The Powerful Combination of Compassionate Mindfulness and Therapeutic Hypnosis

Understanding how we become hardwired to anxiety — and how we can rewire our brain.

Every cell is a part of the little mini universe which each of us are! And we are the creator of our own particular world (the body as well as our external circumstances).

Every single thought produces an emotion - and subsequently a physiological and chemical response in the body.

This is why by the time we are seven years of age we have literally become hardwired (mostly unconsciously by our immediate caregivers) producing conditioned responses to an array of different stimuli, including all of those things we now find 'push our buttons.'

In other words if we grow up in a family where anxiety or depression was present (even if low lying) we not only 'pick up' on the ideas we are presented with — the world is not a safe place — we absorb that feeling at a cellular level.

The anxiety we experienced intuitively from our family and/or early environment, continues throughout our lives to create habitual biological responses to specific circumstances, leaving us often with a sort of bleak inner landscape or ‘back drop’ to our lives.

Of course these (often unconscious) responses tend to dictate our external decisions, choices and actions. And because of this we often perpetuate the very patterns we seek to escape.

Fortunately the brain has been proven to have neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections) throughout the whole of our lives.

This means that if we learn methods of retraining our minds, we are able to literally create new neural pathways, and our emotional and physiological responses will be different.

An enormous amount of scientific research supports the efficacy of Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy, (especially CBT based hypnotherapy) and Self Compassion as very effective approaches for doing just this.

Developing Greater Self Awareness and Self Acceptance through Compassionate Mindfulness

Whilst talking about our problems and feelings is proven to be helpful, one of the main reasons for this is the bond of trust established between the therapist and individual.

However, when talking about our feelings and experiences is the primary basis of treatment (as for example in counselling) though it may be very helpful, as a stand-alone treatment it does not necessarily equip people with practical self help tools which can extend beyond treatment.

Another point to consider is that when people arrive in therapy (and in particular if they have been suffering with depression) they may feel quite numb and disconnected with their feelings.

If they are experiencing anxiety they are likely to be in a state of mental and physical arousal, with the brain omitting high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Therefore if we look at the neuroscience, it makes sense to first of all address the lower and more primal regions of the brain which are responsible for our survival instinct.

Mindfulness techniques such as breathing exercises, body scans and meditation, enable a person to reconnect directly with, and move more fully into their bodies.

When people learn how to do this, they not only become more self aware and ‘present’ in the here and now, they also develop skills which enable them to take conscious control of those bodily responses and (with regular practice) create physical and mental states of relaxation at will.

Bringing the component of self compassion into this practice, means that a person is not simply able to develop objective self awareness as one does in mindfulness, we also learn to view ourselves as a concerned observer. In this way we develop a compassionate friendship and understanding with ourself and our mind, and make peace with the parts of ourselves we may have previously rejected.

This does not mean we don't continue to make an effort the change habits which are unhelpful. But we do so in a more gentle way, recognising that we are all of us just human, and doing the best we can at any given moment. In this way we become more self accepting and more whole.

As we drop our own self judgement we will find it easier to forgive ourselves, be kinder to ourselves, and approach life in an altogether more relaxed and playful way. Finally as we learn to become more loving towards ourselves, we often find ourselves feeling more accepting of others.

When we practice self compassion we feel more able to create appropriate boundaries in relationships of all kinds. Then, when we choose give to others, we can give sincerely from our hearts as opposed to from a place of resentment, guilt or obligation. On the basis of this, we often find our relationships with others also begin to improve in an easier more natural way.

Developing Emotional Regulation through Therapeutic Hypnotherapy and Self Hypnosis

Whilst mindfulness practices lead to greater self awareness and self compassion, therapeutic hypnotherapy and the practice of self hypnosis are practices which enable us to directly influence the automated responses of the body in a specific target area.

CBT based hypnotherapy techniques in particular, enable us to desensitise ourselves to events which previously created an automatic stress response in us. In a nutshell, the body does not differentiate between a real life event and an imaginary event.

Therefore, if we first of all practice mindfulness training techniques, and learn to master the relaxation response in the body, we can then use hypnotherapy to imagine a situation which may habitually cause us to feel anxious — for example attending a social event — but trigger a learned relaxation response.

It is a physical impossibility to feel fear or anxiety whilst the body is in a state of deep relaxation. In this way our bodies learn a new and desired response to the old stimuli. Even more exciting is that we can learn to create desired ‘Resource States’ at will.

So for example, we can learn to create a ‘feel good’ response in the body during hypnotherapy, and with practice, using self hypnosis, by mentally reliving in our vivid imagination during hypnosis a situation or time in our lives when we experienced this desirable state — even if it was just for a moment. During hypnotherapy we can recreate the desired physiological response in the body and then 'fire it off' in the target situation.

So for example, if we have a goal to achieve something, or create something but lack the confidence or self belief to make it happen we can use a number of different techniques to trigger the aspirational state of mind.

The more we ensure the goals set in hypnotherapy are in alignment with our own core values, the more likely they will invoke an emotional response in us. And if we can learn to harness that emotional response, and ensure that it is a desirable one, our body will be more likely to ‘remember’ it at a cellular level. This is how over time we can learn to literally regrow new neural pathways, and effectively rewire our brain.

Understanding that this is possible is a liberating and completely life changing realisation.

We recognise that regardless of external circumstances we are capable of creating states of happiness from the inside out. In this way we awaken to the power of our own innate creativity and, as Paramahansa Yogananda once said, we: “Can stand unshaken in the midst of crashing worlds.”