Hypnotherapy is a brief and highly effective systemic therapy used to ease a large variety of emotional, behavioral, and somatic issues.

Not only does hypnotherapy work, but it is so effective that it is known to be one of the most powerful tools for positive life changes. The outstanding, consistently good results in Somatic Hypnotherapy are mainly due to the surprising power of language as a coherent semiotic system and the ability of neuro-linguistic modulation to shape not only perception and behavior but also various phenomena at the somatic and physiological levels.

Whether or not you understand how Somatic Hypnotherapy works may eventually affect your ego, but it has no significant impact on your results in terms of measurable changes in your emotional reality. However, if one sincerely wants to understand how such spectacular changes are possible, one must first understand that behavioral science is not an exact science. Moreover, it is good to know that cognitive theories, founded on the belief that humans are soul-less and spirit-less beings and intentional thoughts are the primary determinants of emotions and behavior, are only three of the 82 scientifically validated behavior models.

What most often causes people to seek help with hypnotherapy are various disturbing or painful emotional feelings, as well as related intrusive thoughts or unwanted behaviors. Several psychological approaches inspired by various “cognitive” behavioral theories aim to help control thought patterns that arouse unwanted feelings. Which makes sense because if you could stop thinking about what is bothering you, there would be no more negative thoughts to trigger associated unwanted feelings, the unwanted behaviors induced by unpleasant feelings would end,  which would solve your problem.

Now imagine how wonderful it would be if you could think about anything you wanted about your unpleasant past experiences or future projections, and your thoughts would no longer arouse any of your once unpleasant or painful feelings. Because this is what Somatic Hypnotherapy can help you accomplish! At the end of your therapy, you will feel as if your heart has relieved or completely forgotten the stressful, anxious, traumatic, or painful component of unpleasant events of your past that we worked on, while your cognitive memory keeps intact the associated images and factual details. How could this be possible?

Life is a succession of events; some with, some others without emotional significance. Throughout your life, your mind memorizes your emotional and behavioral responses to each new situation you experience. Whenever something similar happens, your previously learned emotional reactions, as well as the behavioral pattern associated with that situation, are repeated and thereby reinforced with each repetition. Thus, you develop the patterns of your emotional reactions and your habits, which are behavioral programs stored in your subconscious mind. This is why bad habits are very difficult to reprogram by the conscious mind.

Your emotions are not only the most important aspect of the quality and meaning of life, they are the most undeniable proof that you are a human being in search of happiness. What makes the difference between a happy and fulfilled life and an unhappy life is your predominant state of mind resulting from the balance between the good and bad feelings that you have experienced throughout your life, which persist in your emotional memory, and are unwittingly projected into the background of your current reality. Although you can't change the past, you can still control the emotional memory reading of your past experiences. Surprisingly, what has the potential to have a major impact on all aspects of daily life is the perception of past events - not the events themselves.

When they occur, emotions cause a measurable change in the state of your brain, your physiology, and your body. Moreover, according to contemporary scientific models, emotions are complex experiences leading to coordinated changes across mental, somatic (physical), physiological (neuroendocrine), and behavioral response systems. Thus, an emotional response pattern always has a cognitive component (the meaning the cognitive mind makes out of emotional feelings), a chemical (neuroendocrine) component, and a bodily feeling called a somatic component. Since these manifestations are coherent, you can control your emotions by controlling either the physiology (chemistry) of your brain, the thoughts that have triggered the emotion, or by controlling the emotional feelings.

As the above definition implies, for an experience to truly be an "emotion," the experience must have a physical (somatic) feeling component that one must feel as a sensory experience, the brain must associate an emotional meaning with that sensory feeling, and the neuroendocrine system must respond and adapt accordingly. And all of the above must happen simultaneously! Otherwise, anything that passes through your brain, intentionally or unintentionally, without being associated with an emotional feeling is nothing more than a thought - not an emotion. Emotions are cognitive experiences reflecting (mirroring) emotional feelings.

When it comes to a broken bone, the standard approach is to align and connect the broken parts of the bone and let it heal-because this ancestral approach works for everyone, every time! However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with stress, anxiety, trauma, and other unwanted emotions. That is why psychiatry, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic-programming, E.F.T. (emotional freedom tapping), pet therapy, art therapy, mindfulness, yoga, craniosacral therapy, gravity blanket, mini-horse therapy, and many other approaches based on very contradictory and yet scientific concepts, are all available to solve emotional problems.

The wide variety of contemporary behavioral theories helps us understand that, despite the many fundamentally different therapeutic protocols used to modulate unwanted emotions, there is no scientific contradiction between psychiatric, psychological, and naturopathic approaches. Each of the above approaches focuses on only one of the three manifestations of emotions, not because one particular manifestation has been scientifically proven to be the source of the other two, but because all emotional manifestations are coherent! For an emotion to manifest, the three inter-conditioned experiences must manifest simultaneously!

• The approach in psychiatry is based on the concept that negative emotions can be controlled by controlling the physiological (neuroendocrine) balance of the brain. Therefore, psychiatrists prescribe psychoactive drugs that, by chemically rebalancing the neuroendocrine system, can calm the area of the brain where negative narratives are born and thus change people's thoughts, feelings, and actions. The psychiatric approach aims to control unwanted emotions by controlling their associated physiological manifestations, thus breaking emotional coherence.

• The psychological approach is based on the core concept that negative emotions can be controlled by controlling the associated negative thoughts. Thus, psychologists use various psychological approaches and approved (homologated) psychological therapies to correct the harmful thoughts associated with unwanted negative emotions and thus change the way people feel and act. This approach aims to control unwanted emotions by controlling the associated mental (cognitive) manifestation, thus  breaking the emotional coherence.

• Hypnotherapy, like many other naturopathic approaches, is based on the concept that regardless of how emotions are determined, the easiest and quickest way to control unwanted emotions is to control the associated unpleasant emotional feelings - and thus change one's state of mind, thoughts and behavior. Once you don't feel anxious anymore, your once anxious thoughts and behaviors will immediately change, and follow your new emotional reality. The Somatic Hypnotherapy approach aims to control unwanted emotions by controlling the associated unpleasant emotional feelings (the somatic manifestations), thus breaking the emotional coherence.  

This is why, although all therapeutic approaches to emotions aim to control unwanted emotions by disrupting the coherence of the emotional experience, psychological approaches focus on the cognitive component, psychiatric approaches focus on the physiological component, and naturopathic approaches focus on the somatic experience. A somatic hypnotherapist should focus more on what you feel than what you think about your problem. Somatic Hypnotherapy helps you change the patterns of your intrusive thoughts and unwanted behaviors by helping you change your feelings and your mindset.

Contrary to popular belief, hypnotherapy is not a magic spell and it does not control your mind. A hypnotherapist will use his talent and insight into the workings of the human mind to change the mind's perception of the emotional content of past events. It's like a magician who uses his talent and advanced knowledge of how the human vision and mind works to change not the factual reality or the functioning of your vision, but only the perception of reality. Because they are both rooted in science and based on knowledge and know-how, magic tricks and Somatic Hypnotherapy sessions are repeatable experiences with predictable results.

The Somatic Hypnosis practitioner helps you remember the event that caused an unhealthy or painful reaction, then helps you separate the factual memory from the negative emotional response, and finally guides you towards healing the pattern of negative emotional response. With Somatic Hypnotherapy, you won't "undergo" a passive script therapy; instead, you’ll be involved in the process, overseeing your therapy. Essentially, my role is to induce and maintain your hypnotic state of mind and to assist and guide you throughout your therapy journey. It is this particular state of Somatic Hypnosis which facilitates a clear sensorial (somatic) perception and then the healing process of your pains and any other unpleasant emotional feelings.

Thus, I will guide you to identify and evaluate your pains, unpleasant emotional feelings, and traumas as you perceive them. Once you identify them, I’ll guide you through easing and healing the unwanted feelings. You can't go wrong this way; your body, soul, and mind know how to tap into your self-healing resources. You will always be in control of the situation, master of your state of mind and will keep vivid memories of the entire process. During all this time, I will be by your side and at your disposal to help and guide you at each step of your change process.

From an academic perspective, by releasing stress, anxiety, traumas, and other unhealthy fears, the physical body creates a loop of positive feedback through the autonomic nervous system, feedback that can lead to significant improvements in the state of mind and symptoms of various medical conditions. From a spiritual perspective, since "Love comes from the Lord", and "There is no fear in love", healing is nothing but a self-healing process that we experience when we are freed from our fears.

Have no doubts! My know-how and my experience as a master practitioner in Somatic Hypnotherapy will allow you to heal the emotional or painful feelings that you no longer want in your life. With the right therapeutic approach, good results always appear immediately. Like when treating a poisonous snake bite. If the antivenom is the right one, the improvement is immediate!

The Somatic Hypnotherapy approach aims to solve the problem rather than to help you understand the possible causal mechanism of the problem. Thus, the details of what happened in your past are not of great interest to a somatic hypnotherapist, as they are not essential to help you solve your problem.

Your subconscious knows the precise reason for each of your problems and can implement sustainable solutions adapted to your own needs and resources.

Whatever your problems or your sufferings, don't allow them to cripple your life.

The "No Results - No Pay" principle guarantees my integrity and applies to all my therapies.

Contact me and book your appointment today! Let this be the most exciting experience of your life, and I will be happy to help you on your journey.

You can reach me by filling out the contact form below.

Disclaimer: The above article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author. It is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute psychological or medical professional advice. I don't diagnose medical conditions, nor do I interfere with any treatments given by your medical professional.

If you already are under the care of a doctor or under medical treatment, follow the advice and treatment recommended by your doctor. For any medical emergency, call the Info-Santé service by dialing 8-1-1

*The results may vary from person to person.

Somatic Hypnotherapy - 186 Sutton Pl, suite 104, Beaconsfield, Montréal, Qc, H9W5S3