I have been studying and practicing Hypnosis since the mid 1980’s. In the beginning, I was not a Ph.D. Psychotherapist so I was limited in what I could use this technique for. Most of my patients came to decrease stress, physical pain, quit smoking, improve their golf swing and attempt to lose weight.
Like many things that are studied, experiencing it first hand was vital. I remember the first time I was hypnotized I reported, “Well I felt relaxed but it didn’t work. I didn’t feel hypnotized.” If I had a nickel for every time someone has said that to me! The reason that I didn’t FEEL different is because there are NO UNUSUAL FEELINGS TO HYPNOSIS. You just feel relaxed.
Honest!
The second most common thing I hear is “I am kind of a control freak, I don’t think you can hypnotize me.”
It is all about control. YOUR control. Technically all hypnosis is SELF- HYPNOSIS. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.
During the session you will be asked to follow a set of instructions: allowing parts of your body to relax, imagining different images, and then coming up to full alertness.
I know, not a sexy as they make it in the movies. But VERY effective as an adjunct treatment for Anxiety/Stress Management , Depression and PTSD.
How does it Work?
What do I mean by All Hypnosis is Self-Hypnosis? That if you want to go into a state of Hypnotic Relaxation you will. If you chose not to, there is nothing I or anyone else can do to make you become relaxed.
We don’t really know HOW it works. For some reason when you relax your physical body it gives us a back door to your subconscious mind. This allows you to accept what is called post-hypnotic suggestions. Which just means positive suggestions (“whenever I take 3 deep breaths my body will relax”) that you think or are told to you after you are in that relaxed state.
What Does it Feel Like?
As I wrote before, the only tricky thing about hypnosis is convincing you that there really aren’t any feelings during it. Most people report they just feel relaxed.
Some people may notice their body feels very light, or very heavy. You will hear everything
If you work with the Mp3 often you may feel as though you “fall asleep” mid way through. That just means you are doing a great job at relaxing and paying attention to my directions!
How Will I know it is Working?
You will know the relaxation sessions are working because your symptoms will become less noticeable. Your anxiety will lessen, your sleep will improve and you will find you are taking better care of your physical body.
I will also teach you how to do Self-Hypnosis (which is a bit of a misnomer because as I wrote above, in reality, all hypnosis is actually SELF hypnosis) so if you are unable to use the recording you can relax yourself quickly, and effectively no matter where you are
For example, if you are struggling with panic attacks there are techniques I can show you that will help you get more in control, with practice faster than taking a pill.
Let’s sum up what we’ve learned about:
1. There are no feelings to hypnosis, except feeling relaxed.
2. You are aware of everything around you – the dog barking, kids crying will immediately alert you so don’t worry that you will sleep through a fire! It’s helpful if you listen to to the Mp3 at home with headphones.
3. You won’t do anything that you don’t want to do. I can’t make you quack like a duck, run around the house pretending to be a dog…unless you want to.
4. Even if you are a control freak you can become relaxed . All that you need is a desire to become hypnotized and you will.
During your first appointment I will give you a link to my MP3 Stress Management Exercise. It’s best if you play the exercise every night or so before bed. This is to teach your body how to relax and your mind how to focus. After you’ve worked with it exercise for a few weeks I’ll begin to teach you other relaxation techniques during our sessions. These will help you decrease symptoms of your Anxiety, Depression and PTSD. I use all of these as adjuncts to psychotherapy
For more questions about how I use these techniques with Mindfulness Meditation and Psychotherapy to help you reduce Anxiety, feel free to send me an email or give me a call.
