Mind, Energy, Body (ME-B) Psychotherapy

The science of Mind, Energy, Body (ME-B) psychotherapy holds the philosophy that all of us have a true healed sense of self.  Our life experiences create false beliefs about our self.  These false beliefs create a false sense of self, which limits us from achieving health, life’s passions and joys. Uncovering the mind, body and energetic defenses that keep false beliefs (and thus a false sense of self) in place helps us open to a deeper sense of who we truly are.  Freedom and choice result!

Integrated ME-B therapy understands that each person has a spirit born to learn, teach and fulfill its task.  The core of this spirit is whole and god-like.  Unfortunately, prenatal and life experiences create internal “wounds” that distort our identity or sense of self and thus our ability to manifest our health and goals.

We do not become more by denying any one part of ourselves.  Rather, by meeting angry, hurt or abandoned parts with love, non-judgment and compassion, we claim our whole and can realize our individual greatness.

ME-B psychotherapy is different from other energetic modalities in that it works with and integrates all 3 systems (mind, energy, body) rather than just one or two. In doing so, true and lasting transformation occurs.

The founder of the Mind Energy Body Institute is Carolyn  Bucey Eberle MA, LPC, energy healer and CMT. She is an advocate of integrative healing.  The Institute’s mission is to expand the vision of therapy and healing to include an integrated approach working three systems together (mind, energy, body).

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How many of us live in fear every day of our lives, some of us not even knowing it? Fear is so predominant in our society, so commonplace that we don’t even recognize it for what it is. Where does it come from? One answer might be the ego. While it is ego-based, it is really a case of living from the past or the future rather than the present. Fear does not exist in the present, for what’s there to fear right now? Fear comes from projecting past experiences onto potential future realities resulting in the common thinking, “What if….?” The conscious mind thrives on this and perpetuates the feeling of fear/anxiety by bringing thoughts into the mix.

This process often times feels out of our control, as though it is running the show. And on some level, it is because it is usually and mostly unconsciously driven. The way out? Bringing awareness to it is the first step. Then bringing it into therapy as something to work on, either by way of energy work, body-centered therapy, breathwork, and/or hypnotherapy.  All of these modalities allow the client access to the unconscious material in order to bring it to the light of consciousness and then transform/transmute it.

The result? More freedom and peace, more choice, less anxiety, angst and fear and more empowerment.  It’s like taking the reigns of the horse back from the ego/mind and letting it know that you are now the boss of it!

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Mind Eraser?

 

Jenny came in and wanted to talk about hypnotherapy. She was very interested in changing certain behaviors and patterns and felt that hypnotherapy was a good fit.  As we sat together and I asked her whether she had any questions or concerns about the process. She began, “Well, I guess my only hesitation is that, while I want certain things to change and go away, I don’t want the qualities I like to disappear.”  Her comment made me wonder how many others have a similar concern.

 

Jenny’s statement seemed to speak to a common misperception about hypnotherapy—that the therapist is going to “take control” of the session and decide what the client does, says, and/or changes.  This could not be further from the truth. 

 

The onus of what happens in a hypnotherapy session lies with the client. The client is completely in charge and gets to decide what s/he wants to or is ready to change. The therapist is there to guide the process and to help identify patterns. If the client has certain characteristics, patterns and behaviors that work for her/him, those will not be addressed in the session. 

 

For whatever reason, people seem to project a certain magical prowess to the hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy. Maybe this comes from the hypnosis stage shows that tend to make the process more of a “show” rather than “therapy,” thereby making the hypnotist seem a bit “magical.”  However, there really is nothing magical about hypnosis. It is a natural state of mind, one that we all fluctuate in and out of throughout our day. What occurs in a session is that the therapist guides the client to attain this natural, hypnotic state purposefully.  Why? Because the subconscious mind, which holds deep-seated patterns, beliefs and behaviors are stored there.  By accessing the subconscious mind, true change happens.

 

“This state” therefore is not mystical or magical but natural and normal. Everyone can and does access it throughout their day; they just usually aren’t aware of it!

 

If you had some fear about hypnotherapy like Jenny, I hope that this article has allayed some or all of it and that you consider scheduling a session.  You have nothing to lose, unless you choose to!

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What does it feel like to be hypnotized?

Let’s take a moment to talk about this because it often holds common misperceptions and leads people to prematurely truncate therapy. Some people discontinue hypnosis because they are disappointed in their reactions, believing they are not suitable subjects. Most people have the idea that they will go through something different, new and remarkable in the hypnotic state. Often they equate being hypnotized with being anaesthetized, being asleep, or being unconscious. Because of these misconceptions, when in hypnosis they find that their mind is active, that they can hear every sound in the room, that they can resist a suggestion if they so desire, that they attention wanders, their thoughts racing around, that they have not fallen asleep, and that they remember everything that has happened when they open their eyes, they believe they may have failed. They imagine that they were a poor subject or weren’t actually hypnotized at all, and they are then apt to abandon hypnotic treatment.

The experience of being hypnotized is no different from the experience of relaxing and of starting to fall asleep.  Because this experience is so familiar to you, and because you expect something startlingly different in hypnosis, you may get discouraged when a trance-state is induced.  Remember, you are not anaesthetized like in a surgical procedure, nor are you unconscious like with a concussion, nor are you asleep. Your mind is active, you are under your own control, you are able to perceive all stimuli, and you are in complete communication with the therapist. The only unique thing you may experience is a feeling of heaviness in your extremities and perhaps a bit tingly in your hands and fingers. If you typically are a deep sleeper, you may doze momentarily; if you are a light sleeper, you may have a feeling you are completely awake.

To truncate therapy because of the feeling of not being hypnotized or not being a good client is actually to do a disservice to yourself. A process has begun and like any process, you need to see to completion. If you don’t see/feel immediate results, don’t get discouraged–it took a long time for the negative patterns to develop and may take more than just one session to effectively notice change. This does not mean, however, that no change is occurring; restructuring is going on underneath; neuro-pathways are changing; you are different. It’s like a marathon: you wouldn’t want to get to mile 18 or 20 and then quit because you couldn’t see the finish line, would you? Stick with it and you will see results.

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A survey of the psychotherapy literature revealed the following recovery rates:

Psychoanalysis                                   38% after 600 sessions

Behavior Therapy                               72% after 22 sessions

Hypnotherapy                                     93% after 6 sessions

(Barrios)

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Healing Touch for Animals^® (HTA) is a bio-field (two energetic-field) therapy that supports the animal’s body in self-healing. The techniques used in HTA help to balance and clear the animal’s energy systems, which in turn, allows for optimum physiological responses to stabilize and support the animal.  This provides an overall sense of well-being. Using clear intent with the application of each technique, the practitioner assists with the stabilization of the animal’s energy field and healing occurs.

HTA assists with:

• Pain Reduction
• Faster Healing Time
• Overall Health and Well-Being
• Behavior Issues/Behavior Modification
• Training and Competition Focus
• Deepening Connection with Humans
• Support During Euthanasia

HTA is being used in veterinary hospitals, training facilities, shelters and private homes to assist animals in their healing process and overall well-being. The facilitation of HTA is not a substitute for traditional veterinary care, but works in tandem with veterinarians to provide the optimal level of care for your pet(s). HTA can be used on all species: small and large animals, birds, aquatics and exotics.

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It is challenging to separate my training as a Transpersonal Psychotherapist and just refer to myself as a “Traditional Psychotherapist.”  It’s like asking a trained professional in any field to not view the world through their trained lenses.  In this sense, I will ALWAYS see my clients as a mind-body-spirit, not just one or two of the three.  It might help to go into a little bit about how I view Psychology and Psychotherapy as a whole, and how I view my work from there.

The word “psychology” is the combination of two terms – study (ology) and soul (psyche), or mind. The derivation of the word from Latin gives it this clear and obvious meaning:

The study of the soul or mind.

This meaning has been altered over the years until today, this is not what the word means at all. The subject of psychology, as studied in colleges and universities, currently has very little relationship with the mind, and absolutely nothing to do with the soul or spirit.

It is important to understand that words and ideas are supposed to refer to something. “The tree in the yard” refers to an actual thing that can be seen, touched and experienced. “The walking his dog at dawn” refers to an actual event that can be seen, observed and experienced. The realm of mind is an actual realm that can be experienced, and at one time there were words that accurately referred to this realm.

Dictionaries define “Psyche” as:

The spirit or soul.
The human mind.
In psychoanalysis: The mind functioning as the center of thought, emotion, and behavior.

Dictionaries define “Soul” as:

The spiritual or immortal elements in a person. A person’s mental or moral or emotional nature.

What we often call “Traditional psychotherapy” tends to fall short of addressing the all-important relationship to one’s true spiritual nature.

In modern psychotherapy, we treat symptoms because symptoms can be quantified and identified, or so it is claimed by traditional modern medical and psychiatric practices.

Thus Emotional Pain is described in terms of symptoms: Depression, Anger, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Self-Esteem issues, Mood Swings, Compulsive Behavior, Chronic and Acute Fear, Self-Injury, Suicidal Thoughts, Shame, Guilt, Eating Disorders, or Addictions. These do not heal themselves. Time, marriages, children, success, wealth, buying a bigger house, or faster car, changing jobs or relocating will not CURE it. The damage is sometimes very deep, pervasive and profound. It is a soul injury. The person has been robbed of his or her integrity, core identity and trust.

Emotional, Physical or Sexual trauma in childhood is ‘violence’ that does not require force. The child is thrown into a ‘state of shock.’ For some the memories remain conscious, while others drive them beneath the conscious level. The coping mechanisms the child used are carried into adulthood and impact the person’s life on every level-Emotional, Physical, Mental, Behavioral, Spiritual, Sexual and Relationships. While these coping mechanisms were appropriate then, they are a ‘problem’ in adulthood.

Traditional mental health professionals ask: “What is wrong with you?” or “What happened to you?” Asking, “What is wrong with you?” or “What happened to you?” implies blame, sickness and fault. Asking, “What did you experience growing up?” -allows the person to begin the process of discovering the source of their pain and healing the wounds.

Traditional psychotherapy tends to neglect the fact that we feel, sense, and experience global political mass consciousness, as well as our individual consciousness.

A Mind, Body, Spirit approach addresses all three, therefore opening the door to true balance and healing.

Well-being comes from the understanding of the Self, the family, the local community in which we live, and the global community of which we are part. We are each one heart of the Whole; each heart here to express its unique piece of the Whole. Knowing Self creates a sense of “I as a piece of this Whole,” different and one at the same time.

What I actually believe to be “Traditional Psychotherapy” comes from my ideas and beliefs about healing: it is about reconnecting the person with their inner being. Reconnecting can be achieved through meditation, introspection and over time accessing our inner self, however, few people have the discipline, inclination or know how to affect this process. Therefore, employing the help of a professional who practices Mind, Body Spirit Healing/Transpersonal Healing will quickly establish the foundation for empowerment, self-esteem, peace of mind and on-going spiritual and emotional growth.

The benefits of healing are all encompassing. In working with people for 10 years, I have learned, no matter how urgent or grim a person’s predicament seems to be, I know without doubt if they are WILLING to do the mental work of going within to release old beliefs, feelings, thought patterns and forgiving, anything can be healed. The belief that some issues or conditions are ‘incurable’ whether it is emotions or physical illness, which is so frightening to so many people, only means that the particular issue or condition cannot be cured by ‘outer’ methods and that the person needs to GO WITHIN to effect the healing.

Whether the issue is anger, sadness, fear, guilt, shame, or humiliation there is a negative thought pattern that produces them-thus these consistent thinking patterns create our experiences. A condition can be as annoying as acne or as dreaded and frightening as the ‘C’ word-Cancer. By changing our thought patterns, we can change our experience, thus healing the condition. The issue or condition came from the inner trauma the person experienced and can be healed-never to return again.

Family Therapy

My educational training is as a Marriage and Family Therapist. I am systems-orientated and a systems thinker, meaning that I view the total (family) as more than the sum of its parts and know that if there is change in one part of the system, it affects the totality. I use a direct approach and hold honesty, integrity and connection in high esteem. I work with families to achieve a homeostasis that is more in-line with what they desire.

Parent Coaching

Parenting is one of the hardest, most important jobs we ever undertake and despite how many books we have read on the topic, nothing really can prepare us for the many unpredictable challenges that arise. How do we keep a level head? What’s the best way to allow our children to grow into their own while still guiding them and keeping them as safe as possible?

Sometimes the answers to these questions are obvious; but sometimes what we think is the “right” answer is actually very detrimental to the child in the long-run.  Children are great mirrors for us in that they show us that which we don’t necessarily want to see or that which we have tried to keep hidden. Because of this, our “stuff” will then impede our ability to parent from a level-headed place. This is when our judgments get cloudy. Having an outside “coach” to help guide your process helps you “tow the line,” stay grounded in your decisions, allows you to respond rather than react, and gives you confidence and support through challenging times.

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National Sleep Research Project

-The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.

– It’s impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.

– Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you’re sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you’re still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.

– A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year

– One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children.

– The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists involved were concerned about wasting paper.

– REM sleep occurs in bursts totaling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling asleep.

– Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It’s possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.

– REM dreams are characterized by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery – obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.

– Certain types of eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analogous to watching a film

– No-one knows for sure if other species dream but some do have sleep cycles similar to humans.

– Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep.

– Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others reckon we dream about things worth forgetting – to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.

– Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations – sleep and consciousness.

– REM sleep may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75 per cent REM sleep, 10 per cent more than full-term bubs. Similarly, a newborn kitten, puppy, rat, or hamsters experiences only REM sleep, while a newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no REM sleep at all.

– Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain’s sleep-wake clock.

– British Ministry of Defense researchers have been able to reset soldiers’ body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibers embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers’ retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.

– Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.

– The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

– The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.

– Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.

– The “natural alarm clock” which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.

– Some sleeping tablets, such as barbiturates suppress REM sleep, which can be harmful over a long period.

– In insomnia following bereavement, sleeping pills can disrupt grieving.

– Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a “neural switch” in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

– To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain’s sleep-wake cycle are closely linked. That’s why hot summer nights can cause a restless sleep. The blood flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees – one reason why older people have more sleep disorders.

– A night on the grog will help you get to sleep but it will be a light slumber and you won’t dream much.

– After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you’ve slept enough.

– Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom sleep for 10 hours.

– Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.

– Ten per cent of snorers have sleep apnea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

– Snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep

– Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal

– Some studies suggest women need up to an hour’s extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.

– Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of sleep for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.

– Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.

– Most of what we know about sleep we’ve learned in the past 25 years.

– As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of sleep suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.

– Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.

– The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.

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The Precious Unconscious

In the last article, we learned about brainwaves and brainwave states, as related to the hypnotherapy process. We talked about the conscious and subconscious mind in detail. But what about the unconscious mind, or the state of sleep?

Paying the Price of Keeping Up With the Jones’

In today’s society, we are go go go. Sleep is something that tends to fall by the wayside in order to get everything done that we want to do in a day. But what most people don’t know is just how vital sleep is for our health, performance, and ultimately our survival. In June, 60 Minutes did a show on sleep, its importance, the repercussions of not getting enough, and the brain’s responses to lack of sleep.

Just as Important as Food

During one study, lab rats were deprived of sleep for 5 days. What happened? They died. This means that sleep is just as important to our survival as food! However, people don’t want to believe that they need to sleep because it puts a damper on how much they can get done. So what do they do? They “compromise” by getting a couple of hours a sleep a day.

Why Shut the Body Down?

What most people don’t know are the proven decompensations when a body does not get 7.5-8 hours of sleep a night. That’s right, 7.5-8 hours! If you don’t get that amount, you are considered sleep-deprived. And the consequences of sleep-deprivation take effect immediately–after only one night! These consequences include slowed reaction time, impaired judgment, poor concentration and decision-making, and difficulties learning and remembering. Now, because we are exposed to external “compensations,” such as daylight and caffeine, we do have the ability to delay some of those negative consequences for a day or two. But certainly not indefinitely.

I’m Fine!

“So what?” you’re thinking. “I may be considered sleep-deprived, but I am functioning just fine!” Well, believe it or not, you’re not. Scientists have found that this type of response is quite common among sleep-deprived individuals; they have no sense of their limitations; they believe they are used to and have adapted to lack of sleep. This simply is not true, and the fallout of limited sleep is dramatic.

Hmmm…Fat, Sick and Unstable

Studies show that when a person gets less than 7.5-8 hours a night, they not only could wind up fat and sick, but also mentally ill. With lack of adequate sleep, what occurs is a hyperactive brain response: The amygdala, the emotional brain center, reacts more strongly than it would otherwise, and it seems there is a disconnect between the amygdala and the frontal lobe of the brain. The combination of these two brain dysfunctions results in mood swings, and major disturbances in rational thought and decision-making. In other words, the brain of a sleep-deprived individual looks remarkably similar to that of a person suffering from a psychiatric disorder.

Don’t Forget Sex

If that didn’t get your attention, maybe this one will: sleep-deprivation may very well dramatically affect sexual drive. In a study done on fruit flies (hard to really make a connection between flies and humans, but bear with me), it was proven that when a well-rested male fruit fly is put in a Petri-dish with a female, he almost immediately begins to orient towards her and then perform a mating ritual which leads to copulation. This happens time and time again. But, when they deprived the male fruit fly of sleep, and then put him together in a container with a female, he does not orient towards her and appears disinterested in her and/or mating! Decide for yourself if you want to draw a correlation or not, but seems pretty plausible to me!

Quality of Sleep is Important Too

Finally, scientists studied quality of sleep as well. They deprived subjects of reaching deep sleep by monitoring their brain waves and arousing them just slightly with sounds just as they were entering into a Delta brainwave state. By keeping them at Theta and above, the scientists discovered that the subjects began to eat more and enter into a pre-diabetic state. Leptin, a hormone in the brain responsible for signaling fullness, seems to go off-line. As a result, subjects began to eat enormous amounts of food and gained weight. With regard to the pre-diabetic state, scientists found that by eliminating Delta waves, subjects were then unable to properly metabolize sugar. Basically, by not getting quality sleep, we are subject to health problems commonly related to old age.

It’s Nap Time!

What if you just can’t, for whatever reason, get 7.5-8 hours a sleep a night? Here’s the good news: You can take naps and make up the missed time!!! Isn’t that great? So, if you only are able to get 6 hours a night, all you have to do is take a 1.5-2 hour nap and you’re good to go!

Summing It Up

In this article, we talked about the importance of sleep as a component of health. When a person is sleep-deprived, many everyday functions become severely impaired. Some of the subjective ramifications can be excess weight, illness, and unstable mood. A person needs to get 7.5-8 hours a sleep a night to optimally function. If unable to get that amount, naps can save the day and catch us up.

The Bottom Line

The implication that this has for hypnotherapy is that many of the symptoms that clients come in with may be alleviated, or at the very least aided, by a good night’s sleep or a decent night’s sleep accompanied by an afternoon nap. What this all means is that it may be time to rethink what is essential for good health–not just diet and exercise, but diet, exercise, and SLEEP.

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Commonly Asked Question

One of the most common questions I get regarding hypnotherapy is: Will I remember my session? The answer is a resounding “yes,” but the question, itself, speaks to the seeming mystery and possible misunderstanding that accompanies the process of hypnotherapy.

In this article, I would like to dispel some of the unknowns around the hypnotherapy process by looking at and explaining the naturally occurring science of brainwaves. In doing so, my hope is that there will be more understanding of what actually is occurring and allay any fears of being unconscious or out of control during a session.

So let’s first define what hypnosis and hypnotherapy are. Hypnosis is a relaxed state of mind where the conscious takes a back seat to the subconscious. This state is often called a trance. Hypnotherapy is the process of doing therapy while in this relaxed state or trance.

Did I lose you? Usually just with the word “trance” a fog begins to roll in for people. So let’s demystify things by talking about the brainwaves that create different states, like trances.

What are brainwaves?

Brainwaves are measured in two ways; first, by how fast, or the frequency, of electrical activity is in a one second interval; and second, by how strong that electrical activity is. The frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz) and ranges from 0 to 32Hz, and the strength is measured in Millivolts (MV).

There are different internal experiences associated with each range of brainwave frequencies, and each range is produced by different areas of the brain. These frequencies are broken down into four groups of brainwaves:Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. There are both positive and negative associations with each group of brainwaves, depending on their overall pattern and their abundance or lack.

The following is an explanation of the different brainwave states:

1. BETA (13-32 Hz) (Conscious Mind)

(+) High performance and quick thinking, especially helpful in conjunction with other brainwaves to bring what is deep inside out into the world in the creative process

(-) High anxiety and panic, list making, judging, critiquing, internal dialog and rumination

(Predominant in frontal lobes and generated by Brainstem and Cortex)

(a) Hi BETA (20-32 Hz)

(+) Associated with peak performance and cognitive processing.

(-) Associated with worry, anxiety, ruminating and OCD,

*Correlated with alcoholism*

(b) Low BETA (13 to 21 Hz)

(+) Associated with focus, analytic, relaxed thinking.

(-) Can be associated with depression in asymmetry, ADHD, OCD, sleep disorders, learning disorders and anxiety

2. ALPHA 8-13 Hz (Bridge between Conscious and Subconscious Mind)

(+) Associated with meditation, inner calm, relaxed state, receptive mind

(-) Spacing out, daydreaming, fogginess, depression, OCD, ADHD, anxiety when high in the frontal lobes.

(Predominate in occipital lobes and generated by the Thalamus and Cortex)

(a) Higher ALPHA

More alert and can be associated with more emotion

(b) Lower ALPHA

More drowsy

3. THETA (4-8 Hz) (The Subconscious)

(+) Associated with creativity and spontaneity, accesses to the subconscious, body memory, ancestral or genetic memory

(-) Distractibility, inattention, daydreaming, depression and anxiety

(Predominate in frontal midline and generated by the Limbic System)

4. DELTA (0-4 Hz) (The Unconscious)

(+) Associated with sleep and infancy, the unconscious

(-) Diffused DELTA associated with ADHD or learning disorders, hyper- vigilance

(Predominate in frontal lobes and generated by Hypothalamus)

Let’s Apply It All to A Session

Now that you know about brainwaves, let’s discuss from that vein what occurs in a hypnotherapy session.

With Intent Comes Beta Waves

Most sessions begin with an interview, or a discussion of what the client would like to work on in her/his session. The client often talks about fears, phobias, anxieties, and other feelings. S/he may rationalize or express judgment and try to understand or make sense of it all. All of these actions are part of the conscious mind, and if we hooked up an EEG machine to the client during this interview, we would see that the client would be producing mostly Beta waves.

Why is it “mostly” Beta waves? This is because, often times when a person begins to talk about an experience, s/he begins to feel certain emotions associated with that experience. Once this occurs, the Beta brainwave pattern observed would include flares of Alpha and possibly Theta.

Relaxing Consciousness: From Beta to Alpha

So, now the client is clear of what her/his intention is for the session, and the induction, or relaxation part of the session, begins. Here, the therapist helps the client to reduce Beta waves by quieting internal dialog and melting away stress by bringing awareness to tense areas in the body.

Then the client experiences more Alpha through tuning in to her/his internal sensory awareness, such as going to a place in nature and becoming aware of sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes. This is where the client is dancing between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.

And Then Into Theta

Lastly, the client develops Theta by first accessing feelings and body sensations associated with a current-day situation, and then accessing those associated with the past-day source. Since painful and traumatic feelings and sensations are often housed in the subconscious (and therefore are not accessible in regular, waking consciousness), a person needs to be in Theta, or working from her/his subconscious mind, in order to access, process and resolve them.

Once the client has completed her/his work in Theta, the therapist then helps the client anchor, or remember, what transpired in the session by bringing the client back into Alpha.

This is a very important part of the session, for if it is skipped, the deep, healing material that is accessed in the subconscious will simply remain in the subconscious and be treated as though it never happened.

Bringing the Session Into Conscious Awareness

After bringing the client out of hypnosis, it is then important that the client share her/his experience by way of putting it into words, journaling, making connections with thoughts and patterns in her/his life, or by any other resonant means. Any and all of these actions bring the deep, hidden process back up to the conscious, waking mind and into Beta.

What About Delta?

You will notice that the Delta waves are missing. Only if a client falls asleep during a session are Delta waves present. And, if this occurs, it is not a problem. The therapist has various ways of gently arousing the client to lift her/him back into Theta.

In Summary

In this article, the different brainwave-states were explained and applied to the hypnotherapy process. My hope in doing so is that it has allayed some fears, trepidation and/or mysticism surrounding the process of hypnotherapy, for it is truly an approach grounded in science and augmented with the creativity of the therapist and the inherent organicity of the client.

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