Erika Flint, BCH, MCPHI, OB
Written for the 5-PATH © Journal
It happened again last week – my client Stacy had a major breakthrough. An insight that she reports has “changed everything.”
Here’s how it happened:
“Erika, I flipped the switch.”
I could tell by her confident response, and the smile on her face across the computer window this was a very good thing.
“Fantastic,” I replied, “go on, tell me everything.”
“I was sitting in the living room. Just like any other evening.
“I looked over at my husband, and he’s eating. I watch him take a handful of chips from the bowl, and eat them, one at a time. Then he does it again. And again.
“I watch him for a little bit. And then it hit me.” She laughs, and I’m intrigued.
“I could absolutely go and have some too,” she explains.
She pauses for effect. Looks right at me, even more confidently and with a slight grin.
“And I absolutely did not want to.” A big smile now is drawn on her face, and I notice the twinkle in her eyes.
“I have completely changed my relationship with food. I really get it. I truly did not want those chips!” She continues to share with me that this is what she was wanting all along. This feeling – this feeling of “not wanting” the food.
She describes feeling a sense of freedom, like a burden has been lifted. This is comforting news for Stacy, and something we’d love for all of our clients to experience – a true breakthrough that changes everything.
Are there ways we as hypnotists can help our clients have these types of breakthrough moments?
A meta suggestion is a hypnotic suggestion that is broad enough to seem miraculous when achieved, and also practical enough for client’s subconscious minds to make great progress on in a short amount of time. They can be paired with 5-PATH during direct suggestion, and also in the pre-hypnosis interview.
For example, here’s the one I offered my client near the end of our previous session:
“Over the course of the next week while you are sleeping, your subconscious mind will harmonize all of this new wisdom, and bring to mind, to your consciousness, the best solutions relating to this new relationship with food.” This was after an insightful AR session.
The suggestion above is both broad and specific. I broadly suggest to “…harmonize all of this new wisdom and bring to your consciousness the best solutions…” By using phrases like “all of this new wisdom” and “the best solution,” you are encouraging their subconscious to fill in the gaps of what the new wisdom or best solution is for them. And the specific suggestions are “Over the course of the next week while you are sleeping your subconscious mind will…”, and “…solutions relating to this new relationship with food.” We are more specific by stating exactly when (over the next week while sleeping) and what (new relationship with food) the client will practice.
The broad suggestions can be thought of as a right-brained suggestion – something that the subconscious mind will love to seek out and put together like a puzzle. And then it’s paired with a specific method for fulfilling the suggestion, which makes the left brain, or the conscious mind, happy. The subconscious mind also reinforces the specific suggestions while we are sleeping, so both sides of the brain end up working together to support your clients’ goals.
We don’t know how the subconscious mind will find these connections and solutions, and we don’t need to. When our client accepts this suggestion, it’s very likely they will come back next week and report something mind-blowing. Sometimes they report insight from a dream, or a waking moment that is useful. Other times, it’s a real life-changing moment, like with Stacy.
Stacy accepted the suggestion. She agreed having a new relationship with food - one that is for nourishment and energy, was the proper solution.
However, what actually IS the new relationship with food, and how is she actually doing it? That is the broader question that we want the subconscious mind to answer.
We do know her beliefs were in alignment with the suggestion. Stacy also remained calm enough during the moment to have insight about her own life. And this calmness I attribute to removing all resistance in that moment.
Here’s what I mean. In the past, Stacy would have both wanted the chips, and not wanted them. She would have told herself that she “can’t have them.”, although she wishes she could. It’s a push-pull type of situation that is taxing on the nervous system and brain. It’s stressful.
Instead, (and this is where it counts!!!) Stacy’s subconscious mind kicked in, in that moment, with the understanding of her new relationship with food. And Stacy was open enough to notice it. She told herself, “yes I can have those chips – yet I don’t want to.” And in that moment, she realized this is the new relationship with food that she was looking for – she could feel it.
So, the full process is:
1 – Start with a Broad suggestion. Here are a few examples:
Harmonize all this wisdom inside, and raise your vibration to a new, even more compassionate and abundant viewpoint.
Notice what truly fulfills you, and you effortlessly begin doing more of these things.
2 – Then, add how to accomplish it with specificity, and NOTICING it:
When you accept this suggestion, over the course of the next few nights, your subconscious mind will notice….
You are creating a new relationships with food that is about nourishment and energy…
In every case reported by clients, the “switch” that was flipped happened consciously.
This means the client has slowed down enough to notice the functioning of their own mind. In effect to “watch” themselves as something is happening.
“In that moment”, Stacy tells me, “ I became free. Although I always was. I realize that now.”
And with that, I offered Stacy another meta suggestion, “Over the course of the next few nights, as you sleep your subconscious mind will continue to upgrade this relationship with food – making it even more beneficial, fulfilling, and effortless. And it’s easy for you to accept this suggestion at the deepest level of who you are. And this comforting message allows you to sleep deeper, and more peacefully, than ever before in your entire life.”