What You Can (and Cannot) Expect From Hypnotherapy

 

                I would like to clarify a couple of things about hypnosis and my role as a certified hypnotherapist. First, as I explain on my website, hypnosis is a natural, drug-free and highly effective therapeutic modality that has been used for centuries to help people change mental scripts for unwanted beliefs or behaviors that no longer work for them. Whether you want to lose weight, quit smoking, increase your self-confidence, overcome a fear or phobia, or achieve just about any vocational and avocational self-improvement goals, hypnosis can help you get it done.

                My goal is to help each and every one of my hypnotherapy clients to achieve his or her vocational and avocational self-improvement goals. I participate in continuing-education courses throughout the year to fine-tune my therapeutic skills and learn new techniques that I can apply in my practice. Between sessions with my clients, I make myself available to answer any questions or discuss an issue that may have come up during the week via a follow-up phone call, e-mail correspondence or both. I provide a recording of the hypnosis component of their therapy for them to listen to during the week and even give them “homework” assignments to help reinforce the new behavior until their next hypnotherapy session. These assignments may include breathing/relaxation exercises to practice, maintaining their Mental Bank program by writing in their Mental Bank ledger each night before bed, reading specific articles or watching online videos about related hypnotherapeutic techniques that are available via the Hypnosis Motivation Institute online video library.

                I work with my clients to achieve their stated goals; when they have accomplished what they set out to do, we typically part ways until they want to work on something new. I generally do not need to explore unrelated issues or discuss experiences that occurred long ago in my clients’ lives unless they state or believe that event pertains to their presenting issue or affects how they currently lead their lives. Having said that, hypnotherapy is not an overnight miracle “cure” for anything and everything that ails or distresses you. By the time most people come in for hypnotherapy, many months or even years have passed since the unwanted belief or behavior was created. Meanwhile, their subconscious mental script has had plenty of time to nurture and reinforce that unwanted habit. Although hypnotherapy is also generally a shorter-term therapy than many traditional psychotherapeutic modalities, it will likely take more than one hypnosis session to change and/or permanently remove that behavior.

Finally, California law allows me to provide hypnotherapy as a complementary or alternative treatment to help my clients to achieve vocational and avocational self-improvement goals (Business and Professions Code 2908). For example, I am certified to help people manage pain and individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder to deal with a myriad of physical and emotional symptoms. However, I may only do so with a referral from a licensed medical doctor or mental-health professional; I must receive a referral from both of these health-care providers to work with a client who has PTSD. I ethically and legally cannot and will not address some issues (e.g., age regression therapy to identify possible past abuse) or diagnose medical or mental-health symptoms. If I feel that your issues are or become beyond my scope of expertise as a hypnotherapist, I will refer you to a licensed medical doctor or psychologist for further evaluation and/or treatment.

 

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/.

© 2014

Handwriting Analysis at "Catober Fest" 2014

Photo by Sara Fogan

Morse, ca. September 1996 (1988-2000)

 

 

 

For the second year in a row, I spent a wonderful autumn afternoon doing handwriting analyses to help celebrate “Catober Fest” at The Cat Doctor & Friends  veterinary clinic in Santa Clarita, California.  In addition to honoring all things cat and introduce residents to Dr. Tracy McFarland and the other wonderful veterinarians and technicians who work at her clinic, the open-house event was also a fundraiser for the Forgotten Angels Cat Rescue. My family adopted our kitty from this rescue a couple of years ago, so I donated all proceeds from the analyses I did today to help support this organization’s rescue efforts. Following is a description of how I use the information I learn about you from your writing to facilitate your hypnotherapy session with me so you can achieve your vocational and avocational self-improvement goals.

                Handwriting is a manifestation of what you consciously think, but it is motivated by a subconscious ideomotor (automatic physical) response. The way you write—the shape and size of each letter, whether you connect the letters and even the speed of your writing—are literally a reflection of your behavior and personality traits. Your handwriting does not reveal your age or gender; nor will it enable me (or anyone else) to determine whether you are right- or left-handed or to predict your future. However, your handwriting will reveal your mood, personality traits, suggestibility and subconscious motivations at the time of writing this sample. Following is a list of some of the characteristics I analyze in every writing sample. I do not focus on the content of what you have written; however, the form and characteristics of each letter will help me identify, confirm or negate your specific personality traits and how those traits may be affecting behavior.

·         Baseline slant: This handwriting characteristic indicates the mood of the person at the time the handwriting sample is done. An upward slant would suggest that you tend to be optimistic. A downward slant suggests a more pessimistic attitude or possible depression, which would necessitate a referral to a licensed medical or psychological professional for further evaluation and/or treatment. A baseline that undulates like waves indicates moodiness, which could be associated with low blood sugar/hunger.

·         Connecting strokes: Writing samples whose letters are connected and flow together indicate someone who has a very methodical and systematic way of thinking. Writing samples that feature little or no connection between the letters could indicate someone who is very analytical and can intuit information or results from just a few pieces of information.

·         Margins: Do you start and/or finish writing at the edge of the page? The more room you leave on the right-hand margin of the page indicates that you tend to be generous with the amount of time and space you leave for other people. If you have wider margins on the left-hand margin of the page, you are more generous with yourself.

·         Pressure of the writing: I can tell by feeling the grooves on the reverse side of the page how much pressure (intent or emotion) the writer invested in writing this sample. Someone who is very passionate or emotional about the topic would tend to exert more pressure when writing. Conversely, areas of lighter pressure (no groove) could indicate less emotion, indifference or even physical weakness.

·         Signature: A person’s signature indicates how he or she would like to be seen by others. It is not necessarily indicative of who the person really is/what the person is really like. Someone whose signature matches or is most like the body of the writing tends to be very no-nonsense; “what you see is what you get.” The opposite would be true of an individual whose signature is very different from the rest of the writing.

·         Slant of letters: The degree of angle or slant of your letters indicates whether you tend to repress or express your emotions. Someone whose writing has a left-hand slant tends to hold in emotions whereas a person whose writing that slants to the right will express how he or she is feeling. The greater the degree of the slant indicates the degree to which emotions are repressed or expressed.

·         Zones: Each “zone” of writing indicates where the person puts the greatest emphasis or priority in his or her life. The upper zone is where thought/fantasy/analysis occurs. The middle zone concerns daily life, communication and responsibility. The lower zone is dedicated to fulfilling physical or materialistic needs: sex, clothes, shelter and money.

These are just a few of the indicators I look at when I analyze handwriting in my hypnotherapy practice. For more information about handwriting analysis, or if you would like to request an in-depth analysis of your own writing, please contact me via my website at www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com.

 

 

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/.

© 2014



Traditions...It's All in the Family

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

 

                Most of us have traditions. Perhaps you always take your kids to spend a couple of weeks at the beach each summer. Maybe your mom serves stuffing according to her grandma’s recipe at every Thanksgiving feast. Many people participate in individual or team sports, and enjoy watching these activities on television after a holiday meal (e.g., football games on Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day). I know several people who share the same profession as their parents and even grandparents. Have you ever wondered why these behaviors are repeated? I have. My answer: Theory of Mind.

                Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D. stated that the subconscious part of the mind likes and wants to do what is familiar (known) because familiarity represents “safety” and comfort. He proposed that human behavior is based on the subconscious mental scripts that we create during early childhood, whereby the SCM is accumulating and storing various message units that will ultimately comprise the subconscious life script. Each message is ultimately categorized as a positive (pleasure) or negative (pain) experience, and anything that the subconscious mind does not recognize falls under the category of “pain.” Consequently, the SCM often resists doing anything new or different even when the logic, reason, will-power/free-will and reasoning faculties of the conscious mind says that it’s okay (safe) to do so. We repeat certain behaviors and/or continue to hold particular beliefs that we already know because these are familiar and comfortable or even convenient to perpetuate. These behaviors are the basis of Dr. Kappas’s Theory of Mind.

I know, I know. I make at least a passing reference to this concept in virtually every one of my blogs, but that is because I find examples of it in virtually everything I do and/or observe. The premise of this model is so simple, so logical: observe a behavior, learn and repeat that action and finally model/teach it to someone else. Traditions are a great example of this pattern. For example, imagine you learned—probably from a very young age—that your mom’s grandmother’s recipe for Thanksgiving stuffing is the very best ever. As a child of four or five you probably didn’t have an opportunity to try other people’s version of this dish. However, the people in your environment kept praising it—especially Mom, who was likely your primary caretaker and to whom you are particularly suggestible—and you adopted that belief as your own. You know that one day you will prepare that dish at Thanksgiving to carry on your mother’s grandmother’s holiday tradition.

Or, when it came time to think about getting a career you found yourself gravitating to a similar vocation as one or both of your parents. I have several friends who ultimately became a teacher like their parents. Another friend’s spouse is a law-enforcement officer, as are this person’s father-in-law and a couple of uncles. I love to spend time and vacation in the mountains because when I was a very little girl, my family used to spend a couple of weeks at a property near Big Bear every summer. I have very happy memories (positive knowns) of that environment and would love to spend more time there or someplace like it. And speaking of sports, not only are brothers Peyton Manning and Eli Manning quarterback football players on NFL teams, their dad, Archie Manning, is a former NFL quarterback, too!

Consider your “traditions” for a moment. What things do you do day in and day out without much thought? Do you know where, when, why and how they came about? The answer(s) may surprise you.

 

 

 

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/.

© 2014

It's All in How You Say It

 
                When I create hypnotic scripts for a client, I take great care to include words and phrases that have positive intention and positive action. I do this so the person’s subconscious mind will understand, accept and process the positive energy in his or her therapeutic goals.

                For example, if a person comes to me for help losing weight, the first thing I do is help to reframe this goal in a more positive-action perspective. Even though the client wants to “lose” weight, this word is loaded with the implication that the SCM needs to “find” it somewhere—typically, by reverting to unwanted behaviors that he or she is trying to change. To avoid this, I will help the person rephrase the goal to express shedding the extra pounds, such as: “dropping (the number of) pounds,” “getting down to (the goal weight),” etc. These are just examples of alternative expressions to state this goal; the important thing is for the client to choose word(s) or phrases that most resonate with his or her ultimate goal.

                Another phrase I help my clients to replace is “try to.” My reasoning for this is simple: the word try is actually an inert (not moving) verb. Remember the scene in The Empire Strikes Back in which Luke Skywalker begins his training to become a Jedi Knight? When he says that he will try to accomplish the task that the Jedi Master has set for him, Yoda is not impressed with the young warrior’s response: “Try not. Do or do not. There is no ‘try.’” Performing a behavior is action; even if you are not 100 percent successful when you do it the first, second or even third time, you are still doing it. Conversely, the word “try” is ambivalent. It implies indifference, acting without focus to achieve the desired outcome of the task: success.

                The other word I avoid using in hypnotic scripts is “not.” The subconscious mind does not recognize negative qualifiers in our thoughts. It is as if the words “not,” “no” and “won’t” are nonexistent. For example, a few years ago I told myself that I would not fall off of my horse at the beginning of a ride. Guess what? That is exactly what I did do, because all my mind saw/heard/understood was “I will fall off of my horse.” These days, I repeat the following mantra: “I am secure in the saddle and I will enjoy a fun and relaxing ride.”

To help motivate my clients to pursue their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals, I incorporate visualization in the hypnotic script so they can feel what it is like to achieve that success. Guided imagery works well as a therapeutic modality because the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality. If you imagine that you are doing something, it is no different from actually doing (and accomplishing) that task. When you imagine that you are improving a skill and succeeding at a task, your subconscious mind is already primed and prepared to help you realize your goal because it believes you already have.

 

                  

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/.

© 2014

 

In Honor of My Mother

(This blog was originally posted on May 11, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

 

                There is no one in the world like a mother. Today, I would like to tell you about mine.

                When I think about my mother, I am in awe. I marvel at the things she has accomplished in her life, the challenges she has overcome and the joy she brings to my life. I am inspired by everything she is as a woman and as a mother. She is my biggest champion and my loudest cheerleader. She is always there to provide a warm, comforting shoulder to cry on or to deliver the pointed pep talk to motivate me when I need it. Her love always makes me feel protected, supported and secure.

                My mother imparts her wisdom and love in the small and in the big things she does. She prepares meals when she is tired. She smiles when she is sad. She forgives when she is hurt. When I don’t feel well, she is the first person to check on me to make sure I am drinking enough fluids and getting enough rest. If I want or need something, more often than not she surprises me with that desired object weeks or months later. By then, I have often forgotten that I even mentioned wanting or pointing it out to her, which makes her present even more special to me.

                My mother is my greatest confidant, my very best friend. She is one of the few people with whom I can sit in comfortable silence and just be in the moment. She is someone I can laugh with about the goings-on in one of our favorite television shows, compare favorite recipes and discuss the heavy issues we see or hear about in the news. She shows me by example how to give love and respect the people I care about. She has taught and continues to teach me so much about life by just watching her live hers.

                To my most beloved mother… I love you!

 

 

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/.

© 2014

Something New in Something Familiar

                While I sorting laundry from the drier this evening, I suddenly noticed that I had never noticed the color of the “eyes” of the wolf faces on one of my favorite pairs of socks. I don’t just mean that I had never noticed that they were yellow (amber). I had never noticed that there was a color in the first place! All the time I had owned and the many occasions I wore the socks I just assumed—or presumed; whatever—that the eyes were a version of the black and white motif as the rest of the animal’s face. Of course, it is completely likely that my subconscious mind just filled in the color for me. After all, as one of my favorite species of animals, I know that their eyes are generally amber. In addition to the many documentaries I have watched and books I have read about them, the sight of a wolf’s piercing yellow eyes peering from behind a tree or glowing from the shadows is iconic Hollywood imagery. It is just interesting to me that my conscious mind didn’t register this obvious detail on clothing that I wear almost every week.

 

 

As I explained in my previous blog titled “Fire Hydrants”, once the SCM has ruled out that specific objects or sensory data are not a threat to our well-being it simply “tunes out” that information from our conscious awareness. After repeated exposure to that stimulus, it becomes a known in the subconscious mind: comfortable and even “safe” in its familiarity. There is no reason for the critical awareness part of our mind to reject this information and raise a metaphoric red flag that something new and unknown is nearby. This kind of selective awareness is actually crucial to our long-term survival. If this process didn’t occur we would be quickly, completely overwhelmed by having to actively notice details about and respond to every sensation we perceive. In no time at all, this information overload would send us into a constant, perpetual state of hypnosis every waking moment. I mean, can you imagine noticing that scratchy sensation of that garment-instruction label sewn into your shirt whenever you put on that garment? How irritating would that be?

                I don’t know what caught my attention about this detail in the design of those socks tonight. Perhaps my subconscious mind wanted to encourage me to draw on some of the energy and qualities I admire in the wolf to achieve greater balance in my own life. Maybe my SCM was just sending me a gentle reminder that I need to take more time to keep noticing the small (yet significant) details about the important people and objects in my environment. Or, it could be that noticing this detail for the first time was just a way for something known, comfortable and familiar to be like new again.

 

 

 

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/.

Hypnosis, Mind Control and The Vampire Diaries

 

 

                One of the most prevalent myths and misconceptions about hypnosis is that it is a form of mind control. This notion is so widespread that several popular books, films and television series have included storylines wherein a character is hypnotized to do something dangerous, illegal and likely detrimental to his or her survival. Cases in point: the use of “compulsion” in L.J. Smith’s young-adult novels and popular CW television series, The Vampire Diaries.

                First, let me reassure you that you cannot be made to say or do anything in hypnosis that you would not say or do when you are in a wide-awake, alert state. If your subconscious mind does not “agree” with the hypnotic suggestion, you simply would not do it. Furthermore, as a certified hypnotherapist I would not ask you to do anything that goes against your moral and ethical standards. Needless to say, it would also be unethical for me to ask you to do so.

Having said that… I find the concept of compulsion in the context of The Vampire Diaries absolutely fascinating. In my January 16, 2014 blog titled Gullibility, Suggestibility, Hypnosis I describe how a person can induce a trance state in another person and induce him or her to behave in a certain way. The process by which the vampires get their victims to act in a certain way—usually, to stay still and “don’t scream” before an attack—is practically a textbook example of how this kind of hypnotic induction works. This is why:

·         They have authority. If you are familiar with the series, you know that in addition to their myriad supernatural abilities, Stefan and Damon Salvatore and other vampires in question are charismatic, charming and, of course, very good looking. They literally command an audience when they enter a room. If you are (un)lucky enough to make direct eye contact with one of them and you do not know their true identity, you will be suggestible to their confidence, charisma and physical attractiveness. If you do know that they are vampires, your natural fear about how the encounter might end will induce its own kind of trance. Either way, you will not only will you be told what to do and when to do it, you will be helpless to resist the command.

 

·         They have a message. That message can be about almost anything, although it is usually an instruction to the unwitting victim that he or she must perform a specific task that will help conceal the vampire’s true identity in the community. Of course, the content of that message is inconsequential for the above reason(s).

 

·         They overload the person’s subconscious mind to accept the message without question. In this case, the vampire locks eyes with the intended victim and gives the instruction (compulsion) in a whisper or hushed voice. By this point, the person’s subconscious mind truly is overwhelmed by the monster’s charm, strength and powers of persuasion that the individual is willing to do as he or she has been instructed.

Whenever I watch The Vampire Diaries I must suspend my disbelief about how the characters use hypnosis—as well as my own experience of how hypnosis really works—so I can just enjoy the “fantastic” elements of the story. Remember, you would not behave that way because someone else told you to while you are hypnotized unless you would do these things or hold a specific belief when you are in an alert and aware state. Having said that, the next time a barista overwhelms you with so many options about beverage-cup sizes and pastries to accompany your quadruple latte that you actually purchase a croissant you never planned on buying, you were probably hypnotized.

 

 

 

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/.

© 2014