These early years have been one heck of a roller coaster ride! Since that fateful day when I took my first leap of faith and signed a lease for office space, it’s been one thing or another that has surfaced, either as an obstacle or as an opportunity, challenging my ability to problem solve and continue to grow my company, both in terms of revenue, as well as in terms of adding more value to our clients. Often it was hard to determine if the events, people, and situations I encountered were obstacles or opportunities, until one day I came to the realization that all obstacles are actually opportunities, just wrapped up in a different package.
When you’re in the middle of the fight, it’s not easy to see it that way though. Especially for the founders of start-ups and the owners of small businesses, obstacles seem to stand in the way of progress and create confusion in the mind while opportunities seemingly open doors and give your dreams wings. But what if, in fact, obstacles offered more opportunity than you ever thought possible and what if an opportunity were really a pitfall instead?
Embracing obstacles as opportunities and identifying potential pitfalls are easier when you have clarity and focus. Clarity is the ability to perceive things as they are (not worse than they are and not better than they are) and springs from a mind free of limiting beliefs and crippling fears. (Now, before you say that you have no fears, just realize that if you’ve ever described yourself as stressed out or anxious what you’ve actually done without realizing it is identified a fear, whatever that may have been at the time.) Focus, in turn, is the ability to direct mental, emotional and physical energy towards what you want most in life and to disregard the barrage of distractions you experience on a continual basis. Easier said than done, right?
Meditation is a great way to regain clarity (assuming you ever had it!) and to focus on what matters most to you. In fact, companies all over the world are funding wellness programs that incorporate meditation for the purpose of improving productivity, teamwork and job satisfaction. Well, what if I told you that hypnosis is essentially the same thing as meditation, just more directed and more effective?
Meditation by another name
Here are ten ways that hypnosis is similar to meditation:
- Same brain wave state (Alpha or Theta)
- Lowered heart rate (most commonly)
- Decrease in blood pressure (most commonly)
- Colder body temperature (most commonly)
- Relaxed muscles (tingling or pulsing in extremities can occur)
- Time distortion (time seems to pass very quickly or very slowly)
- Sensation of floating or sinking (most commonly)
- Spontaneous thoughts or visualizations (most commonly)
- Sense of well-being upon emerging
- Improved subsequent sleep
Essentially, hypnosis and meditation are the same mental state and with minor differences in the process for entering in Alpha or Theta state and in the way the desired outcome is achieved.
There are generally two main approaches to meditation: 1) to transcend the present moment (transcendental meditation) and 2) to become more mindful in the present moment (mindfulness meditation). Both of these approaches help connect you with the relaxation response, lowering your experience of stress and promoting an increased sense of well-being.
Additionally, there are multiple ways to guide yourself into a meditative state; for example, walking, breathing, yoga, mantra, and basically anything repetitive can be used as a means of entering a meditative state. And while a person can be guided into meditation by another person (i.e. guided meditation), the more experienced a person is with meditation, the more likely they are to guide themselves.
Meanwhile, hypnosis in the workplace is primarily utilized for changing unsupportive behavior patterns such as procrastination, overcoming limitations such as fear of public speaking, and improving clarity through guided self-reflection. And yes, hypnosis is generally guided by another person, usually a coach trained in the art of hypnosis, who knows how to make specific suggestions to guide you quickly into a relaxed, but focused, state of mind. Having said that, guiding yourself into self-hypnosis is possible as well.
As an experienced meditator myself, I find hypnosis the better option for addressing specific issues or challenges because of the structured and reliable way the hypnotic experience unfolds. While meditation can leave some people frustrated with intrusive thoughts and confusion over what to do during the meditative process, hypnosis is relatively straightforward. It is easy to know whether or not you are hypnotized and the hypnotic suggestions are targeted for a specific issue (shortest distance between two points) rather than just for overall well-being which may then, in turn, resolve a specific issue down the road (going the long way around the barn). Additionally, I’ve had clients personally tell me that they chose hypnosis over meditation because they found it difficult to focus their mind during meditation but not during hypnosis.
The benefits of meditation are multi-fold. In fact, many highly successful people meditate on a daily basis in order unplug and refocus and I personally recommend meditation as daily reboot to help you maintain your sense of well-being. But a lot of highly successful people also leverage hypnosis to focus their mind and generate huge success in business.
So why don’t more people utilize hypnosis in their daily lives when there are so many examples of the massive benefits hypnosis can bring? I think it’s primarily due to the misinformation about what hypnosis is and is not and the negative way it is portrayed in movies and cartoons.
While there is so much more that I can say on this topic, I’ll think stop here and leave you with one more question: From a resource management perspective, could companies help employees become more productive, team-oriented and fulfilled, in a more efficient and effective way through hypnosis-based methods rather than through meditation alone?
