HYPNOTHERAPY

For many people their exposure to hypnosis is through stage hypnotists. Many would recall seeing people "turned into" chickens or eating onions that are supposed to taste like apples. These stage hypnotists are by and large very good hypnotists who are able to recognise very easily those people who are more susceptible than others to suggestion. Some will recall their experience others not.

A hypnotherapist operates from a different space, in that they are there to help you resolve an issue that is affecting the quality of your life at this time. Some of the issues we deal with are:-

• Weight Management
• Body Image
• Stop Smoking
• Other Addictive behaviours such as Alcoholism, Drugs, Sex and Gambling
• Co-dependence
• Stress and Anxiety
• Fears and Phobias
• Sleep Difficulties
• Regression
• Past Life Recall
• Self Confidence
• Sleep disorders

There are different states our brain operate within. Now you are most likely to be in beta, the waking state (if you are able to read this while asleep please call me when you wake up!), where your brain waves are resonating between 14Hz and 28Hz, the next level down is the meditative state known as alpha. Our brainwaves now vibrate at between 8Hz and 14Hz. Here our body is relaxed and our mind functions easily and without stress. The next level is theta, our mind is now resonating between 3Hz and 8Hz. We are deeply relaxed and in a trance at this level. A hypnotherapist will conduct most therapies with you in either alpha or theta, where our sub-conscious mind is more open to suggestion. The lowest level is delta, it is a sleep or coma state and our mind is vibrating at between 0.5Hz and 3Hz. Some Eastern yogis are actually able to be in delta and stay alert, such is the control of their minds. Note: any so called negative suggestions made by a therapist while in these states will cause you to wake from the trance as your conscious mind will perceive a threat and want to respond.

The above hypnotic states can be achieved alone or through a therapist guiding you by their voice or touch, such as raising the arm and lowering it. Some people respond to touch better than voice and others are more visual.

The therapy can then proceed into regression, guided visualization, discussion, or statements spoken by the therapists to induce a change in behaviour. I tend to avoid the idea of implanting positive suggestions having studied with Dr Demartini. The reason being that at any moment we will perceive incidents as either positive or negative depending on our beliefs or values. They are just events though and for me or any other to tell you that you will always be happy, excited, sad or whatever is denying the natural state of events which are neither positive or negative.

Past Life Therapy

One of the most contentious issues we deal with is the issue of past lives. Whether you believe in past lives, reincarnation, heaven and hell, or some other form of life after death does not really matter. Some will experience a so called past life automatically whilst under hypnosis. Others will be guided by the therapist to a "time" where an issue which is currently plaguing them is being played out. The client will often go to a life where a similar situation has happened or is happening. From that space the client can see where the pattern is repeating itself and choose to change it. From personal experience the images and sounds are vivid and come with feelings and emotions, some are likes movies from another time with the mind filling in the blanks as you go.

If they are just imagination, so be it, but it makes my life easier knowing that at the end of my life, if I have led it the best that I can, learning from each experience as I go, then next time around I will have another equally wonderful or better life. Some will argue that it is all rubbish and there is no proof. Proof is irrelevant to those who heal themselves, just as the many cancer cures out there, which scientists and doctors dispute, are relevant to those that have been healed using them. If it saves your life then you are not going to be disputing it, that is your only proof needed.

Finally a word about Cleopatra. Yes there have been a number of persons, celebrities included, who claim to have been Cleopatra or someone equally famous. After talking to them you will probably find that their need to have been Cleopatra is equally as important as the skeptics need for past lives to be imaginary and without foundation, both views serve each person at that time of their life. From being a severe skeptic at one stage I know that the biggest thing a skeptic usually wants is for something they dispute to be true. Their need is so strong that they will go out of their way to try and disprove it, hoping someone will prove them wrong. Some of the skeptics I know when regressed into past lives have discovered that they were persecuted for their strong beliefs in a religion or a "witchcraft" at that time. Maybe that is why they oppose them so strongly in this life?

Emotional Freedom Technique

This is truly the future in therapy and counselling... While that may seem a wild statement with no foundation, I have seen and heard of some amazing releases from fear, anxiety, pain and trama as a result using EFT. It works on the idea that every thought you have generates a "thought field" within the body. You feel this when sad or happy as a feeling of being "down" or "up". The thought field is thought to be linked to the meridian system of the body. Although disputed by scientists and some doctors as rubbish, the meridian system has evolved in a number of cultures over the past few thousand years, unlike many of the theories these doctors and scientists ahere to which have only been around for a few years in some cases. By tapping on certain acupunture points in a ceratin order this thought field appears to "deactivate" itself and the client has difficulty accessing and feeling the emotion and often times the emotion is resolved permanently. I recently had a client who is working at getting into NIDA, one of Australia's top acting schools. She had a fear of failing and not being able to do what she wanted. After 30 minutes of tapping and working on different aspects of the fear, it was amazing and funny to watch her mind and eyes searching for the "pain". When she could not find it, she started to question me as to whether it was there in the first place and I had tricked her somehow. I just had to remind her that it was her that called me, even then she was still amazed, such is the power of this technique. It can take anywhere between 5 minutes and 5 sessions to help an issue, although most are resolved in one session.