Hypnosis and Childbirth

Many clients inquire about using hypnosis during childbirth after they have successfully used it for smoking cessation, weight control and other behaviors which they thought was out of their control.

More and more people are looking to have a healthy, natural lifestyle, free of drugs and pain.

Childbirth is a natural and normal event, and with hypnosis the mind can be trained to experience discomfort and pain as only pressure.

My Voice Will Go With You

Milton H. Erickson (1901– 1980 ) was an American psychiatrist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy.

He was noted for his ability to "utilize" anything about a patient to help them change, including their beliefs, favorite words, cultural background, personal history, or even their neurotic habits.
Through conceptualizing the unconscious as highly separate from the conscious mind, with its own awareness, interests, responses, and learnings, he taught that the unconscious mind was creative, solution-generating, and often positive.

Erickson frequently drew upon his own experiences to provide examples of the power of the unconscious mind. He was largely self-taught and a great many of his anecdotal and autobiographical teaching stories are collected by Sidney Rosen in the book My Voice Will Go With You.

Erickson believed that the unconscious mind was always listening, and that, whether or not the patient was in trance, suggestions could be made which would have a hypnotic influence, as long as those suggestions found some resonance at the unconscious level.

Erickson was an irrepressible practical joker, and it was not uncommon for him to slip indirect suggestions into all kinds of situations, including in his own books, papers, lectures and seminars.

Erickson also believed that it was even appropriate for the therapist to go into trance.
"I go into trances so that I will be more sensitive to the intonations and inflections of my patients' speech. And to enable me to hear better, see better.".

Erickson maintained that trance is a common, everyday occurrence. For example, when waiting for buses and trains, reading or listening, or even being involved in strenuous physical exercise, it's quite normal to become immersed in the activity and go into a trance state, removed from any other irrelevant stimuli. These states are so common and familiar that most people do not consciously recognise them as hypnotic phenomena.

Where a classical hypnotist might say "You are going into a trance", an Ericksonian hypnotist would be more likely to say "you can comfortably learn how to go into a trance".

Everything comes from the subject and takes place in his imagination.

Abbé (Abbot) José Custódio de Faria, (30 May 1746 - 20 September 1819), was a colourful Goan Catholic monk who was one of the pioneers of the scientific study of hypnotism, following on from the work of Franz Anton Mesmer. Unlike Mesmer, who claimed that hypnosis was mediated by "animal magnetism", Faria understood that it worked purely by the power of suggestion.
Faria changed the terminology of mesmerism. Previously focus was on the "concentration" of the subject. In Faria's terminology the operator became "the concentrator" and somnambulism was viewed as a lucid sleep. The Indian method of hypnosis used by Faria is command, following expectancy.The theory of Abbe Faria is now known as Fariism.

The Hidden Power

There is a very general recognition, which is growing day by day more and more widespread, that there is a sort of hidden power somewhere which it is within our ability, somehow or other, to use. The ideas on this subject are exceedingly vague with the generality of people, but still they are assuming a more and more definite form, and that which they appear to be taking with the generality of the public is the recognition of the power of suggestion. I suppose none of us doubts that there is such a thing as the power of suggestion and that it can produce very great results indeed, and that it is par excellence a hidden power; it works behind the scenes, it works through what we know as the subconscious mind, and consequently its activity is not immediately recognisable, or the source from which it comes.

The Hidden Power, by Thomas Troward
Copyright, 1921

Napoleon Hill

"Man may become the master of himself, and of his environment, because he has the power to influence his own subconscious mind."

Autosuggestion,

or self-suggestion, is a daily statement you make to yourself to program your subsconscious mind for change.

Frequently asked questions #3

Q. Will my memory be erased?
A. Hypnosis can't erase or change a memory, so there's no danger there. It simply helps you become aware of an old block or negative pattern that you can rewrite and heal from your adult perspective.

Frequently asked questions #2

Q. Will I be re-programmed?
A. Some people fear that a hypnotist can program you to do something negative or dangerous, but that's a myth. During hypnosis, you remain awake and aware of everything you hear.

The Hypnosis Session

The client decides on a goal for the hypnosis session. The reason they came.
The hypnotist will make “suggestions” to the clients subconscious mind based on the interview process and the clients goal.
These suggestions are positive statements to help the client reach their goal.

Stop smoking.

There are generally two approaches.

One is to give it up on the spot.

The other is a cessation program. Gradually cut down over a 4 or 5 week period and finally be free. How many do you smoke day. 20? 25? 50? Your pattern determines the program best suited to you. With hypnosis you get the support and motivation to change, so that by the end of the program you've made significant lifestyle changes.

It's also about setting the goal of what day will you quit. So that on the day in question you will be able to say "I DID IT"!

To chocolate / exercise / drink / smoke / succeed / be happy

or not to chocolate / exercise / drink / smoke / succeed / be happy.

Part of you wants to,
part of you doesn't.

Hypnosis can help resolve the inner conflict and discover why.

Are you ready to give up chocolate / exercise / stop drinking / become a non-smoker / succeed / be happy.

Change your mind, change your life.

Habits are simply the result of the repitition of an action. Mental or physical.
What we think, we do.

Frequently asked questions #1

Q. Will I reveal secrets under hypnosis?
A. No. Hypnosis is not a “truth serum”. While under hypnosis a person does not talk or reveal any intimate secrets they would not tell in the waking state.

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis refers to a state or condition in which the client becomes highly responsive to suggestions. Hypnosis is a state of relaxation. All hypnosis is self hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a natural psychological process in which critical thinking faculties of the mind are bypassed and a type of selective thinking and perception is established.

Hypnotherapy is a term to describe the use of hypnosis in a therapeutic context. Hypnotherapy can either be used as an addition to the work of licensed physicians or psychologists, or it can be used in a stand-alone environment.

The early hypnotists were called mesmerists. A term attributed to Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815).

Hypnosis evolved from mesmerism, The term hypnosis was first used by Dr. Jame Braid in 1842, derived from the Greek word Hypnos.

What's your goal?

Accepting yourself ~ Allergies ~ Bereavement ~ Control issues ~ Dealing with Divorce ~ D-Stress ~ Exam Anxiety ~ Insomnia ~ Motivation ~ Nail Biting ~ Overcoming guilt or shame ~ Phobias/Fear ~ Read Faster ~ Self esteem issues ~ Sports (Bowling, Golf, Baseball, Soccer, Hockey) ~ Stop Smoking ~ Stuttering ~ Weight Loss

Hypnosis helps.