The focus of healing hypnosis is not to change external conditions or manage symptoms. Rather it is to change the underlying perceptions, thoughts and feelings which cause unwanted symptoms and behaviors.
Changing a person’s perception changes how they experience life or what we call “Reality.”
There’s a popular axiom which states, “As above, so below; as within, so without.” I had an interesting experience with this years ago that changed how I think about healing hypnosis.
I had been reading a book called, “On Having No Head” (a useful talent if you can achieve it).
One of the exercises was to imagine taking a step back out of the body. So, in your mind, you would step back and imagine that you are standing behind your body.
Well, I took this a step further and decided to amuse myself by practicing this exercise during my walk. And for the entire time that I was walking, I imagined that I was following myself.
I discovered something very interesting…
I was not inside my body; my body was inside of me. I experienced reality as perception being projected out around me. It was as if I was walking inside a ball of energy.
Kind of like a hamster ball.
Einstein suggested that everything that exists can be reduced to energy. The whole field of Quantum physics explores the paradox of matter and energy.
What we know is that at the core of every particle of matter is a vibrational signature. It’s what tells the energy what form to take. In reality, matter doesn’t really exist.
Do you remember the movie, the Matrix? There’s a scene where Neo is waiting to see the oracle. He engages in a little spoon-bending exercise with one of the young applicants who then tells Neo that the secret lies in realizing “there is no spoon”.
Okay, maybe this is a bit too metaphysical for some people. But meta-physics does mean “beyond the physical”. And that’s what I’m talking about. We are not the physical body. We are beyond it – the energy that surrounds and animates the body.
You are not the hamster
You are both the hamster and the ball. The hamster inside the ball is your physical body (only a lot less hairy). The body is your physical vehicle. Through it you see and hear and smell and taste and feel.
The physical body allows you to experience life in a very tangible way. But you are not merely the body. You’re also the ball. The ball is a “field” of energy. Some say that this energy field extends as far as 70 feet beyond the physical body. Others say it’s infinite.
Clairvoyants are able to see this energy field. Medical Intuitives can read it for the purposes of healing. I have seen it visibly on a few occasions myself. And I feel it as physically tangible and very real.
The animal Part of you – the hamster – is the physical body. The energy Part of you – the ball – is the field surrounding the physical body. The purpose of the ball is one of reflection. It works to reflect back to us our personal “reality”. And personal “reality” comes out of our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs which are based in perception.
Perception is sensory – seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting. We take our perceptions and project them onto the interior surface of the ball. That’s our “screen”, our “reality”. What gets reflected back to us shapes our beliefs and expectations in life.
The screen shows us our rules for being in the world. Our hopes and fears. And all our perceived limitations.
You are both the hamster and the ball.
When you were born the ball was clear. Infants do not yet have the ability to make a distinction between within and without. There is no separation between self and other. It’s only after we have accumulated a certain amount of life experience that we begin to project. And what we project is our history. So what you see in the world around you is coming out of your past.
All you can see is the past.
“You’ll see it when you believe it.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer
What keeps the ball moving?
It’s been said that the only constant in life is change. Our “reality” only seems constant because we are constantly projecting. What you “see” is whatever fits with your learning in the past. That’s the lens through which we see everything. It’s what’s deciding what we get and don’t get. As we interact with our projection, we begin to respond to what we see as if it were real. We develop coping strategies that are congruent with our seeing. They’re not always based in truth, however.
When the ball is clear you are able to see the truth. The ball reflects your Core Being. The older you get, the more life experience you have to project. And the more “stuff” you have to deal with in your field. Some of it is good. Some of it is not-so-good. And some of it is downright painful. But the ball isn’t the problem. The ball is simply your energy field feeding back to you your own perceptions.
The ball acts as a container for all your memories. Memories are stored energetically – through emotion. And E-Motion keeps the ball rolling. So as we move forward in life, our past revolves around us as “reality”.
If you (or your clients) find yourself asking, “Why does this keep happening to me?" . . . If it feels like you’re stuck in your own personal Groundhog Day where the same patterns keep playing out, over and over again, or you’re dealing with the same relationship conflict repeatedly, or you keep returning to behaviors that you don’t like, even though you know better . . . maybe it’s time for a change in perception.
You can’t change the image
You can’t change what you’re seeing because you can’t change the image. That’s like trying to fix the image of yourself in the mirror. You can’t change the image because it’s not real. It’s a projection.
You are real.
You can’t change a projection. But you can change a perception. That’s what the ball reflects back to us. Our projected beliefs.
A belief is a well-practised thought. It’s a thought you hold onto and keep thinking over and over again. And every thought is rooted in perceptions from the past. What gives it power is the feeling you invest into it. That’s the power of emotion.
Trying to understand your experience won’t give you a better reality. You’ll just come up with better reasons and excuses for why things are the way they are. Your experience will remain the same because “All That You See” doesn’t change merely with thinking or understanding.
What’s holding it in place is the emotion. If you want to change your “reality” you must change how you feel. You can feel good or bad, light or heavy, joyful or stuck, loving or fearful. It’s up to you. It’s your dream.
To create positive change, for yourself and your clients, focus on releasing the emotional charge. Releasing the emotional charge will allow you to get clear. So you can make better decisions and form better beliefs that are more in alignment with who you are.
The Real You.
“Only what is loving is true.” – A Course in Miracles
Getting clear will allow you to see more of who you truly are . . . and feel that way, too. If you love what you see then keep it. If what’s being reflected back to you is joyous, then by all means, enjoy it. And share it freely with others. Realize that feeling good is aligned with who you are and what you came here to accomplish as a human soul.
But if you don’t love what you see . . . if it feels scary or depressing . . . if you hate it, or it makes you feel guilty, changing it is the right thing to do.
There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just that your past keeps rolling back around in front of you. And the reason it keeps repeating is for your good. Every time it comes up again, that thought, that feeling is up for re-evaluation. So you can either release it, reinforce it, or revise it in some way. That will give you a different effect.
Sometimes opportunity comes disguised as loss. Or difficulty. Or challenge. Let’s face it, when it does the tendency is to try to resist it. But that just reinforces the underlying perceptions making it seem even more real.
Carl Jung said, "What we resist must persist." Fortunately, you have unlimited do-overs. Life will persist in offering you the opportunity to choose again by asking, “Do you want to keep this? Or do you want to let it go?”
As a man thinketh …
In the Greek interpretation of the Aramaic Bible, there’s a line that reads, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” This has been shortened over the ages to, “As a man thinketh, so is he.” But this distorts the original meaning.
The Greeks believed that we have two minds – the Head-mind, and the Heart-mind. Hypnosis practitioners call them the Conscious Mind and the Subconscious Mind. The Conscious Mind is the thinking mind. The Subconscious Mind is the feeling mind.
As a man thinketh in his heart – how he feels – is what determines his experience of life. If it feels loving then it’s safe – an environment of safety supports growth and healing. Much healthier for children and other living things. If it doesn’t feel loving, it probably isn’t. Release it.
If it doesn’t feel good, let it go. It’s your dream. If you don’t like what you’re getting then change the perception. And watch as that change ripples out into your environment.
It’s not what you think
It’s important to remember that every painful thought and feeling we have is rooted in a specific life event. We weren’t born with the problem. It’s a problem of time. Over time our thoughts were generalized into beliefs. Eventually they became “laws”.
Our beliefs tell us what to think. They define who we think we are. And it’s all based on past perceptions which may or may not be true. The Conscious Mind then uses reason and logic to keep us consistent with our beliefs. So our beliefs keep rolling back around, bringing them back to conscious awareness.
When what we see provides evidence to support our erroneous and fearful expectations it generates anxiety and fear – most of which is unnecessary. Mark Twain said it best when he wrote, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
We can use consciousness to face what we see, re-evaluate our beliefs with adult wisdom, and decide whether or not we want to keep them. That will change how we feel.
Instead of examining of our own thoughts and feelings and how they might be contributing to unwanted results, however, we tend to accept what we see as true. And this reinforces all the associated negative beliefs and reasons for fear.
F.E.A.R. stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. This is a useful acronym because it reminds us that “Reality” is a feedback system. It’s showing us how we see – not what is. Reality is always feeding back to us what is both true and untrue. While you can’t change Reality, you can certainly change your perception of it. And that will transform your life for the better.
Imagine . . .
Take a moment to imagine that you are the ball of energy. Inside this ball of energy is the body you think of as "you." Notice how that feels.
Now change your point of view. Imagine that you are inside your body looking out at the ball surrounding you. As you’re inside the body, you’re aware that all that you see is the ball. All that you see is your energy field. And it’s reflecting back to you your true and false perceptions. Notice how that feels.
Play with switching back and forth. Be the body. Be the ball. Notice how it feels.
What was your experience of that? What did you discover? How might this information help you in your regression hypnotherapy sessions?
Realize it’s your ball, your energy. You can use it anyway you wish. Isn’t it time you started having a ball? And doing more of what you love? And feeling that way, too?
