Hypnosis and Visualization

Open your hood for improved mental health and performance…

You take your car to the auto mechanic every 3,000 miles for your oil change. Should be helpful, right?

How about every time that you drop your car off for your oil change, you tell the mechanic that he or she may not open the hood to do the job.

Are you still as confident about getting your oil changed correctly?

Through hypnosis and visualization…

… I will be doing something like opening your hood. Instead of actually changing your oil (which I am no good at), I will be helping you access your more suggestible unconscious mind.

This is an important point as your conscious mind – the one who runs the show during your waking hours, is more stuck in its ways, more reluctant to accept change.

In practical terms, when you have imagined performing a given task successfully, your brain cannot tell if you actually did it (waking from a dream, certain that it was real?). So, we will spend our time in hypnosis and visualization having you perform difficult, challenging tasks (taking a test, for instance) successfully, perfectly, time after time. When you sit down for the actual test, you will feel relaxed, ready, confident, because you have succeeded so many times previously (as part of your hypnosis and visualization training).

Visualization and hypnosis are used by elite athletes (Olympic Champions Carli Lloyd and Michael Johnson), actors and actresses (Jim Carrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger), and an entertainment billionaire whose name rhymes with Boprah. 😊

In a 15-minute hypnosis or visualization time frame, embedded into your 52-minute session, I will guide you to feeling calm, relaxed, into what is commonly known as a trance. The trance state is very similar to the kind that you are in when you “mindlessly” drive home from work, read an interesting book, or watch an engaging movie…

Once in this relaxed state of mind, your conscious mind takes a break and your unconscious mind takes over. It is in this unconscious, relaxed state where your mind is more available (open to suggestion) for the kind of powerful, positive messages that I will be delivering.

No worries; there will be no quacking like a duck or any such silliness you perhaps have seen on a televised hypnosis session.

Increase confidence, improve performance, and reduce
fear of the unknown.

Over the years I have used hypnosis and visualization to help my clients increase their level of gratefulness, stop smoking, lose weight, increase their desire for exercise, ask for a promotion, attain personal bests in track and field and weight lifting, perform a “double axle” in figure skating, give a speech in front of a crowd, and much more.

Clinically speaking, hypnosis and visualization are a good fit for nearly all mental disorders, other than those involving trauma.

Doing hypnosis or visualization together goes something like this…

Getting Comfortable
I start by explaining how you should sit: Back up against the chair, feet flat on the ground, hands placed on thighs. We will begin with my asking you to stare at an object (a door handle, light switch) across the room. It is important that you are comfortable as the hypnosis and visualization sessions generally last from 12 to 20 minutes.

Breathing
You will then be guided to focus on your breathing: You’ll take a healing breath in, and stress and worry will exit your body and mind with each breath out. I will then guide you through an enjoyable process aimed at relaxing your body and mind. After a moment or two of staring at an object, I offer my clients the option of slowly closing their eyes and without exception, they do.

Relaxation
I use several techniques to guide you to a state of relaxation of body and mind. One technique is when I slowly guide my clients in imagining a warm, calming sensation which will be flowing from the top of their head to the tip of their toes. I then have them imagine themselves taking five steps down a set of stairs where with each step they are feeling more and more relaxed, falling deeper into this calm, relaxing feeling.

Imagery
Once you are sufficiently relaxed, I will ask you to imagine yourself sitting in your quiet, safe place, whether it is a beach, a beautiful, empty park, out in the woods, on a gorgeous golf course, or in your basement on your comfortable couch. I usually “park” my clients at their quiet, safe place for a few minutes to both get them used to being relaxed and to enjoy some time to themselves.

Message
From here, I will guide you through the message portion of your visualization. This can take a variety of forms, from ego strengthening (SOCCER) to targeted scripts designed specifically for you (reducing anxiety or depression, improving focus, weight reduction, improving confidence, etc.).

The foundational (ego strengthening) hypnosis session that I offer (and many of my clients insist that we always do this one) is called the SOCCER induction. SOCCER stands for the 12 traits that I think will lead to you feeling less anxious, less depressed, more motivated, and more confident.

Here I will ask you to imagine yourself embodying each one of these traits, one by one:

S: Strong (you exercise) & Smart (can understand new information, explain things to others)
O: Organized (plan your work) & Opportunistic (never miss a good opportunity for you and your family)
C: Calm
C: Confident (you take on new challenges & get things done)
E: Energetic & Enthusiastic (grateful)
R: Reliable (people count on you) & Resilient (you bounce back, overcome challenges, setbacks)

I also add in Disciplined, because I think without this trait you cannot get too far in any pursuit that you may choose, including therapy!

See the Change, Make the Change

I’m not satisfied in changing your oil, but I will teach you to change your own. In other words, I will teach you self-hypnosis and visualization techniques to use outside of sessions, and, I hope, throughout your life.

Hypnosis and Visualization are very important aspects of my therapy practice. In fact, it was my belief – born out of my personal experiences as well as those I observed in my clients – that you must see the change before you can make the change, hence the name of my company, cyourselfchange.

Lifting up the hood to change your oil, or in our case making use of hypnosis and visualization to change your thoughts, feelings, and performance, is an important part of my practice – and I hope that you will give it a try!

Call me at (815) 325-8116 for a free consultation!