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I’ve worked as a coach for many years and am happy to announce that I have now achieved my Certified Clinical Hypnotherapy Practitioner qualification. Why did I choose hypnotherapy? Firstly, because I want to be able to move freely and flexibly in the realm of coaching and therapy, to be able to get my clients exactly where they need to go. Sometimes it goes deeper and sometimes it doesn’t. Also, my hypnotherapy course offered me a wide menu of therapeutic approaches, which was a perfect fit for my integrative impulses. Secondly, I have always been fascinated by the power of the subconscious mind and the imagination, especially when it comes to behavior change.
I believe that mind-body wellness will be the next big paradigm in medicine. I have experienced the benefits of hypnotherapy many times. I have taken a hypnobirthing course which was very effective and I also regularly use visualization and voice trances for important events or specific things I want to achieve. I am now beginning to offer hypnotherapy to coaching clients who are interested in it and so far have been amazed by the results. Hypnotherapy involves a combination of deep physical relaxation, focus and positive strategic suggestions. But how exactly does hypnotherapy work and what effects does it have?
What’s so great about hypnotherapy?
Most of us know exactly what we should do to live a better, more fulfilling life. But we often become slaves to old, unhelpful patterns, forever trapped in the gap between insight, intention, and action. Just because our conscious mind knows what we want and what we should do doesn’t mean it can actually put this knowledge into action. Any lasting, sustainable change in our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors requires our subconscious mind to cooperate. If our subconscious mind isn’t convinced that change is a good idea, it will throw obstacles in front of us, making it harder for positive change to occur.
Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that works directly with the subconscious mind, aiming to make it a powerful ally in the process of change. When you are in a hypnotic state, you can access and remember positive, resourceful states, recall skills and qualities you already possess, find new solutions to challenges, and vividly imagine the benefits of desired states.
What is hypnosis? What is hypnotherapy?
Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness that combines deep physical relaxation with sharp, focused attention. It is a completely natural state that we enter and come out of all the time. We can enter a light trance state when we are daydreaming, driving down a familiar road, listening carefully to someone talking, or when we are fully immersed in a movie or book. Clinical hypnosis harnesses these natural states and strategically amplifies them.
In a trance state, the body is deeply relaxed but attention is hyper-focused. Attention shifts from conscious to subconscious activity. Brain waves slow, and we move from a stressed, highly alert state to a meditative, creative, deeply relaxed state in which we can remember and access our inner resources. In both light and deep trance states, we become highly sensitive to positive suggestions. Memory recall and visualization can be used to re-experience or pre-experience positive states.
Hypnotherapy opens neural pathways between your conscious thought processes and unconscious activities and functions. Hypnotherapy helps to connect what you already know (stored in the part of your brain called the cerebrum) with the part of your brain that can make unconscious changes (the cerebellum, where memory and learning are stored).
In hypnotherapy sessions, positive, agreed-upon suggestions and other evidence-based therapeutic interventions are offered to clients during conversation, light trance or deep trance states, in which we become much more receptive and open to changing our perspectives, approaches, feelings and behaviors.
Will you lose control and I turn you into a chicken?
No. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. Hypnosis is a pleasant conscious experience that combines deep relaxation with focused attention on internal events. You can enter a hypnotic state only if you want to. You decide the level and depth of the trance yourself. You are always in full control. You will only take on board suggestions that are positive and helpful to you and that are in full agreement with your values.
Often our conceptions and fears of hypnosis are based on stage hypnosis. Stage hypnosis is quite different to therapeutic hypnosis. Stage hypnosis is all about effects and showmanship, showcasing the hypnotist’s powers, but often at the expense of the hypnotized person. In clinical hypnosis, the only aim is to help the client recover. All healing suggestions are discussed, defined and agreed to with the client in advance. A proper clinical hypnotherapist adheres to a strict code of ethics and the only aim is the healing and growth of the patient.
All suggestions made during hypnosis are agreed upon in advance with you. A good hypnotherapist will discuss in detail what you want to achieve, including your medical history, what has helped you in the past, and what has not helped you. We will agree exactly what I want to suggest to you during hypnosis. Our only interest is to help you achieve your objectives by activating and accessing your own inner resources.
We only work on clearly defined physical, psychological or behavioral challenges that you truly want to change. Personally, I like to focus on SMART goals, i.e. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and Time-limitedClinical Hypnotherapy is an evidence-based practice. It is not magic and has nothing to do with manifestation. Please understand that I am not a fan of manifestation and do not offer esoteric interventions such as past life regression or rebirth.
What can hypnotherapy do for you?
Hypnosis is a fast and highly effective way to calm your autonomic nervous system, as well as help you become more receptive to positive suggestions, find new solutions, reconnect with your inner power and regain optimism and motivation. Anyone who suffers from chronic stress, anxiety, fatigue, burnout or feelings of overwhelm and finds it difficult to relax or disconnect from work can benefit greatly from hypnosis.
I’m increasingly convinced that it’s often more effective to simply change the state you’re in than to stay in the problem space and try to analytically solve the challenge. Of course, analytically solving is important, but solutions often come to you when you’re in a more resourceful and connected state than just in your head. Stress can immobilize us, because a chronic fight/flight/freeze state can prevent you from accessing what you know, feel, and need.
Another benefit of hypnotherapy is that, unlike other therapeutic interventions, it usually only takes one to three sessions before results can be seen and felt.
Finally, self-hypnosis can become a regular, beneficial habit that can easily be incorporated into your daily life. Many people find self-hypnosis easier than meditation, and even just 10 minutes a day can make a big difference.
I hope I have made you hippo-curious and inspired you to try it someday.
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