My experience with hypnotherapy

Hi there my loves! Sorry it has been a while since I have written a post, life has been busy, we have been all over the place and I wanted to write something really meaningful for you guys. So a few months ago I was at a friends house and I met a wonderful woman who is a hypnotherapist. We got to talking and I was so intrigued by her work. I really wanted to give it a try for my anxiety and sleep issues. I texted her a few days later and set up an appointment.

The first thing I had to do was a fill out a little questionnaire before my appointment. It asked some basic questions, some questions about what I most wanted to focus on, some background/childhood questions and what I had been experiencing so far in regards to my areas of concern. I was both excited and a little nervous for my appointment. I had no idea what to expect. I wondered what hypnosis felt like, if it would really work and what kind of things would come out when I was in this state.

I arrived for my first appointment with an open mind and ready for what was to come. We sat down, chatted a little bit and then she started working to get me into a hypnotic state. It was such a weird feeling. I was totally aware of what was going on yet I felt like I was in an extremely deep meditation and also my body was responding on its own to what she was telling me to do without me having to think about it. The first session we focused mostly on sleep. She recorded the hypnosis portion so that I could have the recording to listen to before bed. She wanted me to listen to it every night to start to retrain my subconscious. It talked a lot about going back to my natural state of calm, my ability to sleep well when I was younger and focusing on positive talk and affirmations around sleep.

To be honest I was not very diligent with listening to it. The next day after my session, I was flying back east for a two week trip. Travel is always the hardest for me in regards to sleep. When I am out of my environment and my schedule is thrown off I find it nearly impossible to sleep without some sort of medication help. The few times I did listen to it when I was away I found myself getting anxious when the recording was coming to an end and I wasn’t asleep yet. It was working me up more and I felt like I had failed. We had a chat on the phone while I was away so I could report back on my progress and we set up another appointment for when I returned.

In my next session, the recording she made was one that I could listen to day or night and the focus of it was to create an anchor point for situations where I feel stressed. The anchor point we decided on for me was putting my hand on my heart, taking a deep breath, and imagining a place that brought me the biggest sense of calm and relaxation. During the hypnosis she had me reinforce the anchor point a couple times. She would have me think of a situation that gave me anxiety and then once I felt anxious she had me use my anchor point and think of my place. It was so wild by the time we got to the third round of doing this I found it really hard to even get myself to a state of anxiousness.

If you have been following along with me for a while you know that one of the major downsides of my issue with sleep is that I feel like I can’t go out at night. I have this fear that if I go out and I don’t do my normal sleep routine that I wont be able to go to sleep. This really restricts my life and makes it hard for me to enjoy socializing. During the hypnosis, after we worked on the anchor point, she had me imagine a typical day for me while emphasizing keeping a feeling of calm and relaxation. At the end of my day she threw in a twist, she had me imagine going out and meeting up with friends. She lead me through the scene of going out and then coming home and being able to fall asleep easily and effortlessly. She kept reinforcing that I was in control and could decide to go to bed when I choose. That sleep would come upon me quickly and to stay calm, relaxed and at ease.

After my session I was determined to be very diligent about listening to my recording every day. I did for a week and then it was time for another trip, Derek and I were going to Maui to celebrate our one year anniversary. Instead of getting worked up and nervous about not sleeping while I was away, I changed my thought patterns and self talk to positive statements. Throughout the day if I felt myself getting anxious I would use my anchor point and remind myself that I was in control and I could fall asleep easily no matter what I was doing at night.

This is where the VERY exciting news comes! For the first time in over TWO YEARS I was able to sleep every single night without any help from medication. I still took my natural sleep supplements that I take and some CBD oil but usually I would have to add on an anti anxiety medication. I was SO happy and also very proud of myself. It showed me that I am in control, that I have the ability to sleep even when my routine is changed and I am in a different location. This gave me such a sense of relief and excitement that I can start to have my life back. I can now start to venture outside of my apartment at night and not worry that I will go home to being in bed awake for hours. I can now easily go on trips and not have to stress about being totally exhausted from a lack of sleep.

I am now a HUGE believer in the power of hypnotherapy and the ability to retrain our thoughts on a subconscious level. If you are constantly telling yourself negative statements or having unsupportive thoughts than that is what your brain is going to listen to. But if you actively tell yourself you have the power, that you are in control, than your mind will listen to that. I am beyond grateful for Stephanie and the work she has helped me with. She has truly changed the quality of my life and is helping me to gain back control. I am not my anxiety, I am not my sleepless nights, I am just a girl with positive thoughts who is working towards her best self.

I am also fully aware that this is not a magic fix, that I no longer have to do any work and I will be all better forever. I am still staying consistent with listening to my recordings and I tell myself positive affirmations throughout the day. I still have times where the negative thoughts and emotions pop up but I quickly use my anchor point and guide myself back to a more relaxed state. And yes sometimes even that doesn’t work and I am having an off day but that is okay. I actually had a couple bad sleep nights recently but the difference now is that I didn’t beat myself up about them. I didn’t freak out and drive myself to a panic attack. I accepted the situation and let myself be okay with it. I am more comfortable with being uncomfortable now.

I would highly recommend hypnotherapy to anyone who struggles with anxiety or anything similar to that. It has been a truly life changing experience for me and I can’t say enough amazing things about it! Thank you Stephanie for changing my life <3