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An Introduction To
Hypnosis
And
Trance

Prepared by: Ziad Cassim

Last Updated: 30 December 2014 (edited title page, minor editing on page 4)
Number of pages: 4

Most people think of hypnotism as a form of sleep. Its actually not. Its an altered state of
consciousness but in a sense its also an isolated state of mind. Many people have only seen

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hypnotism on TV or during a live performance where a entertaining hypnotists does his/her craft on
a volunteer from the audience for the amusement of everyone else and when you see it this way
you assume that hypnotism is something very complex. What you, as the audience also sees, is that
the participants fall under hypnotism by the snap of the fingers and then back to normal again at the
snap of the fingers. Its like switching on the lights on a room. All you do is press a button.
Some people think of hypnotism as a mental switching on and off of something you need to have
special knowledge about and be properly trained in. This is the great misconception. Scientists and
medical researchers tell us that hypnosis is rooted in suggestion. Check in a good encyclopaedia,
like Britannica or Wikipedia, etc and you will see that hypnotism is suggestion. When a
salesperson says to you: I suggest to you that the wine red lipstick will accentuate your presence
at the party - then that suggestion is the fundamental building block of hypnotism.
The following descriptions of Hypnosis are quoted from Encyclopaedia Britannicas article on
Hypnosis:
[Hypnosis is a] Special psychological state with certain physiological attributes,
resembling sleep only superficially and marked by a functioning of the
individual at a level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state.
This state is characterized by a degree of increased receptiveness and
responsiveness in which inner experiential perceptions are given as much
significance as is generally given only to external reality.
...
The hypnotized individual appears to heed only the communications of the
hypnotist and typically responds in an uncritical, automatic fashion while
ignoring all aspects of the environment other than those pointed out by the
hypnotist. In a hypnotic state an individual tends to see, feel, smell, and
otherwise perceive in accordance with the hypnotist's suggestions, even though
these suggestions may be in apparent contradiction to the actual stimuli
present in the environment. The effects of hypnosis are not limited to sensory
change; even the subject's memory and awareness of self may be altered by
suggestion, and the effects of the suggestions may be extended
(posthypnotically) into the subject's subsequent waking activity.
...
The techniques used to induce hypnosis share common features. The most
important consideration is that the person to be hypnotized (the subject) be
willing and cooperative and that he or she trust in the hypnotist. Subjects are
invited to relax in comfort and to fix their gaze on some object. The hypnotist
continues to suggest, usually in a low, quiet voice, that the subject's
relaxation will increase and that his or her eyes will grow tired. Soon the
subject's eyes do show signs of fatigue, and the hypnotist suggests that they
will close. The subject allows his eyes to close and then begins to show signs
of profound relaxation, such as limpness and deep breathing. He has entered the
state of hypnotic trance.
...
Hypnosis has been officially endorsed as a therapeutic method by medical,
psychiatric, dental, and psychological associations throughout the world.
...
Hypnosis has often been used in attempts to stop smoking, and it is highly
regarded in the management of otherwise intractable pain, including that of
terminal cancer. It is valuable in reducing the common fear of dental
procedures; in fact, the very people whom dentists find most difficult to treat
frequently respond best to hypnotic suggestion.
...
On the other hand, hypnosis has been repeatedly condemned by various medical
associations when it is used purely for purposes of public entertainment, owing
to the danger of adverse posthypnotic reactions to the procedure. Indeed, in
this regard several nations have banned or limited commercial or other public
displays of hypnosis. In addition, many courts of law refuse to accept
testimony from people who have been hypnotized for purposes of recovering
memories, because such techniques can lead to confusion between imaginations
and memories.

Note: emphasis in red is mine.

(Author/editor: Martin T. Orne and A. Gordon Hammer)

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("hypnosis." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopdia
Britannica, 2009.)

The Wikipedia Encyclopaedia offers the following statements about Hypnosis:

The words 'hypnosis' and 'hypnotism' both derive from the term "neurohypnotism" (nervous sleep) coined by the Scottish surgeon James Braid around
1841. Braid based his practice on that developed by Franz Mesmer and his
followers ("Mesmerism" or "animal magnetism"), but differed in his theory as to
how the procedure worked.
...
Contrary to a popular misconception - that hypnosis is a form of
unconsciousness resembling sleep - contemporary research suggests that it is
actually a wakeful state of focused attention[2] and heightened suggestibility,
[3] with diminished peripheral awareness.[4]
...
Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the
subject, or may be self-administered ("self-suggestion" or "autosuggestion").
The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as "hypnotherapy"
Wikipedia's References:
2. "Information for the Public. American Society of Clinical Hypnosis."
3. Lyda, Alex. "Hypnosis Gaining Ground in Medicine." Columbia News
4. p. 22, Spiegel, Herbert and Spiegel, David. Trance and Treatment. Basic Books Inc., New York. 1978. ISBN 0-46508687-X
(Source website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis, Dated: 16 April 2010)

Perhaps the most fascinating knowledge of hypnosis involves the inherent ability of the mind to be
induced. The following excerpts are from an essay on hypnotic trance written by Jimmy Kyriacou,
an experienced South African hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner that explains how hypnosis is
hard wired into the physical brain. The title of the essay is: Hypnotic Trance - Our Unclaimed
Inheritance. The essay was published on Friday, 19th September 2008 and made available to the
public via his website in a pdf file.
Have you ever been deeply absorbed in a good book, engrossed in a movie, or
enrapture by a beautiful sunset? What was that like for you? I'm sure it was
deeply pleasurable but would you be surprised to know that what you had just
experienced was a mild hypnotic trance. Trance is defined as a state of relaxed
and absorbed attention, and contrary to popular belief is not some outlandish
far-out phenomenon, but one with which we are all intimately acquainted.
...
We have many synonyms for the trance experience, all of which serve to disguise
the fact that what is happening subjectively is the identical experience. We
speak of reverie, day dreaming, active or guided imagination, meditation, the
Relaxation Response and contemplation, to name a few, all of which imply states
in which the mind is somewhat awake while the body is somewhat asleep. And that
state we all experience at least twice a day, the moments after when we first
awaken in the morning and those just before we fall asleep at night. Numerous
times during the day, the same phenomenon occurs - relaxing in a warm bath,
bored in a classroom or lecture, staring vacantly into space while a tedious
meeting drags on, captured by the sparks and dance of colours as we gaze into a
fire place, assisted perhaps by a sumptuous glass of wine or two. Then there is
the natural trance of a never-ending road on a long drive, where somehow, a
natural intelligence greater than our own, somehow manages to drive the car
safely, for the most part, while our mind wanders.

Note: emphasis in red is mine.

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(Source website of referenced pdf : http://www.inlp.co.za/data/2011/Hypnotic_Trance.pdf, accessed on: 24

December 2011)

The above quoted statements from Jimmy Kyriacou's essay reveal that hypnotic trance is a normal
operation of the mind. We slip in and out of mild trances as easily as we breathe air.
To Muslims I want to say, do not think that hypnosis can only be achieved by a human hypnotist
only when and if the invisible evil jinn are present to invisibly assist the human hypnotist. If you
were thinking of hypnosis along those lines then you would most likely draw the conclusion that
hypnosis is totally evil and totally forbidden for Muslims. As scientific research into the workings
of the mind have advanced in our modern scientific era scientists have discovered that hypnosis is
inherent to the mind and that it occurs naturally to any person, Muslim or non Muslim; pious or not
pious; saint or lay person; prophet or king. In short I am saying that the hypnosis is rooted in the
biology and anatomy of the brain. This means that hypnosis is from God because our minds and the
anatomy of our physical brain are from God.
The auto-trance ability of the mind teaches us something very profound. It is this very inclination
of the mind that allows another person, using suggestion or whispering, to take the natural mild
trance and transform in it into a deeper trance and in this deeper trance the hypnotizer can
manipulate the thoughts and actions of the person under trance and even can make a person forget
memories or implant thoughts into the mind. After the hypnotic trance session ends the effects
remain with targeted person. The hypnotiser can be a either a visible person such as a qualified
hypnotherapist or an invisible person such as a jinn. Hypnotic trance per se is not evil it is natural
to the mind but the hypnotist, may be visible or invisible, and his/her intentions may be evil.
Muslims are taught to believe in jinn because they are referenced and storied in the Quran. From
the little knowledge we have it appears that they can appear and disappear from our realm. They
are described in the Quran as a different species. Not all are evil. Some are good pious believers in
God but many are followers of Satan, who himself is a jinn.
For more information on the ways and evil doings of Satan and the evil jinn that follow him please
read my essay Knowing about Evil Jinn available freely at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/136167997.

Document History:

6 January 2013 (First uploaded on Scribd)

10 April 2013 (minor editing of text)
30 December 2014 (edited title page, minor editing on page 4)