Awakened Hypnosis
naturally transformative
Natalie Candela, Ph.D., C.Ht.
Hypnotherapist and Transformation Coach
Authorized host of the Lemurian Sisterhood Sacred Circles
What is hypnotherapy and why does it work?
Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic approach that uses hypnosis as the primary modality. Each session involves some cognitive (conscious) conversation that is followed by a period of relaxing and energizing hypnosis that reinforces on the subconscious level the behaviors, discoveries, and understandings that the client has made or wants to make consciously. Hypnosis works because it resolves the disagreement between conscious intentions that want to take a person in one direction and subconscious programs that usually take the person in the opposite direction. By putting your conscious mind into a safe and comfortable state of relaxation, the hypnotherapist can work with your subconscious mind, helping it change outdated associations and beliefs so that it can support your vision of the future.
What can hypnosis help with?
Hypnotherapy has very broad application. It can help overcome fears and phobias. It can help reduce and manage stress and anxiety. It can be used to manage chronic pain. It can help increase focus, concentration, clarity, motivation, and enhance work or athletic performance. It can help recover from past trauma and transform things that no longer serve you. It can help you achieve specific goals and change specific behaviors (such as, for example – quit smoking and lose weight). It can help change your self-image and improve your sense of self-worth. It can also assist in going through major and minor life transitions, clarifying your vision of the future and helping attract positive things into your life.
Myths about hypnosis
Many people have misconceptions about hypnosis and this creates unhelpful fears and concerns. Here are some main myths:
Myth 1: A hypnotist has a superpower against which I am helpless. He or she can hypnotize me with just one word or look.
You are likely to believe this if your idea of a hypnotherapist came from the movie Now You See Me, where illusionists put people into a deep trance with a simple touch. While hypnotherapists do use language in an intentional way and may at times use basic touch (as in touching the hand) to deepen a person’s trance, they do not have magical powers and their goal is never to overpower a person. Everything in hypnotherapy is done for the client’s benefit and with the client’s permission. Additionally, the state of hypnosis is not a state of sleep or unconsciousness. When in hypnosis, the client simply experiences a deep and comfortable state of relaxation, in which the client is aware of what is going.
Myth 2: A hypnotist can make me do things that I don’t necessarily want to do.
Unlike stage hypnosis, where the goal is to put on a show and demonstrate how people can seemingly lose control and do silly things, hypnotherapy is focused on empowering the client and increasing his or her sense of control. Throughout the session, the client remains in control, and the success of the therapy depends on the client’s willingness to participate in the process. At all times, the client has the ability to stop the session or to not follow the therapist’s suggestion.
Myth 3: In hypnosis, I will reveal information that I don’t want to share.
Unlike psychological counseling, hypnotherapy does not seek to discover and analyze the details of the past in order to provide emotional relief and healing. The focus of hypnotherapy is on releasing the hurtful and negative bonds of the past and empowering you to become your whole, powerful self in the present. This can be accomplished without the hypnotherapist ever knowing the details of your past events. You will not be required to share anything you don’t want to share in order to achieve your desired outcomes. Also, as mentioned before, when in a trance state, you will remain in control and can choose what information to share and what to keep to yourself.
Myth 4: In hypnosis, I will access things in my subconscious mind that I don’t want to know (that should stay hidden).
Our subconscious mind is not a dark evil place that hides scary secrets. It is part of who we are, and it holds within it the memories of all the traumatic events as well as all of the successes and strengths that we have accumulated throughout our life. Hypnotherapy is a targeted process. We focus on a specific issue and deal with it so that at the end of the session you leave feeling more positive than when you came in. Anything that does not need to be remembered or uncovered will stay in the background, and whatever memories or knowledge we do access is always meant to heal, uplift, and encourage. We don’t just open the door wide open so that everything that is there can spill out.
Myth 5: If I want to clear away trauma and move forward in my life, I have to remember all of the blocked and suppressed details of my past.
Blocking and suppressing memories is a coping mechanism of our mind when dealing with trauma. Reopening old wounds and unleashing blocked memories can potentially be more traumatizing than healing. In addition, in unskilled hands, poorly-phrased hypnotic suggestions can turn into “implanted memories” or freshly visualized images believed to be memories of actual events. Hypnotherapists use a variety of therapeutic tools to bring relief, emotional healing, and life improvement to the client without reawakening traumatic memories.
Myth 6: Some people cannot be hypnotized (me included).
Trance is a natural state that all of us experience on a daily basis. All people are hypnotizable, although every client chooses whether to follow the therapist’s hypnotic suggestions or to resist them. People process information and respond to suggestions in different ways. A skilled hypnotherapist assesses the client first and then delivers hypnotic suggestions in a way that is the most appropriate and beneficial for that client.
Issues with which hypnotherapy can help
Concentration
Guilt
Fear
Phobia
Stage fright
Exam anxiety
Smoking
Weight loss
Procrastination
Inferiority
Rejection
Self-confidence Motivation
Self-image
Stress
Anger
Frustration
Guilt
Forgiveness
Anxiety
Assertiveness
Public speaking
Death or loss
Bed-wetting
Addictions
Obsessive-compulsive
Relaxation
Lack of direction
Trauma
Creativity
Abandonment
Jealousy
Memory
Shame
Chronic pain
Surgery recovery
Dreams and nightmares
Mistrust
Insecurity
Self-control
Fear of failure or success
Goal achievement
Self-mastery
Age/past-life regression
My specialization and passion
I am passionate about working with spiritually-awakening individuals who are seeking answers, and looking to remember who they truly are, build a stronger connection with their higher self, and reclaim their power and their soul gifts. If you are a person who feels that there is more to life than what you can perceive with your senses and who is ready to live a more fulfilling life, then it would be my pleasure and honor to be your guide on a journey of awakening, self-discovery, and transformation. Outside of behavioral hypnotherapy, all of my services have a deeply-spiritual, shamanic component to them (with the intensity depending on the openness and readiness of the client).
