The Hypnotherapy Session

In this blog, I would like to describe how I use hypnosis and guided imagery to help my clients achieve their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals. It's actually a pretty simple process.

Hypnosis has been in use for hundreds of years. It is a safe, natural state that everybody experiences twice day: thirty minutes before going to sleep, and thirty minutes after waking up in the morning. Other examples of being in a hypnosis include: being so deep in thought that you “missed” your exit on the freeway or you just spaced out while walking around the supermarket, or even losing a sense of time while watching a movie.

As a hypnotherapist, I use hypnosis as a tool to help my clients change behaviors or habits that no longer work for them. The reason why most attempts to change a behavior or habit don’t work is because the subconscious mind overpowers our conscious willpower to make that desired change. Well, we all know willpower only works when you don't need it, right!

Hypnosis is an effective, safe and drug-free tool that allows you to gain access to your subconscious mind and change the behaviors that no longer work for you. During hypnotherapy, you will be completely conscious and aware of everything that's going on. You will also be in complete control of what you do and say during the session. You could even get up and leave if you wanted to, but you won't because you are so relaxed.

A hypnotherapy session lasts about hour and during the first part of the session, we will discuss and review your goals and talk about how you would like to feel when the session ends. It's also a good time to discuss other aspects of your life that may be influencing your goals. As the hypnotherapist, my role, and responsibility, is to help you make specific behavioral changes. For example, to stop smoking, to lose weight, to increase self-confidence, etc..

The hypnosis part of our session occurs in the last fifteen or twenty minutes. During this time, clients achieve a state of deep relaxation through deep breathing and imagery. This state of complete relaxation is very similar to being asleep, but you are in fact aware of everything the hypnotherapist is saying and everything that is going on around you.

Also during the hypnosis part of the session, I will use some visualization and imagery techniques that may involve you seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, and tasting. I will use terms like imagine, visualize, picture or pretend to facilitate this process, but again, you will be conscious and aware of everything that you say and do during the hypnotherapy session. To reiterate, no one can make you say or do anything that is in conflict with your personal, ethical values, standards or goals.

In subsequent sessions, the client and hypnotherapist evaluate what changes have occurred. Remember, the strategy is to reinforce the change (or new behavior), and making it stronger and stronger. The ultimate goal is to make the desired change or feeling, automatic.

This modality of hypnotherapy has hundreds of applications. Just a few are better public speaking, confidence, study habits, test anxiety, fears and phobias, pain management, learning new languages, smoking and tobacco cessation. The list goes on and on.

Are you ready to give hypnotherapy a try and become a better you? What would you like to work on? I can help.

David Klaproth is a clinically trained and certified hypnotherapist, with a degree in mind body psychology from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, College of Hypnotherapy, in Tarzana, California. He specializes in stress, anxiety, stop smoking, confidence and general self-improvement. He helps clients world wide online become happier, healthier and more productive, becoming the person they really want to be. For more information, visit http://www.klaprothhypnosis.com