The human brain is a beautiful thing. Designed to keep us alive, safe, breathing, and connected, we can thank our brains for these gifts.

If you are reading this blog, you likely live in a safe community with enough food, clothing, community, and shelter and find it natural to challenge yourself and grow. Things get sticky, however, when we go into action.   Creating something new is always more challenging than we imagined. We have all been there. When we stare at the blank screen, ready to write the next chapter, our brain is like, “what was I thinking? Life is fine. I don’t need to do this,” Or when the alarm goes off for the 6 am spin class, our brain is saying, “at what point did I think this was a good idea?”   Or have you considered a career change or retirement, but your brain cannot even imagine what it would look like, discouraging you from changing things?  Sure, we can override all this with conscious thought and sheer willpower, but it never lasts.  Consider that hypnosis can give you a little turbo boost in challenging situations. 

Under hypnosis, you can use this opportunity to do a few things to ease the resistance to breaking your life’s status quo. It is like a mini-life rehearsal before you take the actual steps.  

One of the fascinating parts of an RTT session (Rapid Transformational Therapy) is that it allows you to have those “brain-conflicting” conversations out loud. You are permitted to talk to that part of your brain that wants to keep you safe, cozy, and stagnant.  Allow that “safety-brain” to dialogue with the role of you that want to reach your goals. I encourage each client to be gentle with themselves. Instead of the usual shaming and blaming, you first thank that part of our brain for doing such an excellent job keeping us safe. Your brain thinks it is doing a fantastic job keeping from doing something scary and unfamiliar. When you talk to yourself like part of you is a toddler, you can then choose to listen to the “adult” and put yourself in charge. And yes, that adult wants to reach for a more prosperous, more fulfilling life. 

Why is hypnosis more powerful than talking to yourself in the mirror?

1. Hypnosis is a state of hyper-focus where all outside distractions are gone. By doing brief hypnosis, your brain practices intense focus where you can let motivational messages sink in. For instance, if your goal is to stop over-eating, you can focus on caring for your body and a reminder that food is for nourishment, not for numbing or entertainment. If you want to use hypnosis to help you study, your brain will have practice in not engaging in constant distraction with the phone. If you use hypnosis to overcome a fear, you can use hypnosis to imagine giving that big presentation ahead of time. Or, for folks who fear flying, even use a mental picture to rehearse flying in an airline, and so on.  
2. With RTT, Rapid Transformational therapy, we can look back at the experiences we had that created the fear and rewrite the meaning of the narrative that our brain created. For instance, if you were embarrassed in third grade, giving a presentation, and now fear public speaking, you can look at those scenes and re-interpret them. “Of course, that was a terrible experience, but I am here for you now.”  You can comfort that child, let her be scared for a minute, and let that pain and embarrassment “go down the drain” as it is no longer relevant.   
3. Finally, you can visualize and practice the emotion and excitement of doing what scared you before. You can imagine how you dress, walk, feel, and move as this person does the challenge, makes a career change, or leaps into something new.   The beauty of hypnosis is as it starts to “rewire” your self-concept at a deeper level.  

Experiencing life ahead of time, internally, is about making what is unfamiliar familiar.  It is so cool. If you want to learn more, visit my website, or reach out with an email or call.