What is Hypnosis?
What is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a process by which you become totally relaxed and allow your conscious (thinking) mind to stand aside for a period while you focus in on your subconscious.
Without realizing it, you already do this several times a day, including when you first wake up and before you fall asleep, when you are driving on auto-pilot, daydreaming, meditating, reading a good book, and even watching TV.
What is the difference between Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy?
What is the difference between Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy?
Hypnosis focuses on changing behaviors. While in the hypnotic state, you and your hypnotist may work together to choose behavior changes you are looking for, and to eliminate behaviors you don't want. The new thoughts you choose will root in your subconscious and you will carry out the behavior change when you are out of hypnosis.
The downside: Behaviors are a symptom of deeper rooted beliefs. We can change behaviors, but if we still have the beliefs that led to those behaviors, we'll continue to act on those belief, whether it's in the old way or in new behavioral symptoms.
Hypnotherapy focuses on healing by changing beliefs and behaviors. By participating in therapy while in the hypnotic state, you are not just changing behaviors, you're finding and changing the beliefs that led to these behaviors in the first place. While focused in your subconscious, you can allow yourself to become aware of events that created your current beliefs, why you developed those beliefs, and look at them from a more updated perspective, choosing how to believe differently. Through this process, you can resolve inner conflicts, release old beliefs developed long ago, and release trauma. You can then create new, healthier beliefs which lead to healthier patterns of behavior. Hypnotherapy is a much deeper form of healing than hypnosis alone.
Do you use both types?
Hypnotherapy heals. It isn't just for changing behaviors, it is for releasing the feelings and old beliefs that are causing self-defeating behaviors, nurturing and loving the pieces of you that feel scarred, and creating a more whole version of yourself.
Because of the deeper healing potential, I practice a specific form of hypnotherapy with my clients called Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy.
What kind of things can I treat with hypnotherapy?
What kind of things can I treat with hypnotherapy?
All kinds of things. Here are a few common ones:
Depression
Trauma
Anxiety
Addictions and other Compulsive Behaviors
(overspending, overeating, etc.)
Grief
Chronic Pain
Loneliness
Fear
How is Hypnotherapy different than "regular" therapy?
There are two main differences.
How is Hypnotherapy different than "regular" therapy?
There are two main differences.
1) Traditional talk therapy may take weeks or months to uncover the subconscious reasons behind issues that are manifesting in your life. Like archaeologists, therapists work with clients to slowly uncover layer after layer of covering using a toothbrush, hoping that each brushstroke will uncover the fossil we are seeking.
Hypnotherapy allows us to burrow a tunnel directly into the subconscious, taking us directly to our destination is as little as one visit.
2) In traditional therapy, we may get to the root cause of feelings or behaviors, but we often feel "stuck" anyway, like no matter how hard we try, we can't get rid of our anxiety, depression, feeling of unworthiness, etc. That is because our conscious mind is trying to make changes, but we still hold self-defeating beliefs in our subconscious.
Hypnotherapy not only gets to the self-defeating beliefs, but applies therapeutic techniques to heal those beliefs and develop new, empowered ones, allowing you to really make changes in your life.
How does it work?
How does it work?
In a hypnotherapy session, my voice and directions will ease you into a trance-like state, during which you will be in an extreme state of focus on your subconscious. Through this hypnotic trance, you will be able to access past experiences and hidden belief systems at the root of self-defeating behaviors. I will then guide you to heal those beliefs, accessing your own inner strength and inner knowing. This opens the door for you to reprogram your thought patterns, beliefs, and behaviors, making choices about how you want to think, feel, and act.
Will I still be in control of my mind?
Will I still be in control of my mind?
Yes. Hypnosis is simply like a deep meditation. You will always be aware of what is going on and of what I am saying to you. If you are uncomfortable at any time, you are fully able to reject a suggestion you don’t like, refuse to answer a question, or even leave the session.
I cannot and will not make you do anything you don't want to do.
Can you tell me more about the "conscious" and "subconscious" you keep talking about?
Can you tell me more about the "conscious" and "subconscious" you keep talking about?
Our conscious mind uses about 5-10% of our brainpower. It thinks, plans, analyzes, and holds our short term memory.
Our subconscious mind uses the other 90-95% of our brainpower. It holds long term memory, feelings, emotions, long-held beliefs, behavior patterns, creativity, and our intuition and connection with a higher source.
It's also where you store beliefs about yourself and the world around you and choices about your behavior. How you act today is based on the beliefs in your subconscious mind that you have been developing over the course of your life. If you don't like your actions (emotionally reactive, addictive behaviors, too anxious, etc.), hypnotherapy can help you identify why you behave in those ways, and then you can re-decide how to act and feel.
I would love to support you to try hypnotherapy.
Please call or email me today for a free phone consultation.