What to expect in a Hypnotherapy Session?
A lot of the time, clients who come in to see us don’t know what to expect when having a session of hypnotherapy.
They might be coming in for help with a fear or phobia, it may be for anxiety or looking to change a habit, or they may be coming to see us for help relaxing and self-esteem.
Our hypnotherapy sessions are 50 minutes, and whatever the reason for having hypnotherapy, the general structure of a session is the same.
Initial Consultation
A hypnotherapist will always start off with an initial consultation with their client. This is usually a short session to get some general information about their client, what it is their looking for help with, and other general admin questions they need before starting.
You can find out more about our free initial consultations here.
This is the point where you can also formulate a therapy plan with your therapist too and come to an agreement on how you will work together.
After the initial consultation and information gathering, you will typically start a hypnosis session, which is made up of 4 stages: Induction, Deepener, Change work and Reorientation.
Induction
The induction is the part where you will start to become really nice and relaxed and start to tune into the therapist’s voice. You will start to become aware of your body relaxing into the session and getting comfortable. The most commonly used induction in hypnotherapy is a ‘Progressive Muscle Relaxation’, or PMR. This is very similar to a body scan done in meditation or mindfulness sessions, and involves focusing your attention onto each part of your body systematically and relaxing it. Any type of induction will draw attention to your breathing to help you go into a nice state of relaxation.
Deepener
Once your hypnotherapist has gone through the induction with you, they will use a deepener. This is self-explanatory in that it will help to take you into a deeper state of relaxation. A deepener is a part of hypnotherapy that people are generally familiar with, as this is typically made of the hypnotherapist counting backwards from 10 to 0. This can be done in many different ways, some of the most popular being visualising a staircase or a lift which takes you down. By this point, you may not be aware of your hypnotherapist speaking anymore because you are so relaxed.
Change work
This is where the exciting bit happens! The change work is where the suggestions are made to your subconscious mind to alter the habit or feeling that you came for. This part will be completely dependent on the presenting issue that you have come to see a hypnotherapist for, but it will involve positive suggestions being made to you that will be taken on by your subconscious mind to get you closer to the result that you want to achieve.
Reorientation
Once the change work and suggestion part of the suggestion is over, you will then be brought back to full waking consciousness and be out of hypnosis. This will typically just involve the hypnotherapist counting back up from 1 to 10, and bring your awareness back to the environment around you. Once they count to 10, you’ll open your eyes and be fully awake and feel really refreshed!
And that’s it! Each therapist will vary on their exact make up of a session, but in general terms that is what you can expect from a hypnotherapy session.
For the most part, you will just feel really nice and relaxed and come back feeling like you’ve had a good quality power nap. You’ll always be given a few minutes to properly wake up before the end of your session – and you will then be perfectly able to continue with the rest of your day as planned!
