Coffee With Hilary and Les from State of Mind Hypnosis and Training Centre
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Offering ideas and answering questions on how to use your mind for growth, happiness and ultimately peace.
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Coffee With Hilary and Les from State of Mind Hypnosis and Training Centre
The Art of Self-Hypnosis: Reprogramming Your Subconscious
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Ever wondered how much control you truly have over your mindset? Today, we uncover the secrets of self-hypnosis and reveal how this powerful tool can help you harness your own mind for meaningful change. By examining the principle that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, we share personal stories and insights from our journey in developing effective self-hypnosis programs. You'll gain an understanding of how the mind is influenced by both external factors and personal interpretations, and how a hypnotist's role is to facilitate your individual goals rather than impose their own.
Empower yourself with self-hypnosis techniques designed to keep you in control and foster positive shifts in behavior and perception. Discover how metaphors and practical exercises can reorganize your mind for better mental health, with a focus on "I am" statements that build confidence and self-trust. Through real-life applications and success stories, we illustrate how clients have used these methods to achieve lifelong personal development and mental wellness.
Dive into the core practices of hypnosis therapy, including releasing, reframing, and reprogramming the subconscious mind. We'll discuss how visualizing positive outcomes and leveraging the power of imagination can lead to personal growth and happiness. Learn about our new program based on "I am" statements and get a sneak peek into future discussions on enhancing internal power and control. Join us for a transformative experience that aims to improve your state of mind and overall well-being through the power of hypnosis. Visit us at www.somhypnosis.com for more details and to book a free consultation.
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Welcome. Thank you for joining us for Coffee with Hillary and Les. Brought to you by the State of Mind Hypnosis and Training Center located in the heart of the Kawartha Lakes. This is our almost daily community podcast about the mind and how we all might change it in the most simple and helpful ways. Every day, we sit staring at the lake and sipping our coffee, chatting about hypnosis and how to make those meaningful adjustments to our state of mind, because nothing's more important than your state of mind. Because nothing's more important than your state of mind.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're on the line.
Speaker 1:Kind of late in the morning, aren't we?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We slept in today. We were out watching fireworks last night.
Speaker 2:Partying.
Speaker 1:You don't know that. That's what it characterized. We were out late anyway. We're not normally out until after midnight, so that was like a big deal for us, yeah, which meant I had to sleep in.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But it was a good sleep in because I started my day with our prototype of a self-hypnosis program. I've been starting my day with self-hypnosis for a long time, but we're trying to create a program that we're inspired to create of self-hypnosis that we can share with our clients.
Speaker 2:It's in beta testing.
Speaker 1:Beta testing inside my head. Within my consciousness. It's being tested.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that's where it needs to be tested before I inflict it upon anybody else. Unleash.
Speaker 2:I've already unleashed it, have you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have haven't you Pieces of it anyway? Yeah, yeah, I have too. I mean part of it. Yeah, you have, haven't you Pieces of it anyway? Yeah, yeah, I have too. I mean part of it comes from just the work we do with clients and some of the inspiration we get as we go along and then bring it together. I guess you know. To start with, you know there's an old old saying all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. What do you think of that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I all. Hypnosis is self-hypnosis. What do you think about? Yeah, I think there's a lot of wisdom in that, mainly if I think about clients that come in and they say, oh, make me do this or make me do that, you can't. You can't make anybody do anything in hypnosis, despite what you see on television and on stage and stuff, not that you'd want to and nothing you'd want to.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you're, if you're an ethical person, um yeah, like if I don't believe that we, as hypnotists, should be deciding what people should want, should be deciding what people are working on. It's not not our place to analyze them or, god forbid, diagnose them. It's our place to be open to helping them accomplish what they want to accomplish. Yeah, knowing that everything comes from the mind. Right, the mind is the center of everything we think, say and do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, and that idea of everything is self-hypnosis, is just that. It's your mind, it's not my mind, absolutely positively. We all have a whole bunch of ideas in our mind that somebody else put there Right. That's what we are. We open the door to people that we love, to people that we see in authority, people that we see as knowledgeable you know, there really isn't anything in your mind that didn't come from somebody else yeah I mean, you can have experience, but even the interpretation of those events in your life is is very much subject to the meaning that you have built into you over years and years and years.
Speaker 1:I call that the context, the context of your life the way you interpret, interpret things, place meaning on things, the way you see what life should be, what life might be. This is the context. You know the reaches of life. What does it include? What does it not include? You know, we use the phrase I believe in.
Speaker 1:We were talking about this last night around the campfire. You know, do you believe in ghosts? And I find that to be sort of a funny phrase, because the existence of ghosts or not has nothing to do with my beliefs. But it's interesting because we use that phrase to sort of say I am open to the idea that ghosts exist, right, and what that means is different for everybody. But that would be part of your context, because some people would say I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe that there exists spirit bodies, and so that's their context.
Speaker 1:So when they're trying to interpret what's going on around them, that wouldn't be part of the possibilities, that wouldn't be part of the possibilities, that wouldn't be part of the way they would explain or interpret their happenings in their life. So when we think of the mind as something that is the collection of other people's words and ideas, as well as our interpretation of those ideas based on what we perceive, life is what we perceive who and what we are, you know that's. That's a really interesting way of looking at it and saying that there's not a whole lot there in my mind, in my day-to-day life, that wasn't put there by somebody else.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right. So it's absolutely possible, I suppose, in the right circumstance and the right conditions, to put ideas in people's heads. And you know, as a society we try to control behavior in a number of ways. You know socialization and education and law. We're putting ideas in people's minds that they use to create their context. But in the end, as a hypnotist, you come into our office and you sit in Hillary's chair, you sit in my chair and you open yourself up to the idea that maybe what's going on in your mind is not helpful, that maybe there's another way to use your mind for your own benefit.
Speaker 2:Life can be better, feel better.
Speaker 1:And then we use your desires, your goals, as the basis of guiding you through your mind and figuring out why things are going the way they're going and offering new interpretations and, more importantly importantly, new methods of thinking that will ultimately then demonstrate themselves in your behavior. They will come out in the way you express yourself in the world. If you see that everything within you, within your mind, it contributes to the way you express yourself out into the world, then you can see that the subconscious mind is a very powerful thing, that you can consider what's in your subconscious mind and make those changes, and a hypnotist simply guides you based on your goals. An ethical hypnotist will guide you based on your goals.
Speaker 2:An ethical hypnotist will guide you based on your goals and therefore the client's always in charge.
Speaker 1:And if the client's always in charge, then hypnosis is always self-hypnosis, because I can't, I won't, control your mind. You're in control of your mind and you sit in my chair and we use simple techniques to guide you into a theta state where the external world has now disappeared for now and the internal world is laid out before you and you can start to reconsider. You know what's there. I always use the metaphor of the attic. We go up in the attic and we see what's lying around up in the attic and some of that stuff just needs to be thrown away and some of that stuff needs to be brought down out of the attic and made use of. And sometimes the attic can be organized in a way that helps in the overall lifestyle of the person.
Speaker 1:And, as you can tell, all hypnosis is metaphor. We use metaphors as a way of guiding people towards these ideas. But what's important to us, absolutely important to us, is empowerment, the idea that you come to us and you pay for hypnosis, and it's, it's not cheap. Everybody, um, everybody pays, and and you know, it's one of those relationships where we don't want to make you dependent on us. So an important part of everything I do.
Speaker 1:I have always included when I work with clients, teaching them self-hypnosis, teaching them how to do this kind of work for themselves, teaching them a system that I learned years and years and years ago. I've been using for 20 years, teaching them a system of self-hypnosis that is useful and helpful and you can do all on your own right. You pay to learn it and then after that you use it for the rest of your life, and there's so many people in my life that are just so actively using it now, and I get clients that want to come back for refreshers and I get people who just want to learn the self-hypnosis part because they don't like the idea of handing over control to other people.
Speaker 1:And so I believe that self-hypnosis, teaching self-hypnosis, is an essential part of the hypnotic relationship Of the hypnotic relationship, the therapeutic relationship, the helpful relationship that I have with my clients. So how?
Speaker 2:do you use self-hypnosis Personally or with clients Both? Well, personally, um, I, I do a lot of the uh, what we're going to get into shortly, the, the statements, I am statements, um, and just connecting in with the universe, universe. I do a lot of work speaking to my body, my cells, as if I'm telling them you know all as well, you know, hey, we are, we are healed and we are made in the universe's image kind of thing, sources running through the body all the time. And then, when I use self-hypnosis with clients, there's a system we have been using, called seventh path, which I use with them but also using I am statements, but using them in a way that is based on what they're going through in that moment. Right, so if somebody wants confidence and they're working on confidence, then there is uh, this, this I am statement of, I am confident, I am able, I trust myself.
Speaker 2:And also I I'll do a little bit of um with clients where they have a big book in front of them and let's say, half the book is their life so far, and then the book, the remainder of the book, is empty, and I'll have them pretend in their mind to write I am statements on each page just three. We usually go through three and I'll say, just kind of like Bart Simpson, writing on the chalkboard in the beginning, over and over and over, writing those I am statements, and then I'll say, when you have the feeling like the page is full, just tell me. And then we'll flip to the next page in their mind and they'll write another I am statement.
Speaker 1:So what's the power of an I am statement.
Speaker 2:I think the power is in the present. It's a present moment statement. It's a present moment statement um, it's assuming that things have already happened in a sense. Um, it's assuming that, um, whatever you're saying to yourself is is the truth, um, and I think when we're in the present moment and in our truth, the body responds um, you know, if, if we can get ourselves worked up with thoughts of anxiety and worry, then we can absolutely. I believe that we can do it the opposite way. Right, we can make the body feel good, we can make our mind feel peaceful, because I know I can go the opposite way and make my body feel pretty bad. Right, the mind making the body feel pretty bad. So if we can go that way, then we can definitely go the other way.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, and that's. I think one of the habits that we all have is that we use I am statements as an observation. So I'm angry. Angry or I am frustrated, or I'm confused, or you know I'm not worthy.
Speaker 2:I don't deserve this.
Speaker 1:I don't have what I want, I can't have what I want. These kinds of statements. We do it naturally, because we're searching and we're wanting and we're striving and what we observe is the lack, and unfortunately, the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between reality and thought. The subconscious mind, I mean this has been proven in all kinds of ways. Conscious mind, I mean this has been proven in all kinds of ways. You know, we refer to studies that have been done where there's two groups and one group practices the piano. They play and they play, and they play and they play, and when they start they get measured in terms of their ability. And then another group does not practice the piano. They practice thinking about practicing the piano, so they practice the piano. They practice thinking about practicing the piano, so they practice the piano in their mind and then they measure the results.
Speaker 1:And it's shocking. They do this with sports, they do this with just memory retention, they do it with all kinds of mental and physical skills and they conduct this study over and over and over and what they find over and over is that practice in your mind is as good, and sometimes better, than just physical practice, and so it just demonstrates the idea that the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between what's actually happening and what you think is happening. They use functional MRIs for this stuff, where they get people to do certain tasks with the functional MRI on and they will, as a result, see what parts of the brain light up while they're doing this thing, and then they have the same people just think about doing that task, not actually doing it, and the same parts of the brain light up in the same way. All of this is is just physical evidence that the mind doesn't know the difference between actually doing something and thinking about doing something yeah, so to the mind, especially the subconscious mind.
Speaker 1:Whatever you put through, it is real. Yeah, so this is the power of I am statements. The subconscious mind doesn't know the difference. You can say I am happy, and it's funny how we don't right. We're quick to say I'm upset and we're slow to say I am happy, I am content, I am feeling great. But when we say those kinds of statements, the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference. So this is the power of the I am statement.
Speaker 1:The power of the I am statement is that you are on behalf of the whole of your being and specifically into the subconscious mind that really controls everything. You are claiming, you are taking, you are seizing, you are making that idea real and, as a result, when people use I am statements, you can literally change your mood in a matter of minutes. You can in one minute say I am am angry and then, using I am statements, you can shift that. I am safe, I am at peace, I am accepting, I am allowing, I am safe and secure. I am safe and secure. I am aware that this is not about me, I am not the problem, I am at peace.
Speaker 1:And saying these kinds of words can dramatically shift your state of being, it'll shift your pulse, it'll shift your breathing, it'll shift your pupils dilation, it'll shift your whole body demeanor. And so you know, we become really aware of the power of I am statements, the, the inappropriate use and the appropriate use, and we, we use it all the time. I use it all the time with clients. I'll get them in a state and we'll go through whatever clearing we need to clear and then I'll just start to fill them up.
Speaker 1:I'll just tell them to silently repeat in their mind what I say, and I'll just say things like I am at peace and I am safe and I am smart and I am capable and I understand and I am forgiving, and I am safe and I am smart and I am capable and I understand and I am forgiving and I can allow, I am allowing, and to say all these I am statements creates an enormous shift in their mood and in their outlook and in the way they look at certain circumstances that might otherwise appear threatening or somehow provoking. It shifts their view of that. And so all of that brings us to. You know, we're creating I'm working real hard on a system of self-hypnosis that's based in I am statements.
Speaker 1:The beauty of that is they can be used instantaneously, right the instant you recognize in yourself an emotion or a thought or a feeling in your body that you don't like anymore, you can begin the process of claiming something different, claiming to yourself, for yourself, about yourself, something different. And it's really, you know, going from being a victim of your mind because you know it just, it's going to run amok if you let it. It just does. It's just. That's just really normal. It's normal for me, it's normal for you, it's normal for everybody. But it doesn't have to be what we do, and I am statements are just that powerful. And so this self-hypnosis process is based in I am statements, about claiming for yourself what you want and not what you perceive to be out there, and so there's really, you know. To come back to, the simple stuff.
Speaker 1:There's really only three things we really do with clients in hypnosis. In some way or another, we release things Emotions, thoughts, frame of mind. We release things, we just let them go. And we use all kinds of wonderful metaphors, usually related to things like water, like lying in a stream. That's your wonderful creation. I'll have them lie in the surf and have the waves come in and out. You can stand in a shower or you could, you can use light as a way of pushing through. Anyway, there's all kinds of ways and metaphors to release emotions and thoughts. And then, of course, there's changing those thoughts and it's what we do here, right, we do with this podcast.
Speaker 1:We try to offer a refrain, another way of thinking about things, a meaningful way that, hopefully, is more truthful, more accurate and more useful, more helpful. So the other way, another way we use hypnosis, the second way is reframing ideas and reframing experiences. You know, when you simply take the mistakes that we make that might cause emotions of guilt and shame, and turn them into lessons and then embrace the lesson, knowing that the past is gone, there's absolutely nothing you can do with it, but the future is bright because you've learned this lesson. You've essentially reframed that experience and it becomes a meaningful lesson that you'll use in the future, so you can release and you can reframe in hypnosis. And the other one of course people really love is to reprogram. In other words, why aren't I doing the things I want to do, or why am I doing the things that I don't want to do? And that's often the question that we get in that very first meeting that we hold with clients and we talk about. You know what they want to accomplish and how hypnosis can help. They almost always say things like you know, why am I eating a bag of potato chips every night? Or why do I get angry so fast? Or why can't I let go of this hurt that I experienced so long ago? And why am I always acting this way? Why am I making this choice that I don't want to make over and over and over? These are the things that bring people to us because, quite simply, they're not aware of what is in their subconscious mind that is creating these behaviors and these actions, and so we really are all about understanding that stuff, and in that process it often takes first a release get rid of the emotion a reframe think of a situation differently and then a reprogram. I want to do this, and reprogramming is a really, really simple thing. Rep reprogramming is just simply deciding what it is you want to do, see yourself doing it and see the positive result that you wanted and allow yourself to feel those positive emotions that come from it. And it's really about using your imagination.
Speaker 1:We're certainly great at using our imaginations because most of us spend a lot of time worrying. We spend a lot of time anticipating negative things. We spend a lot of time imagining bad things. We spend a lot of time imagining ourselves in conflict with others and trying to prepare ourselves for that conflict. We use our imagination, but we often use it not to help ourselves but to what we think is prepare ourselves, when what we really should be preparing ourselves for is success. We should really be preparing ourselves for having the things we want, doing the things we want, being the person that we want. And that's where the imagination is really useful. And when you use that imagination in a state of hypnosis, in a theta state a theta mind state.
Speaker 1:it really has a potent effect on the subconscious mind and begins the process of programming you and the neuroplasticity experts will tell you actually causes a rewiring in your brain. You can actually see the circuits that support that kind of thinking get built. And so we use hypnosis to do those three very important things, and we can use self-hypnosis and the concept of I am as a way of getting there getting ourselves positively programmed.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, some of my favorite times as a hypnotist have been teaching people self-hypnosis and watching them Just sort of the lights go on and the excitement builds up. And then they come back a week later for the second lesson and they're like, wow, this is really amazing. And then they come back for the third lesson and they're just like, yeah, I can't imagine not doing this now. I want to do this. I had no idea I could use my own mind to help myself with my life right, and it's just, it's so empowering for them and it's so rewarding for me to be part of that. And so, with all of that said, we're creating our own program and it's going to be based in this idea of I am just simple, I am statements.
Speaker 1:And we have created systems to release and systems to reframe, which has always been sort of. To me, the magic it's one of those incredible things you can do in your own mind to change your life is to just see things differently. They don't, things don't mean anything other than what you want them to mean and you can control that meaning. And when people recognize that, when people wake up to that, now the mind becomes a tool for my happiness and success, rather than this thing that I got a fight against every day to be able to get somewhere. So that's what we're working on and that's that's what we want to promote and teach, and there's all kinds of pieces to that and I think you know, maybe we'll save it for tomorrow to talk about the ladder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really like the ladder.
Speaker 2:Every day when I think about it. I like it more and more. When I think about it, I like it more and more because it kind of gives you a sense of internal power, right, it's recognizing that you're not at the whim of the world, right, like we most often feel like being pushed around and out of control. It gives you back a sense of purpose and control. And those words control and power, I think they have some negative connotations, but not in this way. This is an internal control that says to yourself, your mind, your body, that you have the power to choose what you want to feel and, uh, you have the power to move forward and things that you want to move forward in, or feel what you want to feel, without thinking that it has to be an external motivator that pushes you in that direction. You can do it yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really hard for people to cross that bridge, and it's a really big bridge. Hard for people to to cross that bridge, and it's a really big bridge when you shift from seeing yourself as the victim of life, as the one who has to respond to all this crap around you, and that you are being attacked, to being in a position to say the way I respond to this is what matters, not what happened outside of me is what matters, and maybe that's a great refrain for today, you know. Let it inspire you to think that maybe you can control your mind and that maybe you can use your mind as an ally in dealing with this world. Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching a wonderful phrase been sharing it with people for decades. I learned it like 30 years ago and it shifted a whole lot in me. To control others is strength. To control yourself is true power. To control others is true power. To control others is strength. To control yourself is true power.
Speaker 1:Lao Tzu and Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu is the name of the supposed writer of the Tao Te Ching. It just means the old master. And the Tao Te Ching is just the way Some people call it the way of truth and virtue and the Ching part is the great book of. So the great book of the way of virtue is sort of a literal translation the way, the way to live, the way to be, the way to get along, the way to survive the way things work, the way things happen.
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful, beautiful little book. I've read it hundreds of times. I think about it a lot. But to control others is strength. To control yourself is true power.
Speaker 2:Let that be the reframe of the day.
Speaker 1:Tomorrow we'll talk about reprogramming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think to get into the ladder and how to reprogram is. It's fun. I really enjoy this new way of looking at things and moving the mind sort of up, up in vibration, let's say up in frequency.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's just a sequence of, I am statements that help you find where your resistance is.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that I think we should touch on too tomorrow. Yeah, because it's not just a matter of moving through these I am statements, and then suddenly our life is wonderful. It's noticing where that resistance is and working with that so that you can go up another rung, so to speak, on the ladder without having that resistance. And that becomes very apparent, you know, when I've used it with a couple clients. It's right there, they know exactly, there's like a little ping, you know, in the body, and they go oh, I'm not sure about that. And then we work on it and then we move up right. So I think it's really I guess, I think it's gonna be good, okay, so tomorrow the latter yep, okay, we'll see you later.
Speaker 2:We hope you enjoyed today's podcast and that maybe it helped even a little. If you you have any questions, we would love you to send them along in an email to info at psalmhypnosiscom. Thank you for being part of the State of Mind community. For more information about hypnosis and the various online or in-person services we provide, please visit our website, wwwpsalmhypnosiscom. The link will be in the notes below. While you are there, why don't you book a free one-hour journey meeting with Hilary or Les to learn more about what hypnosis is and how you might use it to make your life what you want it to be? Bye for now. Talk to you tomorrow, thank you.
