How Brainwave States Relate To Hypnosis

A major part of neuroscience relates to mapping the electromagnetic waves produced by the human brain.

The 5 most common brainwave frequencies ranked from most conscious to least are:

• Gamma wave
• Beta wave
• Alpha wave
• Theta wave
• Delta wave

Hypnotic techniques can be used effectively on a person in any brainwave state, but to be able to go into a very deep trance requires a person to go into deep theta and delta.

In this state, a person's conscious defense mechanism (known as the "critical factor") is very close to being offline.

In this state, a person's subconscious mind is fully exposed to the hypnotist and they are at their peak levels of suggestibility.

When a person is in this state, their "adult" mind is very close to being asleep, while their subconscious mind is assuming full control over almost all of their actions.

The subconscious, however, possesses the reasoning of a very small child.  

This is why a subject who is deeply hypnotized can act on hypnotic suggestions as if they were true, even though their conscious mind would know they were false.  

This is also why a person under hypnosis can act on suggestions their conscious waking mind wouldn't normally do, either because they would reject it as false, silly, or irrational.  

Their subconscious mind imagines what is suggested IS in fact true and with the conscious mind suspended, acts on it as if it were.

So for example, if a person in a hypnotic state is given a hypnotic command to believe their body will lock rigid in place and be unable to move, their subconscious will imagine that to be true.

Their brain in that state is producing the same frequency as they would if they are in a deep sleep (for catalepsy, the delta wave state), but their subconscious mind is controlling their actions in accordance to the suggestion of the hypnotist.

Early in our hypnosis practice, Sammie and I measured her brainwave state with a Muse Brainwave sensing headband.

Click here to watch those sessions on our Private Website.