Imagery and Visualization

Photo by Sara Fogan

 

 

Many years ago, I was asked to participate in an undergraduate student’s psychology experiment to test how and whether imagery could positively affect my performance in a simple task. I have since forgotten what that task was, but I do remember the scene I used during my visualization exercise: I was jumping my favorite horse, Renege, at the barn where I rode as a teenager. I also remember that my score on the experiment improved significantly after I did the imagery work.

The mind translate words (heard or read) into thoughts, and then into images. Imagery is very flexible because it can be applied to a lot of therapeutic situations to create a new neural pathway. As a certified hypnotherapist, I teach all of my clients to use guided imagery and visualization techniques during their hypnotherapy sessions with me and even how and when to employ these tools to alleviate stress outside my office. So, you might ask, what is the difference between these concepts?

Visualization is the ability to “see” something on the back of your eyelids, when your eyes are closed. For example, take a good look at the photo at the top of this page, and then close your eyes. Can you still “see” this picture in your mind’s eye when your eyes are close? If so, you can “visualize” a scene or scenario. The ability to visualize is a product of how we learn in Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s model of suggestibility, according to Kappasinian hypnosis. Someone who learns best by direct and literal suggestion can usually visualize the scene in that picture, very easily.

Imagery is a similar but slightly different concept. Yes, it can encompass visualization, but it doesn’t have to. Imagery actually refers to every experiential sensation, including sound, smell, touch, sight and taste. When we visualize, we “watch” or see something, but the experience is from a distance. Conversely, imagery is a spontaneous, subconscious reaction to a feeling. Perhaps when you looked at the picture above you also got a sense of the scent of pine trees or heard the rushing sound of water gurgling in the stream. Could you imagine feeling a cool breeze tickling your skin? Each of these examples illustrates imagery, or how or what you “imagined” the experience would really be like. If you learn through inference or metaphor (emotional suggestibility) you could probably smell the trees the moment you saw the word “pine” or even felt the rocks—slippery with moss—that are submerged in the cold water.

When I work with a client, one of the first things I do is to ascertain whether the person possesses physical or emotional suggestibility so I know how to speak to his or her subconscious mind during hypnosis. Don’t worry if you do not think you can visualize: if you see pictures or mini-movies in your dreams, you are “visualizing” in this context. In addition, if you can “picture” or “pretend” that something is happening or that you are doing something, you can “imagine” that you are seeing (visualizing) or perceiving that experience in other ways. All of these options will enable you to get the most out of your hypnotherapy session.

 

 

 

 

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

Using Logic and Reason to Deal With Superstitions

Image courtesy of Microsoft

Many years ago, someone warned me not to turn on a computer on Friday the Thirteenth—any Friday the Thirteenth—because a computer virus was supposedly automatically triggered to infect every machine on that date. Was it true? I had no idea, but I believed that the source was reliable so I didn’t really question the veracity of that claim. Furthermore, I was also fairly computer illiterate at the time, so I reasoned that the safest bet was to stay off a computer on that date—which I did, for many years—just in case.

That subconscious mental script was pretty much locked in and faithfully followed until last month. For whatever reason, perhaps because I simply had too much work to do online to stay off the computer that day—I decided to test and rewrite that script. I ignored the whining, “Oh, but you can’t! You shouldn’t!” protests of my subconscious mind and turned to the logical, reasoning, and decision-making part of my conscious mind to evaluate what kept me stuck in this behavior.

The first and obvious reason I followed this suspicion was, you guessed it, my suggestibility to friends and perceived influential people (Friendly influences, December 3, 2014). According to Hypnosis Motivation Founder John Kappas, Ph.D., we get our early suggestibility from how the primary caretaker (usually the mother) takes care of and interacts with us during early childhood (birth up to age 5). When we are around 8 years old, the secondary caretaker (usually dad) has more influence over our suggestibility, while peers, teachers and others impact suggestibility between the ages six to nine years. By the time we are adults, our suggestibility is pretty much established but our subconscious mind remains receptive to other people’s suggestions if they resonate with our established known behaviors or interests. Since a friend originally told me about that computer virus, and I trusted this person and believed his knowledge about computers and technology to be superior to mine at that time, I believed the warning was legitimate. While it was fine to be cautious, the error in judgment was not investigating whether the threat was legitimate.

The second thing I noticed was, I had been using this date as a defense mechanism—specifically, undoing (Defense Mechanisms: Undoing and Superstitions, March 23, 2015)—to avoid doing necessary work on a specific date. Since the middle of the month is typically a very busy time of the month, the thirteenth of the month is when a lot of companies are really gearing up to get things done. With news of so many technological advances being made in computers, it was reasonable to worry that someone has also designed a super-bug to disable computers whenever its inventor decides the time is right to launch it into cyberspace. Since I enjoy a three-day weekend as much as the next person--who hasn’t heard about “bad things” that happen on this day?—I was willing to indulge in my superstition so I could kick back a little bit.

Make no mistake, I took every precaution to stay “computer safe” when I decided to test that superstition for myself. I had recently installed a very high-end anti-virus program. One of my good friends is a computer guru, and I am on a first-name basis with the computer technicians at Staples. No one I know has ever been “contaminated” with the Friday the Thirteenth virus (or whatever it’s really called). The time had come to make a stand. I logged on. And nothing happened.

Nothing bad happened, I mean to say. Something very good happened, too. I rewrote a negative, subconscious mental script that no longer worked for me so I could get back to work.

I do love it when a subconscious script has a happy ending—even if it’s a rewritten happy ending.

 

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

 

Priceless Information: Charlotte Dujardin on Choosing a Performance Horse

Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin riding at the Dressage Symposium,

Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, California, March 8, 2014.

Photo by Sara R. Fogan

 

 

Just over one year ago, my father took me to watch a dressage symposium at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, California. Charlotte Dujardin, winner of the individual and British team gold medals in dressage at the 2012 Olympic Games, worked with her former trainer, Judy Harvey, to provide hands-on instruction for a handful of riders at the clinic. The participants weren’t the only ones to benefit from Ms. Dujardin’s experience selecting and training a young, prospective equine partner. As a student auditing the clinic from the stands, I know that the audience also learned a lot about this topic, as well.

Here are some highlights from her presentation.

·         Pay attention to the horse’s temperament, willingness and changeability. Is he or she willing to please? “A champion horse has three long [dressage] tests to do in three days. A champion horse must be fit and willing to fight through” to the end of the test, she said.

·         Believe it or not, you do not necessarily want a horse that has a big movement right from the start, the Olympian conceded. “They don’t last as long, and it’s actually very hard to keep those horses sound.”

 

·         For example, Ms. Dujardin said she never does a sitting trot on a young horse because his back simply is not yet strong enough when he is moving to support a rider like that. She also provides a lot of walk “breaks” on a long rein during the twenty-minute training session to allow the horse to clear its head and relax. You want to keep everything easy and clear for the horse, she said. “A loose, swinging tail is a good indicator of what the back muscle is doing.”

 

·         Speaking of the big movement—which so characterizes the extension you see in a high-level dressage horse such as her mount, Valegro—the trot is the last thing she focuses on when checking out a new horse. “You want a good walk and a good canter. Don’t worry so much about the trot, because it can be changed somewhat as the horse develops more suspension in this gait through its gymnastic education,” she said. (I can definitely vouch for that fact: when I started riding my horse, Avalon’s Galahad, his trot was often rushed and his extension was meh. However, through regular walk-trot-canter transitions on the lunge line, stretching and consistent work over cavalletti as part of his training regimen, his extension is much improved and the stride more refined and regular.) “To increase the strength in the hind legs, trot as fast as you can to get [that] push and suspension,” she said. And, of course, be sure to repeat the same exercise in both directions.

·         “You are there to teach/train the horse, not micromanage him. You want your legs and rein aids to be clear,” Ms. Dujardin reminded her students in the clinic. In other words: Flopping arms and legs (excessive kicking) would not do. “Look up, sit up and keep your hands still. Look where you are going. Think about your legs going up to the hands.” The more you kick, the more the horse becomes numb to your leg, she warned.

 

·          She also admonished riders about using the dressage whip to encourage forward movement. The horse needs to know how to move off a soft leg, she said. “If you have a lazy horse, take your legs off. For a hot horse put your legs on,” the Olympian suggested. “The horse has to walk on his own. The rider shouldn’t have to do anything.” And, of course, “When you ask a horse to go, let him go.”

  

 

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 Cinderella Internalized Other People's Negative Beliefs

Yesterday, I watched the new, live-action movie, Cinderella. The film was very true to the fairy-tale I had grown up hearing. After her father dies, a young girl named Ella virtually becomes an indentured servant to her step-mother and step-sisters as she must rush around trying to fulfill their every need and whim. Fortunately, her Fairy Godmother appears at just the right moment to offer some much-needed reassurance and practical help so she can get to a magical ball in time to meet and win the heart of her Prince Charming.

Unfortunately, she never gets a chance to tell the prince her name when she must flee the ball before the magic that transformed her into a beautiful “princess” in her own right disappears and she must resume her original identity. As the story goes, Ella loses one of her glass slippers on the palace steps as she runs out of the castle. With only the shoe as evidence that his beloved truly exists, the prince sets out to search his kingdom to find the woman who wore it and stole his heart at the ball. It isn’t until the handsome prince (now, king) finally tracks her down that she finally reveals her identity.

After enduring years of degradation and insults from her step-mother and step-sisters, Ella has come to see herself as “only” a lowly servant in her step-mother’s home. After her father died his widow and her daughters stopped recognizing Ella as a legitimate member of the household and family. They relegated her living quarters to a dusty, drafty attic and did not allow her to eat meals with them in the dining room. Indeed, Ella spent most of her days so hard at work in the house and enduring her step-family’s snide comments and degradations that even she started to think of herself the same way they did: a mere servant with no status or worth. So when the king asks her name, she gives him the moniker by which she is known and has come to see herself: Cinderella.

According to John Kappas, Ph.D., the subconscious mind works on expectation and imagination. Over time, we learn to expect others to respond to and interact with us in a particular way based on our previous experience with those individuals. We also learn to internalize the message or emotion we perceive in those interactions, which can affect self-confidence and self-esteem, the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder explained. No matter what the “message” is, as you hear and repeat it to yourself your subconscious mind starts to believe and even own that message. When everyone around you constantly bombard you with criticism and negativity, as Cinderella’s step-mother and step-sisters did, it’s no surprise that your self-confidence and self-esteem take a dive when even you start to believe in the negative hype.

Fortunately, (Cinder)Ella’s ability to remain true to her core beliefs to stay brave and be kind in spite of the abominable treatment she received enabled her to prevail and find true love and happiness at the end of the story. Even better, this version of the fairy-tale emphasized that these qualities (not just her beauty) are the characteristics that charmed and even inspired her prince to behave in a similarly noble and compassionate way.

 

 

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

Inner Wisdom

(This blog was originally posted on April 8, 2014)

 

 

                “Would you like to meet Sophia?”

                I opened my eyes and looked around the waiting room. I must have dozed off while I waited for my friend to finish her doctor’s appointment, because an older woman was suddenly standing directly in front of me, nodding and smiling. She had on pink scrubs and was holding the leash of one of the biggest Standard Poodles I had ever seen. I sat up straighter in the hard plastic chair and blinked a couple of times. I hadn’t slept well last night—okay, at all—and, I admit, the chance to catch a quick nap was a welcome respite. I had been very stressed and worried about my friend these past few weeks, and I almost resented this interruption. However, once I shrugged off my sleepy confusion and oriented myself in the room, my irritation melted away. I suddenly noticed the gentle, warm pressure of the dog’s chest and right shoulder leaning into my right shin. Sophia’s long, delicate chin rested on my knees and she looked up at me with soulful brown eyes.

The woman gave her dog a loving scratch behind the ears. Sophia pressed her right shoulder even closer against my leg and let out a soft sigh. “Go ahead and pet her if you like. Sophia is a therapy dog. She will stay with you as long as you like, or until you get up if you have to go.”

“No, I’m good.” I noticed that I was smiling as I leaned over to rub the dog’s shoulders, patting and stroking her the way I gently scratch my horse’s withers. The large waiting room had suddenly shrunk to the three or four feet of space that Sophia, her handler and I were occupying.  The tightness and tension in my shoulders bled away as I also released a slow, steady exhale. I could tell right away—from these physiological changes going on in my body and the sense of deep relaxation that I was feeling—that I had drifted into a light form of hypnosis. What was happening? How did this dog and her handler know how much I needed this encounter at that moment?

Animals’ intuition never fails to impress and astound me. Throughout my life, my cats always seem to know when I am sick. They stay close to me and curl up beside me on the sofa or in bed, feline versions of Florence Nightingale that are determined to keep a close eye on me until I recover. My horses—first, Geeves and now Galahad—always become very protective and even careful around me when I don’t feel well or if my confidence wavers during a ride. Similarly, when my mom and I met Monty Roberts at an Equine Affaire event many years ago, Mr. Roberts explained that his Mustang, Shy Boy, always sought out people in the audience who seemed to need a little special attention. Well, that little Mustang came right over to my mother and me. I definitely wanted and hoped he would come over to us; but my mom was especially excited and emotional about this encounter.

Today, I just had a sense that the dog was singling me out for this attention, because she was suddenly there in front of me, looking at me, nuzzling me. Since I had been sleeping when this pair entered the waiting room, I don’t know how many people they had already visited before they got to my corner against the wall. But once Sophia came over to me, she stayed in the same position pressed against my legs for at least 20 minutes. There were a few other patients sitting nearby, but I was the person the dog and her handler hung out with for so long. Even when other patients and their children came over to meet her, Sophia stayed close to me. I wasn’t even officially a patient today, but I definitely needed and appreciated the kind of gentle comfort that she was able to provide for me that morning.

 

                 

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

 

Hypnotherapy for Pain Management

Photo courtesy of Microsoft/Bing

Hypnotherapy and therapeutic guided imagery are fabulous modalities to help manage pain. There are two categories of pain: acute, which is characterized by sudden onset (occurrence) and is the result of an event that has just happened. Conversely, chronic pain has been present for some period of time after a causative event (e.g., car crash), develops over time due to a causative factor (e.g., repetitive stress injury) or disease. Hypnosis and guided imagery are effective tools in the following ways:

·         They enable your subconscious mind to release from the physical sensations of chronic pain by changing the way your mind perceives pain by shutting off pain receptors during hypnosis. (e.g., breathing exercises, visualization);

·         They can help you learn to change your physical reactions to painful sensations associated with your chronic pain (e.g, “glove anesthesia”; “transfer of pain” to a more tolerable part of the body to facilitate more control; remodel pain sensations to a more acceptable/tolerable level);

·         They can help you reduce anxiety about experiencing pain by permitting the physical body to relax (release muscle tension) and the brain to release the body’s natural pain killers, serotonin and endorphins (e.g., “special place” imagery)

·         They can help you re-establish your perception of being able to control your pain through self-hypnosis (e.g.: “control room”; “imaginative transformation” of the context of the pain).

California law allows me to provide hypnotherapy as a complementary or alternative treatment to help you manage/control pain as a way to achieve vocational and avocational self-improvement goals (Business and Professions Code 2908). However, I must receive a referral from a licensed medical doctor or mental-health professional in order to work with you on this issue. I would also need a medical referral if your pain gets worse or your condition changes during the therapy, or if your wakes you from sleep.

For more information about this topic, I invite you to read my previous blog titled What You Can (and Cannot) Expect From Hypnotherapy.

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

Quoting Your Mother (Again)

 

Someone posted this Bern Williams quote on my Facebook wall recently: “Sooner or later we all quote our mothers.” Well, of course we do, I immediately thought. Let me tell you why this is true.

According to Hypnosis Motivation Founder John G. Kappas, Ph.D., we get our early suggestibility (how we communicate and learn) from how the primary caretaker (usually the mother) takes care of and interacts with us during early childhood (birth up to age 5). Words, tone of voice and body language create suggestibility, he explains. If your mom tended to communicate with you directly and literally—“You can play with your friends after you have finished your homework!”—and was consistent in enforcing this instruction, you likely followed her example with your own kids. Similarly, if she occasionally allowed you to play first you likely compensated for her inconsistency by trying to guess or infer what she really meant when she told you to do something.

Many of us remember (with fondness or even some consternation) various expressions, terms of endearment or even chastisement that our mother has said over and over throughout our lives. Every time she repeated this behavior, those words or phrases and the behavior(s) they accompanied were reinforced in our subconscious mind. Over time and with frequent repetition, these associations become so ingrained in our subconscious life script that we find ourselves responding to a similar situation the same way mom did or would have with your children.

And when your kids are grown they will be able to make a similar observation about their own interactions with their family, and so on.

 

 

 

 

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