Articles

Under The Spell

Sumit Apte was an intelligent boy but failed to score beyond 65 % in his Std X board exams. The son of brilliant parents, he had potential which never showed in his marks. A few sessions in hypno-therapy and Sumit was topping his class scoring 93 % in B.Com and 94 % in the ICWA and figuring in the merit list in the Company Secratary (CS) exams.

Although Nitin Joshi was a good badminton player, some how he could never win matches. Hypnosis saw him undergo a transformation and turned him into a champion.

Milind Palekar suffered from a peculiar phobia. He was sure he would contract any disease that he read about. Three sittings with self-hypnosis rid him of this terrible fear.

These are just a few of the hundreds of patients treated by Dr. Asha Joshi. Although practising as a consultant anesthesiologist Dr. Joshi got interested in the subject of hypnosis and began practising it while still keaping it touch with her primary profession. She claims that hypno-therapy is very useful in removing phobias and mental trauma, in increasing confidence, concentration, memory and self esteem, in reducing disturbance due to puberty or menopause. By reducing pain, it proves helpful for sports-related injuries, dysmenorrhoea and in comparatively painless delivery. It has also helped childless couples who could not conceive even though they had no physical defect. According to her, "Because of emotional tension, there are certain secretions in the vagina which kill the sperms, so even though the couples has no biological problem, they fail to conceive. Hypno-therapy (which includes self-hypnosis) can prove successful in the field."

Lamenting the lack of awareness vis-a-vis the subject, Dr. Joshi says, "Hypnosis carries a stigma because people tend to associate it with black magic. They labour under the misconception that their secrets will be revealed or that they can be compelled to perform criminal acts under hypnosis. If this were so wouldn't someone hypnotise a cashier at the bank and commit a robbery? But the fact is that even in deepest trance you cannot make a person act against his wishes because the protective thoughts and reflexes are fully alert. In fact even for those who come for specific treatment, he or she must be willing to change. For example, a smoker or an alcoholic who comes for hypno-therapy must first have a positive attitude if the hypnosis is to work".

She continues, "During hypnosis, the conscious or critical mind which is governed by the left brain, is put off duty for a while, allowing direct access to the right brain which controls the sub-conscious mind. All the negative data in the subconscious mind, such as phobias or stress, can now be removed and positive data fed in to reprogramme the mind".

"During hypnosis, the patient is in the alpha state of mind, between wakefulness and sleep. In this state, a person is relaxed, the eyes are closed, out concentration and memory are both very high. There is no negative thought in alpha state."

Dr. Joshi begins her therapy with relaxation. The client has to look up at an angle of 20 or 40 degrees, which is the position for the brain to produce alpha waves, then at the count of 1 to 10, the eyelids become heavy and close down. A trance has been induced, she then asks the person to visualise a sea-beach or in some cases, she touches the forehead to deepen the trance.

"Sometimes I take them through the "lift technique." The person imagines he is standing in front of a lift on the fifth floor. We (the hypnotist must accompany the person) enter the lift and hear the door closing. As it moves down, the person becomes more relaxed. At each floor, we stop to see the people getting in and out, and then when we reach the basement. I make a sharp sound (thap). The trance is deepest now and the person is open to suggestions.

With a magician as a neighbour, Dr. Joshi had always been interested in hypnosis. Her husbands sudden death in 1984 led her to take refuge in self-help books to restore her positive thinking. At a magic show that she visited, she was impressed by the magiclan, Manohar Naik who controlled nearly 50 people on stage with hypnosis. Hoping that this would prove the answer to her search for positive thinking, she learnt the techniques from him, even helping him out in his shows. But as a doctor, she could not find the scientific answer that she was looking for. This finally came from Dr. Bharatchandra of Banglore. She attend the various work-shops that he held in Pune an finally found the confidence to practise it.

Dr. Joshi now holds regular workshops for students, executives of corporate houses, housewives or just about anyone who is interested. Keeping in view the type of audience, the workshops promise unlimited success through mind-brain programming, decision making, public-speaking and leadership qualities. Their duration is a total of nine hours spread in two days (Rs. 1250). She also teaches self-hypnosis and practises hypnotherapy and neuro linguistic therapy for individual (Rs. 200).

"Mood, thought, behaviour and pain can be changed by these therapies", she claims. For physical ailments like asthma, allergies, high blood pressure or diabetes. Hypnosis must not provide a cure, but it will create a change in attitude which will allow the body to respond positively to treatment.

(Names of all clients have been changed)