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 1982
Frayda Kafka, Hypnotherapist
Most of the smokers who come to me for hypnotherapy have decided to
take charge of their physical and emotional lives. Smoking is just a
part of it. They're looking at their lives, trying to find ways to
empower themselves and grow.
For people who have made such a decision, hypnosis does whatever they
think it will. The change for them begins before they come to see me
; when they become aware that they are victims of their own
conditioning and want to reprogram.
In hypnosis, people can get very quickly to that still, quiet place,
deep inside, which allows them to look with some detachment at the
way they've been living and the changes they want to make. Some
people do come looking for an outside magical power: They are often
successful at the one specific thing they've chosen to work on, but
there's not any significant carryover.
For each person the hypnotic state is unique. People usually report
heavy, numb, relaxed sensations; but not everyone. What's different
in every case is the experience in the mind. Hypnosis lets you
observe your passing thoughts without judgment and that gives you a
new perspective; it can pull you out of your lethargy, give you energy.
Fear can be totally debilitating. Under hypnosis, people can free
themselves of fear. It's different for everyone and very complicated.
That's why it's so important for the hypnotist to understand and be
able to work with the psychology of the individual, to find out what
this person is really asking for. You have to be willing to let go of
your assumptions.
I'll give you an example. A woman who'd worked successfully with me
on a smoking problem later brought her husband to see me. He had
liver cancer. I knew he was not going to live very long. He was on
pain-killers, he wasn't sleeping, his central nervous system had been
affected, he was in deep fear. He wanted to use Simonton
visualization techniques to cure his cancer. What I saw was that his
fear was out of control. He was a very beautiful man, a jeweler; his
wife loved him very much. Psychologically, they were not very
sophisticated people. They needed to take charge of his dying; they
needed to do it together, and to relax.
Part of being in charge is to let go; and hypnosis is the perfect
tool for that: for pulling it together so you can let it go. The most
powerful symbol anyone can use in the hypnotic trance is one's own
breath, especially if your deepest fear is of losing your breath.
I saw the client with liver cancer three times only. For his birthday
he invited all of the healers who had helped him to a dinner at the
Canal House. He died the day before. At his funeral, every woman in
the place was wearing his jewelry.
Hypnosis can be used for healing in many, many different ways. You
don't have to count down from twenty and go into an unconscious
state. Self-hypnosis is an every day occurrence, a state you can and
do go into any time, anywhere. You can learn to utilize this natural
occurrence in positive ways, to affect every aspect of your life. It
can be as simple as one breath and a visualization, imagining a blue
sky, a dollar sign, a handshake, or a sunrise; all in the space of
four seconds, repeated several times a day.
Hypnosis can reverse certain illnesses like diverticulitis, colitis,
angina, migraines, hypertension, circulatory disorders, asthma,
chronic pain; any illness in which stress is a factor.
People very often are unconscious about their bodies: They are aware
of a malfunctioning only when their symptoms become extreme. Hypnosis
gives them an awareness on a subtle level. They become aware of
symptoms sooner. Instead of feeling mastered by their illness, they
now have a tool that lets them confront the illness and do something
about it.
Hypnosis gives power to the individual's own healing abilities by
reversing negative feelings to positive, by opening energy blocks and
letting the energy flow.
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