As we approach the 21st century, we are seeing a shift in health care from a total dependence on the medical model, to a more holistic approach that embraces many alternative forms of healing including hypnosis, therapeutic touch, massage therapy and reiki. This shift in thinking is coming both from within the medical community, and from the public at large, with studies indicating that as many as 40% to 50 % of individuals have tried alternative forms of healing.
The medical model places an emphasis on illness management, surgical intervention and control or suppression of symptoms. This model sees disease as something that can be cured or managed from outside, with little or no input from the individual thus, "the doctor as God syndrome". This discounts the role each person plays in creating his or her own disease or health. The holistic approach to health care looks at the total person, and the interaction between the three components of mind, body and spirit. This approach does not focus on symptoms, or managing illness, but rather on rooting out the cause of the disease and illness, and on removing blocks to the natural innate healing force so that healing is restored. The blocks may be on many levels, with disrupted, negative thought patterns translating into corresponding physical changes at the deepest cellular levels. The healing force is the intelligence that regulates all of our body functions, directs healing on all levels, and restores and maintains homeostasis. This healing force cannot be imposed from the outside, as it resides within each individual at the level of the subconscious. As stated by Dr. Joseph Murphy in "THE POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND" (page 66), "No mental or religious science practitioner, psychologists, psychiatrist, or medical doctor ever healed a patient. There is an old saying, "The doctor dresses the wound, but God heals it". Hypnosis is one of the most powerful tools available that allows direct access the
Subconscious mind and the healing force, facilitating healing at all levels of the mind, body and spirit.
What is hypnosis? It is a normal natural state, that is different from both sleep or wakefulness. It is an altered state of conscious in which the body and conscious mind are in a relaxed state while the subconscious mind is awake, and in a state of hypersuggestibility. During hypnosis, the attention span is narrowed to focus on only one thing. The "CHRONICLE GUIDANCE" (brief 612, page 1) states, "hypnosis is an education, communication process that allows a person's conscious and subconscious minds to believe the same message". This is also refereed to as whole brain thinking. The process of hypnosis bypasses the conscious mind, which is the seat of rational thinking, logic, judgement, will power and temporary memory. When the conscious mind is quieted, we come into contact with the subconscious mind, which is the seat of emotions, habits, permanent memory and imagination, and serves to protect us from danger, real, or imagined. In essence, the subconscious mind works very much like a super computer. Just as a computer does not judge the information that is fed into its memory, the subconscious mind likewise accepts as truth all information it receives. The subconscious mind does not distinguish between an actual event and one that is only imagined as being true. Many athletes make use of this function of the subconscious mind, knowing that practicing and perfecting their skills mentally, using the creative force of their imagination is as powerful (if not more powerful!) than an actual practice session. Another function of the subconscious mind is that it is goal directed. "In his book "ANSWER CANCER (page 17), Stephen Parkhill calls the subconscious mind "the single most powerful goal-achieving agency known to man”.
How does this relate to our health? When we feed the subconscious mind information such as "I always get colds in the winter", regardless of what we may do on a conscious level, such as taking vitamins, staying away from people with colds, etc., the subconscious mind makes sure we get that cold. Much of the information that is fed into the subconscious mind, (the thought seeds of health or disease), was implanted at a very early age. This information then becomes a part of the operating system of the subconscious mind. There is even powerful evidence that the subconscious mind is programmed with goal directed messages (both health oriented and disease orientated) while we are still in the womb. Most people, when asked, would say they want to be healthy. Yet their subconscious mind may be operating from a very different program, one that says "you don't deserve to be healthy, or "you have a family history of cancer, and you will probably get cancer", or "this stress is killing you". The possible scripts are infinite, and very specific to each individual and his or her life experiences. While these memories, thoughts and emotions that promote disease may be long forgotten on a conscious level, they are very much alive at the level of the subconscious. Every experience taken in by the senses is recorded in perfect detail in the subconscious. When this dormant memory is stimulated, the experience may be relived in perfect detail. Herein lies the power of hypnosis. The hypnotherapist is trained to bypass the critical faculty of the conscious mind, gaining direct access to the subconscious mind. Once at the level of the subconscious, the therapist is able to gain access to a lifetime of thought processes, and emotions. Regression therapy is one technique therapists can use to return the individual to the thoughts, emotions and experiences directly linked to specific disease, or illness. Once these thoughts and emotions are identified through successive sessions of hypnosis, they can be dispelled and rooted out, eliminating the cause of the disease. Then the subconscious mind can be reprogrammed with positive, productive thought processes, which will be played out on all levels. Once the subconscious is reprogrammed, the healing force can be directed to return the individual to a state of homeostasis and health.
Returning to our models of health, we can see that hypnosis is holistic healing at its best. It is able to seek out and find the cause of disease, destroy the seeds of disease, then reprogram the subconscious mind to return itself to a state health, thus restoring the perfect balance between mind, body and spirit.
Submitted by Christine Gannon C.Ht.
