“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them,”

Albert Einstein.

A Clearer Journey through Life: Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy and the Mind

Mary Meeks and Robin Hart, CH.t., NLP

So what exactly is hypnosis?  The word itself comes from the Greek word, hypno, which means sleep; however, the state of hypnosis doesn’t always have to be associated with relaxing.  Hypnosis can occur while exercising, for example.  People actually experience hypnosis on a regular basis.  It is a completely natural state of mind that is moved in and out of all day long.  Hypnosis can happen while driving, reading a book or watching T.V., everything around gets tuned out while lost deep in a thought or television show, then reality returns suddenly upon realizing you're not entirely sure what you drove past or the paragraphs just read and that there is more to the room than just the T. V.  Different depths of hypnosis are reached depending on how deep a person allows himself or herself to go.  The more comfortable they are, the more at ease, the deeper into hypnosis they will travel.  Hypnosis is also a way of accessing the subconscious mind through Hypnotherapy.  

Hypnotherapy is taking this natural state and creating a positive, accelerated learning environment for your mind in order to heal, let go of negative energy and reprogram your subconscious to access information in a more positive and essentially constructive manner.  It is also a way of changing how a person perceives their reality for the better.  Everyone is exposed to programming of their minds from parents, teachers, commercials, etc, throughout their life.  All this programming can become inundating and overload the conscious and subconscious with ideas, feelings, and expectations that may not only impact a person’s mental being in a not so positive manner but also their physical being.  Hypnotherapy helps a person to recognize the negative programming and change their perspective or let it go.  This is done by bypassing the conscious or critical thinking mind and accessing the subconscious mind directly while in a hypnotic state.  The mind’s critical thinking faculty has such a single pointed attention and becomes so relaxed that it allows a direct communication with the subconscious for the purpose of benefiting the client.

The subconscious mind is like a storage facility, or the hard drive of a computer, where all beliefs, memories (from creation to adulthood) and experiences are kept and referenced as necessary.   Typically, this storage facility is filled or programmed from various sources: parents, teachers, commercials, etc throughout a person’s life and everything is kept there.  It has been estimated that the subconscious mind receives billion bits of information per second.  But know this as well: not only is this expansive storage facility filled with experiences from a person’s lifetime, but also includes their bloodline’s experiences as well!  Working as a computer, the brain can access parts of this storage facility, which include memories as early as being in the womb, knowing what their mother and father were feeling as they were being formed, and also, baggage from their ancestors!  This is possible through memories stored in their DNA.  So overall, a person’s perspective on life is compiled through a vast knowledge base, which may not be what is needed in order to be happy and successful in life.  Robin Hart, CH.t., NLP believes each person was not born into their family by mere chance, but rather provided a gift in order to learn the truth of who they are.  The family lineage and experiences in a person’s life provide the means to learn the lessons needed to manifest their dreams into reality and understand the power of their consciousness.  With this gift a person is not a victim, but rather in complete control of their journey through life. 

 
To understand the power of Hypnotherapy and why habits and beliefs may be more than what they seem, a better understanding of the mind is needed.  The mind is powerful, there are many elements that make up the whys and hows of getting from where we are currently to where we want to be in life.  By this I mean we know Hypnotherapy is a tool that can undo or change the negative patterns in our lives created by the vast knowledge contained in the storage facility of the subconscious, but that isn’t the only reason our perceptions can be or get skewed.  Memories have power and depending on how often they come up in a person’s mind can cause them to take shape in reality.  For example, people can take beliefs from the past, including fears and what they think of as, “evidence,” and will it into existence once again by sending out those thoughts and focusing on them.  This creates negative patterns in their life which must be broken otherwise what they believe to be true will be continue to be true.  Once a person can realize it is an experience from the past and not in the future they can begin to break the cycle and accept they truly deserve good.  Also, people can have a tendency to hold on to one perception and label people, including them self, as that is the way they will be, always.  Like believing they will always be overweight or a smoker.  Hypnosis can change our programming and create a new experience by inundating the subconscious with positive suggestion.  Ultimately, the subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality, both are real in the subconscious, which means every thought has power and can manifest the more it is focused on or repeated, especially if emotion fuels the thought.  Feelings are energy or fire and assist in thoughts taking on form.  The more emotional a person is the more powerful the form will be.  Hypnotherapy can break the cycles, the repetitions, by preventing unwanted emotions and energy from being fed.  So rather than scolding ourselves when we fall into the negative patterns we just focus on the positive in order to use the opportunity to become more aware and bring ourselves back to center.  By becoming committed to the vision of learning the truth of who we are a person won’t think twice about what they are or aren’t doing but rather just let it go.

 
Generally, a Hypnotherapy session will go:

·    Time: 1-2 hours depending on client needs

·    Starts with the induction: Induction is the process where the client is calmed into a deep state of relaxation similar to the state of mind just before falling asleep; this will include headphones

·   Theta state is reached:  Theta state is exactly the same as when you’re driving and realize you’re not entirely sure what you just passed.  You are aware, but deep in thought or super focused

·    Next the process begins:  The process varies based completely on the client’s needs and the issue(s) at hand.  This can include: positive imbedded commands or future pacing (working with the subconscious mind in order to comprehend a new state of mind, outlook on life or new experience)

·   Awakening:  You are brought out of the theta state and feel refreshed, wide awake and clear headed

It is important to know in this relaxed state a person is always in control but is more receptive to positive suggestions in order to shift negative beliefs, fears or behaviors.  The subconscious will not allow a person to accept any suggestions, which are not in alignment with their core values.  Once a person has reached a deep state of hypnosis the therapist will guide them on a journey of inner discovery.  A person’s subconscious mind holds all the answers and therapist takes them on a journey that will discover deeper issues and neutralize emotional charge so as to stop what triggers them and to no longer be run by it.  Depending on how deep seated the core issue(s) are it may take several sessions to successfully enable a person to truly let go of whatever is holding them back.  Whatever the issue may be it generally stems from something deeper.  The issue is just an out picturing of subconscious. Hypnosis can be done just on issue itself but will not be as profound as getting to the heart of the matter, unless the issue is just habit.  Hypnotherapy is a powerful tool that can be used in conjunction with other healing modalities in order to create a holistic approach.  See NLP and RET. 

When looking back through a person’s life it is their qualities of life not their material possessions that are noted and remembered.  In order to get the most out of life it is imperative to realize the importance lies in the journey not in the destiny: always try to live in the present, not the past or future.  With Hypnotherapy you can clear out the old baggage in order to live to full potential.

Hypnotherapy is great for changing unwanted habits and fears and/or achieving goals in your personal or professional life such as: