Coming in for a Tune-Up

Each year, most of us go to the doctor, or take our kids to the pediatrician or our pets to the veterinarian to get a wellness check-up. We take our cars in to the shop for a tune-up. If your profession requires you to renew your professional license to continue working, you might attend a conference to refresh your knowledge and take a written test to update your certification. And so on. 

Hypnotherapy is a great tool for “tuning up” our subconscious mind and conscious mind by reinforcing positive, healthy lifestyle choices and behaviors while you focus on pursuing new self-improvement goals. For example, athletes often describe how they continuously practice and hone their skills until they become muscle memory. Not only does conscious thought become unnecessary to achieve the desired technique, but many say that thinking about what they are doing, at all, is often an impediment to their success. Similarly, dancers continue to practice and review the foundation movements of their art even as they learn and perfect new techniques and choreography. They know that it is equally important to reinforce the subtle, mental nuances of their art as it is to keep their muscles strong and flexible.

 This is also true of everyday activities and habits. If we do not practice the desired behavior or belief system until it, too, becomes automatic. However, when we are confronted with a challenge or stressful situation, it is easy to slip back into those previous, unwanted habits or beliefs simply because they are so familiar and comfortable. A tune-up hypnotherapy session is an effective way to reinforce those positive, healthy and desired behaviors. In hypnosis, the physical body becomes very comfortable and relaxed, which enables the subconscious mind to accept and incorporate message units (information) into new subconscious knowns. The subconscious mind quickly and easily assimilates these hypnotic suggestions because they are simply reiterations of a previous script. In this situation, hypnotherapy is used to reinforce the desired behavior(s) being an automatic response even during a challenging or stressful situation.

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

Phobic Response versus Anticipatory Anxiety

According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., a phobia is caused by a physiological reaction to a stimulus. In most cases, a drop in the person’s blood-sugar level triggers the phobic response. Physical symptoms such as rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, dizziness and confusion are just a few examples of the sensations that induce the perception that the person has no control over him- or herself or the environment. These symptoms may ultimately become so debilitating that the individual becomes restricted to his or her home (agoraphobia).

To treat this or any other phobia, the hypnotherapist should explain how nutrition affects the phobic response and encourage the person to change his or her eating habits. For example, encourage the client to eliminate sugar and caffeine from the diet and increase protein intake. Next, the hypnotherapist would use hypnosis to systematically desensitize the client to the events or stimuli that trigger the phobic reaction.

Conversely, anticipatory anxiety is about worrying that the phobic reaction will happen in the first place. “You’ve had the panic [and] you start worrying it will recur. You’re more affected by what you think will happen,” Dr. Kappas explained. This reaction is a behavioral example of the fight/flight response, whereby the individual prepares him- or herself to face a potential threat based on previous experience or a belief that the threat exists.

Anticipatory anxiety is an entirely different condition from a phobia and should be handled differently. In this case, the hypnotherapist must “break” the association between the phobia and any stimuli that trigger the anxiety response about the phobia. In most cases there are no common denominators in the phobic reaction, although anticipatory anxiety will follow, Dr. Kappas said. “You can’t remove the anticipatory anxiety until you remove the phobia.”

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.

• “People change for two main reasons: Their minds have been opened, or their hearts have been broken.” – Steven Aitchison

• “You are beautiful. Own it. Walk like your hips move mountains.” – Unknown

• “And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling.” – Unknown

• “I am thankful for my struggle because without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled upon my strength.” – Alex Elle

• “If we all did things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas Edison

• “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” – Derek Bok

• “What other people think of me is none of my business.” – Gary Oldman

• “The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wish bone that go with it.” – Elaine Agathe

• “Every majestic oak tree was once a nut who stood his ground.” – Unknown

• “The greatest prayer is patience.” – Buddha

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

The Law of Association and the Law of Dominance

During a typical hypnotherapy session, one of the most powerful tools to reinforce hypnotic suggestions is the Law of Association: an association between a suggestion (identification of a specific stimulus) and a specific, desired response. One example of this law is, when the hypnotherapist’s hand moves to dim the lights in the office and the client immediately, automatically moves to the recliner in preparation of being hypnotized. This association is possible because long before you come in for your first hypnotherapy session, the Law of Association has facilitated the development of your suggestibility. 

In a therapeutic context, when I work with a client to overcome a fear or phobia, I create hypnotic scripts that enable the person to associate the relaxation response (deep breathing, focused mind, increased confidence) with a non-reaction to the original stimulus. Repeated exposure to that stimulus in conjunction with the associated relaxation response eventually extinguishes the fear or phobia. 

When the Law of Dominance is employed during hypnotherapy, the hypnotherapist employs a stance of authority by assuming that the client will respond or behave in a specific way (e.g., go into hypnosis). An example of this law is when I say “deep sleep” firmly, not forcefully, and snap my fingers or touch the client’s forehead to deepen the hypnotic state. Through the Law of Association, the individual has already shown that he or she has already associated the link between my dimming the office lights and moving to the recliner. When I say “deep sleep,” these words instruct (directly or inferentially) the client to close his or her eyes as the person drifts into the relaxed hypnotic state that facilitates the desired behavior change (e.g., extinguishing a fear or phobia).

 

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