butterfly hope

Richard Van Wagner  CH. is the founder and president of Guided Excellence in Citra, Florida.  He has experience in assiting patients with a wide variety of issues. Through his work with Hospice he has a unique understanding of the problems of both the patient and  the caregiver. 

He has graciously agreed to be a regular contributor to this website 

08/03/08

Recognizing Creating and Utilizing Trance States

 This is the third in a series of articles that I’ve written under the heading of Wandering Thoughts and this month I wanted to take a few moments and venture down the path to explain the concept of trance states.  While my wanderings usually focus on hypnosis, which is itself a powerful avenue of intentional trance states, I would like, this column, to elaborate how we often live in different trance states…trance states that in many ways effect how we feel and act.  I have no doubt that there may be a number of folks reading this column that the words “trance state” invokes images of altered states of consciousness that are often linked with illegal drug use or dare I say an evil hypnotist like the one portrayed in the classic 1931 movie titled Svengali. However, the fact of the matter is not quite as, should I say, exotic as that.  For instance most of you reading this column have probably had the opportunity to share a few minutes in front of a television with a loved one or friend and found that they were oblivious to what you were saying simply because the other person was engrossed in the television program.  The fact of the matter is in most of these cases a trance state spontaneously occurred as the engrossed individual fine-tuned their attention to the point that almost all outside stimuli was turned off other than the TV which in the case of this particular example takes on the role of the hypnotist.  The problem is that television trance states are limited in the way that they can positively affect the individual due to the information that is shared once the focused attention “trance” state has been achieved.   Now, while my wandering could easily take the path of how I personally feel the media utilizes television-induced trance states to their benefit this column is meant to explore how you as an individual can quickly and effectively induce a positive trance state that will benefit your mental, emotional and physical well being.

     One of the simplest ways that I can offer you, the reader of this article, a purposeful and positive trance state can be found within the process of breath and body awareness.  The concepts is this…read the bulleted sentences below a couple times and then take a moment, close your eyes, and do what you have read.

• Take three deep breaths being conscious of how each breath sounds as you inhale slowly and then exhale.
• Following the third breath focus on the position of your legs…see what they feel like in relation to the floor or ground, can you feel gravity giving them a certain weight?
• Next focus on the position of you hands…any textures they are aware of and the weight of gravity once again.
• Take another deep, slow breath and notice how when you breathe really deeply that your shoulders tend to move just a bit and then exhale cleanly.
• Open your eyes  and sit quietly for just a few moments simply being aware of what ever you are sensing…feeling inside.

As the reader you may be asking how…or better yet, what just happen… (Unless you are one of those impatient folks that instead of putting into practice what you’ve read and learned instead decided to push ahead in pursuit of more information…If you are, forgive yourself and take a moment and do the exercise listed above.) Because those that took the time already know…by following the simple steps listed, no matter what mental emotional or physical state that you were in previously an opportunity for space occurred and within that gap all cycles of discomfort are broken down as awareness and focus was shifted to the breath and specific body regions in the “present” moment which is itself a pinnacle of trance states.  The fact is this, unless you are atypical and can mentally recite both your ABC’s and the multiplication tables, say for the number three, at the same time you can really focus wholly on one specific process at a time.  Just like you can not be deeply aware of your body and breath in the present and be hung up on past events or future anxieties. Both of which can often seed the mind with thoughts of discomfort... negative trance states to say the least.  In fact, I would venture to say that most negative trance states emanate from one’s histories of experience and linked expectation that lie outside the parameters of the present moment.  Happily however, choosing otherwise is totally within your potential.            

     Ultimately I’ve found, over the years that I’ve worked as a consulting hypnotist, that beyond helping those that come to my office seeking specific kinds of help that the opportunity to guide folks in recognizing, creating and utilizing their own special switch to their personal trance states of inner harmony and focal balance to be “the” cornerstone of a client’s health and personal happiness.  So to all you brave souls that dare wander those inner paths I say breathe deep…focus and, “Trance On.”

Until next time, may your wanderings be full of fun, focus, and happy trance states.

I wish you much health and happiness.   Richard     

Bio:

Richard Van Wagner CH

B.A. Psychology,

Professional Educator Certificate, FLDOE

Writer, reader, wanderer, and consulting hypnotist, other definitions pending as I feel by defining what I am, I’m saying what I’m not, and I’m rather fond of  all the possibilities.   

Office 352-622-2369, recorded information hypnosis hotline 352-622-6095

Website, www.GuidedExcellence.com

Wandering Again…

Connecting the Dots

      It has been a couple months since I ventured write down a few of my wandering thoughts so when I recently reread a research paper, initially published in 2006, I was inspired to share some of the thoughts it held and inspired as I felt that it did a wonderful job of connecting the dots, so to speak.  What dots you may ask?   Well, as a consulting hypnotist I continually find myself working with folks who are having difficulties in their lives, often in part, because they haven’t yet quite connected all their dots.  Due to this fact I find them at my office needing help with any number of complex health, relationship and emotional concerns. 

What I’ve found, time and again, is just how intimately one’s health, both mental and physical, is linked to one’s emotional well being. These are the dots I speak of, and just as childhood was a place and time when most of us played the connect-the-dots game, it is as though the process is life long and that can often leads folks down a path of ill health and/or unhappiness in their lives.   It is from this particular perspective that I’ve grown to consider how the mind/body connection (some of the most important dots) can often inundates multiple aspects of one’s life, often without conscious thought, to creating our life experiences.

So what does this “life” philosophy have to do with the research I read? 

Well, to edify the point I’m going to paraphrase a portion the research article which explored multiple evidences as to whether connections could be made between childhood trauma and subsequent health conditions.  Before I delve into the results though, I must endeavor to explain that the words “childhood trauma” while bringing the possibility of unspeakable experiences into the reader’s mind, it must be understood that what a young child may perceive as extremely traumatic event might when viewed from the adult perspective be merely an accident, incidental, or even considered a natural part of life.  That’s not saying that some childhood traumatic experiences wouldn’t be perceived so from the adult perspective as I’m sure many might be.  However, in my years of working with clients I’ve often found that when folks discover the root of their issues many times they tend to be an accumulation of affect experience.  These experiences are often seeded in what from an adult perspective, is many times surprising yet manageble, which allows a great amount healing to take place.

So having said that, I want to share some of what this article revealed about the connections between childhood experience and adult health.  Within this article’s discussion, I found results which revealed that emotionally traumatic experiences do indeed seem to be able to affect one’s long term health. First, there were a couple of studies involving women being screened for breast cancer.  In the first study of its kind, conducted in 1982, women going in for a breast biopsy were asked a series of questions via a psychological interview.  What the researchers ultimately found, was that they could predict the presence of cancer in 94% of the cases by utilizing psychological factors alone. These incredible results prompted another researcher in

Germany

to replicate the study.  This second study involved eighty women, and replicating the first, researchers were able to identify, solely on psychological basis, those patients who were to be diagnosed with breast cancer with a 96% accuracy rate.  What exactly was it that these researchers were finding?   In essence what they found, with a very high level of accuracy, is that the participants in the study who had suffered a genuine trauma or set of traumas in their young life were the one’s more much more likely to manifest health issues, in this case breast cancer.  Another study mentioned in this research paper revealed the results of another long-term study that started in 1957 with 126

Harvard University

students.  In this particular study researchers grouped participants into four categories according to how they, the participants, perceived their parent’s love and care.   What they found in a thirty year follow up, was that one out of four or 25 percent of the participants in the perceived high love and care group had been diagnosed with what was considered a serous disease or condition such as cancer, asthma, or cardiovascular disease.  Contrasting these results, researchers found that the group which had the lowest perception of parental love and care, almost nine out of ten, 87 percent, had been diagnosed with a serious disease or condition.

   The research paper went on to give results concerning smokers and other various behaviors and diseases, but needless to say the results continued to edify a picture of tremendous health implications in regards to one’s emotional well being when traumatic life events are not allowed to be resolved.  The author of the paper went onto speak to the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in attending to the needs of people wanting to regain a semblance of balance in their lives.  This perspective is one I easily can share as the results mentioned in this paper are also reflective of what I find in my practice as a hypnotherapist.  In the past I’ve worked with a number of folks who felt that they had left their past behind them and moved on in their lives, yet who find, in session, emotions, memories and situations that while buried, (often deeply) were not fully resolved and therefore affecting them in significant ways.  Ultimately, I’ve found that while many are busily living their lives a portion of their mental, emotional, and physical energy is being expended keeping that wall up, keeping the past “out of mind” so to speak.  Often this works until the body and spirit exhausted from years of effort reveal a physical manifestation of an emotional wound from long ago.  I’m not saying here that all ills are founded in childhood traumas or emotional life events; however I am saying almost all problems, by definition, have an emotional content connected to them.   It is here that hypnotherapy holds great potential.  In closing I have to say that this whole system of cause and effect reminds me of something Albert Einstein shared when contemplating some of life’s big questions, and while I’m pretty sure he wasn’t speaking about hypnosis in particular, it rings with a voice of such clarity I’m bound to listen and act accordingly as he stated, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”  I couldn’t agree more, so until next time, let me thank you once again for sharing paths with me.

Until next time, I wish you much health and happiness.   Richard     

For full text version of research article referenced in this column click.  http://www.guidedexcellence.com/page11.html  Then on the Causes of Cancer link.

  Guided Excellence Hypnotherapy

~ Because Total Health is Multidimensional ~

Richard Van Wagner  CH.

Citra, Fl 32113

352-622-4269