Hypnosis – The Path To A Better You

Twitter It!

You may have noticed that the posts I said I would make have not been put up.

Why?

Because the day after I made the previous post, I was told I had to find a new place to live.

In less than a month.

And be in that new living place within that “less than a month” time.

I could have panicked. I did have to ward off some anxiety, and some days I was better at that than others.

But if I had given in to that anxiety, that panic–if I had let it overwhelm me–than I would have found myself running around and around and around and getting nowhere. In fact, I would have not even as made as much progress as the Red Queen did when she ran as fast as she could just to stay in place; I would have slid backwards into That Hole.

If you have ever had panic or anxiety issues, you know the one I speak of. It’s the one that’s always lurking behind you, ready for you to slip up and fall into, the one that eats up all the light around you and swallows you whole.

And when you’re in the hole, you find yourself convinced that you’ll never emerge from it again.

I’ve been in the hole, and I’ve gotten out of it. Doing so took time, serious work invested into healing, learning to rely on others, learning to Trust–Trust with the Big T, Trust simply and truly that things will work out–and finding various coping mechanisms.

There are several. Hypnosis is just one, and–given the main focus on the blog–it is the one I’m going to write about a bit today. I do want to share the other ways that can help one deal with staying out of The Hole, and I plan to, but I want to give each way the focus it needs. (On that note, if you want to share the mechanisms that you personally use, I welcome you to do so in comments here!)

There are two benefits to hypnosis that help when anxiety/panic attacks, etc, are the issue that one has to face.

First of all, any hypnosis session involves relaxation; that relaxation alone, keeping your breathing patterns regular and even, will help you stay grounded and calm you in its own way to a fair point.

And then, of course, there is the Specific: sessions meant to deal with anxiety or panic themselves. The words, soothingly said, tell you what you need to hear and remember in those moments, remind you of the things you may still intellectually know…but emotinally, those reminders are needed again, anyway.

And, really, I was wrong: there are two more ways that it helps.

The third way is that the voice of the hypnotist is the voice of someone else there for you; it may not be someone you know personally (in most cases, it won’t be) but it is still a human voice.

We live in a world, now, where we are so often alone and kept separate, even when technically there may be dozens of people in the same room as we. We do not touch each other, and we suffer from the lack of physical contact. Therapists more and more are sought out, and sometimes, sadly, it’s because people don’t feel like they can talk to their family or friends. That they are not supposed to. (Please note that this is not at all an attack on therapists; I have a great deal of respect and admiration for them, and consider the profession a great calling and gift to humanity. But your therapist should not be your only person providing support, the only person who you feel you can talk to about anything–we need to rebuild connections with others. We need to know we can break down safely over the phone with our friends, that we do not need to be in an office of someone with a degree to do so.)

And the last way it helps?

The hypnotist reminds you of what you know and talks you through the session–but the hypnotist is the teacher and the tool-giver, not the one who will solve the issue.

It puts you back in control; you are the one doing the work, and you are the one climbing out of The Hole and walking away from it. You are triumphing and doing the work, not having anything done to you.

The following sessions I recommend specifically for issues of this type:

- Believe in Yourself
- Stop Negative Thinking
- Stop Obsessive Thoughts and Compulsive Behavior
- Stop Worrying
- Stop Panic Attacks
- Instant Stress Relief
- Deep Relaxation

Again, please feel free–and know your input is more than welcomed!–to share anything you peresonally have found to be of help in this area.

(And, for the record? First house I found, we went and saw, and we’re moving into it next weekend. It’s perfect. Trusting, really Trusting, that things will work out? Tends to ensure that they will, as long as you don’t expect that they’ll work out without you having to put any work into it at all.)

Filed under: Coping Mechanisms, Panic and/or Anxiety Issues, Relaxation, Specific Sessions on July 18th, 2010