Musings on Hypnosis by Certified Hypnotherapist Donna Sherman, CHt

  It is good to be back to my practice.  Though the circumstances were far from ideal,  it has been a time of real personal growth for me, and I feel that quite a bit of it will also be of great benefit to my clients.  I had two choices; I could let the loss of my partner do me in, or I could let it be an opportunity for higher knowledge and expansion.  Pretty sure there was never an option for a middle ground. I chose expansion.  I am glad that I did.   I had a good talk with someone today who asked me about what I do. What I actually do. I do not psychoanalyze people. Sometimes knowing why you do what you do, does not change the behavior. Sometimes too much focus on a particular problem or issue can actually reinforce it. Things do need to be acknowledged and understood to a degree, no doubt.  It is not about ignoring what may be negative.  But it is a perspective shift on the entire issue that will allow a per...

"The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali ***May 5, 2014*** As many of you may know, my partner of 15 years passed away suddenly on Saturday, April 26, 2014.   This (below) is the blog entry I had been working on and literally just completed moments before I got the call to tell me what had happened.   I could not make this fact up if I tried.   I post it here now, below, in the hopes that what it says it may truly reach some of you reading, as it is now resonating in ways for me personally that I never could have dreamed of when these words first were written:    ************************************************************* Do you remember the last time you almost busted a gut laughing?   Laughed so hard that tears ran down your face? Can you recall a sight you saw or a moment you shared with someone that took your breath away and changed your whole world forever? If asked, could you envision a memory when you tr...

  Artist: Quint Buchholz   Bombardment.  This is on my mind lately.  The swirling tornado of imagery, advertisement, updates, news flashes, texts, emails, articles, website links, sorrows, celebrations,  that we exist in the middle of every day. Our collective virtual plethorum of stuff that BOMBARDS us pretty much 24/7. It is an assault on the senses.  I guess every period in history has it’s unique challenges, and this would be ours.   Do you feel like some days; your thoughts aren’t even your own?   Do you ever wonder if, in a sense, we are all somewhat under hypnosis all the time? Fire. Radio. T.V. Computer. Smartphone. Oh the things we have gathered around over time, to stare at and glean from. At least the first 3, we used to do in the company of others, mostly. Now we stare at these little rectangles in our hands.   Alone. And we are hypnotized. I have heard the theo...

March 13, 2014 Photo by Donna Sherman   On one of my certification tests, one of the questions asked: What is the most important tool in a hypnotist's “tool box”?   There were four possible answers.   Skill. Knowledge. Integrity. Confidence. All of them are beyond important.  All of them are necessary.  But which is the most important? Integrity. Without a doubt.  Above all else. My wonderful teacher instilled this in me and I remain every day in full agreement.   But how would a potential client know this?   How does anyone seeking help for anything know the person they choose is trustworthy?  Especially a hypnotist.  I invite you or anyone out there considering visiting a hypnotist to trust their gut.  Your “gut” is your subconscious and it knows.  You must listen to it. And do your homework. If you are unsure; get referrals.  Talk to other people who have worked with this per...

Well one month into a brand new year, I’ve barely had time to write but the musings going on in my mind have sure not stopped!   As this winter has taken us into the single digit temps I decided to try an experiment . I wanted to see if I could quickly warm myself up using only self hypnosis.   I wanted to see if it was possible to do a long walk to my parked car,  without abject misery, on a 5 degree night.  I was sure it was doable, though I had never tried it.   And just like everything I have found with respect to hypnosis,  once the right state of mind is achieved; it is easy!  Yes there I was in 5 degrees, wind chill very possibly below 0 degrees,  strolling comfortably towards my car.  Not shivering, not cursing, not wishing I was encased in a climate controlled spacesuit, just me strolling comfortably, getting into a deep freezer known as a parked car, and calmly awaiting the engine to warm up! ...

  Well it has been quite a time! I do hope everyone had a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving, I sure did, and I find myself enjoying this holiday season more than usual. I have been seeing lots of clients and every time I do, I just keep on learning and more. Experience really is the best teacher and my work has been so unbelievably gratifying! It is never too late to make a change in your life. If anyone reading this thinks so; it is time to rethink that. The human mind is always ready for change as long as it functions. Bad habits can be transformed into good ones. Creative blocks can be unblocked. Old fears can melt away like an Autumn snowfall. There are always new paths to travel. I don’t mean to sound like a motivational speaker, I realize I might. I don’t think there is a “one size fits all” solution to motivate anyone, the way many actual motivational speakers do. I think it is very individualized, what rings the right bell for a person or what meta...

  Artist: Salvador Dali   How do we know the subconscious really exists and is in constant action? If you look for examples in your life, you will see it. The other day I found myself out driving and having to stop short.   Automatically my right arm flew up  in front of the empty passenger seat next to me, as though to keep an invisible passenger from flying forward.   I found myself thinking about this. I grew up back in the time before all the back-seat-rear-facing-child-car -seats and I remember always clamoring to get into the front seat whenever my family took a drive.  Truly I am not even sure we used our seat belts either (times were different :) !  So, more than once I saw my parents do exactly what I did the other day. So this action: stopping short,  arm flying out to help restrain the passenger, was etched into my subconscious, for as long as I can remember.  And I still do it today, even if my...

Photo by Donna Sherman   I am asked by so many people how many sessions will it take to solve an issue and this is a question worth exploring in a little more depth because there is no "one size fits all" answer.  And it is interesting to explore why this is. There are many misconceptions about hypnosis out there, and the biggest one might be that it is some sort of magic, a silver bullet to immediately "fix" a problem. And on one level, this is actually partially correct.  It is almost magical when the realization hits just how powerful your very own mind really is.  Most of us may already think this, but when you come to the point where you KNOW it, in your gut, it is an almost supernatural kind of feeling.  But, like all power, it must be used responsibly and this is where time comes into the picture. Because it takes time to really understand just how to harness it. When you realize that it has only ever been your own self that i...

Artist: Pablo Picasso   If you've read my bio page you will see that I make a connection between creating a character for a play or film and hypnosis. Most wouldn't find much connection between these two things at all! However, I do. And I'll share with you why. As an actor; how do you make a written sentence from a script come alive?  Anyone can read a sentence out loud, that takes no special skill. The skill behind it is manifested by the intent from which the actor speaks it   And the intent in which the actor speaks it,  comes from what it is that actor has decided that the character in the play wants. Not necessarily what the character in the play states they want, if asked, but what the character really wants deep down inside, overall. In my study of hypnosis at times I have been transported back to my very early study of acting and basic script analysis.  I think it is because the subconscious mind in people operates so v...

  Artist: Xetobyte   Imagine you are just about to go onstage to speak before a huge crowd of people and you are unexpectedly handed a slip of paper with three words on it, and those three words say: I AM INVINCIBLE. Now imagine those three words say: I AM INVISIBLE. Which situation produces the better outcome for your speech?  Is there any doubt? :) Language is power.  What we tell ourselves has a profound effect on any outcome.  We hand ourselves metaphorical slips of paper just like that all the time. The interplay between our subconscious thoughts, our conscious minds and our actions is endless and constant.  Did you know that our subconscious mind never sleeps?  Much like a computer program, it is constantly running beneath the surface of everything we think and everything we do.  It's pretty amazing. Our subconscious minds hold our belief systems, our memories, our experiences, our dreams, desires, our imagini...