Using the Drishti While Riding

Photo by Rick Hustead

When we practice balance poses during my yoga class, the teacher reminds us (the students) to focus on our drishti to stay in-tune with the work and control our body. Recently I asked one of the instructors about this concept. She explained that the drishti refers more to looking inward with the third eye to control behavior/habits and attention in daily life, not just focusing on a random spot in the near distance to maintain balance in the tree pose. This made complete sense to me and reminded me of something that horseman Chris Cox frequently reminds students and attendees at his training clinics.

“Ride with your eyes.”

It makes sense that when we look at something, even for just a few seconds, our attention is focused on it. The physical body makes tiny adjustments to maintain balance and mobility (even standing still). Unless you make a conscious effort to stay perfectly still or in one position, it is natural to lean toward or into the object of your fascination. Next time you have a conversation with someone, notice if you or the other person leans or moves slightly closer to each other.

If you ride horses, you are probably familiar with the warning that looking down at the ground is like picking your spot to land when you fall. Indeed, looking four, five or even six feet down from the back of an animal can disrupt balance our proprioception (body awareness) as the muscles in the body alternately tighten and release to stay on the horse. While you are distracted by what is going on the ground, you are more likely to miss what is going on around you that the horse perceives and reacts to. Before you know it, you’re on the ground wondering what just happened.

When Mr. Cox advises to ride with the eyes, it is a great way to focus (softly) on the environment around you as well as the specific direction where you want to go. This kind of focus widens the periphery of your visual field to nearly 180 degrees—the closest humans can get to being able to see the same kind of landscape horses perceive. In a way, this experience creates a kind of subconscious overload as the mind scrambles to process the various message units (perceptual stimuli) to create—you guessed it—a state of environmental hypnosis. The wonderful thing about this state is that it is actually a state of heightened awareness of environmental (and physical) stimuli even as the physical body becomes more comfortable and relaxed. When you are so focused, breathing begins to slow and the physical body relaxes while the subconscious mind remains aware of what is going on around you. You remain completely aware of your surroundings so you can communicate with and respond to your equine partner’s reactions and behavior during the ride.

  

 

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/.

© 2017

How Is a Fear of Needles Related to a Fear of Death?

Photo by Rick Hustead

According to John Kappas, Ph.D., a fear of loss of control is related to a fear of death. This fear usually starts very early in life and is often associated with a phobia, such as a fear of needles, the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder explained. The subconscious mind connects the association: “Needles could cause death [via] penetration of the skin,” he said.

When you’re trying to determine if a phobic reaction is associated with this fear, ascertain whether the client has ever awoken in the middle of the night and was unable to move or speak, the hypnotherapist advised. To treat the phobia of needles, the hypnotherapist must provide suggestions for total physical relaxation in addition to systematically desensitizing the client to stimuli and ideas that are associated with death and dying.

Also, be sure to explain the physiological process that occurs when the person wakes up and is initially unable to speak or move, Dr. Kappas said. “This physical reaction is related to suggestibility [about] a fear of death and dying.”

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/.

© 2017

Fire as Metaphor

Photo by Rick Hustead

The element of fire is also an effective metaphor in hypnotherapy. For many of us, fire represents passion in an emotion: love, anger, hate, jealousy. It can also symbolize dedication, enthusiasm, excitement, desire: “There is/I’ve got a fire in my belly.” When an event or interaction triggers an emotional reaction, this response may flare intensely for a little while until enough time has passed to temper that initial interest. Until that happens, it can feel like a battle is going on in our mind and heart to handle the sudden overload of feelings, perceptions and reactions to control our behavior. Sometimes we win that battle. Sometimes we do not.

Like fire, emotions can be and feel very powerful to the point where we feel or literally become overwhelmed by their heat and force. A tiny spark can smolder for hours, days or even years before erupting into a conflagration. Similarly, perception of a thoughtless word or action can dig into the subconscious mind and trigger an inexplicably hostile response (parataxic distortion) that is more a reaction to a previous interaction than the current one. Nonetheless, to stay consistent with the fire metaphor, once this metaphoric match is struck the verbal and emotional explosion can feel overwhelming to all parties involved.

I tap into metaphors for all four elements—water, air, earth and fire—to inspire and encourage clients’ desire to change an unwanted behavior while simultaneously reinforcing their strategies to control previous automatic responses to behavioral/emotional triggers. Because the element of fire can be so volatile, it is useful to reference the power and stability of earth and the cool, reflective characteristics of water to reframe an emotional reaction or response. Similarly, when a client needs extra motivation to change that unwanted behavior once and for all, the energy of fire is ideal to re-ignite the person’s dedication to achieving that 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®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2017

Air as Metaphor

Photo by Rick Hustead

Air is all around us. It sustains us. It ensures life, for without air (oxygen) we cannot survive. When we breathe, we take more or less of it into our lungs and send the rich oxygen molecules throughout the bloodstream to nourish every cell, tissue, organ and bone of the body. When we are working or playing hard, we may gulp in deeper breaths more often. When we experience extreme levels of stress, we sometimes forget to take in that air or even breathe so quickly in shallow gasps that the oxygen doesn’t get where it needs to be. Where would we be, without air?

Consequently, I incorporate breathing exercises and metaphors about air and filling the lungs in my hypnotherapy consultations. Through teaching my clients how to breathe deeply and completely, I also provide them with insight about the power of this action and air to relax, comfort, reassure and carry them through a stressful moment. When we can breathe normally, naturally and deeply, that is one less thing the physical body needs to worry about during an unexpected crisis. The subconscious mind is already pre-wired for fight or flight. However, breathing—filling the lungs with air and sending the oxygen to the organs that need it in a fight for survival—takes some of the pressure off: the mind knows it has what it needs for instant action. Breathing, especially when we are breathing deeply, is a harbinger of relaxation. Imagine a scene in nature, perhaps in a forest or at the beach. A gentle breeze is blowing, rustling leaves in the trees above or pushing the hair behind or in front of your face. You can see birds in the distance, floating on the air currents that carry them for a few heartbeats before they need to flap their wings again to stay aloft. And then they soar again, motionless, for a few more heartbeats before they fly away.

Air also represents power, such as the strong Santa Ana Winds that blow through the canyons in Southern California in late summer and early fall. Sometimes these winds—this air—is destructive. A particularly strong gust can knock down trees or utility poles; motorists often report feeling buffeted by the force of a hard wind as they drive down highways. In a sailboat on the ocean or a lake, however, a strong breeze is necessary to move you across the water from one shore to another. However, if there isn’t a motor in or on your boat if the wind suddenly stops, you can be stuck in the middle of that lake or ocean for a long time until that breeze kicks up again.

Air is a metaphor for communication. We think of radio transmissions coming across “the air-waves.” We need air (oxygen) in our lungs when we speak or sing to project the sound or intensity of the meaning we are trying to communicate to someone else. The flute, clarinet, saxophone, etc. are all “wind” instruments that use our breath to create the beautiful notes that we hear as the breath is exhaled. During hypnotherapy, I sometimes have clients practice power breathing to forcefully expel negative emotions or distressing/stressful associations with their breath, followed by a slow, deep inhalation to restore a sensation of calm and feeling centered.

Finally, air as a metaphor can alternately represent various emotions and states of being. Expressions such as “I feel light as air!” or “I’m floating on air!” are used to express extreme happiness or exuberance. A sentiment such as, “The air is so thick/heavy in here, I feel like I can’t breathe” suggests some kind of oppression. The experience or image or suggestion of standing in an open field with the wide expanse of sky above your head and rolling hills below your feet often evokes a sensation of freedom and exhilaration. The desire to inhale a deep lungful of air and appreciate this sensation is more often an automatic response than a conscious action. Finally, when we are in a closed room or small space for a long period of time it is easy to become panicked and want to move, but opening a window or door just a crack is often enough to reduce that anxiety.

This is what air can do.

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/.

© 2017

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.

• “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” – Confucius

• “Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it better.” – Walt Disney

• “Energy flows where attention goes.” – Michael Bernard Beckwith

• “Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb

• “Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.” – Roy Rogers

• “Have more than you show, speak less than you know.” – William Shakespeare

• “Everyone comes into your life for a reason, some for good or bad, they may shape us, break us, but in the end they make us who we are.” – Poppy Mathobela

• “There's no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There is only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.” – Wayne Dyer

• “If you're determined to stand, nothing can move you. If you're determined to move, nothing can stop you.” – Lolly Daskal

• “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein

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/.

© 2017