Hypnosis has been used in the world of entertainment for years but did you know that hypnosis is also highly effective in helping people sort out difficult issues in their lives. Issues that are often addressed, during therapeutic hypnosis, include working with fears and phobias, anxiety, depression, traumatic memories, and unhelpful patterns of behaviour that tend to haunt our daily lives. Read More
Hypnosis is an ancient process used to access the subconscious part of our mind. More recently hypnosis has been implemented and studied by such recognizable figures as Franz Mesmer, Sigmund Freud and Milton Erickson, to name just a few. Many believe that the conscious mind makes up only a small part of our awareness and that the sub-conscious portion holds 80% or more. This is much like the iceberg analogy where the conscious mind is represented by the part of an iceberg that we can see above the water line and the subconscious is represented by the much larger portion below the water line.
Ok, so what? Why do we care about the part of our mind that is normally hidden from our conscious awareness, even if it is bigger? If I am not conscious of it then, so be it, let’s move on and think our way through life.
Well, that is exactly the issue at hand. We often find that the logic and reasoning provided by our conscious mind has left us short of our full potential and tarnishes our experience of full and loving relationships. We may find that we avoid situations that make us uncomfortable and yet we don’t know why. In some cases this avoidance can be a good thing and it keeps us safe or out of unpleasant experiences but more often than not we avoid experiences based on an irrational fear held by our subconscious mind.
One way to look at the subconscious is to consider that it has no sense of time or space and yet it holds information from our formative past. For example, if I was frightened by a large black dog when I was a young child but I have forgotten (in my conscious mind) about that experience I may find that today (many years later) I am frightened or avoidant of dogs specifically or furry animals in general. I may avoid going to the zoo, getting a pet for my children, avoid certain kinds of movies, avoid going to a friend’s house knowing they have a dog. On and on it can go and our rational mind does not know where these issues come from but follows our “gut” feel to avoid certain things.
When we continue to follow the irrational motivations of our subconscious mind with little or no awareness then consider that we are actually … well, asleep. We are in a mental state that is based on our history and is not necessarily related to the experience we are having today in this moment. We are not conscious of the ways we restrict and diminish our lives and our potential experiences but all that can be changed through hypnosis. We can access the subconscious mind and put the historical experiences into a healthy context, one that no longer negatively effects our lives and relationships.
Hypnosis has been shown to be effective in the treatment of traumatic memories, fears, phobias, anxiety, pain reduction, removing old rigid beliefs, undesirable behaviours, and generally opening up to your full potential. If you would like to know more or would like to book a session please contact me at any time. Some common questions and answers are located on the website here.
