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for fears, phobias, pain, addictions, and addictive behaviors and beliefs
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Hypnotherapy, NLP, and Milton Erickson |
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If limit yourself with a 'story' about what you can and cannot why not move to a new story, something about who you really are, and what you can really do?
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Hypnotherapy is a radical-short term therapy. We invariable use elements of classical hypnotherapy, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and Ericksonian hypnosis in conjunction with Coaching. These are powerful tools to address issues such as fears, phobias, addictive behaviors, obstructive attitudes and beliefs, as well as emotional patterns of different kinds. They can help uncover underlying causes, and they can help change patterns of behavior that may be the habit of a lifetime. In addition, hypnosis can also be used to manage pain, often when all else has failed. In conjunction with other coaching tools, Hypnosis can help you transform every aspect of your thinking, your behaviors, and you life.
Hypnotherapy is not an alternative to psychotherapy, nor can it claim to address clinically diagnosed mental illness. It can, however, effect profound and long-lasting change to persistent emotional issues. It can utterly transform difficult emotions such as rage, depression, or anxiety. The Hypnotic process utilizes the innate creative capacity of the imagination. In the hands of a skilled Hypnotherapist its effect can be profound and long-lasting—because Hypnotherapy is a way to systemically address both the symptoms and the underlying emotional causes of the issue.
Hypnosis itself is a natural state of mind. Sigmund Freud himself, who did not think that he was a good Hypnotist, said that no change takes place without Trance (Hypnosis). What he implied, based on how we now describe Hypnosis, is that change is dependent on the engagement and excitement of the imagination. In other words, no change takes place without a belief in our capacity for change.
The first job of the Hypnotherapist is to teach and demonstrate to her client the remarkable power of the mind—something which is so deeply underestimated in the mechanistic and pharmaceutical industry-driven world of Healthcare.
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| What is Hypnosis? |
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Hypnosis is a natural state of mind. We experience
something like it every day—when we daydream, for example, or just before we
fall asleep at night.
When we daydream, or before we fall asleep at night and are only still half awake, we linger for
a short time in a dream-like zone, whether for a moment or for an hour. Our mind is receptive to images, insights, creativity, or even to lingering fears and anxieties. We do not reason
or analyze. We are not completely awake, but we are not unconscious. We free-associate, or we reiterate unconscious and habitual perceptions and patterns, positive or negative, healthy or unhealthy.
As young children we were in a state of mind somewhat like this, not fully rational, very much driven by the imagination. This state is akin to hypnosis. Then,
and now, we undergo all of our deepest learning in it—especially the learning that has to do with who we imagine we are, and what we imagine
we are capable, or not capable, of doing. All real learning takes place in a state in which our imagination is engaged, Much of our early formative learning is absorbed, rather than received or taught. "I am good" I am bad" "Life is kind" Life is unkind" No one understands" I am loved" I am alone" These lessons are continually reinforced throughout our life. We may imagine that we leave behind our childish impressionability to become rational. But through the continual triggering of the imagination, the old internalized message persist and are reinforced until they are uncovered and replaced.
Our culture underestimates the enormous power of the mind. Patriarchal religious institutions has sought to control mind, nature, creativity, even life itself. Non-western cultures have typically respected the power of the mind and spirit. Every culture has at some point, before it was co-opted, respected their own indigenous traditions of wisdom and healing as they emerged out of wild mind itself. Even after those traditions all but disappeared the basic need for a way to express the intuitive, sub-conscious stream, has always been present below the surface: in the mystical and artistic traditions, in alchemy and the various 'heresies' which have surfaced on a regular basis. Hypnosis is still consider to be a heresy in some quarters. There is a lingering fear of the mind in those who seek control, whether of themselves or others. The irony is that when we let go of the need to control, we can experience an otherwise unimagined freedom.
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| Hypnotherapy |
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In the hands of an experienced practitioner, Hypnotherapy can be used to uncover, explore, and transform self-limiting ideas and habits that cause persistent difficulties for us. It is a way to bypass the rational mind, and literally to uncover the root of the matter.
Problems and difficulties can
persist even though we may have a clear intellectual
understanding of them, and even though we may have a strong will to change. A mere affirmation cannot take hold if there are underlying attitudes in conflict with it. Hypnotherapy is a way to explore those underlying attitudes, and the fears, phobias, and self-views that may be limiting change in different ways. Hypnosis is a way to create radically new ideas and patterns of thought to facilitate real change.
Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy are not new. Anton Mesmer is often considered the first proponent. He was the teacher of
Jean-Martin Charcot, who was himself a teacher of the young Sigmund Freud. One of the reasons that hypnosis is still not fully accepted in the mainstream traditions of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis and psychiatry is that Freud, whose monumental influence is still felt, gave up Hypnosis early because he felt he was not a good Hypnotist. But Mesmer was influenced by the alchemical tradition of Paracelsus and the traditions of European mysticism
Hypnosis is as old as the human mind itself and, as a healing modality, goes back through all cultures to traditional and sacred healing practices, We designate it with different names — Shamanism, Voudoun, Mysticism. It cannot be eliminate completely even from the most authoritarian forms of institutionalize religion and re-emerges in our sacred traditions. It makes use of the innate power of the imagination to effect mental and psychological change and liberation. Hypnotherapy in its current forms is one expression of that universal underground tradition resurfacing, A skilled Hypnotherapist often makes use, sometime intuitively and instinctively, of tools typically associated with the shaman or traditional healer.
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| Can Hypnotherapy Help Me? |
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Because Hypnosis is
a natural state of mind it is available to everyone. Anyone can
benefit from a deeper recognition of their own innate capacity for self-generated change and healing. Hypnotherapy can transform painful emotions, attitudes
and habits, and can help you recover you natural capacity for enjoying life, for creativity, joy,
and energy.
Anybody can experience the hypnotic state. We all do, whether we recognize it or not. Hypnotherapy is simply a way to harness that ability to foster wholesome states of mind. |
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| What are the kinds of things Hypnosis
can help me with? |
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Below are some of the ways that Hypnosis can be applied, either singly or as part of a larger intervention-process |
- Persistent self-limiting attitudes such as-
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"No one understands me . . ."
"What if they find out about me? If people discovered who I really am they would probably realize I was unlovable."
"No matter what I do, nothing seems to work . . ."
"I want to get out of dept, but nothing I do seem to work."
"I hate my job."
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- Creative blocks, the creative process
- Relationships, sexuality, gender identity
- Habits and addictions-cigarettes, alcohol abuse, drugs abuse,
marijuana and narcotics.
- Food issues, addiction to food, bulimia, anorexia, weight problems,
ending the dieting cycle by addressing the underlying emotional needs
- Anxiety, panic attacks, fear.
- Stress and anxiety, agoraphobia, fear of flying, fear of success
- Communication skills, shyness, confidence, self-esteem
- Memory, creativity, removing obstructions that limit your true
capacity.
- Sleep Disorders and Insomnia
- Depression, energy, focus
- Pain management, allergies, fatigue,
- Hypertension
- "Incurable" maladies, and illnesses that are typically approached with therapies that have significant side effects can often be alleviated to a significant degree. We cannot 'cure' the incurable, nor are we an alternative to medical diagnosis and treatment. We do however offer tools can alleviate symptoms as well as significantly change your attitude with such illnesses as:
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migraines
fibromyalgia
chronic fatigue
syndrome
asthma
Parkinson's
rheumatoid
arthritis
HIV
cancer
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Hypnotherapy is not Psychotherapy |
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Hypnotherapy is short-term radical therapy to facilitate changes in views and behaviors. Because it is short-term, It does not base itself on the establishment of a long-term therapeutic relationship as as central element in its process. Hypnotherapy makes no claim to work with severe mental illness, and although it may help to augment other treatments, it is not psychiatry, psychology, or psychotherapy in any official capacity.
The Hypnotherapist works with the understanding that people have inner resources through which they can facilitate change and healing within themselves. Hypnotherapy often acts as a catalyst for this to happen. A skilled Hypnotherapist may use modes usually associated with psychotherapy—Gestalt, Cognitive Therapy, different forms of breath and body oriented therapies—but they are secondary to the Hypnotic process itself, which when practices appropriately itself has a life-changing potential of inestimable depth.
"I have no idea what the solution to your problem is, but I know with certainty who does." Are words you may hear from us Hypnotherapist. The Hypnotherapist's job is to facilitate her subject's self-transformation. It is not her job to diagnose or prescribe.
And it is also her job to be present, to truly listen and to respond from that intuitive and responsive inner place that is itself akin to Hypnosis.
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| Self Hypnosis |
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All hypnotherapy is really 'self' hypnosis.
It is only within yourself that true change is effected. No one has
the answers for anyone else, though a Hypnotherapist, can be the essential catalyst for you to effect change within
yourself. As part of our working relationship we will teach you self-hypnosis, not only as a way to relax, but also as a way to focus, to uncover and uproot self-destructive ideas you may hold about yourself
that may have limited you in the past. We will teach you how to continually reinforce new ideas and attitudes that will help you realize your full potential.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
How long does Hypnotherapy take? |
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If you have been driving the same road for three years, or for thirty years, and someone shows you a shortcut, how long does it take you to use that shortcut?
How long does it take to change. A year? A lifetime? Or is it just a moment—"in the twinkling of an eye."
Hypnotherapy is a way
to achieve rapid results with specific issues, and with the underlying attitudes that have created those issues. Typically we see
people for between three and eight sessions. depending on the presenting issue, a single session
might be enough.
Hypnotherapy can also
be used for in-depth explorations of ongoing life-processes.
There are also times, when it is appropriate, that we work with long-term counseling, coaching, and spiritual guidance.
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| I am afraid that Hypnosis will release
uncontrollable emotions? |
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We have natural self-protective mechanisms.
Just as certain traumatic memories can be hidden for years, so we seem
to have the natural ability to release only those emotions, memories
and experiences that we are able to integrate.
Sometimes strong emotions are awakened through the hypnotic process. A well-trained Hypnotherapist knows how to help you transform, contain, and learn from them. Strong emotions are sometimes the result of suppression or fear. They usually pass quickly. If they linger beyond the session you will be given tools to address them.
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| Are the effects of hypnosis permanent? |
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While there are very few things that can be guaranteed to be 100% permanent, Hypnotherapy is an ideal tool to help you realize
reliable and systemic change in your life. Since the central focus of Hypnotherapy is not analysis, diagnosis, or
theory but on effecting real change in your attitude and behavior, it is difficult to hide behind patterns of blame and self-pity and random constructs about what may or may not have happened in your life. Hypnotherapy is a a way to empower you in a world of constant change. It helps you to trust change within yourself when that change leads your to realize your greater potential.
Hypnotherapy gives you power and permission to start telling yourself a different story about who you really are.
You might hear us say that
we have no idea what will can help you or what you need, but that we
do know (with unshakeable confidence) who does know. The work of the
hypnotherapist is to catalyze the change that comes to you from within
yourself. Such change is never superficial or temporary. Once learned,
you will have skills that you will always remember.
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| Spiritual Counseling and Private Meditation
Instruction and Guidance |
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| Contact us |
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Contact our office at Manzanita Village
Telephone: 760-782-9223
Fax: 782-0655
manzanita@ordinarydharma.org
Voice mail at our Los Angeles office
Phone 310-470-8443
Mailing Address
Manzanita Village
PO Box 67
Warner Springs CA 92086
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Contact Directly
Caitríona Reed
310-339-1660 mobile
cr@fivechanges.org
Michele Benzamin-Miki
310-339-3531 mobile
mbm@fivechanges.org
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Location |
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Our Los Angeles/Westwood Office is at 1949½ Westwood Boulevard, Suite 3. It is one and a half blocks south of Santa Monica Boulevard, just south of Missouri, and North of La Grange. The building is on the west side of Westwood Boulevard. We are upstairs above the restaurant "Feast From The East".
There is a parking lot just north of the building, there is also metered parking on the street for one hour, or there is free two hour parking on the residential street behind Westwood Boulevard.
Enter the building from the parking lot or from the street.
Manzanita Village near Warner Springs is two-and-a-half hours from Los Angeles, one-and-a-half hours from San Diego.
Click here for Directions to Manzanita Village
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| All images on this page
are from paintings by Michele Benzamin-Miki © Michele Benzamin-Miki.
All Rights Reserved. |