Hypnotherapy and hypnosis are often misunderstood disciplines. Mythology and pop culture have misconstrued the true meaning of the practice, so if you’ve ever wondered what hypnotherapy is and how hypnotherapy works, this post is for you.
Hypnotherapy is the practice of using various induction techniques to guide a person into a relaxed and focused trance state accompanied by heightened awareness. In this state, the person is able to block out distractions while opening to self-discovery, clarity, memory, and problem resolution.
Hypnotherapy is often used to treat various fears, phobias, or anxiety disorders, but it is also wildly successful in helping people overcome addictions and aid in pain and weight management.
In the following post, you’ll learn:
- What hypnotherapy is
- What the difference between a hypnotist and a hypnotherapist is
- What hypnosis feels like
- The benefits of hypnotherapy
- Ways that you can work with me
What is hypnotherapy?
Client-centered hypnotherapy is based on the premise that, at some level, most people are fully capable of determining their needs and the solutions for satisfying them.
The level where this knowledge and wisdom can be accessed is frequently in the subconscious mind.
Hypnotherapy is capable of going straight to the subconscious to access and gather that treasure.
There are plenty of things we want to change in the world. The news is filled with the horrors of war, violence, crime, financial ruin, family disturbances, disease, and poverty. In our attempts to change all that, it is easy to ignore the most important thing that we can do every minute of the day: change what is inside of us.
Hypnotherapy offers a rapid and effective pathway to personal change and growth. Through the use of trance states and specific protocols, anyone can quickly realize the roots of behaviors and feelings, receive messages from their subconscious mind, and learn to make new choices to achieve their true goals.
What is the difference between a hypnotist and a hypnotherapist?
The terms hypnotist and hypnotherapist are sometimes confused. Here is a breakdown to explain:
- A hypnotist is a practitioner who puts a person into a trance and either directs an entertaining stage production or recites a predetermined script for healing or change. In a session with a hypnotist, they will do most of the talking.
- A hypnotherapist is a practitioner who guides a client into heightened self-observation to facilitate personal and transpersonal awakening, healing, and growth. In a session with a hypnotherapist, the client will do most of the talking.
It’s important to note that a hypnotist may impose suggestions outside of the will of their subject, whether intentional or not, and their client will likely not remember what happened during the session.
A client-centered hypnotherapist is aware of their role as a guide and understands that their client makes the choices, comes to their own conclusions and decisions, and will remember everything that occurred during the session.
The role of a hypnotherapist
The work of a hypnotherapist is to explore and discover the various issues relating to and perhaps contributing to the dysfunctional behavior that an individual originally came in to address. Each of the identified areas of the person’s life may need to be addressed in order to fully achieve their goals of living a healthy lifestyle.
In a sense, we help our clients come out of their unconscious trance states, their everyday trance, and into alignment with reality in the present moment. While we do not diagnose, analyze, or prescribe unless we are licensed to do so, as hypnotherapists, we provide a platform for our clients to explore, discover, shift, and grow in healthier ways.
Individuals can do a lot of work on their own, but certain blind spots and blocks require the support of a well-trained practitioner.
Issues in a person’s life are like a bowl of spaghetti. Each issue is entangled with and connected to others.
When a person attempts to resolve one issue, they compensate for it or are distracted by other issues surrounding it. It is the role of a hypnotherapist to guide their clients to identify the issues, create clarity around them, and facilitate resolution. Frequently, when the right issue is properly resolved, the entire stack of issues collapses.
More likely, however, each issue will need some level of attention in order to gain complete resolution. This will free the person to move forward in health and happiness.
An example of this would be if you know someone with an alcohol problem. Upon deeper investigation, it may be discovered they also suffered from an abusive family of origin, lack personal boundaries, have low self-esteem, are in a dead-end job, or have carried in residual habits or traumas from a previous lifetime. You can see that the situation may be much more complicated than it appears at first.
If you are interested in exploring hypnotherapy and using the trance state to your best advantage, please schedule a complimentary call with me to discuss your current challenges and goals with hypnotherapy.
What does hypnosis feel like?
Throughout history, people have sought trance-like states to enhance spiritual connections and produce healing and change. This is the state enjoyed by shamans, seers, artists, and daydreamers.
The trance state is typically an enjoyable experience. As humans, we seek these altered, transpersonal states. Often, these states are accessed in potentially unhealthy ways, such as through drugs, alcohol, or other self-destructive methods. These pathways tend to lead more toward masking issues rather than shedding light on them. In its highest use, trance can facilitate health, wellness, connection, alignment with reality, and manifestation of goals.
In reality, we are all in trance most of our lives. From a certain perspective, hypnosis allows us to come out of the trance of the everyday world, align more closely with reality, or at least achieve an expanded perspective of ourselves and the world around us.
When we do things out of habit or because they are traditional or cultural, we are in a trance. When we respond, even subconsciously, to the urging of an advertisement, we are in a trance. Our self-assessment, or self-esteem, is considered to be a group of trance states that collectively reflect our self-worth and manifest our personality.
On another end of the spectrum, shamans throughout history and in many indigenous cultures have used trance to create greater spiritual connections and effect healing changes. Properly trained hypnotherapists can achieve similar results.
The trance state is typically an enjoyable experience. During a typical session, the body goes into deep relaxation, blood pressure lowers, stress fades, and the mind is focused and aware.
As humans, we seek these altered, transpersonal states. Often, these states are accessed in potentially unhealthy ways, such as through drugs, alcohol, or other self-destructive manners. These pathways tend to lead more toward masking issues rather than shedding light on them. In its highest use, trance can facilitate health, wellness, connection, alignment with reality, and the manifestation of goals.
What are the benefits of hypnotherapy?
Hypnosis is one of the most efficient and effective techniques for accessing the subconscious mind and for facilitating deep and sustainable change in an individual.
A wide range of issues can be addressed, including weight loss, smoking, health issues, relationship and self-esteem issues, and blocks to progress. Yet these are all symptoms of a deeper underlying issue.
Hypnotherapy is a very efficient modality for the discovery and alteration of those deeper root causes.
Issues are like weeds. You can mow them down, but if the roots remain, they will just spring up again over time. The answer is to pull out the roots.
While many methods of healing and wellness only address the symptoms, hypnotherapy allows the individual to explore the deeper causation and make rapid and lasting changes.
Once this is accomplished, the sessions can turn to create a positive and desirable future. With blocks removed, the focus can stay on creativity, aligning with the individual’s highest values and aspirations, raising confidence, creative problem-solving, clarity of purpose and path, increasing intuition, and even strengthening spiritual connections.
Hypnotherapy can help with an array of challenges, such as:
- Boosting creativity
- Establishing effective weight loss
- Ending addictions
- Curing or easing physical ailments or illnesses
- Managing phobias or fears
My unique approach to healing
Aligning my practice with my soulful passions and decades of study, my unique approach to healing and growth is focused on personal growth and spiritual development.
While my clients may come to me with presenting issues of pain, addiction, or relationship dysfunction, they are drawn to me because my sight, intuition, and skill sets allow me to work at a deep level and with the subtle bodies to reveal the causation and affect lasting change.
If this resonates with you, feel free to book a complimentary Discovery Call so we can discuss working together.
Using past life regression in a hypnotherapy session
Hypnosis and unlocking hidden memories just seem like a perfect pairing, so it is natural that hypnosis could be a powerful tool in revealing past life memories as well. Trance states of any kind are helpful in self-awareness goals, for example hypnosis, meditation, shamanic work all involve accessing trance states to connect with the unconscious mind.
There are actually many ways to recall your experiences during other lifetimes. The evolved human would naturally have all that information right in their conscious mind. However, it is common for us to block those memories.
Why? Because there are experiences that we would rather forget—just like you may have memories in this lifetime, you lock away or simply forget. Also, over the millennia, belief in multiple lifetimes has often been frowned upon by culture or religion, with consequences ranging from shaming to execution.
If we are not readily accessing the memories of our character, our purpose, our relationships, and our talents, we have to seek other ways. This is part of the quest and the urgency we feel in wanting to find our purpose, find our way in life, and become more authentic.
These past life memories hold the key to that personal treasury! We could access them through dreams and meditation or while visiting sites, looking at art, or listening to music. However, the most expedient way is to use hypnotherapy techniques. By focusing the mind and relaxing the barrier between the conscious and subconscious minds, hypnotherapy “primes the pump” for easy access to otherwise hidden memories, wisdom, and perspectives.
The typical method of using hypnotherapy to connect to past life memories involves putting a person into a trance state and guiding them to recall the memories. It is a sightseeing tour of long-ago times.
Through the years, combining my further education with my own experiences and studies, I developed more powerful methods and uses for this journey. Now, it is possible for the client to experience deep healing that can reduce the effects of trauma, align them with their purpose, break through unwanted patterns that have plagued them for centuries or longer, and even change the course of their aspect field (a greater part of their soul).
Work with me
If you’re ready to explore the field of hypnotherapy and discover how this field of expertise can begin positively impacting your life, I have a number of offerings for you:
- Book a package of private one-on-one sessions with me
- Study hypnotherapy and past life regression
Book a one-on-one hypnotherapy session with me
I offer private hypnotherapy sessions to people like you, who are ready for traction in their quest for change and growth and who are ready to do the real work and experience tangible results. At the start of each session, I briefly consult your astrology chart to better understand you. We set the goal for the session, and I guide you into a trance state. You’ll experience a pleasurable meditative state that provides a broader perspective, revealing fascinating “A-ha!” moments. Note that you are always in control and will remember everything about the session.
If you’re interested in working one-on-one with me, please book a complimentary discovery call.
Learn hypnotherapy with my online course
I earned the designation Certified Instructor of Hypnotherapy in 1999 and have been teaching my courses ever since. If you want to learn the skills to achieve similar breakthrough results with your clients who are seeking self-awareness and personal growth, you are invited to check out my online course.
The course uses a mixture of written, video, and audio content. It is self-paced, so you can complete the modules in your own time without any pressure. You’ll also have lifetime access to the course materials and gain access to a private Facebook group of graduates and current students of my courses.
Included in the course are dozens of protocols for self-discovery and healing, strategies for setting up and running your business, examples of necessary client documents, a printable copy of my handy “Scripts” book for quick reference, and ample support from me to ensure your success as a hypnotherapist. Plus, you can attend our 21 hours of live group Zoom calls to support your learning journey. You’ll have lifetime access to the course materials, and students are welcome to repeat the live calls at any time in the future, depending on available space. Click here to find out more.
Ending thoughts
Now that you’re more familiar with what is hypnotherapy and how it works, you are more informed and can make good choices about how to proceed.
If you still have questions, please post them in the comments section below or book a complimentary Discovery Call.
