I want to share a few things I’ve learned, and ultimately what convinced me to become a hypnotherapist.
Hypnotherapy is more effective than other traditional therapeutic methods. It takes less time to achieve greater results, which means faster healing and goal achievement for clients. If you are reading this article, odds are you are curious about hypnosis, it’s benefits, and how it works. In this article, I want to demonstrate why hypnosis is a powerful healing modality and how in conjunction with a professional such as myself, it can lead to tremendous breakthrough, healing, and personal growth.
Why hypnosis should be your healing modality
The major advantage of hypnotherapy over other forms of counseling is that hypnotherapy has the ability to get directly to the root of the issue at hand. It can bypass the conscious critical faculty and work directly with the subconscious mind. Did you know, studies indicate that 95% of our actions are subconscious! The problems we face and work to overcome are typically deep and complex. Otherwise, we would simply make a decision to be different and then we would be different! Sometimes we can easily make change, but often there are barriers to our progress. The problem is in our subconscious, in our inherited belief patterns, in our unchallenged self-limiting views.
Using traditional therapy, it can take a long time to get to the crux of the issue. It can take months or years until the inner conflict surfaces. Using hypnosis, we can quickly work our way to the barrier at hand. In a deeply peaceful and relaxed state, we can communicate directly with our subconscious mind which often can easily identify the problem as well as offer a potential solution! This process begins in the first session as well as actual results. Traditional therapy can take much longer.
Additionally, if you are ready for change now and have resolute determination, hypnosis will be extremely effective for you. Why? Your desire is so strong and ready to manifest, you will not need to build up or discover what you want, it’s already alive and established! We just need to get the resistance out of the way. This new way exists, you just have to unlock it! I want to emphasize here : YOU will be achieving and breaking through to success. You are the one growing and becoming more! My hypnosis practice is client-centered: I facilitate while you achieve your success, happiness, and joy!
The power of hypnosis over traditional therapy
One of the major benefits of hypnotherapy is that you will see and experience results IMMEDIATELY! Each session will take you to a deeply relaxed state of mind that is in and of itself therapeutic. Many clients I have worked with exclaim upon coming out of their first hypnotic state that it was the most relaxed they have been in years! The peaceful state is healing, but also, it is my objective to help you improve the quality of your life each time you visit my office. While we may not solve everything in one session, you will notice an improvement to your situation: you might have a new outlook, find things more manageable, and easily take the actions that lead to your success. You will find a new willingness to embrace your life and face the hardships that come along with it. Perhaps what was bothering you becomes a bit less annoying with each session. You will find improvement, sometimes incremental and other times a major breakthrough. Unlike traditional therapy, which can take months of sessions to see change, you will take that first step in the first session with hypnosis.
The Mind is the Builder
In the classic book “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill famously stated that “thoughts become things.” What we think, what we believe, what we hold to be true in our minds, becomes our reality. Perhaps you have noticed, in your own life and in others, that what you expect to occur often does. Think a party is going to be a great time? Going to a restaurant that you believe always has terrible service? Odds are in both instances you will be right.
Our subconscious mind is full of beliefs that are largely unexamined, that manifest themselves when we say things like “I can’t do that because…” or “My parents always said” or “That’s just how I’ve always done it. It’s who I am!” These are simply thought patterns that we have thought long enough to accept as true with little to no scrutiny. Typically anecdotal life experiences accompany such thoughts (ie. “This place always has terrible service”), which really give them their strength. We must realize that something that was true in the past will not necessarily be true in the future. Its our uncritical acceptance of that thought pattern that has us believe otherwise.
When we can change our thought patterns from “I can’t” to “I won’t” to “I could,” we’ve taken some of the biggest steps towards our goal. The Mind is the builder, and once we get our mind and our imagination on board with what we want, then what we want becomes a much more palpable reality. Hypnosis allows us to step into the state of mind where what we want is possible. In that deep relaxed state, the critical arbitrator part of ourselves can become quiet. We enter into the imaginal space and can feel and experience the reality of our goals, as though they are already manifested. We can fully imagine that we have achieved, and in so doing, we give the mind a destination, which it can then use to navigate our journey. Additionally, those emotions of already achieving becomes the fuel that drives us forward towards our end.
Resolve inner conflict
In the same way we can use hypnosis to bypass the critical part of our mind, we can use it to create a constructive dialogue between conflicting aspects of ourself. Most, if not all of us, have experienced inner conflict of one sort or another. There is inner conflict going on when we have a goal we want to achieve, but just can’t seem to do it. Common examples of this would be diet changes, exercise, bad habits, smoking and drinking. Or perhaps we wish to be more kind and patient in our daily lives but we have a hard line approach, and we just can’t seem to change. Maybe we have a deeply ingrained negative self-image, but instead, we would like to develop and experience self love.
Using hypnosis we can work through these inner conflicts and towards resolution. If we choose to not address our issues, then we will end up repeating the same patterns over and over. Perhaps you or someone you know has experienced this. Another common pitfall is when one begins to make the change they want, only to fall back into their old ways. One may feel defeated, as though this change they want so badly may never come. And it won’t, until the INNER CONFLICT is resolved. And this is why hypnosis is so very effective; it works at the deepest level, and provides the opportunity for direct resolution of our inner struggles where true healing and growth occurs!
A deeper understanding by accessing our inner wisdom
Not only does hypnosis provide us with a space to resolve our inner conflicts, but it also allows us to access the deeper wisdom of our Soul. We can find clarity, determine what path is the best to take, discover our long standing “blocks,” learn how to overcome obstacles and more. Something I want to highlight and make very clear is this: Hypnosis is the tool, the hypnotist is a facilitator, but the one who is creating change and accessing growth is YOU the client. The client is the one who has the success, who gains courage, makes changes and comes to resolutions. As a hypnotist, I guide the process, but I am always completely client centered, meaning it is the client that determines our objectives and goals for successful therapy. It is often from the deep state of relaxation in hypnosis that the client is able to discover their path to success, to find true meaning in their life, and heal their traumas and conflicts within.
It’s all about finding that balance between Mind and Heart
We all have healing to do. It’s not one and done, it’s a journey
That path is often a long and windy road. We all have areas in our life we can improve. There is courage to be summoned, pain and trauma to be healed. We need to develop clarity in our purpose, better understand where we are going and why. We can cultivate patience, love, and kindness, and better manage our resentment, anger, and jealousy. Our life is an intimate journey navigating our emotions and relationships. Working with hypnotherapy as a modality, you can begin to heal, to grow, and to become the person you want to be.
As a healing modality, hypnosis allows us to reach new heights of joy and wisdom, and this happens with each and every session. While we walk the path of well-being, we will discover new ways to cope with difficult situations. We will address our fears that have been holding us back. We can overcome a negative personal narrative, one where we tell ourselves “we can’t” or that “it’s not for us.”
I can’t emphasize this enough: Hypnosis can provide immediate tangible relief in your life, while you are working through the more difficult aspects as well. Traditional talk therapy can take many sessions to see a change. Yet with hypnosis, you can immediately alter your vantage point, you can MENTALLY and EMOTIONALLY take the first step that can provide you with relief and results right away in the first session! AND, as research has shown, hypnosis is more effective and faster at producing deep and lasting results.
When we can see it, feel it, touch it, imagine it, it becomes possible
So what is it that makes hypnosis so powerful? It taps into the power of our imagination. Did you know that the brain cannot tell the difference between our dreams, our imagination, and our waking life? So our work is to use our minds and imagination to feel and embody who it is we truly want to be! Once we accomplish this, we will easily take the actions that move us in that direction. In the state of hypnosis, we access the power of visualization and of our emotions. Doing so helps us to rewrite our default modes of dealing with life, it allows us to turn our negative reactions into positive embraces. It removes the blocks and barriers we have, both the ones given to us and those that are self-imposed. We can find that springboard of energy, that youthful child-like quality that truly believed, and we can reintegrate that part with our whole self.
We need an integrated personal narrative
Our Life is our Story to Write. Let’s be conscious about it!
Once we reclaim our power, it is imperative to create a working personal narrative for our life. When we can clearly state who we are and where we are going, it creates peace of mind and sense of purpose. This is a process of reclaiming our past, accepting where we presently stand, and aiming towards the future we desire. If any of these components are out of whack, we are likely to be unsatisfied and constantly running into difficulties and dealing with insecurities. You see, there is a reason humans love stories and epic adventures, and that’s because the narrative structure is ingrained in us.
A cursory glance at human history will show us the incredible power that narrative and story has made on the human endeavor. The great systems of religion and ancient traditions, of dynasties and empires all have this in common: a unifying and orienting narrative. It brings people together and creates cohesion. All these stories have a beginning, a present and a future towards which it strives. The exact same structure exists in each and every one of us as well. It is our responsibility as individuals to create the narrative, the life story, the inner thought patterns, that serve us as we go forth in the world.
One thing that separates humans from the animal kingdom, as far as we can tell, is the ability to articulate a sense of the past and of the future. Perhaps this developed in us naturally, as a way to prolong our species, our kin, our community. The discovery of time and the understanding that we can sacrifice things in the present to create a greater future is imbedded deep within us and our traditions. In order to have the life we desire, deserve, and want, we must develop and establish an embodied mythology, a personal narrative. This is my favorite work to do with clients and is truly transformational.
There can be many obstacles to obtaining an ideal personal narrative. You may have self-limiting beliefs. You might not think the future you desire is possible. You may have experienced trauma which holds you back from your potential. You might not be able to create a vision. You may be overwhelmed with stress, sadness, or anxious feelings. It very may well be a combination of many of these things. Hypnosis can help you to address all of these issues. Personal Narrative Integration is my favorite service and produces the greatest, most life transforming results for my clients. If you are interested in true, deep and lasting transformation, then doing Personal Narrative Integration work is for you!
Healing is not the outcome of rationality. It facilitates healing, but we must work with our heart and emotions.
Lastly, another reason hypnosis is a fantastic modality for healing is because it works beyond the level of mere rationality. It works with our heart, our emotions, our soul. This is where true healing occurs. After all, if all it took for transformation to happen was for us to be rational and think a different way, then many of us would have already experienced healing, because most of us are rational! (Despite what we may think about one another!) It is rather easy to know what we should do and what we likely should not do if we want to change for the better. It’s a whole other thing to make that change. If you have been struggling for a long time, it can even be difficult to imagine that change is possible.
Our rationality and intellect cannot save us. We cannot merely think our way to healing. It takes action, it takes imagination, it takes forgiveness. We must enter the imaginative realm and find the emotions that can guide us forward. We might have to revisit our past and reframe it, coming to new understandings that makes our history a launch point instead of a stumbling block. We must learn to reconnect with our inner child, the lost innocence, the joyful and playful element that found wonder and marvel around every turn. We are not automatons. We are alive and vibrant, we are conscious and growing, and success, joy, and glory is our destiny, if we so choose.