Many people, today, mistakenly believe that, in a state of hypnosis, the subject is unconscious as we are when we are asleep. Some even point out that “Hypnos”, in Greek mythology, is the god of sleep. It was, actually, the Scottish surgeon James Braid who coined the term “hypnotism”. This, however, was an abbreviation of his original term “neuro-hypnotism”, which meant “sleeping nerves”. He used this term to describe the calming effect this state has on the nervous system. In fact, you occasionally experience this state during your waking hours and go through this state, every night of your life, seconds before you fall asleep.
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