Lifestyle Change: How to help as a hypnotist
Lifestyle change can be about anything and everything, but mostly it's about more work-life balance and healthier living. So more exercise and healthier eating.
This is a change that seems simple to many people, but it is far from so for everyone.
How to change lifestyle?
Most people begin making lifestyle changes on their own. For example, they participate in challenges to make a daily walk a habit, or to ten an apple every day, to read for 30 minutes every day, or to spend more time with their children.
But then something happens in their lives—usually something that causes a great deal of stress —and they revert to their “old,” unhealthy lifestyle.
This actually shows that the brain hasn’t yet formed many new connections for the new lifestyle. That’s something hypnosis helps people with.
Research shows that the hypnotic state improves brain plasticity[1], which can make it easier to better anchor new habits in your subconscious. That way, you can stick to your new lifestyle even when you’re going through a stressful period.
This helps with your focus, for example, so that you are less likely to be distracted (for example, by worries). '
Work-life balance
A balance between your work and personal life is important for preventing mental health issues, such as chronic stress and burnout. Hypnotherapy can help you, for example, stand up for yourself (so you’re not always overworking) and learn to relax.
This helps wellness tremendously[2].
Breaking barriers to increased activity
Most people also want to lead an active lifestyle, but that isn’t always easy. Research shows that hypnosis can boost your motivation to exercise and keep it high, even during stressful periods.
During stressful times, hypnosis can also help you relax, giving you the energy you need to go for a walk, ride a bike, or head to the gym.
And as mentioned, hypnosis can provide more motivation to exercise. One technique that can then be used is to visualize moving and how good it feels. Feeling the mental reward even before you have done it as it were.
That causes people to anticipate more of the good feelings they get from exercise[3]. That makes it easier to actually go to the gym 3 times a week or join the local soccer club.
Diet Change
Sometimes people also need or want to change their diet.
For example, young parents want to start eating healthier to set a good example.
Other people are told by their doctors to eat healthier to remedy certain problems.
Malaysian research (modern country) shows that 3 sessions of hypnotherapy are enough to make lifestyle changes related to nutrition. In 3 months, people who had received hypnotherapy also lost more weight than those who had only learned more about healthy eating.
People who also frequently practiced self-hypnosis lost even more weight.
This shows that hypnosis also helps you make healthy choices regarding nutrition.
So, hypnosis works, but how exactly does it work?
Why find out in the preliminary interview
Finding out the why is really about 2 things. Why is your lifestyle the way it is now and why do you want to change the lifestyle?
The first step is to identify the cause of the unhealthy lifestyle.
The second helps find motivation for lifestyle changes.
Finding out these two things is what a hypnotherapist does not only in the preliminary interview, but also during therapy.
The initial consultation is primarily intended to build rapport with the client, so that the client feels confident enough to allow the therapist to hypnotize them.
In addition, this is a way to just run on empty about reflections and what a person wants in his or her life.
This provides a hypnotherapist with tools they can use during actual therapy sessions.
After the preliminary consultation, a therapist can double-check everything during therapy.
Pinpointing the cause of poor lifestyle
A person can have an unhealthy lifestyle for many reasons. It may have been taught by parents, it may be a coping mechanism in the face of negative emotions, or something may have happened in a person's life that has completely lost the motivation to do healthy things.
Everyone is unique and therefore there is not 1 clear reason for everyone.
Fortunately, the regression technique helps identify the root cause of behavior. Behavior is, in fact, the result of beliefs, thoughts, and emotions. If, as a hypnotherapist, you can identify the core belief that leads to an unhealthy lifestyle, that alone can be incredibly helpful.
After all, all you have to do is change those beliefs.
Using the regression technique, you identify such a limiting belief . Often, a hypnotherapist suggests going back to the first moment when unhealthy eating was a solution to something. Or to the moment when a certain feeling arose that prevented the person from making a healthy choice.
This moment can then be explored. What happened then? Who were there? Where was someone? How did that person feel?
You use this information to figure out what went wrong.
Next, there are multiple ways to "fix" the limiting belief[4] to one that makes it easier for people to make healthy choices.
New behavior "install"
So next, new healthy behaviors need to be installed. Then you can go back to the why that motivates.
For example, parents find it important to set a good example for their children by making healthy choices, so that their children are motivated to follow suit.
But also make healthy choices so they have as much energy as possible to be there for their child.
In doing so, parents have a particular vision. So what does that future of theirs with their child look like?
With the progression technique, or the “dream”—an advanced technique covered in the third part of our training (or in the third training course).
A therapist then helps someone imagine what their life will be like if this ideal image with the new lifestyle is successful. For example, a person might finally be slim, feel good, be able to play well with their children, etc.
Then the path toward this ideal is seen, but not from the moment of therapy to the recording, but from the ideal point to now. One step back each time.
This can offer interesting insights and, as mentioned, a good cause is also good for motivation.
Dealing with triggers change
For many people, there are times or situations that cause them to suddenly stop exercising or suddenly start snacking a lot.
These types of situations are also known as triggers .
It is important to provide people with a clear alternative for those kinds of times to still make healthy choices and stay motivated to keep moving (or to keep reading books, or to keep making time for their family).
Even then, visualizations can play a role. For example, a therapist can associate a negative feeling with the current reaction and associate a positive feeling with the desired behavior.
This can then be visualized and interacted with until the subconscious naturally chooses the new healthy behavior.
That’s how I helped a woman stop snacking on cookies every time she walked into the kitchen. Instead, she started giving the kitchen a quick sweep with a broom each time. As a result, she lost weight , and her kitchen floor has never been so clean!
Great right?
Post-hypnotic suggestions
At the end of a session, a hypnotherapist often provides post-hypnotic suggestions as well. This means that people are given a suggestion that continues even after therapy.
Like "You'll notice in a few weeks, that everything is actually going really well. That you are nice and active, that you can enjoy an apple, that you enjoy making healthy snacks and that you simply feel good when you exercise regularly. Because of this, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is actually super easy."
This is just one example; depending on the challenges someone faces in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the suggestion could be entirely different. For instance, it could focus on how delicious healthy vegetables are —if that wasn’t already the case before hypnotherapy.
Self-hypnosis
A hypnotherapist can also assign “homework” in the form of self-hypnosis. A customized audio recording can be provided to help people stay focused on their goals and maintain the positive changes in their lives.
Learn Hypnosis
Do you want to help other people (or yourself) live a healthy lifestyle? Then knowledge of hypnosis is incredibly useful. You can use it during coaching or even go all the way for the title of hypnotherapist.
Join the free online masterclass for a free introduction.
Or join one of our events, or just register directly for our trainings.
Click here for our training courses.
Do you have a question about the training program? Schedule a one-on-one call here.
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