Take a deep breath and relax.. We can help you with that!!

A Simple Explanation of Hypnosis and the Mind

The Hevener GroupWhen Its Time for a Change

70A 1 Industry RoadMarstons Mills, MA 02648

www.hevenergroup.com508.281.0257

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Welcome to the Hevener Group.

We at The Hevener Group are here to help you make the positive changes you want to make for a happier, healthier life. Just imagine taking control of your life and living the life you want more fully! You can do it, and we can help you.

Your imagination is a powerful and creative way to influence your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Hypnosis and its complementary modalities such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), Cognitive Restructuring, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and Mindfulness Training are a wonderful tools to help you achieve your true potential and helpyou solve all kinds of ordinary, everyday issues.

Hypnosis helps you to deeply relax and it prepares your subconscious mind to receive and accept positive suggestions that lead to lasting improvements. Hypnosis opens the door to heightened focus and concentration, leading to awareness, understanding and positive change. Since all hypnosis is, in actuality, self-hypnosis you are in complete control and nobody can ever hypnotize you against your will. EFT uses your own body’s meridian points to clear up and recharge the electrical currents of your body,

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NLP teaches you simple methods to reframe issues, Cognitive Restructuring helps you look at people and situations in a more objective way and Mindfulness Training helps you appreciate the now.

When you decide to change your mind and your thoughts, you begin to change your life. Whether you want to make a behavioral change, cope with anxieties, relieve pain, stop smoking, lose weight, want to eliminate the negative effects of past issues or simply make life changing improvements hypnosis and its complementary modalities is a wonderful way to achieve breakthroughs. At the Hevener Group we work to develop a level of comfort and rapport so that you are in the best frame of mind to benefit from the heightened suggestibility of hypnosis. Our first interest is helping you achieve your highest and best, and in serving you to meet your needs.

Take some time to just relax… allow yourself to truly deeply relax while your unconscious mind does the work. Imagine you – unstoppable in the pursuit of your wellness, your success & your happiness. When you decide to change your mind and your thoughts, you begin to change your life!

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A Brief Description of Hypnosis and the MindThere are so many misconceptions about hypnosis, we’d like to give you a an idea of what hypnosis entails, how it works and what you can expect.

What is Hypnosis?Hypnosis is a relaxed, focused state of concentration. That is the definition. But, as Wendi Friesen, CCHT adds, the actual state of hypnosis is a little harder to define. Until recently it was assumed that it was similar to sleep, or that the mind was somehow unconscious. In reality, there is a specific state that the brain enters into when it is receptive to suggestion. This has been discovered on scans during hypnosis. It is not an unusual state of mind, and because we naturally drift in and out of this state all the time, you may feel like you are not in a trance, or in hypnosis at all. Most people simply feel really, really relaxed

Hypnosis is a natural state everyone accesses when daydreaming, watching TV, driving, and reading and any other time we have a focused attention. Hypnosis is phenomena that happens

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every day and people go into and out of hypnotic trance states all the time.Research into brain waves suggests that our brain waves naturally and automatically fluctuate throughout the day and that during natural trance states like reading, running, watching TV and driving etc we are in an altered state of consciousness which is called trance.

When in trance, there is a change in the brain wave activity, similar to that time just before sleep when the alpha state is entered. Your brain's waking state is a beta brain wave, just as you are going to sleep it changes to alpha and then to delta and theta in deep sleep. The alpha state is a very dreamy, pleasant state. During this time the mind is very open to visualizations and creating a rich sensory experience. The more real the experience becomes in the subconscious mind during this state, the more effect it will have on your waking behavior.

These trance state produce hypnotic phenomena that can be used in change work.If you re read the list of natural trance producing situations you will see that some of them are relaxing but others like running are not so hypnosis does not need to be relaxing to be effective but relaxation is normally used so that the you can be relaxed and less emotionally

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motivated while talking about a symptom that may cause anxiety.Most people agree that we shift states depending on the situation we are in at the time; for example, were in a different state of mind at work than we are on vacation and even when talking with different people and in different contexts.Hypnosis can by pass the conscious critical factor of the conscious mind and find out the cause of and issue and then reframe any mistaken beliefs that are there as well as implanting new more empowering beliefs.

A (very) simplified model of the mindNow for you to understand how hypnosis works, we need to understand how the mind works. Wenever really think about how our mind works. We basically say to ourselves, if you think about it, I think therefore - I exist and we let it go at that. But you know, we really have three very separate and very distinct minds. They do different things and sometimes they have a hard time inter-relating and communicating with each other. Ok, so first we have the conscious mind. Well, that’s where we are right now. Below that level of awareness, we have something called the subconscious mind. And then there is a still deeper part of us, the unconscious mind. Basically, the unconscious is a part of us that does two things. First, it controls the strength or weakness of immune system and, secondly, it controls the functions, the automatic body functions, such as; our heart beating, our eyes blinking and things like that. For our purposes, I use the Subconscious and Unconscious interchangeably.

If you can liken the mind to a computer, and know the different functions of the different parts of the mind, it’s a little bit easier to break it down

Ok, so First we have the conscious mind. The conscious mind includes everything that we are aware of. This is the aspect of our mental

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processing that we can think and talk about rationally. Its where we are right now and its where we spend most of our time and it basically only does four things.

A part of this includes our memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any time and brought into our awareness. Freud called this ordinary memory the preconscious. Your conscious mind is the part of your mind that deals with reason and logic. It is the director of your subconscious mind, which is the part of your mind that deals with energy and creation. Your conscious mind is the logical mind that functions with logic. You think with the conscious mind and it is the programmer of the subconscious mind, which is the creative mind that carries out the program..

Okay, so the Conscious mind is responsible for 4 things: Functions of the Conscious Mind:• Short‐term Memory – This is the memory we refer to throughout the day as we function. Where did I put the car keys? Where am I going today? What did I eat today? What is that phone number? What’s my boss’ name?• Analyze information – It evaluates the information or situation that has our attention at the present moment. The conscious mind is the

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part of us that looks at problems, analyzes them, figures a way to solve whatever particular problems are bothering us at the moment. It is also the part of us that makes the hundreds of decisions we have to make just to get through an average day, decisions we think are automatic; but in fact, are not. Things like, “Should I open the door?” “Should I turn the water on?” “Should I tie my shoes?” Well, we think those are automatic functions, but we must actually make a decision as to whether or not we want to do these things• Make Decisions and choices – Who should I call first? Should I buy this? What should I watch on TV? What should I wear? Now, this part of the conscious mind is a part that can get us into a little trouble sometimes. We call this the rational part of our conscious mind. This part of us must give us a reason why we behave in any particular fashion. You see if we don’t have a reason why we do the things that we do, we become anxious, nervous, frustrated and if it goes on long enough, it can lead to problems. Inpatient treatment programs, for example, are full of people who do things and they don’t know why they do them. The only problem is that the reason the rational mind may give us for why we behave in any particular fashion is firstly, the reason is never original. For example, a smoker says he smokes because it calms him, makes him feel relaxed, gives him time to pause and gather

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his thoughts, etc ,etc… An overweight person might say, I’m over weight because I eat when I’m bored, I eat when I’m nervous or I have a glandular problem. The problem with this reason is, -it is never original. … think about it…. Before the smoker started smoking, he heard other people that smoked say, “I smoke because it makes me feel calm and relaxed.” Or he heard an over weight person say, “I’m just over weight because I eat when I’m nervous.”

The problem with this is that generally, smokers start because of their need for security and acceptance. They want to belong to another gang of friends, usually in their younger years, somewhere between twelve and twenty. Security and acceptance are basic needs for everyone. Now, we generally get all the security we need when we grow up in a nice family. But usually at the age of twelve or thirteen, our parents don’t seem as smart as they use to be, so we shut off our ability to gain security from those individuals and we want that security by being part of a group of kids at school. Some of them smoke, some of them don’t.

If we feel that we don’t belong to this particular group, because our subconscious mind is a very interesting part of us, it must protect us against danger and not getting the necessary security we need is a definite danger

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to us. Frequently it will say smokers are accepted and secure. When that happens, the next time someone offers you a cigarette and you take it, immediately you feel like you are part of this group and your security level goes up. That is why people start smoking. It has nothing to do with being calm or relaxed. So you must understand that the reason the rational mind gives us for why we behave in a particular fashion is never original and most always incorrect! You don’t start smoking because it makes you feel calm, you start when you need security!

• Exercise Willpower – Today I will eat healthy. Just one more push up. I will resist smoking.

One thing to understand about willpower is that it is only there to get you through the short term. It is not the most effective way to change a long‐term, deeply rooted program. Over time, your subconscious programming will generally over take any of your efforts supported only by mere will power. It’s simply not as powerful as the subconscious mind and that is why people tend to fail to keep those promises they make to themselves to change.That’s it – that’s all our conscious mind does.

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Now, its important to keep in mind that our conscious decisions are influenced by the data stored in our subconscious mind.

The REAL you, me and everyone else lives is in the level below the conscious called the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is awesomely powerful. It can make you into anything you would like to be. Rich and famous,thin, happy or sad, it is the real us. To understand how the subconscious mind works, you need to understand that it is very much like a computer and it operates just like a computer operates. You know that if you go out and buy a computer, put it on your desk and ask it a question, it will not be able to answer you. The reason is, at that point the computer has no programming in it whatsoever. Now a computer can only operate based on the programming that is placed in it and it must operate on that programming, it has no choice. You know that if you change the programming in a computer that you buy at a store, it no longer can operate on the old programming and it must operate on the new programming information that has been placed into it. Well, this is the way our subconscious mind works. It is a computer. It functions on the same rules and regulations as an electronic one does, only it is much more powerful. We program our computer every day of our lives through our life experiences. When

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we are born, our computers are basically unprogrammed, there is a little bit of programming in it, but not much. Everyday we add programming to our internal computer. Now, the primary rule of our computer is this. It must, underline, exclamation point, make us into the type of person that it perceives us to be based on all the programming that has been placed into it and will continue to be placed into it until we die.

For example, if that computer of ours, based on its programming, says we’re fat, we’re fat. If it says we’re thin or a smoker, a success or a failure that is what we are. It adds up all the programming and makes a decision about us, about the type of person that we are. This programming has been placed in there from many sources and it must operate on this programming.

What is some of the operational software, if you will, that is in this internal computer? First is all our memory, since the day we were born. We think of things that have happened to us in the past as either forgotten or as retained in the form of memory.

So, what we are doing here, is we are talking about the working memory of the conscious mind. The subconscious mind is like a

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video camera. Everything that has ever happened to you, that you have heard, seen, smelled or tasted is locked permanently into the memory banks of your subconscious mind. We never forget anything. If there is a reason to, in hypnosis we can access that memory bank and it seems like we can actually travel back in time. For example, in regression hypnosis we can travel back and re-live your first birthday or your birth. Now, this is much more than recall, it is actually like you are there, it is happening all over again. You can see what happened, you can smell, you can taste, you can hear very clearly. We never forget anything in the subconscious, only at the conscious level.

The subconscious mind, which accounts for AT LEAST 90% of our mind, which we know is likea computer in that it stores the data for all the experiences we have ever hadndoes not analyze or rationalize. You are communicating with the subconscious mind when you dream. Do you ever have dreams that don’t really make any logical sense? That’s your subconscious mind working on an emotive and creative level.

The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that lie outside our conscious awareness. Some of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or

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unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict but, according to Freud, the things in the unconscious continue to influence our behaviour and experience, even though we are unaware of these underlying influences.

The source of our ability to achieve anything we desire is the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind will accept any sustained impression, particularly fuelled by emotion, and therefore any sustained thought, and bring it into manifestation without question. It is the task of the conscious mind therefore to choose carefully which sustained thoughts and impressions the subconscious mind receives.The subconscious mind does not need reason to make things happen. When an impression is made upon the subconscious mind without conscious awareness, the subconscious mind will proceed to work on it automatically. But its effect will soon become noticeable by the conscious mind and will be interfered by it. If your conscious mind cannot accept what is happening because it reasons against it, then it will send a conflicting impression that will undo the firstFunctions of the Subconscious Mind• Autonomic Nervous System: The ANS affects heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils, urination, sexual arousal, and virtually every

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function of the body. Whereas most of its actions are involuntary, some, such as breathing, work in tandem with the conscious mind.• Servant: The subconscious mind will do whatever we ask it to do. There are no limits to what our subconscious mind will do for us—only the limits we place upon it (and ourselves) through the beliefs (programs) we have created during our lives. If we have a belief that it's not likely that we'll ever be rich, our subconscious will do everything in its power to see that our belief comes true for us. The subconscious mind does not discriminate when it comes to thoughts and feelings; it responds to fearful thoughts as well as loving thoughts.• Emotions: When you get triggered to feel anxiety or anger or fear, it is coming from your subconscious mind. When you love someone or feel sad and lonely or happy, this too is generated by your subconscious mind. Emotions are not rational and sometimes you can’t explain why you feel a certain way about something. While our emotions come from our subconscious mind, they do work in tandem with our conscious mind where our perceptions are formed. So, we do have control of our emotions because we have control over how we choose to think. How we choose to think however, is influenced by subconscious programming. So, we are using willpower when we choose to think differently. In order to

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change how we think permanently, we have to change our subconscious programming.• Habits/Programs: We get our programs and our habits through experience of daily life. Also through repetition. An example of a program is learning to drive. When you first learned to drive, you had to be extremely aware, utilizing your conscious mind. Now that you have driven probably 1000’s of times, it is ingrained in your subconscious mind and you don’t even think about it anymore. This frees up your conscious mind to think about other things while your subconscious mind performs the task of driving. Same thing with the habit of eating, drinking, or smoking. Whether the habits you have are negative or positive, they are strongly set in place and you will always continue to reinforce those habits, until you re‐program your subconscious mind to do something else.To explain how the mind works, I will use a thought metaphor that I hope will make it easy to understand.If we liken your mind to a computer, then just like a computer, your unconscious mind can only do what it is programmed to do. It does not have the analytical ability to judge whether what it is doing is correct.If the computer is programmed so that it understands 5+5=11 it will always give this answer because that’s what it believes to be true.

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So, for example, if the computer has to work out: 5=5=17=________________this should give us the answer 27 but with the wrong bit of programming, the unconscious mind would give us 28 because it believes 5+5=11If we do this calculation again with a small change to the order in which the computer processes the information, then we get 5+17+5 = 27 (which is correct) 5+ 17 +5 = ________________________Because the computer has been programmed to believe 5+5 = 11, when the calculation is done in a different order, then the computer will give a different answer without an analytical judgment about whether it is right or wrong.Hypnotherapy can help to find the wrong bit of information and then reprogram it so that it does not affect you anymore; just like a computer programmer who debugs computer code.

The most important thing to remember aboutthe subconscious mind is that it is our protective mind. It must protect us against danger real OR imagined. You see something imagined by the subconscious mind is just as if it was actually happening, it can’t tell the difference. And it must protect us against danger. Sometimes the way it protects us is a little, forgive the expression, ass backwards, and hypnosis can

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help our subconscious protect us in ways that are more beneficial to us.

Facts and Fictions about Hypnosis:

Fiction: Hypnosis is occult or supernaturalFact: Hypnosis is scientific. It is not supernatural, nor of the occult, but purely a manifestation of the power of the human mind.

Fiction: Weak-willed persons make the best subjectsFact: The best subjects are intelligent, willful persons who have the ability to concentrate.

Fiction: The hypnotist dominates the subject. Fact: There is no domination or submission in hypnosis. The hypnotist actually helps the subject express their own latent abilities. For example; a person unaccustomed to public speaking can confidently speak to an audience of thousands.

Fiction: A person can be hypnotized against their will. Fact: A person must consent to be hypnotized. A person cannot be hypnotized against his/her will.

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Fiction: A person will divulge his or her innermost secrets during trance.Fact: A person in trance will only disclose what he or she would disclose at any other time. Your secrets are safe!

Fiction: The hypnotist has absolute control over the persons mind. Fact: This is the most absurd of all fictions involving hypnosis. No hypnotist can make anyone do anything that is against their principles or morals. Hypnosis is not an anesthetic that renders a person helpless; it is a means of releasing or intensifying their own personal powers and abilities. Trust me- if I had absolute control over people, I’d be in Fiji drinking Mojitos!!

Fiction: Hypnotherapy requires a deep trance state: Fact: 87% of all therapeutic uses can be done in a light or medium state of hypnosis.

Fiction: A person may not “wake up” from hypnosis. Fact: There is not the slightest danger of this happening. If you’re not asleep – there’s no chance you won’t wake up!!The subject left to him/herself will fall into a natural sleep and then “awaken”, or just awaken when the hypnotist stops talking.

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Fiction: Hypnosis is dangerous. Fact: Hypnosis is perfectly safe when practiced by a trained and experienced practitioner. As an analogy, an automobile is not inherently dangerous unless driven by an incompetent personFiction: A subject knows nothing of what happened during hypnosis. Fact: A subject in a light or medium state of hypnosis is fully aware of what happened when they “awaken”. In a deep state some subjects may have amnesia.

Fiction: Only a small percentage of the people can be hypnotized. Fact: Almost anyone can be hypnotized. Any person of average intelligence who wants to be hypnotized can be. The people who cannot be hypnotized are those who don’t want to be, those of less than average intelligence, babies, people who are intoxicated or persons high on drugs.

Fiction: Orthodox medicine condemns hypnosis. Fact: The American, British and Canadian Medical Societies all accept the therapeutic value of hypnosis.

Fiction: Hypnosis is dangerous.Fact: In spite of scare articles in newspapers and magazines, there has not been one documented

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case of hypnosis doing harm to a person. There is no evidence that hypnosis will weaken the will, damage the nervous system, or in any other way adversely affect the physical and mental well-being of an individual. Research studies at Loyola University have shown that volunteer students hypnotized over 400 times experienced no adverse effects. On the contrary, there is some evidence to indicate that the hypnotic state is one in which the entire body tends to become self-regulating and functions with maximum efficiency.

Fiction: In hypnosis you will blindly obey every command, good or bad. Fact: In hypnosis the individual retains his ability to make judgments; therefore, he would never accept any command nor obey any order that he considers to be against his own best interests or contrary to his morals.

Fiction: Hypnosis always affects a change in just one or two sessions.Fact: This has been true in many cases, but in general, a great number of sessions are usually required before complete results are obtained.

Fiction: Hypnosis isn’t real.Fact: Hypnosis has been the object of scientific study since its origin and some of the most influential figures in the history of psychology,

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such as Clark L. Hull and Hans Eysenck, have studied it experimentally. There is no doubt now that hypnosis is a real phenomenon, although there is still some disagreement over its precise nature and function.Fiction: There’s no evidence supporting the reality of hypnosis.Fact: There are over ten thousand published research studies relating to hypnosis. Several major journals dedicated to hypnosis have been continually publishing research for over half a century. Numerous systematic reviews of existing research have concluded that the effects of hypnosis are scientifically supported.

Fiction: There’s no evidence for the effectiveness of hypnotherapy Fact: There are hundreds of research studies demonstrating the effects of hypnotherapy. Research supporting hypnotherapy in the treatment of anxiety, pain, and psychosomatic illness is particularly consistent. The American Psychological Association (APA) have recognised hypnotherapy as being empirically-supported for the treatment of obesity. The influential NICE guidance in the UK has recognised hypnotherapy as an evidence-based treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Many other systematic reviews have found support for

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hypnotherapy in the treatment of other conditions

Many thanks to Gerry Kein, Cal Banyan, Richard Nongard, Terrance Watts, Wendi Friesen, et al whose books, sites and lectures helped formulate this booklet!

WHAT TO EXPECTPrior to your free consultation we will email you some basic information, a general Intake form and a questionnaire designed with your specific issue in mind. If your issue is pain related, if you are on medications for anxiety or depression or if you are currently under a doctors or a therapists care, we will include release and referral forms. During your consultations we will talk about the changes you want to make and engage in a few exercises that will tell us how best to proceed and give you an idea of how powerful your mind truly is!. We will also send you a guided relaxation audio cd , so that you can get an idea of what hypnosis feels like.YOUR FIRST HYPNOTHERAPY SESSION

The first session will start talk more about the information you have provided on the questionnaire so that we can organize an ongoing strategy to treat the symptom and any other underlining dynamics of that symptom. I have found that while standard approaches to various issues are available, tailoring each session to an individual has the most beneficial and lasting effect. In order to create the most individualized plan, I need your input.The first session varies but can last for up to two hours to facilitate rapid early change in the symptom, and to gather enough information to

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assess which techniques and strategies will be best to deal with the underlying dynamic.Some problems may be dealt with in a single session but others may take several, depending on their complexity. Although, compared to traditional psychotherapy, hypnotherapy takes a lot less time to resolve most issues because hypnosis works with the unconscious mind.After discussing the strategy, I will answer any questions you may have about hypnotherapy or your issue.This part of the session also helps to loosen up the cement of the problem and most people see their problem differently before the hypnotherapy starts.It is in this first session that we will begin to teach you self hypnosis

THE CHANGE WORK PARTOnce I have the relevant information and have answered any questions you may have, it is time for the therapy part of the session..I’m not sure how you will feel while being hypnotised because everyone is different, but most people feel very relaxed. Your eyes may be closed and you may hear everything that is going on around you. The sounds will fade into the background as you pay attention to my voice.In the first session, I will normally use suggestion therapy to help you to go into trance

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faster and deeper on each consecutive induction and will also give you some suggestions and techniques you can use to relieve stress and to build confidence. You may also receive suggestions to reduce the severity of the symptom or to change the symptom to something more positive.

SUBSEQUENT SESSIONSIn subsequent sessions, the symptom and any underlying issues will be worked through using a variety of techniques that will mean the problem is permanently taken care of.BETWEEN SESSIONSBetween sessions, you may be asked to carry out tasks that will help you to embed behaviors outside the therapy room, which is where the real benefits will be seen.

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