Session #1: Deepening Techniques

(This blog was originally posted on August 3, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

“There are no second chances to make a first impression.”

This expression is certainly true when it comes to hypnosis. From the moment a prospective client contacts me until the individual leaves my office after the first hypnotherapy appointment I am focused on inducing the deepest state of trance possible. Most people come to hypnotherapy with a very open mind about its nature and efficacy; nonetheless, these same individuals usually harbor some preconceptions and even concerns about what hypnosis is, why it works and how it feels. The best way to alleviate these concerns is to hypnotize the person so he or she has a real-life association with this experience. Since a person can be hypnotized “for the first time” only once, it is up to the hypnotherapist to help the client achieve the deepest trance state during that first session.

To achieve maximum hypnotic depth, I use the inferred arm-raising technique as my first hypnotic induction. This process entails the client achieving a very relaxed state through deep breathing and pointing out various physiological responses that automatically start to happen, such as fluttering of the eyelids and dryness around the mouth, lips and tongue. Meanwhile, a specific verbal patter is used to overload the person’s subconscious mind with suggestions (message units) that one arm is lifting and rising until the hand or fingers make skin-to-skin contact with the face. At that point, the individual will have achieved the peak of his or her suggestibility and entered the hypnotic trance.

At this point, the following techniques may be employed to further deepen the hypnotic sleep:

• Eye-Challenge: Tell the client to try to open his or her eyes while simultaneously giving a double-bind suggestion: “The harder you try to open the eyes, the tighter the eye-lids will squeeze shut,” etc.

• Heavy-Light: Give the client a suggestion to hold the arms straight out from the body while imagining that a helium balloon is tied to a finger on one hand while the other hand is holding a specified amount of weight. The person perceives increasing heaviness in the hand and arm supporting the weight; extra hypnotic depth is achieved once the arm drops back down to the thigh.

• Eye-Fascination: The person is instructed to stare at a spot on the ceiling or some other object in the room until this becomes physically uncomfortable (e.g., eyes start to blink or feel dry) and chooses to allow the eyelids to gently close.

• Reactional Hypnosis: The hypnotherapist instructs the individual to open and then close the eyes several times, until the client’s eyelids become heavy and the eyes are glassy. (The hypnotherapist decides how many times this action will be done.)

• Arm-Rigidity: The hypnotherapist instructs the client to stiffen one arm and send any and all negative emotions/associations, etc. about the therapeutic issue down the arm into a clenched fist, to be released when the hand unclenches.

• Staircase Imagery: This technique—along with a progressive relaxation—will also be used in every subsequent hypnotherapy session to facilitate an even deeper state of hypnosis. Imagery of going down or descending a staircase is an inferred suggestion of hypnotic depth.

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/.

© 2017

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.

• “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: I am with you kid. Let's go.” – Maya Angelou

• “Will you look back on your life and say, ‘I wish I had,’ or ‘I’m glad I did’?” – Zig Ziglar

• “Life can be great, but not when you can’t see it. Open your eyes to life.” – Nancy Reagan

• “My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” – Charles F. Kettering

• “Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.” – Henry van Dyke

• “Patience is not a virtue; it is an achievement.” – Lolly Daskal

• “The biggest failure you can make in life is making the mistake of never trying at all.” – Chiara Ferragni

• “If you have no compassion for yourself, then you are not able of developing compassion for others.” – Dalai Lama

• “Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now.” – Jonatan Mårtensson

• “It takes a great deal of mindfulness to see the true consequences of our words and actions.” – Charles A. Francis

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/.

© 2017

Dealing With Frustration

(This blog was originally posted on July 15, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

      What frustrates you? Being stuck in rush-hour traffic? Having to chase your dog around the neighborhood to catch him after he jumped the fence? Sleeping through your alarm and being late for work? Pop-up ads that block the computer screen and impede your work until you figure out how to get rid of the advertisement? The list goes on. Following are some practical relaxation and visualization skills that you can use to help you relax when you experience stress during such moments of frustration.

• Diaphragmatic breathing. Draw a slow, deep breath through your nose; hold it four three or four seconds and then release the air through your mouth. Breathing this way not only relaxes the tension in your physical body; it also provides a tangible example (proof) that you can control a specific physical behavior. Repeat this exercise several times until you notice that your pulse/heartbeat returns to its normal (resting) rate.

• Let your conscious awareness of the situation help you out. According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind, your subconscious mind is likely following a mental script about how it thinks you “should” respond or behave when you are frustrated. When you are in a situation with which you regularly associate anxiety and frustration, you are likely to experience these negative emotions as soon as your SCM recognizes similar themes in that environment. Practice diaphragmatic breathing while you focus your attention on specific physical characteristics (message units) of the stimuli you experience around you. What do you see, hear, feel, taste or smell? Directing your conscious attention to these individual details in this way will not only help to relax you by distracting your attention away from the source of your stress or frustration. It will also inundate your SCM with these new message units and help to create a new, different (innocuous) mental script about this formerly stress-inducing environment.

• Focus on your options/solutions. As Gil Grissom, one of my favorite characters from the original cast of CBS’ hit series, CSI, used to say: “There is always a clue.” Once your physical body is relaxed and your mind is calm, you can turn your attention to finding solutions to the problem that is causing your stress. Once your subconscious mind has created new associations (knowns­) between feeling calm and your ability to focus, it becomes easier to create new solutions for reducing your frustration or even access previously proved (success) mental scripts to manage your frustration.

• Be polite and gracious to the people around you. Good manners go a long, long way to preventing the development of additional social/emotional stress in your environment. For example, if there is a long line at the drug store when you go to pick up your prescription, you can be pretty sure that other people, including the clerk, are also experiencing frustration about the wait. The simple physical action of smiling at the people around you transforms your negative energy/emotion into a positive response. As Dr. Kappas liked to remind his clients and students, it is impossible for two opposite emotions to exist at the same time. In addition, positive emotion has stronger energy than a negative emotion such as anger or frustration. When you smile, you not only convert the negative energy but also (metaphorically) invite solutions that will resolve your problem, including another person offering to help you out.

 Finally, hypnotherapy and therapeutic-guided imagery are great tools to help you learn to relax and manage/control stress and frustration. I will teach you simple breathing and relaxation exercises that you can use to help reduce stress and create a hypnotic script to help manage your frustration during specific situations. I will also give you a recording of your hypnosis to keep that you can listen to and reinforce the relaxation techniques that we worked on during 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/.

© 2017