Imagine yourself driving down a dark road at night. Suddenly, an animal darts in front of your car. You go into automatic pilot mode. You swerve and slam on the brakes. With luck, both you and your furry friend emerge unhurt. After the crisis, you may notice your heart pounding, quick breathing, tense muscles and heightened senses. All these physical changes helped you deal with the situation effectively. This reaction, called the “fight or flight” response, is the wonderful way our bodies respond to immediate physical danger.
The problem arises when the issue becomes chronic or the danger is psychological. Our bodies just weren’t designed to deal with those types of stressors. When faced with ongoing threats, our stress chemicals don’t turn off the way they were meant to do. Instead, they course through the body continually, setting the stress stage for serious health problems.
Enter hypnosis. Think about hypnosis as stress reduction on steroids. First, you will learn and practice a variety of breathing and progressive relaxation techniques to actively engage your body’s relaxation response. Then, if you’d like, we can explore and clear old assumptions that contribute to stress and replace them with updated thought patterns that promote health and wellbeing.
