With Your Permission and Only Your Permission, Part 2

 I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

(This blog was originally posted on January 21, 2014)

 

Photo by Rick Hustead

 

I could not believe it.  Right before my (and thousands of viewers’) eyes, a random hypnotist essentially ambushed a beloved character of the television series I was watching. Bam! Right in the middle of a critical scene in the episode, the hypnotist addressed the character by name, gave a command (eye fascination) and did a rapid induction to knock him out long enough for critical elements of the plot to make sense and the storyline to move along. Following are my reasons why this scene worked—and made sense—in the context of Hypnosis Motivati­on Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s definition of hypnosis and the following key elements of the plot:

1. According to Dr. Kappas, hypnosis is “[a state] created by an overload of message units that disorganizes our inhibitory process (critical mind), triggering our fight/flight mechanism and ultimately resulting in a hyper-suggestible state [that provides] access to the subconscious mind.” The character was distraught and in a state of high anxiety when the hypnotist approached him. He didn’t want to/wouldn’t physically leave the scene, but this opportunity for temporary “escape” into hypnosis was an easy way to escape the trauma and drama going on around him.
2. The hypnotist was calm and in control—and took control of the situation. He spoke the protagonist’s name and commanded the character to look at him.
3. The hypnotist appeared to use a variation of the direct-gaze shock induction to hypnotize the protagonist. This is a legitimate rapid-induction technique in which a hypnotist has the person look him in the eye and supports his or her upper body during the physical aspect of the induction.
4. The hypnotist used the key phrase, “deep sleep” that is typically employed during hypnosis. At the end of the scene, once key plot details had been resolved, the hypnotist counted the character back up to full awareness.
5. 
   

When I saw this scene unfold every cell in my body screamed “foul!” at the irresponsible depiction and unethical/immoral application of hypnosis. The technique that the hypnotist employed, and the context in which he used it, was in no way hypnotherapy. However, considering the protagonist’s overwrought emotional state and the activity going on around him, it was easy to understand how this scene was a perfect example of Dr. Kappas’s explanation of how and why hypnosis works. I think the inclusion of a rogue hypnotist doing a rapid induction to temporarily overwhelm the character’s already-overloaded subconscious mind was an ingenious, extra detail that will keep fans talking about this episode for a long time.

 

 

               Special Discount for Military Personnel & 1^st Responders

Special Offer: 25 percent discount off the first hypnotherapy session for all active/retired military personnel and first responders (police, fire-fighters, EMT/paramedics, ambulance personnel, emergency dispatchers, ER physicians and nurses, COVID-19 Ward staff).

*Not to be combined with any other promotions or discounts. Offer not redeemable for cash.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, four years in a row (2019-2022). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

© 2022

 

 

 

With Your Permission and Only Your Permission, Part 1

 I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

(This blog was originally posted on January 20, 2014)

Photo by Rick Hustead

 

 

If you do not want to be hypnotized—whether you do not believe that hypnosis will work for you or resist being hypnotized because you are afraid—you won’t be. I repeat the statement, “with your permission and only your permission” throughout the session to remind my clients that they can choose to be hypnotized and actualize their desired behavior changes. I also use my clients’ own words to reinforce their emotions, reasons and motivations for making these changes. As a certified hypnotherapist, I use hypnosis is a tool to help you change behaviors that no longer work for you and replace them with behaviors, strategies, etc. that you want and believe will improve your quality of life. During hypnosis, you are completely aware of everything going on around you. If you wouldn’t say or do something when you are completely alert, you would not and could not be made to do anything in hypnosis that opposes your beliefs, morals and ethical principles.

Therefore, I tend to be very critical of how and why hypnosis is depicted on television and in movies: a protagonist is “commanded” to do something that is completely out of character; the hypnotist erases and then replaces a character’s memory with a new, fictitious personal history and personality; or when a person is “hypnotized” to behave in a particular way simply to move the plot along. In these scenarios, the character is completely unaware that he has been hypnotized and just does whatever the hypnotist tells him to move the plot along. Imagine my surprise that I not only bought the hypnosis-ambush of a character in a popular detective series, but it made absolute sense why this scenario worked and was believable.

               Special Discount for Military Personnel & 1^st Responders

 Special Offer: 25 percent discount off the first hypnotherapy session for all active/retired military personnel and first responders (police, fire-fighters, EMT/paramedics, ambulance personnel, emergency dispatchers, ER physicians and nurses, COVID-19 Ward staff).

*Not to be combined with any other promotions or discounts. Offer not redeemable for cash.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, four years in a row (2019-2022). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

© 2022

 

 

With Your Permission, and Only Your Permission....Part 2

 

To minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19 virus and COVID-19 variants, I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

 

(This blog was originally posted on January 21, 2014)

 

Photo by Rick Hustead

 

I could not believe it.  Right before my (and thousands of viewers’) eyes, a random hypnotist essentially ambushed a beloved character of the television series I was watching. Bam! Right in the middle of a critical scene in the episode, the hypnotist addressed the character by name, gave a command (eye fascination) and did a rapid induction to knock him out long enough for critical elements of the plot to make sense and the storyline to move along. Following are my reasons why this scene worked—and made sense—in the context of Hypnosis Motivati­on Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s definition of hypnosis and the following key elements of the plot:

1. According to Dr. Kappas, hypnosis is “[a state] created by an overload of message units that disorganizes our inhibitory process (critical mind), triggering our fight/flight mechanism and ultimately resulting in a hyper-suggestible state [that provides] access to the subconscious mind.” The character was distraught and in a state of high anxiety when the hypnotist approached him. He didn’t want to/wouldn’t physically leave the scene, but this opportunity for temporary “escape” into hypnosis was an easy way to escape the trauma and drama going on around him.
2. The hypnotist was calm and in control—and took control of the situation. He spoke the protagonist’s name and commanded the character to look at him.
3. The hypnotist appeared to use a variation of the direct-gaze shock induction to hypnotize the protagonist. This is a legitimate rapid-induction technique in which a hypnotist has the person look him in the eye and supports his or her upper body during the physical aspect of the induction.
4. The hypnotist used the key phrase, “deep sleep” that is typically employed during hypnosis. At the end of the scene, once key plot details had been resolved, the hypnotist counted the character back up to full awareness.

When I saw this scene unfold every cell in my body screamed “foul!” at the irresponsible depiction and unethical/immoral application of hypnosis. The technique that the hypnotist employed, and the context in which he used it, was in no way hypnotherapy. However, considering the protagonist’s overwrought emotional state and the activity going on around him, it was easy to understand how this scene was a perfect example of Dr. Kappas’s explanation of how and why hypnosis works. I think the inclusion of a rogue hypnotist doing a rapid induction to temporarily overwhelm the character’s already-overloaded subconscious mind was an ingenious, extra detail that will keep fans talking about this episode for a long time.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. In July 2019 and in September 2020 she was voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2021

 

With Your Permission and Only With Your Permission, Part 2

(This blog was originally posted on January 21, 2014)

Photo by Rick Hustead

I could not believe it.  Right before my (and thousands of viewers’) eyes, a random hypnotist essentially ambushed a beloved character of the television series I was watching. Bam! Right in the middle of a critical scene in the episode, the hypnotist addressed the character by name, gave a command (eye fascination) and did a rapid induction to knock him out long enough for critical elements of the plot to make sense and the story line to move along. Following are my reasons why this scene worked—and made sense—in the context of Hypnosis Motivati­on Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s definition of hypnosis and the following key elements of the plot:

1. According to Dr. Kappas, hypnosis is “[a state] created by an overload of message units that disorganizes our inhibitory process (critical mind), triggering our fight/flight mechanism and ultimately resulting in a hyper-suggestible state [that provides] access to the subconscious mind.” The character was distraught and in a state of high anxiety when the hypnotist approached him. He didn’t want to/wouldn’t physically leave the scene, but this opportunity for temporary “escape” into hypnosis was an easy way to escape the trauma and drama going on around him.
2. The hypnotist was calm and in control—and took control of the situation. He spoke the protagonist’s name and commanded the character to look at him.
3. The hypnotist appeared to use a variation of the direct-gaze shock induction to hypnotize the protagonist. This is a legitimate rapid-induction technique in which a hypnotist has the person look him in the eye and supports his or her upper body during the physical aspect of the induction.
4. The hypnotist used the key phrase, “deep sleep” that is typically employed during hypnosis. At the end of the scene, once key plot details had been resolved, the hypnotist counted the character back up to full awareness.

When I saw this scene unfold every cell in my body screamed “foul!” at the irresponsible depiction and unethical/immoral application of hypnosis. The technique that the hypnotist employed, and the context in which he used it, was in no way hypnotherapy. However, considering the protagonist’s overwrought emotional state and the activity going on around him, it was easy to understand how this scene was a perfect example of Dr. Kappas’s explanation of how and why hypnosis works. I think the inclusion of a rogue hypnotist doing a rapid induction to temporarily overwhelm the character’s already-overloaded subconscious mind was an ingenious, extra detail that will keep fans talking about this episode for a long time.

Limited-Time Offer: Free Phone Consultation

 This is a great opportunity to find out why hypnosis is so effective and how hypnotherapy can help you achieve your self-improvement goals. Call/send me a text message at (661) 433-9430 or send me an e-mail at calminsensehypnosis@yahoo.com to set up your free, 30-minute phone consultation, today! 

Offer valid through April 30, 2019. 

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/.

© 2019

Really? I Can Hypnotize Anyone

(This blog was originally posted on February 23, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

 

“I can hypnotize anyone.”

Has anyone ever told you this? Do/did you believe them?

As I have explained in previous blogs, each one of us is in a light state of trance at least twice each day: for 30 minutes when we wake up in the morning and 30 minutes before we drift off to sleep each night. Other examples include environmental hypnosis and even believing the negative self-talk (chatter) we sometimes tell ourselves when we’re having a bad day.

The first thing I tell every new client is to reassure, “You can only be hypnotized if you want to be.” When you contact me by phone or e-mail, I can be fairly confident that you are interested in hypnotherapy as a way to help change an unwanted behavior because other strategies to do so have not been as effective as you wanted them to be. Or, perhaps you are curious about hypnosis and how it works. Maybe you just want to give it a try because you heard it is very relaxing and it worked for a friend to reduce anxiety or helped a relative quit smoking. Whatever the situation happens to be, hypnotherapy is always a choice. If you don’t want to be hypnotized, you won’t be. This is also why I include the suggestion that you will only enter the hypnotic state “with your permission and only your permission.”

Perhaps you have watched a hypnosis demonstration on a cruise or at a magic show. The hypnotist randomly picks people from the audience and/or asks for volunteers to take part in the performance. The individuals who ultimately get selected to participate are not chosen by accident. Before the demonstration begins, the hypnotist has already identified and recognized physiological changes that indicate who is already “going in” to hypnosis. These are the ones who are most likely to be suggestible to instructions given during the performance. Someone who does not volunteer or is sitting in the audience shaking his head, etc., will probably not get asked to join the act. That’s okay, because he probably wouldn’t want to anyway.

The same principle applies in hypnotherapy. During my training to become a certified hypnotherapist at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in Tarzana, California, I learned a variety of techniques to hypnotize someone. I learned how a client’s suggestibility (how you learn) would determine and direct the words and phrases I use to induce hypnosis. For example, if the client has an emotional suggestibility, metaphors and images such as “your eyelids are feeling heavy” would be the most effective way to encourage the person to close his eyes. Conversely, a physical suggestible client would respond better to the direct and literal suggestion of “your eyelids are closing.” Sometimes, if a person is highly analytical, the most effective hypnotic induction is the auto-dual technique, wherein the client essentially hypnotizes him- or herself. Regardless of the technique I use during the induction, I use my client’s own words in the hypnotic to describe goals, motivations and reasons to change an unwanted behavior and achieve a vocational or avocational self-improvement goal.

Since we are all most suggestible to ourselves, ultimately, it is the hypnotherapy client—the person sitting in that chair or recliner—who is hypnotizing him- or herself. Claiming to be able to hypnotize “anyone” is a bit of an over-generalization. Ultimately, the person being “hypnotized” must be suggestible to you and willing to enter a hypnotic trance in the first 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/.

© 2018