15 • mind & body
Mind & Body Chris Jones Cognitive Hypnotherapist and Sports Performance Mind Coach NLP Master Practioner, MNCH (reg)*
Hypnotherapy & Regression
M
any Hypnotherapists state that they are ‘solution-focussed’ and do not delve into problems from the past. Personally, my opinion is that only by healing the effects of events from the past can clients move forward in their lives. To me it is like getting rid of weeds. Yes you can pull the weed out, but unless you get rid of the root, the weed will re-grow. With most anxiety-related conditions, finding out the cause of the problem is my first line of attack and this is where regression comes in. In trance, deeplyhidden memories can be unearthed and once unearthed, they can be changed, so that they no longer create the problems that have created and maintained the client’s condition. This can create a certain amount of emotional discomfort for a very brief period, but there are control mechanisms available to minimize the effects and the potential benefits far, far outweigh any discomfort experienced. I also believe that once clients understands why they have developed the condition, then they are more likely to be able to resolve it (with help from me); especially once they realise that the condition is the problem, they are not
the problem. For example, the client is not an alcoholic, just an individual suffering from alcohol abuse; in the same way that most children are not bad children, just children with bad behaviour. ‘Regression Therapy’ is a term that throws some would-be clients into a state of panic; just at the possibility of past-life experiences being involved. When I first signed up for the Quest Hypnotherapy course, I asked if this concept gave hypnotherapy a bad name. My soon-tobe tutor told me the following story. He had a client who had what we call a presenting problem of anxiety. The first line of attack is to invite the client to look back along their imaginary timeline to the first event connected to the problem. In this case, the client regressed several generations to the 16th century, where she believed that she had had anxiety issues with her husband. My tutor helped her to deal with those issues (in her mind) and in doing so her current anxiety issues were resolved. His words to me were, ‘It doesn’t matter what we (as therapists) believe, we always work with what the client believes. The client obtained the desired outcome, so job done.’
My only exposure to past-life regression was 2 colleagues at Safeway, where I was working when I started training. Both came to me with a belief that they had each had a different life in the past and asked me to take then back to it. I agreed to do this. Both recounted details of their lives in great detail and obviously firmly believed in what they were saying. However, subsequent investigation could not substantiate what had been said in trance. What I do believe is that there is so much that we don’t understand about the human mind that I still keep an open mind on the subject. I know Hypnotherapists who specialise in this field. If you would like to talk through any anxiety-related issues that you might have, give me a ring.
Chris Jones HYPNOTHERAPIST & NLP Master-Practitioner www.chrisjones.uk.com 01903 745606 07740 085101