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Special Uses of Hypnotherapy
As with any health field, hypnotherapy is constantly evolving with new techniques, styles, and applications. Many hypnotherapy practitioners have learned or developed their own ways of applying hypnosis. Two popular special-use forms of hypnosis are self-hypnosis and transpersonal therapy.
Self-Hypnosis
It’s a common saying in hypnotherapy that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. Essentially, at some point during the hypnosis process, a subject must decide for himself to accept the suggestions to enter into the hypnotic state. Only as a result of this personal decision to accept the hypnotherapist’s suggestions can the person relax and focus his mind.
A person does not have to make this decision to accept suggestions exclusively during a session with a hypnotherapist: he can also do it on his own, under many different circumstances. Using the process of self-hypnosis can help a person to relax:
- Before tests
- During times of fear or stress
- While in pressure situations
- Whenever the person can identify the stress response
Self-hypnosis can also be taken a step further from basic relaxation when combined with self-suggestion.
Self-Suggestion
All of the benefits of traditional suggestive hypnotherapy can be realized through self-hypnosis as well. The process for self-suggestion is the same as in traditional hypnosis:
- Relaxing into a focused state of mind
- Repeating suggestions to oneself
- Visualizing the positive changes as having taken place
Self-suggestion can be very powerful when performed regularly. There is no minimum or limit on how much or how often one can or must use the techniques. However, as with any practice, consistency will yield greater results than inconsistency.
Drawbacks of Self-Hypnosis
There are a few drawbacks of self-hypnosis versus traditional hypnotherapy. In self-hypnosis:
- A subject can’t generally reach as deep a state of relaxation as in traditional hypnotherapy because she must keep her conscious mind alert enough to offer the suggestions
- The subject has to develop her concentration to refocus on the suggestions when her mind wanders
- The subject doesn’t get the benefit of the creativity and experience of the hypnotherapist to develop suggestions and manage specific circumstances
Alternatively, those people who are interested in self-suggestion may try hypnosis CDs, tapes, or mp3s, all of which can also reproduce the process of hypnosis.
Transpersonal Hypnotherapy
Spurred by numerous hypnotherapy books about published during the past 20 years, some people have turned to hypnotherapy as a means of exploring their consciousness. Several curious psychic phenomena—out-of-body experiences, experiences of “past lives,” and so on—have been reported as a result of these explorations. Though many of these phenomena will never be fully verified or explained, subjects who use the techniques have often reported
improvement in their conditions and satisfaction with
their results.
Consequently, certain practices have become regular
applications for hypnotherapists in a subfield called transpersonal hypnotherapy. One particularly popular form of transpersonal hypnotherapy is past life regression.
Past Life Regression
In past life regression hypnotherapy, a subject attempts to reexperience a memory in order to gain insight into:
- What he perceived happened at the time
- Any details he may have forgotten
- How the memory affected him
The subject and the hypnotherapist can then work together with the memory therapeutically. When this therapy is effective, the subject gains a resolution to the situation, and the memory stops causing current conditions and anxieties.
Occasionally, subjects who enter into a regressive hypnotherapy session with the goal of finding the source of a present condition or anxiety believe that they are experiencing the story of another person in another lifetime. These subjects may experience:
- Clear recall of the details of the memory
- A connection of the circumstances in the story to the subject’s present life circumstances
- An identification with the main character in the story as “me”
Practical Uses of Past Life Regression
Some hypnotherapists, in wanting to find out more about this phenomenon, began directing their clients to look specifically into these “past lives” as part of the regression processes. In many cases, the subjects would follow this direction, tell a story related to their current conditions, and ultimately experience positive life changes as a result of it. “Past life hypnotherapy” thus emerged as a viable form of hypnosis treatment. Past life hypnotherapy can be advantageous for certain subjects because it:
- Provides a safe context for subject, as “past life” trauma is usually easier for subjects to reexperience then present life trauma
- Offers an explanation for present circumstances that otherwise seem inexplicable
- Can work as effectively as traditional regression hypnotherapy
- Requires that the neither subject nor the hypnotherapist actually believes in past lives
Skepticism About Past Life Regression
Not surprisingly, many people are skeptical about the validity of past life memories. But whether or not the experience in the memory actually “happened” is often beside the point, as the story that emerges can offer valuable insight and direction for the subject regardless.
Because of its “new age” associations, not all hypnotherapists offer past life hypnotherapy. Some hypnotherapists, however, specialize in it exclusively. If you are interested in past life regression, inquire ahead of time with a hypnotherapist about whether the process is available at his or
her practice.
| Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
