I can be an anxious person. It comes out when I sleep, judging by the ground down mouth guards I regularly chew through. I concentrate and scowl when I am deep in thought or passionate about something. So a lot of my facial yoga teaching addresses relaxation and re- programming unconscious beliefs.
But I wanted to dig deeper. I studied cranial sacral work, posture, and the autonomic nervous system to find more connections between facial wellness, habits, and how our unconscious beliefs can create our physical realities.
Then, in 2015 I was offered a space in a hypnotherapy training led by Melissa Tiers, founder of the Institute for Integrative Hypnosis.
I had long pondered the connections between thoughts, habits and beliefs- and how they all coalesced to create our physical realities. (This is a subject that has been documented for years in various yogic texts, particularly in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which devotes an entire section out of four on thought.)
Scientific studies have shown that our thoughts can influence our health at a cellular level. In one landmark Harvard study, cancer patients visualizing white blood cells to their affected areas in meditation recovered at a much higher rate than those who did not use visualization.
The mind has power to influence physical change.
If we don't assimilate and integrate our intentions on the level of the unconscious mind, we will be trapped in limiting beliefs that shape our physical reality.
Hypnosis is change work.
That's what Melissa taught me in the training.
I now offer hypnosis as a method of going deeper in addressing whatever changes my clients wish to achieve- you know, the ones we all want for ourselves.
I'd like to drop the last ten pounds.
Finish my book.
Feel hopeful about love.
Feel attractive again.
Relax and rejuvenate my face.
Stop the pain, quit the coffee, the alcohol, the_____.
Fill in the blank.
What would you like to change?
