It’s hard to overstate the power of the subconscious mind. To begin with, it regulates all our bodily functions, like breathing, heartbeat, digestion, fight/flight/freeze responses and our immune system. It notes all our sensory input and filters it, sending to the conscious mind only the information we need for immediate functioning in the world, thus preventing us from becoming overwhelmed by every detail of our environment. When you are stopped at an intersection waiting to turn onto the cross street, you look to the left and the right. In a matter of nano-seconds, your subconscious mind determines how far away other vehicles are and how fast they are approaching. It calculates whether if it is safe for you to pull out. It tells your muscles when and how to move. It may speed up your heartbeat and breath if it the clearance is somewhat tight. Now, imagine how long you would be at that stop sign if your conscious mind had to individually analyze each part of that situation before you could act!
The subconscious mind has primary responsibility for keeping us alive. In addition to directing all of the activity in and among the cells, tissues and organs of our bodies, it has unlimited capacity for storing our life experiences: the memories, the emotions, the attitudes and opinions we hold. It learns from our repeated thoughts and actions, then creates automatic patterns of behavior so that we don’t have to think about how to walk or dress ourselves or wash the dishes or start the car every time we do those things. Its intention in creating these habits is to keep us safe and well. The downside of this, and the reason we may seek hypnotherapy, is that the subconscious mind will also launch habitual behaviors (like smoking or overeating or getting inappropriately angry or shying away from new experiences) that we no longer want or that are no longer useful to us. In hypnotic trance, our subconscious mind loosens its hold on these compulsions. It becomes possible, even easy, to activate neuroplasticity allowing the brain to build new connections and the mind to learn new attitudes and behaviors.
An important attribute of the subconscious mind is that it “thinks” in images and feelings rather than in words, which is why our conscious mind–the analytical, logical and verbal part of our mind–cannot just “tell” the subconscious mind to change our habitual thoughts and behaviors. Essentially, they speak different languages. That’s why it’s so hard to change or get rid of habits once they are formed or to change long-held attitudes and fears that are holding us back. But in a well-constructed hypnotic trance, we can instruct our subconscious minds in the intentions of our conscious minds and make astonishing changes in our attitudes about ourselves and our behavior in the world.