Hypnotherapy is a type of alternative medicine that creates a state of focused attention with the help of guided imagery. If it sounds exciting, there’s good reason. It can change your life. The goal of a hypnotherapy treatment is to help you manage your challenges by positively influencing your state of mind through hypnosis.
Who does this kind of treatment? Hypnotherapists are professionals who are trained and licensed to perform hypnotherapy. Those who are considering a hypnotherapist career or want to learn self-hypnosis can choose from different hypnotherapy training programs online. Hypnotherapy can be a factor in overall wellness.
Wellness isn’t just one thing
The three categories of wellness include your physical, emotional, and spiritual states of being. Holistic wellness can be attained when these three aspects of your life are fulfilled. Holistic wellness pertains to the balance of physical, mental, and spiritual health as a whole. So, can hypnotherapy really contribute to your overall wellness? Short answer: yes.
How does hypnosis work
- During a hypnosis session, a trained hypnotherapist or hypnotist induces a state of increased focused attention using verbal cues and repetition.
- You are fully aware of your surroundings while entering the trance-like state, which is similar to sleep.
- The hypnotherapist makes positive guided suggestions to help you achieve your therapeutic goals.
- In a heightened state of concentration, your mind becomes more open to advice and proposals that you would normally ignore.
- The hypnotherapist wakes you from the trance-like state after the session or shows you how to leave the state of hypnosis on your own.
5 ways hypnotherapy contributes to wellness
Hypnotherapy may contribute to your overall wellness in many ways, but these are our top five.
- Hypnotherapy promotes physical and mental relaxation
Hypnotherapy allows you to release your tension bring new and more positive thinking to your mind. With the help of a hypnotherapist or through self-hypnosis, your body reaches a more relaxed state, allowing you to bypass conscious thoughts and attain physical and mental relaxation through the introduction of positive ideas and thoughts .
Here’s how to try self-hypnosis at home
- First let everyone know you need quiet. Reaching a hypnotic state is quite similar to sleeping. Let everyone know around you that you need quiet so you won’t get distracted or disturbed. And if there’s an emergency, someone can wake you up.
- Find a focus object. Look for an object you can focus your attention to, and place it slightly upwards towards the ceiling or on the wall in front of you.
- Look at the object: Focus on the object and clear your mind. Take your time and allow your conscious thoughts to recede gradually.
- Increase your awareness of your physical responses: Are your eyelids heavy? Do you feel them slowly closing? As you close your eyes, focus on your breathing and breathe evenly and deeply. Relax more as you slow your breathing to attain deeper relaxation.
- Count down: Slowly and softly count down from ten to one in your head. Believe that when you’re done counting down, you’ll have reached the hypnotic state. Remain relaxed and focused for a moment. Tell yourself that you’ll be rejuvenated once you awake from the trance-like state. When you’re done, just count in reverse order until you’re fully awake.
- Hypnosis reinforces positive thinking
Here’s where hypnotherapy can really change your life. Negative thinking is the roadblock that makes moving forward difficult. Negative thoughts and negative self talk are repetitive. They’re on a treadmill that prevents action and change. Think about smoking about reactive behavior, inability to get out and exercise. Negative thinking affects both emotional and physical well-being. Depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders may arise from chronic negative thinking.
You can create new pathways for thinking and change your behavior and mood. As you focus on the suggestions of the hypnotist or hypnotherapist, steer your mind away from the things that make you feel sad or troubled.
- Hypnotherapy gives you a spiritual boost
Spirituality is part of wellness. What is spirituality, you may wonder, and why do you need it? Spirituality means having the feeling, sense, or belief that there is something greater than yourself, something more to being human than sensory experiences and material things. It’s different from religion. An opening of the heart is an essential aspect of true spirituality. Hypnosis helps promote greater spirituality by introducing higher thoughts and different worlds.
Meditation and hypnosis may also be combined to achieve maximum benefits. Here are some ways to try it:
- Read a book, quote, or story that inspires, or uplifts, you. Think about the ideas and words and focus your thoughts on them.
- Pause and breathe: As you think about what you’re reading, try yoga breathing to become calmer and slow your heart rate..
- Pray. Say a short prayer and repeat it a few times, emphasizing the words that are most meaningful to you..
- Self-affirm: Self affirmation is one of the most important positive things you can do for yourself. Remind yourself about all the things that are good about you. You are great, unique, and beautiful in your own way, and you can do anything you set your mind to. Own every good quality and feel your body and mind change as your perception changes. This is not something that happens overnight. Self affirmation is something you need to do every day.
- Cultivate gratitude and appreciation for life and nature
Have you heard people say that gratitude is attitude? Being thankful for what you have and seeing the beauty of nature can help to lift depression and improve relationships. If you’re irritated all the time and angry about many things that aren’t really that significant, you can’t be happy. Everything around you just turns out to be dull, lifeless, and hopeless.
Hypnotherapy can help you become more appreciative of your surroundings and the things that really matter in your life.
- Find purpose and achieve real happiness
We don’t always see our true purpose. Life has changed in so many ways since the Pandemic. You may feel shattered and alone. You may worry about getting a job, or improving your situation. Who are you now, and what do you want for yourself? As the world opens up again, you now have a new opportunity reassess who you are and what you want to be. You may have new ambitions, or want a simpler life. What brings meaning to you? Caring for others, caring for animals, being creative? Finding new ways for self expression can bring peace of mind and reveal your purpose. Hypnotherapy can be your gateway to self-fulfillment and show you the path to true happiness.
A different kind of therapy for self discovery and change
Hypnotherapy contributes to overall wellness by promoting physical and mental relaxation. This alternative therapy may help you become more optimistic, and help boost your spirituality so you can achieve inner peace. More importantly, hypnosis may help you find your life’s purpose and genuine happiness.