Search Results Tag: perception

Science and Hypnotherapy


What Can be Treated with Hypnotherapy

My wife Mary and I run our own private Hypnotherapy Practice in Peel, Isle of Man where we employ a combination of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy to treat conditions with an emotional root cause. To see a list of some the conditions we treat please follow the link  What Can Be Treated

Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic in Peel, Isle of Man

Our Private Hypnotherapy Practice is called Setanta after the great Irish legendary warrior, Cú Chulainn. The name conjures up in me the idea that we are not our bodies and as such are not limited by the physical restraints placed upon us by identifying with our bodies. Setanta symbolised courage and integrity and the energy of never giving up in the face of any challenge he faced. By naming our clinic Setanta my wife and I seek to identify with this great Irish legend in his principles and work ethic.

Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic Media Presence

As a way to inform our community of the work we do we set up a website SetantaClinic.com and we also created a Facebook Fan Page called Setanta.Hypnotherapy.Clinic both of which we take very seriously. The website also has a blog which we regularly update with posts which explain the work we do from various perspectives and the Facebook Page which reflects our ideas and what we stand for.

Enquiry asking about Hypnotherapy and Science

We often receive enquiries through our website and Facebook Fan page and only just today we received an enquiry from someone asking about Hypnotherapy in relation to dissonance and mirror neurons.

From the enquiry and the phraseology of the comment it seemed that the person had equated what we did with a notion of hypnotherapy was based on suggestion therapy, i.e. Hypnotherapy was a method of conditioning the mind with repeated suggestions to change a behaviour.

I recognised immediately the futility of engaging in any discussion which did not fit this person’s idea of truth. I sent him some links to article my wife and I had written on the subject of Hypnotherapy and urged him to read them first. In my mind I thought it would be sensible that he acquainted himself with our working model of Hypnotherapy rather that us entering into conversation about Hypnotheraspy based on what he believed it to be. Without reading the articles I received an instant reply which read … “Oh ok ….delegation??”

I didn’t wish him to feel that I was ignoring him or that I was unable to answer his questions so the first step was for me to identify his perspective. He revealed his perspective when he said:

I was studying neurology (from a buddhist point if view) n was interested in its effects on the dissonance or mirror neurons !”

Science tries to Make Sense of Non-Sense

I then followed with a reply explaining the futility of trying to explain truth based on belief. I tried to explain how Science was no where nearer to explaining the world than Religion was to explaining God:

I see now where you are coming from. It is my view that scientists seek to make sense of what they observe and in every generation old theories are replaced by new ones. The reason why science is no closer to the absolute truth about anything is because scientists are human beings and all human beings rely on perception to make sense of what they observe. Perception is subjective and as such nothing absolute can ever be based upon it and this basic fact seems to continue to allude the science community. (The same holds for people who try to expalin God using their beliefs as a yardstick.)

Scientists have observed that certain neurons are fired in certain circumstances but if you are familiar with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle you will also be aware that whatever we seek to observe, we change and in the act of observing we actually invalidate the observation!

Hypnosis simply affords people the opportunity to suspend their critical factor to the degree that they are enabled to entertain ideas that are not in keeping with their own core belief system.

A person who is suffering an illness also holds a core belief in the illness. If the therapist was to simply say that their illness is as a result of what the client believes then that would conflict with their core belief and alienate the therapist who would then be unable to help. That is where Psychotherapy comes in.

Hypnosis heals nothing, all it does is open the gate. Once the gate is open the client then uses his/her own inner resources to affect the changes they desire. It is not the therapist who cures anyone of anything either. It is the clients themselves who cure themselves. Whether or not certain neurons are firing at the time when the changes are affected may be of interest to scientists who love to then find patterns to back up whatever theory is fashionable at the time, is of little relevance and help in a process that cannot be explained intellectually but can be felt emotionally.

I myself ,along with my Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy qualifications, also have a degree in Physics and Mathematics. You and I are both scientists with completely differing belief systems but that is fine by me. I have no wish to convince you or anyoneof the beliefs I hold ‘today’, but since you asked I explained what they were.

There are people in the world who will die for their beliefs, I on the other hand see beliefs as the way we play with ideas and not worth dying for. In my world no belief is truth and that is why it is easier for me to let go of anything that holds me back in my life. Ideas are like birds that fly through the sky. No bird can make a mark on the sky and it is our choice to follow the flight of a particular bird across the sky or turn our attention to another one.

This is as far as I will go with this conversation as I will be busy with clients for the rest of the day and I also am aware that is not my place to question what you believe to be true. In hypnosis however all ideas can be entertained and that is the magic of hypnosis. You have a great day and good luck with your own personal journey. Thank you for the conversation.

The conversation ended and the person thanked me for the communication intimating that he might follow up at a later time.

Belief is the Filter through which we all make our own sense of the World and our Experiences

I see the world through my own filter and believe that the very best I can do when it comes to explaining it is to see it as positively as I can maintaining the awareness that the sense I make of it is actually made up in my own mind and completely subjective.

The beliefs I hold about the world today may not be the ones I hold tomorrow or in the next hour and I am fine with that. Beliefs are ideas in which we have invested our energy. Energy does not need to be stuck anywhere and when we realise this we are free to experience the world any way we desire.

Life is a game and it is belief that makes it serious. When we learn to change our beliefs at will we regain the power to be children again living in the now playing the game of life!

Hypnotherapy to Correct Self Perception

Links to related Articles:

The Most Famous Failed Experiment

The Photoelectric Effect Demonstrates The Particle Nature of Light

Red-Shift and The Big Bang Theory

Suggestion Therapy Explained

Hypnosis to Correct Perception

The Purpose of Pain and Suffering


Faulty Self-Concept

People usually do not enter psychotherapy with the goal of changing their perception of self. On the contrary most people who enter psychotherapy are completely unaware that it is their faulty self-concept that is at the root of their suffering. They initially seek to preserve their perception of self exactly as it is but without the suffering that goes with it.

Fear of Change

Probably the hardest thing for any human being to do is to change. Most people will do everything in their power to maintain the status quo and will resist change as if their lives depended on it. Why else would a woman remain in a marriage with an abusive husband?  Why would someone who wants to lose weight continue to overeat? Why would a woman who notices a lump in her breast or a man who notices a lump in his testicle ignore it or delay seeing a doctor?

Change ultimately involves taking a step into the unknown and that, for most people, is a scarier alternative to the pain they continue to experience in their lives. The pain that people experience is in direct proportion to the resistance they exert to change. It is only when a person let’s go and steps into the unknown that pain disappears.

Handing Over Our Power to Authority Figures is Not the Answer

Pain, whether it is physical or emotional, is a guide that directs us to make the changes we need to make in our lives. Many people, however, see pain as a nuisance and something to be alleviated, numbed and avoided at all costs. Rather than seeing emotional pain as guiding us to make the changes we are resisting many people turn to medication to alleviate it. Many turn to psychologists and counselors to take their pain away. Very few own their pain and see it as a guiding light that could be used to lead them to make the changes that life judges they are ready for.  Most would rather hand their power over to an authority figure they set up in their minds as having special powers to cure them. Even when the medication prescribed does not alleviate their pain they hold on to the belief they hold about the authority figure and continue to take medication, often for years.

Pain used as a guiding light in Hypno-Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, if conducted in a way that avoids the influence of either the client’s or therapist’s ego can be a very effective way of affecting the necessary changes the client has been resisting. Rather than seeing the therapist as someone with special powers to take away a person’s pain a more constructive approach would be to see the therapist as a partner who willing chooses to enter into an agreement with change as its purpose.

The people who come to psychotherapy to alleviate their emotional pain and suffering normally do not see that they will ultimately have to change their minds about something that is preventing them from changing. This something is the way they perceive themselves and the world they perceive as outside of themselves and responsible for their suffering. Most of them come with an idea that they can in some way control their suffering to the degree that it is tolerable so that they can continue as before. At first the idea, that by defending their perceptions they are clinging to their suffering, does not seem to register but with each session change gradually occurs as both client and therapist begin to move toward each other finding  common ground for agreement.

It is pain that is responsible for bringing client and therapist together and it is the resulting changes achieved that ultimately relieve the pain and set both free to continue to their next stages of development.

Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic

Xavier and Mary Nathan are in private practice at Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic in Peel, Isle of Man where they use a combination of hypnosis and psychotherapy adhering to the principles outlined in this post. To find out more about the therapy provided by Xavier and Mary at Setanta Clinic visit their website or call 842938 to arrange a free initial consultation.

Links to Related Articles

Psychotherapy and A Course In Miracles

Psychotherapy to Change Self-Concept

Video: Hypno-Psychotherapy to Change Self-Perception

Why Suffering?


Photo credit to: Honikum

The power of belief

Our expectations are determined by what we believe. What we believe about life and the world around us influences what we expect to happen to us and others. It is our belief systems that determine how we perceive people. It is our belief systems that determine how we perceive situations and experiences. At a subconscious level we learn how to react to people and situations and we make decisions regarding our behaviour and condition in order to fit our belief systems. The adjustments made at the subconscious level can result in symptoms we call allergies, disease or illness and behaviours we call compulsive, addictive or destructive. This all happens below our consciousness so we are unaware of these developments until we start to experience the results of these decisions taken at the subconscious level. At the subconscious level symptoms and behaviour patterns are chosen with our best interests and highest good in mind but these very decisions may well be responsible for feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness we might feel right now.

Karmic constraints

The decisions made at the subconscious level are made within the constraints of the belief systems we cling to and in order to affect change then it is necessary for us to loosen those constraints and open ourselves to seeing life and the world from a wider variety of perspectives. The degree of our happiness is governed largely by our capacity to let go of any belief that results in causing us pain or unhappiness. This is, however, more easily said than done because the beliefs that we hold are developed over many lifetimes.

Pain and suffering have a purpose

Unhappiness and pain have a purpose in that without them we would never question our perceptions. Pain and unhappiness are merely reminders for us not to get too comfortable with our perceptions because they are not real. Our purpose here is to discover the truth of who we really are through the veil of the belief systems we use to define ourselves.

Many are unwilling to heed the reminders and remain slaves to their beliefs imagining that the pain and unhappiness they experience are outside their control. It is the willingness to change and embrace the adventure of life, the way a child experiences things for the first time, without any preconceived ideas, criticisms or judgments.  All the while trusting in that higher consciousness, within each of us, for our guidance and inner security …  then we start to ensure our peace, happiness and fulfillment.

Hypno-Psychotherapy at Setanta Clinic in Peel

Hypno-Psychotherapy is a journey within through layer after layer of beliefs that block us from seeing who we truly are and preventing us from achieving our destiny. You don’t have to suffer from a mental disorder or disease to undergo Hypno-Psychotherapy and everyone who has undergone the treatment has reported only the most positive results. If you are interested in learning about the mind and how to navigate the subconscious to in order to release anything that may be blocking your personal development and self realization then Hypno-Psychotherapy may be for you.

If you live in the Isle of Man and would like to learn more then call Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic in Peel on 842938 to arrange a free initial consultation.

Hypnosis to Correct Perception


Perceptions are Deceiving

The biggest problem facing us today is our incorrect perception of ourselves, of others and the world at large.

There is nothing innately wrong with perception because there is actually nothing else we can do given that in order to interact with each other and the world we can only perceive what we observe. The reason for this is that we are dependent on interpreting the information that we receive from our five senses.

Making it up in our Heads

The information we receive from the external world, like light reflected from an object, is converted into electrical impulses which are sent to the brain where they are decoded and an image is created of the object. This all happens in an instant so we imagine that the image we see is the object we are observing outside of us. In fact the image we see and which we attach meaning to is in our own heads.

We automatically assign meaning to things we see in our heads and we pass judgement on people, places, experiences and things normally based on our past experiences with what we observe. Judging and criticising is what we spend most of our waking day doing and it is how we preserve our belief system, self concept and what we believe reality to be.

The Price of Wrong Perception

Most people do not question this state of affairs and are content to accept this but there is a price to pay for such an attitude. Perceiving is not the same as knowing the truth and as long as we hold fast to the notion that our perceptions are reality then we are bound to encounter problems.

Most of the problems we encounter, by believing our illusions to be true, are pain, suffering and disease. It is our reluctance to look past or through the veil of illusion that covers our emotional and spiritual eyes and let go of our wrong perceptions that we invite the pain that we experience.

Stage Hypnosis fuels wrong perception of Hypnosis

In our work as a Clinical Hypno-Psychotherapists my wife Mary and I deal with people who come to us initially to ask us to take away their pain. Most of them are completely oblivious to the idea that it is in fact their erroneous belief system that is causing the problem and it only when they choose to change their minds that any progress can be made.

Most come under the illusion that we are some kind of magicians that will whisk away their problems while they are “under”!

This is not their fault however because most of them have formed their preconceived ideas about Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy based on stage shows by entertainers who wish to give the impression that they are controlling the people on stage. This in fact could not be further from the truth. Nobody controls you when you are in hypnosis. In fact you are more in control of your self in hypnosis than at any other time in your life primarily because in hypnosis you are free to consider  ideas that you would normally never entertain.

Hypnosis to Facilitate Change

During your normal waking day you judge whatever you hear and see based on what you believe to be reality. So if your reality is that you are suffering from a serious illness then you are not going to accept any ideas that suggest anything that goes against this belief in your illness. As long as your belief system protects your illness there will be no change. Doesn’t it make sense therefore that in order to address the illness you have to suspend your judgement in order to entertain an alternative belief  about your health?

Hypnosis enables you to suspend your judgement to the degree that you can entertain alternative perceptions some of which may ideally even contradict the notion of your illness. By learning how to hypnotise yourself you are taking responsibility for how you decide to perceive reality and you are free to choose how you wish to perceive your problem.

“ Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself.” was a message shared by a friend  on FaceBook and  though I like the message it is easier said than done. Unless people are equipped with the tools and resources to change, they find it difficult to do so. I am going further with this article and proposing how each person can equip themselves with the necessary tools to affect the change they desire.  Learning the art of  Self-Hypnosis is a way to equip ourselves with the necessary resource to at least entertain the idea of change.

Learning Self-Hypnosis

Mary and I both run our own Private Hypno-Psychotherapy Clinic here in Peel, Isle of Man and before we begin any therapy with anyone who seeks our help we first require them to purchase and download from our website an audio we have have developed that teaches them how to hypnotise themselves. The audio costs £29.99 one is with my voice and the other with Mary’s depending on whether the person prefers to be treated by a male or female therapist. We ask them to put the audio on their iPod or MP3 player and play it at least once a day for a week to ten days before starting therapy. When they come to us to start treatment they are already in charge of their own recovery and we are facilitators in the psychotherapeutic process that effectively leads them to correct their self concept.

To find out more about the audio I refer to in this article please visit our Manx Hypnosis Fan Page on FaceBook and please be sure to press the “like” button.

For information about our other products which are not on the FaceBook  fan page please visit our website downloads page

Please share this article if you find it useful. Thank you for reading.

Video by Xavier and Mary Nathan explaining  Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy:

Related Articles:

Higher Consciousness and Hypno-Psychotherapy

Maya Illusion

Analytical Hypnotherapy

Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic Press Release

Cure for Dis-ease

Misperceptions?


Following is a letter I sent to the editor of the Isle of Man Newspapers in response to a newspaper article published in the Isle of Man Examiner and titled ‘Sierre Leone kitted up’. Here is the article that was published in the Isle of Man Examiner of 20th September 2011 and below that is my letter in response.

Sierra Leone get kitted up

The Sierra Leone Commonwealth Youth Games team departed the island saying they felt ‘the Isle of Man is our second home’ after experiencing kind generosity during their stay.

It has emerged that islanders helped out the team in a special way during the games, which finished last week.

Due to funding constraints, the team of three athletes, one coach and a team leader travelled to the island to compete with minimal kit and baggage.

Graeme Watson, allocated team liaison officer for Sierra Leone, said: ‘What struck me first at the airport was that the five team members had one suitcase between them, surrounded by the other teams with bulging suitcases each.’

Charlie Turner, of Intersport, stepped in by providing tracksuits, while Graeme’s employers at the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture were able to donate a few TT jackets, and clothing also came from Paul Craine at Churches Together in Mann.

These were all very welcome in a weekend that saw some wet and windy Manx weather.

Sierre Leone Athletics Team for Commonwealth Games


Smart Kit: From left, Jimmy Thoronka, 17, who ran in the 400m sprint, Augustine Sheku Momah, 16, who ran in the 1,500m and 3,000m races, coach Zaimab and Isfamaka Kargbo, 16, who competed in the  200m sprint and 100m hurdles, pictured in the tracksuits supplied by Intersport.

My Letter to the Editor in response to the above article

Having lived in the Isle of Man for almost ten years I don’t really know why I was so touched by the article ‘Sierra Leone get kitted up’ in Isle of Man Examiner Sept 20th.  It’s not as if I hadn’t already noticed how kind people are here.

There was something just so beautiful about the spirit of the games and the joy the young athletes experienced here during the Commonwealth Youth Games.  The weather may not have been on their side but the people of the island were; no matter where the athletes hailed from.

The icing on the cake was the story of the team of five arriving from Sierra Leone with one suitcase between them.  No doubt they were as excited to be here as those teams with bulging suitcases. Perhaps the members of the Sierra Leone team were oblivious to what we would perceive as their lack, perhaps we give so much attention to material possessions that we felt their lack more than they did!

How much clothing does an athlete really need … shorts, vest and shoes unless you happen to be Zola Budd!  After that, the big names step in, the logos, the branding which cost  a fortune and in the end take up funding that could go to better use and help other children to get a start. What the Sierra Leone team shows us was that you can get to the top without all the paraphernalia!

Now, I’m not taking away from the wonderfully kind gesture by Graeme Watson and other islanders who organised for the team to be kitted out with some very nice tracksuits and TT jackets and other items of clothing. I’m very sure the Sierra Leone team were very thankful to be protected from the wet and wind.  What I am saying is that a bulging suitcase does not always equate with wealth. Perhaps we give so much credence to possessions that we forget the message.

Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul”.

Democritus

Yours sincerely

Mary Nathan

Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic

Maya Illusion


Still Mind by AlexGroseth

Conditioned Views

From the very beginning of our lives we are conditioned to believe that the material world we live in exists and is separate from us. Most people simply accept the illusion as real and never question the world they imagine as separate from themselves. Living a life based on illusion is bound to create problems and those problems are clearly evident in the lives of those who hold fast to their illusory world.

The Brain Interprets What We Receive Through The Senses

In order to explain what I mean it will first be necessary for me to talk about how we perceive the world in the first place. Everything that we know about the world outside of us we receive through our five senses. Light reflected from an object enters the eye and is focussed on the back of the eye called the retina. Nerves called rods and cones in the retina convert the light into electrical signals that are relayed to the vision centre, a tiny area in the back of the brain. The act of seeing occurs in that tiny space at the back of the brain. This means that everything you say you see outside of yourself is in fact being seen inside of you in a place where no light can enter.

The External World is Experienced Internally

The Seeing Brain

In the same way your brain creates sound, touch, smell and taste from the electrical impulses it receives and we actually experience the pain we imagine we feel in our stubbed toe in our brain. The sound we imagine we hear outside is actually being heard in our own brain. In fact every experience we imagine we experience externally is in fact being experienced internally in our brain. We are in effect making judgements about ourselves, others and the world based on how the brain decodes the electrical signals it receives. This also means that though we never actually directly interact with the images we create in our brains some people still emphatically state that matter exists!

The Brain Decodes Electrical Impulses to Create External Reality

Look out of your window and pick something to look at. That thing you are looking at is a set of electrical impulses in your brain. The reality you imagine when standing on a beach and looking out at the horizon or staring up at the stars is an interpretation made by your brain of decoded electrical signals.

Maya Means Illusion

Since we are not set up to have direct experience with anything outside of ourselves how can so may people buy into and defend such an illusion as to believe that the world they perceive actually exists? Only a very few people have woken up from this dream reality and accept it for what it is, an illusion. The wise ones from ancient times called it maya or the world of perceptions lived completely within our own mind. We deceive ourselves when we believe that the universe exists outside of the mind.

Wake Up Call from Awakened Ones

The Observer

Imagine the body as being a computer hooked up to the brain. The computer is then feeding the

brain the electrical impulses to create the experiences and images it wishes the brain to perceive. If you can imagine this then it is not such a big leap in thought to realise how easy it is for us to be conditioned to believe what we see, hear, touch, smell and taste is real and separate from us. But there are many ways to free ourselves from the illusion and people like Jesus have come into this world time and again to show us how. In every case their message has been used to reinforce the illusion and the message for us to wake up is lost in ideology designed to keep us sleeping.

What is Dream and What is Real?

Even in sleep we do not dream continuously. If we spend even 30 minutes in the whole night dreaming we are doing well. We go through cycles of deep sleep and dreaming and so at night we mimic what happens in what we call our real lives. When we sleep we wake up by dreaming and we can do this many times during the night. In that reality our dreaming is waking up. When we awaken in the morning we imagine that we have awakened from sleep and the dream world is not real. The people we meet in our dream like the people we meet in our so called waking life all experience the same so called reality. In the same way that an opinion does not become true because more people share it, the external world does not become real because more people share the illusion.

Cage by parablev

Who or What is the “I” Aware of Self as the Perceiver?

Up to now I have been citing the brain as the one which creates the perceptions we experience but the brain itself can be perceived and so it too must be an illusion. In fact anything that you can perceive must be an illusion a creation of the mind which must be separate from the mind and the body. So if the mind holds within it all that can be perceived then who or what is this being that thinks, feels and is self aware ? This is a question for another article but in the meantime it is food for thought and hopefully what I have said here will make you think and perhaps some of you may find the call to wake up appealing. For others what I have to say hear may provoke fear in which case you will find yourself reacting violently to the ideas presented here. In either case the reaction will tell you more about yourself and that is a good thing.

Links to Related Articles I have Written

Does matter Exist?

The Subconscious

Warning:

The subject of the film you are about to watch is liable to make fundamental changes in your outlook on the material world.You should therefore watch it very attentively.

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