Understanding the Mind
Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT®) has enormous application for any and all presenting problems, whether they be behavioural, physiological, emotional or psychological. Working with addiction in any form, achieving ideal weight, or eating disorders are just some examples of desired areas for behavioural change. These types of issues are rarely solved by approaching the surface problem, the addiction, food consumption or diet, however. Nor by trying to solve it in a “conscious” way, with either a stick or carrot approach. By entering the unconscious, however, we can learn how and why the problem showed up. By doing this we can quickly and effectively treat it.
Think of it this way. Using our conscious mind is like working on our computer. Doing day-to-day surface work like typing an email or working on a spreadsheet is the conscious mind. Trying to motivate ourselves to behave better is a lot like this. It can be largely superficial. Working consciously on such behaviours in isolation simply doesn’t work. Heard the all-too common problem of yoyo dieting? Or the saying “once an addict, always an addict”?
Accessing the sub-conscious mind is like accessing files hidden behind the front end. The data is a little harder to find, but we can use software to read it. That software sends the email or does the calculations on the spreadsheet, and it’s a metaphor for the sub-conscious mind. Like accessing the documents organised in folders, memories start to give us clues about what might be going on. Why we might be stuck in a certain way. Traditional therapy usually works on this level. Discussing old, often painful memories, over and over and over again.
And then finally there’s the unconscious mind. This is the operating system hidden deep under the surface. This is where all the programming is. It’s this unconscious part that very often remains unchanged since childhood. Every memory, event and experience are stored in the unconscious mind. But without an update this old operating system won’t work with the latest software. And it’s here where the origins of our presenting problems may well be hiding. Often memories we may not have had for years and years, obscuring the interpretation of events which served us then, but no longer serve us today. That is when we need to do some recoding of the program. And this is what Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT®) does.
We may never have accessed these memories before, but the mind finds them easily and knows exactly why they’re there. And when we re-interpret them, that’s when we make a breakthrough. That’s when we can create exactly the unique new operating system we want. Breakthroughs make our mind expand. And an expanded mind can never go back to its original size again.
When clients present with problems, the beliefs and meanings they assigned to experiences they had as a child, or even into adulthood, are still being followed. Being unable to access the unconscious mind means staying stuck, responding in ways that no longer help. And when it comes to matters of survival, connection and avoiding rejection, the mind will work very hard on our behalf to maintain a situation it thinks we still want.
There are many fascinating ways the mind works to protect us, to create the significance we need to feel in order to feel safe and that we belong. Unconscious in the deepest part of our brain, these fascinating ways invariably remain hidden from our conscious thought and awareness. Only through opening the gateway to the sub-conscious can we hope to gain further access to the deepest level of all, the unconscious mind. Through the help of someone trained we can access the unconscious mind, re-interpret the events and upgrade the blueprint, our operating system.
The amazing news is that this is very possible and remarkably easy through hypnosis. It’s important to know that hypnosis is nothing more than a relaxed state. Forget all you’ve seen of stage hypnotists who turn their laughing audience into chickens or make people fall in love with a fire hydrant. Hypnosis is simply deep relaxation. The client remains in complete control.
We actually enter states of hypnosis all day long as we go about our lives. Vegging in front of the TV, oblivious that three hours have passed by, and that we ate all the Ben & Jerry’s. Driving home, only to wonder how we got to the front door, while our conscious mind had been rehearsing tomorrow’s crucial client meeting. Talking on the phone while cooking and then wondering how the meal reached the table. These are just some examples of how our sub-conscious takes care of things. It’s the so-called auto pilot that allows us to do physical tasks while we are busy thinking of something else.
And so hypnosis is a natural state that we go in and out of as a normal part of our day. No chickens or fire hydrants involved.
Don’t ever expect to “feel hypnotized” when you have a hypnosis session. The nervous system is simply put into a deeply relaxed state. In this state the sub-conscious mind is more accessible. From there, through working with a trained expert, we can enter the unconscious mind, and the magic of Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT®) begins.
Many illnesses are actually triggered in the mind, invariably by some sort of response to anxiety. Indeed, more than 70% of all illnesses are created or aggravated by stress. Some experts believe it’s as high as 90%. We are social animals whose one purpose is to stay alive. Humans as social animals need to do this remember by connecting and avoiding rejection. Ironically the mind might learn that becoming ill in some way might actually be a mechanism to achieve this. Being cared for by others, which is one of our deepest human needs, is just one example of how this might manifest. But there are a fascinating number of ways, as unique as humans themselves.
As unlikely as it sounds, you’d be amazed how many people have gone on to full recoveries from their given ailment. Far from the cure being the miracle, it’s always striking just how incredible the mind has been in trying to protect its owner. To give one recent example many sufferers of Long Covid are going on to have complete recovery from their symptoms, following hypnosis. It often appears the illness is no longer there, but the mind and then subsequently the body’s response to the illness, are. Working with the mind it’s possible to create new physical, healing responses within the body to heal the remaining symptoms.
Not only available for treating presenting problems hypnosis can also be used for high performance. Training one’s mind provides the competitive advantage in today’s world. This game-changing field is backed by science. High performers across an array of fields are tapping into its profound power. We’ve known for a long time how important visualization can be for performance.
Using Olympic athletes as an example, the most successful Olympians invariably use hypnotherapy and visualization to achieve their success. When comparing a group that practiced their skill, a group that practiced and visualized performing their skill, and a group that purely visualized performing their skill, it was found that the group that purely visualized were the top performers at the Olympics. Under hypnosis the effect of visualization is amplified and even more striking.
Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT®) really can be used in so many ways.
This article is also published in Focus on Health and Well-Being Magazine, May 4 2021. https://hwb.focusonuk.co.uk/rapid-transformational-therapy-2/