The Mind Alchemist is a safe place to come and explore and experience hypnotherapy and the role it could play in creating the changes you would like to see.
We recognise there are lots of uncertainties, and sometimes even fear, around the thought of hypnotherapy, and we would like to help demystify it for you.
No pressure, no judgment, and definitely no dancing like a funky chicken. Unless you particularly want to.
Hypnotherapy is a safe, and often very enjoyable, process that most commonly utilises the state of trance, a deeply relaxed state, to help utilise the power of the subconscious/unconscious mind to overcome difficulties, break old and unwanted patterns, and take back the power from unconsciously held beliefs, fears, and strategies that are not serving us as well as they might.
From phobias and addictions, to sleep struggles and pain management, to relationship difficulties, to anxiety and depression, and even anger or trauma responses, hypnotherapy can be a powerful resource to rewrite the stories we tell ourselves, inviting new possibilities and creating new pathways to a more empowered and fulfilling life.
What part of your story are you ready to transform? That’s where hypnotherapy can really work its magic.
Hypnotherapy and trance can often be misunderstood, largely thanks to how stage hypnotists and dramatic portrayals in TV and film can skew our perceptions.
Also, hypnotherapy is sadly not yet regulated, and that can be a real issue, as it can lead to dubious practices, people making wild claims, fake videos, and bad experiences. It’s essential to do your research.
I once contacted a number of hypnotherapists out of interest and asked for their qualifications, and how long they had trained before practising, etc. I was shocked that not one of them agreed to provide me with that basic information. It’s essential to do your research and possibly ask some difficult questions to ensure you get a hypnotherapist with the integrity, experience, training, and qualifications you deserve.
Stage hypnotists have learned how to find the most suggestible members of an audience, and those who will be most likely to ‘play along’. That isn’t to say the volunteer does things they wouldn’t do if they weren’t hypnotised, but more, perhaps, that hypnosis allows them to release inhibitions and take advantage of the illusion of being unable to help themselves. However, if they didn’t want to ‘play along’, they wouldn’t, as they are actually in control and would be able to stop at any time they like.
During hypnosis, you are in control at all times and can move, talk, and come out of trance, deep relaxation, any time you like. Hypnotherapy works by creating an environment of trust in the same way as with a more conventional talk therapist, and it is from that place of trust that a person can allow themselves to make the changes they seek.
Hypnotherapy is not about losing control, it’s about reclaiming it.
Dolly Parton
Our minds are the communication centre for everything we do and think. Most of what is going on for us at any one time is happening in our unconscious. We are generally not conscious of more than approximately five percent, at most, of what we are seeing, hearing, feeling, thinking, or believing. But what happens in our unconscious mind often steers the ship. We develop habits that may have been a conscious or unconscious way of meeting a need, but years later may no longer be serving that need and, indeed, may be hindering us.
Here’s a couple of examples:
Being a generous family, they frequently invited me to dinner, and as a polite young man, I always offered to help with household routines. Early in the relationship, I remember going to throw a tin can in the bin, this was before recycling options, and John told me to squash the neck of the can before disposing of it. When I asked why, he explained, mockingly but kindly, that “the little birdies at the rubbish dumps get very, very hungry and go looking for food. If the can is open, they can cut themselves on the nasty sharp edges, get infections, and die a nasty, horrible death. So we have to squash the neck of the can to make sure they don’t hurt their ‘ickle selves.”
It seemed reasonable, so I obliged. From that moment on, I diligently squashed the necks of cans. I carried this habit into therapeutic residential communities where I worked, teaching others to do the same. I passed it on to our foster children, encouraging them to squash cans before recycling. Over the years, countless cans have been flattened, either by me or at my suggestion. It became second nature, a habit I never questioned.
Recently, while squashing a can, someone asked me why I did it. As I began to explain, I suddenly wondered whether the reasoning still held true. A quick Google search revealed that, in fact, it’s generally better not to squash cans. While some local authorities may encourage compacting to save space, it can actually interfere with automated sorting systems, causing cans to be misclassified.
My unconscious mind had adopted a habit based on misinformation, and I had perpetuated it for decades. Now, I must consciously override that instinct and form a new habit. In good faith, I’ve been doing something unnecessary for years, passing it on to others and potentially disrupting recycling systems.
If John ever learned the outcome of his little joke, he likely wouldn’t remember it, but would probably find it hilarious. This story illustrates how easily we can form behavioural patterns that no longer serve us.
No real harm done, but now, I can change what I do.
Picture a small child lying peacefully on the lounge floor, blowing spit bubbles and lost in happy baby sounds. A hoverfly, harmless, though it resembles a wasp, lands gently on their hand. The child gazes at it with innocent wonder.
Suddenly, a parent bursts in, misreads the moment, and reacts with fear. They scream, swat at the insect, and snatch up the child in panic, convinced there’s danger. The child, startled and distressed, absorbs not just the chaos, but the emotional charge behind it.
Later, the mere buzz of a fly might trigger a full-blown fight, flight, or freeze response. Consciously, they may know it’s “just a fly,” but the unconscious has stored a protective strategy based on faulty information. That strategy, accidentally, can become a limiting habitual reaction, one that floods the body with cortisol and reinforces fear that, in some cases, can become quite debilitating.
Hypnotherapy can utilise the unconscious mind to explore, interrupt, re-examine, and rewrite our responses to past experiences. To build new neuropathways. Pathways paved with rivers of new glistening gold, instead of weighed down with old, corroded lead.