Hypnosis / Trance
Trance is a naturally-occurring state of mind, which happens to us all every day.
When we are daydreaming, walking or driving, while lost in our thoughts, or when we become engrossed in a book, a movie or some activity, we are in a hypnotic trance. Our conscious mind is not actively engaged in thinking, although thoughts are flowing through it.
We are also in a trance state when in the grip of recurrent, reactive emotional and behaviour patterns, which are inappropriate or disproportionate to the situation. These were programmed into our psyche in our past, as coping mechanisms for a particular situation, and are triggered by an, often unconscious, reminder in the present.
The conscious mind is sometimes described as being like the tip of the iceberg and is thought to be responsible for only some 5-10% of the capabilities of the human mind. All our internal organ functions and most of our daily tasks are controlled and co-coordinated by the unconscious, which also stores all our memories, learned skills, knowledge, conditioned responses and habitual behaviour patterns.
In hypnosis, we relax, the conscious mind is aware, but not actively engaged in thinking and direct communication with the unconscious mind can be established. In a hypnotic trance, our minds are able to accept suggestions much more readily and we can access memories and insights, which are hidden from the conscious mind.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
~ Einstein ~
Under hypnosis, you are always in control and cannot be made to do anything you would not want to do. (Stage hypnotists have a careful selection procedure to choose subjects who are willing volunteers and are simply more relaxed and less inhibited when in a trance).
A hypnotist is merely a guide who leads you into this pleasant, relaxed state, in which you have greater access to the vast resources, insight and power of the unconscious mind.
Cognitive Hypnotherapy
Cognitive hypnotherapy incorporates hypnotic trance states with cognitive approaches, such as CBT, to positively influence emotional, behavioural, cognitive and symptomatic change. This branch of hypnosis is different from traditional schools of hypnotherapy in that it does not rely on prewritten scripts, but draws techniques from a range of psychological theories and disciplines.
The theories involved include:
• cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• positive psychology
• neuroscience
• evolutionary psychology
• neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)
This gives the cognitive hypnotherapist the flexibility to avoid the ‘one size fits all’ approach and enables them to tailor the sessions to align with each individual client’s personal needs, goals and values.
I offer a free initial phone chat to help us both decide if we feel we are a good fit and could work together.
I would then ask you to complete a questionnaire before our first session. I use this as the basis for the interview in the initial session, in order to clarify what your mind is doing that produces the problem and establish the outcomes you would like to achieve.
In fact your own mind is already beginning to make changes, from our first phone call, when you make the decision to take this step towards change.
The first session may include a short exploration of one or more techniques, such as being guided into a light, relaxed trance state, in which you will be given instructions and asked to respond to questions. The technique will depend on the nature of the problem and also your experience, beliefs and expectations about hypnosis.
You may be given some simple homework, to help support and reinforce the effect of the session and /or some yoga based techniques, depending on what we explored together and seems most appropriate for you. Subsequent sessions may include regression, guiding you back into your subconscious memories of past events to the origin of a obstructive pattern. This is in order to re-examine and un pick negative beliefs you attached to it then and to establish a new more empowering belief to move you forward.
In the words of Richard Bandler, one of the inventors of NLP,
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”