Latest / The Hypnotist / Hypnosis to Rewire the Anxiety Brain - Calm the Amygdala and Panic Response

Transcript

Hypnosis to Rewire the Anxiety Brain - Calm the Amygdala and Panic Response · The Hypnotist

• 0:05
  Welcome to The Hypnotist, the show that gives you inside
• 0:09
  access to cutting edge hypnosis with real clients facing
• 0:12
  genuine. Issues.
• 0:13
  Brought to you by The Hypnotherapist, demanded by
• 0:16
  celebrities CE OS and even royalty Adam Cox, these
• 0:21
  recordings took place live from Evans Clinic in London's world
• 0:24
  famous Harley Street. So get yourself comfortable and
• 0:31
  enjoy today's episode of The Hypnotist.
• 0:39
  Hi. It's Adam here now, if you get
• 0:42
  anxious a lot or if you've had anxiety attacks or panic
• 0:46
  attacks, I think you might get some value from this.
• 0:50
  Because it was. Created for a client that as a
• 0:53
  result of a tragedy many years before, they were in a state of
• 0:57
  hyper vigilance and it was a horrible situation that they
• 1:01
  were in, where in that moment anxiety was a completely natural
• 1:06
  reaction. Someone died in the very
• 1:10
  situation that they were in. They were lucky to be alive.
• 1:12
  But because of. That there was a feeling of
• 1:14
  survivor's guilt and a feeling that maybe they didn't do enough
• 1:19
  and that created a real hyper vigilance that they have to be
• 1:22
  on guard for any danger. What was interesting though, is
• 1:26
  that since that point, almost 99.9% of all of the anxiety that
• 1:33
  they experienced was a false alarm.
• 1:36
  It was an overreaction it. Was the boy who cried wolf?
• 1:40
  And there was never a wolf. And what this session does is it
• 1:43
  uses the biological functions of the brain linked to anxiety,
• 1:47
  things like the limbic system, the amygdala, the hippocampus,
• 1:52
  and the functions of that, to highlight that there is a part
• 1:56
  within them that is now too sensitive, too cautious.
• 2:00
  It's seeing danger everywhere, even when there isn't any.
• 2:03
  And that means that they're having all this anxiety, even
• 2:06
  though it's not useful anxiety. So it uses elements of
• 2:11
  suggestions about neuropsychology.
• 2:13
  But also parts. Therapy.
• 2:16
  To say well. What if?
• 2:18
  Either we. Give that over protective part a
• 2:21
  bit of a break, or share the responsibility or introduce a
• 2:24
  criteria so that we reduce the amount of false alarms.
• 2:29
  That's a win. Because the body.
• 2:30
  Does not want to be using adrenaline if it doesn't have
• 2:33
  to. It doesn't want to have false
• 2:34
  alarms because if you use all of your adrenaline for a false
• 2:38
  alarm and then you're actually in danger, then you don't have
• 2:42
  any of the resource that you actually need when you actually
• 2:44
  need it. Just imagine if your fire alarm
• 2:49
  in your home or your smoke alarm in your kitchen went off, but it
• 2:52
  could only go off once per month.
• 2:55
  Just imagine that and it goes off because you make you burn
• 2:59
  some toast and then actually a few weeks later there's a fire.
• 3:02
  Then actually the false alarm would have been detrimental.
• 3:06
  And that's how it does work with your adrenal system and the
• 3:10
  limbic system is that you've got enough adrenaline for about 20
• 3:13
  minutes. And people that have adrenal
• 3:15
  fatigue or have a overly sensitive anxiety system
• 3:20
  actually means that if they actually need it, they're
• 3:23
  probably not going to have the same resources as they would do
• 3:27
  if their brain was more discerning about when it
• 3:30
  actually had those reactions. So there's a bit going on here.
• 3:34
  I want you to think about where you feel anxiety in your body
• 3:37
  and how do you know that you're about to feel it and it's going
• 3:41
  to get worse. That's going to help you to get
• 3:43
  more value from this. And just imagine that if there
• 3:46
  was a part responsible for scanning for dangers, do you
• 3:49
  think that part within you currently is getting about
• 3:52
  right? Are they too cautious or are
• 3:55
  they not cautious enough? And whatever it is, this session
• 3:58
  will help that part to recalibrate so that you get the
• 4:00
  right level of anxiety, almost repairing your radar.
• 4:05
  The best way to enjoy this session is to.
• 4:07
  Find a quiet. Relaxing Place the kind of
• 4:09
  environment where you're not going to be distracted or
• 4:11
  disturbed and then relax and enjoy the session.
• 4:42
  Take a deep breath in As you breathe in, breathe in a feeling
• 4:51
  of calm. Capability.
• 4:56
  And as you exhale, feel. Like it's activating.
• 5:00
  A release valve. Any excess tension, stress,
• 5:05
  worries or anxiety. Just feel it leave your body.
• 5:11
  In that outward breath, with your eyes closed, notice how
• 5:20
  much easier it becomes to focus on the sound of my voice.
• 5:30
  That's it. Breathing in through your nose
• 5:34
  and exhaling through the nose. Breathing in and breathing out.
• 5:43
  And the thing about breathing, you don't need to force it to
• 5:50
  speed it up or slow it down. Your body already knows how to
• 5:56
  breathe, and even when the mind becomes concerned about
• 6:02
  breathing, the body continues quietly doing what it has done
• 6:10
  your entire life. So just give permission for each
• 6:16
  breath to become a little slower, a little deeper, a
• 6:24
  little more relaxed if your body agrees that it's happy to do so.
• 6:33
  And with each outward breath, give permission to begin
• 6:38
  dissolving that tension from the body.
• 6:47
  As your mind settles, your imagination can start imagining
• 6:56
  the body from the inside. And sometimes it's helpful to
• 7:02
  understand about how the brain actually works because deep
• 7:10
  within the brain are ancient systems that weren't designed
• 7:17
  for modern day. They were designed for a
• 7:21
  dangerous time where there were threats everywhere.
• 7:27
  Parts of the brain are hard wired for survival, and one part
• 7:35
  is called the amygdala. It can scan for danger and react
• 7:42
  when necessary. The amygdala is tiny, the size
• 7:53
  of a pea, right in the centre of your brain.
• 7:58
  And then there's the hippocampus, a larger part right
• 8:04
  at the top of the brain stem where it meets the spine.
• 8:11
  And this part stores memories and compares current experiences
• 8:17
  with past experiences. Because if something dangerous
• 8:23
  happened in the past, your brain tries to learn from it to keep
• 8:29
  you safe in the present. But what if?
• 8:36
  An intense time from the past breaks the radar to give you
• 8:42
  false readings, almost like an alarm system that is just too
• 8:49
  sensitive. I want you to get a feeling that
• 8:56
  that hippocampus, that amygdala, are all connected to something
• 9:05
  called the limbic system. And this system evolved long
• 9:11
  before modern life, thousands and thousands of years ago.
• 9:19
  A time when detecting danger quickly could mean the
• 9:23
  difference between surviving and not surviving, and if that
• 9:31
  system detects what it thinks might be real danger.
• 9:36
  It activates adrenaline. Heart rate changes, breathing
• 9:42
  changes, blood flow shifts and energy surges through the body.
• 9:50
  All designed for one purpose, survival to keep you alive.
• 10:01
  And that worked very well for your ancestors thousands of
• 10:06
  years ago, when bears and wolves and tigers and other tribes
• 10:16
  could easily mean instant death. But Fast forward to modern life
• 10:26
  and the threats are rarely the kind that require running or
• 10:30
  fighting. And if there was a moment of
• 10:38
  real danger, then the limbic system could easily be too
• 10:46
  sensitive. A radar that treats every shadow
• 10:55
  as a possible threat and every sound is a possible danger.
• 11:03
  Detecting things that are not actually dangerous.
• 11:10
  Being on public transport, confined space, or feeling like
• 11:18
  you can't leave in that moment. What if that triggers that life
• 11:26
  or death reaction when it isn't needed?
• 11:33
  And I want you to think about just how many false alarms
• 11:38
  you've experienced. And if you believe that your
• 11:44
  radar is broken, that your brain is activating as if there's real
• 11:52
  danger, when there's a very little threat or danger at all,
• 11:56
  just let me know by nodding your head.
• 11:59
  That's it. Because when that radar becomes
• 12:06
  too sensitive, it can send signals that feel intense, and
• 12:14
  sometimes the feelings like light headedness or changes in
• 12:18
  breathing, sensations in the chest or tingling in the
• 12:22
  fingers. What if that makes the threat
• 12:27
  seem more real because the body is acting as if it's real?
• 12:35
  What if the false alarm creates the adrenaline, and the
• 12:39
  adrenaline creates a surge of energy rising through the body?
• 12:46
  And what if that surge of energy creates more evaluations that
• 12:53
  something isn't right, and then in reaction, sends out more
• 12:59
  adrenaline? But there's something
• 13:05
  interesting about adrenaline. The body doesn't make too much
• 13:11
  of it, so adrenaline can't sustain itself for very long.
• 13:18
  It's like an emergency alarm. Temporary 15 minutes or so is
• 13:28
  all it has. And that's why even the
• 13:32
  strongest waves of anxiety peak and then fall within minutes.
• 13:41
  Just like a wave rising, coming to the Crest of the wave, and
• 13:46
  then returning to calm water. And I want you to imagine what
• 13:53
  it would be like to start to change these evaluations.
• 14:02
  I want you to focus your attention toward your body right
• 14:09
  in the middle of your chest, there behind the rib cage.
• 14:14
  And I want you to imagine a tiny White Star vibrating with
• 14:23
  particles is powerful. And I want you to imagine just
• 14:31
  observing, appreciating the wonder of that power.
• 14:40
  No need to resist that sensation or make it do anything that it
• 14:45
  would normally not do. Just imagine observing it with
• 14:49
  curiosity, because curiosity activates a different part of
• 14:56
  the brain, the intelligent evolved part, the prefrontal
• 15:02
  cortex, And that thoughtful part of the brain brings balance to
• 15:12
  that. Ancient.
• 15:13
  Limbic system. And as you observe the
• 15:17
  sensation, you may notice that sensations change.
• 15:26
  Maybe that star expands or contracts, shifts or moves.
• 15:33
  Because sensations are never static, they are always moving.
• 15:39
  Energy. And when that curious mind
• 15:44
  observes them without alarm or without meaning, the body begins
• 15:52
  calming naturally. Sometimes it's felt like that
• 16:00
  tiny star has erupted like a volcano or exploded.
• 16:09
  But I want you to get a sense that what if that's simply a
• 16:13
  reaction, the habits of the past or false evaluations in the
• 16:20
  present? And I want you to imagine a
• 16:26
  chain reaction of dominoes. 1 domino hits another domino, hits
• 16:33
  another domino and creates that chain reaction.
• 16:36
  But what would happen if you just moved two or three dominoes
• 16:45
  so that the sequence could start but not quite finish?
• 16:53
  What if that chain reaction never made its way to the very
• 16:57
  core of your brain? Then everything that follows
• 17:02
  also wouldn't happen. But even if it did, what if we
• 17:09
  could work with that part to make it better?
• 17:13
  At. Evaluating real danger.
• 17:17
  And I want you to imagine that part now, the part responsible
• 17:23
  for scanning and detecting danger, the part connected with
• 17:29
  that radar. And I want you to praise it's
• 17:35
  work ethic. It clearly works very hard to
• 17:39
  keep you safe. In fact, it's trying too hard to
• 17:46
  protect you. I want you to imagine a security
• 17:51
  guard that if one time long ago they felt they weren't alert
• 18:00
  enough, that security guard might try and overcompensate by
• 18:10
  being hyper vigilant. But what if that security guard
• 18:16
  never slept, saw danger everywhere?
• 18:22
  A security guard would be exhausted, prone to making
• 18:27
  mistakes. And I want you to thank that
• 18:32
  part that's been trying to protect you for all of their
• 18:37
  effort, all of their attention and dedication.
• 18:44
  But I want you to let that part know that despite its best
• 18:50
  efforts, it's seeing danger where there is none.
• 18:56
  Too many times it's been using criteria that is just too
• 19:03
  sensitive, like a smoke alarm that goes off not when there's a
• 19:09
  fire, but when someone makes toast.
• 19:13
  Still trying to help, but reacting too quickly and
• 19:19
  disproportionately. And I want you to imagine
• 19:23
  meeting this part now. Maybe you can imagine it as a
• 19:28
  person or a symbol, an entity or simply a feeling, and you may
• 19:37
  notice something interesting. This part is not and has never
• 19:43
  been your enemy. It's simply been trying too
• 19:47
  hard. It's been overworking.
• 19:53
  It's exhausted, desperate, paranoid and frantic.
• 20:02
  And I want you to imagine offering this part an upgrade.
• 20:10
  Or perhaps. Ask this part if it would like
• 20:14
  to share the responsibility with another part so we can take time
• 20:20
  off to finally rest, reassess, recalibrate.
• 20:29
  Imagine a worker that's been working 24 hours a day, seven
• 20:33
  days a week and never had a holiday.
• 20:36
  Could they really do that job very well?
• 20:41
  And if this part is receptive to doing less work but a better
• 20:49
  job, or having additional tools and resources to upgrade it, let
• 20:55
  me know by nodding your head. That's it.
• 21:02
  So offer that part an upgrade to give it a new way of evaluating
• 21:07
  threats. Maybe you consider it a
• 21:12
  criteria. Instead of reacting to any
• 21:17
  sensation or any evaluation, this part now checks three
• 21:23
  simple questions before activating the alarm. 1st Is
• 21:32
  there any real physical danger right now?
• 21:41
  And maybe maybe they have to back that up with evidence, like
• 21:46
  what can you see? How do you know you're in real
• 21:52
  physical danger? And 2nd, what's the probability
• 22:04
  of this real physical danger actually happening?
• 22:11
  If there is no danger, and even if there was, the probability is
• 22:16
  low, there is no need to hit that alarm.
• 22:26
  And even if the danger is real, but there's a tiny probability
• 22:34
  there is no need to hit that alarm.
• 22:39
  And then the third question is, is there a better way to handle
• 22:45
  this threat then huge amounts of adrenaline and cortisol?
• 22:55
  The alarm system is meant to be the last resort, not the first
• 23:01
  response because sometimes you can handle a threat by just
• 23:10
  slowing down, pausing, making a decision or a choice, focusing
• 23:19
  your attention elsewhere, or just being more resourceful by
• 23:25
  calming down. 12 communicate again with our part and say, are
• 23:37
  they willing to meet the new criteria the danger is real, the
• 23:43
  probability is high, and there are no.
• 23:47
  Other options to? Deal with it other than all of
• 23:52
  this adrenaline and if all are true then they have permission
• 24:01
  to hit the emergency alarm. But if they're not then they
• 24:09
  will utilize the other resources like intelligence, decision
• 24:16
  making, assessment to deal with the situation in a different
• 24:24
  way. Being on public transport is not
• 24:32
  a physical threat, there's no high probability of danger, and
• 24:38
  even if there was, adrenaline doesn't make it better, it makes
• 24:41
  it worse. If that part agrees to that new
• 24:45
  criteria and to share the responsibility with other also
• 24:52
  highly capable parts, let me know by nodding your head.
• 24:56
  That's it. And then give it a holiday.
• 25:01
  I've been working non-stop for years.
• 25:04
  Ask it where it would like to go.
• 25:08
  Give it permission to take as long as it needs to charge its
• 25:11
  batteries up. Instead of punishing it for
• 25:14
  making all these mistakes, reward it for its effort it.
• 25:20
  Is after. All been trying to keep you safe
• 25:22
  all this time, even if it was seeing danger where there was
• 25:28
  none. Tell this part that you have
• 25:39
  absolute confidence in its ability to alert you of real
• 25:46
  danger when there is real danger, and to trust other
• 25:52
  resources when there isn't. And in doing so, it fixes the
• 26:01
  radar so that you're alerted when there's real danger and not
• 26:09
  alerted when there isn't. But you don't have to be the one
• 26:18
  directly managing this part that's there to protect you.
• 26:24
  I want you to imagine another part of your mind stepping
• 26:26
  forward, a calmer, wiser, more accurate guardian.
• 26:35
  One that still protects you, but evaluate situations more
• 26:42
  intelligently, using nuance. This part works closely with
• 26:48
  your prefrontal cortex, the reasoning brain, the part that
• 26:55
  knows that these sensations are temporary, that any waves of
• 27:01
  anxiety, it's just adrenaline and cortisol, and it will pass.
• 27:08
  This new guardian becomes the overseer of the radar system.
• 27:17
  It will do the job while the other part is taking that
• 27:20
  vacation. But even when that part returns,
• 27:24
  they will answer to the new guardian, allowing the original
• 27:31
  protective part to rest for now. And when the part returns, they
• 27:37
  will work as a partnership, sharing the responsibility,
• 27:44
  helping each other become better and better at reducing false
• 27:50
  alarms and only alerting you when the danger is real, when
• 27:57
  the risks are highly probable, and that the limbic system is
• 28:02
  the only way to deal with it. And let's go forward in time and
• 28:12
  test it. Imagine being in one of those
• 28:15
  situations. Maybe a train, a bus, a plane,
• 28:20
  or a car in heavy traffic. And I want you to imagine
• 28:28
  something different happens. The radar is still scanning for
• 28:33
  threats and recognizes there is no real danger here.
• 28:44
  And that means that any anxiety you feel is no longer real
• 28:49
  anxiety, it's just echoes of the previous times when you felt it.
• 28:57
  And the thing with echoes is that they get quieter and
• 28:59
  quieter as time goes on. Perceiving anxiety is an echo is
• 29:09
  you telling yourself there is no imminent threat, which means
• 29:14
  even if there is a burst of anxiety it will go quickly
• 29:19
  because it's an echo and there is no real danger there at all.
• 29:28
  When the body realizes and evaluates there is no danger you
• 29:33
  can breathe in through the nose and those long outward breaths.
• 29:40
  It will quickly allow the nervous system to calm and as
• 29:44
  the breathing slows the adrenaline fades.
• 29:49
  The wave rise slightly, just as echoes do, but then falls
• 29:54
  equally fast, just like every wave has done before.
• 30:02
  What if those 15 minute waves become 10 minute waves, and 10
• 30:07
  minute waves become five minute waves, and five minute waves
• 30:11
  become one or two-minute waves, and those small waves become
• 30:19
  just a few seconds, and then nothing at all?
• 30:24
  And each time your mind experiences this pattern, your
• 30:28
  brain learns something new. Your neural pathways strengthen,
• 30:35
  the limbic system recalibrates, the radar becomes more accurate,
• 30:42
  and those situations that once triggered anxiety begin feeling
• 30:48
  easier, calmer, more manageable, because the brain has learned
• 30:56
  that those sensations are just temporary signals and maybe even
• 31:03
  echoes of false alarms, not real danger.
• 31:12
  And just imagine that chain reaction of a glowing White Star
• 31:19
  exploding upwards and outwards to the chest, creating light
• 31:23
  headedness. What if that whole chain of
• 31:26
  events starts to get interrupted or diluted so that before long
• 31:40
  you find yourself doing things, things that once had such an
• 31:45
  intense reaction until eventually they give you no
• 31:50
  reaction at all. Then as you hold that thought of
• 31:55
  optimism, it's time to return. So take a deep breath in through
• 32:01
  your nose and out through your nose and wiggle your fingers.
• 32:07
  Wiggle your toes. Connect and calibrate into the
• 32:11
  here and the now as I now count from 1:00 to 10:00 to awaken
• 32:17
  you. Starting to count 123 waking up
• 32:23
  456 more alert 7-8. Open your eyes.
• 32:28
  Open your eyes 910. Wide awake.
• 32:32
  Wide awake. Wide awake.
• 32:47
  Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of The
• 32:50
  Hypnotist. If you've enjoyed this episode
• 32:53
  or got some value from it, please give it a five star
• 32:57
  rating and review. And maybe you know someone that
• 33:00
  would also benefit from this particular episode, in which
• 33:04
  case share the episode with them so they can also get the benefit
• 33:08
  too. And if you would like to listen
• 33:11
  to this episode where it's just the hypnosis, so no.
• 33:15
  Intro No outro. No explanation, just the
• 33:19
  hypnosis and completely ad free. There will be a link in the
• 33:22
  description where you can subscribe at a very low cost and
• 33:26
  only get access to the hypnosis O.
• 33:29
  If that's of interest, please check that out.
• 33:31
  Thank you again for being a regular listener of The
• 33:35
  Hypnotist and I'll see you again soon for more.