Making It Happen

(This blog was originally posted on April 19, 2014)

Photo by Sara Fogan

                Have I ever mentioned how powerful the subconscious mind is? As in, the SCM wants nothing more than to do what you tell it to do. You don’t even have to mean what you are thinking about; an idea just pops into your head and is gone in a nanosecond. Until…

I decided to wear my red jeans tonight so I could throw the blues into the washing machine with my other dark colors. I didn’t want to run the machine again just wash my magenta top; but if I could wait until tomorrow evening to throw the red jeans in with the shirt, that would be an acceptable load. Funny, my subconscious obviously didn’t agree with this strategy. Somehow, while I was eating dessert a stray blob of ice cream dripped off my spoon, onto the edge of the kitchen table and right on the leg of my red jeans. Really? Come on! I had only been wearing them for a couple of hours!

                In my blog titled Power of Thinking, I described the premise of John Kappas, Ph.D.’s book titled Success Is Not an Accident. According to the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder, any thought or idea that we program into our subconscious mind becomes a mental script; it is these mental scripts that determine the outcome of our actions. Whether we imagine a positive or negative result, the SCM follows that mental script and work to actualize the goal it thinks you “want.”

If blogs have “morals,” this one is, be careful what you think of. I guess I really did want to wash those red items tonight.

 

 

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

 

Anchors

(This blog was originally posted on April 3, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

 

                In my previous blogs, I described how I help my clients “anchor” a positive association to their new, desired behavior. This is done while the person is in hypnosis and most likely to be enjoying the deep relaxation, calm and comfort that this state naturally provides. He or she can activate this new anchor at any time to reinforce the new, desired behavior and replace unwanted habits. But, hypnosis isn’t the only time we create anchors. In fact, these subconscious associations can occur in various situations and at any time whether we intend to do this or not. This is how many of those habits that we consciously want to change have been created in the first place.

                Smells can create very strong, pervasive anchors for many people. The scent of the cologne or perfume can bring up a happy association with a beloved grandparent or may trigger negative emotions if the smell reminds you of your ex. The smell of freshly baked apple pie might­ take you back to coming home from college to enjoy a holiday meals; but this same smell could be frustrating or even torturous for someone who is on a diet. These are just a few reasons why I do not wear perfume or even use scented candles when I work with my hypnotherapy clients. I also want to avoid creating an unintended trigger to hypnosis that could be activated if the person perceives a scent that their subconscious mind already associates with me.

                We can also create subconscious anchors to food or physical sensations (touch). Do you remember the first time you touched a hot stove? You may not if this first experience happened when you were very young. However, your subconscious mind sure does; you probably even can’t recall a time when you have not been cautious about touching a surface that might be hot. The same is true if you have ever avoided a certain food because you once got food poisoning eating that item, or you can no longer tolerate the taste or smell of a favorite snack since you had your child because that was all you could eat while you were pregnant.

You can even create a subconscious anchor to sounds or music. For example, whenever I hear the hit song, “Always,” by Bon Jovi, my mind immediately flashes to an early memory of lounging on a beach at the end of a summer day. The sun is still bright in the sky but the temperature is no longer hot, and an almost-cold breeze is coming off th­e ocean. The song sounds almost tinny as it blasts out of the portable, one-speaker stereo that belongs to a nearby sunbather. I can barely detect the scent of Coppertone® sunscreen as the salty air fills my nostrils. Do you see how much imagery and how many associations are evoked by this one, specific song? To this day, I only need to catch the first few bars and I see this scene. I wasn’t even a Bon Jovi fan the first time I heard “Always” and I’m still not overly fond of that song—or sunbathing on the beach, for that matter.

Isn’t that interesting….

               

 

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

Dream Therapy & Hypnosis, Part 3

(This blog was originally posted on January 10, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Where do you go when you dream…?

 

The most important part of dream therapy is to gauge the content of the dream. There are no universal symbols in dreams. Different things mean different things to different people. To help my clients translate the information their subconscious mind is communicating to them in a dream, I ask the following questions:

1.      At what stage of the night did the dream occur?

2.      Was the dream physiological or psychological? For example, did you hear a knock on your bedroom door and incorporate the sound in your dream (psychological dream)? The most common cause of a “falling dream” is a rapid loss of blood sugar; the person has a sensation of running, pulling or falling (physiological dream).

3.      What is the timing of the dream? Where are you geographically: in your current environment, in your childhood home, at college, etc.? This information is an important clue about your subconscious and the history of the development of your belief system.

4.      What was your dream about (content)? Was it literal or symbolic? Before interpreting the dream, you must decipher the language in which it occurred.

5.      What was your emotion (i.e., how did you feel) during the dream? The purpose of dreams is to trigger emotions and make you feel things.

6.      What emotions, information, etc. did you release in the dream through “venting”?

7.      How old are you in the dream?

 The language of dreams is rich and complex. I use dream therapy to help my hypnotherapy clients learn and understand this language to facilitate their desired behavior change. The ability to communicate with the subconscious mind in this way is an invaluable tool to break through resistance and achieve 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/.

© 2015

 

 

Dream Therapy & Hypnosis Part 2

(This blog was originally posted on January 9, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft
The “venting stage” of dreams allows you to let go of emotions/energy you don’t need to hold anymore.

 

            While we sleep, the subconscious processes the millions of message units that the mind has received during the day. Dreams, which occur during the REM (rapid-eye movement) stage of sleep, are the “dumping ground” in which the subconscious essentially purges the mind of information that it no longer needs. There are three major REM activity periods:

·          Wishful thinking stage. These dreams occur during the first third of the evening (period of sleep). This REM stage is the shortest and has the least (lowest) electrical amplitude. The majority of message units that your mind is processing are useful information; these dreams are the least intense.

·          Precognitive stage. This is the second major REM period. Dreams are longer and more intense. During this stage, you are likely to wake up from a dream with insight and answers to a problem you have been considering, because the information (resolution) was already in your mind. Remember, the mind only knows two things: knowns and unknowns—what is familiar, and what is unfamiliar. Actual “programming” of the lift script occurs at this stage of sleep; this new program becomes the autopilot that guides your day.

·          REM stage. This REM period occurs during the last third of the sleep cycle just before or up to an hour before waking up. The dreams that occur during this stage—“venting dreams’’—are the longest, most intense and best-remembered dreams. They are particularly valuable because your subconscious mind is dumping or letting go of the energy associated to emotions and information that you no longer need to carry around with you.

When you do not allow yourself to vent this information through dreams, you are holding in energy and inhibiting your ability to deal with daily stresses. When I work with clients, I provide a safe environment in which they can interpret their dreams and further vent the emotions (energy) associated with the dream, in hypnosis. I also provide a hypnotic suggestion that the client will release any remaining energy or emotions, etc. associated with their therapeutic issue in a venting dream, which we can discuss and work through in the next hypnotherapy session.

Protein, such as almonds and peanuts are a great go-to snack to prevent a sudden drop in blood-sugar level that is associated with the development of phobias.

 

 

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

Dream Therapy and Hypnosis

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

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Dreaming helps your body maintain emotional and mental health.

            Whether you are sleeping or awake, the mind constantly perceives stimuli and processes those experiences as message units. Dreams are the language that the subconscious mind uses to speak to the conscious mind to make sense of all of that information you have collected during the day. The more message units you can take in during the day, the higher the amount of stress you can tolerate. Every night when you go to sleep, the subconscious mind is tasked with resolving your subconscious mind’s reaction to this stress in the form of dreams.

            When we are awake (conscious), we speak in linear language, but dreams are nonlinear. They may be metaphoric and symbolic; or, they may seem to have a “plot” and run from start to finish like a movie. Regardless of the format, your dreams are a direct language of the subconscious mind, and your subconscious mind is telling you what you need to know.

Dream analysis is often the first opportunity that I have to establish a working relationship with my hypnotherapy client. I use reflective listening to guide and support the person to interpret the meaning of his or her dream. Then, as I gauge the content of the person’s dreams, I can incorporate the language/symbols of the dream to create the hypnosis script help him or her change specific behaviors to achieve the stated therapeutic goal.

 

 

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 Health and Well-Being

(This blog was originally posted on January 5, 2014)

 

Image courtesy of Fotolia

Hypnotherapy incorporates the client's words to increase
motivation to follow healthy behavior and improve well-being.

One of the most common requests I receive is to help someone, through hypnotherapy, to live a healthy lifestyle. Each person will have a specific issue or area that he or she would like to address and/or focus on or improve or change. Hypnotherapy is such an effective tool to facilitate these health-related behavior changes because the hypnosis scripts incorporate the client’s own words and motivations to achieve those goals. I  reinforce these suggestions by creating suggestibility-specific scripts (e.g., physical or emotional suggestibility) with which my client's subconscious mind will identify, accept and understand so that he or she can easily and comfortably accomplish their objectives, including:

·         Lose weight or maintain weight lost

 

·         Stop smoking 

·         Improve quality/quantity of sleep 

·         Exercise/increase physical activity 

·         Reduce/manage stress 

·         Make healthy food choices 

·         Drink more water/increase hydration 

·         Improve/increase motivation to follow the new lifestyle regimen.

 

 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/.

 

Handwriting Analysis

(This blog was originally posted on February 5, 2014)

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

 

                Handwriting is a manifestation of what we consciously think, but it is motivated by a subconscious ideomotor (automatic physical) response. The way you write—the shape and size of each letter, whether you connect the letters and even the speed of your writing—are literally a reflection of your behavior and personality traits.

At the beginning of their first hypnotherapy session with me, I ask my clients to write a few sentences that describe their reasons/motivations for seeking hypnotherapy to change a specific behavior. Handwriting does not reveal the age or gender of the writer; nor will it enable me (or anyone else) to determine whether the person is right- or left-handed or to predict the writer’s future. However, handwriting will reveal the person’s mood, personality traits, suggestibility and subconscious motivations at the time of writing this sample. I analyze specific characteristics of the writing, not the content of what is written, per se, to identify, confirm or negate the writer’s specific personality traits and how those traits affect behavior.

I use these observations plus the information that the client provides for me during the pre-hypnosis component of the consultation to create a powerful hypnotic script that will help the person achieve specific, vocational and avocational self-improvement goals. Handwriting analysis is also useful to help a client identify other issues (e.g., stubbornness, low self-esteem/self-confidence) that may be impacting the presenting issue, and which the person may want to address during this or a future 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