Guest Blog by Elizabeth Leaphart.
Looking for the answers outside us is a hard habit to kick, and even now I find I need reminding from time to time. Years ago I was in the middle of a complete life renovation; I left an unhealthy marriage and started over completely. I left no stone unturned looking for how to navigate the storm, only to find in books I read, websites I scoured, and with gifted practitioners I worked with that the answers were already inside me. And they were right. The process would have been one hundred times easier (and less expensive!) if I had looked within first instead of waiting for the answer to arrive in another package on my doorstep.
What is Hypnosis?
I am thrilled to see hypnotherapy becoming more and more mainstream. From fiction to stage hypnosis, the impression is individuals don’t remember, can’t move, and do and say anything while in hypnosis. As a society we often see it as magical and maybe even a little scary. Except for the magic of how wonderful it feels, these beliefs are thankfully not true.
Our brain is organized in different ‘departments’. Our conscious mind houses our short-term memory, reasoning, will power, judgment, self-discipline, and analysis. Our subconscious mind stores our long-term memory, emotions, imagination, and creativity and is the majority of our functioning. These departments work together to take care of our health and wellbeing.
So what happens when we want to make changes in our lives? When we turn to our analytical mind to manifest goals for our body and life, we are met repeatedly with frustration because it is our subconscious mind that speaks the language of our body. Our body rapidly responds to feelings and imagery. This is why our mouth waters when we picture our favorite food, why we cringe when we imagine a bug crawling on our arm, and why our stomach flutters when we see the person we love.
Hypnosis is a peaceful, creative, and productive state of inner absorption. It is a natural human ability, and a powerful tool for change (Gilligan, 1997). In fact, you are already an expert! We are in and out of this state as much as fifty times an hour. Hypnosis is complete focus in our subconscious mind: our feelings, imagination, and memories. You’ll often find yourself in this state when driving, exercising, praying, watching TV or a movie, listening to music and guided imagery, meditating, having a conversation with a friend, and too many more to count. A hallmark of the hypnotic state is time distortion. When driving and imagining how our day will unfold, we often arrive at our destination without remembering how we got there. Hypnosis is this state of being, and hypnotherapy is utilizing this state for positive change and therapeutic healing.
How Hypnotherapy Supports Fertility
With our busy schedules today, we often give away all we have to family, work, and community. Our only time to replenish becomes collapsing in bed after a long day. This lifestyle causes our bodies to be in “fight or flight” mode, when our sympathetic nervous system is dominant to give us stamina in stressful situations. Our body gives our heart and muscles the majority of our energy. While this serves an important purpose, what happens when we experience it for prolonged periods of time? Our body becomes out of balance, and the parts of us not critical for survival, such the reproductive system, receive less energy. Reproduction is placed on the back burner until our senses indicate our environment is ‘safe’ again pregnancy. You can imagine how this works against us!
As soon as we are in this state, we engage our parasympathetic nervous system, stopping the ‘fight or flight’ mode and bringing full attention back to reproduction. This alone begins to place us in a healthy fertile state, as hypnotherapists Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer and Lynsi Eastburn describe in their powerful fertility methods.
Hypnotherapy supports you in reaching your healthiest, best self by healing and balancing all the beautiful and important parts of you. You also begin to have greater awareness of your intuition and the ‘answers’ to difficult questions you once searched for. You will be amazed to find all you are capable of when your mind and body are working as one.
Alice Domar, PhD completed two studies to demonstrate the positive effects of hypnotherapy for fertility. Her first study published in 1999 by the Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association found 42% of 132 women with infertility conceived within six months when participating in a mind-body program. Her second study in 2000, published by Fertility and Sterility, found 55% of women who met regularly for mind-body therapy conceived, while 20% of the control group not participating conceived. Not only is hypnotherapy successful, but it also has a wonderful side effect of overall wellness.
Use Your Imagination
Write yourself a prescription to play and have fun in the privacy of your own imagination, the doorway to manifesting what you desire in your life. You can do this anytime, anywhere. It’s free, natural, simple, healthy, and gentle. For example, as you fall asleep at night, take several deep breaths in and out. Close your eyes, and as you drift, create a place in your mind that you can go that is just yours. In this place, you can vividly imagine all you dream of as if it has already occurred. Allow it to be real with what you see, feel, hear, smell, and taste. Perhaps you imagine your fertilized egg snuggling safely in your womb. You may like to hold your baby and notice how your baby feels in your arms. Allow all that feels just right for you to be real in this special place.
This is the secret. This is the key. The answers you seek and path to your goal are already inside you. Watch what unfolds as you empower yourself from within!
Find Support
Visit these sites to learn more and find hypnotherapists in your area, as well as wonderful resources you can use at home, just like Circle+Bloom!
Be sure to visit Circle+Bloom’s mind-body programs at https://circlebloom.com/
get-started
The National Guild of Hypnotists Registry https://ngh.net/referrals/request-form
Hypnotherapists certified in Hypnofertility® http://www.hypnofertility.com/HF_Therapists.html
Hypnotherapists certified in The Fertile Body Method® http://www.thefertilebody.com/FBMTherapists/Index
With fourteen years of experience in counseling, social service, educational guidance, biological research, and hypnotism, Elizabeth combines professional expertise with her personal experience of successfully reclaiming her power, reshaping her life, and embracing her purpose and helps women do the same. Elizabeth holds a Master of Education in Community Counseling from Clemson University and is a Nationally Certified Counselor. She trained with two internationally acclaimed schools of hypnotherapy, the Alternative Practitioner Academy of Illinois and the Eastburn Institute of Colorado. Her passion and purpose is supporting women, and she specializes in Hypnotherapist Lynsi Eastburn’s powerful Hypnofertility® and Hypnobirth® practices. When not working for the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and in her private practice, Bloom Hypnosis Center, you’ll find Elizabeth running, writing, traveling, and enjoying her beloved family. You may reach Elizabeth by visiting www.bloomsc.com.
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