When you think of hypnosis do you think of Kaa?
Unfortunately I do not know the name of the author.
When you think of hypnosis do you think of Kaa, the snake from the
Jungle Book
using those spiralling eyes to lure the unsuspecting Mowgli, or do
you think of Paul McKenna
apparently manipulating volunteers from his audience to provide
entertainment for the rest of us?
Well, hypnotherapy is
nothing like that, but those are often questions that I’m asked.
Over the years the media has sensationalise hypnosis. Stage hypnosis has the purpose
of entertaining. Hypnotherapy has the purpose of helping you help
yourself; the ‘hypnosis’ needs
the addition of ‘therapy’ to provide very real therapeutic
value, especially when applied
to our health and state of mind.
Most of us are aware of the harm caused by stress and anxiety,
but how do we normally
go about treating it? For headaches and migraines we
get painkillers, for nerve rashes
and skin disorders we get cream, and for depression
and nervous tension we get tranquillisers.
These are all outside
things that are being used to affect an inside (emotional energy) concern.
Conventional medicine is primarily concerned with treating the symptoms,
the effects of stress and anxiety, without really
attempting to alleviate the causes.
Therefore, the problem continues to exist. In trance we work with
the cause.
It is rarely possible to simply remove the outside source of
stress –
such as work, relationship, family troubles etc. – so what
can we do is on the inside.
To begin with we must acknowledge that at least part of the
problem may come from within
our own minds. It is not the particular event that is important,
but it is how we react to it
that really matters, what is stressful to one person may be the
norm or even exciting to another;
think of a fairground ride.
But why should this be so? Obviously this has much to do with
individual personality
but it goes much further than that when we begin to experience depressions
or guilt feelings,
or develop obsessive behaviour, a phobic reaction or
even physical illness.
In such cases, and in many others, these problems come from within
us but we feel that
we have no control of the problem
– it is like a different part of us takes over.
Is it possible to change the habit of a lifetime? Is it
possible to improve your health,
vitality and well
being?
The answer is most definitely “yes”, and one very effective way is Hypnotherapy
– a personal therapy
using Hypnosis.
For some the word ‘hypnosis’
often conjures up images of mind control
and of people put into some sort of comatose state, actually this
is total nonsense.
Hypnosis is a very natural state of relaxation and there is
absolutely no question of any mind control whatsoever. In fact, after their
first experience of hypnotherapy, the majority of people say things like “well,
that was all very nice but I didn’t actually feel hypnotised,
I could have opened my eyes at any time”. And so you can.
Hypnotherapists use only “Conscious awareness Hypnosis” and there
is no need for any form
of deep trance state, so that clients are usually aware
of what is going on, yet are able to experience
an unparalleled feeling of relaxation and calmness.
My room has just the normal surrounding noises and there is a lovely relaxing
atmosphere with not a swinging watch in sight!
Most of us go through life either doing something that we don’t
want to do (e.g.: smoking,
having panic attacks, obsessively checking things)
or not doing something that we want
to do (e.g.: form a loving relationship, feel self
confident or be able to say “no” when we want to). Many of these
behaviour patterns originate from negative attitudes picked up during
childhood;
these continue to influence us into adult life at a level that we
are not consciously aware of.
Most of us just accept these effects (violent outbursts, guilt
feelings, personal problems, illness etc.)
as being normal,
“that’s the way I am”, and so forth, but there is absolutely no reason
why one person should have to suffer such emotional strains
when others do not.
The same applies to many illnesses. We just seem to accept that we
are ill and totally rely
on our doctors for a cure – or sometimes accept the ultimate with
amazing complacency,
without ever considering that we may have some control over the
situation.
But it is possible to learn to be in control of your mind,
your body and your emotions.
It is our perception of ourselves that is at fault. If, through
hypnosis, we can change our view
of ourselves then we can bring about change and even sometimes a
cure.
When a client first comes to see me I try to remember to tell them
that by the end of the therapy
they may become virtually unaware they ever had
a problem in the first place
and many look at me in disbelief, yet it can be a very moving
experience at a later stage
to see those same clients releasing their anxiety and for
the first time in many years,
being truly free from negative emotions, and symptoms that
those repressed emotions caused.
But aside from smoking and all the emotional/personal
problems,
hypnosis has many other applications, one in particular being in
the medical world.
For hundreds of years hypnosis has been used as an anaesthetic to
“switch off pain” during operations, yet recent publicity surrounding
the gentleman who used hypnosis during his vasectomy presented it as a somewhat
new discovery! There is an increasing amount of evidence to suggest that
if you
mentally prepare yourself for an operation there is less shock to your body so
that
you are able to speed your own recovery. The same applies in drug
treatment, where self-hypnosis
and visualisation have shown to reduce the side
effects from chemotherapy, for example.
There are even countless cases where diseases such as cancer
and arthritis have responded
to self-hypnosis visualisations, when used as part of the healing
process.
It is not only people with problems that can benefit from
hypnosis, for it can be applied to enhance existing personal qualities such as sales
or sport performance, or just generally reduce stress
and aid relaxation. Whatever the situation from relieving driving
test nerves or child bed-wetting,
to getting rid of phobias – the same principals apply, whereby we are using the potential
to getting rid of phobias – the same principals apply, whereby we are using the potential
of our imagination to communicate with our subconscious, emotional
mind.
Hypnotherapy is probably the kindest, quickest and most gentle
form of personal therapy available.
It is a totally natural, totally safe
method of treatment and, unlike many drugs based therapies
it has no unpleasant side effects and is suitable for just about
anybody.
It has often been said that, if hypnosis could be bottled and sold
off the shelf at your local chemist,
it would be hailed as the most wonderful potion this world has
ever known
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