Culture
Hypnotherapy and Personal Transformation
by Sydney L. Murray
I was skeptical about hypnotherapy after a disastrous session with a pretty famous practitioner a number of years ago. But I took a chance with a very compassionate woman and visited Kali Korogy, BS, CHt. After an amazingly relaxing and opening hypnotherapy session with Korogy, I had a chance to discuss where this type of therapy came from and how it works.
VM: Can hypnosis help with our shadow issues?
KK: Hypnotherapy can be useful if you define shadow issues as our darker natures, or the side of ourselves with which we all grapple. Our shadow is the human side that errs and seems to want to do things in spite of what we know is good for us. It is the side that smokes, eats too much, or doesn’t feel lovable or confident. It is that part of us that self-sabotages; it can make us lose our jobs or ruin our relationships. Our shadow aspects make us real and interesting individuals. They can also challenge us and get in the way of leading productive lives—if we permit this to happen. Hypnosis is a powerful tool that allows people to choose to take back their lives from habitual patterns that are not working for them.
VM: What are the origins of hypnotherapy?
KK: According to New Concepts of Hypnosis, by Bernard C. Gindes, MD, hypnosis began as a religious rite. Egyptologists have found engravings in the temples of Isis showing worshippers in poses characteristic of hypnotic trance. Gindes cites a Greek engraving dated to 928 B.C. showing Chiron, a renowned physician of the time, using hypnosis with his pupil, Aesculapius.
Gindes further informs us that in 1773, Frederick Anton Mesmer introduced magnetism as a means of curing illness. Soon after, “Mesmerism” was born, which ultimately became associated with quackery. Mesmer was finished in 1784 at the Academy of Science in Paris by a panel of three scientists, Antoine Lavoisier, Jean Sylvain Bailly, and Benjamin Franklin, who deemed him a fraud. Consequently, the whole of his work was rejected. Years later, a former student of Mesmer, Marquis de Puysegur, began experimenting with magnetizing peasants from villages near his estate. He discovered he could induce a restful state, now known as artificial somnambulism, during which he could suggest conditions of peace and painlessness and even perform, according to Gindes, complete healings.
In 1841, James Braid, MD, a prominent surgeon, became curious about the claims made by Mesmer and his followers. Braid looked for a scientific explanation and realized physical agents could bring on a restful state. He coined the term hypnotism from the Greek hypnos, meaning sleep. While Braid’s work was ignored in England, it was recognized in France. Professor Azam of Bordeaux became interested in Braid’s work, duplicating experiments emphasizing that it was possible to produce hypnotic anesthesia under which surgery could be performed with minimal pain. French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot is also credited with advancing the science of hypnotism. In 1878, Charcot proved there are several stages of hypnosis and was the first to attempt a scientific classification of hypnotic phenomena. Charcot, an authority in his field, presented his dissertation for the French Academy of Sciences, and his essays and lectures received world attention.
VM: Why do you believe hypnosis works?
KK: The human mind is much like a computer. Every computer requires software programs to perform tasks. Similarly, human beings perform tasks or behaviors that have been “programmed” by their environment. Hypnosis is simply a way to tap into that human software program and rewrite it.
It has long been known and widely accepted that what we think about the most, we become. Hypnotic suggestions assist in shifting a person’s thinking focal point. Hypnosis has been shown to span the alpha to alpha-theta to theta brain-wave states. Research has indicated that while in the alpha brain-wave state, a person is capable of accelerated learning, increased creativity, memory improvement, and overcoming psychosomatic illnesses. The theta state, seen in the later stages of hypnosis, is one of tranquility, creativity, and very deep relaxation.
Essentially, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. It works because the person being hypnotized wants it to work. The Law of Self-Preservation protects everyone from doing anything they find immoral, illegal, or dangerous. If someone is up on a stage clucking like a chicken, it is because they think it is good fun and they want to do it.
As a therapeutic process, hypnosis works because it allows people to choose to enter a state of restful awareness in which they can view events or habits in their lives from a different perspective. From this standpoint, they have the power to shift and make new choices, forming different habits quickly and easily.
VM: What could a client expect from working with you?
KK: Principally, they can expect a safe space. They get to tell their stories and experience someone truly listening. Sometimes a person repeatedly uses negative word pictures and deeply ingrains these ideas in their own psyche. This causes patterns in their lives that are not effective. I listen for these word pictures and provide feedback when I hear them. Each client can expect a limited number of individualized sessions which produce results based on being held accountable; I frequently give follow up action assignments. I developed IntuAction Hypnotherapy to teach clients to harness and direct their mind habits by combining two primary mechanisms: Intuition and Action. My clients receive a combination of hypnosis, mentoring, and spiritual support if they desire it, as I am also a prayer minister.
VM: What are some of the other methods you use during a typical session?
KK: There is no typical session. I design each session individually through prior meditative preparation. Each person comes to me with his or her unique experiences; I am privileged to be allowed to enter them. The methods I use include induction into the hypnotic state, guided imagery, reviewing life events from a safe place, active listening and feedback, anchoring good feelings, inner child work, hypnotic suggestion, affirmations, action assignment cards, and if the person is amenable to it, prayer.
VM: What are some of your greatest successes in working with clients?
KK: I’ve seen a woman come into my office with sadness and fear in her eyes and watched her walk out confidently holding the tools in her hands and mind that will allow her to create liberty in her life.
I’ve listened to a woman’s dream of being able to wear a beautiful dress at her child’s wedding and heard her voice ring with delight because she’s slimmed down two dress sizes and is now able to get “the dress!”
VM: If we could do one thing to change our world, what would it be?
KK: Each one of us must learn to use our minds correctly. We must learn to forgive, love, and value ourselves so absolutely that we can sincerely forgive, love, and value others. Only then will we naturally stop doing harm, and where harm ends, peace begins.