How I Hypnotized A Sceptic To Feel No Pain

I’m sat in the lobby of my office on a Saturday afternoon when a delivery driver knocks on the door. As he drops off his parcel, he clenches his jaw and rubs his neck with a very unhappy face.

“Are you ok?” I ask.

“Not really”, he replies. “My wisdom teeth are coming through and I’m in agony. I’ve taken so much co-codamol and it’s not doing anything.”

“Would you like some help with that?”

“Yeah I need to go and see a dentist.”

“Well, I’m a hypnotist, and I can show you how to relieve that pain, right here, right now, if you like?”

“Really? That would be amazing!”

I sit him down and don’t waste any time.

“On a scale of 0 - 10, 0 being no pain at all and 10 being the worst agony you’ve ever felt, how bad is it?”

“9”

“Well in a moment that pain will be gone. You’ll no longer be able to feel it. Have you ever been hypnotized before?”

“No, and I don’t believe in it after a couple friends tried it to quit smoking but it didn’t work.”

“Well, I can’t speak for them, but all I’m going to have you do is change your breathing and use your imagination. It’s as simple as that, because what we imagine, and what we tell ourselves, has a physiological effect on our bodies. So, how much of that pain is actually necessary? Like, if you’ve broken a bone, you need pain to prevent you from damaging it further.”

“Well, none really. I have all my teeth, I’m just growing new ones.”

“Right, because pain isn’t always a sign that something is wrong, it’s a protective mechanism trying to keep you safe, and when the brain gets the message that it is safe, the pain goes away.”

I had the postman close his eyes, place his hand on his belly and practice a few rounds of 6 x 6 breathing. I saw his shoulders drop, his arms soften, and his whole demeanour begin to look more calm.

“When you slow your breathing down, breathing through your nose, deep down into the belly, it sends messages to your brain that “we are safe, we are not under attack, everything is ok”, which in turn sends good feelings down the spinal cord and into every cell of your body.”

“Yeah I do feel better already!”

I then had him imagine floating out of his body, like a spirit leaving his body behind and drifting up into the sky. This sense of dissociation is an effective way to separate yourself from overwhelming thoughts or feelings. It really feels like you are leaving behind all those unwanted feelings and drifting away into another world.

If you have engaged in hypnotherapy with me before, you might remember the experience of being fired through the air like an arrow into the centre of a target. This is The Arrow by Anthony and Freddy Jacquin - a powerful and fast way to burst through physical or emotional pain, and is exactly where I sent Mr. Postman. Eventually, after some direct suggestions that he will no longer be able to experience that pain, that he will leave with a smile on his face feeling good for the rest of the day, he came back round and opened his eyes.

“Wow, I feel really sleepy!”

“Yeah it is relaxing isn’t it? Before you said the pain was a 9, where’s it gone now?”

“Like a 1 probably, I can hardly feel it!”

Needless to say, he left happy and thankful. The whole interaction was no more than 10 minutes.

This is one of the most beautiful things about hypnosis - that it can be done any time, anywhere, with anyone. You don’t have to believe in anything. You don’t have to have a therapy room with whale music playing. If you can sit (or stand) for just a couple of minutes and engage your concentration, use your imagination and play with your language, you can experience remarkable benefits that will change your experience for the better.

If you would like to learn or experience how hypnosis can bring you effective and immediate pain relief, get in touch!

David Stewart
Evergreen Hypnotherapy
Bursting through the other side of pain, any time, anywhere.