Behind the scenes with Tayla Harris
If someone asked you to imagine a hypnotist in action, one scenario would probably come to mind. The piece features a mysterious figure with a swinging stopwatch and a cloak, and a defenseless figure who inevitably takes on the persona of a clucking chicken, at least until someone snaps his fingers or a phantom trigger word pulls him out of his trance. audience.
But while that scenario might be entertaining on the big screen, it’s a far cry from how hypnosis and hypnotherapy are used today.
As Alistair Horscroft, an expert in hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming (NLP), and psychotherapy, told Body+Soul, the field as a whole is about helping people achieve success and stability in all areas of their lives. It has the potential to help you find out.
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Horscroft, who explains that his parents introduced him to the “things of the mind” early on, said that his early exposure to the power of mediation was relatively unusual: “I did Transcendental Meditation at the age of four, I then went to school, where I learned Vedic philosophy and mindfulness.” .
But despite growing up in a spiritually progressive family and school system, Horscroft recalls considerable resistance to mindful practices as a child. After leaving school at the age of 16 and gaining some life experience, he returned to university to study philosophy.
Then, after applying neurolinguistic programming (NLP) techniques to his own life, expanding his field of expertise, and ultimately fine-tuning his methodology and approach, “I had some very profound experiences. ” he recalls. “I ended up combining actually studying the mind (both my philosophical perspective and a practical kind of hypno-coaching) with an NLP perspective.”
The practice of mindfulness is all the rage right now. Image: Pexels
So what actually happens in a hypnotherapy session?
Horscroft explains, “Hypnosis is a state, and hypnotherapy is therapy when someone is in that state.”
“A good hypnotist is a bit like a detective,” he added, sharing that there are often deeper concerns hidden within the issues people are trying to address.
When applied successfully by a trained professional, hypnosis can sever the ties between our bodies and the past, reconfiguring the meaning of certain events and releasing traumatic emotions. .
“Sometimes there may be trauma or something in the past that causes ongoing fear for the future. So we might do a hypnoanalysis from that perspective. “Hypnosis gives you the opportunity to pinpoint the original cause of a particular problem or situation,” he says.
But it’s not just to overcome past trauma that people seek out hypnotherapy these days; the technique is used to address a variety of issues, including addiction, mental health issues, and pain tolerance. This is happening more and more.
How hypnotherapy is misunderstood and misrepresented
Whatever your reason for choosing to embark on your hypnotherapy journey, Horsecroft says there are many aspects of hypnotherapy that are still largely misunderstood, particularly the dynamics of control that come with it.
“I think people confuse it. When you see someone being hypnotized into thinking things or pretending to be James Bond on stage, you can’t control anyone. Because it looks like it can be done,” Horscroft said. “But it’s very context-driven.”
Another aspect of hypnotherapy that is widely misunderstood in popular culture is the immediacy of results. “Westerners love to do things with calendars and time frames, and we’ve been trained that therapy is one hour, and that’s just the way we do it,” says Dr. . Skilled hypnotherapist.
“I think the really most important thing for a therapist is to be effective, and once you get good at what you do, you can become more and more efficient,” he adds, adding that it depends on how much an individual spends in therapy. He explained that he would predict how long it would take. Accessing the benefits of hypnotherapy can be as helpful as asking, “How long is a string?”
With thousands of success stories to his name and now the head of a thriving training academy, Horsecroft has experience in all things hypnosis and can recall some truly memorable sessions over the years. He has helped people overcome strange anxieties and phobias, and deal with trauma experienced in “past lives”.
“When people apparently spontaneously go back to past lives, that’s very interesting. As a therapist, I don’t think it’s necessary to actually say whether they exist or don’t exist,” he says. .
Ultimately, Horscroft discovered that hypnotherapy was a great tool for helping people reconnect with themselves. “Hypnotherapy allows you to detach and observe events without being too unregulated.”
