Hypnosis Explained

When you think of the word hypnosis what does it conjure up in your mind?

I then settled myself down to begin. But Chris was still anxious, "Shall I be aware of what is happening?" Chris asked. "Yes", I said. "You will hear and understand everything I say and anything you say." Chris frowned again, and then there was silence, as though Chris was still unconvinced. "Umm", Chris said, "so I'm not asleep then?" "No. You are simply extremely relaxed. A person under hypnosis is fully aware of what is going on, just as you are when daydreaming or engrossed in some project or other." I responded. Chris smiled and seemed relaxed for the first time and we continued into the session.

This case example highlights some of the misconceptions that people hold about hypnosis. Chris is not an exception. Many people when they first come to see me, or even before they decide on hypnosis are genuinely concerned about the process and what is involved.

So what is hypnosis, you may be asking and how does it work?

Let's leave the concert a minute and recap on what I'm saying here. Namely, that hypnosis could be described as a trance-like state. Many people have tried to describe hypnosis. To date there is no commonly accepted definition of hypnosis. It is different for each person. It is an altered state of awareness which allows us to contact a relaxed, responsive state of unconsciousness. There is a marvellously comfortable, relaxed feeling in which it is normal to remain completely aware of the surroundings. You might notice the feeling in a hand or leg, a comfortable sense of letting go in your shoulders as you begin to relax. For example, when we're travelling on a lengthy journey we suddenly notice that we were daydreaming, on a sort of automatic pilot and we notice that we've covered many more miles than we were aware and time has just flown. Or if you've ever been engrossed in something, such as reading or painting, where your attention is focused on the task at hand, as in 'glued to the story', 'miles away', 'on another planet'. Eventually you feel yourself drifting ... down ... now.

How does hypnosis work?

Let's recap on what we've been talking about so far. I've described how hypnosis is a state of relaxation and concentration combined with a state of heightened awareness induced by suggestion. It is a non-addictive tool for self-development and within the client's own control. It is in a sense, a creative work - for example anyone can get paints, brushes and canvas, but it requires an artist to paint a picture. The hypnotherapist's canvas is the subject's mind. He paints with words and actions.

These days more people from all walks of life are turning to alternative therapies. Hypnotherapy is normal, natural and it works. There are side-effects with hypnotherapy and you'll be pleased to know that they are all beneficial, such as feeling relaxed and having a more positive attitude combined with a happier state of mind, as well as releasing negative emotions and gaining a deeper self-understanding.

It all sounds too good to be true. But as I tell my clients, "you have nothing to lose except your old patterns of thinking and old ways of behaving; release tensions and remove blocks trapped in your emotional past. All I require of you is a personal commitment that you wish to be free of the problem with which you brought to therapy."

How can it help?

Let's go back in time now and look at some of the history to hypnosis.

We can go back even further to find the origins of hypnosis. The ancient Egyptians around 2980-2900 BC used something called an 'incubation' or 'temple sleep'. This method was associated with the name of Imhotep, the earliest known physician in history. Imhotep which means, he comes in peace, was the Physician Vizier of the Pharaoh Zoser. The Temples of imhotep were busy centres for incubation or sleep therapy and 'shrine sleep' is still encountered in some part of Africa and the Middle East . Under the influence of incantation, and through the performance of religious rituals, sick persons were psychologically prepared for such therapeutic procedures.

We know, however, that the word hypnosis was invented in the 1840s by the Scottish surgeon James Braid, who took it from the Greek work hypnos meaning sleep, and the technique was used extensively by Sigmund Freud and many others.

email: sarah@streamshypnotherapy.com

tel: 07815 956816

Smoking Cessation

Introduction

Please be as comfortable as you can, there will be no spells or potions. So you can sit back, breath normally, listen to the sound of my voice and discover how powerful your mind is, because you can pretty much achieve anything you want when you focus your mind.. now...

The object of this session is to get you into the frame of mind in which you’re curious about how hypnosis can stop smoker smoke cigs. cigars, other substances? Bacause it is with the mind that I work and it is with your mind that kept you hooked to cigarettes. It’s all in the mind.

What has made you come here today? How many want to stop smoking, now? Some time in the future? Know of others who want to stop?

If you gave me your old habit, I’ll give you a brand new habit, if I could do that it would be easy to stop wouldn’t it. If I were to help your mind change this habit would you be interested? If you could change your relationship with cigarettes, how would that make you feel.

You can just use any part of this session to empower you to take the steps forward to achieving your goal, because the session is full of advice, exercises, statistics, we’ll even dispell some illusions. Let’s start with some of my own illusions.

My experience

This year it’s my anniversary. Go you can congratulate me. Well done, Sarah. About ten years ago I was a closet, confirmed smoker, I had reached the stage where I desperate to stop smoking. Sooner or later most smokers have suffered from the illusion that they enjoy the odd cigarette, but I never suffered that illusion. I had always detested the taste, the smell, But I thought a cig. relaxed me, gave me confidence, a sense of belonging, a sophisticated image. I hated myself, at my inability to stop. I would creep away to indulge in the destructive habit. When people realised I was a smoker they would gasp ‘surely, not .... a nice girl like you. I had been brain-washed into believing that smoking was pleasurable and that I could stop any time I liked. ‘I’ll stop before I get ill. Even on’the morning after the night before, when my mouth was like a cess pit. On’the morning after the night before,’ days, when my mouth was like a cess pit, I would be determined to stop.

There were other reasons why I knew I should stop smoking. First, my father had suffered two strokes at an early age, from over indulgence. Cut down in his prime. I can remember him smoking, coughing and spluttering. I wasn’t going to go there. Second, as a baby I had a life-threatening illness ... on the lungs and was advised that smoking could cause serious long term complications. Did I listen, no. Though, I knew how unwell it made me feel, not just physically, but psychologically too. Anyway, it helped my nerves, aided concentration. Now I’m a non-smoker, and it’s like awakening from a nightmare, it’s freeing, liberating, absolutely bloody marvelous.

As you probably already know, most smokers start amongst their peers, just as I did. The girls, taking little puffs to make ourselves look more sophisticated, boys wanting to be tough and part of the gang. Those that didn’t smoke could not understand how smokers could possibly obtain pleasure from sticking those filthy things in their mouths, setting light to them and actually inhaling the filth into your lungs. And, you know, now smokers cannot understand why they do it either. If someone had suggested putting the cigs. in my ear to smoke it I would have laughed, or I never imagined that I might end up looking like a fag-ash-lill, or realise that my skin or any skin of a smoker ages twice as fast as a non-smoker, and you may or may not, like me understood that the nicotine content of one cig. if injected directly into the vein would kill you. I then spent years working hard to become hooked. Teenagers are still learning how to become hooked.

Why was it difficult to stop? I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about the why behind most people’s difficulty in stopping?

It is basically FEAR that kept me smoking, ‘fear of what, I hear you asking?’ The fear that life will never be quite as enjoyable without cigs, fear of feeling deprived, of not being able to relax or concentrate without cigs. You too can really enjoy life without them as you gain extra health, energy, vitality and wealth. Think for a moment of the amount of money you spend each week on cigs. 20 a day is about £35 a week, over a year that’s £1,600, 5 years - £8,000, 10 yrs. - £16,000 not to mention indirect costs on dry-cleaning, extra visits to dentist or hygienist, car journeys to shops to buy them, cost of lighters/matches, re-painting stained walls, replacing burnt carpets. And what about the time wasted on smoking. In just one week, a 20 a day smoker loosed nearly a four days a month to smoking, you might like to consider monitoring your time lost to cogs. What could you do with that extra money and time?

Once I’d realised that I was frightened of giving up this so called pleasure or crutch I realised I was giving up nothing at all. Let me explain, we smoke for a reason, nerves, relaxation. We give ourselves a powerful suggestion, ‘I’m anxious I need to relax, a cig. will do that for me.’ After inhaling we do indeed relax ... but only because you’ve put the suggestion into your mind. Though it’s the cigs. that takes the credit. The exact opposite is happening in our bodies, we clutter our lungs and blood stream with poison so depriving us of oxygen which impairs our concentration. The poison raised our blood pressure, increases circulation, sending us into a whirl of over-activity. Each day we become more lethargic. We think about the negative consequences even more, ever ache is a worry of cancer, ever cough could be bronchitis, we become lepers. What do you get out of that cigs.? pleasure? enjoyment? relaxation? a prop? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. All illusions, unless you consider the wearing of tight shoes to enjoy the removal of them as some sort of pleasure. but I don’t want you to think about that too much.

After finish the cigs. there’s a void, nothing, an insecure feeling

You might argue, but they are enjoyable. I would say how enjoyable?

You might say, its something to do with my hands! So why light it?

or it is oral satisfaction. So why light it? Its the feeling of smoke going into my lungs. its called suffocation. Its boredom? What’s interesting about cigs.

What about the withdrawal pangs? Well, you put that suggestion there as well. After finish the cigs. there’s a void, nothing, an insecure feeling. It’s gets greater and you say to yourself if I don’t have a cigs. I’ll become more anxious, irritable, agitated. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, like a hunger ... and we say to ourselves that we need to feed it.

You may be asking ‘how does it work?’

Think of your brain as a computer. In two minds - one mind is hard drive

like a modern day computer with different banks of memory and programme interconnections it is extremely busy, having the task of carrying out something in the region of ten million processes every one millionth part of a second - so we are told. We would be extremely mixed up people if the unconscious was to dilly dally over its functions of controlling the entire organism as a working unit - controlling as it does the entire autonomic nervous system, all the senses, hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, etc. So we state unconscious has no power over itself - nor yet the ability to reason. It either is or isn’t ... does or doesn’t. the more you think of this the more you realize that it is just as it should be. With those precious millions of functions to carry out, the last thing we want is indecision. Its where we daydream, use our creativity, imagination.

Second part of computer lots of different software programmes, one for decision making, reasoning, logical thought, ‘I’ll put my mind to it’. Critical function - I must do this, I can’t do that, Why can’t I stop this habit, I’m an adult.

Let’s take an example, Imagine you want to stop smoking. You tell yourself a hundred times a day, ‘I mustn’t - I won’t - I shouldn’t have cigarette - I’ll try really hard not to smoke - Let’s say tonight you smoke last in packet, in am OK put it to back of mind - I mustn’t think about cigarettes - by 10 am see images of them - start to become irritable - by 11 am start thinking of ways to get out of office to shop .. only buy 10 - by 12 noon crawling up the walls .. can’t take it any longer I’ll kill myself if I don’t have one ... scrounge one off a mate .. rush to shops ... smoke it .. relief. Or if you manage to stop smoking for a few days though you have feeling of climbing Mount Everest

So, what happens. Your two minds come into conflict with one another. If I said don’t think of pink elephant. What happens? Try really hard not to think of pink elephant ... really cute, cuddly, one or a big, fat hairy one ... try, really, really hard not to think of a pink elephant. When conscious mind comes into conflict with imagination eg don’t is critical, think of a pink elephant ... imagination always wins.

My aim is put positive suggestions into the main hard drive, unconscious and imaginative, through relaxation we switch off the busy soft ware programmes of criticism, analysis, so that you’re more receptive and open minded. I may direct your experience only to degree you permit it. You will only respond to these suggestions if you want to. No power over you, you would be shocked out of it if suggestions went against your morals, values, ethics, religion. Therefore, when you are in a relaxed state of mind, it is easier for unconscious to respond to suggestions.

Streamline - A Mind Body Experience to Health, Diet and Nutrition

Introduction

Please be as comfortable as you can, there will be no spells or potions. So you can sit back, breath normally, listen to the sound of my voice and discover how powerful your mind is, because you can pretty much achieve anything you want when you focus your mind.. now... Hi, I’m Sarah and this is Justine. We’re here to talk about our unique approach to health, diet and nutrition. This session concentrates on how you can re-balance the mind and body to streamline your lifestyle, to take control of eating disorders, to tap into your inner resources to make positive changes in your life.

We’ve all experienced the frustration of not achieving the things we really want. Sometimes we might run headlong into a personal block. Symptoms appear. We become irritable, unhappy, angry, dependent on food or alcohol. Our body becomes lazy, sluggish, full of tension and toxins.

As you think about your lifestyle now ... what do you notice, take a moment to go inside ... is it the way you want it to be? Be aware of your own experience, thoughts, images, sounds, internal dialogue about health, well-being. Where do you feel most and least healthy? Is health feeling good or not feeling bad?

Health is not a concept it’s an experience. Healthy is not the same as not being ill. Only appreciate health when it’s not there. Comes from our experience of how our body and mind work together. Health is not an all or nothing, a have or have not experience, it shifts with the weather, food, relationships, traumas, injury, working environment.

Streamline our lifestyle means how we can do more to create health, well-being and balance in our day to day lives. It’s not a programme of how to avoid illness, or disease. It’s a refreshing mind body experience specific to each individual.

* a rebalance of your mind and body * overcome addiction dependency

* reframe your eating habits * clear your body of toxins * lose weight

* manage optimum stress * follow a personal diet and nutrition plan.

* use self-hypnosis for mental fitness

Three dimensions of health -

1. Physical 2. Psychological and 3. Social Well-being

1. Physical the one we notice the most When physically healthy think positively, creatively, productive

2. Social fulfiling relationships, happier and therefore healthy.

3. Pscyhological - how healthy are your thoughts, feelings.

All influence each other. Can’t treat them separately, intimately connected, can’t pull the mind apart from the body apart from the social context. Body and mind make up a person., work together.

Thoughts and feelings affect us physically, and our physical state affect our thoughts and feelings.

I luv you. Glow. Positive feedback. Good movie. Told a joke. Kick in the Pheramones.

When our physical state is affected it usually has an immediate affect on our thoughts and feelings eg. exercise feel great, positive, motivated, good images or negative experience such as car crash, question our ability, decision making, restricts our movements.

More difficult to see how our thoughts and feelings affect our physicaly well-being.

why becasue it happens more slowly, changes over time. Clock minute hand, slowly. Lines on your face, habitual expressions in your life, your expressions are a result of your experiences, thougths, emotions over the years. Look in mirror every day don’t notice change from one day to the next, or you notice changes in a relative or friend that you’ve not seen for ages. Emotions, internal thoughts affect our physical being.

Long term negative states bad for health. Negative emotions anger, impatience leads to higher blood prressure, heart related illnesses. Chronic depression links to lower immune system, cancer, heart

Laughing Policeman.

Creating a healthy future

Imagine how you would like to be, what do you see yourself doing, how are you being. Notice what it looks like, adjust the picture, make it bigger, brighter, moving, compelling, an image that perfectly expresses your health. Step into picture, notice the feelings, Step out of the picture make necessary adjustments to improve it, place image into a time in the future where you want it to be, get inside picture again, make most compelling. Be there, turn and look back towards now, what steps can you take, how can you overcome obstacles, what resources do you have to overcome problems.