As a counsellor, hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner I have worked with a lot of different techniques throughout the years when it comes to making changes in a client. On top of that, I am also an energy healer and Meditation teacher. Therefore I do believe in the power of visualisation and positive suggestion - after all, this is what Hypnotherapy is all about!

However, I have also seen the limitation of this approach and the importance of looking at the therapeitic methods in a wider sense and seeing the bigger picture when in comes to treating a client. This why now I mainly work on the root cause of a problem instead of trying to fix the effects of that root cause. Often times, when we try to heal the 'effect', the relief is temporary and doesn't last. Also, there is much resisitance to the Healing from your mind, unless you address the real issue.

For example, someone might come to you with a bad habit. You might try to fix the habit through coaching or Hypnotherapy by focusing strictly on the habit itself and changing it. But the habit might have been caused by some kind of trauma or limiting belief and if that root source of the habit doesn't dissolve, the habit will remain or it will go away and a new bad habit will take its place. Do you see the problem?

Many of our negative emotions, beliefs and actions stem from a bigger issue within our unconscious. I will give you another example. Let's say someone comes to you with anger issues triggered by a recent event or by a person. A hypnotherapist might try to release that emotion through hypnosis by visualising the anger, giving it a color, releasing it and replacing it with something positive and changing the way the client feels about that person or that event. However, often times, the person or the event is only a trigger for a much deeper wound the client has and the anger often comes from past trauma. So the client might feel better regarding that person or recent event but the emotion of anger will remain in the unconscious and will continue to come up in different ways unless you go to the root of that anger.

It is one of the reasons why I love regression and timeline therapy, because it does not only give you temporary relief but heals you deeply and transforms you completely as a person, removing the primordial cause of your problem. Healing comes in layers. Sometimes, we only focus on the superficial layers and forget that we are a consciousness system that functions as a whole. Our bodies and our core emotions are run by the unconscious and the unconscious does most of its learning during childhood. That is where we must make the changes. 

There is also another issue present here. Many people don't like to look at the 'shadow self'. I get that. We don't like to face the darkness and the trauma and it is easier to just try and escape it by telling ourselves it's not there or focusing on the positive. But repeating to yourself 'I am good enough' has no lasting effect unless you associate the words with a positive emotion. Sometimes the mere words 'good enough' and 'loved' are associated with strong negative unconscious emotions. Unless you go to those root emotions and the trauma that caused them, there isn't any lasting change.

So I advise people to not be afraid to look at the 'shadow self' and take into consideration their history and the emotions that they have denied and repressed for so long and start to heal and release them. Again, I do not deny the power of positive self-talk and visualisation but they will only get you so far. I have seen their limitation. Remember, we are a layered and complex consciousness system. Our shadows and traumas must be integrated and not repressed. 

Be blessed and stay healthy!