When you think of hypnosis, do you imagine someone performing mind control tricks on stage? Maybe you think of a person laying down on a couch with eyes closed, listening to a therapist induce them into a deep trance, where they lose all sense of control. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Real hypnotherapy is a complementary mental health service, sometimes used in conjunction with psychotherapy. Certified hypnotherapist Elena Petrescu reveals the truths about the practice and what clients actually experience.
You’re a transformational hypnotist. What does that mean and what’s your method for working with a client?
A transformational hypnotist is a certified hypnotherapist. When I work with a client, I use every single tool I’ve learned. First, we establish what it is they want to achieve [and their obstacle]. Then, we want to see the root cause [of the problem]. Usually, we do that through regression where I bring them back to a time and place — maybe when they were younger.
When we get that through hypnosis, we are accessing the unconscious mind, which literally knows everything about the person. By accessing that, the person is able to see and remember certain things that happened to them, whereas on the conscious level, they may not be aware of it.
We look at what happened. Of course, I cannot change their past, but what I usually do is change their perception of what happened to them. And through what we call “future pacing,” they realize that whatever happened then is not going to affect them now, in the present moment, moving forward.
What are some of the myths you’ve encountered about hypnotherapy?
There are quite a few of them. Some people think that you can control their mind, and I’m not being able to. That is not true. Some people think they may not be aware of what’s happening during the hypnosis session.
On the contrary, when you’re under hypnosis, your awareness heightens because we’re accessing the unconscious mind. Also, some people they think, “Maybe she’ll make me bark like a dog [or cluck] like a chicken.” Nobody can make you do something unless you willingly want to do it.
How can hypnotherapy help someone with anxiety?
I teach clients to use what we call, “tapping.” First of all, I usually tell my clients that when they notice that anxiety shows up, the first thing to do is to rate it on a scale of one to 10. And then, instead of allowing it to escalate, I teach them tapping. Tapping helps trigger our parasympathetic [nervous system]. It kind of triggers the vagus nerve, and it reduces tension in the body because it interrupts brain patterns.
It’s literally saying to the brain, “I don’t want you to focus on anxiousness.” And then after a minute, I get them to [identify] where that feeling is now on a scale of one to 10. So, we continue tapping until we bring that anxious feeling to zero. Then, with the same tapping exercise, we can instill a calming effect.
What are some important things people can do to break through self-limiting beliefs?
We have to identify where that belief is coming from. Most of our limiting beliefs develop when we are younger. So, if a child is lucky to have parents who say, “You’ll do well. You’ll grow up and you’ll touch a lot of people, and we love you,” that child will grow up to succeed.
But, if another child has parents who say, “You’ll never get this right,” or, “I wish we never had you,” that child will grow up thinking that they will never be able to get [things] right because that is the programming received during [their developmental stage].
One way of eliminating that is [asking yourself] where does that limiting belief come from? What had you experienced then? How is it affecting you now? How can you change your belief?
Josephine Mwanvua | Contributing Writer
