Some of the most amazing & satisfying experiences I've had during thirty years of practice as a certified hypnotherapist have been with clients who've been diagnosed with cancer. I'd like to share five major benefits that hypnotherapy offers to people confronting this challenging situation.
First is the deep level of relaxation (Theta Trance) that can be reached through BodyMind Trance Breathwork (TBW) hypnotherapy. Due to a wide range of anxieties, many clients who are dealing with cancer find relaxation difficult to achieve. Suggestions delivered in Theta have to do with sleeping soundly, reducing stress and letting go of worries and fears.
Secondly, TBW hypnotherapy facilitates communication with cells and parts of the body that are undergoing trauma. This physically oriented interactive work gives cells and tissues a voice and may provide needed information to the person about how to assist their healing process.
The third area of assistance is with a client's relationship with themselves. A cancer diagnosis is often experienced emotionally as a death sentence. Doctors sometimes answer the understandable question, "How long do I have to live?" unskillfully, bringing up a host of feelings & issues for the client. Additionally, all of the client's unfinished business is suddenly put on a timetable for completion. This can be overwhelming. TBW Hypnotherapy helps clients sort out priorities & complete unfinished business.
Fourth, hypnotherapeutic regression can access the place between lives where great healing can take place around questions concerning life purpose and meaning. Like the place of inner peace, the place between lives can be a powerful inner experience and resource that assists those facing death to move through denial, depression, anger & bargaining to acceptance.
Finally, hypnotherapy can enhance the day to day experience and life satisfaction of clients going through traumatic surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Teaching clients self hypnotherapy so they can access their own healing and relaxation imagery gives them resources where they might have felt only helplessness. Helping them hear their inner voice through interactive exchanges with inner family and other inner characters can provide guidance they can trust to help them make the important decisions a cancer diagnosis calls upon them to make.
Tom Johnston, M.Ed., LMP, LMHC is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor & BodyMind Therapist who's been using Hypnotherapy with clients diagnosed with cancer since 1980. Tom directs the BodyMind Academy, a state licensed vocational school offering Trance Breathwork (TBW) Practitioner Training beginning 9-11-10. For information: 206-367-9060, tjohnston@bigplanet.com or www.bodymind-academy.com.