History of Hypnosis in India

Hypnosis is an ancient science, that was known to many older civilizations like Indian, Chinese and Greek. In Indian culture, Hypnosis finds reference in many Upanishads and Patanjali Yoga Sutra. Many travellers have reported surgeries performed under trance in 17th and 18th century India. Hypnosis has been part of Indian knowledge system from ages.

In India, modern day scientific researches in hypnosis have been benefitted immensely by contributions of Dr. Hrishikesh Jana (Ahmedabad), Dr. S Ramaswamy (Chennai), Dr. P Fernandes (Chennai), Dr. Ramachandran (Bangalore), Dr. Bhaskar Vyas, Dr. Rajni Vyas (Vadodra); who were pioneers in contributing to the development of Hypnosis in India.

In early 1980s , Dr. Bhupendra Palan, student of Dr. Jana became first Indian Doctor to obtain Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis from the American Board of Medical Hypnosis.

Professor Rakesh Jain, a Clinical Psychologist, independently started research in the area of hypnosis , during late 1990s. He has authored several books on hypnosis. Together, they both envisioned the formation of Academy of Hypnosis, to professionally formalize this field in India.