Exam Nerves and Study Concentration using Hypnosis
One
of the doctors who
attempted to bring hypnosis out of the realm of hocus pocus and to
establish it as a rigorous scientific study of immense benefit to
humankind was a man called James Braid. He studied hypnosis in depth,
and was able to achieve amazing things. He was the man who coined the
term "hypnosis". Hypnosis is the Greek word for sleep. James Braid
quickly realised that hypnotic trance is anything but sleep. It can
actually be a state of intense focused attention to the exclusion of
everything else. He attempted to change the name from hypnosis to
monoideism, but for some strange reason, the name of hypnosis
stuck.
Monoideism
when broken down means mono-idea-ism, or concentrating on one idea at a
time. We have to learn things with our conscious minds, but our
unconscious minds are responsible for storing all our learning,
experiences, memories and emotions. It is much easier to learn when you
have access to your unconscious mind. When in a learning
trance, you are concentrating all your attention on what it is
that you are studying to the exclusion of everything else. This is like
opening a trapdoor on the top of your head, and pouring in the
information. Glug, glug, glug. Bear in mind that hypnosis is not magic,
you still need repetition and practise to get good at anything!
However, the aim of hypnotherapy would be to help you to achieve a
state of mind where studying is enjoyable. After all, we tend to be
motivated to do the things we enjoy. Can you think of something you
enjoyed today or over the last couple of days? Let's say it was
watching your favourite program, or playing your favourite sport, just
something you really enjoy doing. Was it difficult to motivate
yourself to do that enjoyable activity, or was it easy? What would it
be like if the thought of study was as enjoyable as that, if the act of
studying was as enjoyable as that. Wouldn't you be doing it?
Of
course, you need to move from procrastination
to motivation
if you need to get moving on what you study. Assuming you have that,
you have prepared, and now there is an exam looming. Some people feel
anxious about exams, they go into exams, and read the questions, and
something happens to prevent them from performing as well as possible.
They have all the information in their heads, and then up comes fear
and anxiety, and performance decreases. What usually happens there is
that we make scary thought patterns in our head, and those thought
patterns manifest as negative body feelings. Here is a metaphorical
example. Imagine a foot wide plank that is five metres long on the
floor where you are. It would be easy to walk along that plank,
wouldn't it. Now imagine that the same plank is over an abyss with
streams of lava fifty metres below. It's the same size plank, the same
muscles are used to traverse it, however the difference is magnified in
the mind. Our imaginations are very powerful, as we imagine things our
minds make it real to a certain extent, and generates emotion to go
with the imagined thing. Very simplistically, if we imagine good
things, we get good feelings, if we imagine bad things, we get bad
feelings.
If
anxiety
is an issue in other areas of your life, we may need to tackle the
anxiety as the overarching cause. If it's the case where the anxiety in
relation to exams is just one example of things you are anxious about,
we may need to clear
the anxiety in general.
There
are two broad categories of learning. They are procedural knowledge and
factual knowledge. Factual knowledge is the gathering of facts, and the
linkage and association of those facts to what you already know.
Procedural knowledge is the step by step ways things are done. For
example, you can learn lots of facts about how to drive a car, but you
actually need to drive a car to learn the procedure of driving. Another
example is playing snooker. You can learn all the facts about geometry
and angles and momentum and action and reaction, but it's unlikely
you'd beat an experienced snooker player unless you have the process
learning (commonly known as practise) first!
Some people are great on facts, but weaker on procedural knowledge, and
with others it’s vice versa.
Procedural
knowledge and factual knowledge are both very useful, and getting
better at the one you are weaker on will tend to enhance the other one
also. For example, having the procedural knowledge of playing a musical
instrument can be useful in learning the harmony of mathematics.
Summarising how
hypnosis can help with study concentration and exam nerves we have:
1)
Motivation to study, by changing study to something you want to do
because it's enjoyable to you.
2)
Learning how to go into a deep study trance, so you are completely
engaged in your study to the exclusion of everything else, while being
aware of the context of what you are studying.
3)
Clearing out fear and anxiety in relation to exams.
4)
Follow up hypnosis CD / mp3 to reinforce the session(s), and to enhance
your factual and procedural (practise) learning.
If
you would like an explanatory brochure, or a free
consultation, please phone
Daniel Madden ADHP MICHP BE
Phone: 085 - 1318344
Email: dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com
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