Blogging

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 10, 2014)

 

Photo by Sara R. Fogan CHt

     The first time I ever heard the words “blog” and “blogging” was from a former client. I admit that I initially didn’t really get what blogging was about or what it could do—let alone why someone would do it in the first place. All that changed when I saw the film Julie and Julia, which starred Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. Computer blogging was the cornerstone of the movie in which Adams’ character (Julie Powell) wrote a blog each day for one year about her experiences cooking and eating food that she had prepared from a Julia Child cookbook. She also included other details about her life in these essays and provided background information about the late chef’s personal and culinary challenges and triumphs. Ultimately, Powell’s online journal was not only a chronicle of her own culinary adventures that year, but it also provided a cornucopia of life experiences and philosophies that she had learned in the process.

     I often think about this film when I sit down to write my own blogs. I think about Powell’s passion about recreating each of Julia Child’s recipes exactly how the chef wrote them. I think about the author’s dedication to sharing each aspect of these culinary projects with anyone and everyone who was interested or curious in what she was trying to do. Unlike Powell, I do not have a general or generic book of hypnosis recipes that I can replicate and will share with you each night. In fact, each one of the hypnotic scripts that I create for my clients is as individual and specific as the person for whom I have created it. Also, for ethical reasons I would not and could not share this information in order to preserve client/therapist confidentiality.

     However, I am like Julie Powell in that I do have a lot of information, skills and experience in my own area of expertise that can help and motivate you to achieve your own goals. I can share the theoretical premises behind hypnosis and hypnotherapy, and human behavior/motivation. I can explain how and why hypnosis works. I can tell you how and why the subconscious mind responds to the negative (or positive!) “chatter” that you have been telling yourself so that you continue to practice a behavior or habit that no longer works for you. I can share information about the many and various hypnotherapeutic techniques that I have learned and mastered since I first started working as a hypnotherapist. I can write blogs about all these things to inspire you to give hypnotherapy and therapeutic guided imagery a try so you can also achieve your own vocational and avocational self-improvement goals.

     Hypnotherapy worked for me… I know it will work for you, too!

 

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

 

Thoughts of the Day

Photo by Sara Fogan

      Every now and then I like (and need) to take a few moments and remind myself about what is really important to me, in my life. If you follow me on my Calminsense Hypnotherapy Facebook page you may have seen some of these quotes before on this page, or will in the future. Many of these Quotes of the Day are beautiful examples and illustrations of the work I do as a hypnotherapist, so I will probably draw on them in future essays.

• “Life is a vending machine. The more you smile, the more candies you get from it.” – Anonymous

• “No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our lives are made. Destiny is made known silently.” – Agnes de Mille

• “You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You can find yourself by coming into the present.” – Eckhart  Tolle

• “Real difficulties can be overcome. It’s only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.” – Theodore N. Vail

• “How you treat yourself will set the standard for how others will treat you.” – Steve Maraboli

• “Stop believing everything you think.” – Lolly Daskal

• “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

• “Perfection is a road, not a destination. Every time I live, I get an education.” – Burk Hudson

• “The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness.” – Wayne Dyer

• “Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.” – Oprah Winfrey

 

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/.

© 2016

Compliance and Motivation

(This blog was originally posted on May 27, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Presentation Pro

           Imagine you have been taking antibiotics to treat a bad sinus infection. The symptoms have gone away, but you still have three days’ worth of medication left to take. Not only have you lost some of your motivation to take the medications now that you feel better, but you find it very inconvenient to make sure to eat something first, to prevent getting an upset stomach. Since your physical discomfort has gone away, you (your conscious mind) may wonder why you need to finish the prescription, at all. Your subconscious mind might even try to solve that problem for you when you “forget” to take the next dose.

           It can be even tougher to follow through with a treatment plan when there is no end in sight. Even if you don’t consciously object to doing something—you know that you need to keep taking insulin to control your diabetes—your subconscious mind might not be so willing to go along with the program. Indeed, sometimes the “remedy” feels or may actually be more uncomfortable than the disease you are trying to fight. Between the discomfort and/or pain that you experience from the illness and the perceived inconvenience of all the things you must do to get better, sometimes the temptation to let everything slide for a day or two may be incredible. However, hypnotherapy can help you to follow “doctor’s orders” and provide some physical, emotional and mental comfort, as well. 

When I work with someone to facilitate a medically-related, health-related behavior change, the first thing I do is obtain a referral from the licensed medical practitioner or psychotherapist who is treating that individual (Business and Professions Code 2908). I use my client’s own words or expressions to create the hypnotic script that will motivate him or her to follow the medical or mental-health expert’s treatment regimen or advice. Each suggestion that I give to this client will reflect the person’s physical or emotional suggestibility, which will enable the person’s subconscious mind to easily understand and accept the suggestions to easily and comfortably facilitate achieving the stated compliance objectives.

Some other examples of when hypnotherapy can facilitate compliance with a recommended medical, health or addiction-recovery protocol include:

·         Following Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc. guidelines during rehabilitation from a substance addiction;

·     Observing a prescribed physical-fitness or exercise program to facilitate physical therapy;

·        Adhering to a medically-recommended diet to control non-insulin dependent diabetes.

          

        Remember: Hypnosis is not and should never be provided as a substitute for medical, psychotherapeutic or addiction-recovery care from a licensed practitioner. (I also require clients who have a substance-addiction to currently participate in a 12-step program while I work with them, because these programs are the most effective tool to help them recover from their addiction.) However, hypnosis can be and is a marvelous adjunct and complement to these therapies because the hypnotherapeutic script will gently and effectively reinforce the client’s specific motivations and desires to comply with the referring doctor or psychologist’s treatment recommendations.

               

               

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®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2015