How Do You Experience Hypnosis? FAQs

This is a living, changing post. I add to it as I get more questions : )

What does it feel like?

Many expect hypnosis to be a dramatic, mind-bending experience.

It can happen. But not every time. Usually hypnotic trance doesn’t feel wildly different from our daily reality.

The actual experience differs from person to person and from time to time. It also changes with the depth of trance.

• There is a sense of relaxation of body and mind.
• Sometimes you feel physical sensations. An arm or a leg twitching or a tingling sensation.
• There may be a sense of lightness or heaviness.
• You may hear the therapist and some ambient sounds.
• Sometimes you zone in and out, being a little more aware of the surroundings for a while and then a little less.

I always get a warm, fuzzy feeling. The rest of it varies with how deep I go. But this pleasant ‘fuzziness’ is a constant I look forward to.

Can you not know that you were in trance?

Yes. People regularly question whether they did go into trance. Especially when it’s a light state of hypnosis.

With regular practice, you learn to recognise the state more easily.

Can you think in trance?

Your mind doesn’t just stop during hypnosis. Thoughts still come and go. As long as you’re not carried away by them, you will continue to be in trance.

Meditation, dreaming and hypnosis

Hypnotic trance is similar to meditation in some ways. I have practiced mindfulness meditation in the past and gone into a similar fuzzy state.

But I prefer hypnosis to meditation any day. It's way more fun.

I personally feel that hypnosis is more similar to dreaming than meditation. There is more of a free flow of ideas in trance and sometimes there is a fuzzy sense of ‘dreaming while awake’.