This article is written for Evolving Wellness by guest author Jon Rhodes of Hypno Busters.
Hypnosis is well know for it’s effectiveness in treating many things such as weight loss, smoking, stress, IBS, phobias, etc. It is also very effective at treating motion sickness.
This is great because it has removed the need for any drugs, or other potions that have side effects. How does hypnotherapy help with this?
It is down to changing the way the mind interprets the information it receives when in a moving vehicle. Let us discuss this in more detail!
Motion sickness is largely caused by confusion. The balancing mechanisms in the ear are quite sensitive, and can detect the motion of a journey in most types of vehicles. The mechanisms in the ear can detect all the little bumps and all the twists and turns because of the “g force” that is exerted upon us.
This device then sends these signals to the brain, which are often interpreted as the body being in motion. The eyes when looking around the vehicle will also send a message to the brain. This message is sometimes interpreted as the body being still, since a lot of what we can see is inside the vehicle, not moving. These two very conflicting messages can then cause nausea, and even actual sickness.
Sickness is caused because the brain realizes that it has a problem with its perception. It knows that something is wrong if it is receiving two very different messages. Some bacterial or viral diseases can also play with our perceptions, like when we have the flu for example. The mind, in an attempt to protect the body, may trigger nausea in an attempt to expel any bugs from the system. This results in the traveler feeling sick.
Sometimes people can help themselves by looking out forward at the front of the vehicle. This helps the brain to ‘see’ what the situation really is, and that you are actually moving, which will hopefully correlate with the information that the ears are sending.
But we know what is happening on a conscious level any way, regardless of whether we look out at the front or not, so what is the problem?
Consciously we know that we are sitting still on a moving object. The confusion lies in the subconscious part of the brain. The subconscious part does not always know exactly what is happening, even if the conscious part of our mind does. The subconscious part of the brain is very powerful. It controls all of our automatic functions, such as sweating, blushing and breathing, and is responsible for our intuition. However, it can sometimes become confused when unnatural things that are happening to us, as it does not understand words like our conscious mind does. This is where hypnosis can help.
A hypnotic trance basically turns down the conscious part of the mind in order to communicate more effectively with the subconscious part. This is the part of our mind that controls the automatic functions of our body (like being sick!), and also our drives, our habits and desires. A good clinical hypnotherapist can talk to a subjects’ subconscious mind and persuade it to make changes. They can talk to it and persuade it to desire eating a more balanced diet, or to quit smoking for example.
In the case of motion sickness, a clinical hypnotherapist can communicate with the unconscious part of the mind and inform it as to what is actually happening when you are in a moving vehicle. If you can effectively communicate this to the subconscious mind, then there is no longer any confusion when you are traveling. All you need to do is tell the subconscious part of the mind that when you are in a vehicle you are actually moving, when the ears detect motion, despite what it may interpret from the eyes.
When there is no confusion, there is no need for the body to trigger feelings of nausea, as it will know that there is no bacterial infection in the body that is causing perception problems. In fact there will no longer be any perception problems, since the subconscious mind will now know what is going on. With a well informed subconscious mind, you can now travel in comfort without the need for a sick bag!
About the Author
Jon Rhodes is a popular clinical hypnotherapist from the UK. After qualifying to become a clinical hypnotherapist at the London College Of Clinical Hypnotherapy, Jon offered a mobile hypnosis practice in order to reach as many people as possible. At the same time he was also working as a professional musician, playing bass guitar and keyboards across the UK.
He eventually became dissatisfied with the limited amount of people he could reach with his therapeutic work. After a brain storming session with his business partner and brother Jake Rhodes, he decided to combine his 2 talents of music and hypnotherapy, to produce his own high quality therapeutic audio sessions. For more information on his work, visit HypnoBusters.com
11 Comments to “How Hypnosis Can Help With Motion Sickness”
I’ve become quite interested in hypnotherapy lately (although I don’t suffer from motion sickness)… That is really something I’m going to investigate further.
@ HANLIE – Thank you for checking out Jon’s article. Hypnotherapy is definitely an interesting area, and it can be used naturally and safely for all sorts of things from having an easier child birth to overcoming many fears. It is an area I enjoy learning more about myself.
Jon, I have tried everything from motion sickness tablets to those sea-band bracelets and nothing seems to help my nausea. I have never considered hypnosis though. Thanks for this, I will be looking into this more as it gives me some hope.
It’s really surprising what hypnosis can help with. Most people think that hypnosis can only deal with smoking and phobias, but it reaches far wider than that, and new techniques are being developed all the time. For instance it is now possible to replicate the effects of a botox procedure with hypnosis. A botox injection is simply a means to relax the muscles of the face in order to smooth out any lines. A hypnotherapist can direct someones mind to relax the facial muscles leading to a very similar effect.
Jeanie, if you check out my site there is a very inexpensive motion sickness audio programme that should help you.
I like going through this blog as I am very much interested in hypnotherapy. Even though I am suffering from motion sickness I haven’t heard of hypnosis but when I came down this blog I came to know that hypnosis can help in curing motion sickness. Before I use to try lots of medicine but its not working out and now I am thinking to try this out as it gives me some hope to get ride of motion sickness. Thanks for the useful idea.
Thanks Rody, glad to have helped you! Hypnotherapy wouldn’t be an obvious choice for treating motion sickness but it is very effective. I think sometimes in out materialistic world, people often prefer something physical for their money. They often feel more comfortable buying tablets, nicotine patches etc., and having something to ‘show’ for their money, even if they are not very effective. That is probably one of the reasons why hypnotherapy doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
I see confusion as an essential component of sea sickness. Interestingly, I too wanted to know what causes sea sickness and having watched my self and others and the conditions that were being played out, my conclusion was that we receive a sense of motion sickness when we feel we have no control in the moment. We have a sense of not knowing where we are going, therefore, we become out of phase with our physical body and our energy body. Its odd because I have worked often on the water and when I have a job where I don’t know my duties, and I feel I am out of the loop, I get sea sick. However, when I have direct focus on what I am doing and where I am going, no matter the sea conditions, I adjust easily.
I have seen this on seasoned crews too. When they have no idea where the boat is sailing to and what they are being used for, they can get sick. I can see the same for back seat drivers because they feel like they have been subjugated to the back seat. They have no control and fall into a state of fear.
I also new of a man, my professor, who was always in charge, who rarely got sea sick. Suddenly, he retires and he no longer calls the shots but goes along for the ride. In calm waters, he suddenly gets sea sick. To me, this is all an aspect of being out of phase with the physical along the windy and rolling aspects of everyday life.
If we take control of our own lives and know exactly what we are doing, then confusion becomes extinct. Our perception clears up under any chaotic circumstances and we become fully aligned in the moment. No longer are we out of balance. There is no sickness when we feel good.
I enjoyed this topic, and I feel we should all look at the causes of dis-ease from new perspectives. There is always more going on than meets the eye.
A very thoughtful post on wellness. It was such a nice experience reading your blog. It was really informative. I was looking for this kind of topic but could not find anything. Thank you for posting!
@ BRYAN – Hello Bryan and thank you for coming by and your feedback on the site. Great to hear you enjoyed some of the articles too!
Never thought that hypnosis can do this kind of things, I haven’t really tried treatments like that. Thanks for sharing these to us, I enjoy reading your blog.
Hi Michael
You are welcome. Hypnosis is really an amazing for of therapy for so many ailments.