Most people know me as a massage therapist. What they might not know is that I’m also a hypnotherapist.
The story of how I became one started in a rather unexpected place. I was in my 50s and going through menopause, and my hands and feet had become so sore that I was beginning to wonder whether I would be able to continue doing massage. I started to look at other vocations where I didn’t have to use my body.
At the same time, a good friend of mine, Annie, was learning hypnotherapy. She was going to Christchurch to do an additional course with a teacher she found incredibly inspiring, and she asked if I would like to come along. I said yes.
There was only one problem. I was sleeping terribly because of the menopause, so by the time we got to Christchurch I was already exhausted. Then we discovered our accommodation had the most rickety bunk beds imaginable. Every time one of us turned over, the whole bed moved! Needless to say, neither of us slept well that night.
I arrived at the course very tired and was resigned to the fact that I would probably sleep through most of it.
Then something quite unexpected happened. The teacher used lots of short hypnosis sessions, including a technique called fractionation, where you move in and out of hypnosis several times, and each time you do, you can drop into a deeper hypnotic trance. What fascinated me was that I wasn’t asleep. I could hear everything. I was following the stories and teaching, and yet I felt deeply relaxed. At the end of each hypnosis session, the teacher would say something along the lines of:
“Shortly you will wake up, and when you do, you will feel as though you have had half an hour of massage on your back, neck and shoulders. Your muscles will feel soft and relaxed, and any tension in your body will be released. You will feel as though you have had a long, deep, restful sleep. And when you open your eyes, you will feel refreshed and alert.”
I was so surprised that I didn’t sleep through the course. Instead, I was awake and alert when he was teaching. I absorbed the learning very easily, and as the course went on, I actually became less tired. By the end of the course, I felt more refreshed and rested than I had for a very long time.
I remember thinking, “There is something really interesting going on here.”
I went to Christchurch because a friend invited me along. I came home wondering whether hypnosis might become another part of my work. I had absolutely no idea then where that little curiosity was going to lead me.
Read Part 2: How Annie and I used hypnosis to overcome overwhelm
The next part of my story is about what happened when Annie and I came home from Christchurch full of ideas and then found ourselves completely overwhelmed by them. It involved an igloo, a polar bear, salmon swimming upstream and a little monk sitting on top of a mountain.
Looking for a little extra support?
If you’ve been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, anxious or finding it difficult to change an old habit or way of thinking, hypnotherapy can help you explore what’s getting in the way and create space for new ways of responding. Find out more about hypnotherapy here.
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