Dispersing The Myths About Hypnotherapy
I am Licensed Rapid Transformational Therapy Practitioner. Rapid Transformational Therapy or RTT is a modality created by UK's top therapist Marisa Peer and combines the best from hypnotherapy, NLP, and traditional psychotherapy. That in essence means that, unlike traditional hypnotherapy, I won't just be giving you suggestions but actually finding the root cause of the issue.
Carl Jung said, “Until you make the subconscious conscious, it will direct you life and you will call it fate”. In RTT, we only use hypnotherapy as quick access to the subconscious mind. We then use psychotherapy techniques to find out the root cause of the problems and finally, we use CBT and NLP to reframe the issue, release the negative emotion and empower you with more positive beliefs about the world and about yourself.
In this article, I’d love to shatter some general misconceptions about hypnotherapy that quite frankly drive me up the wall.
So here are the truths:
1. Hypnotherapy is NOTHING BUT a way to tap into your subconscious mind. We can then access some memories and emotions that your conscious mind may have suppressed, and indeed those very memories or emotions may be holding you back.
2. It’s not woo-woo science and scientific research is abundant. Hypnobirth, for example, is becoming more and more popular these days. Some approaches based on hypnotherapy such as EMDR have been accepted by the WHO for decades, and are - for all of you science-lovers - an evidence-based approach.
3. Hypnosis is just a light state of trance or relaxation, very similar to mediation which I am sure 99% of you have done at least once, your brain goes in alpha brain wave (or theta in deeper states), that's pretty much it.
4. I cannot make you moo like a cow or quack like a duck - of course, you want me to, of course, then we can give it a go, and results are not guaranteed but I, for one, am bound to have some fun! In other words, there's nothing that I cannot make you do unless you already want to do it.
5. Related to point 3, you don't "feel" hypnotised. In fact, the most you feel is relaxation, potentially some fluttering of your eyelids, called REM, the same state as when you are asleep, only you are awake during hypnosis. Again, it's very similar to a meditative state. So feeling like "it's not working" is quite normal. Your mind doesn't GO anywhere, you are simply relaxed.
Unfortunately, many stage hypnotists have tainted the reputation of hypnosis (Darren Brown, for one, is very popular in the UK), and by the association of hypnotherapy, making it even harder to explain to folks how and why it works, and why we can't make you moo or quack unless you want to. And making it seem like the best use of it - and guess what those people that go on stage to be hypnotised and quack, do it because they want to!
They have indeed allowed themselves to tap into their subconscious...
And isn’t it ironic how our so-called conscious mind is actually the most unconscious thing there is sometimes? We go to work, we live in our little box, we raise kids, and then we wonder where life has gone! We have no conscious recollection of most things that happened to us, of where most of our habits came from, or how we became exactly like - or the complete opposite of - those who raised us? Or we cannot lose weight, handle relationships or stop drinking?
On the contrary, the subconscious mind is where all your life experience is stored, all of the answers to all of your fears, questions and doubts can be found too. And all infinite wisdom too.
So can it be that the subconscious is actually the source of true consciousness and the conscious mind is, well, not so conscious at all? Just a brain twister to think about as you go to sleep tonight...
One thing is certain: your subconscious truly has all the answers, to every area, every goal, every problem you ever had, so isn't it about time we brought made those a little more conscious?
#hypnotherapy #RTT #rapidtransformationaltherapy