There are a lot of misunderstandings/myths about hypnosis and one of the things I hear most often is people saying they can’t be hypnotized or asking if anyone can be hypnotized. Lets me start off by talking about why people think that they can’t be hypnotized, this is actually just a fear response. When you are are afraid of something your mind does everything it can to convince you it can’t or won’t happen to you, so it’s very natural to think that when you don’t understand what hypnosis actually is. Being in Hypnosis a natural state of your mind, it’s not magic and it’s not in any way giving someone else control over you. You are in that state every single night right before you fall asleep, and hypnosis is just having someone guide you and help you get to that state. The fear comes from fearing that you will lose control, but in reality there is no loss of control in fact while in that state you actually have more control over your own mind than your usual waking state. You still know everything that is happening. It’s just allowing someone to guide you to a place where your conscious mind is not judging so much where you’re more suggestible to changes but you’re still in full control. It’s a state of relaxed focus, your conscious mind can stop chattering and relax completely so you can focus and make the changes you would like to make or whatever it is you are wanting to accomplish with that state. Hypnosis is not anything magical. It doesn’t take control over you. It’s not something that you can or can’t have happened to you. Everyone naturally goes into the state. If you feel like you have tried Hypnosis and it just doesn’t work for you or that you can’t be hypnotized that’s just a matter of your conscious mind not allowing you to follow the instructions because of what I mentioned before, that it’s afraid to lose that control, which of course is just an illusion because you’re not losing any control. For some people it is very difficult to get past that particular fear. Another misconception is that with different forms of hypnosis you have to give control like the case of hypno kink, erotic hypnosis or mental domination hypnosis, you are not giving control away for the trance/hypnosis you are giving the person control in the same way you would if you were to have a session with a dominatrix or similar SM play, the trance is just a way to experience it differently and deeper. You are freely choosing to submit. Many enjoy the fantasy of the hypnosis taking control of them in the same way one might get excited from being tied up or restrained in some way but it is purely a fantasy because you always ultimately have control and can not be made to do anything you wouldn’t normally do.
There’s also the issue of not everyone is able to focus when someone else is guiding them. Hypnosis requires you to be able to focus on what the hypnotist is saying, and follow their directions and not everyone is able to focus. Some people think that only stupid or gullible people can be hypnotized, but that couldn’t be further from the truth most of the people that I find most easily hypnotizable are those who are very intelligent and have the ability to focus and have superior control over their minds. They can focus, follow the instructions and can reach deep hypnotic states very easily. It’s usually the people who are not as intelligent who can’t see or understand what the Hypnosis is so they’re just afraid and or can’t focus well enough to reach state. With a little understanding and practice they too can reach the hypnotic states.
Some times it’s a matter of an individual’s hypnosis session just not matching their expectations. So they actually are going under and reaching the hypnotic states but they don’t realize it. They see movies or hear stories about someone being hypnotized without even noticing and not remembering anything they did or watched a stage show where the participants seemed to be “sleep walking” or just completely falling over asleep and just mindlessly doing what the hypnotist was telling them etc. While some can in fact experience hypnosis in this way that is much more rare (about 1.5% of the population) and most people will not experience it like that but it doesn’t mean they aren’t hypnotized they just experience it differently. Most people experience hypnosis as just a relaxed state and remember everything that happened during a session. If you desire a stronger experience you can train your brain over time to reach deeper states you just need to practice regularly. The best way to get past any issues you are having going into or staying under hypnosis is just doing it regularly, practice focusing and ignoring your mind’s chatter. Just relax and don’t force it and you will eventually get there.