Hypnosis and Religion

From historic times through to the modern hypnosis has been frowned upon by many religions. They have called it the devils work, intoxication, unnatural or ungodly for tampering with or controlling the mind in such an unethical way. This to me would seem a wholly uninformed opinion and I will explain why. If something is not understood by a group of people it is typically consigned to be ‘the work of the Devil’ no matter what it is and without even consideration of further investigation. The truth is religion and hypnosis are actually very closely connected in several different ways.

When I look at the world’s different religions and their customs a lot of what I see is actually hypnosis at work. Prayer for instance is sitting still in a comfortable position with the eyes closed and uttering out loud or in the mind repetitive suggestions of instruction or going through relaxing visualisations to bring about the feeling of peace and love; is that much different from self-hypnosis? When you enter a large cathedral you are hit by a wall of enchanting music, symbols and mottos all around you, candles to fixate your eyes upon while a priest delivers his sermon of pure suggestion. Is that not large scale group hypnosis using both verbal and visual tools for trance? Choir music and chanting are known successful hypnotic methods, as is the tone and pace of the voice of the priest giving the speech, which is possibly why so many fall asleep during service... It is all hypnosis, only with a clearly identifiable religious suggestion as a core theme.

Religions teach us to trust the holy word of their particular God, not to judge, criticise or analyse and merely to believe and accept what you are being told, then reaffirm those beliefs in daily prayer, and in some cases prayer several times per day. Hypnosis works much the same way; you are taught to shut off your conscious mind in order that your subconscious mind can fully absorb the instructions it is listening to, then you must have those instructions repeated daily until they are fully engrained. The less resistance and conscious thought the quicker the results. Religions ask you to give in and give yourself away to their orders often in ceremony, which if anything makes the effect more powerful as the belief becomes stronger.

Religions emphasise trust, positive feelings, faith, belief in some greater power and an all-conquering emotion of love. Religions teach self-improvement and ways to find peace and happiness not only in your own life but in the community as well. Religions attempt to aid people with their mental health, their physical health and their spiritual health. They aim to stop addictions, reduce stress and anxiety, make people happier and to find their path and purpose in life. All these things are the same aims of hypnotherapy!

In the religious setting you sit comfortably while a speech takes you on a hypnotic journey in the form of a story that often has strong visualisations and messages by way of metaphors, before the journey ends and returns you back to the beginning, in much the same way a hypnotherapy session would work, the metaphors and mental images a direct communication with the subconscious (read more here). The visualisation of a heaven or a nirvana draws parallels with the ‘perfect place’ visualisation in hypnosis, a therapeutic place the subject can be anchored to and where they can find peace and tranquillity whenever they need it, like a comfort zone where they are completely safe and free from anxiety.

Many famous religious stories focus on one of the characters having visions or receiving messages directly from a God, and many of these stories to me perfectly describe the experience of an altered state of consciousness, much akin to what hypnosis achieves in session (just think visions of angels as one example). In the hypnotic mind state we can visualise scenarios and interact with them in a most realistic manner. An altered mind state is naturally occurring and is referred to greatly in all the major religions, and has played a huge role in particularly their early beginnings.

The tales of Jesus and other miracle working profits also sounds much like hypnosis at work. Jesus would touch a sick man on the head and tell him he was healed ‘and he was healed’ as the Bible says. Religions heal certain disorders in this way even today using a similar method often in ceremony in front of a delirious crowd, using the method of hypnotic suggestion. The power of religious belief is critical to this miracle cure, if the sick person did not believe in the cure they would not be curable. Like in hypnosis you must let go of your doubts, don’t criticise or analyse, just accept the message as truth and go with the flow in total belief if the cure is to work as it is designed to. Maybe Jesus and the profits were not hypnotherapists, but by the sounds of it they were certainly masters of the altered state of consciousness!

I am not trying to argue that hypnosis use in religion is a bad thing at all. The core global religious ideology as far as I am aware generally concerns self-development, peace to mankind and care for the community. That’s a great message and if everyone followed it we wouldn’t have any wars or conflicts. But when you hear about atrocities being carried out under the flag of religion, the fanatics that carry out these bombings and genocides have literally been conditioned from a young age via the hypnotic religious method. They truly believe they are doing the right thing by their God in killing people to solve their group’s problems and that certain lands are sacredly theirs by some kind of divine right. Madness? Or hypnotic religious mind control? This isn’t a new phenomenon; every religious war in history has been fought using the same method to control soldiers as well as public opinion. How could the Crusades have gone ahead without such mind control? These facts don’t make religions bad and neither does it make hypnosis bad, it just depends on how the tool is being utilised. Religion in the hands of evil can be catastrophic, the same as hypnosis would be.

Hypnosis is merely the name given to a particular utilisation of the altered mind state. This altered mind state is naturally occurring and we experience it daily in day dreaming or in becoming engrossed in a piece of music or a conversation and becoming oblivious to all else around us.. Any person that watches TV is being drawn into trance and their subconscious is bombarded with suggestions to buy products, follow fashion, behave in certain ways, follow one political strain of thought or another etc. As much as anything hypnosis is a transfer of ideas that can become ingrained inside people’s heads. We as humans learn naturally in this way fully absorbing what goes on around us, and this can either be a negative or a positive influence.

Religions are institutions that use various hypnotic methods to teach very large groups of people what they believe are the correct ideals to follow in life; a way to live and be happy in a community. Religious groups should not be fearful of hypnosis because it shares many of the same ideals, especially in helping people improve themselves, and teaches them using very similar techniques. For this reason religion and hypnosis can even complement one another and move forward hand in hand without a conflict so long as respect and understanding are shown. The same could be said of the many different religions as the core underlying philosophies are identical; to help people improve themselves and form healthy communities for the benefit of all. 

Gastric Band Hypnosis: Could it Make You Slimmer?

Dieting can often depend on an element of mind over matter. For Marion Corns, it involved nothing else. The mother of three has lost four stone after allowing herself to be hypnotised - and told she had been fitted with a gastric band.

Believing her stomach has shrunk to the size of a golf ball under a surgeon's knife, the 35-year-old is now able to eat only tiny portions of food. And in the four months following the treatment, her weight has dropped to just over 11st 7lb (1st = 6.4kg), while her dress size has gone down from 22 to a 14 (losing 26kg)

Over five sessions of hypnotherapy, says Mrs Corns, her therapist talked her through every detailed step of the medical procedure as if she were actually inside an operating theatre.

Specialist equipment then filled the hypnotist's room with aromas designed to smell like a hospital, until eventually Mrs Corns began to feel a tightening sensation in her stomach.

Delighted Marion said: 'I have tried every other diet and exercise plan the world has to offer.

'I've tried tablets, WeightWatchers, Atkins, Slimfast, milkshakes and even a personal trainer, but none of them helped me.

'Now I am able to shed up to three pounds a week (1.4kg) because I believe I have had a band fitted into my stomach.

'Bizarrely, I can remember every part of the 'procedure' - including being wheeled into theatre, the clink of the surgeon's knife and even the smell of the anaesthetic.'

A real gastric band operation usually costs £7,000 and has the same level of risk related to any major operation including infection and DVT.

Married housewife Marion heard about the Elite Clinic in Marbella, Spain in August last year when a friend used it to give up smoking. Marion, who lived in the country at the time, discovered the clinic also carried out a revolutionary 'gastric mind band' therapy.

A week later she went back for a consultation session with therapist Marion Shirran, who runs the clinic with her husband Martin. After revealing how the birth of her three children left her with no time to exercise and admitting gorging on mid-morning bacon sandwiches, big lunches and giant-sized dinner portions, she booked herself in for five sessions with Marion.

Using a combination of hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, she was taken on a 'virtual tour' through the 'operation'. Therapist Marion also used in-depth guided imagery and visualisation to fit an imaginary gastric band around the stomach, forming a pouch the size of a golf ball. During the procedure computer-driven equipment pumped a range of aromas into the room including everything from the hospital ward, the operating theatre and even the recovery room. After five sessions of the treatment - which is 100 per cent safe because it eliminates the risks of general anaesthetic, DVT and MRSA - Marion began to feel a tightening sensation in her stomach.

Marion added: 'Now if I try and eat a large portion I feel a pulling sensation in my tummy as if my stomach is stretching.

'I simply cannot eat large portions of food any more. I did manage to force down a KFC burger once but I felt really sick, as if it was stuck in my throat, and I had to lie down for three hours afterwards.

'I am thinner now than I ever have been and if I can lose another stone I will be exactly the weight I want to be.

'I feel like I fit in now. People don't stare at me anymore.'

Clinic owner Martin began working on perfecting the Gastric Mind Band after a client he helped quit smoking asked him whether it would be possible to convince him he had one fitted.

Martin said: 'This treatment is good for the client, for the NHS and is also ideal for the many overweight adults and teenagers who are sadly part of Obese Britain.

'Although this form of imagined surgery isn't in itself new, its application in the weight loss field is believed to be pioneering.

Martin, who himself has lost 50lbs (22.7kg) through a gastric mind band, said: 'The different therapies help patients rethink their whole attitude to food so they adopt a new lifestyle of healthy eating.

'It is not a temporary solution. It is a long term thing.

'We believe our therapy can be immensely beneficial for individuals who want to control their eating habits for self esteem or health reasons especially the growing number of people, young and old who are developing type 2 diabetes in ever increasing numbers.'

Jacqui Lowdon, dietician and spokeswoman for the British Dietary Association, said she could see why the treatment would be attractive to a lot of people. And she added:

'This is quite a novel idea and I've certainly never come across it before.

'Gastric bands are available on the NHS to those who have problems with their weight, but there are a lot of side effects.

'If this works and people can achieve the same kind of weight loss without surgery, it is important they are getting the correct dietary advice as well.

Written By ELEANOR GLOVER and LUKE SALKELD For The Dailly Mail Online

For full article and pictures here

Read more about Hypnosis weight loss here

Hypnosis: A Muslim Perspective

“Does anyone know the position of hypnosis in Islam?”

“I did ask and was told it was haram….the reason being that it was likened to a state of intoxication, in that you have voluntarily given up your control over your mental faculties….And Allah(swt) knows best”.

This was the reply to the above question I received on a Muslim community group mailing list by one of its members.

Hypnosis is defined as a state of deep relaxation; just short of deep sleep. A popular misconception is that hypnosis is a form of unconsciousness resembling sleep. However, contemporary research suggests that hypnotic subjects are fully awake and whilst focusing attention, have a corresponding decrease in their peripheral awareness. Subjects also show an increased response to suggestions. In one of the first books on the subject, Neurypnology in 1843, Dr James Braid described "hypnotism" as a state of physical relaxation accompanied and induced by mental concentration. It is a state of well-being and the client is fully in control. This means that EVERY single one of us can be and has been in a state of hypnosis; on a daily basis. For example, when we're waking up and put our alarm on snooze and half-awake: this is a state of hypnosis. When we are sometimes watching TV and don't hear the other person; this is a state of hypnosis also. Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation but short of being asleep. The methods of Hypnosis being referred to here are those that allow the client to be in full control of the suggestions and imaginations that they are given; at which they are in a state to accept or reject them.

A quick research into the history of Hypnosis can show that this was common in Egyptian and Indian sleep temples. Hypnosis was even practiced by ancient Greeks. Furthermore, in his Book titled Kitab Al-Shifa (The book of Healing), the Persian physician Avicenna (Ibn Sina 980-1037) wrote about Hypnosis and referred to it as Al-Wahm Al-Amil. He was seen as the first physician to make the distinction between sleep and hypnosis. He stated that one would be able to create conditions in other people so they can accept the reality of this process of Hypnosis.

If we look at one of the Fathers of modern Hypnosis, Dr Milton Erickson (1901-1980), one who is known widely by any training organisation of Hypnosis; much of his language patterns are those that are already in the Quran. Yes! This is not an extreme comment and nor is it anything taken out of context. How many of us knew this? 

Ericksonian hypnosis combines metaphorical stories which start and don't finish at the same time. They sometimes finish at the end of the sessions or sometimes a few sessions later. This is like in the Quran of many stories of the Prophets (Peace Be Upon Them all); which clearly continue throughout. Amongst many language patterns used; Ericksonian hypnosis also refers to many things with much vagueness. Another aspect clearly found in the Quran. The benefit of vagueness is that it can and does relate to any and every point in time - the less specific, the more it can relate to wider audiences with no limits or lesser limits of time, place and situation.

These are just some of the methods and language patterns that will be used. None of it goes against Islam; and is not 'haraam' (forbidden); a word used much freely and yet only appears in the Quran a few times.

Hypnosis does NOT give the effects similar to that of 'intoxicants'. Intoxicants are physical substances in the form of gas, liquid or solid (powder and tablets, for example). They are man-made substances or natural substances which are processed in a manner to produce these harmful substances. They effect the body, mind and the soul. They block out some neurons and cause imbalance and effect the neurology. Hence they result in effecting the complete body in this manner and clearly don't allow the individual to be in control of one's senses. Regardless of what they are; the purpose of them is to fulfil the individuals need for 'more' for a fulfilment they aren't getting from another area of life. Hence; widely resulting in addiction. They also cause one to say and do things they wouldn't in their own right mind or in their daily normal lives when not using these substances.

Islam may also not have allowed Hypnosis on the basis that it maybe the works of a Soothsayer (fortune-teller) and/or working with Jinns (spirits). This may have been true or maybe true today still in some parts of the world as some people have the ability to communicate with spirits. However, the hypnosis being referred to and applied here has NO link or connection with spirits or fortune-telling. Working with spirits is seen as contrary to Islam on the basis that it’s seen as ascribing power to those other than God. Where-as the primary foundation of Islamic belief is upon the conviction that There is Only One God and all power is with Him. This refers to that we mortals have no knowledge except that which God has allowed us to have. Having belief in spirits and making use of them to intervene between the Hypnotherapists and the client is completely contradictory to Islam and definitely to the modern Hypnosis being referred to here.

Hypnosis does none of that as there is no two-way conversation; just suggestions. Also, the client does not do or say anything which they wouldn't in their right mind. Clearly this is a misconception within the Muslim community. It highlights that a judgement has been made on something without looking into it. As we, the Muslim community, constantly do this; truly we are denying ourselves the means for progression in all areas of education, employment and further advances in any area. If or as long as we continue to think in this much limited manner then so will be the fruits of our labour have the same effect.

There are many Muslims; who are practising and trained hypnotherapists. If anything, they've come closer to their faith rather than further from away it. I even know a Muslim colleague on my training who came from Saudi Arabia to learn Hypnosis. He is a practising Muslim, works in a corporate environment in change-management and has been there for over 10yrs. He states himself; that in Saudi Arabia there is much withdrawal from anything they don't understand. If certain things aren't understood; they are dismissed. I'm not saying this is the case for every aspect in every area of discipline. It is however, in reference to those he has met in his company who are mostly practising Muslims. This is an indication of what is much a problem in our communities and hence gets 'blamed' on religion. This is something much terrible of an example for those looking from outside, into this amazing faith.

This opinion is respected (“That Hypnosis is haraam in Islam as it gives effects of intoxicants”) but it's not one that I will accept for myself. As stated before, it is something of highly much benefit to the community. There has been much of a response as some individuals have seen the value of this and how it can manifest in their lives and those around them.

You are requested and urged to look into this as to what it's benefits are, it's methodologies and purpose; whether you are Muslim or not: regardless. It can be verified by medical doctors that Hypnosis is perfectly safe and accepted by the medical profession as a means of curing some illnesses; whether they are of the body, mind or soul. Medical science will not accept something that includes working with spirits and fortune-telling. Furthermore, hypnosis does certainly NOT give effects of intoxicants; as can also be verified medically. By definition of Hypnosis, The Quran certainly brings about a deep relaxation through reciting or listening to it. Hence, The Quran itself brings about a state of Hypnosis. It was known that even people would fall into trance through speech and conversation with Dr Milton Erickson. Such was the effect of The Beloved Prophet (Peace and blessings be Upon Him) who would talk to people in such a relaxing manner that they felt his warmth; bringing about greater relaxation within them; with an intention of reaching out for the goodness.

Hypnosis is a tool necessary for the Muslim community to allow the recipients to bring out more of their amazing uniqueness that every individual is special and is born with such amazing gifts. Regardless of what area of life you are at; we can always achieve more as we dream in the night; then the days are to fulfil those dreams. It can be used to work with clients to achieve their goals, relieve stress and even improve their health whilst curing some illnesses. It is beneficial and necessary for individuals as well as the Muslim community in order to concentrate and focus deeper upon their daily and personal goals.

Anything that the mind can conceive, perceive, and achieve; the body can physically easily achieve.

Written by Mubashar Latif

http://www.hypnotherapyarticles.com/ArtG/articleg00061.htm

Professional Sports Hypnosis

Hypnosis has been used by a number of sportsmen and women over the years to improve their sporting performance. It has been well known that the various techniques used in hypnosis, including NLP and visualizations have positively affected the state of mind and performances of many an experienced player, as well as the amateurs. Though a lot of famous sporting celebrities and athletes have used hypnosis techniques in the past, it is not a very well known fact because of the stigma attached to hypnosis.

Pulp fiction and movies have added fuel to the fire in portraying hypnotherapy as a load of mumbo-jumbo, coupled with Machiavellian hypnotists who are out to control your mind. The truth couldn't be more different. Over the years researchers have discovered the true potential of hypnosis and recommend it as a one-stop remedy for any malady in life, sporting performance included. A player's performance in a game is directly related to his/her state of mind; the more confident and calm the subconscious, the better the performance, and vice-versa. Recently ace golfer, Tiger Woods acknowledged the fact that he uses hypnosis and its various techniques to calm his mind before any game. The results of these hypnotherapy sessions are out there for all of us to see. He along with his mental coach Jay Brunza work towards making Tiger Woods' mind controlled, relaxed and composed. Their one point agenda is to increase Tiger's concentration and focus, by succeeding in blocking distractions and disturbances. Golf as a game requires a great deal of focus, and if this focus wavers.the game is lost.

Hypnosis works towards recreating images of the perfect move or the perfect stroke required of a player to win a match. The images are visualized by the player in his mind, and repeated over and over, till it has made an imprint in his subconscious. Tennis star, Jimmy Connors is said to have used hypnosis techniques to practice his winning strokes prior to the US Open Championship, which went a long way in sealing his victory at the tournament.

Hypnosis also goes a long way in soothing a player's nerves through calming audios and takes care of the performance anxiety which so many players face before a game. A great sportsperson might fail to leave a mark at a game, if he is anxious and tense. Hypnosis helps them deal with these jitters by smoothening the rough edges of their subconscious mind. Kevin McBride, the celebrated Irish heavyweight boxing champion summons his hypnotist before every game, to get into the right frame of mind. Even golfer Jack Niklaus lauded hypnotherapy and visualization techniques as the sole reason for his improved concentration, which has led him to numerous victories. He says that his game of golf is only 10% physical, and 90% mental; he further adds that he visualizes each of the holes on a course, especially the tough ones and rehearses in his mind the right stroke to master them. He even says that he whenever he plays a shot; he knows exactly the movements he is making and the outcome of each move in his mind, before he hits the shot.

It sounds incredible that hypnosis can help a player in his performance to such an extent. But it is true, and a number of sporting legends owe their pioneering performance to hypnosis. Boxer Ken Norton used hypnosis prior to his penultimate game with Mohammad Ali, where Norton ended up breaking Ali's jaw; even cyclist Lance Armstrong is said to have used visualization techniques to overcome obstacles.

Written by: Dr Terry Doherty

From: http://www.magicalhypnotist.com/

More on Sport Hypnosis HERE

The Meaning of Dreams

In a previous post I explained the basics of dreams; what dreams are, how and when we dream, possibly why we dream and the importance dream interpretation plays in our waking conscious life. Read it here.

I find dreams fascinating, both my own and other people’s, as I think they offer a window into our innermost minds, metaphorically sending us instructions we are not always tuned in enough to take on board. In this post I want to share an example of how dream hypnosis can be used to further understand our dreams, using the fundamentals of Gestalt Psychology, also explained in the previous post.

I have been given permission to share a session from a fantastic woman from Ireland, although I will keep her name anonymous. She initially came to me for hypnotherapy to treat a phobia, but her recent vivid dreams soon came up in our conversation. She described a dream/nightmare that she had been having repeatedly for a number of months but could not understand why she was having it. I asked her to close her eyes and recount the dream as if she was having it all over again. Her description of the dream went like this:

I find myself in an old house, all made of wood in a setting similar to what I imagine would be somewhere in the Caribbean or one of the southern states of the USA. I am looking after children in the house, many children – all by myself. I am trying my best to look after all these children when I look out one of the windows and I see crocodiles…they are moving around in a large pond or a swamp outside and I begin to feel nervous…what if they come inside? I begin to go around shutting the doors but as I do so the crocodiles are coming inside…they are breaking through the walls! I try to stop them by closing more doors and putting chairs in the way – but they keep coming, through the toilets and through the walls…everywhere I look they are coming. The children have disappeared I don’t know where…I run up the stairs looking for them but all I can see are the crocodiles coming closer towards me…and then I wake up.

What could this dream possibly mean? What do the crocodiles and the young children in the old house represent to this woman? In my opinion the answer cannot be found accurately in any book or dream dictionary. The only way to find out what these dreams meant was to get the answers from the woman herself; it is a unique insight after all.

I completed a hypnotic induction in no more than a few minutes until I was certain she was in a comfortable, no more than light stage of hypnosis. I then got her to recount her dream again, exactly as if she was having it all over again and to commentate on what was happening. Somewhere in the middle of the dream I asked her to pause her vision as if she was pausing her DVD player at home. I told her that she was no longer going to be viewing the dream from her own point of view, but instead from the view of one of the children, as if she was indeed one of those children answering me. When she indicated she was ready to continue, I asked her what she was doing in the house. (the dialogue has been shortened and condensed to make it more blog friendly).

‘The lady is looking after us all’ she replied, slipping seamlessly into the role of a child.

‘Why? Where are you parents?’

‘I don’t know, they are not here. She is the only one who takes care of us. We live here in the house’

‘Is it nice in the house?’

‘Yes it is. Until the crocodiles come and they only want to harm us’

‘Why do they want to harm you?’

‘They are evil. They come and they want to eat us. The lady tries to help us but there are too many of them’

I get the woman to pause the vision and switch characters again, this time to one of the crocodiles.

‘Why are you attacking these poor children and the lady?’

‘It’s our swamp’ she answers in a deeper, meaner voice.

‘But the people live in the house not the swamp’

‘The house is next to our swamp. And we’re hungry’

‘Isn’t there anything else you can eat?’

‘No’

‘Isn’t there another swamp you could move to?’

‘No we are happy here’

I pause the dream and switch characters again, this time to the house itself.

‘Why do the crocodiles break through your walls so easily?’

‘I am old and weak. I don’t have the same defences I used to. No one takes care of me any more’ (the woman apparently has no trouble speaking as an inanimate object)

‘What about the woman?’

‘She does her best, but she has all the children to look after. She has no time to look after me’

‘Could you be repaired?’

‘I suppose so. But the crocodiles come all the time; they make so much damage I would not know where to begin’

I ask the woman to change character back to ‘herself’ again.

‘How do you feel about this situation? You have the children feeling scared, the house feeling neglected and in a state of disrepair and the crocodiles disliking you as their neighbours. It seems you have a lot to think about’

‘I don’t like the situation. I try to look after the children but it’s hard work, the house is falling to bits but I can’t deal with it. The crocodiles won’t leave us alone. I feel scared for us all, I feel unhappy’

‘What if you asked the crocodiles to leave you alone?’

‘They won’t. They just said they are hungry and are happy where they are’

‘Why don’t you ask them? Speak to the crocodiles now and tell them what you want’

(pause)

‘I want you crocodiles to leave my children alone and stay away from my house!’

‘Ok good. Now switch and be the crocodiles, what would their response be to you?’

‘This is our home. Why should we move?’

(I continue switching her back and forth to make the dialogue work)

‘Because you are making us all very unhappy’

‘That’s not our fault. This is our home and we are only doing what comes naturally to us’

‘What you do feels evil to me and the children’

‘We are not evil. We just live like we are supposed to. We don’t mean to be evil it is just the way we are’

‘So…maybe you are not evil. Maybe we are just different’

‘Very different. But this is our home’

‘But there must be other places you can go instead of my house? Your swamp is very big and there is plenty of room’

‘Yes it is. But your house is easy. We don’t even have to try at all to get inside the walls just crumble. The children are easy to eat and there’s nothing to protect them. That’s why we come’

I ask the woman to pause the dream, feeling that some kind of conclusion could be drawing nearer. I speak to her directly again.

‘So the crocodiles only come to your house because the defences are so weak, leaving you and the children vulnerable. What do you think about that?’

‘The crocodiles are only doing what they do naturally, they won’t change but it is up to me to keep my children safe’

‘Are there different ways that you can accomplish that?’

‘Yes’

‘Why don’t you speak to the children – tell them what you can do for them’

‘I am sorry that you have been scared and the crocodiles have been tormenting you’

(once again the dialogue is switched back and forth)

‘We feel safe with you, but not when the crocodiles come’

‘Don’t worry, from now on I am going to make sure the crocodiles can’t get in so easily. And if they can’t get inside the house so easily they will soon go away to a different part of their swamp – away from us so we can be happy in our house’

‘Thank you! That would make us very happy! We would feel much safer in a better house’

(me) So maybe now you could talk to the house to let it know what you are going to do.

(switch dialogue to the house)

‘I have neglected you for a long time, and it has left me without security. My children have suffered and so have I because the crocodiles have found this easy place where they can come and eat as much as they like when there is plenty of other places they can go to. I want to make you a strong house again, so strong the crocodiles can’t get inside and we can be happy again living inside’

‘That would be great for me. No more crocodiles coming through my walls and up through my toilets! If I was strong again like I was before I would keep us all safe’

The session continued with a small amount of dialogue before I took her out of the dream and gently brought her back out of the hypnosis. I allowed her to settle for a few moments before beginning the debriefing. What was to be made of all that?

She was clearly moved by the experience and I could see right away that the session had made her look at the dream in a whole new way. It had shifted from being a nightmare about crocodiles attacking her and the children in the old house, to a dream being about parts of herself.

I asked her what she thought about the experience and whether she thought it had been a useful practice. She agreed right away that it had been very useful, and said with confidence that she saw exactly how the dream related to her personal life. I asked her what she thought the different parts meant and she said the crocodiles were her depressions and fears, waiting on the outside always hungry and ready to take advantage. She said the children felt like her vulnerability – needing protection and not being able to cope on their own without being looked after. The house was her defences and stability, and she felt sure she had let these dwindle over the years, allowing her fears, or the outside world, inside and allowing them to cause her distress. The woman said that she herself in the dream was like her conscious being, trapped and without anywhere to run, desperate because she did not know where to begin to solve the problem, or without any real understand of what the problem even was.

The metaphor of her dream was finally pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. That realisation in itself of the problem, and the meaning of the persistent dream, was enough on its own to ease this woman’s discomfort. Because she could see her situation in a new light she was able to begin thinking ways around it, keeping the crocodiles away by making herself stronger.

I heard from this particular woman just twice more, once more in session and then a follow up email. She reported a new feeling of clarity and direction in her way of thinking, and she felt a great sense of change for the positive in that, knowing what she must do to improve herself. The next session was a week after the dialogue reported above and the follow up email more than a month after that. She said that she had not had the nightmare again, nor any other nightmares for that matter, and as far as I know she hasn’t had any since. Why? Because the subconscious problem that was not being dealt with consciously finally got dealt with! The blockage was unblocked leaving her with an altogether clearer mind that allowed her to sleep peacefully.

Do you have a dream you cannot quite explain? Have you had recurring dreams that you can’t seem to stop? Why not take advantage of my festive season special and get a hypnosis session absolutely free… Email me to find out more.