Clinical & Esoteric Hypnotherapy
What Is Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is a deep state of relaxation where the client feels comfortable and secure, and can accept information that is being accessed from the subconscious mind directly. It is a state between waking and sleeping where the patient can feel physical sensations and still be aware of external impressions. You can see as well as hear and still be in a state of hypnosis. Therapy success depends upon the teamwork between the client and the therapist.
Can everybody be hypnotised?
Yes. Hypnotherapy is an entirely natural state of mind which everyone goes through on the way from waking to sleeping.
As you relax down into sleep, the thinking part of the mind becomes unconscious first, then, after a short period of time, the instinctive part of the mind also become unconscious. For that short period of time you are in a hypnotic state of mind.
The therapist can help you to attain this state, and can control the depth of relaxation within that state. If you wish to be hypnotised you can be. However, nobody can ever be hypnotised against their will.
What can hypnotherapy treat?
A. Treatment can be divided into various categories some of these include:
- Compulsive behaviour and habits.
Under this general heading are such problems as nail-biting, stuttering, smoking,
over-eating, gambling and many more. - Nervous and neurosis problems.
These include anxiety, nervous tension, insomnia, nervous asthma, shyness, all sorts of phobias and most neurotic behaviour. - Confidence boost.
Included in this group are self-confidence, memory retention and concentration exercises, self-hypnosis, relaxation techniques, and all training methods for self-improvement. - Physical.
Painless childbirth, general and local pain management. Mental attitudes to illness may be modified to promote healing and allow the mind to be actively involved in promoting well-being of the body. The big advantage being is that healing is promoted rapidly and is unhampered by drugs.
How safe is hypnotherapy?
A qualified hypnotherapist has the professional training to know how hypnotherapy should be employed as well as when it should, (or shouldn’t, i.e contra-indicated) be used. Your hypnotherapist’s qualifications are your assurance of safety.
You will never say or do anything under hypnosis that you would not say or do when fully awake.
You can wake yourself up at any time you wish – the hypnotic state is maintained by mutual co-operation between you and your hypnotherapist.
What does it feel like under hypnosis?
In the subconscious or hypnotic state, there is virtually no change in mental awareness but nearly always physical changes (due to relaxation of the parasympathetic system) so that you may feel relaxed, warm, heavy, cool, sinking, floating, or even simply secure. So you may hear what the hypnotherapist is saying, and you can think of other things whilst in a hypnotic state of mind. In fact, you are suspended between wakefulness and sleep.
How much does hypnotherapy cost?
Most therapists charge between $80 to $250 per session. Each session can last up to an hour (and occasionally longer), the fee is not subject to time taken. Many private health funds pay some refund for hypnotherapy when performed by an approved hypnotherapist.
The number of visits required to solve a problem can vary from one or ten or more. Most problems however, are well catered for in 4 to 6 sessions.
Hypnotherapy can be used to overcome a variety of health issues including:
Compulsive behaviour and habits: Problems such as nail-biting, stuttering, smoking, over-eating, gambling and many other addictions.
Nervous and neurosis problems: These include: anxiety, nervous tension, insomnia, nervous asthma, shyness, all sorts of phobias and most neurotic behaviour.
Confidence boost: Included in this group are self-confidence, memory retention, relaxation techniques and many training methods for self-improvement.
Physical: General and local pain management, mental attitudes to illness may be modified to promote and involve the mind-body-soul healing process.
Holistic/Trans-Personal Counselling & Psychotherapy
What is Psychotherapy?
The dictionary defines it as being an interpersonal, relational intervention used by trained psychotherapists to aid clients in problems of living. This usually includes increasing individual sense of well-being and reducing subjective discomforting experience.
Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship building, dialogue, communication and behaviour change and that are designed to improve the mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family).
Psychotherapy may be performed by practitioners with a number of different qualifications, including psychologists, marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, counsellors, psychiatric nurses, music therapists, and psychiatrists.
The psychotherapy process aimed at assisting you to manage your emotions through an increased awareness, action, acknowledgment and acceptance of them and self-observation within the therapy relationship. Your psychotherapist, who is a specially trained professional, will assist you to overcome emotional pain and interpersonal problems. A variety of techniques are used based on your needs.
How long will I be in therapy?
This is dependant on the specific type of problem you are experiencing. Someone with chronic or longstanding difficulties that affect all areas of his or her lifestyle will need therapeutic assistance longer than someone with minor, non-debilitating problems. Time is also needed to allow you to establish and develop a trusting and working relationship with your therapist of choice. Psychotherapy may range from less than one year or more depending on the nature of your problem. Your practitioner may offer you a different modality to assist with your particular issue.
Holistic or Trans-personal counselling involves the spiritual, personal as well as the transpersonal (beyond the self) aspects of an experience. A trans-personal experience may be described as an experience where the identity of the self extends out beyond the individual (ego) or the personal and encompasses other aspects of humanity, psyche, life or cosmos.
A person in a balanced state of mind is able to extend their focus from a personal (ego) level to a more universal one and has the ability to view life from a cosmic perspective rather than from an ego-centred/focussed level.
Over-identification with the ego will obstruct or prevent transcendence and for those wanting to explore transcendental states of consciousness it is necessary to go beyond the ego-personality state to reach a state of ego-detachment. Those seeking spiritual growth that practice meditation and those who have commenced on their own emotional healing process know that it is necessary to detach from the personality/ego to be able to access higher consciousness. However, people who over-identify with the ego may have difficulty detaching from that part of themselves and identify only with the ego/personality. To prevent a crisis or trauma occurring during this process, it must be done in a balanced and grounded way. A dysfunctional personality attempting to transcend the ego will enhance or exacerbate any problems already present, which could result in a trans-personal crisis.
A trans-personal crisis has been described by some as the “dark night of the soul”, it is a spiritual emergence or emergency that can be the result of stress, near death experience, a spontaneous mystical experience, psychoses, profound dreams, all of which can be disturbing and disorienting and in some instances completely overwhelming leading to further dysfunction. Trans-personal counselling assists in integrating these experiences in a rational and balanced way allowing the person to view the experiences in a different “light”.
A trans-personal experience concerns the questions of value, meaning, purpose and spirituality. It is through reflection and searching that we discover empathy and identification, an understanding that no one is separate, all being one, one part being a part of the greater part. It is through grief that we find the road to compassion and in our helplessness is the impetus to serve others.
Soul and spiritual growth offers a richer and more fulfilling life. When the person changes, their whole world changes also and is never viewed in the same “light”. Those actively working on their spiritual growth or those having experienced a trans-personal crisis may ask questions like, “Who am I?”, “What am I doing here?”, “Why am I here?”. They seek answers in order to gain new insights. Trans-personal counselling assists them to integrate the esoteric with the exoteric, the metaphysical with the physical in a rational and balanced way.
Meditation
Meditation is a process of focussed thought where an individual trains the mind or induces an altered state of consciousness. This is usually done to balance or quieten a busy or chaotic mental state and to bring about a state of inner peace and wellbeing. Meditation is a mental activity that has an effect on both the emotional and physical fields and with practice, meditation can allow a deep sense of inner peace to be reached where the body can heal.
Full Moon Meditation
Ancient legends of the Moon are traditionally linked to woman and right-brain functioning. The Moon represents feminine power, the deep unconscious, intuitive gifts that are especially highly developed, or, least repressed – intuition, creative thinking, wisdom, insight, the unconscious and super-conscious. In Roman mythology, Dianna, the sister of the Sun God Apollo, is known as the Moon Goddess. The Moon Goddess is Universal. The original Yin/Yang sign shows the Sun and Moon. The Indian subtle body is shown as two snake-like conduits for the Kundalini to rise within – the left for the Sun and the right for the Moon.
The first official Moon cult was founded in Greece in 500 BC – they worshipped the three aspects of the Moon. The Maiden or Waxing Moon, The Mother or Full Moon, and the Wise Woman or Crone as the Waning and Dark of the Moon. Artemis, whose silver bow stood for the new Moon was in ancient Greece, the Goddess of the Waxing Moon. In Egypt, Isis, the great mother was worshipped as the fullness of the Moon, while Hecate represented its waning aspect to the Ancient Greeks. The Semitic Lilith, the Dark of the Moon. The Moon is regarded as The White Goddess, bringing inspiration to writers, poets, artists. It brings inspiration for creativity. Queen Luna to King Sol, in alchemy the silver of the Moon to the gold of the Sun.
Sitting comfortably and allowing the eyes to close, commence your meditation with relaxation breathing. Inhale deeply and bring the breath down into the abdomen for full-body breathing. Energising breath in and relaxing breath out. Deep, full-body breathing, centre space, down the spine, clearing the chakras and letting go of tensions and worries.
Imagine yourself standing or sitting in a silver Moonbeam, this can be on the beach, on a mountain, in your garden, any place that feels safe for you. Hear the sound of the night, and feel the coolness of the evening, while feeling the warmth of the Earth beneath and around you.
As you inhale, silently affirm to yourself:
I AM one with the Moon,
and while exhaling affirm:
I AM the wave which stills the mind.
I AM the moonbeam, penetrating everything
I AM generosity
I AM stillness
I AM contentment
I AM exalted peace.
Imagine yourself being beamed upward toward the Moon.
Before you is a milky-white road. As you go down this road you see a beautiful shimmering crystal-blue cathedral.
You approach this cathedral and enter through a portal – inside you find the cathedral is filled with shimmering light in every imaginable shade of silvery blue.
See yourself sitting down in the middle of this cathedral and allow the silver blue energies that are all around you to stream through you, feel them stilling your thoughts, calming and balancing your emotions. You are total stillness, calmness and peace.
Breathe in the calming energies, each breath of silver blue healing Light, relaxes and calms you. Rest yourself in this healing silence while you still your thoughts and feelings. During this peaceful time send healing and loving energy to your family and friends and those in need. Send healing and loving energy to Mother Earth to heal the inhabitants of her planet. Send healing and loving energy to any part of the planet that is in need of healing.
When you are ready, allow yourself to rise slowly and glide out through the portal where you arrived, see yourself gliding down the milky-white road, and feel yourself slowly descending the moonbeam. Feel the peace and calming energy that is with you now and know this is with you always.
Slowly and gently, bring your consciousness back into your physical body. Be aware of your body, be aware of your breathing, aware of the sounds around you. Be aware of where you are, where you are sitting and slowly and gently, with full-consciousness, open your eyes.