Are You Asleep During Hypnosis?

The “sleep” misconception was started by Dr. James Braid (1775-1860) who discovered, by accident, that a person fixating on an object could easily reach a trance state. He refuted the earlier work of Dr. Frans Anton Mesmer (known for Animal Magnetism) and called his “new” discovery hypnotism. The Greek word for sleep is“hypnos”—so you can see how the confusion began.

During a TTH Session, you may be guided to relax until you’re almost-asleep-but-not-quite. Your brain will enter the theta state (the twilight between sleep and awake). It’s during this deep state of relaxation that the parasympathetic nervous system down-regulates the sympathetic nervous system (aka the fight-flight-freeze response) is deactivated.

I often recommend to my clients to clear their schedule after a session so that they can nap or sleep.