Clinical hypnosis is a state of relaxation where patients can learn to use their minds in a more powerful way in order to promote health and healing.
How we use it at the Health Center:
Dr. Paul Aaron, DC, has been certified in the Silva Technique and the teaching of Yoga and meditation since 1972. He offers you an option to utilize more than 40 years of practice to help you into “your deep, core intuitive, subconscious knowledge and find a way into your own healing, dipping into your unconscious realms of wellness.”TM
David Grinstead is our in-house clinical hypnotist. When working with you, David will take the time to explain how hypnosis works and talk about what you will experience. He uses individualized methods and techniques of hypnosis based on your personality and challenges and can also train you in the use of self-hypnosis.
Hypnosis concentrates and focuses the mind. You will be totally aware of what is going on at all times
Clinical hypnosis can help with many health problems.
and be in total control. You won’t be forced into telling secrets or performing any weird behaviors. You are relaxed, not unconscious. By using hypnosis, a doctor is able to bypass the conscious mind to get to the subconscious. Doing that allows you and the doctor to explore any underlying motivations and/or figure out if there are any past experiences related to the problem.
So, hypnosis is not the treatment itself. You could say that patients are treated while hypnotized.
No, the doctor will not be able to make you do ridiculous things. It is not the “You are getting sleepy. You are getting very sleepy. You are now asleep and will do whatever I tell you” picture most have in their head when they think of hypnosis. Clinical hypnosis can actually help with many health problems.
Here’s how it works in the medical world:
Doctors use hypnosis in three main ways. First, they utilize the imagination. The mind is very able to bring about the images we imagine, so if a doctor encourages you to imagine a certain part of your body in a healed state, it can have some very powerful effects. Second, the doctor may give you some beneficial suggestions that are in line with what you want for your healing process. And thirdly, doctors are able to get around the conscious mind to the subconscious in order to explore any underlying motivations or past experiences that may be causing your problem, like said above.
During a medium trance of hypnosis, your metabolism, breathing, and heartbeat will slow down. Your body will slowly relax and your brain will produce alpha waves. These waves are associated with meditation, day dreaming or getting lost in a book or television. Not everyone will respond to hypnosis, but about 85% will.
Hypnosis can improve mood and pain management, reduce stress and anxiety, boost the immune system, help eliminate bad habits, reduce the length of recovery from surgeries, and improve the sense of health and well-being.
In an study that appeared in Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society, researchers found that a group of women who practiced clinical hypnosis significantly improved more than women who did not participate in hypnosis. The women in the hypnosis group reported fewer hot flashes and greater satisfaction than the women in the control group. So, clinical hypnosis looks like a promising treatment for women going through menopause.
In the following posts you will see more about the comparison of hypnosis to mediation, Yoga, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and spiritual practices, as well as advanced breathing techniques. Stay tuned!