It’s impossible to convey the experience of a hypnotherapy session in words (and frustrating to try!). Maybe these brief accounts of a few of my actual sessions will provide a useful glimpse of my work in action. (Names and some non-pertinent details have been changed.)
GRANDMOTHERS TO THE RESCUE
Julianna is so light-sensitive that she has to wear sunglasses indoors. Her ophthalmologist can’t find anything physical to account for the problem. She’s made eight visits to a prominent psychiatrist an hour’s drive from her home, only to wind up frustrated, irritated with the analyst, and out eight co-payments and several tanks of gas. In our session, she journeys to encounter the spirit of her grandmother who points out to her that her problem with her “seeing” is linked to the ashamed and embarrassed way she “sees” herself and her parents, immigrants from Hong Kong. Grandma gives her a little Chinese box to contain her sorrows and remind her to be proud of her heritage. A week later I receive a phone call from Julianna. She tells me her problem is almost completely gone…and on a visit to Chinatown, she impulsively decides to turn up a street she’d never visited before. She looks through a store window and finds the box she first saw in trance. ONE SESSION.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO HAVE A HAPPY PAST LIFE
Anne is an accomplished professional, co-owner of a thriving physical therapy practice. She can’t understand why she is so intimidated by her business partner, but it’s gotten to the point that she dreads going into her office. In trance, Anne journeys to a past life a few hundred years ago in Europe. Anne is unable to rescue her partner, who in this past life is a male, from a crevasse he has fallen into. She feels terribly guilty about this failure. In trance, she explains her helplessness and regret, and she receives forgiveness from her partner. The following week, Anne finds herself able to confront her on some office management issues without holding back. Her partner says she appreciates her openness, and also asks Anne what she’s been doing lately to look younger and lighten up her energy. THREE SESSIONS.
SAFE TO CROSS BRIDGES
Michelle is terrified to drive across the any of the Bay Area’s many bridges. The last time she tried to traverse the Benicia Bridge, she had a panic attack, pulled over and had to call a friend on her cell phone to come and pick her up. In trance, she discovers that she has never gotten over the death of her grandmother, who passed on when Michelle was ten years old. In the session, Grandma visits her and reassures Michelle’s inner child that both she (Grandma) and Michelle are safe. Several days later, Michelle calls to proudly announce that she has just driven across the Bay Bridge by herself without a hint of trouble—the first time she has done so in years. ONE SESSION.
BEYOND BERLITZ
Veronica’s career change has an exciting aspect: she gets to travel out of country and deliver presentations. She has scheduled a trip to South America to give a series of talks in Spanish. But whenever she has to speak in front of a crowd, she gets self-conscious, nervous and tongue-tied. Her message of course becomes compromised in the process. She’s feeling panicky at the prospect of exposing her less-than-perfect Spanish. In her session, she recalls a humiliating childhood experience in front of an elementary school class. But this time, she fires her teacher and hires a much friendlier, more encouraging substitute. On her return from her travels, she calls to tell me her presentations went beautifully. She went on to say that she spoke nothing but Spanish for several days and felt completely at ease in her expression. ONE SESSION.
OVERCOMING THE SINS OF THE FATHER
Doug can’t seem to finish his master’s thesis. He feels blocked in a big way. In trance, he discovers that he is overwhelmed by sadness for his father, who himself never finished his bachelor’s degree and died bitter and disillusioned. He allows himself to grieve for his father, and now free from this emotional entanglement, he learns that he really isn’t interested in his master’s program. He gets a job he likes in a different field, where he feels he has found his niche. ONE SESSION.
A PSYCHIC RESTRAINING ORDER
Rachel has separated from a battering husband, but must see him once a week as they have a shared child custody arrangement. Mike continues to threaten and intimidate her, so much so that she is terrified every time the phone rings. In trance, Rachel meets protective “bodyguard” spirits who help her imagine pounding her husband to a pulp. She reports the following week that, strangely, he has ceased to verbally abuse and intimidate her, but has instead taken up this practice with her boyfriend! Jeff isn’t cowed, however, and laughs off the threats. ONE SESSION.