Based on my experience, I find the response to this initial post to be most unfortunate.
People will think I am crazy...well, you are neither the first nor the most qualified to feel this way about me. No matter.
I have used hypnosis to get people to stop smoking. I like to think I am very good at this. Recently, I broke a twenty-five year cigarette habit in forty-five minutes and she had three bad days after that. I defy anyone to do that with gum, patches or whatever else is out there. Now, your milege may vary, but this does give you an idea about what can be done.
I learned from, among others, Ormond McGill, the "bad boy" of American hypnotism. Ormond is still alive and, at ninety plus years old, still teaching. He was probably the best stage hypnotist I have ever seen, but I do not give much credibility to the vast bulk of them as they are mere entertainers, employing shills and going for a laugh.
I know because I learned much of what I know from the stage entertainer's perspective, rather than the medical/psychiatric/psychoanalytic perspective, which would have been far preferable. Sadly, Milton Erickson passed before I could get to Phoenix. I would have had a blast with him. He was, I think, the best of all and judging from videos I have seen, a force to be reckoned with. Read the second and third chapters of Jay Haley on Milton H. Erickson (Philadelphia: Brunner-Routledge, 1993) to give you an idea of what he could do, almost as easily as he breathed, and the state of the art has advanced by leaps and bounds since his time.
Now, I will grant you: most "hypnotists" are boobs and many are - gasp - unethical. As far as I know, licensure is not required in any state. Learn the art (and I can teach you the Elman induction in five minutes), hang out a shingle and you too can make people cluck like chickens, if that's your goal in life. Sadly, it is for many.
But, if you can get someone to revert to the first instance of an emotional turmoil - even an early instance - you can eliminate that feeling with hypnosis. I am personally acquainted with cases of abused women getting through it and living life again....and it is wonderful. Mind you, I have not done this....what I do, I do as a skilled amateur and there are those who will criticize me for this, too.
Again, I don't care.
What I do, I have done without compensation, as a concerned friend or just someone interested in learning or pushing the envelope. I think of myself as a hacker - a hacker of the human mind and, therefore, the whole universe.
Phobias, addictions, nail biting, nervousness, pain control..no problem. Muscle growth has happened as a result of hypnosis, but that is mostly (or entirely?) a result of changing the subject's attitude toward exercise; the same is true with weight loss, mostly through changing the attitude toward irresponsible eating and/or exercise. Charisma, personality changes, confidence taking tests, confidence with the opposite sex, becoming the life of the party, increased energy, rock-hard erections (assuming there isno underlying organic cause of the lack of erections)...all are do-able and the results can be permanent or temporary and quite dramatic.
Having said this, I will say that I also look askance at claims that hypnotists can increase your height (that is, if you are an adult; it might work with a child) or your penis size (again, same caveat applies). Breast enlargement is another story. No, I never have, but I did overcome a young mother's apprehension about breast feeding and in another case, I induced lactation. In the case of height and penis size, I have encountered all kinds of claims, some of them outlandish to say the least. I have encountered people who say it worked for them, but without before and after encounters...I still am skeptical, as these involve structural changes in the body. On the other things, when I think of the things I have seen people do, when I think of some of the things I have done....I am amazed at the capacity and abilities of the human mind. Not the brain, that's just the carrying case. The mind is a far, far more sublime thing.
As for myself, I have not tried getting taller or increasing my penis size as I feel I need no more of either.
Oh, and if anyone ever tells you they can cure cancer, diabetes, AIDS or heart disease with hypnosis, run...don't walk. It will be healthier. MAYBE - just maybe - they can lower serum cholesterol and they can certainly lower blood pressure, but these are problems that remain intractable to the powers of the human mind through Western style hypnosis. Ask me again in fifty years.
I will also tell you that, as with gnani yoga, there is a dark side to hypnosis and you can really mess someone up. Yes I know how. No, I have not.
Skepticism is healthy, but you should try things before condemning them. Yeah, there were people who used to ride through towns selling snake oil and doing Mesmerism. It is sad that so many ostensibly intelligent adults can't look past those unfortunate incidents from the past. Expressed another way, how many modern drug companies started out selling snake oil and now manufacture prescriptions that people swallow by the handful? Take a pill for this...you are no longer depressed. Take another pill...no pain...another one and blissful sleep soon ensues. Why is it that people accept advances in allopathic medicine, but not other areas?
That is all well and good, I suppose, but to my way of thinking, based on my experience, it is better to achieve these ends from within rather than through a trip to the druggist. Take the time to slow down and look within yourself and you too will be shocked at the capacity you carry around and have probably ignored most of your life. I was. After thirty years of practicing gnani yoga, I still am. I hopemy shock and amazement last the rest of my life.
One man's opinions, yet again, respectfully submitted for your consideration...
