How Hypnosis Helps You Overcome Subconscious Obstacles 

When people come to see me at Berkeley Hypnosis, they usually think hypnosis is only about positive suggestions like:

“The urge to smoke a cigarette will disappear and you will reach for a glass of water instead;” or “Every time the job interviewer asks you a question, your confidence will grow stronger;” or simply, “You are getting very sleepy.”

I do use suggestions like these and they can be extremely effective. Sometimes, however, there’s a subconscious  obstacle that my  clients need to clear before they succeed. Once they free themselves of this obstacle, they are able to stop smoking, lose weight, relieve anxiety, PTSD, or depression, manage their pain or whatever other change that they want to make.

What is a subconscious obstacle? It’s an emotion or a belief from the past that hasn’t been resolved or that is being held on to.

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Here are some examples:

• A  client who couldn’t lose weight discovered the weight was his way of holding on to his relationship with his ex-wife, whom he had divorced ten years prior. She had become chronically ill and relied on him extensively as a caregiver while he was also working and raising a daughter. He had gained forty pounds after she got sick. When he let go of his ex, he lost all that weight.
• A pain management client realized he could get relief from foot pain and tremors by releasing the tension from an incident that happened when he was three years old. During a huge traffic jam, his father had dangerously (and illegally) sped past all the other cars along the shoulder of the road. He and his family felt terrified for sixty miles.
• A stop smoking client discovered why she returned to smoking when she was anxious: cigarettes reminded of her grandfather’s love. When she was five and couldn’t sleep, he would smoke a cigar with her to help her relax. Once she realized this connection (and found other ways to feel connected to her grandpa), she quit for good.

See the pattern? As a hypnotherapist, I witness this same template countless times. But when clients find and remove the issue they are tied to from their past, it becomes easy for them to reach their goals. They are able to relieve their anxiety, manage their pain, quit smoking, lose weight or whatever else they want to achieve.

The Berkeley Hypnosis Discovery Process

The beginning of hypnosis is called a hypnotic induction. To induce hypnosis means helping someone relax through breathing techniques, guided visualization, or progressively releasing the tension in each part of their body. This hypnotic relaxation builds a bridge to the subconscious. Through this connection,  clients uncover, recognize and overcome previous experiences that negatively affect their lives.

In this relaxed state, when clients imagine reaching their goal, they may feel an emotion like fear, anger or grief, or notice an uncomfortable sensation in their body. Their response is a sign that there is an obstacle to handle before they can accomplish their objective.

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Discovering what this obstacle is becomes relatively easy during hypnosis. I ask the  client to remember the first time they had a feeling like the uncomfortable sensation they felt when they imagined reaching their goal. Slowly, but surely, as I continue to ask questions, an  event or experience from their past emerges. The unresolved feelings from that event is usually the obstacle.

I then help the client comfortably experience and release those feelings. Once they are free of them, they find it easier to accomplish their goal. 

The Secret Subconscious Obstacle That Caused Andrea’s Needle Anxiety

Here’s a case study from my work with a  client who was suffering from needle phobia:

Andrea was a diabetic with a problem. She needed to test her blood sugar levels four times a day by pricking her finger and drawing blood. And she also needed to give herself shots for her diabetes four times a day as well.

But both of these activities caused Andrea great anxiety. She became extremely frightened whenever she tried to prick her finger. Plus her needle phobia was so strong that she cried before every shot she gave herself. It was so bad that she  developed uncontrollable diabetes because she wasn’t giving herself enough of her diabetes medication.

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The day we began our work together, I told Andrea to remember the feeling she had whenever she would pick up a needle to give herself a shot. Just imagining that experience caused her great distress. She began to cry.

After Andrea took a few deep breaths to calm down, I asked her to remember how old she was the first time she felt the sadness she was feeling now.

She said, “Three.”

Andrea then told me about the day her mother took her to the doctor’s office when she was diagnosed with diabetes. The doctor tried to give Andrea her first shot. But like most three-year-olds, Andrea was afraid of needles. Her muscles tensed up; the shot didn’t work.

The doctor tried again. Same result.

Instead of trying to calm her frightened daughter, Andrea’s mother yelled at her, which made Andrea even more tense. The next shot failed. And the next one. And the next one.

With each failed innoculation, Andrea’s mother got angrier, louder and more critical of her daughter.

Finally, a shot succeeded. But that day a three year-old girl learned to associate her shots with a a feeling of being unloved and a belief there was something wrong with her.

More than forty years later, whenever Andrea pricked her finger for a blood test or gave herself a shot for her diabetes, she subconsciously experienced those unresolved feelings .

No wonder she cried!

The Antidote to Andrea’s Anxiety and Needle Phobia 

At Berkeley Hypnosis, it’s a relatively simple matter to break a subconscious connection to negative beliefs and emotions.

While in an hypnotic trance, a client imagines a new version of the original experience. In this version, they receive the love and the respect that they wanted from the person who upset them. Now when they try to achieve their goal, they can use this imagined experience as a resource to help them feel safe and loved instead of being carried away by the negative emotions that used to show up.

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In Andrea’s case, I asked her to recall the scene at the doctor’s office. This time, however, we would imagine her mom acting in a loving way when the first shot didn’t succeed. I asked Andrea to picture her mom saying things like, “Just hold my hand and look at me instead of the doctor, baby. I love you so much.” Or “You’re such a good and brave girl. I know you can do this.” Instead of criticizing and yelling at her, this newly created version of Andrea’s mother would be loving and supportive.

Sometimes I have a Berkeley Hypnosis client imagine this voice. Other times I’ll ask if they want me to say these words out loud to them.

Either way, a sense of serenity forms with regard to the original situation, where there once was pain and anxiety. One of the interesting things about the brain is that it allows the imagined event to have the same value as a real memory. You’ve experienced this yourself if you’ve ever thought about something, like putting the milk back in the refrigerator, and been absolutely sure you did it–but when you come home,  you discover the milk is still on the counter.

Once that serenity comes, I’ll ask the client to place their hand on the part of their body where they feel the most peace or love. Next I’ll ask them to spread that feeling to the rest of their body. I’ll then give them a post-hypnotic suggestion that whenever they place their hand on that part of their body, they will easily feel that peace and love again.

The Surprising Extra Benefit When Andrea’s Subconscious Obstacle was Removed

Our session worked extremely well for Andrea. She no longer subconsciously connected to the negative judgments from her first attempt at controlling her diabetes. Instead, she allowed herself to feel loved before every finger prick or shot.

Because of that, she was immediately able to overcome her needle phobia. “Four years later, because I was diligent in getting my health right,” she says, “my doctor has reduced my medicine intake.” She also lost 158 pounds, which she partially attributes to getting her diabetes under control. “This all started with you,” she recently told me in a Facebook instant message.

Our subconscious has a powerful effect on us. No matter how hard we try to accomplish something by using our will power and best thinking, our subconscious mind can provide an obstacle to our success. That obstacle goes away when it gets its needs met.

If you’re having a hard time with trying to stop smoking, lose weight, overcome anxiety, manage your pain or you are dealing with PTSD or anxiety, there may be a subconscious obstacle in your way. Hypnosis is usually the fastest way to remove that obstacle. In Andrea’s case, we did it in one session. Though it doesn’t work that fast for everyone, most people find their work at Berkeley Hypnosis takes significantly fewer sessions than psychotherapy.

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