Never Say “Never”

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

I help my hypnotherapy clients to change their mental script so
they can give their subconscious mind a positive goal to achieve.

                When I was at college, my friends used to joke, “Never say ‘never’, because that is an absolute guarantee you will do what you say you will never do!” Oh, how prescient that advice turned out to be. Now, I understand why.

                The subconscious mind does not understand irony. It does not get a joke. The subconscious mind will try to fulfill whatever messages it receives. Whatever you say or think, it takes literally and conveniently ignores terms such as never, not, won’t and can’t. For example, I occasionally make the mistake of thinking or saying to myself, “I will not fall off my horse today.” Guess what? I do fall—or come very close to it. Some people might say those are examples of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but isn’t a self-fulfilling prophecy an example of a person behaving in a specific way to achieve the subconscious mind’s goal?

                When I work with my hypnotherapy clients, I teach them how to frame (or re-frame, as the case may be) their thoughts and self-talk so they are always giving themselves a positive message or suggestion. Rather than say, “I can’t be late for this meeting!” tell yourself, “I will leave five minutes earlier so I will be on time for my meeting.” Or, in the context of my first example, I now tell myself, “I am a strong rider. I can stay on my horse and have a good ride.”

Your subconscious mind will work just as hard to fulfill a positive goal as it will to achieve a negative one, so why not set it up for success, right from the start?

 

 

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/.

© 2014

Age Regression…and Why I Don’t Use This Technique to Uncover Traumatic Memories

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Using hypnosis to help someone remember details about a
past trauma is like pulling a scab off of the mind. 

We often see characters on television or in the movies use age regression to solve a crime or resolve a mystery in a protagonist’s life. During the 1970s and 1980s, hypnosis was used as a crime-solving technique. During this period, there was a widely held belief that all psychological problems were caused by sexual abuse. Some people theorized that hypnosis would be a useful technique to rewind a person’s memory of a traumatic incident to discover what had happened. Once this information was revealed, hypnosis could also help the person to vent out these memories and resolve his or her feelings about and reactions to the issue. Eventually, experts realized that this technique did not help either the client (alleged abuse victim) or lawyers to prosecute their cases. Memories are filled with distortion and amnesia; furthermore, a person under hypnosis is highly suggestible and becomes very eager to please the hypnotist. A highly emotional-suggestible client will infer that the hypnotist wants to hear certain information, and will duly provide those details.

In some situations, age regression is considered a therapeutic technique: to help an adult remember a license plate after a car crash or to find a personal item that he or she lost several weeks ago. I also use it as part of an imagery exercise to remember every cigarette that the person has smoked when I help a client quit smoking. However, I do not use age regression to discover (or help my client discover) information or memories that the person is not ready to address. When a terrible trauma has occurred, a person knows how to breathe, sleep, eat and eliminate. If a memory is too traumatic, the mind creates a “scab” over that memory to protect the individual from further trauma or stress. Just like you wouldn’t pull a scab off of an abrasion, I do not use hypnosis to rip a similar scab off your mind. Again, since there is no way to prove the veracity of any memories that a person regains while under hypnosis, this information would not be allowed in a court of law.

My first responsibility to my clients is to do no harm. As a certified hypnotherapist, my role is to help them achieve a vocational or avocational self-improvement goal. However, if a client spontaneously remembers a traumatic incident, I will use hypnosis to help him or her present reality more powerful than the past, and refer the person to a licensed psychologist or other medical professional for additional professional support in areas that are outside my own scope of expertise in 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/.

© 2014

Duration of Hypnotherapy

 

                The duration of hypnotherapy is comparatively shorter than traditional psychotherapy, such as psychoanalysis. However, an issue is seldom resolved in just one, two, three or even four sessions. “[Hypnotherapy] is not a miracle cure,” Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., explained. “It can relieve initial trauma in a few sessions, but it may take longer to deal with other issues.”

                My goal as a hypnotherapist is to help each of my clients effectively resolve his or her specific vocational and avocational self-improvement goal(s) in a realistic amount of time. For example, hypnotherapy for weight-control usually lasts 28 sessions; smoking cessation can typically be dealt with in six sessions. Simple problems may take less time to resolve; but for general self-improvement or lifestyle-change issues, hypnotherapy is an ongoing process that can last for years.

                I do not set limits on the amount of time the therapy will take, because these perceived deadlines can set the client up for frustration and disappointment if the process takes longer than expected. I can typically identify the true causal factor or issue that a client is dealing with during the first hypnotherapy session, even when this is not the issue the person has originally come to resolve. However, I will not try to draw out this issue and potentially cause unnecessary stress for my client until he or she is ready to address it and let it go.

For example, weight is only symptomatic of an emotional issue in approximately 20 percent of people who come in for weight-loss therapy, Kappas said. “If you don’t eliminate the cause of a problem, it could come back.”

                 

 

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/.

© 2014

 

Just Ride the Course



Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

Regardless of how you "place" in the show,  you are already a winner
for being willing to take on a new challenge with your horse.

 

 

                Horse show season is well under way, and many riders are devoting hours to training and preparing themselves and their horses for competition. Whether you are new to showing or a seasoned competitor, it is normal to feel nervous or have performance anxiety before you enter the arena. The key to overcoming competition nerves is to transform any negative emotions into positive ones—fear into confidence, tension into relaxation, anxiety into excitement, disappointment into joy, etc. You know how hard you both have been working to get here; this is your opportunity to enjoy the rewards of your dedication. Following are some suggestions and imagery that I give to equestrians who seek hypnotherapy to overcome show anxiety and get into a positive mindset so they and their equine partner can perform well in their competition.

·         Be sure to drink plenty of water, avoid caffeine and eat nutritious food with protein on the day of the show. Good nutrition keeps the body strong, and protein is a natural mood stabilizer. Avoid overloading on carbohydrates, which can lower blood sugar and thus influence mood and anxiety levels.

·         Tune out any negative discussion, comments and analysis about your previous rides that you may overhear. These things have already happened. They are in the past. It is time to focus on the dressage test, reining pattern, course, etc. that you are riding now.

·         While you wait for your turn to compete, take a minute or two to tap into how confident, enthusiastic and joyful you feel when you are having a very good ride. Allow your mind and body to feel the sensation of your horse’s muscles working beneath you and the fluidity of your own body moving with his. The perfect timing, cadence, rhythm, tempo and power of each motion brings a smile to your lips, and you feel a surge of confidence and excitement in your knowledge that you can and will ride like this again.

·         Once you have a good image of this experience in your mind, draw a slow, deep breath and feel the power, excitement and confidence that you have when you are riding well. Press or rub the thumb and index (pointing) finger of either hand to lock in or “anchor” these positive emotions. Release any lingering negative emotions/negative self-talk or doubt as you exhale that breath. Continue to practice this breathing exercise as needed until it is time to enter the arena.

·         Give yourself permission to allow your body to do what it already knows how to do. You and your horse have ridden these patterns or soared over similar obstacles thousands of times at home and in other competitions. Your body knows how to do each of these things, so keep your mind/thoughts out if your body’s way.

·         Allow your body to flow with your horse as you ride. As you remember to breathe in a normal, relaxed way you are becoming more confident and trust your ability to ride this test or course well. You are becoming more confident and trust your horse’s ability to do his work well, too.  

·         As you ride, focus on what you are asking your horse to do. Notice how well he is listening to your aids as your body flows with his during the event. Enjoy how you feel as you and your horse transition up and down between movements in the test, clear obstacles, etc. You can and do tune out every other sensation (sound, smell, sight) as you focus on what you are doing with your horse at during these moments.

·         Remember that you are competing in this show because you have earned the right to be there. Perhaps your trainer suggested that you and your horse are ready to take on this first horse show as a new challenge in your journey as an equestrian. If you and your horse are about to do your first Grand Prix jumping course, you know that this competition is the obvious next step in your training and competition goals. And if you are competing in a regional, state or national championship, you have also earned the right to be there through the various events you have won in the past year to qualify for this championship. Congratulations!

·         You ride because you love horses and riding, and how good you feel when you are doing what you love. You compete because you want to share this love with other people who love horses, too. Whether you bring home a trophy, medal or a ribbon, you are already a winner for being willing to take on a new challenge with your horse.

I hope these suggestions help you to relax and enjoy competing with your horse. I am not a riding instructor, and I encourage everyone to consult with a trainer or instructor to resolve riding and horse-related issues. However, I have found from personal experience as well as my hypnotherapy work with other equestrians that setting positive expectations for a good ride is the most effective way to achieve that goal. For more information about my hypnotherapy work with equestrians, please contact me via my website at www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com.

 

 

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/.

© 2014

Break Old Habits...With Hypnotherapy!

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

During a hypnotherapy session, I incorporate my client's
reasons/motivations to change a behavior in the hypnotic script.

     Habits have a way of taking a toll on our lifestyles. The good news is that it is possible to change these behaviors. Hypnotherapy can help you replace the mental script that you currently follow (the habit you want to dump) with one that you design to help you to live the life you want to lead.

     According to John Kappas, Ph.D.'s Theory of Mind, the only two things humans “know” from birth is to react to a fear of loud noises and to react to a fear of falling. Everything else is a learned behavior or belief. The good news since you , it is have learned to do something it is possible to unlearn it—even those things you have been doing “forever” such as put off doing homework or projects until the last minute, smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, bite your nails or eat a pint of ice cream before going to bed. So long as you are motivated to change these behaviors, through hypnosis and hypnotherapy, I can help you construct a new script or “game plan” to achieve your goal.

     As a certified hypnotherapist, I may work with you to achieve a variety of vocational avocational self-improvement goals (see the Appendix page on my website for a complete list of these topics). During the course of the hypnotherapy, I use guided imagery and Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques to help my clients find solutions and strategies to replace their unwanted habit and increase their self-confidence to make these behavior changes. Each solution is necessarily unique to each client, because it comes directly from that person’s subconscious mind, via hypnosis.

     And I will be there to motivate and support you as you let go of unwanted beliefs and behaviors to embark on your new life, unencumbered by old habits that used to weigh you down.

  

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/.

© 2014

An Extreme Example of Environmental Hypnosis

            This afternoon, KABC-TV news reported that a neighborhood in Pasadena, California was host to a wayward black bear. Local homeowners were instructed to remain indoors while the animal settled on the grass behind a house and started to gnaw on the homeowner’s wooden fence. Meanwhile, thousands of viewers and, it seemed, the reporters covering the story, were glued to their respective television screens and monitors to watch and discuss what the bear was getting up to.

Even though most of the people who saw or know about this incident watched it unfold on their television sets, I still count this incident as “environmental hypnosis” because the object of fascination was an animal doing its thing in its environment. Also, until the police and officers from Animal Control arrived to order everyone to stay inside, the news feeds showed people standing around in their back yards with video camera/cell phone in hand, waiting to get a glimpse and, hopefully, a video of the bear. One man even crossed the street to talk to Animal Control officers about the situation. No one seemed in a hurry to get out of the way until they were ordered to go inside; but a patrol officer did seem nervous when the animal climbed over a fence and started to lope down the street. (He immediately sought shelter in a nearby Animal Control vehicle.) It was obvious that the bear was not under anyone’s “control”—staff from the Department of Fish and Game had yet to arrive to (hopefully) humanely return the bear to the Angeles Forest.

Meanwhile, the bear’s unusual presence in a local neighborhood, compounded by our very human curiosity about the wildlife that lives nearby, was more than enough to overload the subconscious mind of everyone watching the news or living nearby. Hundreds of message units flooded our minds: Whoa, there’s a bear in my back yard! What is it doing? Why is it doing that? Where is it going? How cute…I want to get a picture of it! Etc. The stage was set for a naturally occurring form of hypnosis to occur. Most people know that bears are potentially dangerous and unpredictable; we tend to be duly cautious if not outright terrified when we know that a large predator is so close. However, the context of this incredible incident overwhelmed and temporarily shut down the critical (analytic) part of our minds, literally freezing people to their TV screens or wherever they were in the neighborhood, waiting for the drama to unfold.

Any time you are in a situation where you think or know that you are becoming overwhelmed by what is going on around you, you are likely drifting into a light state of trance (environmental hypnosis). Simply say the following: “One, two, three, four, five, [Say your name]. Eyes open, wide awake.” These words will count you back up to a fully alert and aware state. Meanwhile, it is fortunate for the people in this community who may not have known this trick that police  and animal control officers were on hand to provide a powerful suggestion (command) to the residents that they stay inside until the bear could be humanely returned to the forest so everyone can get back to their normal lives tomorrow.  

 

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/.

© 2014

Sensory-Based Communication

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

The words and metaphors you use in your speech tell
a lot about how you perceive your world.

 

                  No pun intended, but the way we use words to share thoughts and ideas is so expressive of who we are and how we take in our world. We communicate what we perceive, and we use specific words and terms to illustrate how we perceive the information we are sharing. According to Neurolinguistic Programming, we all have a preferred way to express or represent ourselves when we communicate. Following are descriptions of the different sensory representational systems.

·         Visual: This person primarily takes in information by seeing and how something looks. He or she looks up and is comfortable establishing eye contact. He or she needs to see written information or instructions to something and will use metaphors such as, “I see what you mean” to convey understanding during a conversation.

·         Auditory: This individual processes information via auditory cues and can learn by hearing and listening to instruction. He or she will use expressions like, “The message is loud and clear” or “another way to say that.” This person is comfortable memorizing sequences and is very sensitive to the speaker’s tone of voice and the words the other person uses. However, this individual can become overwhelmed by stimuli and may avoid eye contact (focusing on another stimuli) in order to listen to and understand what is being said. This person will use metaphors like, “I hear what you’re saying” to convey understanding during a conversation.

·         Kinesthetic: A kinesthetic person learns and memorizes something by rehearsing or “walking through” a scenario. This person tends to make physical contact with the object of discussion or another person in the conversation as a way of reinforcing what he or she is learning. He or she will use metaphors like, “That meeting completely slipped my mind.”

·         Auditory Digital: An auditory-digital individual focuses on whether something makes sense in order to learn and understand a concept. This person will use language like, “That’s logical” to indicate that he or she understands (or not) the principle being discussed.

During each hypnotherapy session, I pay careful attention to the words my clients use and which metaphors they choose when they speak. I know that the way they use language paints a picture of how they perceive their lives and where they are in the process of replacing an unwanted behavior. This information helps me to create the ideal hypnosis script by which I can communicate with their subconscious mind and help them achieve their goals.

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/.

© 2014