My first hypnotherapy session

I had my first hypnotherapy session tonight. It wasn’t quite as I expected but still really good. I was surprised by how aware and focused I was throughout, I could hear everything the hypnotherapist was saying and yet I was in a deep state of relaxation. It was kind of uncanny actually, nothing like the movies or what you see on TV. It wasn’t a case of me nodding off to sleep when he clicked his fingers, and I didn’t snap out of it when he clapped his hands, wondering where the hell I was. I have a CD of this session which will help me hypnotise myself at home (as he explained it, hypnosis is self-done as it is you who listens to the “suggestions” the hypnotist makes and it’s up to you if you want to oblige).

Personally I am going because of my obsession with food. I could eat an eat until I explode, and then eat some more. I feel like I need to eat the moment I am doing certain things like watching TV, going to the movies, sitting at my computer (home or work) or whenever I’m not doing something with my hands. I also have this problem where my mind blocks out a lot of what I eat, especially the bad stuff. So at the end of the day I’ll think I ate really well and then I’ll suddenly remember all the fatty and sugary snacks I had during the day at work. Often I’ll start snacking regardless of a lack of hunger, and half way through or right after I will realise what I did and have the worst eaters remorse. If I was able to make myself throw up I’d surely have bulimia. If I didn’t go to the gym as often as I do, god knows how I would be. I’d be fat as a house, I guess.

It’s a psychological issue of mine, and willpower alone is not enough. My hypnotherapist actually said to me that willpower alone usually won’t cut it for most people – we have routines and habits stuck in our subconscious minds and they’re not biased, they do what they know and your conscious mind is virtually useless to stop it. Hypnotherapy is meant to teach your subconscious to stop its bad habits and learn new, better ones, the ones we have know consciously but struggle so much with because it goes against what we have ingrained in out subconsciousness.

I’m going back for a couple more sessions over the next few weeks, so I’ll keep you all posted. I have high hopes for this, so fingers crossed this changes my mentality about my eating habits!