TOUR DE TRANCE

Written By: Robert Cocuzzo | Photography By: Georgie Morley

Monika Rudnicka introduces hypnotherapy at Monarch Face and Body.

You’ve started offering hypnotherapy at Monarch Face and Body. What’s the experience like for a client?

Generally speaking, the experience is relaxing, transformational and potentially emotional. During hypnosis you have your eyes closed and you’re guided to a relaxed state of mind, beginning with a guided meditation script in order to reach theta brain wave state. Once in theta brain wave state, you are guided to look at blocks, limitations or even past traumas from an objective point of view and from an observer’s perspective. You are able to feel the emotions of the experiences, just not as intensely as you would while it was happening for real. So you are not reliving the uncomfortable or traumatic experiences. Instead, you are observing them and being guided by the hypnotherapist to create changes within that memory in the sub- conscious, therefore creating new, more positive outcomes and new neural pathways that transform you and change your reality so you no longer feel limited. You are able to break an unhealthy habit (and create a healthy one) or let go of an emotional challenge. In the first session, I also teach you self-hypnosis so you can practice daily to reinforce the positive changes.

What are the health benefits?

The health benefits of hypnotherapy are endless. A few that interest me most include stress reduction (according to recent studies, stress is one of the main causes of most diseases), anxiety (one of the most common and debilitating emotional states, which keeps individuals feeling stuck, losing sleep at night and unable to experience life to its fullest), depression (often caused by a traumatic childhood experience, which is sometimes not recognized as trauma), pain, IBS and weight gain.

Are all people able to receive hypnotherapy?

Yes, everyone can be hypnotized. In my experience, when someone is skeptical of something it usually means they don’t have much knowledge on the subject. In this case I would share facts on what hypnosis is so they have a better understanding of it. A fascinating study published by American Health Magazine found that it took 600 sessions of psychoanalysis to create 38 percent recovery in patients; behavior therapy created 72 percent recovery after 22 sessions in patients; but it only took six sessions of hypnotherapy to create 93 percent recovery in patients.

In addition to hypnotherapy, Monarch Face and Body offers a number of restorative treatments.

What are some misconceptions of hypnotherapy?

Here are a few facts on what hypnosis is and what it isn’t. During hypnotherapy you are not asleep. You are awake in a relaxed state and you are able to remember everything from each session. Hypnotherapy is not like drinking a truth serum. You are in full control and will be able to keep your secrets to yourself. No one can make you do anything you don’t want to do. You will not get stuck in a trance either. Hypnosis is a natural state of being. It is a safe and calm experience. It is a state similar to daydreaming, for example, like when you are driving long distances and lose track of time or the road passing and finding yourself thinking random thoughts.

In the theta brain wave state, we are almost asleep but not quite. That’s the state of hypnosis, and in that state, we are able to bypass the critical factors of the mind—the logical, analytical, linear thinking—and get straight to the subconscious, where all of our beliefs, memories, emotions, habits and automatic bodily functions live. In hypnotherapy sessions we are having a conversation with your eyes closed. Hypnotherapy feels like guided meditation but has a specific agenda and it is one of healing what needs healing.

Schedule a session with Monika Rudnicka at MonarchNantucket.com.

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