Meditation, hypnosis, guided meditation, self-hypnosis: they seem to overlap and get confused quite easily. So what is the difference between them?
Meditation, either guided or done by oneself, is when we enter an altered state of consciousness in order to connect with and explore our innermost being. It serves to train our mind to focus, to concentrate and free ourselves of distraction. Meditation is done calmly, and quietly, with relaxation and peace being one goal. it provides mental clarity, feelings of peacefulness and connectivity. It strengthens our immune system and helps us deal with emotions by sitting with them, acknowledging and understanding them, and thus processing them. We can get to know ourselves better through meditation which is often self-reflective. We work to go beyond the illusion of reality and societal constructs and connect with our true inner selves – that divine light within. Meditation is often done alone and requires some level of discipline and concentration.
Hypnosis on the other hand, is most often guided by a hypnotist, and its primarily results-oriented. You do hypnosis with a specific goal in mind. You want results. It may be more fast-paced than meditation and that’s perfectly okay as long as you’re relaxed. the speed of the words doesn’t matter.
While these two practices do overlap in how we use them at times, ultimately they have their own unique function. if I absolutely had to categorize them separately, I would probably say that meditation works more on our inner spiritual life and hypnosis works more with our physical reality.
With meditation, we are training the mind to concentrate and focus and eventually understand deeper levels of our being. This serves us in so many wonderful ways throughout our entire lives. Our meditation practice grows as we grow. With hypnosis, we are entering into deep relaxation and altering our brain waves, not so much to focus and concentrate but to reach that part of our mind, the subconscious, that holds our constructed beliefs about ourselves and the world and working with it to create positive, lasting change. Both are wonderful. Both are needed.
Blessings my friends,
Mellisa