The CONTROL System of remedial hypnosis works on the premise that the mind is like a ship; like every ship, it has a Captain and a crew. The Captain is your logical, conscious mind. The Captain knows where we are sailing to, why we are sailing there and has a good idea of the best route.
However, the part of your mind in charge of everything that steers and sails this ship is the crew. The crew is your subconscious mind. When the crew listens to the Captain everything is plain sailing, however, if the crew isn’t listening, who knows where we are going to end up?!
Every member of your crew has a job to do and each member is only concerned with their specific task. Some are doing the right things and some are doing what your Captain now recognises to be the wrong things. The reason why members of your crew are often found doing the wrong thing is because they decided what jobs they were doing before you had a Captain on board.
When you were young with no idea about how the world worked and what your part in it was, your mind (and your crew) had only one priority…to keep the ship afloat. As a result, your mind developed certain strategies that were only designed to keep you safe and out of trouble, at a time when you didn’t understand much about how to be in the world. Our minds needed to prioritise keeping the ship afloat. However, the members of our crew are looking for more than simply survival. They are trying to achieve one thing above all others: to find the best strategy for the most happiness, right now.
As we grow and start to develop purpose and long-term goals and ambitions, we will sometimes recognise that our core beliefs, behaviours or responses aren’t falling in line with what we consciously wish to achieve.
Our Captain knows the direction we want to sail in but we might have members of our crew steering us in a different direction.
Here’s a few examples of the Captain and crew being reunited thanks to remedial hypnosis.
Jack* was a 23 year old programmer who contacted me due to a phobia of fainting in public. This started when he fainted several times over a short period aged 15 - medical tests were done at the time but no cause was found. He was now very nervous about going out in public - he would get light headed, sweaty and panicky, as a result he was becoming agoraphobic.
I connected with Jack’s subconscious mind and asked the crew member that had felt fear and embarrassment when the original fainting episodes happened to come forward to chat. I explained that while the strategy (of avoiding public places) made sense at the time of the fainting, but it was no longer appropriate or desirable - the there was no physical reason for this fear to persist and therefore it was now holding Jack back from enjoying his life. The ‘crew member’ agreed and made the changes immediately.
I received this feedback from Jack:
“I had the privilege of working with Sarah for three sessions, and the impact she had on my fears and anxiety was truly remarkable. From the moment I met Sarah, her calming presence created a safe space for me to open up and share any worries I had. She has helped me explore my subconscious and overcome deep-rooted barriers.”
Kay* contacted me as she was suffering from anxiety, panic attacks and a loss of self confidence. In our initial consultation she described a number of unrelated traumatic events over the recent past - a house fire, an abusive relationship which ended in tragedy and numerous health issues.
Her ‘crew’ were on the highest alert all the time - constantly scanning for threats and danger. This was both exhausting and extremely stressful; she was unable to relax or carry out mundane tasks - even going to the supermarket was out of the question.
In the first session her subconscious mind was keen to talk - lots of crew members came forward, each in charge of her reaction to the individual traumas. My approach was to explain to the group that they had been absolutely correct in their past responses, because there was real, actual danger on the horizon at that time. However they needed to realise that situations change and being hyped up all day (and most nights) was actually counterproductive, because the Captain wouldn’t be able to distinguish between a new danger and one that was in the past if the crew was shrieking in fear all the time. They needed understand that the events of the past were just that; in the past.
At the end of the final session Kay remarked that, while she could still remember the events, it was though those memories were covered in oil; they just slipped back out of her mind without causing her any harm.
"My mind is finally at peace and I have the confidence to go about my daily life without fear or worry. I will be honest, I was sceptical to how the hypnotherapy could work, but believe me it did and with just three sessions I have regained control of my 'ship'."
Rebecca* got in touch as she was suffering from such chronic pain and tiredness that she was having to give up her horses. She had several long term medical conditions but they were under control and there was no medical reason for the pain to continue.
As a hypnotherapist herself she had some relief through self soothing but the CONTROL System was a new concept for her.
Pain is a very useful response to alert the mind to damage to the body, it protects us from further harm and ensures we heal fully before resuming normal activities. Sometimes, however, the crew members in charge of the pain do not get the message that they can stop. That’s what had happened with Rebecca.
I asked the crew member to come forward and explained that they could now find another role as the one they’d been doing was no longer necessary. As soon as they changed Rebecca said she had an overwhelming urge to stretch - something she’d not been able to do for a long time.
“I’ve noticed a marked improvement! Considerably less pain, more energy!”
Would you like to know more? Contact me! sarah@outofchaostherapy.com