Ray Routhier writes of his experience with a hypnotist for stress relief and relaxation . . . check your stress at the door. The account is a first-hand description of his earlier misgivings and misimpressions and then a description of the session itself and how much it helped him.
I had hoped to fall into a deep sleep, and then be made to cluck like a chicken or bark like a dog. Or both. But it did not happen. After 20 minutes of listening to the soothing voice of Portland hypnotherapist Cynthia Farr-Weinfeld, I felt relaxed. Very relaxed. Spacey, even. Oranges and blues swirled before me like a lava lamp, even though my eyes were closed. It was the middle of a work day and my car had just died the day before. Yet that didn’t seem to matter anymore. Instead my mind was comfortably numb.
The hypnotist then used a form of open-ended guided imagery in which the subject imagines a relaxing place:
She told me to envision a place that calms me, to plant it in my mind so I could bring it up at any time when I needed to relax.
The image could be an island, she suggested. Or a lake. Perhaps a sunny beach. The place I envisioned was Hadlock Field, sitting down the third base line watching the Portland Sea Dogs play baseball on a warm summer night. Now that is nirvana. But the serenity was not to last. After a little more talk, Farr-Weinfeld told me she was bringing me out of this state. I remember thinking, "I’m not in any state, I’m just sitting here with my eyes closed, listening to you. I feel pretty good, but I’m not in a state." Then she stopped talking. I yawned, stretched, and felt very much like I was waking up from a nap, though I had never stopped hearing her.
Ah, there’s the rub. The It wasn’t what I expected but I’m not sure its’ more than relaxation response. I also use guided imagery on occassion but when combined with hypnosis or other deep focused trance techniques, I prefer to use what are called deepeners, tests, and convincers so that the person experiences something they’ve never experienced before outside of hypnosis as a way of demonstrating something real is going on. However, to each their own.
Hypnosis is based in a great deal on what is called suggestibility and imaginative involvement and as the article reports, it really is wonderful for stress relief and relaxation as well as hundreds of other issues.
If you would like to give it a go, feel free to check out my webpages at http://www.briandavidphillips.com for more information on booking a session with me here in Taipei or you can browse the blog or listen to the free guided imagery and deep relaxation MP3s or even or an audio CD of your own (both standard sessions or custom sets). Feel free to email me for more information.
