Hypnotherapy is natural process that promotes a gentle inward focus on information that is wanting to come up but which is being blocked by the conscious mind. People often reach states of trance in their day to day lives, e.g. when driving long distances or when engaged in behaviours that are over learned or automatic. In therapy, we can take advantage of the mind’s natural capacity to shift to different levels of consciousness and use this in a purposeful manner.  It is a technique that allows people to bypass their defences more readily and to connect with core feelings.

One way in which hypnotherapy works is that it enables people to focus in on bodily sensations (e.g. the sense of constriction experienced with anger). With increased awareness, these physical feelings typically start to move or change (e.g. the constriction of anger becomes a feeling of expansion).  This experience often results in a feeling of wholeness and empowerment.  It allows parts of oneself that have been disowned to be reclaimed.

Hypnotherapy is not for everyone. You will never be encouraged to use something that feels inherently wrong for you.  The decision of whether or not to use hypnotherapy will ultimately be yours: there is always more than one way to approach a problem.

Therapeutic hypnosis is quite different than stage hypnosis.  The purpose is not to be entertaining for someone else’s benefit, but to achieve one’s own goals. A very small percentage of people would actually agree at the subconscious level to be part of that kind of show.  In contrast, most all people can benefit from some form of therapeutic hypnosis.   In therapeutic hypnosis, there is no loss of control as there has to be an implicit agreement at the unconscious level to participate in the work.   In other words, you would never do something that conflicts with your core values while in a state of trance.

Hypnosis is a valuable technique for dealing with issues of stress, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, relationship concerns, emotional blocks and numbness.  It is also useful for targeted issues such as smoking cessation, weight loss, and pain management.