In my previous blog, I explained the legal and ethical parameters in which I provide hypnotherapy. Now, I would like to describe how I use hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery to help my clients achieve their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals.
Hypnosis has been used as a therapeutic tool for centuries. It is also a safe, natural state that everybody experiences twice each day: thirty minutes before drifting off to sleep, and thirty minutes after waking up. Other examples of being in a similar, naturally induced trance state include: being so deep in thought that you “missed” your exit on the freeway; becoming dazed wandering a shopping mall during a holiday sale; or losing a sense of time while studying for a test in the library.
As a certified hypnotherapist, I use hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery as a tool to help my clients change behaviors that no longer work for them. The reason why most attempts to change a habit don’t work is because the subconscious mind overpowers conscious willpower to make that desired change. Hypnosis is an effective, safe and drug-free tool that allows you to gain access to your subconscious mind and change the mental scripts for behaviors that no longer work for you. Each “suggestion” that I use during hypnosis will be based on your specific ideas/words/images/reasons why you want to change a specific behavior. In other words, through these suggestions you will essentially be hypnotizing yourself. You will be completely conscious and extremely aware of everything in your environment. You are always in complete control of what you do and say during a hypnotherapy session.
Each hypnotherapy session lasts approximately one hour. During the first part of the session, I will discuss/review your (the client’s) goals for the hypnotherapy session. It is usually appropriate to discuss other aspects of your life/experience that may be influencing that goal; however, you guide the pace and direction of each session. As the hypnotherapist, my role and responsibility is to help you make specific behavioral changes (e.g., stop smoking, lose weight, increase self-confidence, etc.).
The hypnosis component of a hypnotherapy session occurs in the last fifteen minutes or so of the session. I encourage clients to achieve a state of deep, complete relaxation through deep breathing and processes of visual imagery. When you are in this deeply relaxed state (hypnosis), your body is very comfortable and becomes completely relaxed. This state of complete relaxation is very similar to being asleep. In fact, I say the words “sleep,” “deep sleep,” and “going even deeper,” but these terms are used to induce increased relaxation and awareness, not slumber.
I am a certified Master in therapeutic guided imagery, and I use a lot of visualization and imagery techniques while you are in hypnosis. Imagery techniques involve seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, and tasting. I use terms “imagine, visualize, picture or pretend” to facilitate this process. Unlike hypnosis, where I (the hypnotherapist) would do most of the talking, you are encouraged to describe and interact with the “images” that are evoked during the therapeutic process. Like hypnosis, therapeutic guided imagery is a safe, non-invasive way to help you change behaviors that you believe or think no longer benefit you.
Again, you will be conscious and aware, and in complete control of everything that you say and do during the hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery processes of a hypnotherapy session. Specifically, no one can make you say or do anything that is in conflict with your personal, ethical standards, values or goals. There is complete confidentiality, and I observe the ethical guidelines of the American Counseling Association for the conduct of counseling therapists at all times.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist who specializes in helping equestrians to achieve their competition and riding goals. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
