**2. Active-alert hypnosis: a path to our goals**

In her 1973 doctoral dissertation, Eva Banyai explained her study about the effects of hypnosis in verbal learning that involved 24 patients. She stated that the majority of subjects achieved a classic hypnotic state (a relaxed, passive state), but four of them exhibited a different state:

*… four subjects exhibited a different behavior: They were in an even "more active" state than the waking ones. They followed the instructions of the experimenter immediately, while their fast movements, lively facial expressions, loud voices, and their fast speech were in sharp contrast with the passive behavior of the average subjects. It was as if they had been released from some kind of pressure, their behavior reflected childlike playfulness [6].*

That unexpected finding suggested that hypnosis is not only a relaxed state, but is also a wide spectrum of "altered" conscious states that can be subjectiveley experienced in many different forms by each individual with different behavioral and physiological outcomes.

Banyai called this kind of hypnotic state "active-alert hypnosis." She also stated that the sleep-like outcomes in traditional hypnosis occur due to suggestions from the facilitator rather than from the hypnosis itself. This modality of hypnosis has been applied to high-performing athletes with significantly positive results [1], but also with people who prefer an eyes-open trance, or a more active one. In our experience, this type of induction can also be used for visualization and reaching one's own personal and professional goals.

The original active alert-hypnosis approaches were performed while pedaling a stationary bicycle, receiving hypnotic suggestions of activation and alertness, paying attention to the feelings in their legs, to automatic movement, to their energy, and to their inner peace [7, 8].

**121**

*Active-Alert Hypnosis to Achieve Personal, Professional, and Therapeutic Goals*

• Children who do not tolerate the stillness of traditional hypnosis

• Enhancement of physical and mental performance in healthy people

Since these original approaches were performed, several methods of achieving an active-alert hypnotic state have been developed. For example, Etzel Cardeña [9] elaborated a gentle active-alert hypnotic technique consisting of simply waving one hand up and down, producing results similar to those of Banyai's study. Even though active-alert hypnotic approaches are used primarily in therapeutic contexts, you can also notice "altered" consciousness states and active-alert hypnotic states in other contexts, such as religious ceremonies, highly competitive sports (while practicing or watching), dancing, teaching, writing, playing a musical instrument, and many other activities that require highly focused attention. This kind of hypnosis has been called in different ways: hyper-alert hypnosis, active hypnosis, waking

I (AV) would like to share an experience I had some time ago. A friend of mine

Get inside the shop, with all those different kinds of shoes, selecting just one pair of them was a difficult task. But my mind was clear: "buy a pair of shoes." I bought a brown pair of shoes, and they were going to be worn next Monday. That day, I put them on and walked a little, and after a few blocks my ankle started to hurt. It was a weak but annoying pain. After a few more blocks, the skin of my Achilles tendon started to peel and I felt an even more annoying pain, and I remembered thinking,

Now when we make plans, we not only use our conscious mind, but we also use

According to some research [11, 12], our brain makes decisions even before we think we made them. Let us explain this statement. Imagine that we suggest that you move your lips to the right when you see something beautiful and to your left when you see something that you think is not. Then I show you some images on a screen. When you see an image, the information travels all the way through your visual processing structures in your brain (occipital lobe structures), then after being analyzed it is sent to an interpretation area (temporo-parieto-occipital region), and then to our decision-making structures (prefrontal region) to decide whether it is beautiful. That takes no more than a few microseconds, but it is a complex process, all happening without you realizing it. Now that you have decided

asked me to slightly change my way of dressing to become a more presentable professional, to give a different image to others and to myself. I have to admit that a part of me was reluctant to make that change, while the other one was just a little curious about what could change for the better if I follow his advice. That curiosity led me to a little inspection of my closet, with some dirty and old clothes hanging there along with some clothes that I did not really use, but there they were, and I came to realize that I needed to go get new clothes, and a new pair of shoes, because my old ones, although comfy, were starting to rip apart, and we all need a good pair of formal and comfortable shoes for formal occasions. After making the decision to go and buy some new clothes and a new pair of shoes, the instruction "buy a pair of

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92197*

(including competitive athletes)

hypnosis, awake-alert hypnosis, and alert hypnosis.

shoes" was imprinted in my mind, nothing else.

"But these shoes are new. Why is this happening?"

our unconscious one [10]. The question here is: how?

**3. Goals and motivation**

• Eating disorders (bulimia and obesity)

According to Banyai [6], active-alert hypnosis has been a useful tool in the following cases:


*Active-Alert Hypnosis to Achieve Personal, Professional, and Therapeutic Goals DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92197*

• Eating disorders (bulimia and obesity)

*Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis*

**2. Active-alert hypnosis: a path to our goals**

*behavior reflected childlike playfulness [6].*

one's own personal and professional goals.

four of them exhibited a different state:

and physiological outcomes.

and to their inner peace [7, 8].

• General inhibition

• Anxiety disorders

• Depression

• Lack of initiative and energy

• Excessively withdrawn personality

• Inhibited identity development

following cases:

that hypnosis is a natural state that tends to occur periodically several times a day, approximately every 90 min in human beings, as one of many psychobiological ultradian rhythms [4] during which the person is in total control of his/her will [5]. According to our definition of hypnosis, we can say that this state is not limited to a relaxed state but any state of focused attention that switches our mind to a more creative mode, helping us to find solutions for specific problems or seeing things from a different perspective, enhancing the capacity to access unconscious memories and perceptions and to reframe them, and facilitating processes of dissociation.

In her 1973 doctoral dissertation, Eva Banyai explained her study about the effects of hypnosis in verbal learning that involved 24 patients. She stated that the majority of subjects achieved a classic hypnotic state (a relaxed, passive state), but

*… four subjects exhibited a different behavior: They were in an even "more active" state than the waking ones. They followed the instructions of the experimenter immediately, while their fast movements, lively facial expressions, loud voices, and their fast speech were in sharp contrast with the passive behavior of the average subjects. It was as if they had been released from some kind of pressure, their* 

That unexpected finding suggested that hypnosis is not only a relaxed state, but is also a wide spectrum of "altered" conscious states that can be subjectiveley experienced in many different forms by each individual with different behavioral

Banyai called this kind of hypnotic state "active-alert hypnosis." She also stated that the sleep-like outcomes in traditional hypnosis occur due to suggestions from the facilitator rather than from the hypnosis itself. This modality of hypnosis has been applied to high-performing athletes with significantly positive results [1], but also with people who prefer an eyes-open trance, or a more active one. In our experience, this type of induction can also be used for visualization and reaching

The original active alert-hypnosis approaches were performed while pedaling a stationary bicycle, receiving hypnotic suggestions of activation and alertness, paying attention to the feelings in their legs, to automatic movement, to their energy,

According to Banyai [6], active-alert hypnosis has been a useful tool in the

**120**


Since these original approaches were performed, several methods of achieving an active-alert hypnotic state have been developed. For example, Etzel Cardeña [9] elaborated a gentle active-alert hypnotic technique consisting of simply waving one hand up and down, producing results similar to those of Banyai's study. Even though active-alert hypnotic approaches are used primarily in therapeutic contexts, you can also notice "altered" consciousness states and active-alert hypnotic states in other contexts, such as religious ceremonies, highly competitive sports (while practicing or watching), dancing, teaching, writing, playing a musical instrument, and many other activities that require highly focused attention. This kind of hypnosis has been called in different ways: hyper-alert hypnosis, active hypnosis, waking hypnosis, awake-alert hypnosis, and alert hypnosis.
