What is the Difference between Hypnosis and Meditation?
Anyone who has experienced a good session of hypnosis eventually gets confused about the difference between hypnosis and meditation, and rightly so. The deepest bliss I have experienced have in both instances been through hypnosis, I have been able to go deeper in short hypnotic sessions despite having done deep meditation retreats. And many of my clients also refer to their healing or hypnosis sessions as the deepest states they have experienced. So… what is the difference between the two?
Hypnosis is the process of transcending the conscious mind and rearranging things in the subconscious mind so that the mind can ultimately serve us better. But hypnosis is still limited by the mind, it functions within the illusion.
Meditation is a process which is meant to take you beyond the mind altogether – the conscious as well as the subconscious mind. Whether you make the whole journey or not is another matter entirely though. Meditation is the process of witnessing everything we see, it is the process of letting go of the doing and just BEING. Hypnosis, especially self-hypnosis is in the doing domain.
Now, meditation is a slow, slow process, and the journey of transcending the mind begins by transcending the conscious mind first, this is why they seem to overlap sometimes and there are times that hypnosis or self-hypnosis therefore take our meditation deeper.
Author of ‘Healing Through Reiki’, Ashwita learned Reiki in 1997, and started teaching it in 2006. She now incorporates other forms of energy healing, as well as hypnotherapy and past life therapy in her work. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, crafts, reading and painting.
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