Subconscious Anchors

I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

 

(This blog was originally posted on April 4, 2014)

 

Image courtesy of Microsoft

 

     In previous blogs, I have described how I help my clients “anchor” a positive association to their new, desired behavior. This is done while the person is in hypnosis and most likely to be enjoying the deep relaxation, calm, and comfort that this state naturally provides. He or she can activate this new anchor at any time to reinforce the new, desired behavior and replace unwanted habits. But hypnosis is not the only time we create anchors. In fact, these subconscious associations can occur in various situations and at any time whether we intend to do this or not. This is how many of those habits that we consciously want to change have been created in the first place.

   Smells can create very strong, pervasive anchors for many people. The scent of the cologne or perfume can bring up a happy association with a beloved grandparent or may trigger negative emotions if the smell reminds you of your ex. The smell of freshly baked apple pie might­ take you back to coming home from college to enjoy a holiday meal; but this same smell could be frustrating or even torturous for someone who is on a diet. These are just a few reasons why I do not wear perfume or even use scented candles when I work with my hypnotherapy clients. I also want to avoid creating an unintended trigger to hypnosis that could be activated if the person perceives a scent that their subconscious mind already associates with me.

    We can also create subconscious anchors to food or physical sensations (touch). Do you remember the first time you touched a hot stove? You may not if this first experience happened when you were very young. You probably can’t recall a time when you have not been cautious about touching a surface that might be hot. However, your subconscious mind sure does. The same is true if you have ever avoided a certain food because you once got food poisoning eating that item, or you can no longer tolerate the taste or smell of a favorite snack since you had your child because that was all you could eat while you were pregnant.

   You can even create a subconscious anchor to sounds or music. For example, whenever I hear the Bon Jovi hit song, “Always,” my mind immediately flashes to an early memory of lounging on a beach at the end of a summer day. The sun is still bright in the sky, but the temperature is no longer hot, and an almost-cold breeze is coming off th­e ocean. The song sounds almost tinny as it blasts out of the portable, one-speaker stereo that belongs to a nearby sunbather. I can barely detect the scent of Coppertone® sunscreen as the salty air fills my nostrils. Do you see how much imagery and how many associations are evoked by this one, specific song? To this day, I only need to catch the first few bars of the song, and I can see this scene.

     Isn’t that interesting?

              

 

Special Offer: Free 30-Minute Phone or Zoom Consultation

This is a great opportunity to find out why hypnosis is so effective and how hypnotherapy can help you achieve your self-improvement goals. Call or text me at (661) 433-9430 or send me an e-mail at calminsensehypnosis@yahoo.com to set up your free, 30-minute phone or Zoom consultation* today! 

*This is not a full hypnotherapy session. Hypnosis will not be provided during this consultation. This offer is not redeemable for cash and may not be combined with any other promotion.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, four years in a row (2019-2022). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

© 2023

 

 

Wither Scratches

I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

(This blog was originally posted on August 13, 2014)

Baby Galahad with his dam, Alisa. Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

 

When my horse gets startled or if he seems anxious or worried about something when I’m riding, I scratch his withers and speak soft words of reassurance to let him that everything is okay. This gesture mimics the way Galahad’s mother would have gently nibbled him there to comfort and reassure her foal, “I’m here. You are safe. I will take care of you.” To put this response in the context of Hypnosis Motivation Institute  founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind. When I scratch Galahad’s withers, he responds to this sensation with a deep sigh and fluttering his nostrils (nickering) because I have activated his known association between a specific tactile sensation and feeling secure.

Consider how a human mother might comfort her fussing infant. Once she is confident that the baby is not hungry and doesn’t need a diaper change, she would probably pick him up and hold the child until he stops crying. She might pat or rub small circles on the baby’s back, between his shoulder blades, and whisper comforting words to soothe him. (This behavior and area of the body that is rubbed is very similar to the wither scratches I described earlier.) The baby learns by association and repetition of this interaction that when he is upset, Mom (or Dad, sibling, etc.) will protect and take care of him. If she doesn’t do any of these things, the baby will create a subconscious association between how she reacts to his distress and whether he will feel comforted and safe. In addition, when that child grows up and has his own children, he is likely to interact with them the same way his parent did, because that is what he knows.

I am not saying my horse thinks and reasons or plans the same way a human does. However, the fact that his training is based on a model of repetition and association suggests that in addition to his instinctive reactions, he also responds to some situations based on what he learned (knows) through his training. Just as a human learns to comfort a child based on his or her experiences being a comforted child, a mare learns from her own mother how to soothe her baby. My mother taught me how good it feels to feel safe and cared for, and a late riding instructor told me where and how to scratch this sweet spot on a horse’s withers to reassure him the same way. Fast-forward to today, Galahad associates particular contact on a specific part of his body as a sign of reassurance from me—someone who is not his mother but learned how to comfort him the way she would have.

 

 

Special Discount for Military Personnel & 1^st Responders

 Special Offer: 25 percent discount off the first hypnotherapy session for all active/retired military personnel and first responders (police, fire-fighters, EMT/paramedics, ambulance personnel, emergency dispatchers, ER physicians and nurses, COVID-19 Ward staff).

*Not to be combined with any other promotions or discounts. Offer not redeemable for cash.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, four years in a row (2019-2022). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

© 2022

 

 

 

 

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/.

© 2019

Suggestions of a Scent

 

To minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19 virus and COVID-19 variants, I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. Meanwhile, phone and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

 

(This blog was originally posted on February 3, 2015)

Photo by Rick Hustead

              

After the New Year I typically do an early “Spring Cleaning” in which I donate clothes or other items that I no longer use to make room for new items I received as gifts over the holidays. When I started sorting this year I came across some old bottles of perfume that I hadn’t worn in ages. Curious, I spritzed one of my favorites into the air and inhaled deeply. Of course the composition of those scents had degraded by now; in their less pure form they were actually more intense. Equally intense was the power of my memories of the emotions I felt back when I used to wear that brand of perfume.

Good days, not-so-good days—it all came flooding back in a rush. I remembered the friend who introduced me to my former signature scent. Then that recollection reminded me where I was at that time: I was living in a suburb of London and had just started working on my post-graduate degree. In January, it would have been much colder and wetter in London than the current weather in Southern California. In fact, around that time thirty years ago, snow fell in Southeast London and blanketed the rooftops and pavements in neighborhood for several days….

That unexpected trek down memory lane served as a powerful reminder of why I do not wear perfume or use scented candles or incense when I work with hypnotherapy clients. Olfaction (sense of smell) is one of the most powerful triggers of memory and strong, pervasive emotional associations. As I explained in my previous blog titled Anchors, the mind creates a subconscious link or “anchor” between the scent a person perceives and whatever is going on in his or her life at that moment. Even though the details of a specific event will likely fade from the conscious mind over time, exposure to a scent or odor can trigger an unexpected memory that the subconscious mind associates with that moment in time.

Part of my work as their hypnotherapist entails helping my clients to create new, positive associations that will facilitate the achievement of their self-improvement goals. Therefore, it is important that minimize the possibility that something about me will unintentionally create or trigger a subconscious association between me and a previous, unwanted behavior that could impede the therapeutic process.

 

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. In July 2019 and in September 2020 she was voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2021

 

Mimicry, Imitation, Communication

In compliance with current WHO and CDC recommendations to minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19 virus, I am temporarily suspending in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone and Skype consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

(This blog was originally posted on September 2, 2014)

Photo by Jennifer Berkowitz

I recently witnessed something very interesting. While I was hanging out with my horse yesterday, a crow sitting on a branch in the tree beside me started to imitate the “honk” of some geese that belong to a  next door to my trainer’s property. I know that crows are exceptionally bright, but I have never seen or heard anything like that. I don’t believe that this was just a case of mimicry, either: the crow deliberately honked to the goose several times as if trying to get the other bird’s attention. When it finally responded, the crow honked right back a few times and then waited for the goose to communicate again. Meanwhile, another crow nearby cawed at the original one in the tree; the first crow responded in kind a few times and then resumed its calls to the goose. How cool is that?

This incident made me think about the different ways people imitate another person’s voices in speech and in song. Not just the words someone else says but also even the tone, pitch, rhythm/cadence of the words and even regional dialect or accent. Why do we do this, and how—and when—do we know that we are getting it right? For example, when I lived in England while I worked on my post-graduate degree, I gradually developed a slight lilt in my voice. I didn’t notice this change in my speech until I returned to the United States and people commented that I had developed a cool accent while I was away. This change made perfect sense, as the people with whom I worked, lived and socialized were British; over time, my subconscious mind accepted these accents as a new known and I eventually adopted it (or a version of it) as my own.

Similarly, I often sing along when a favorite song comes on the radio or my iPod. My conscious mind knows that I do not sound anything Celine Dion, Annie Lennox, Katy Perry, Bon Jovi or Tim McGraw, but I still try to imitate those singers’ voices when I’m singing along to their songs. Why won’t my subconscious mind let me give up that ghost and sing without trying to sound like someone I’m not? Even when I consciously try to sing in my own voice, in the back of my mind I can still imagine hearing what one of those performers sound like and I catch myself trying to sing the same way.

My answer to that question may be found in Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind. Dr. Kappas stated that from the moment we are born we start to develop a subconscious life script by learning specific behaviors through association and identification. Even though most of this script is written by the time we are about eight years old, the mind continues to take in more information which the subconscious mind may accept or reject. For example, we learned how to talk by associating and identifying specific words that a primary caretaker taught us, and then we imitated this behavior (e.g., how to move our mouths to create words) to speak. Over time, we also modeled other people to learn and correct our pronunciation and increase our vocabulary. Many parents or caretakers sing to their young children, which may explain people’s fondness for listening to music and singing, or participating in these activities ourselves. And, just like we did when we learned how to speak, once we learn the words to a song we like we subconsciously imitate the way the singer performs the lyrics.

I wonder if the crow I observed yesterday was unintentionally imitating the neighbor’s goose to communicate with the other bird the same way humans do in speech and song.

Limited-Time Offer: Free Phone Consultation

This is a great opportunity to find out why hypnosis is so effective and how hypnotherapy can help you achieve your self-improvement goals. Call/send me a text message at (661) 433-9430 or send me an e-mail at calminsensehypnosis@yahoo.com to set up your free, 30-minute phone or Skype consultation, today!

Offer valid through August 31, 2020.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. In July 2019 she was voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2020

Wither Scratches

In compliance with current WHO and CDC recommendations to minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19 virus, I am suspending in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me. However, phone and Skype consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

(This blog was originally posted on August 13, 2014)

Baby Galahad with his dam, Alisa

Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

When my horse gets startled or if he seems anxious or worried about something when I’m riding, I scratch his withers and speak soft words of reassurance to let him that everything is okay. This gesture mimics the way Galahad’s mother would have gently nibbled him there to comfort and reassure her foal, “I’m here. You are safe. I will take care of you.” To put this response in the context of Hypnosis Motivation Institute  founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind, when I scratch Galahad’s withers, he responds to this sensation with a deep sigh and fluttering his nostrils (nickering) because I have activated his known association between a specific tactile sensation and feeling secure. 

Consider how a human mother might comfort her fussing infant. Once she is confident that the baby is not hungry and doesn’t need a diaper change, she would probably pick him up and hold the child until he stops crying. She might pat or rub small circles on the baby’s back, between his shoulder blades, and whisper comforting words to soothe him. (This behavior and area of the body that is rubbed is very similar to the wither scratches I described earlier.) The baby learns by association and repetition of this interaction that when he is upset, Mom (or Dad, sibling, etc.) will protect and take care of him. If she doesn’t do any of these things, the baby will create a subconscious association between how she reacts to his distress and whether he will feel comforted and safe. In addition, when that child grows up and has his own children, he is likely to interact with them the same way his parent did, because that is what he knows.

I am not saying my horse thinks and reasons or plans the same way a human does. However, the fact that his training is based on a model of repetition and association suggests that in addition to his instinctive reactions, he also responds to some situations based on what he learned (knows) through his training. Just as a human learns to comfort a child based on his or her experiences being a comforted child, a mare learns from her own mother how to soothe her baby. My mother taught me how good it feels to feel safe and cared for, and a late riding instructor told me where and how to scratch this sweet spot on a horse’s withers to reassure him the same way. Fast-forward to today, Galahad associates particular contact on a specific part of his body as a sign of reassurance from me—someone who is not his mother but has learned how to comfort him the way his dam would.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. In July 2019 she was voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2020