Hypnosis: A Tool for Wellness

By Jan Lee, RN

Imagine a toolbox full of items that help you build or deconstruct; join or pull apart; create, adjust, improve, fix. Now imagine a "mental tool" that helps you break down the barriers in your mind and creates a pathway to a healthier life. A super tool!

Hypnosis.

In very simple terms, hypnosis is a way to talk to your subconscious mind and tell it what to change. When you are hypnotized, you are relaxed, focused and suggestible to what you WANT to change. You are communicating with your deeper mind.

Let's take anxiety, a common issue, and use this super tool, hypnosis.

A hypnotist guides you (using a soothing voice, repetition and imagery) into a relaxed focused state; helps you create a peaceful place that is so real it's as if you are there.

Imagine a field of flowers with a path that winds through it. The sway of the field; the breeze creates a rhythm with your breathing; the scent of your favorite flowers brings about good memories; the vivid colors of the field and flowers … the reds, yellows and purples around you and perfect blue above pull you gently into this place. The sun warms you and reminds you it's always there even if hidden behind clouds. The sounds of nature and wildlife smooth your rough edges.

You walk slowly through this field; skimming the tops of the long grasses with your fingertips; breathing it all in; letting all heaviness and fearfulness drift away; your eyes now shifting up to the sky, the vastness of it. You are smiling. You are calm. You found a new pathway; in your own mind.

Keep your toolbox close by. Reach in and pull out "hypnosis." Change your mind. Change your life.

Jan Lee, a local hypnotist, can be reached at janleehypnosis@gmail.com.