Time Flies When I'm Online

 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 December 14, 2014)

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

 

Scene #1: You’re sitting at your desk writing a report for work or a term paper when you realize that you need to find one more reference to complete your project. You steel yourself against temptation to browse the internet for anything unrelated to your question and type a key phrase into the search engines. “This should only take a couple minutes,” you tell yourself as you wait for the search results. Scene #2: You are answering a very important e-mail or posting a response on your Facebook page. Then, to your exasperation (but secret delight) you notice something very interesting on the Internet and decide to check out one more post.

In both scenarios, not only have you forgotten what you were originally looking for, but an hour (or several) has passed. Where did all that time go? And why—how—could so much time pass without your even noticing?

If your answer or explanation was “hypnosis,” you are right. While you were on-line, all those images and words that you were looking at on the screen gradually, subtly overloaded your subconscious mind with information (message units). Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D. explained that this phenomenon occurs when sensory stimuli bombard the inhibitory process of the mind with information (message units). This sensory overload disorganizes the inhibitory process of the subconscious mind, which triggers the fight-flight response and produces the hyper-suggestible state we recognize as hypnosis.

As I explained in my blog titled Natural States of Hypnosis, there are many common instances of this trance-state. I think computers and Smartphones, which have operating systems and web-browsing capabilities, likely induce a form of environmental hypnosis whenever we go on-line. The instant we connect to the internet, the subconscious mind is confronted with a cornucopia of information. Somehow it must interpret and process information that often includes audio and visual data designed to pull browsers into the virtual worlds they are exploring. Then there’s the tactile (touch) stimuli that the mind must process as you type on the keyboard and manipulate the cursor, whether that is the computer “mouse” or the index finger on one of your hands. A final source of this data overload will come from your conscious mind: whatever you are thinking about or your motivation to conduct that on-line search or interact with friends is an important source of subconscious overload. Many of us eat or drink, or simultaneously talk to someone on the telephone while we are doing internet searches or interacting with friends and acquaintances on-line. It’s no wonder that the conscious mind temporarily “checks out” until there is less sensory stimulation going on.

When we come out of this trance-like state, we may feel temporarily disoriented and even forget where we are for a little while. Following are some tips to help you remain aware of yourself and your physical environment while you are on-line so you can be alert and aware of yourself and your surroundings when you (finally) log off.

• Limit the amount of time you spend working on the computer. Take a break from the activity every hour or so: put the device on sleep mode (or silent mode, for the smart phones) and walk away from the screen. Work on another task for a little while or at least take a genuine break or time-out from the on-line conversations and hashtag trends.
• Regularly count yourself out of this hypnotic state while you are working on the computer, etc. Say to yourself: “One, two, three, four, five. Eyes open [say your name], wide awake and in a fully alert and aware state.” Repeat this mantra as necessary.
• Stand up and stretch and take deep breaths. Do jumping jacks or run in place for a minute to get your body moving and switch your focus and awareness to your physical environment.
• While you are working or interacting on a social-media site, eat nutritious snacks that contain protein to keep your mood even and reduce your suggestibility to things you see, hear or read while you are on-line. (For more information about the role between nutrition and suggestibility, go to my blog titled Nutrition and Development of Phobias.)

  

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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

 

Using the Dristhi While Riding

(This blog was originally posted on February 2, 2017)

Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

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/.

© 2018

Two Sides of the Same Coin, Redux

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

It is easy to go off course during a project. You don’t know what to say when someone asks you a question during a presentation at work. You forget how to play a piece of music at a recital for which you have spent months rehearsing. Time seems to stop as that crucial event and the split second in which “it” occurred are burned into your mind and memory, forever. But time continues to march on and, you still have your life to lead and that project/performance/game, etc. to complete. When your focus is disturbed, are you able to maintain your composure and carry on as if nothing is changed? Will you use the disruption to your advantage, or will you freeze and miss out on later opportunities to recover because you are still focused on what has already happened?

I saw both scenarios play out yesterday afternoon while I watched the Super Bowl 50. Unlike their disappointing Super Bowl outing against the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, the Denver Broncos gained control of the football early on and never really allowed their opposing team, the Carolina Panthers, to get it back. This year the Broncos kept a respectable point advantage and kept powering through the game. It was as if each interception, each sack, each block of the opposing side added another layer of confidence to the Broncos’ players. I knew that Denver was not a heavy favorite to win the game. However, the sentimental poignancy of Broncos Quarterback Peyton Manning possibly retiring from the NFL with a second Super Bowl championship was very alluring. (I admit it: I wanted that for him, too.) Coming from a “football” family—dad Archie Manning played in the NFL and younger brother Eli Manning is a quarterback for the New York Giants)—achieving this goal would be a very satisfying (possible) finish to his storied career.

A few days ago I had heard that Cam Newton, the Quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, was finishing high school senior when Peyton Manning won his first Super Bowl Championship in 2007. While I watched the game yesterday, I wondered what it was like for this young quarterback to be competing against the man who could very well have been a onetime role model and career inspiration. Did Newton have or model pass/play strategies that he once saw the former Indianapolis Colts Quarterback use to score one of many touchdowns? At nearly 40 years old, Manning is like an energizer bunny that just doesn’t seem to run out of energy. While his fans cheer, how intimidating must it be for a much younger athlete like Newton to wonder: how much advantage his strength and skill will I have and need to out-play equally talented and much more experienced player? Was the scenario like the famous scenes in Seabiscuit, where the horse only needed to look into his competitors’ eyes to sufficiently intimidate any opponent to make a virtually unchallenged run for the finish line? This kind of pressure can definitely feel soul-destroying.

At the end of the game, the Denver Broncos had more spring in their step on the field and on the sidelines while the Carolina Panthers were stuck in an endless loop of that first scrimmage—just as their opponents had been two years ago. Once again, I could see the frustration and disappointment on the team’s faces and, more importantly, in their demeanor. Each time a pass was intercepted or one of the Panthers was sacked or the football was intercepted, everyone on the team seemed to deflate a little bit more while their opponents got that much bigger.

The Denver Broncos had learned hard lessons from the experience of their disappointing play in the 2014 Super Bowl, while the Carolina Panthers had only played in one Super Bowl (2004). It would be completely understandable and expected that the novelty of the Big Game experience and the competitive presence of a record-breaking quarterback to send the Panthers into a kind of subconscious experiential overload. Despite their obvious talent and seeming lightning-quick speed, this time the Panthers weren’t able to effectively defend against the opposing team’s “defense” against them.

Two sides of the same coin.

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/.

© 2016