Hi, my name is Brian and I work in marketing in Athens, Greece. When I am not working, you can find me walking through the museums of the city, or enjoying a glass of wine with my friends in one of the many wonderful Athenian restaurants, or enjoying the beach in one of the Greek islands. I am originally from America and living in Greece has been and continues to be a wonderful experience. Although I appreciate the beauty of life now, it was not always like this for me. I was blocked. I had a good life, but I was not enjoying it. This changed when I tried hypnotherapy to process past trauma. Let me tell you how it helped me.
I had a challenging childhood. My parents were often absent. I did not receive the love from a family like other kids my age. In fact, I had to act as an adult early in my life. I used to work hard and long hours in order for me to get some food as there was no one there to offer me a feeling of safety. This shattered me in pieces, though I didn’t realize the extent of it until I was older. So, as many others, I built a wall around my emotions in order for me not to feel the pain of abandonment. Growing up, I built walls around those painful events in my psyche, which helped me forget my childhood. However, little did I know that my subconsciousness would still remember them and therefore, control much of my future life as an adult.
As an adult I started noticing repeating events, patterns in my life that were holding me back. So, it did not take long before I started scheduling visits with my psychiatrist. Three months later my psychiatrist diagnosed me with ADHD and I was prescribed medicine for it. I am not going to lie; they did help me. But I felt like they were not tackling the real issue. It was not just a concentration issue. I was not feeling and freely expressing emotions. I felt like there was a deeper problem in me which the pills were not solving. And to make matters worse, all the pills I was taking were making me feel numb. I started to feel I was losing my inner spark.
So, one day I saw an advertisement about hypnotherapy on the internet which called my attention. I started researching about hypnotherapy and I discovered that many people reported positive experiences in overcoming trauma. They described how hypnotherapy had helped them enter their subconscious mind to process emotional blocks which mainstream medicine were not solving. I decided I had to give it a try.
I visited several hypnotherapy practitioners, but I choose to stick with the one with whom I felt more at ease with. On my first visit she wanted me to explain what was going on with me. She also explained what hypnotherapy was and how it can be helpful in overcoming trauma. After my first visit we scheduled a second one which would be my first hypnotherapy experience.
On my second visit, she made the room darker by closing the windows, but letting them open just enough so that a little bit of light would still come in. She then asked me to close my eyes and lay down while I paid attention to a simple and repetitive sound; similar to the ticking of a clock. She brought me softly into my subconsciousness by guiding me through an imaginative path towards deep relaxation. When the imaginative path took me far away from any association with the present moment, I entered my subconscious.
I did not feel fear, but I was reliving painful moments in my childhood I had completely forgotten about. The practitioner would guide me softly through them, asking me questions so I could recall the moments in my mind in detail. She did this so I could feel those moments again completely, but from a safe environment. The best way to describe it is almost as seeing my feelings as a third person. I was empathetic to them, but it did not feel traumatic. She helped me understand that these events belonged to the past and could not hurt me in the present moment any longer. I was able to feel, and let go. At all points I felt fully aware. When I was ready, she gently brought my awareness back to the room. Afterwards, I felt somewhat tired but calm.
I had two more sessions with her after that, with two weeks in between. I did this to give myself the opportunity to relive different phases of my childhood. She was never pushy. She was very calm, soothing, and supportive along the way. I ended up paying four visit, though this varies by person (discuss this with your hypnotherapist professional).
Sometimes painful events in our lives block us inside. Finding a hypnotherapist with whom you feel comfortable with can help you a lot. Hypnotherapy helps you reprogram your subconsciousness again in a healthy way, unblocking trauma. This type of therapy helped me a lot, and I would recommend it to you too if you are thinking about it.
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