Dealing With Headaches During Hypnosis

Photo by Rick Hustead

Occasionally, clients develop headaches while they are in hypnosis. The headache, which can last for two or three hours, is usually an abreaction to the subject being addressed during the hypnotherapy session. This is especially true if the individual doesn’t want to let go of the feeling or behavior.

According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., headaches are a subconscious device (body syndrome) to protect our emotions. The majority of headaches experienced during hypnotherapy are tension headaches. However, if the headache is caused by another factor, such as a food allergy, the hypnotherapist should check out whether there is an issue the person cannot or will not face (crying syndrome). For example, migraine headaches—which start out as a bilateral tension headache and migrate to one hemisphere—start out as a bilateral tension headache and then migrate to one hemisphere. Symptoms include excruciating pain, sensitivity to light, nausea and vomiting. 

Before working with a client who is suffering from a headache or other kinds of pain, the hypnotherapist must get a medical referral* to ensure that the person doesn’t have an underlying medical problem that requires treatment. Once the physician verifies that there is no etiological cause for this discomfort, the hypnotherapist can help the client relieve the headache by moving it to another part of the body. At this point, the hypnotherapist can use hypnotic suggestions to dissipate the pain from this area. 

“Train the body to accept [the pain] elsewhere,” Dr. Kappas said. It is also important to increase your tolerance of stress and learn to relax, he added.

*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. 

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

More Dressage Training Tips from Charlotte Dujardin: For the Rider

Photo by Sara Fogan

On March 8, 2014 and March 9, 2014, I audited a dressage symposium at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, California. Charlotte Dujardin, the British individual gold medalist in dressage at the 2012 Olympic Games and 2016 Olympic Games and reigning world champion in the sport, was the featured clinician. She and her former trainer, International Grand Prix champion Judy Harvey, shared their expertise with six accomplished equestrians and their equally impressive horses to work through specific training issues. Following are more tips and training insights about what to look for in a young horse/competitive dressage prospect that Ms. Dujardin shared during these clinics, which you might find helpful too. 

·         There is a saying that practice makes perfect, but the truth is that perfect practice makes perfect performance. Bad habits form very easily, so it is important to do and teach your horse to do the movement right in the first place. Moral of the story: “Nine times out of 10, riders who do bad transitions at home will do bad transitions in a competition. Always practice doing good transitions,” Ms. Dujardin cautioned. “Do good transitions as if your life depended on it.” 

·         The Olympic champion emphasized the importance of using clear and natural aids when teaching transitions. “Lose the whip! The horse must know to go off the leg,” she said. “Soften your hands. You’ve got to let go and then press to get the other gears.”

·         A common error/reaction when asking for a bigger stride or an up transition is to inadvertently shut down this process. “When you ask a horse to go [forward], let him go!” the Olympian encouraged. Whether you are doing up or down transitions, the horse must always be waiting for the rider’s instructions what to do next.

·         If you hold the reins too tightly you are likely to make your horse tight and nervous, Ms. Dujardin said. “You should be able to relax your hands and the horse should be able to continue the movement without you holding her in,” You hold the horse with your seat and legs, not the reins, she said. Riders must also be careful not to shorten the neck too much when rounding the horse, she added. “He needs his neck for balance.”

·         Keep your horse interested in his training by including hacks (trail rides) and a day completely off in a pasture. “It is very important for the horse to have time off/switch-off periods.” For example, the Grand Prix horses that Charlotte Dujardin trains typically go on 20-minute trail rides before spending 15 to 20 minutes warming up, followed by a schooling session. While older horses work for 40-45 minutes schooling session, the training repertoire for younger horses is considerably shorter: they work for a maximum of 30 minutes with plenty of walk breaks, she said. 

·         No matter what level you are training, always reward your horse for doing good work during his training. The reward for good collection work is a long rein so he can stretch his neck. “Be sure to reward the horse when he does something right or you will get a sour/unwilling horse,” she warned.

·         If your horse is spooky, don’t make an issue about what is setting him off, Ms. Dujardin advised. Instead, “Ignore it and use leg-yielding into the object rather than away. If you beat the horse up for spooking at something, you give him more reason to avoid it.” Continue to practice riding a line toward the object that is acceptable to the horse so he can get used to what scared him before until it is no longer an issue. “Over time, you build a bond with the horse and give him confidence to deal with whatever until eventually he will walk through fire for you. You know you have a real connection with your horse when you feel him relax under you when he was scared of something.”

·         The horse needs to be in front of your leg to maintain suspension in the gait. “Rhythm and balance makes good movement,” she said.

·         “Don’t punish a good horse by making him practice one movement over and over.”

·         Think of the walk as a movement. It has a double co-efficient, after all! “It is equally important to work on the walk as any other gait. It is not a chance to goof off,” Ms. Dujardin said.

I will share more of her horse-training and riding suggestions in future blogs.

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

Thoughts of the Day

Photo by Sara Fogan

      Every now and then I like (and need) to take a few moments and remind myself about what is really important to me, in my life. If you follow me on my Calminsense Hypnotherapy Facebook page you may have seen some of these quotes before on this page, or will in the future. Many of these Quotes of the Day are beautiful examples and illustrations of the work I do as a hypnotherapist, so I will probably draw on them in future essays.

• “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.” – Napoleon Hill

• “The life you rehearse the most will be the life you live.” – Bruce van Horn

• “I don't know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself.” – Maya Angelou

• “Please stop arguing about whether or not I have aged well. Youth and beauty are not accomplishments, they’re the temporary happy by-products of time and/or DNA. Don’t hold your breath for either.” – Carrie Fisher

• “If you don’t think, then you shouldn’t talk.” – March Hare (Alice in Wonderland)

• “Integrity is the essence of everything successful.” – Richard B. Fuller

• “No person can be ideally successful until they have found their place. Like a locomotive, they are strong on the track but weak anywhere else.” – O.S. Marden

• “The dream is gone, but then there’s hope.” – Tarzan

• “When we unite wisdom with knowledge, we reach our potential.” – Lolly Daskal

• “The work isn't crafting values. It's living them.” – Unknown

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