Alternative Learning Technologies

The Journey of Enlightened Empowerment Begins in YOUR Mind!

Hypnotic Suggestions . . . . . . . .

by Nancy De Gennaro

DNJ Staff Writer

Murfreesboro, TN

With New Age music playing faintly in the background, Bea Rhodes settles into a recliner as she readies herself for a hypnosis session with practitioner Veronica Hartman of Alternative Learning Technologies.

“Anytime I come here, it’s never been a wasted session. I may come hoping to get one thing out of it and then get something different than what I expected,” says Bea as she wraps a blanket around her for comfort, turns off the table lamp beside her, and closes her eyes. “But it’s always what I need.”Bea nods her head to signal she is ready to start the session. Then Veronica turns on an audiotape to record the session for her client to listen to later and begins to speak calmly using a planned script, “What I’d like you to do, with your eyes closed, is to imagine a blackboard in front of you…” continuing through an imaginary scenario to relax Bea.

Breathing heavier with each passing sentence of prose, Bea visibly slips into a deeper state of trance. “I will be talking, of course, and you will be hearing me, but don’t try to follow my instructions; don’t try to follow what I am saying, because I will be talking to your unconscious mind, which is always listening; always paying attention…. slowly continues Veronica, talking Bea through mentally writing the alphabet.”Each letter you make causes you to drift deeper into hypnosis.” Once Bea is deep enough into a state of hypnosis, Veronica talks her client through suggestions of self-affirmation during the session. “Relax and let go of all interferences in your life,” says Veronica, along with several other suggestions of positive affirmations for Bea.

At the end of the 30 minutes, Veronica gradually talks Bea back to a conscious state. Although she was neither asleep nor awake, Bea emerges visibly refreshed.

“I’m very relaxed, almost sleepy. It’s like you’re asleep but you hear everything,” explains Bea. “It’s very peaceful and once you’re through it, you feel like you can conquer the world.”Bea has gone to Veronica for assistance with various aspects of interpersonal relationships, undergoing a variety of therapies including hypnosis. “I was having problems with concentrating and finishing my nursing tests and I was having relationship problems. Then it was actually like a fluke thing that I saw Veronica¹s card at Stonekeepers (a local gift shop). So I called her,” recalls Bea.

Along with hypnosis, Bea started undergoing a type of treatment called Time Line TherapyTM in which the client gets to the root of a problem by going back through the past to a key incident that created a pattern of negative behaviors, explains Veronica.

“It¹s amazing what the unconscious mind can do… to reinforce negative or positive behaviors,” says Veronica. “The unconscious mind is always listening…. The unconscious mind recognizes time through memories because there’s no such thing as time, really. You have the past, present, and future arranged in a linear fashion at the unconscious level. So you give a suggestion (to the mind) at the unconscious level to change behavior.” Finding the beginning of the problems is essential, though.

For Bea many of her problems began with the loss of her father, she notes. “What it really was I missed my father and (the therapy) made dealing with that (loss) a lot easier and I was able to get out of a bad relationship and I was able to pass my tests,” says Bea.

Being unable to get past that one particular problem prevented Bea from advancing in other areas of her life, explains Veronica. Upon finding the initial event that triggered those negative emotions, Bea began figuring out other parts of her life. Unlike other traditional therapies she’d tried before, the alternative therapies worked for her, says Bea.”

The first event creates a chain of events throughout life. If it’s traumatic enough in nature, then emotions are repressed along with what you need to learn from that incident,” says Veronica. “That event makes an imprint in your psyche. … Emotions are a catalyst that triggers behaviors.”Although the loss of her father was the initial event, fear of losing someone else that way kept Bea from sustaining healthy, long-term relationships.

Once Bea figured out a trigger, she says she was able to move past it and uncover more underlying causes for other problems in her life using the Time Line TherapyTM, hypnosis, and another behavior technology called neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) which uses specific language to essentially reframe the human psyche.”NLP presupposes that when you continually talk about an event, it’s being strengthened at the unconscious level. That’s why people think they are over something and they talk about it again and they re-experience it to some degree. … So I believe every individual creates their own realities based on their model of the world … based on the experiences of the past,” says Veronica.

Through these therapies, Veronica helps clients work through the past.

Although these therapies may be considered non-traditional, Veronica uses scripts and written plans to steer clients through problems “because they work.” Unlike a perception, some people have that hypnosis and like therapies are something akin to “hocus-pocus,” Veronica’s methods are clinical in nature and she has been trained and certified to practice them with clients.

She also audiotapes each session for her clients so they are able to return to that session over and over again as needed. “Each time you listen to it, it’s encoding the suggestions deeper and deeper and the more profound the results become,” says Veronica.

The audiotapes also allow clients to know exactly what has transpired so there is no question about the validity of each session. This helps clients feel more comfortable about allowing someone into their unconscious mind, which can be scary for some, notes Veronica.

“She gives you tools to work with so you can work with yourself on them at home,” says Bea. “It’s not necessarily homework,” she jokes. “But you continue to improve on yourself once you go home.” Even though she offers tools for clients, Veronica credits the higher power of God for allowing her to practice these gifts, too.

“Everything comes through God. I’m merely a tool,” she says. “I don’t feel like I’m healing anybody. They are healing themselves. I’m the catalyst. What I’m doing is helping people move to be the cause. . . the cause is greater than the effect. What that means is people either live their lives on the cause side or the effect side. When clients come to me, they are usually on the effect side . . . . They know they are unhappy with their lives and want a better quality of life. My role is to bring those reasons forward.”For Bea finding out the root of her problems has allowed her to move forward. But it’s been just the beginning. She’s worked through relationship troubles along with a variety of other struggles. And she continues to learn more and more about herself, she adds.

While some clients struggle with relationships, others will face troubles with negative habits i.e., smoking, drinking, drugs and hypnosis along with the other therapies that can help clients work through these issues, says Veronica.

But results of hypnosis and the other alternative therapies depend on a client’s openness to change and willingness to modify behaviors. “I can’t guarantee your unconscious mind, but I can guarantee you that I will do everything I can to assist you to get the best results your unconscious mind can get.”

Healing Memories of the Past

By Veronica G. Hartman

Memories pressed between the pages of my mind. . . . amazing how the lyrics of a song or poem, can cause you to pause and reflect upon the memories of life.

What are memories and what effect do they have on our life, if any? Memories are collections of experiences and emotions stored in the brain and body. The brain takes a snapshot of significant emotional experiences and records them. Therefore, memories represent records of wisdom and trauma, which are encoded with an emotional charge. It is the emotional charge which affects the present behavior of an individual. Some psychologists believe, as we get older our reactions to the present, are reactions to gestalts of memories. Gestalts are a collection of memories that are organized around a particular subject. (1) When the first significant emotion experience occurs, the brain records the predominant emotion present; which becomes a trigger of reaction for similar experiences. As similar experiences occur, the gestalt forms within the psyche.

The imprint period for a person is from birth to age seven. During this period of life, a person learns beliefs, values, and limiting decisions, based on his significant emotional experiences and environment. This period will affect the entire life of an individual. Significant emotional experiences pave the road upon which a person travels, creating their journey through the perspectives of those experiences. Positive and negative emotions are attached to the experiences and are emotionally charged. It is that emotional charge that leads to a chain of events similar in nature, creating unwanted behavior and internal states. Present behavior is influenced by those past memories and experiences. While you can’t change the experience, it is possible to change the negative emotions and limiting decisions, attached to the memory of the experience. Therefore, affecting change in the present behavior, that is associated with a particular experience.

Why is it useful to change those memories with negative emotions attached to them? Imagine for a moment your life, without anger, fear, sadness, guilt, or hurt from the past. How would it be different? How would you be different? Each one of us has the ability to create our life as we desire. However, when there are limiting decisions about values and beliefs or negative emotions which are affecting the very issues we want to change, it is much more difficult. Releasing those emotions and decisions creates the desired changes!

How is it possible to change the negative emotions and limiting decisions around those gestalts of significant emotional experiences? Consider for a moment how you store those experiences and memories. Is it front to back, left to right, or perhaps at a different angle? Notice that internal time is stored in a linear fashion, which is considered to be a Time Line.

By using the manner in which internal time is stored, it is possible to change the emotions related to significant emotional experiences.

Time Line TherapyTM is a collection of techniques that is a fast and effective process for changing a chain of events that lead to unwanted behavior and internal states. Time Line TherapyTM is effective in releasing the negative emotions and limiting beliefs/decisions of the first event which in effect collapses the gestalt. Time Line Therapy is unique in that it accesses the memory of the first event relevant to the negative emotion or limiting decision from the perspective of an observer instead of a participant or victim of the event. Thus the emotion or trauma is not re-experienced during the process, and the learnings are retained which shifts the nature of the event and offers an opportunity to make new choices in the present based on intellectual reasonability, instead of reacting to present events with repressed negative emotions from past events.

However, the unconscious mind has stored all of the experiences and will retrieve them. In fact, the unconscious mind wants to retrieve it so it can be released. One of the prime directives of the unconscious mind is to repress negative emotions to protect an individual. Another one of the prime directives of the unconscious mind is to present the repressed emotions from time to time for resolution.

Can you relate to an experience, that has happened more than once; that you thought was resolved? Most of us can, and it is in fact those repressed emotions that contribute to difficulties in relationships, career, and personal growth.

So what if you could gain control over your life by releasing negative emotions such as anger, sadness, fear, hurt. and guilt? How would your relationships, career, and personal growth change? Imagine being unlimited by limiting decisions that you are not worthy of all that life has to offer.

The road upon which life is traveled is of our own choosing, which road will you take?

Originally published in the Time Line Therapy Association Journal in 1998.

(1) Time Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality, Dr. Tad James and Wyatt Woodsmall (P. 27).

Hypnosis: The Real Deal?

By Seth Czarnecki,

Quality Health News

A thing of the movies, or a real way to deal with health issues?

You’ve seen it on television or heard about it from a friend. A psychiatrist swinging a watch in front of a patient to access repressed memories, or a friend quitting smoking after four sessions of hypnotherapy. Whether you view it as a figment of fiction or as a rumored method to quit some health inequity, the question remains: Does hypnosis work? If it does, how? Read on to find out whether hypnosis is the real deal or no more than a parlor trick.

Is hypnosis real?

In short, yes. According to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Division of Psychological Hypnosis, hypnosis is a procedure used by a health professional to suggest a change in sensations, behavior, thoughts, or perceptions. In a way, hypnosis is a trance-like state that is used as a method of communication between a professional and a patient. The state is one of such focus that all outside stimuli is blocked out by the patient for an extended amount of time. One doctor associates a “trance” as a state akin to extreme daydreaming or meditation. Hypnotic suggestions can include:* experiences in which the listener visualizes, hears, or feels the suggestive stimuli of the health professional;* a state in which the listener is fully relaxed, calm, and open to suggestion;* or circumstances in which the listener anticipates future outcomes or goals.

Although results differ between individuals, studies have concluded that hypnotherapy can be used to effectively treat conditions ranging from stress and depression to pain and habit disorders. One such study conducted with 204 individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) found that after 12 weekly sessions of hypnosis 75 percent of women and 58 percent of men experienced immediate improvements of their symptoms. What’s even more interesting is that 80 percent of those that experienced progress in their condition did so 6 years after the treatment. Common applications for hypnosis include: treatment of grief, pain management, sexual difficulties, treating fears and phobias, depression and anxiety, stop smoking, weight release, academic proficiency, goal achievements, athletic enhancement, and more!

How does hypnosis work?

Hypnosis IS NOT mind control. The swinging watch and demands that “you are getting sleepy, very sleepy” have no standing in clinical hypnosis. Typically, hypnosis involves an introduction and a procedure during which a professional tells a subject that suggestion for an imaginative experience will take place. During hypnosis, the hypnotist does not have control of the patient. Instead, the subject is guided by the hypnotist to respond to alterations in behavior, thought or perception, or is encouraged to change subjective experiences. Specific details of hypnotic procedures differ depending on the goals of the practitioner and of the patient. Not everyone is able to be hypnotized. The majority of individuals are responsive to most suggestions; however, depending on one’s focus and openness to the experience, some responses are negligible.

NOTE: From my personal experience as a master hypnotist, anyone can be hypnotized if they can follow directions. -Veronica G. Hartman

What Clients say . . .

Subj: CPA exam

Date: 9/26/2005Time: 8:20:41 PM Central Daylight

To: Vghart2@cs.com

Received from Internet: click here for more information

Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that I just found out that I PASSED the last part of the CPA exam with a score of 81. I really appreciate the help you gave me as I feel that I greatly benefited from your work. If you would like, mail me ten or fifteen of your business cards and I will gladly hand them out to people I come in contact with that I think would benefit from your therapy. Thanks again, I think I’m going to play your tape tonight when the wife and I get into bed. She calls you the “other woman that I sleep with” (I listened to your tape in bed about every night). Thanks again.

Doug

Contact Us: 615-355-4983 Fax: 615-223-7855 Email: vghart2@cs.com