Feeling anxious and don't know why? Hypnotherapy can help to find out why.
I can help you go back in your mind to that first moment when you felt anxiety. The 'Trigger' moment. It may be that you were bullied at school, so now you find it difficult being around other people. Or you have body image issues now because a family member once told you that you were looking a bit 'tubby'. Or it might be that you feel anxious about making a mistake now because a teacher at school ridiculed you in front of your class for spelling a word wrong.
I can take you back to these events that have been lodged in your subconscious mind for many years. These events may lead to childhood, which could lead to making peace with your Inner Child. You will then learn that maybe your Inner Child needs healing to enable the adult you to continue life without unnecessary thoughts and emotions invading your mind when you don't need them.
Inner child work in hypnotherapy is one of the most powerful sessions I do.
So how does it work? It starts with you wanting to do this. We talk first, like a counselling session. It could be that you haven’t even come to me for inner child work. You may have booked hypnotherapy for weight loss, or even relationship problems. However, when talking in the session maybe you bring up something from your past, your childhood. It could be that your parents used to argue, and you were there, listening in another room, unable to do anything, but wanting to do something. You are 8 years old and wondering what you’ve done. It’s your fault you tell yourself. If you hadn’t wanted that computer for Christmas, they wouldn’t be arguing about money now. Always arguing, always your fault. As your counsellor/hypnotherapist, I reflect this back to you and maybe ask you the question: Was it your fault? Was it that 8-year-old child’s fault? You then stop and think. This is when we explore how that child’s feelings at that time has stayed with you as an adult, making you overly anxious, or unable to form lasting relationships, or even not wanting to spend money on yourself. This helps you to realise that the child from back then, is still impacting you as an adult now and that ties need to be cut and peace needs to be made.
So how does Inner Child work help to heal the adult?
I put you into a deeply relaxed state of mind, this I describe as like when you daydream, you’re not asleep, you’re just not fully aware. You are in control of your mind; you will not go anywhere in your mind where you feel uncomfortable. You will stop and go back to the safe room in your mind that I set up with you at the beginning of the session, or you will just say no; that you don’t want to go there.
So, once you are deeply relaxed, I basically take you on a tour of your memories. I do this by relating your issue, such as anxiety, to your past. I will say, “I want you to go back now to a time when you felt anxious, when your heart was racing, your body was shaking, and you felt like you wanted to escape.” (If this is how you describe your anxiety in previous sessions). It may be that you don’t need me to say this, and you start your journey yourself. I will ask you where you are, what you’re doing, if you can hear anything, if anyone is with you, how you feel? You will answer me under hypnosis. Your voice may be very quiet and slurred, like you are talking in your sleep. When you find yourself as a child, I ask you to tell me what that child is doing, how they are feeling? You will watch that child, and some clients want to just be with that child. Some clients hug the child. Some clients tell the child that it wasn’t their fault, and they will be fine. This can be extremely emotional for clients; they may cry while under hypnosis. This is where the healing takes place.
What happens after the session?
I always leave time after the session to read my notes to you. I annotate, word for word what you say while you are under hypnosis. This is because some clients may not remember anything, while some clients remember bits and other clients remember everything they saw and everything they said. We discuss in detail what you saw and how you felt and how you feel now. This can bring up further exploration for the client. Some clients have gone home and spoken more openly to family about their past and their feelings. Some clients, in one session have felt total peace and like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders. It may be after this that you want to book another hypnotherapy session to discover more, or you may just have counselling, or you may feel like you have made your peace and feel a complete and overwhelming positive change.
When you find your Inner Child, it is like discovering that missing piece of the puzzle, that true self.
How can we stay in touch with our Inner Child?
A great book to help with this is: ‘Inner Child Recovery Work with Radical Self Compassion’ by Don Barlow.
This is a great book and an easy read. Barlow says that by learning how to go inward and discover your inner child, our lives will be more content and balanced. He gives some fantastic ways to do this, for example, be impulsive, like you were as a child, make time to laugh, smile. Do something you wasn’t allowed to do as a child, maybe sit up late, eat a tub of ice cream, and watch a film. Find your old toys, visit a spot where you used to play and maybe play on the swings again, write a letter to your Inner Child talking about memories, draw pictures in that letter and ask questions.
If you would like to explore your Inner Child, and maybe have some of your questions answered, please contact me for an appointment.