The Unexpected Benefit of Client-Centered Hypnotherapy
We all come into the world as big “feelers”. As we learn how to speak and use our executive mind in order to be a part of society, we forget the wisdom that lies within our feelings and imagination.
In a way, children are always in a “hypnotic state”. Which is why we develop most of our programing during childhood.
The most common misconception in hypnotherapy has to do with the word “hypnosis”. Because of stage hypnosis people often think it has something to do with mind control. What we call the “hypnotic state” in hypnotherapy is a deeply relaxed state where you go from thoughts into imagination.
Through imagination we access the subconscious mind, and through client-centered hypnotherapy (client-centered being the key word here) the client gets to access something else entirely: the inner knowing*.
In short, the inner knowing has all the answers about you, it’s your inner psychic. There is no one in the world that has better answers than your inner knowing. And this alone is a very important tool to learn.
Your inner knowing is like a mediator between your conscious and subconscious mind.
Your inner knowing is like a mediator between your conscious and subconscious mind.
You might already be familiar with your inner knowing if you meditate often or if you’re naturally very intuitive. As you develop a relationship with your inner-knowing, these are some of the benefits that come with it:
navigate uncomfortable feelings without spiraling
regulate emotions through mindfulness and presence
understand better what is it that you really want (vs social or family conditioning)
have a trustworthy mediator to work with all your parts (Internal Family Systems)
control the volume of your thoughts when your inner knowing comes online
and, depending how much you nourish the relationship, you might even learn how to read energy since all emotions carry energetic symbols for us to read and interpret
It’s important to say that the executive mind is not the enemy, to the contrary, it’s essential for survival. Which is probably why we’ve learned to give it so much more importance than our feelings and imagination. It’s with our executive mind that we plan, focus, learn, multitask and so much more.
The executive mind is not the enemy, to the contrary, it’s essential for survival. Which is probably why we’ve learned to give it so much more importance than our feelings and imagination.
But the executive mind can't know what we need when we feel bad. It can’t do self care, or understand our behavior or where it’s coming from or how to get there. And it can’t know because it’s not its job to know.
When you give the executive mind the role of self care it will, most likely, make things worse, probably by making up stories around the issue, making you spiral even more.
By practicing client-centered hypnotherapy (or guided meditations created specifically for this, Rebecca Niziol and Cindy Luffred are a great example with their amazing Soul Talks offering) you can cultivate a relationship with your inner knowing.
Finally, with a regulated emotional state, your executive mind will to stop working overtime and focus on what is really good at: thinking. And giving center stage to your subconscious mind to do what it’s best at: feeling. Bringing a new sense of balance and harmony into your life and everyone in it.
*Others might call it intuition, Self, higher self, soul, guide, third eye, etc. From my perspective, what the client is accessing depends on how deep they go. Inner knowing counts as all of the above in a more general, less polarizing way.