(This blog was originally posted on May 14, 2014)
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| Photo courtesy of Fotolia
With
the approach of June and the end of the school year, many people are planning
and preparing for their summer vacations. Even if you plan to take a cruise, at
least part of your travel itinerary is likely to be by air. If you are afraid
of flying, hypnosis and guided imagery can alleviate this anxiety and help to make
your journey more comfortable. In this blog, I will suggest some ideas and concepts
to help desensitize you to any negative associations you may have with flying
and air travel.
·
Wrong words: Airport staff, flight attendants
and ground crew often make a lot of unintentional negative associations with
flying: e.g., terminal (airport
building), departure lounge and last and
final call to board the airline, final
destination of your journey. These are just words and part of flying
jargon; they are not meant to imply negative consequences of flying and air
travel.
·
Flying is still
one of the safest forms of travel and is statistically less dangerous than
driving an automobile.
·
Airplanes are constructed to have several safety
(and back-up safety) mechanisms and computers to keep the crew and passengers
safe throughout the journey.
·
Pilots have thousands of hours of training in
flight simulators before they sit at the controls of a commercial jet; even
then, they will be working with/supervised by a pilot with more experience to
deal with various flight conditions, turbulence and other air emergencies.
·
Air-traffic control centers are trained to and
responsible for monitoring each commercial airplane at specific parts of the
flight, from takeoff until landing. The pilot, co-pilot and any other officer
on board will be in constant verbal and radar
contact with the air-traffic control officers that are monitoring your flight.
·
The pilot(s) and flight crew all have a vested
interest to have a smooth flight and a safe (and timely) arrival. They are
well-trained to handle various air emergencies and are highly unlikely to do anything to jeopardize their or their
passengers’ safety.
·
Finally, since the terrorist attacks on
9/11/2001 passengers and flight crew are aware of potential risks and have
proven they are prepared to physically subdue a potential or suspected threat
during the flight.
In my next blog, I will describe some hypnosis and therapeutic
guided-imagery techniques that I use to help people work through and overcome their
fear of flying.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in
Southern California. She graduated with honors from the
Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about
Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2015
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