Getting De-hypnotized

By Betty Moore-Hafter

The man was in his 50's. As a teen, he had injured his right arm and, although it had fully healed, he could never lift it past shoulder height. Through hypnosis, he returned to the scene of the accident and, though he'd been unconscious, his deeper mind had absorbed the words around him: "Oh no! That arm is ruined! He'll never fully recover!" The hypnotherapist assured his subconscious that those people weren't doctors, and medical doctors now say his arm is fine. Coming back, the man easily lifted his arm - for the first time in 30 years. It was at that moment in my medical hypnotherapy training that I suddenly got it: "Oh! Hypnotherapy is actually de-hypnosis!"

And this is true. When we use hypnosis therapeutically, it is to gain access to the subconscious where old beliefs, patterns, habits and emotional complexes still have us in their grips. It's as if we're all walking around in trances, the 'family trance' of early programming, societal trances from our acculturation, trances imbedded by trauma, and others.

In my weight loss group, one man discovered his childhood programming that "eating a lot" was good, "so you'll be strong and healthy". No wonder he had trouble cutting down - a subconscious part of him thought it was unhealthy! A woman understood that food was so controlled during her childhood that she now eats to get a feeling of power, some part of her defiantly proclaiming, "I'm in control! I'll eat whatever I want!" If eating is the only way to feel powerful and in control, who could give that up?

The good news is that when we work directly with the subconscious through hypnotherapy and related techniques, we can release old patterns and bring in messages of truth, and then everything changes. The deeper mind does hold the keys - and, as we become de-hypnotized, the truth will set us free.