Part 6
Hypnosis: Gateway to the Psychic and Spirit Realms
In Soul-Centered Healing, hypnosis is the primary method for working with the different phenomena I’ve been discussing. Through hypnosis, the conscious self steps aside and allows the healer to access these unconscious realms directly. This includes the psychic realms where the ego-states exist, and where a great deal of psychic activity goes on between and among people. It includes contact with spirits, some of whom are offering assistance, while others seek to exploit a person at these levels. These realms also include the soul realms where the soul’s history is alive and evolving.
The primary tool in SCH for working with these phenomena is a hypnotic technique called ideomotor response (IMR). It’s a technique for establishing communication with the unconscious mind through the use of nonverbal signals (usually finger or head movements) instead of relying on the client to report verbally. Verbal behavior is so much a part of our conscious life that the demand to verbalize often acts against the client’s ability to step aside and allow deeper levels of trance. Ideomotor signaling is an effective means for bypassing this conscious involvement and the kinds of defenses and confusion it can trigger.
Using IMR, the therapist can communicate directly to different parts of the self, especially the person’s higher self and the ego-states (past and present). Ideomotor signaling also allows direct communication with spirits or other intelligent entities that are interfering or causing problems for a client. (You can read a very good description of ideomotor signaling here.
This direct communication plays a central role in the healing process. The real trick though is in knowing who to talk to and what questions to ask or directions to give. With communication based on “yes,” “no,” and “I’m not sure” responses, asking the wrong questions or not knowing who you’re talking to, can quickly lead to confusion and blocking. We have to ask different questions to an ego-state, for example, than we ask of a spirit. Energy blockage at an etheric level has to be dealt with differently than at the physical level.
In Soul-Centered Healing, there are certain protocols for identifying and dealing with the different phenomena encountered in the healing process. Almost all of the protocols involve direct communication with these unconscious levels and so are designed to be used with ideomotor signaling. There are clients who are good or excellent trance subjects where the conscious mind can step away and allow verbal communication with the ego-states, spirits, or other entities. The same protocols apply, but verbal communication, like switching from the telegraph to the telephone, does make the communication easier and richer. For most people, though, I’ve found ideomotor signaling to be the most effective way of communicating and working with the unconscious.
Before addressing any of these phenomena, however, one of the first steps in the healing process is to establish communication with a person’s higher self. This part of the self, which I’ll talk about in the next essay, is able to communicate directly and it will play a major role in each person’s healing.