All therapy is an invitation to take refuge with love. In hypnotherapy, that introduction occurs at a depth that is difficult to attain in talk therapy. In my practice, I consciously seek to rekindle of a love affair with the self, a reconnection to personal unity lost in childhood when the conscious mind was sent out to manage the client’s relationship with society.

This can have unanticipated side-effects. For clients that rely upon others for approval, it can be some time before they are confident that they can sustain that harmony. The subconscious, with the strong association to the therapeutic setting, compels a rumination on the steps of the transformation. What were the key elements, and how many were dependent upon the presence of the therapist? Can “I” really do this myself?

They can find themselves thinking about me in the oddest moments. One reaction to this fascination is to flee to the security of old patterns. The client will seek to avoid hypnosis, or drop out of sessions entirely.

I had one client take the latter path last year. He dropped by my office yesterday to thank me. He had found harmony and trust in the dialog between conscious and subconscious minds. In fact, using almost precisely the terms I had shared with him in our first session together, he said that he had come to understand that this was a unique virtue of hypnotherapy.

And as trance is a shared connection, I hope that having resided in the shelter of my good will for the last nine months, he will seek to send me some referrals.