Hi Debbie.

Congrats on another satisfied client. Are the tapes the client is referring to subliminal tapes? If not, I’d be curious to know what your “take” is on this type of device?

subliminal: adjective

existing or operating below the threshold of consciousness; being or employing stimuli insufficiently intense to produce a discrete sensation but often being or designed to be intense enough to influence the mental processes or the behavior of the individual: a subliminal stimulus; subliminal advertising.

In 1957, marketing researcher James Vicary reported significant increases in Coke and popcorn sales after flashing directives to “Drink Coke” and “Eat Popcorn” during a movie. Although Vicary never actually published these findings, his reports created a frenzy of consumer concern and government legislation aimed at stopping these forms of seemingly insidious mind control. There was, however, one significant and often unknown problem with Vicary’s study — it was all a hoax. Years later, Vicary himself admitted this scam was simply an attempt to save his dying advertising agency. Efforts to replicate the results of Vicary’s reports have never resulted in success.

The January 1991 issue of the University of California, Berkeley, Wellness Letter refers to “the complete lack of any scientific evidence that such messages can alter human behavior. Nevertheless, one survey shows that 68 percent of the public believes in subliminal tapes, which are now a $50-million-a-year business.” The article further states, “double blind tests have consistently shown that these products [subliminal tapes] fail to produce their claimed effects.”

Now there are many who today who still tout the use of subliminal(s) in their products, including hypnosis products. If the consumer believes them to be of value, then at some level they are. After all, the placebo effect is a valid part of healing. I, personally do not use them, nor do I recommend them to my clients. If subliminal(s) have any effect on the brain (some research has shown it can be detected with brain scanners) the effect is negated if the brain is busy. Bahador Bahrami, a neuroscientist at University College London, found a way to get around subliminal messages, showing that the brain’s susceptibility to those messages alters as it works harder. “If the brain is busy … it can filter out those subliminal things,” said Dr Bahrami, whose research is published today in Current Science. Well, most often, a client wants to play subliminal audios in the back ground while performing other tasks.

Another question I have is about playing these audios or even mine while you sleep, to help you improve learning, create changes, etc. Hypnosis is not sleep. Therefore, if I allow a client to fall asleep in the office, they are not getting the full benefit of our session. Exceptions are made when I know that a few moments of sleep and then awakening a client will help them better be able to focus. I have clients who have been so relaxed they thought they were asleep, but I knew better, they were simply relaxed, the conscious mnd will wander and drift while the subconscious mind hears everything I say. (I tell my clients I am not that nice, I don’t let you sleep!)

The last brainwave prior to sleep is a hypnotic brainwave, so I don’t object to falling asleep at night to one of my audios. After all, you may be awake longer than you realize and either way, the last words you heard as you drifted off to sleep were words of empowerment! It is just that I want my clients to understand, once you are asleep, the benefits of what I am saying are lost until another time.

My husbands jokes that people around the world sleep with his wife at night, but he knows where she is. The truth is, many people have bought audios from me to help them with a variety of issues and yes, they may fall asleep to them. In fact, my sleeping audios encourage that! The real work is done just before that final moment of wakefulness, as you go deep, deep into a pleasant, restful sleep.