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I wasn’t familiar with Hypnotherapy until a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled upon a “self-love hypnosis” session on the schedule of a new yoga studio that I’ve been going to. I was curious about it, so I started researching a bit to understand what it was all about.
I learned that the idea of hypnosis is to work with our subconscious mind to reprogram our deep rooted beliefs. In the case of my session, it was reprogramming for self-love.
The whole process is done through a guided journey, similar to a guided meditation. However instead of recognizing your thoughts and letting them go, you’re building a story in your mind with the help of the facilitator.
I thought I’d give it a go, In the best-case scenario I come out with more self-love, the worst-case scenario I spent an hour meditating. It’s a win-win in my mind.
Getting to the studio, the nervousness that I felt leading up to the session had dissipated and I started to feel at ease.
The walls of the room were illuminated with a warm golden light. Four body-length cream-colored cushions in a semi-circle pointed towards the instructor who was sitting cross-legged in front of a gong that hangs in the center of the back wall.
I picked my spot and sat crossed legged. As the others took their places, I wondered if I was the only newbie.
Once we were all situated, the instructor closed the door and introduced herself, giving us a rundown of the practice of hypnosis.
She explained that she will be guiding us into a trance state, similar to how we feel when we are in the state of flow, or when we get lost in a movie at the cinema. She asked us all to open our hearts and allow ourselves to go on this journey.
We started by laying down and covering ourselves with a blanket. Then we started the first phase, which is getting into the state of trance by complete physical and mental relaxation.
We started with our eyelids, as she guided us to relax the muscles around our eyes and feel like our eyelids were melting into our cheeks. I allowed my body to relax and submit to what she was saying. Soon I found myself completely relaxed as if I couldn’t open my eyes if I wanted to.
The mental relaxation part was a little bit harder for my active mind. It involved counting upward with each number said we were instructed to let go of our thoughts and to relax our minds. We repeated it a couple of times, by the end of the second round I was in a complete state of trance. While she ensured that for everyone it feels different for me it was like a comfortable heavy feeling. As if my body were melting into the ground.
Now that we were all ready to work with our unconscious minds, the journey to our inner room began. We started by imagining a warm golden sphere-shaped light at the bottom of a staircase. We walked down the flight of ten stairs to find ourselves in hypnotherapy is called our inner room or inner sanctuary.
Once we arrived, the light showed us that there were more objects in the room. A mirror, a day bed, and a treasure chest. The instructor explained that we will work with each of the objects in the room to dig deeper into our inner being.
First, we were guided to stand in front of the mirror. While looking into the mirror, we not only saw the reflection of ourselves but also all the negative labels that we have put on ourselves.
She started naming some typical labels: I am not worthy, I do not believe in myself, I am not lovable.
For me what stood out the most was the “I do not trust myself” label. When she said that one, I felt a surge of deep emotion churning in my body.
Then we were instructed to take the labels and rip them off of our bodies, and watch them disappear. It felt liberating to look in the mirror and see myself labelless, especially after the realization that I was holding onto this belief that I didn’t trust myself.
After de-labeling ourselves, we moved onto the day bed, where we were instructed to lay down. This worked like a magic carpet that took us into our past memories. We were told to think of a time when we truly loved ourselves.
Once we had this moment vivid in our minds, we were asked what color we associated with it, for me the first color that came to mind was red.
Then the memory turned into a ball of red light that was floating over my head. We moved the ball from above our heads to our whole body by physically moving our hands as if there was a ball in it, we did this over and over again imagining that our whole body was filling with the color that we had associated with our self-love memory.
My entire body was tingling by this point. I was overwhelmed by the happiness that was created within me as I imagined a moment in my life that was filled with passion and self-love. We took a “snapshot” of the memory, turned it into a photo, and put it on the wall of our inner room, so we could always be reminded of the moment.
Rising from the day bed we moved over to the treasure chest. This was my favorite part of the entire experience. At first, we were instructed to sit in front of the chest and admire its beauty. Then upon opening, we found 4 glass vials, 3 filled with colored liquid, and one bigger empty one. Our instructor told us that we were going to mix an elixir.
Starting with the green liquid, which was the self-love potion, we imagined what it would feel like to love ourselves unconditionally, defining what it meant to us individually. Then we cast a “spell” over the liquid which was us repeating out loud self-love affirmations. Then we repeated this process two more times with the yellow and blue liquids that represented self-trust and self-confidence.
Once we had mixed the three potions together we were instructed to drink the potion. We followed the liquid as it went through our body, and felt as it opened us up to the world. As we listened, we were guided through every part of our body, with the elixir removing any last blockages or resistances in our bodies.
The last step was going back to the golden sphere that guided us into the room at the beginning. We were informed that we wouldn’t be interacting with the sphere because it’s too personal to do in a group setting, but that it was a tool that is always available to us. The sphere shows us our heart’s desires. We can ask the sphere questions, or for help with a decision, and it will help us identify which choice is coming from our heart and which is coming from our ego.
After learning about how to use the golden sphere, we were reminded that this room is always available for us to return to. That whenever we are in a mediative state we can come there and use any of the objects we interacted with today.
Then we were swiftly guided back into the physical room. When I opened my eyes I felt like everything was brighter, and I was more awake to my senses.
While I was very skeptical going into the hypnosis, I have to admit that I really enjoyed it. I found that it brought out a lot of emotions that I didn’t know I was holding onto. While I think it will take some time to fully process everything that came up and to understand if I actually reprogrammed my brain to love myself more, I felt very happy and optimistic after the session.
Even if it doesn’t reprogram my brain on a subconscious level, I believe that its ability to draw out these deep-seated emotions can only help on the journey of knowing yourself better, and in turn, help you to love yourself. I am going to continue exploring this tool. I have already signed up for next week’s hypnosis for loving and accepting your life path, so stay tuned for more thoughts as I go deeper into this trance.
However, living consciously means acknowledging the importance of self-care and understanding that our own health and happiness are essential for a balanced life. In this article, we’ll explore the significance of self care, and share some practical tips to help you prioritize your well-being.
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