Did you know that in childhood you are always in hypnosis? The mind absorbs experiences and learns new behaviors all at once. That unity breaks down about the time we turn eight as conflicts arise between our private and public behaviors. For example: “I didn’t finish my book report, but it is bedtime!”

To protect our role in the family, our mind breaks into two parts: the larger part – the subconscious – sends the conscious mind out to figure out how to survive in society. While intended to protect us, this is the universal wound that festers as conflict between our physical well-being (managed by the subconscious) and our social ambitions. The side-effects include a host of physical, mental, and spiritual ills.

Hypnotherapy starts with a dialog that reveals the underlying conflicts. Those insights are then shared with the subconscious in hypnosis. Most hypnotherapists take you to the edge sleep, which is when the subconscious finds out what happened today. At Hypnosis Rising, I emphasize the state known to children and rediscovered by master meditators: the gamma state. We won’t punish or over-rule the subconscious, but soften the barriers created by that original wound. That effort heals the past, empowers the present, and opens the door to unanticipated futures.