Mindfulness – Using Meditation as a Tool in Hypnotherapy

© 2004 by Craig R. Lang CHt

(Published 2004 in the National Guild of Hypnotists, "Hypnogram")

(Revised May, 2005)

 

It is a dark cloud that seems to hang over the heart, a smothering blanket of sadness that doesn’t abate.  Depression is one of the most pervasive emotional issues we know of in the present day.  I have heard many people say about themselves, “I am depressed”, as they sit in the client’s chair in my studio for our first session.  What they really seem to be saying is that their sadness seems to have taken over, becoming a debilitating weight on the soul.  And often I hear the words:  “my depression is me…” 

 

Yet I have noted that for some people, meditation seems to help with depression. [i]  Why? This is a good question.  But over time, as one deepens their meditative practice, many of the issues that aggravate depression tend to self-resolve.  And with this comes a sense of inner peace.  Although it seems to take an agonizingly long time to occur, eventually the depression becomes significantly reduced.  What is it about meditation that seems to address the problems in depression?  And how can we use this in hypnotherapy to help accelerate the healing of the mind, emotions and soul?

 

Traditionally, in hypnotherapy, we use a combination of regression, parts work and suggestion.  In regression, we locate and possibly abreact out an issue.  We then use parts work to reconcile the inner conflicts between ego states.  What I have noticed when doing parts work with people is that the client’s consciousness - their very being - can be observed to shift between parts.  When a person who is in trance is within a particular ego state, that ego state becomes their identity.   Switching back and forth between ego states and exploring the relationship between them can be very useful in resolving inter-part issues.  It is a tremendous help in healing the inner conflicts that so often cause grief.  But it has one disadvantage – it does not give the client the big picture.  In parts therapy there is little stepping-back to observe the larger mind-picture.  The client is still fully within whatever part holds the executive at the moment.[ii]  And so there is no reason to expect that once the client is out of trance, there will be less identification with any specific parts of the ego at any given moment. 

 

In eastern spiritual traditions, this issue of ego-identification is addressed very effectively.  There, the source of all suffering is seen as over-identification with the ego, or false-self.  It is this “little I” that is the source of attachment with the things of the world.  Yet, in many ways, we still retain within this ego attachment when we do ego-state/parts therapy.  Regardless of whatever ego state we call out, whichever part has the executive at the moment, that ego state becomes the temporary “me”, the client’s full identity. 

 

To date, the raising of consciousness above the ego level is seldom an objective of hypnotherapy.  So a logical extension of the Eastern Traditions is that, as part of therapy, one might also learn to transcend such ego identification.  Key to this is the concept of mindfulness, the notion of stepping back and observing one’s own mind.  By adopting this concept, one can learn how to transcend specific thoughts and feelings.  One begins to observe their own mind, and in so doing, to realize that we are more than our thoughts and emotions – and thus more than our problems.

 

When the client says “I feel depressed”, we can think of this in a new way.  This statement implies that there is an “I” that is different from the “depressed”.  So, in the philosophy of mindfulness, the client can step back and let the “I” become a non-attached observer.  In the process of observing thoughts and feelings, we thus divest the depression of its energy.  We no longer think of it as “me”, but instead as something that “I own”.  It still belongs to “me”, but it is not “who I am”.  As a result, there comes the realization that “I am separate from my depression” and thus “I am more than my depression”

 

So how can we incorporate this into the hypnotherapeutic model?  As we mentioned earlier, traditional hypnotherapy generally comprises some combination of regression-to-cause (usually through age-regression or affect-bridge); abreaction of any emotional issues that are found; and then parts work or other reframing technique to resolve the issues that are uncovered. 

 

For those whose personal paradigms include the Eastern Tradition, the process of mindfulness and transcendence can be another powerful tool for reframing.  I have observed that this is best done late in the therapeutic process, perhaps once we have reached a point of resolution between previously conflicting ego states.  At this point, we can invite the client to step back and simply observe.  Observe the depression, and observe our therapy work to date.  Observe one’s own ego states and the relationship between them.  Observe how all of these are, in fact, simply patterns of thought or emotion, bits of energy in the field of the mind.  We invite the client to note that when observing, he/she is not that which is observed.  We then invite the client to step back even further and observe the observer.  Drawing no conclusions, and with complete non-attachment, simply note that “I am”. 

 

We can then teach some exercises in mindfulness[iii], such that at any time the client begins to feel depression coming on, he/she can begin this process of stepping back and observing – and in the process, divesting the depression of its ability to take over.  This could perhaps be installed as an NLP pattern, anchored with suggestion work, or any other appropriate hypno-reinforcing technique.

 

One caveat:  This technique works best for those clients who have an understanding of mindfulness and the Eastern Tradition.  The client needs to be able to grasp the concept of the self-observation and transcendence.  A background in Zen, Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, or a similar meditative tradition is helpful for the client to achieve real benefit from this tool.  But when the client has such a background, this technique can be a powerful one.

 

Using this modality, we can guide the client to the conclusion that they are MORE than their depression, more than any given ego state, and more than any given thought or emotion.  This is the realm of transcendence, the domain of enlightenment.  I have noticed that once the client enters this domain, depression or any other issues become far less important to the client’s life. 

 

I have observed that when a client realizes, deep in their heart that “my depression is not me”, it can be truly life-changing.  It is one great healing step and a wonderful milepost on the road to freedom from suffering.

 

---