'Like taking a power nap' (a hypnosis experience) by June Cheong

I got myself hypnotised.

There was no swinging pendulum, no bewitched old lady wrapped in rags and no mysterious chanting.

In fact, being hypnotised was like taking a power nap - refreshing, comfortable and way too short.

My hypnotherapist, Ms Katherine Wong, director of Hypnae Center, ushered me into her dimly lit office.

The room had the usual doctor's office paraphernalia, like medical journals and a lone, plush chair. But something stood out amid the quiet setting: a CCTV camera staring down from the ceiling.

Ms Wong assured me that it was to ensure patients' safety by recording their and the hypnotherapist's actions on tape . She then put on a soundtrack filled with nature sounds and bird calls.

As I sank into the armchair, cosseted by two thick blankets, she took me through a series of relaxation exercises.

First, she got me to focus on my breathing and on slowing it down. Then she directed me to relax my muscles at will.

'Relax your face,' she said. Hmm. How do you relax your face? I tried to stop my lips from curling into a smile. That attempt resulted in a lopsided frown and I worked at unfurling my errant lips.

It seemed as if my lips - and the muscles around them - had suddenly taken on a life of their own. I began to worry that I could not relax enough to enter the hypnotic stage.

Ms Wong began counting from one to 20 and asked me to imagine a cloud coming towards me. I did.

Mine was big and fluffy from afar and dissolved into smoky wisps when I got closer. Together, the cloud and I made our way towards the hypnotic stage.

Once I felt my body sinking into soft slumber and my mind becoming more relaxed,
Ms Wong performed two tests to check that I was really in the hypnotic stage. She told me that my eyelids had grown heavy and I could not open them.

When I tried to open them, she immediately touched my arm and asked me to hold it up. She told me my arm was rigid and strong and would not move no matter how much pressure she applied on it.

While I doubted if my eyelids were glued shut, I felt that my arm did not budge when she pressed it down.

Next, Ms Wong started feeding me upbeat lines like 'I will not worry unnecessarily about the past or the future' and 'My mind will be calm'.

She continued talking in a slow, gentle tone and I drifted off. One part of me went off for a little dream while the other part struggled to stay with her placid words.

All too soon, the hypnosis session was over. I felt relaxed and refreshed. It felt like I had been under hypnosis for only 15 minutes but, in reality, the session had lasted an hour.

Apparently, losing track of time is a sure sign of hypnosis. Then again, so is falling asleep.
The next couple of days, I felt positive and I sweated less over the small stuff. Was it due to the positive phrases drummed into me during the hypnosis? It may have been a placebo effect.

But all I knew was I felt good.

By June Cheong in " Mind Your Body" of the Straits Times dated 10th December 2009