The best model I have found to explain what is going on with hypnotherapy is if you imagine that you have two minds stacked one on top of the another. The conscious mind deals with abstract thought, and the subconscious mind deals with basic automotive functions.

 

• The conscious mind is the part of your mind that you spend most of your time thinking with this is the part of your mind that makes choices, reasons things out and makes plans of where to have lunch.

• The subconscious mind is the other voice you hear from time to time. It speaks to you in feelings and desires. It is the part of your mind, while you are looking at a dinner menu, that wants the fish over the chicken and the ice cream at the end. It is the part of ourselves that controls the muscles in our legs when we walk, our reactions as we catch a ball and the beating of our hearts.

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Hypnosis taps into the subconscious part of your mind to help you feel calm in stressful situations and to help you feel the desire to go to the gym on a rainy Monday morning. A hypnotherapist doesn't do anything to you, they are just a guide showing you a path that you can take, but only if you want to. This can be the path of entertainment, like you see in stage shows, it can be the path of healing in a clinical setting, or it can be the path of improving your abilities in sports. Most hypnotherapists can work in all areas to varying levels of effectiveness and most specialize in one area. I, for example, specialize in sports performance among other specializations, this means that I have spent many years working on the best way to treat sport specifics problems.