The time I completely froze after discovering hypnosis
When I came home from my first hypnosis course, I was buzzing with ideas. My friend Annie and I had spent the drive from Christchurch to Nelson stopping several times to write down things we could do with hypnosis in the future. We were excited about the possibilities and couldn’t wait to get started. There was only one small problem -I wasn’t actually trained as a hypnotherapist yet!
We had some homework to do before we could go any further, so I went home with my head full of ideas and plans. And then the next morning I completely froze. The excitement had turned into overwhelm. The idea suddenly seemed enormous and I couldn’t see how I was ever going to do it. For the whole week I felt stuck.
When Annie came to see me, she admitted she was feeling exactly the same. So we decided to try something we’d learned on the course called reverse hypnosis. Instead of the hypnotist telling you a story, the person in hypnosis creates the story themselves.
Annie went first, and then it was my turn. I closed my eyes, settled into hypnosis, and she asked me, “Where are you?”
I found myself inside an igloo, surrounded by snow and ice. There was a little fire burning and rugs on the floor, and I felt warm and comfortable.
“What happens next?”
Now I was outside, wrapped up against the cold, and a huge polar bear was walking towards me. I noticed how the ice did not cave in under the weight of his heavy body. He placed his paws carefully on the ground, taking one step at a time, his body rippling with movement.
“What happens next?”
The polar bear and I were beside a stream, watching salmon swimming upstream. Some were resting in the eddies while others were leaping through the water. I got a sense that they liked feeling the pressure of the water against their body as they swam against the current.
“What happens next?”
Suddenly I was standing at the top of a mountain, very much like Mount Arthur. There were rocks, tussock grass and patches of snow. And there I was, sitting cross-legged like a little monk on a mat. All these ideas were coming down into me from above. At the same time, people were approaching me with all sorts of interesting things on silver platters.
And then the hypnosis finished.
Annie asked me, “So how do you feel about our project now?”
I opened my eyes. “Absolutely fine,” I said. “I can’t wait to get started.”
And that was it. The overwhelm had gone.
What I found fascinating was that the hypnosis hadn’t given me an answer. Nobody told me what I should do. Somehow, through the imagery and the experience itself, my mind had found its own way from feeling overwhelmed to feeling ready.
That experience stayed with me for years. It was one of the first times I really understood that hypnosis isn’t necessarily about someone telling you what to think or making you do something against your will. You can be aware of what is happening, hear the words and follow the story, while something deeper in you is making its own connections.
And that little monk sitting on the top of the mountain? I’m pretty sure he was ready for the adventure.
Curious about hypnosis?
If you’ve ever wondered what hypnosis is actually like, you might like to read my article What is Hypnosis? It explains what happens during a hypnosis session, what it feels like and some of the ways hypnotherapy can be used.
Find out more about hypnosis here.
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