The Bite

Photo by Rick Hustead

I eventually learned how to drive an automatic transmission vehicle. That was the kind of cars my parents had (my subconscious known) and I didn’t have a pressing need to learn stick shift. In fact, I was one of the few if only sixteen-year-olds who didn’t really want to drive the second I got my driver’s license. If I had a horse when I was a teenager I might have been more motivated, but that’s another story.

However, in 1997 I decided I wanted (needed) to learn how to drive stick shift. I was living and working in Hull, England, at the time. My work contract and work visa would expire at the beginning of December, and several jobs I considered applying for required the new hire to have a car and be able to drive to various venues. At that time, virtually every vehicle on the road was “manual transmission,” so I didn’t really have any option but to drive what was available. As I recall, as it seemed to be more expensive to have an automatic car in England at that time; driving lessons in an automatic would also cost more. So not only would I have to learn how to drive on the opposite side of the road to what I was used to in the United States, but also to use a clutch pedal and the gear stick.

To my surprise, though, I liked it.

The instructor was very patient with me, despite the number of times I stalled the vehicle. At the very beginning of the lesson, he told me about “the bite,” that moment when the clutch is engaged just so and the driver shifts the car into the correct gear while depressing the accelerator (or something like that). He said that when this is done correctly, with perfect timing, you should feel and hear the car easily slide into the gear and smoothly move forward. No stuttering or sputtering of the engine, no jerking movement of the car as the engine gasps for air before stalling out. Smooooooth. I grinned from ear to ear the first time I felt that bite, and promptly stalled the engine. But, I did it; and the metaphoric significance of the term “bite” continues to resonate with me.

I returned to the United States a few months later. I eventually got a job working as a proofreader and then managing editor at Black Belt® magazine. In 2005, I completed my hypnotherapy training at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute and opened hypnotherapy practice, Calminsense Hypnotherapy®.  I no longer drive stick-shift—it is actually more expensive to buy a manual transmission vehicle here—but the concept of feeling or listening for “the bite” plays a big part in my day. It is the metaphoric exhale of a relaxed breath that my clients take as they drift into hypnosis. It is the optimism I feel about the success of my hypnotherapy practice when I pick up the phone to answer someone’s questions about hypnosis and whether hypnotherapy really works. (It does.) It is the excitement and pride I feel for a client when the person achieves his or her self-improvement goal, glowing with pride and renewed self-confidence at this accomplishment. It is the sense of calm and joy I experience when I first climb onto my horse’s back, as we transition smoothly between his gaits or amble down the street on an impromptu hack.

For me, ultimately, “the bite” represents achievement, success, accomplishment. I know that if I ever absolutely needed to, I could probably still drive stick-shift without stalling the engine too many times. To this day, I still always listen and feel for that moment when my car automatically shifts gears. It makes me happy that I can tell when that happens and even feel bad for the car when the engine seems to be straining too hard going up a hill. Most of all, I enjoy hearing and feeling the bite when, if only for a moment, most things in my and my clients’ lives are comfortable and smooth.

Have you felt your “bite” today?

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

The Paris Window

One of my favorite techniques to help a client find out what is really going on in the person’s life—i.e., the cause or foundation of the issue he or she wishes to address—is the Paris Window. This is a diagram of a box containing four squares. Each square features a question that is designed to clarify and bring the subconscious motivation behind the unwanted behavior into conscious awareness.

This is what a Paris Window looks like:

Q: How do you feel about the problem? 1.	Q: How do you think other people feel about your problem? 2.
Q: How do you feel about how other people feel about your problem? 3.	The Actual Problem 4.

I use the Paris Window during the cognitive (alert) portion of the hypnotherapy. It is a particularly effective way to discover any underlying, subconscious motivation(s) behind the person’s unwanted behaviors that may be preventing the desired behavior change. One benefit of this technique is that it is very visceral: the person can literally watch a story about the origins or basis of this subconscious resistance evolve while writing the responses to each question (ideomotor response). Once the issue is revealed, I discuss it with the client in terms of his or her beliefs and feelings about the problem/conflict, motivations to change or get rid of the unwanted behavior and strategies to accomplish this. Finally, when the person is in hypnosis, I incorporate specific suggestions in his or her hypnotic script to help the person implement these new beliefs or behaviors to help actualize this self-improvement goal.

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

Hypnotherapy to Help You Stay Motivated During a Challenge

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

     As a hypnotherapist, one of the most important things I do is to motivate my clients to continue working to change an unwanted behavior. Sometimes a challenge or a setback occurs during this therapeutic process, and I must put on another hat to facilitate crisis management. Perhaps you have experienced a personal crisis, such as the unexpected death of a spouse or life-threatening medical diagnosis*; or, you are discouraged about your rate of progress in achieving the desired self-improvement goal. It is my honor and privilege to help you to find/re-discover, and employ, your inner resources to overcome such a challenge in the following ways:

• Provide you with unconditional positive regard. I use active and reflective listening techniques to help you clarify the issue or source of frustration, and identify the emotions or feelings surrounding that situation. 
• Employ Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques such as “chunking down” the problem to help you look at and identify ways of breaking it into smaller, more manageable elements that you can resolve.
• Help you to brainstorm a list, which you will write, of all of your inner resources—talents, work/sports experience, problem-solving skills, etc. that you have acquired during/through hypnotherapy—that you believe will help you overcome the current setback or disappointment.
• Apply hypnosis and therapeutic guided-imagery techniques to help you access those resources and other problem-solving skills that you have previously used to overcome a similar situation in order to conquer the current setback: If you have overcome ‘X’ before, your subconscious mind knows how to use these skills to succeed, again!
• Help you to create a subconscious anchor which you can access at any time to activate this sensation of relaxation, calm and comfort that you experienced during hypnosis in order to solve a problem or overcome a challenge when you are alert and aware (not in hypnosis).

If the issue or crisis is beyond the scope of my expertise as a hypnotherapist to help you achieve your vocational and avocational self-improvement goals, I will refer you to a licensed medical doctor and/or licensed mental health practitioner. This referral is imperative to ensure your emotional and physical well-being, because these experts are equipped to provide you with the specific support that you need to help you through that event. However, according to California law I may continue to work with you as your hypnotherapist in conjunction with these other experts to provide complementary therapy, with a signed referral from them (Business andProfessions Code 2908).

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