“So, what does a ‘transpersonal’ hypnotherapist do anyway?”
I get this question a lot so it’s good to clarify once in awhile.
In traditional hypnotherapy, what we’re treating is the “ego” or “personality”. This is what we might call the “mundane” ego. It’s the nuts and bolts of who we are in the world of daily life. It’s the ego that defines itself through labels. Our name. Our family history. Our profession. Our political affiliation. Our gender identification, sexual orientation, and so on. These all come together to form an sense of “I”.
Transpersonal hypnotherapy, on the other hand, views the person through a wider lens. You can say this view goes beyond the personality. The mundane ego is still there but there are also other aspects that make up the entire being. These can be sub-personalities, universal archetypes, and the super-ego, or spiritual self. We can also sometimes include past life memories and experiences, spirit entities, and Inner Guides.
From this point of view, the therapist and client are able to cultivate relationships with these powerful parts of the psyche, leveraging their wisdom to give us insights into our lives that we might not get from a traditional approach. For example, an Inner Guide-a representation of that part of ourselves that knows everything there is to know about us-is often able to help us face painful memories and emotions by lending us the strength of a higher perspective.
Still, the transpersonal hypnotherapist recognizes that all these various parts are not separate or fragmented pieces that are somehow arranged like pieces of a puzzle. We are in fact, whole and complete as we are. There is nothing left out, nothing needing to be added. It’s only the degree to which we believe the illusion of separateness, brokenness, and incompleteness that we experience mental, emotional, and spiritual suffering.
And so this brings us to the question of what the transpersonal hypnotherapist does.
A Transpersonal Hypnotherapist uses hypnotic techniques to guide people to an experience of their fundamental wholeness.
This process can result in a kind of quantum leap that goes beyond the perceived limitations of the conscious mind. It naturally releases, unwinds, and dissolves patterns of emotional suffering that we have been clinging to unnecessarily. It opens our eyes to the fact that, actually, we are the very healing that we seek and gives us permission to heal, transform, and grow.
