Fortunately, most people have heard of hypnosis. But, unfortunately, most of what people think they know about it they learned from movies and television where it often portrayed in a negative light. For this reason there is a lot of doubt and misunderstanding about what hypnosis really is.

It is true that hypnosis can be used to nefarious ends and the people who says this isn't true - including some hypnotherapists - probably just don't know. Hypnosis is very powerful. It's all around us. It is used heavily in advertising and influencing political and social movements. It's used to manipulate.

When you don't understand what it is and how it works, you are more vulnerable to the hypnotic influences around you. When you do understand it, it's like lifting a veil. You see its influence everywhere. And, you can learn how to use it to your advantage.

For example, if you look at the school system you see a hypnotic tool - one designed to create a vast pool of workers. In fact, the first public school system (in Britain) was designed to educate the children of factory workers and supposedly to improve their lot in life. It's difficult to say how well that has actually worked, but the fact is that schools manipulate the minds of children. They "teach" children in ways that get hardwired into the subconscious because children do not have the conscious barrier to resist unwanted suggestion. They believe what they are told.

If you've ever read Robert Kiyosaki's book, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," then you know that what you are taught about money as a child is what you continue to believe as an adult. It is programmed into you, not only by the schools, but by your parents who were likely educated in those same schools. Your money consciousness (beliefs about money and success) gets "hard wired" into your sub-conscious program, which is like your brain's hard drive.

Hypnosis is a way to re-wire your mind. You can re-wire it to think differently on a sub-conscious level and you can do it quickly. This kind of hypnosis is called autosuggestion and it's a way of using affirmations, but increasing their power by first putting yourself in a trance state. This allows the affirmations to by-pass any objections that your conscious mind might raise and in number of sessions - anywhere from a few to 20 - you can reformat your brain's hard drive.

What's more, you can either go to a hypnotist or do this yourself.

Now, the above is only one example of what hypnosis can do.

That's why it's my personal belief that learning how to do hypnosis, yourself, is the best way. It lets you learn more about hypnosis. The difference between paying a hypnotherapist to hypnotize you vs. learning to hypnotize can be compared feeding yourself once vs. learning to plant seeds and grow your own food. Once you have a basic grasp of the principles underlying hypnosis, you won't need a hypnotherapist because you will have a valuable tool to change virtually any aspect of your life.

That's not to say there isn't great value in going to a hypnotherapist. If you know nothing about hypnosis, it's actually a good place to start.

I also recommend this Hypnosis Newsletter. This isn't an ordinary newsletter, but rather a series of informative reports and e-books that will take you progressively along the road of learning hypnosis.