candidate for hypnotherapy due to their stress, worry or anxiety preventing them from relaxing – you do not have to relax to benefit from hypnotherapy.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, best wishes to you,

Adam.