Achieve Change Faster with Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy has been around for decades, but its popularity is on the rise as people look for alternative methods to get to where they want to be faster. If you haven’t looked in to it, you’ve missed out on tapping into at least 90% of your brain power. Fortunately it is never too late to start.
We only use an estimated 5-10% of our brain to function while awake. The other 90% is the subconscious, clearly the power center. When change is desired, accessing this part of the brain is imperative. Hypnotherapy creates the relaxation required to accomplish this.
So why hypnotherapy over standard hypnosis? Hypnosis is basically a client with an issue or a goal, a hypnotist, and a couch. The client lies down, the hypnotist relaxes them, and then feeds them with affirmations to set their desire in the subconscious. Magically the client awakes and all problems are resolved. Of course, most of this too-good-to-be-true image is simply that—a false image, where patients are magically reformed in a mere moment. It doesn’t quite work this way, and while hypnosis can be relatively successful, it’s not nearly as effective as the new and innovative “hypnotherapy.”
Hypnotherapy’s strength lies in its powerful one-two punch—a combination of hypnosis and therapy. The therapeutic element generally involves a 30-45 minute consultation between the therapist and the client. Goals and intentions are defined, possible blocks to their attainment are discussed, and an understanding of the client’s needs is assessed. When therapy ends, hypnotherapy begins.
While the therapeutic session is in process, the hypnotherapist takes a special interest in the client’s words, mannerisms and emotional characteristics to be used in the hypnosis session. This puts the client in control of the messages they receive in trance. While this might sound like an alarming prospect—you, the one with the problems, hypnotizing yourself to fix everything—it’s actually much more empowering because your own words are more readily accepted by your subconscious than any other words you’re exposed to.
The hypnosis element of hypnotherapy is more interactive than clinical hypnosis, meaning there’s more client/therapist dialog throughout the session. While you’re in trance, your therapist guides you and talks to you about what you are experiencing. The therapist continually integrates your own words into your experience, successfully guiding you toward your intention. It also allows the therapist to move in the direction your subconscious is going, guiding you and helping you identify your issues.
It’s been proven that we’re more receptive to our own words than those of others, but this is not such a surprise. With our constant self-talk, we listen to ourselves more than anyone else. Unfortunately this can often prove to be our downfall. When a limited belief system remains stuck in the subconscious, we continually pound negative statements into our brain. Hypnotherapy teaches us how to access our highest and most supportive selves. It also helps identify the first time a situation occurred, allowing us to change our initial response through guided imaging.
But can you just relax, talk to yourself and achieve the same results? Bobbi Thompson, certified hypnotherapist and owner of the School of Integrative Healing in Denver, notes that “It is sometimes difficult to quiet the mind enough to change subconscious programming to something more positive. A hypnotherapist helps achieve this necessary level of relaxation. The hypnotherapist also maintains a neutral response to the client’s events, so the guidance occurs with more clarity.” It’s certainly possible to achieve success on your own, but for maximum results on the quickest time table, use a hypnotherapist.
Even if you’ve struggled with a 20 year smoking habit, fear not. In his book Meditation as Medicine, Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa gives example after example of the massive power of the mind. In one study, people were able to slow the growth of yeast in 151 of 194 dishes simply through focused thought. In another study using a computer generating random numbers, the group was able to “think” the system into generating patterned numbers that were not just statistically significant, but were considered extraordinarily successful. When you consider that all these experiments were performed with the conscious mind, or at most 10% of the mind’s power, you begin to get an idea of the power of the subconscious mind and how accessing it can make goal attainment extremely probable.
Ultimately, whether or not you can stop your habit, jump-start your career or become a world class athlete appears to be based primarily in your belief system–what you believe, you achieve. A deep set limiting pattern, possibly even triggered in early youth, can create a lifetime blueprint that you continually repeat. Ever hear these words? “You’ll never be able to do that! Do it my way, it’s the best way. What if it doesn’t work out? Then what are you going to do? You better be careful.” As Bobbi says, “…hypnotherapy allows us to alter the moment an attitude, belief or behavior began and transform it.” No other form of therapy has the ability to access this amount of power for change.
In one of his songs, Dave Matthews sings to his father “it’ll take a life time to undo what you’ve done,” undoubtedly a collective-soul issue we’re all tied to in some indiscriminant way. Fortunately hypnotherapy gives us a new, highly effective option: to deeply set our desires within our subconscious, to change life long patterns and create new direction on the most powerful level.