Are You Ready?

 (This blog was originally posted on March 23, 2014)

 

Image courtesy of Microsoft

When we are children, it seemed as though nothing can happen soon enough. Whether we were looking forward to our next birthday, Christmas or Chanukah, summer vacation or any number of events during the year, all we had to do was wait for the next occasion to occur to enjoy some kind of reward. We didn’t even have to do anything in particular to get to that next big event, either; it just magically happened whether or not we were particularly engaged in the process. Of course, even when we tried to preoccupy ourselves with hobbies, spending time with friends or doing homework or chores, it took forever for the next milestone to roll around. Once our 16^th birthday came around we were automatically eligible to take a driving test and get that coveted driver’s license. Sure, we had to put in some hours behind the wheel with a driving instructor and study a handbook—a few of us remember practicing on driving simulators in high school—but that wasn’t work; it was a rite of passage. Two years later we could vote; at 21, we could legally buy and drink alcohol.

But as adults, opportunities and events rarely drop into our laps that way anymore. We usually have to put in a lot of work and have a lot of motivation to reach a goal or milestone. Also, there is no specific timeline when you can expect to reap the rewards of all your efforts. Days, weeks, months and even years can pass without making any obvious progress toward our goal; it is easy to become frustrated and even disillusioned about when/whether/if we will ever get our next “break.” An immediate, successful outcome is no longer guaranteed. Sometimes life steps in and replaces the original goal and desired outcome with something better than you could have ever dreamed of.

Consequently, one of the biggest challenges many of us face is being patient with ourselves as we strive to achieve a new goal. Even though we “know” that we have to work hard to achieve a goal, your subconscious mind learned and remembers that some things do just come to us without much effort: our birthday still comes around every year, whether we want it to or not; and fairy-tales about a prince coming to rescue his damsel in distress (you, me?) were ingrained in many people’s minds and fantasies from a very young age. I enjoy helping people work to achieve new goals because this is a rare opportunity for them to learn how to slow down and take stock of all areas of their lives, not just the goal they are striving to achieve. For example, as you pursue that promotion at work are you compromising your health by getting little or no sleep and poor nutrition? The physical consequences of these behaviors could affect your perception, mood and ability to focus or problem-solve, which could inadvertently jeopardize your chances of being promoted. Are you so focused on completing that project that you neglect relationships with or responsibility to family or friends? Are you so focused on attracting that perfect partner that you pay no attention to your professional goals and other social bonds? Where and how will your goal, once it is accomplished, fit and balance with other important areas of your life? Hypnotherapy and therapeutic-guided imagery provide great opportunities to explore these issues and create strategies for achieving and enjoying these accomplishments when they (finally) occur.

I recently read a message on Facebook that Chris Cox, an acclaimed horseman and one of my role models, posted to his followers about finding balance in his professional and personal life. Mr. Cox wrote about all of the years he spent working and building his horsemanship company, traveling all over the world and working so hard to get where he is today. In the past few years, he has gotten married and now has two little children—the family he wanted for so long. He finished the post by saying that he loves what he does and he is proud of the company he built; but he also wants to spend time with and enjoying his beloved family.

These sentiments perfectly sum up what I am talking about: There comes a time in our lives when we do have to work very hard and sometimes for a very long time to achieve a goal and live the dream we spent so long only imagining and waiting for. But while we are working and dreaming, life goes on. Plans, goals and even new dreams are realized, and we have to be ready and willing to welcome these experiences into our lives, too.

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

How Hypnotherapy Is Like Muscle Memory

(This blog was originally posted on May 18, 2014)

      People use the term “muscle memory” a lot in the context of sports and athletic participation. But what is it all about, exactly? Wikipedia.com describes this phenomenon as a product of motor or procedural learning in which specific muscles or muscle groups learn and remember how to do a particular movement after repeating that motion many times over a period of time. It is even possible to improve how you execute this motion as it becomes more automatic in your behavioral repertoire of sports or other movements, such as dancing or playing the guitar.

      While I do not discount the existence of muscle memory, I would contend that it is born not just in a specific part of the body that you use for the desired behavior (e.g., body, arms or legs). Rather, I would argue that muscle memory starts where every other memory begins: in the mind—specifically, in the subconscious mind. The SCM triggers every action we make by sending an electrical impulse through the nervous system to activate the muscle(s) we need to carry out the intended or even unintended or undesired behavior. According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind, our only natural or innate responses are the reaction to a fear of falling and the reaction to a fear of loud noises. As the subconscious mind takes in more and more new information, we learn new behaviors and develop personal beliefs. Eventually, we don’t even don’t even think about what we need to do to achieve a desired result, we just do it. Most of us have not thought about what our body must do in order to just walk since we took our first steps as a toddler. Who hasn’t heard the expression, “Once you ride a bike, you never forget how”?

     In fact, I use the idea and theory behind muscle memory in almost all of the hypnotic suggestions I craft for my clients. I create suggestions to reinforce the person’s motivations to change the undesired habit or adopt a desired behavior; then, I reinforce this motivation with guided imagery in which the individual is achieving the desired goal. The subconscious mind does not know the difference between you swinging a golf club on the links versus imagining or pretending that you just made the perfect swing an achieved a hole-in-one while you are in hypnosis. Furthermore, the more times you repeat these desired behaviors in hypnosis or in a guided-imagery exercise, the more opportunities you have to lock those actions into your subconscious mind and in your muscle memory. It just takes repetition of the desired behavior—so I guide my clients through these exercises over and over to reinforce the behavior change during the hypnotherapy session and send them home with a track from the session to further reinforce this work. Hypnosis and guided-imagery techniques enable you to replace unwanted behaviors and adopt the ones you want using a process of repetition and memory similar to the way the muscles in your body learned and remember how to walk.

 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

Imagery and Sports Hypnosis

(This blog was originally posted on June 29, 2014)

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

       Imagery is a powerful tool to help improve your performance in a sport (or just about every other activity in which you participate). Remember: the subconscious mind does not know the difference between actually participating in that sport and “imagining, visualizing, picturing or pretending” that you are working on specific aspects of your training. Therefore, when you can create that mental movie of yourself pitching a no-hitter baseball game, nailing that landing on the balance beam or riding a perfect canter pirouette, etc., the SCM processes this information like it really happened. 

It is beneficial for me to know as much about the sport in which my clients participate so I can create an effective, powerful hypnotic script that will help them achieve their goals. My scope of expertise is in hypnotherapy—i.e., how to help a person become relaxed and change unwanted habits or behaviors to achieve their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals. I am also an equestrian; so while riding and horse-related activities resonate most strongly with me, I understand the commitment, dedication and sacrifice that all athletes must make to succeed in their sport. Before our first appointment, I spend time learning about my clients’ sport, including its rules, terms/lingo and history to get a better sense of their athletic environment.

When I work with clients to help them achieve sports-improvement goals, I encourage these athletes to video-record their training sessions and/or competitions so they can analyze what they would like to improve and why. It is great if their coach or trainer will watch the video with them to provide an objective assessment of their performance, including acknowledgment or praise of what they did right and constructive criticism of the errors to suggest ways of correcting any mistakes. The client can bring notes from this discussion to the hypnotherapy session so I can incorporate the instructions or advice in the hypnotic suggestions. If my client would like me to do this, with his or her permission, I am also happy to speak with the trainer to get information or clarification about specific nuances of the sport. These conversations can be especially beneficial because the coach will outline specific tips to improve the athlete’s technical execution of a technique, and I can incorporate these technical suggestions in the hypnotic script.

I like to use therapeutic guided-imagery when I work with athletes because, again, these techniques activate my client’s subconscious mind to mentally engage in their sport. It doesn’t even matter whether the person is physically (responds better to literal and direct suggestions) or emotionally suggestible (prefer metaphor and inference). When I customize the hypnotic script for an athlete, I take the person’s suggestibility into account when I incorporate his or her sport-improvement goal(s). During the imagery journey, the client will have several opportunities to rehearse or practice making the desired changes to his or her athletic performance while in hypnosis. In so doing, he or she will be able to virtually experience how it feels to make these changes by engaging all five senses: What does it look/feel/taste/smell/sound like when you do “x”? Engaging the senses in this way not only increases the intensity (“reality”) of the imagery experience, it also reinforces the behavior as a new known in the SCM, which facilitates the desired change in behavior (improved sport performance).

               

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

Dealing With Holiday Stress

(This blog was originally posted on December 12, 2014)

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

                                                                   

     It seems almost counter-intuitive, but the holidays are actually one of the most stressful times of the year. Behind all that merry-making lurks the burden of having to deal with heavy traffic and possibly inclement weather to get wherever we’re going at the same time millions of other travelers are on the move to get to their holiday destination. While your kids and spouse are tossing a football back and forth or building a snowman on the lawn, you’re preparing the holiday meal and getting the house ready to host (or being hosted by) friends and relatives. The pressure of sending greeting cards and purchasing, wrapping and sending (or delivering) gifts on time lurks behind every expression of good cheer as you negotiate (fight) your way through throngs of impatient shoppers trying to achieve the same goal. By the time the holiday “day” actually arrives, you’re tired, irritable and no longer in a festive mood. Quite frankly, you’d almost be just as happy to get home already so you could recover from preparing for an event you barely got to enjoy in the first place, if you enjoyed it at all.

     Many people also follow a particular set of behaviors during the holidays. For example, we may going to a place of worship to celebrate the holiday, travel somewhere so you can spend time with (the same) friends and/or relatives or eat a specific dish of food at the holiday meal. We likely have the same conversation or talk about similar topics every year with those same people—a conversation that, more often than not, devolves into an argument. Even if we no longer enjoy or even like the way we are spending this time, it seems impossible to do anything different because doing so would be unfamiliar, painful—even scary. That is because over time, repetition of these behaviors become a habit—a known.

    It doesn’t have to be like this. Here are a few tips to help you avoid and/or manage common triggers of holiday stress:

•       Eat nutritious meals that contain protein. I know that there are plenty of sweet and savory treats to tempt us at this time of year, but protein is the best option to help you stabilize and maintain control of your emotions. John Kappas, Ph.D., founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute observed a strong correlation between low blood sugar and hyper-suggestibility, which can lead to anxiety and the perception of being unable to control the environment. Protein helps to lower blood-sugar levels and stabilize mood swings, which in turn helps you feel more in control of how you react and respond to stressrs in your environment.
•        Get plenty of sleep. Not only does lack of sleep disrupt the regular circadian rhythm, it can also really mess up our productivity and attitude about things going on (or not) in our lives. Even though there may be parties and other activities going on late into the night and early the next morning, listen to your body and hit the hay when you feel tired.
•        Square breathe. If you notice that your temper is starting to rise and your level of patience is on a steep decline, practice drawing several slow, deep breaths. As you inhale through your nose, visualize or imagine that you are drawing from the universe an infinite amount of patience, calm and control. Hold that breath (and image) for four seconds and then release the air through your mouth. As you exhale, visualize or imagine that you are releasing any stress and/or other negative emotion or association into the universe where it can no longer affect you or anyone else. Repeat this exercise as needed.
•        Avoid alcohol and caffeine. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have any alcoholic beverages or your morning coffee, just to be smart about it. Both alcohol and caffeine affects suggestibility, which can distort your perception about what is going on in the environment around you. If you are already feeling stressed about something these substances are more likely to increase your annoyance, frustration or unhappiness than alleviate it.
•        Do something nice for someone else. Hold a door open for another shopper, “pay it forward” at your favorite café by purchasing another customer’s coffee, volunteer at a homeless shelter/animal shelter or compliment a co-worker on the snack the person contributed to the office party, etc. It really doesn’t matter what you do so long as you hold a positive intention and benevolent attitude; doing something nice for someone else will make you feel good, too!
•          It will be over soon. Remember: The holidays only come around once a year. You have dealt with the various challenges and their related stresses in the past, so you can (and will) get through the season again! Try the suggestions above to help you deal with any stress you may be feeling and help you prepare for the holiday.
•          Hypnotherapy to deal with holiday-related stress.

     To help someone deal with stress during the holidays, I first explain the “mechanics” of this experience in the context of John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind. When the person is in hypnosis I gradually introduce specific aspects or qualities of what triggers this distress into his or her subconscious awareness and then systematically desensitize the person to that stressor. I may also incorporate guided-imagery exercises to enable the client to rehearse how he or she can and will handle the stress in a productive way. This process creates a new subconscious mental script that emphasizes a state of deep relaxation and the ability to control how they perceive and respond to negative stimuli that triggers the stress reaction. For example, I may have the client visualize that he or she is confidently, calmly deflecting a relative’s too-personal questions during the holiday meal and redirecting the conversation to a more neutral topic. As I create the individualized hypnotic script, I incorporate the client’s words and motivations to relax and enjoy the holiday events occasion, replacing his or her previous negative associations about the holidays with positive ones. Throughout the hypnosis session I use imagery and other key words to reinforce this state of deep relaxation and increase the person’s motivation to manage this stress once they return to an alert and aware state.

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