Are you tired of trying to “figure it all out?”
Do you feel like your intellect is sometimes more of a nuisance than a help? Have you tried traditional talk therapy? Are you sick of telling your story over and over? Are you constantly chasing various “symptoms” but never really getting to the “causes”?
If you feel this way, you are not alone.
Many people have done years of talk therapy only to find that many of the issues they had in the beginning are still alive and well in their lives today.
It’s not that you haven’t worked hard. It’s not that you haven’t courageously shown up in your life. But, what should you do, if after all this effort and money, you don’t feel significantly better?
Hypnotherapy may be your answer!!
Hypnotherapy uses the process of psychotherapy in concert with the treatment intervention of hypnosis.
What, exactly, is hypnosis?
Contrary to what the theatrical stage shows portray, hypnosis is a natural, relaxed state of mind available to everyone. By using hypnosis in a therapeutic setting, clients can easily access the subconscious mind where habitual and relationship patterns, addictions, emotions, and long-term memories are held.
How, exactly, does hypnotherapy differ from hypnosis?
Hypnotherapy is the ethical and responsible application of hypnosis to reach a therapeutic result. It is vastly different and much more helpful than the generally held image of hypnosis.
How does it actually work?
You know how everyone talks about the “terrible two’s”? The reason they are deemed “terrible” is because of the dreaded temper tantrums for which toddlers are infamous. However, temper tantrums are an example of how ‘in the moment’ children are and how their emotions are purely accessible. Contrary to popular belief, accessible emotion is healthy and empowering! We are taught, at an early age, that these displays of emotions are intolerable, and thus, as adults, we suppress outward, healthy emotional expression.
During hypnotherapy, accelerated learning takes place — a learning reminiscent to that of childhood. Adults in hypnotic psychotherapy gain access to atrophied areas of perception, communication, and insight that are usually only operative in young children. In other words, hypnotherapy reconnects adults with the full emotional lives they knew as children.
So, if hypnotherapy is so powerful, why doesn’t everyone seek it?
There are many fears that discourage people from hypnotherapy. A few are:
1. What if I don’t/can’t remember what happened?
This fear is due to the thinking that clients may be unconscious during hypnotherapy. In this process, you are accessing the subconscious in a relaxed state of mind. You are not unconscious. During hypnosis, the client is always able to remember, always able to speak, and always able to hear the therapist. 80% of the day, we are going in and out of the subconscious mind, and we remember our day, right? So, you will remember your session.
2. Are you going to make me cluck like a chicken/quack like a duck?
This speaks to a fear of embarrassment, usually stemming from the well-known, ‘Hypnosis Stage Show.’ Hypnotherapy is not a stage show, it is therapy. And clients will never be asked to do anything that will make them feel silly or that is against their moral values.
3. What if I can’t be hypnotized?
This is a very common question/fear. The fact is, everyone can be hypnotized because hypnosis is a natural state of mind. If you are human, you can be hypnotized.
4. I don’t want anyone else controlling my mind.
This is a bit ironic because hypnosis actually enables people to control their own minds better. It helps us better understand how to reject ‘hypnotic suggestions,’ such as those we’re subjected to via television ads. Also, hypnosis empowers clients with the underlying tenet that they have all the answers within them (rather than the belief that the answers lie within the therapist). Clients are always in charge of the process and can always reject a suggestion that does not fit for them.
5. What if I discover things that I don’t want to know?
The subconscious mind never reveals things to us that we are not ready to know. Discovering things that don’t necessarily ‘feel good’ is like an untreated tooth cavity: if it remains, you never know when it will crop up and cause you pain. Hypnotherapy helps you release that which has been controlling your life; and once you have addressed and released it, you then are empowered, with nothing to fear.
6. I can’t afford it.
This is a common concern regarding any kind of therapy. The advantage of hypnotherapy is that it addresses the direct, underlying causes of behaviors, rather than focusing on the behaviors themselves. It is often said that 1 hypnotherapy session is equivalent to at least 10 talk therapy sessions. I believe hypnotherapy is the most cost-effective form of therapy available.
If you are interested in finding out more about hypnotherapy or your specific situation, I offer a free, 15-minute phone consultation. This is an opportunity to get your questions answered and to see whether hypnotherapy can help you.
I have seen the benefits of this work, not only from observing clients’ sessions, but also from experiencing sessions, myself. I could never promote and offer a type of therapy to others that I did not whole-heartedly embrace. Every client of mine has acknowledged the depth and effectiveness of this work and I feel very confident that you will have a similar experience.
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