New Chapter

This past weekend I just completed my first intensive weekend of training to become a certified hypnotherapist. I plan to finish the 300-hour course by July.

I'm very excited about the opportunity to help others using hypnotherapy. It's something I've regularly used on myself for years (see the self-hypnosis page of my Website: http://www.wellspringreiki.com/wellspringhypnosis.htm).

I believe it will serve as a powerful complement to the energywork I perform. Many self-sabotaging programs have been absorbed by people's subconscious minds over the years.

The subconscious is very childlike (about the level of a two year old) and believes much of what it's told. Think about how many negative beliefs about yourself and life (often untrue) probably reside in your subconscious.

What kinds of self-criticism do you feed yourself? Probably much more than you consciously realize (your "coulda, shoulda, woulda" thoughts).

Many people employ positive affirmations ("I'm good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like me") to help reprogram themselves. Such suggestions are much more effective if they're communicated directly to the subconscious through hypnosis.

Many people believe that they can't be hypnotized. This is essentially a myth. People who consider themselves immune misunderstand the nature of the hypnotic state.

The "alpha" state is a hypnotic state. We all spend at least half our day in the alpha state: when we become deeply engrossed by movies or books, daydream, or perform daily activities on automatic pilot. Ever arrive at your destination in the car and realize you can't really recall the last five miles?

My first experience with intentional hypnosis was in 1997 when I visited a psychologist to help me quit smoking. She got me deeply relaxed and guided me through a series of visualizations related to my life experiences with smoking.

When we were done, I could remember everything she suggested. I wasn't sure whether I'd really been hypnotized, but realized I had been in the coming days when the urge to smoke basically vanished (and I'd been a hardcore smoker, even though I knew I badly needed to quit for my health).

I sent a friend to the same counselor. He dismissed the idea that the hypnosis had worked, but he didn't smoke for the next six months (and he'd been a pretty heavy smoker, too).

He only returned to his old habit when he allowed himself to have "just one" while visiting a smoky bar with his chain-smoking mother in New York. The hypnotherapist had warned us that people who'd quit for more than a decade often return to smoking full force within days of trying "just one" because the body has memory and always remembers the pattern.

Hypnotherapy can't make you do anything you don't really WANT to do on some essential level. If you don't have a strong urge to quit smoking, it probably won't work.

Nobody can make you cluck like a chicken for the rest of your life without your permission. People who do crazy things in hypnotic stage shows understand what they're agreeing to when they volunteer to participate. The stage hypnotists can really influence those people, but only because they have some element of hammy performer within themselves that can be engaged.

Most hypnotherapists aren't interested in entertainment. They understand the nature of the mind and want to help people change their lives and reach those goals.

The self-hypnosis technique I've included on my site (see link above) is an easy meditation that almost anyone could learn to master. But it might not be the right technique for everyone. Some people might respond better to the suggestions of a professional hypnotherapist who can easily guide them into that alpha state.

I foresee that I will often hypnotic techniques in conjunction with Reiki to help people get deeply relaxed during energywork sessions. I could guide them through visualizations about healing particularly physical issues and remove obstacles that at the subconscious level that people prevent people from healing.

I have much training to complete before I fully understand all of the possibilities.But I'm certain that hypnotherapy will become an important part of my practice, enabling me to do more than ever to help many, many people.

I actually identified hypnotherapy as inevitable part of my career path shortly before I decided to start a Reiki practice. It's taken me six years to get around to taking the training, but I really feel that I'm doing it at the perfect time. I needed to strongly focus on pure Reiki for a long time before pursuing this path.

I believe there's much truth to the saying the student will find the right teacher when they are ready.

I actually identified the woman I'm training with, Jane Ann Covington of Hypnosis Institute International, several years ago, but when I called her she was taking an extended sabbatical from teaching. But in hindsight, it wasn't the right time (certainly not financially).

I started feeling strongly compelled to find the right training program again in the fall, but the one I was considering just didn't feel right. When one of my recent Master students brought up the training hypnotherapy program they were about to begin at the last Reiki Meetup Jan. 12, I just intuitively knew it was the right option for me as well.

I'm very thankful to be going through the program with someone I already know (who's actually a neighbor to boot!). We plan to practice on each other a lot!

During the first part of the course, the hypnotherapy exercises I performed on my self and others just came so naturally to me.

I've often been told over the years that I have a "soft, soothing" voice. Playing back the recordings of myself from the class made me realize that my voice is really a gift (even though I've felt critical of it at times in the past). I plan to eventually market professional hypnotherapy recordings of myself.

I'm extremely excited about all the possibilities!