You Have Ages, Yet

“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” – Unknown

(This blog was originally posted on January 7, 2016)

Photo by Sara Fogan

When I studied in London during my junior year at college, one of my friends was fond of saying, “You have ages, yet,” to reassure me that I had plenty of time to complete an essay or project. She was right, of course: I typically started and completed essays as soon as the lecturer had assigned them. (That strategy was all the better for allowing enough time to do countless rewrites and edits, but that’s a topic for another essay.) Somehow, the deep timbre of her voice and calm way of delivering the statement always helped to take the pressure off. I knew that the only real pressure on me was what I was putting on myself. Without explicitly saying so, the statement reminded me that the more stressed-out and worked up I allowed myself to become about the assignment, the more “stuck” I became in my worrying—time would be better spent actually doing the work. Depending on the value of the assignment—weekly essay versus a term project—sometimes I had to repeat the mantra to myself (“I have ages, yet”) while I worked. But I always finished and turned in the essay on time and a little less stressed.

As I look back on those days, I can identify the different stages of repeated and learned behaviors that were going on, based on John Kappas, Ph.D.’s model for the Theory of Mind. Throughout our lifetime, starting from birth, we create and follow a subconscious mental script that dictates how we are likely to feel about and react to different situations. According to the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder, these responses are based first on what we have modeled and learned from our primary caretaker(s); later, we start to model friends’ and colleagues’ behaviors. For example, I “learned” or model my behavior of taking copious notes during a class and re-copying (hopefully, neatly) them into a separate notebook, from watching my mother do this when she worked on her degree when I was a teenager. I also followed her example of further organizing the relevant information into a structured outline before I wrote the assignment. This process was followed with several edits and rewrites up until the morning the essay or project was due. That may have been my way of “flirting” with procrastination: During high school, one of the girls in my class was well-known for procrastination. Somehow, she was able to put off studying for a test or completing an assignment until the very last minute and still earned very good grades. Her behavior was drastically different from my (known) way of being a student and it ultimately proved too emotionally and physically stressful (e.g., procrastination=pain) for me to successfully imitate. I quickly returned to my own ways of studying.

However, my friend’s perception of time to complete an assignment was an epiphany for me. Perhaps she was able to influence my attitude and study behaviors because we were friends, which increased my suggestibility to her. I knew she worked very hard and was very good student; but she seemed to be better at balancing fun/relaxation with getting down to doing her work when an assignment was due or a test was looming. I envied and admired that talent, so I decided to adopt her perspective about time to see if it would help me relax a little more. I was sick of making myself sick and sleep-deprived as I rushed to complete a deadline I had actually met, several drafts ago.

It worked. Just the act of repeating her words—“You have ages, yet”—reminded me that I did have enough time to complete the project seemed to stretch time out a little bit. Without yet knowing the term “chunking it down” I was able to mentally prioritize what I needed to do to finish my work so I could get a good night’s sleep and go for a meal or to a movie with my friends. I could give myself permission to enjoy my time and experiences in a different country while I learned and achieved academic success there.

After all, I had ages to be able to do it all.

 

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/.

© 2018

Stages of Therapy

(This blog was originally posted on December 14, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

As a certified hypnotherapist, I work with clients to help them achieve their personal vocational and avocational self-improvement goals (Business and Professions Code 2908). In today’s blog I outline the (general) stages of the therapeutic process.* Please note that this description does not outline the specific number of hypnotherapy sessions each client receives or must receive to achieve the stated goal. Rather, it outlines certain behavior patterns that may be observed over time during the duration of hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is part of every hypnotherapy session.

• Defensiveness. The client may be defensive or subconsciously resist changing the previous behavior(s).

• Increased openness. Over time, the person becomes slightly less rigid or reluctant to address the stated goals. He or she also starts to talk more about other people and events.

• Avoidance. The individual may talk about or refer to the self by using more objective or even detached terms and avoid discussing present events.

• Opening up. The client begins to share or talk about deep feelings and may develop a close relationship with the therapist. As I explained in my blog titled Secondary Relationships, the hypnotherapist’s role in a client’s life is to use tools such as hypnosis and guided imagery to help the individual achieve vocational or avocational self-improvement goals. Therefore, to prevent transference and counter-transference in my hypnotherapy practice, I establish strong professional boundaries around the therapeutic relationship that I have with each client.

• The beginning of personal growth. As the person starts to express his or her emotions, he or she starts to make decisions (behaviors) and accept responsibility for personal actions.

• Moving toward congruence. With increasing personal growth, the client rapidly moves toward congruence: i.e., feelings “match” behavior. The individual’s Emotional/Physical Sexuality and Emotional/Physical Suggestibility may shift slightly at this time to reflect this congruence.

• Self-Actualization. This is characterized by greater empathy and the client’s ability to deal with situations in the “here and now.” A caveat: When a person grows this way, the romantic partner will also grow and catch up with these new values or the relationship may end. For more information about Family Systems, I invite you to read my blog titled The Systems Approach in Hypnotherapy.

  

*Hypnosis is performed during every hypnotherapy session, throughout the therapeutic process

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/.

© 2018

Hypno-Anesthesia

(This blog was originally posted on July 12, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

You may recall one of the scenes in Glory, in which a young soldier runs away from Confederate gunfire despite having had one of his legs shot off. Presumably he is in considerable physical pain at that moment, but his subconscious and conscious mind are completely focused on fleeing the danger/surviving the battle and living. He doesn’t even seem to even notice his injuries. Conversely, in Dances with Wolves, Union Army lieutenant John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) runs toward enemy fire in a bid to commit suicide rather than have Union doctors amputate his badly wounded leg. In this case, Lt. Dunbar was likely more afraid of living the rest of his life as an amputee—a totally unknown way of life, compared to the one he knows as a decorated soldier—than the prospect of death, which he faced every time he went to battle.

Even though at least one million sensations are going on in the body at any one time, we typically only perceive a few of them at once. So, at this point in reading my blog I want you to focus attention to your feet and how they feel in the shoes you have on. Until I gave you that suggestion, had you even noticed your feet or shoes? This kind of selective attention is very fortunate; otherwise, we would be in a state of sensory overload every minute—every second—of the day.

This kind of selective attention is also what facilitates hypno-anesthesia. Consider Dr. John Kappas’s definition of hypnosis: “Hypnosis is created by an overload of message units disorganizing our inhibitory process (critical mind), triggering our fight/flight mechanism and ultimately resulting in a hyper-suggestible state, providing access to the subconscious mind.” When you are in this state, the level of awareness is actually heightened. However, the message in the hypnotic script has you focus on a specific issue(s) or sensation(s) while disregarding or reforming the significance of conflicting messages/perceptions. For example, when preparing a pregnant client to manage the discomfort of the contractions in labor, I would suggest that she imagine/perceive the contractions as the gentle massage that is helping to bring her child into the world. By changing the meaning or association of the sensation from something uncomfortable to a process that is bringing joy into her life, she can also change the perception of that sensation.

Hypnosis is to manage/control pain is one of the most common requests/uses/applications of this modality. The body naturally produces its own analgesics (pain-control enzymes) when the subconscious mind is overloaded (distracted) or when you are comfortable and relaxed, such as during hypnosis/hypnotherapy/therapeutic guided imagery. Therefore, when you are relaxed and calm in hypnosis, you are more likely to feel greater comfort and be better able to manage or control physical pain. However, the anxiety and fear that often accompany pain typically increase this perception. Since hypnosis helps a person relax and reduces anxiety and stress, being in this state, alone, is a natural analgesic.

Unlike medically-induced anesthesia—which can induce physiological complications from medication-induced side effects—hypnosis is a safe, natural, drug-free state of awareness. In addition to helping create pain-free labor/delivery, it is useful to control pain/discomfort during dentistry procedures, low-back pain, headaches, arthritis and more.*

*California law allows access by California residents to complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are not providing services that require medical training and credentials. The purpose of a program of hypnotherapy is for vocational and avocational self-improvement (Business and Professions Code 2908) and as an alternative or complementary treatment to healing arts services licensed by the state. A hypnotherapist is not a licensed physician or psychologist, and hypnotherapy services are not licensed by the state of California. Services are non-diagnostic and do not include the practice of medicine, neither should they be considered a substitute for licensed medical or psychological services or procedures.

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/.

© 2018