Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.
- Wikipedia

TED talk discussion and demonstration

According to hypnotist Albert Nerenberg;

Stage hypnosis, which is used to generate a "rush" feeling- heart beat, energetic surge, and peak experience.

Hynotherapy, which includes common applications such as;

• Managing emotions, including stress / anxiety, anger management, panic attacks, confidence motivation and self-esteem, overcoming phobias, depression.
• Pain control, including migraines and painless childbirth (hypnobirthing)
• Overcoming physical ailments, including asthma, eczema, weight loss and irritable bowel syndrome.
• Addiction control, smoking cessation, and obsessive-complulsive disorder (OCD).
• Improving physical sports & work performance
• Dealing with insomnia

Hypnosis has also been demonstrated in;

• Accelerated learning
• Hypnotic bar, in which people are hypnotized to be drunk with no chemical intoxicants.
• Hypnosurgery, where patients are completely awake and pain-free, during operation.
• Convincing someone they are a chicken

Possible Explanations

Certain hypnotic states are highly similar to REM sleep states, and one hypothesis is that hypnotic sleep (in particualar) effectively jumpstarts REM sleep. At the same time, the hypnotized individual is still fully aware and conscious.

Further Reading

Albert Nerenberg's upcoming new film wins the Jury Prize at Illuminate.