Journey of the Mind

The mind is like a vast iceberg; astonishing in its brilliance and awesome in its depth. What we use of our mind represents just the tip of that iceberg, while what lies beneath the surface is more complex and dynamic than we can even begin to compregend. Through hypnosis, we can tap into and unlock our mind’s most powerful potential.

The office was tiny but neat. Decorated in shades of muted gray and sea-foam green, it exuded an aura of tranquility. It seemed surprisingly normal — for a hypnotist’s office that is. There was nary a swinging pendulum or swirling black circle in sight. I exhaled audibly and allowed myself to feel cautiously optimistic. My knowledge of hypnosis until this point had been limited to my hypo-birthing experiences with my second daughter, which had enabled me to experience a calm, natural delivery.

My doctor had handed me the hypnotist’s business card when I complained to her of my chronic insomnia. Medications had failed me and continuing to operate on three hours of sleep in 64 hours was simply not an option any longer. Not if I wanted to retain my sanity. That was how I found myself peering around in quiet bemusement at the rather ordinary looking waiting room and wondering just how this woman was going to get inside my mind and rid me of my sleeping problems.

The hypnotist’s name was Lisa, and as she emerged from her office, she warmly shook my hand and gave me a sheaf of paperwork to complete. After I filled it out, I watched a brief video explaining the process of hypnosis. I was surprised to learn that hypnosis is a natural state of consciousness, and that young children enter into mild states of hypnosis throughout the day, especially when they are engaged in imaginative play. I learned about “highway hypnosis” — the experience of getting lost in a daydream and then wondering who has been driving the car for the past twenty minutes (a sensation I could easily relate to!). During periods of “highway hypnosis,” the subconscious mind takes control and enables us to drive safely while our conscious mind daydreams.

After watching the video, Lisa demonstrated to me the connection between the mind and body. She asked me to think of a fruit that I particularly liked and to imagine walking into a sunlit kitchen and seeing a huge basket of those fruits, with a few lemons scattered among them. I thought of pumellos, those juicy golden segments whose sweetness is perfectly balanced with a delicate tang. She asked me to envision passing over my favorite fruit and selecting a bitter lemon from the basket instead, smelling it, bringing it to my mouth and then chomping down on it, right through the porous, yellow peel! I winced as she described the last instructions. Lisa laughed and said, “See? Just through the power of your imagination, your body reacted. You thought of biting into a lemon and then you grimaced. Our minds and bodies are very connected to one another and things that we are feeling physically are often mirrored in the mind. Undergoing hypnosis is sort of like a massage for your brain; it relaxes your conscious mind, allowing your more powerful subconscious to emerge and direct the healing process.”
Our hypnosis session started with breathing exercises and guided imagery. Lisa asked me to envision a wave of relaxation flowing down my body, from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes, spreading relaxation and warmth wherever it touched. Then she asked me to imagine that feeling of relaxation balancing in a bowl on top of my head, gradually building until it gently bubbled over, spilling down my face and relaxing each one of the individual muscle groups in my forehead, my cheeks and my neck, as each breathe took me into a deeper state of relaxation. In my mind’s eye, she asked me to picture a spiraling staircase and to slowly descend it, repeating the words “deeper, relaxed” as I counted backwards from 100.
I felt my body sink into the cushions of the recliner as my eyelids grew heavy and fluttered. My breathing gradually became more even and measured. Lisa asked my subconscious mind to emerge and to take us back in time to the moment when I first experienced insomnia. During the session, I discovered the sources of my insomnia and learned what I needed to do in order reprogram my body to sleep more deeply. This type of hypnosis is called regression therapy. Lisa also taught me self-hypnosis techniques that I could use to refresh myself throughout the day whenever I felt tired. (These “hyp-naps,” as I have come to refer to them, are simply marvelous. Researchers have proposed that a half hour spent in this state equals one and a half hours of deep sleep!) I emerged from the session feeling calm, alert, and more at peace with myself than I had in years.
From that point on, hypnosis became a regular part of my life. Through it I was able to let go of old hurts, release excess weight, and become the self confident, calm person I had always wanted to be. I felt as though it had transformed my life. Approximately four years later, I was given the opportunity to study the theories behind hypnosis when Lisa asked me if I would be interested in becoming a hypnotist myself. “Yes!” I affirmed eagerly, thrilled to be afforded the opportunity to learn the secrets behind her techniques.

Initially, though, I had no desire to open my own practice; I simply wanted to possess this incredible knowledge and perhaps use it to benefit my family. Baruch Hashem, I was able to do so a few months after completing my training, when I helped my five-year-old daughter release her fear of bees. She had been stung twice in one day and was fearful of venturing outdoors. Through the use of playful guided imagery, she was able to “forgive” the bees (forgiveness, I have found, is a major component of the healing process) and reframe the entire experience in a more positive light. That night, as she happily snuggled under her covers, she whispered sleepily, “Thank you, Ima, for making my fears go bye- bye.” Her words touched me profoundly . I realized in that moment that I, too, had been given the gift to heal others, and with that great privilege came responsibility. I vowed to myself that when Hashem sent people to me, I would use my knowledge for good, to help others as I had been helped; to teach people to love themselves, to forgive and to become whole again.

What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a progressive relaxation technique that has been used successfully for over 100 years to quickly and effectively treat a variety of symptoms. Many studies have proven the efficacy of hypnosis; in fact, it has been found to be more effective and produce faster results than traditional talk therapy. Primarily, hypnosis is a form of deep relaxation which enables a person to access their subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is like the brain’s hard drive that stores all of the sights, sounds, and experiences a person has come across during their lifetime. It is also the protective part of the mind and contains what I believe to be the higher wisdom of the neshamah. This is in contrast to the conscious mind which is more like a calculator than a computer — it processes things much more simply and in much less detail, storing and dealing with only the information necessary to execute the tasks a person is currently engaged in.

The hypnotist facilitates the process of hypnosis by walking the client through a series of guided imagery and deep relaxation techniques that enable her to connect with her subconscious mind. Once a person accesses her subconscious, she is then able to go inside of her mind, examine undesirable behaviors or thought patterns and then “reprogram” her way of thinking and her attitudes.

Debunking the Myths
1. Contrary to some of the stage shows you may have seen, hypnosis is not at all dangerous. It is not a form of “mind control.” Hypnosis is a consensual state between the hypnotist and the client, which means that it is impossible to hypnotize someone against his will.
2. A person cannot get “stuck” in a hypnotized state. If something were to happen to the hypnotist during a session and they had to abruptly stop what they were doing, after a brief period of silence, the patient would simply emerge from the state herself. Also, if at any point a client does not wish to be hypnotized, she will simply snap out of it spontaneously.
3. Hypnosis is not a “truth serum.” While a person is undergoing hypnosis, they are fully aware of what is happening to them and will retain control over what they choose to share or keep hidden. After a session, the client has full recall of what was discussed.
4. A hypnotist cannot program people to do negative or undesirable things. The subconscious mind is the protective mind, so if the hypnotist were to suggest something to the client that is morally repugnant, for instance stealing, their mind would immediately reject the suggestion and they would emerge from the hypnotic state.
5. People should ask their own Rav for an individual psak, but the general consensus of the poskim in that hypnosis is a permissible form of therapy.

Who is a good candidate for hypnosis?
Almost anyone can be hypnotized if they truly want to be. All that is required is an average IQ, the ability to follow simple instructions, and a sense of willingness. Generally, the more creative and imaginative an individual is, the more easily and deeply they can enter into state.
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Practical Hypnosis
1. Hypnosis can be used to treat a vast variety of disorders including ADHD, OCD, chronic back pain, and fibromyalgia.
2. It is a highly effective weight loss tool and it can enable people to stop smoking, overcome phobias, increase job productivity, boost self-esteem, and release anxiety.
3. Hypo birthing enables many women to experience easier, more comfortable childbirth.
4. In many countries, hypnosis is used in place of anesthesia during surgery and to speed up post-operative recovery.
5. Forensic hypnosis can help a victim recall vital details from a crime scene in order to assist police investigations.
6. Self-hypnosis can be used to relieve stress and attain a sense of inner calm.

Case history: The woman who feared spiders
A newlywed man approached me during my first few months as a consulting hypnotist and asked me to help his kallah overcome her severe arachnophobia (fear of spiders). Mrs. M. was so terrified of them that it was interfering with her quality of life. Often times she would awaken screaming in the dead of the night, convinced that there was a spider in the room. When she saw one, she would shriek until someone killed it, and if it escaped into a crack in the wall, she would keep watch for hours until it re-emerged.
Before the session, I said some Tehillim, asking Hashem to guide me and to give me the insight that I needed to help this woman. Then I sat her down in a comfortable recliner and explained to her that fear is like a tiny seed that takes root in the mind. Over time that seed can grow into a mighty tree, spreading its branches into different areas of our lives. Attempting to chop down the tree after it has taken root can often be an arduous, daunting task. What hypnosis does, essentially, is allow the mind to relax to the point where it can recall the very first moment in time when that seed of fear was implanted in the mind, travel back to that moment, and simply pluck out the seed before it has a chance to grow and spread. “But I don’t remember when I first felt scared of spiders,” Mrs. M. protested. “You don’t remember consciously, but your subconscious mind absolutely does,” I reassured her.
Using soothing imagery, I gently guided her into a deep state of relaxation and then asked her subconscious mind to help us find the root of her fear. Under hypnosis, she recalled sitting on the floor at the age of five, playing quietly in her bedroom with her dolls. After a while, she reached into a brown cardboard box to retrieve some doll clothing. As she reached inside, she felt a strange tickling sensation traveling up her arm and then watched in horror as a small black spider crawled up her forearm and bit her. She shrieked and her mother ran into the room, and reacted with panic. Her own fear, compounded by her mother’s severe reaction, caused her to have a very strong negative association with spiders. In order to release that fear, I asked her subconscious mind to examine the scene with eyes of a mature adult. Once she realized that the spider was only trying to protect itself and was more afraid of her than she was of it, she was ready to forgive it for the pain it had caused her. She also forgave her mother for unwittingly implanting fear inside of her daughter through her overreaction. Forgiveness is a very potent tool in the healing process, and when she forgave the spider and her mother, the negative energy was released. She emerged from her session feeling calm and amazed that she had been able to recall such a long-buried memory. Months later, her husband called me to thank me for my work with her. Mrs. M. was now functioning normally. Her fear of spiders had dissipated and no longer caused her any difficulty.

Finding a Hypnotist
Hypnotists, like physicians, come in all stripes; some wonderful, some merely average. My advice to anyone who would like to find a good hypnotist in their area is to ask a trusted family doctor or psychologist for a recommendation to one. Look for a practitioner who has been trained by a professional organization such as the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH). (Note: Many hypnotists do not accept medical insurance. In addition to this, in many states they may require a medical referral to treat certain conditions such as depression or anxiety.)
For further information about hypnosis the author can be contacted through Binah Magazine