(This blog was originally posted on January 22, 2016)
A couple of days ago, I noticed a neighbor pruning the rose bushes that
grew between our properties. Watching her cut back the branches reminded me how
my late grandmother used to love gardening; her roses always looked beautiful,
even better than what I would see in flower shops. She once explained how
pruning the bush all the way back during the winter to remove the detritus of
dead branches and wilting flowers was the key to making room for fresh, healthy
growth in the spring.
What a wonderful metaphor for hypnotherapy!
When a client contacts me to change an unwanted behavior such as lose
weight, quit smoking, overcome a fear/phobia, I help the person strip back
aspects of the negative habit in hypnosis to facilitate the desired behavior in
“real life.” One way to do this is simply desensitizing the individual to the
various situations or stimuli that trigger the undesired response. Then I would
help the person create a new, positive association between feeling relaxed, comfortable
and smiling (a positive physical action) while performing a desired behavior,
such as walking out of the kitchen or away from the temptation. Alternatively, I might employ Neuro-Linguistic
Programming techniques to create a negative association between that sweet
treat by pairing the preferred item (e.g., ice cream) with one that the person
dislikes (e.g., cottage cheese).
Once this new association is created in the subconscious mind, therapeutic guided-imagery
techniques enable the person to visualize or imagine replacing those beliefs
and actions associated with the undesired behavior with the new, desired
beliefs and behaviors. Since the subconscious mind does not know the difference
between imagination and reality, in hypnosis the client can practice the
desired behavior over and over again to establish the new, desired subconscious
known and behavior.
Similar to how my grandmother tended her prized rose bushes every year,
through hypnotherapy, I help metaphorically prune the detritus of unwanted
behaviors that the client wants to change. Just like the roses, over time and with
nurturing self-love and desire to change, new personal growth and success can
bloom in its place.
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
