Hypnotherapy: What it's not, what it is and how it can help you

People have many preconceptions about hypnotherapy - what it really is, and how it helps. Often, these have come from TV programmes or movies and are far from reality, which is a shame as it may put them off! 

To start, let's talk about what hypnotherapy isn't:

• It won’t take you to the feeling of being out of control.
• It won’t send you to sleep. 

Hypnotherapy is a sleep of the nervous system, a deep state of relaxation. You will feel calm, still and quiet. It is a whole process that will enable you to understand the root cause of what is holding you back. 

In this deeply relaxed state, the subconscious mind awakens and the conscious mind drifts asleep. This enables a deeper connection to yourself and your own true internal state, whilst disconnecting from your monkey mind and the day to day worries and stresses that keep us living in our heads.

In this state, we are able to go beneath the surface. We can draw upon some past memories and bring up scenes or events that happened early in childhood that had a significant impact on the way we felt back then. 

What may seem like a minor or insignificant thing that happened to you at a young age, could have had a massive effect. When you look back as an adult, you know this. But the little child - the little you - didn't. And it is that version of you that the event impacted. Not the adult version of you. 

Perhaps now you have a problem or limiting belief that is there but you have no idea why. And perhaps you lack clarity around what caused the issue. Going back to these scenes, however big or small, and understanding how they made the little you - the child you - feel, will give you the crystal clear clarity you are searching for to understand and, therefore, overcome what is holding you back. 

Also, in this state, you are more receptive and suggestible. This is a great time for me - the therapist - to offer up more positive, powerful, beneficial words and sentences and affirmations that will help you to feel how you want to feel, on a day to day basis. 

Remember, our thoughts lead to our feelings lead to our behaviours. 

So, what hypnotherapy does so beautifully is to go way, way beneath the surface, by firstly addressing the presenting issue (behaviour). It allows us to go back to the way certain things that happened to us in childhood made us feel (feelings) and unravel how those feelings made us think about ourselves and about the world (thoughts). 

And this is why hypnotherapy is such a wonderfully powerful, healing and transformational method, and is highly recommended.

It can seem daunting to go back. But, sometimes in life, you've got to take a few steps back to take leaps and bound forward. Plus, it may just be the best thing you've ever done. 

Have you ever done hypnotherapy? How did you find it useful to you?