Alchemical Hypnotherapy for the Body worker
by Nick Ardagh
For the last ten years, I have been stretching, kneading, pressing, squeezing, rocking and soothing other people's bodies. I've learned countless techniques from Swedish to Japanese, from the ruthlessly deep to the most subtle, to create powerful changes in bodies and energies.
This kind of work can be very fulfilling; tight muscles relax, pains disappear, headaches dissolve, people feel better. However, some force within the client often brings tensions and imbalances back again. The important question for me is, what creates the problem in the body and what recreates it again?
Over the years I have become increasingly convinced that our tension, postural imbalances, aches and pains and weak joints, originate in our subconscious fears, attitudes and feelings. If the subconscious is not addressed and directly worked with, the discomfort in the body will be recreated from within, in the same or similar form, as fast as we can heal it.
As a body worker, since I want to provide real and lasting service, I feel it is essential to have the understanding and tools to work with the causes of physical imbalance in the subconscious mind.
I have found Alchemical Hypnotherapy, as created by David Quigley, to be the most complete, effective and adaptable approach to the subconscious mind and its internal conflicts. It really works! I say this after fifteen years of sampling and tasting the whole menu of wholistic therapy.
I want to describe the benefits I have experienced using Alchemical Hypnotherapy as a body worker.
First, by working with clients in a state of hypnotic trance, we can bypass the pain and resistance often experienced with deep tissue and postural corrective bodywork. Many of my clients have previously experienced a ten session series of deep fascia work. They tell me that in hypnosis they experience the same benefits, but instead of the pain, they only feel pressure and relief, in total comfort.
Second, the simultaneous use of trance and bodywork allows the client to experience, firsthand, that childhood trauma and past life memories are actually stored in the body. This allows regression work to be much more vivid and powerful. The release of negative memories and the transformation of these memories into nourishing inner resources is firmly anchored in the body.
Third, by working simultaneously with tension in the physical body and subconscious conflicts, the results of the bodywork can be more permanent, and enhanced by new feelings and behaviors facilitated through Alchemical work. An inner experience of openness and trust is reflected in a more open and relaxed posture. This in turn allows the client to experience more nourishment and love from the world, allowing even more openness in the body. The client experiences a positive feedback loop of joy, release and relaxation, instead of slipping back into old holding patterns.
Fourth, the client no longer needs to find, pay for, and learn to trust several different therapists for his or her whole growth. As therapists, we can offer a complete approach which respects the person as a unity, a 'body-mind-spirit'.
This integration of Alchemical Hypnotherapy with a range of bodywork skills offers a very exciting direction for holistic therapy.
Alchemical Bodywork Article Pages
Listening to the Body's Wisdom