What are the different stages of hypnosis? Learn about the different stages of hypnosis. There is a lot of argument about that. Mesmer believed that he could magnetize objects by touching them. He got...
There is a lot of argument about that. Mesmer believed that he could magnetize objects by touching them. He got to be an egocentric fellow, but he believed he could go up, touch a tree and that it would have magical healing powers and somebody else could touch that tree and be healed. One of his followers had magnetized the tree and he noticed that a peasant boy had tied himself to the tree in the attempt to heal himself. Mesmer told the boy to get down from there and the boy got down from the tree. As he continued, Mesmer eventually discovered that the boy was following his commands. Everything he told him to do, the boy followed and yet when he came out of that state he was unaware of anything that had happened. He had total amnesia. So the state that the boy was in was named "somnambulism" which means "sleep walking." It's not sleep walking because you are aware; you can hear the voice, but you automatically do what the person asks.
That is the state called somnambulism, which is what a lot of hypnotherapist believes is the state that is necessary for maximum power of suggestions. I should mention that typically if someone is under hypnosis, and someone gives them a suggestion that they don't like, the person immediately snaps out of hypnosis. The other thing that they will often do is just ignore the suggestion. I am sure these people out there that have seen shows of stage hypnotists, people that are doing silly things. If you ever watch a stage hypnotist, they start with a lot of volunteers and then they gradually throw people off stage until they find 3 or 4 or 5 people that really want to do that kind of thing. They enjoy the foolishness of it and they enjoy the performing aspect of it. So they are not doing things against their will and that is probably the biggest misconception about hypnosis is that you can make people do stuff that they don't want to do.
