Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis conjures up a performer onstage inducing a state of trance in which the hypnotized
person is so suggestible that he/she will bark like a dog or strut like a chicken. The hypnotized person is at the complete whim of the hypnotizer, involuntarily obeying everything the hypnotizer suggests. After returning to normal every day consciousness, the hypnotized
person has no recollection of what happened in trance.
This popular notion has led to the misconception that someone can be hypnotized against
their will. In fact, while under hypnosis, also called being "in trance", you are completely aware of everything going on. You have access to your subconscious, intuitive self, the self that knows what is best for you. This intuitive self will agree with suggestions that are positive, and will refute suggestions that do not resonate with the intuitive self. You are always communicating and collaborating with your hypnotherapist, first to discover the origins of the unwanted behavior or dynamic, and then to change the unwanted behavior/dynamic. Once you return to normal every day consciousness, you will recall, often with vivid accuracy, what you experienced while in trance.
Applications
Hypnotherapy is especially helpful for problematic behaviors that have been resistant to talk
therapy.
One arena is substance use and abuse. For clients who have had difficulty quitting
smoking, drinking, using substances, or with over or under eating,
hypnotherapy allows access to the unconscious origins of the addictive behavior. Often the
addictive behavior is used to numb out overwhelming emotions such as shame, grief, rage,
disgust or fear. The overwhelming emotion provides the fuel for the addictive behavior.
Once the origin of the addictive behavior has been identified, the emotion can be
discharged. By discharging the shame, fear, rage, etc., the emotional fuel driving the behavior has been eliminated. After discharging toxic emotions, and while still in trance, the client can choose new healthy behaviors. When the client generates his own new healthy behaviors while in trance, he/she is essentially contracting with this deepest intuitive self to change behavior. Unlike using will power, which pits the mind against the body, the client is united in mind, body and intuitive self to implement behavior change.
Other arenas are post traumatic stress and anxiety. Post traumatic stress is the body
responding to trauma as if it were happening now. Anxiety manifests as agitation and fear
around situations, real, perceived or imagined. Coping mechanisms and symptoms such as
dissociation, numbing out, avoidance, procrastination, emotional paralysis, lethargy or overactivity are overlaid to create an interactive mind body loop that prohibits the person's ability to stay present to their environment. Hypnotherapy can facilitate the client's regression to an earlier stage of life where the addictive behavior has its origin.
Hypnotherapy rather than EMDR is indicated, in my experience, when the client experiences existential or global distress, rather than disturbance around a specific incident. For example, EMDR would be indicated when a client says he is continuing to feel anxiety, feeling unlovable and like he will never attract a partner again after a specific, traumatic break-up. Hypnotherapy would be indicated if the client feels unremitting sadness and loneliness and reports that is just the way he/she feels most of the time.
What does hypnotherapy look like?
Trance is induced with music and the sound of my voice. Once trance is induced, I will ask
you to go back to the most recent time you experienced the problem. When you arrive there, you and I explore together the environment, people and events associated with the problem. I
encourage you to discharge overwhelming emotions through words and actions. Once you
return to a calmer state, we can look at the unworkable conclusion that informed that
behavior. Often, another emotion or body sensation will emerge. Though one or more
regressions, you will discharge overwhelming emotions, rework the unworkable conclusions
to new empowered conclusions, and choose new positive, functional behaviors.
This process is best done in 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
My Training and Experience
I was trained at the Wellness Institute in Issaquah, Washington, and received my
hypnotherapy certification in 2016. I have facilitated over two hundred hypnotherapy
sessions and continue my training through quarterly intensive retreats where I receive and
implement hypnotherapy to improve and deepen my hypnotherapeutic skills.
For more information on Heart-centered Hypnotherapy, visit: wellness-institute.org
Hypnosis conjures up a performer onstage inducing a state of trance in which the hypnotized
person is so suggestible that he/she will bark like a dog or strut like a chicken. The hypnotized person is at the complete whim of the hypnotizer, involuntarily obeying everything the hypnotizer suggests. After returning to normal every day consciousness, the hypnotized
person has no recollection of what happened in trance.
This popular notion has led to the misconception that someone can be hypnotized against
their will. In fact, while under hypnosis, also called being "in trance", you are completely aware of everything going on. You have access to your subconscious, intuitive self, the self that knows what is best for you. This intuitive self will agree with suggestions that are positive, and will refute suggestions that do not resonate with the intuitive self. You are always communicating and collaborating with your hypnotherapist, first to discover the origins of the unwanted behavior or dynamic, and then to change the unwanted behavior/dynamic. Once you return to normal every day consciousness, you will recall, often with vivid accuracy, what you experienced while in trance.
Applications
Hypnotherapy is especially helpful for problematic behaviors that have been resistant to talk
therapy.
One arena is substance use and abuse. For clients who have had difficulty quitting
smoking, drinking, using substances, or with over or under eating,
hypnotherapy allows access to the unconscious origins of the addictive behavior. Often the
addictive behavior is used to numb out overwhelming emotions such as shame, grief, rage,
disgust or fear. The overwhelming emotion provides the fuel for the addictive behavior.
Once the origin of the addictive behavior has been identified, the emotion can be
discharged. By discharging the shame, fear, rage, etc., the emotional fuel driving the behavior has been eliminated. After discharging toxic emotions, and while still in trance, the client can choose new healthy behaviors. When the client generates his own new healthy behaviors while in trance, he/she is essentially contracting with this deepest intuitive self to change behavior. Unlike using will power, which pits the mind against the body, the client is united in mind, body and intuitive self to implement behavior change.
Other arenas are post traumatic stress and anxiety. Post traumatic stress is the body
responding to trauma as if it were happening now. Anxiety manifests as agitation and fear
around situations, real, perceived or imagined. Coping mechanisms and symptoms such as
dissociation, numbing out, avoidance, procrastination, emotional paralysis, lethargy or overactivity are overlaid to create an interactive mind body loop that prohibits the person's ability to stay present to their environment. Hypnotherapy can facilitate the client's regression to an earlier stage of life where the addictive behavior has its origin.
Hypnotherapy rather than EMDR is indicated, in my experience, when the client experiences existential or global distress, rather than disturbance around a specific incident. For example, EMDR would be indicated when a client says he is continuing to feel anxiety, feeling unlovable and like he will never attract a partner again after a specific, traumatic break-up. Hypnotherapy would be indicated if the client feels unremitting sadness and loneliness and reports that is just the way he/she feels most of the time.
What does hypnotherapy look like?
Trance is induced with music and the sound of my voice. Once trance is induced, I will ask
you to go back to the most recent time you experienced the problem. When you arrive there, you and I explore together the environment, people and events associated with the problem. I
encourage you to discharge overwhelming emotions through words and actions. Once you
return to a calmer state, we can look at the unworkable conclusion that informed that
behavior. Often, another emotion or body sensation will emerge. Though one or more
regressions, you will discharge overwhelming emotions, rework the unworkable conclusions
to new empowered conclusions, and choose new positive, functional behaviors.
This process is best done in 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
My Training and Experience
I was trained at the Wellness Institute in Issaquah, Washington, and received my
hypnotherapy certification in 2016. I have facilitated over two hundred hypnotherapy
sessions and continue my training through quarterly intensive retreats where I receive and
implement hypnotherapy to improve and deepen my hypnotherapeutic skills.
For more information on Heart-centered Hypnotherapy, visit: wellness-institute.org