A Little Focus

Maybe you notice my cufflinks - my shiny, beautiful and Unique Cufflinks. Maybe you notice them because they are different, maybe you didn’t know they are still part of the fashion culture or maybe they glint from the sunlight that envelops the room. You listen. You relax. And then you find yourself speaking honestly about a certain product experience you just had. The words come naturally and you say them truthfully, not living up to anyone else’s expectations. It is an honest review of the product. And then may it is the word Tateossian that brings you back to normal consciousness, remembering everything from your participation in a focus group.

Am I making this up? No. It is a new use for hypnosis and one that Brand Week’s article Hypnosis Brings Groups into Focus discusses. The article says hypnosis is used by several large corporations to help understand how people really feel about certain products. The difference between a hypnotized focus group and one that is not allows the marketers, branders, etc. to go deeper. For instance a certain car kept coming up in a non-hypnotized group with the idea that the product was “safe.” To get more in depth, the hypnotized group was able to unravel this farther. What it found was that the car was “middle age” and that was not exactly helping the buyer image or selling cars. It is particularly useful when a product is thought of as good, but the consumer chooses not to purchase it.

We are planning to make focus group hypnosis a part of N*tranced and will keep you posted. But for now – Tateossian.

No Pain Surgery

Perhaps there is a dull ache, a fogginess that lingers, and there is a voice who continually prods and presses you to return to normal consciousness. There are the questions, "Do you know where you are?" or "How do You feel?" The truth is, you just want to keep your eyes closed form the blinding lights or you want to return to that thoughtless void. Hypnosis? No. Anesthesia. Yes.

Well one hypnotist decided he wanted a better surgical experience and used self-hypnosis rather than anesthesia. Alex Lenkei from Worthington, West Sussex, used self-hypnosis during an operation to have a tumor removed and tendons readjusted in his wrist. By the way, he is also in his early 60s. Impressed? I am! And the amazing thing about this is that he did it himself. There was no outside hypnotist, only the power of his own mind, taking control of his body. He says it took him 30 seconds to a minute to get ready for the surgery, which itself took over 80 minutes.

To check his pain levels and stress on the body, the doctor did the standard monitoring that goes on during surgery. There was no rise in blood pressure and his breathing rate remained the same.

Perhaps it is time to offer another class in self-hypnosis?


Source: www.news-medical.net

Seeing Colors

In spite of all the wonders of hypnosis, there is still so much to learn. For instance, why is it more effective for some and not others? This is the sort of question that nags at me, but it also propels me forward. There is a lot too consciousness and harnessing one's inner control.

And because of this, I think I will dedicate a post on Fridays to "Factual Friday." There are all sorts of studies out there that have been done about hypnosis and consciousness. We gain daily insight to the mind and how it works. And for the skeptics, the proof is in the pudding.

Recently, The University of Hull made an interesting discovery about the parts of the mind that are activated when someone is experiencing hypnosis. Using a brain scan, for the participants who did well with the hypnotic suggestions given by the experimenters, the suggestion was given that when they looked at a black and white image, the participants would see the image in color. The same experiment was done with the participants in a state of normal consciousness. The scans indicated that in normal consciousnesses, the logical, rational part of the brain (frontal lobe) showed activity. When in hypnosis, the part of the brain that is directly related to sensing color was activated.

What does this mean about hypnosis? It means that when in a hypnotic state, reality is different. In this state, the mind can utilize the parts of the brain responsible for the actions needed, thus creating its own reality. It is more than just imagination, where logic and thought simulate something. It is as though it is really happening (seeing the colors).

Source: The University of Hull