Below the mist

Below the mist there lies an undiscovered path. 

A road deep in the valley where you may find freedom.

Under the clouds of illusions you will find peace and solice.

And as you wander the darkness and wonder what treasures you will encounter, you will be unafraid.

Hope is waiting there for you this very day.

Fulfillment is yours.

On this day, this very day, you will transform.

The twin Palm trees represent your conscious and subconscious minds and they will work in harmony to help you.

Below the mist they are diligent in their task. 

They are weaving a beautiful tapestry. A blended, colorful artistry for you and your desires.

You are never alone.

You are truly loved.

And so it is.

The path into our own life is truly the only path.

It's always an inside job.

Triggering events may well be occurring often to us at this time of year. The holidays can bring joy but they may also bring sadness.

Through trance-state we can transform these triggering events into serenity, self  growth and self nourishment.

A trigger is merely a message. Something brought up from the past that needs to rise to the surface to be freed.

Someone said something to me today that ruffled my feathers a bit and caused some discomfort. It was an offhand remark about my age being older than the person who I was speaking to. My first thought was 

" Huh I'm not that much older."

Then the second thought was " I must look really old today." 

You know how these thoughts can snowball once they start!

 Frankly it more or less ended around the 2nd or 3rd thought but later on

as I went into trance-state, through prayer, I realised that this was exactly the issue that I had been wanting to resolve in my life. My personal goals are: To feel good about myself, the way I look, my age, and to keep a youthful frame of mind no matter what.

This person was a messenger to me that I hadn't finished my goals yet. If I had finished, this remark would have had no effect whatsoever. It was also a sign that I had made some strides as ruffling the feathers is rather slight compared to a down and out self esteem attack.

We truly are as young as we feel. Thinking young thoughts has a direct effect on our overall health. Thinking self- loving and self- appreciative thoughts also keeps us healthy, vibrant and youthful.

I am now walking through the doorway to the best year of my life! 2020

We can start now by implanting this idea into our subconscious mind.

 Repeating a positive phrase, making sure that it is said in the now, the present, forms what are known as affirmations.

Affirmations work best when we are in trance state.

The conscious mind resists. Therefore by going into trance state first we may bypass the analytical and  critical conscious mind.

Listening to music induces trance state. Deep rhythmic breathing also allows us to enter the doorway to the subconscious.

We enter into trance state all the time.

The key is to guide this state towards our benefit, our growth and our happiness.

There are times I find myself in a negative trance state that seems to keep spiraling downward. At these times I am mindful and notice what's going on. When I am present it diminishes.

Reading this blog is putting you into a focused trance state. And as you read this you may wonder where it will take you. Just drift along like a feather in a flowing stream. Breathe in and Breathe out and relax. 

You may be relaxing more on the in breath or maybe you are relaxing more on the out breath.

As you feel your eyes getting heavier you are relaxing deeper.

I am now walking through the doorway to the best year of my life! 

I am now walking through the doorway to the best year of my life! 

I am now walking through the doorway to the best year of my life! 

        In-Trance Doorways

Poetry is a wonderful way to enter Trance State

Many successful inductions include visualization. 

The act of looking inward into our imaginations can reduce resistance and calm the mind bringing about a change in our state of life, our consciousness.

Poems are visually oriented. Many poems are also a form of story telling.

Ericksonian Hypnotherapists use some of the same elements as in poetry.

1. Visualizations

2. Analogies/ Metaphors

3. Story telling

4. Rythym and pacing

5. Modulating the voice

When I recently wrote the following poem I found that I went into trance. I felt a deep relaxation and a sense of wellbeing. A sense of wonder enveloped me and I was truly in the present moment.

A dear friend of mine told me years ago that she quit smoking by writing poetry.

My readers also expressed feeling similar sensations while reading my poem.

Write a poem today! When you do, you will feel relieved and relaxed.

Here is my latest poem. Enjoy.

Inside and between each rising vapor lies a stillness and silence.

I wander the spaces between the spaces.

The blanket of night dispelled.

The moon is crowned, wrapped in a muted halo of today's rainfall.

The evening fog is a dream from which I refuse to awaken.

Light from the brewing caldron fills me with the wonder of who I am and I know I am loved.

A poem by Barbara J.Berg

Desert Hot Springs, CA

Dec. 2019

On being single-minded

Being "single-minded" takes on a whole new meaning in hypnotherapy.

When we are wanting something we can sometimes feel that " Yes!" "I want this!" "I want to accomplish this." "I'm ready for this."

The question then would be "Am I single- minded in this objective or is there possibly a "No" deep inside of me that is louder than the Yes?

I remember when my now, x husband, and I broke up.

I really wanted to let go and start my life afresh. I was desperate to start a new chapter in my life but something was keeping me in sadness.

Upon thorough self- examination I realized I wasn't on the same page as my subconscious mind.

It was saying " No" "Maybe he was not so bad, maybe we could work it out, maybe we could get back together?" The biggest thought was "Maybe I could finally change him into the man I've always wanted him to be?"

So of course my wants and desires weren't fulfilled. I had 2 opposing wants.

I had to, through prayer and entrancing myself, change my subconscious No into a single - minded "Yes it's really time to move on." "Yes this is the thing to do, and yes this really is meaningful and a blessing."

We can never change others. We can only learn life's lessons and change ourselves.

You can relax now and step down the stairway step by step. And I wonder when you will enter a new doorway?Will it be in the first couple steps down or towards the end of this staircase.

And as you breathe deeply  when you continue to move towards peace, I know you will find and discover meaning in all things and you will know what to do at the perfect time. You know you already know.

Nothing is indelible.

When we access the unconscious, through trance state, nothing is indelible.

Some meanings of indelible, according to the dictionary:

(of ink or a pen) making marks that cannot be removed.

unforgettable

haunting

memorable

not/never to be forgotten

This is untrue when we consider the patterns buried in our inner most world, our subconscious as indelible.

When a dark room is filled with light the shadows disperse and we can see clearly to navigate around the room. We may, with this light, see what we have to clear away to open up a new path.

Entering trance state is gentle, compassionate and self- loving. It is a way to shine light on our shadow side and re-teach new and helpful patterns to ourselves.

This very article was prompted by my leaving a black ink pen open on my new sofa. I discovered a huge, black indelible ink stain on my precious new furniture.

What was my first reation?

As was my tendency, I berated myself for leaving an open pen out.

I felt bad I had ruined my new sofa.

After only a few moments of mindfulness I realized this was an opportunity to change these initial reactions. Reactions like self criticism.

 Mindfulness is a trance state. A state where we create stillness and be in the moment. We observe without judgement. Simply put, awareness without praise or blame.

I thanked my higher power for these observations and changed my perspective on myself, my mistake and this occurance.

I re-taught myself to be compassionate to myself for this mistake. I also embedded the idea that all was not lost, that a solution would come to me on how to take out the stain or if that wasn't possible then to let go of my ideas of perfection.

I did indeed let it go and soon thereafter found a stain removing product that took out the stain completely.

The lesson in the process was truly valuable.

Nothing is indelible.

Like brand new. My sofa and my brain!

A great journey of discovery is waiting just beneath the surface

In a trance state we enter a doorway to Optimum Learning.

 The old, out dated beliefs that no longer serve may now be discarded and new and positive perspectives brought forward.

Beautiful from within

As an older, mature woman, with wrinkles and loose skin, in this world of young, magazine- type, flawless models I have come across some inner issues on ageing and beauty.

Beauty really comes from Beauty-full thoughts.

A multitude of mature woman have facelifts, treatments and the anti-aging industry gains billions from this. 

Don't misunderstand me, I am all for doing things for our own beauty and health. 

However the inner work is what must come first.

Becoming comfortable in one's own skin and feeling good about one's appearance are what dictate how we respond to life around us.

The mirror of our own environment reflects back not how we look, but how we feel about how we look.

Hypnosis can alter, in a positive way, our feelings about ourselves.

Believe me when I say, when we truly feel beautiful, everyone around us feels our radiance and sees our beauty.

So many famous characters in the movies aren't really that outwardly handsome or beautiful. If we would see them on the street we probably wouldn't give them a second glance. 

Actors enter a trance state when they perform a role and what we see on film is the essence of this inner life.

You can breathe yourself into a relaxed state and when you speak to your subconscious you can say wonderful things about your appearance and wonder where this will lead you.

You will gain more confidence and an inner glow and you will recieve more complimentary comments that reflect your own inner feelings.

Feel Beautiful and so it is.

How I discovered Hypnosis

I discovered Hypnosis from my uncle Ray. 

When I was a teenager I often hitchhiked to rock concerts and festivals. My girlfriend and I wanted to go to a big, wild gathering near Leicester, New York and I suggested we hitch to my Uncle’s where we could stay the night and be near the festival.

 My friend was apprehensive as we were pretty wild girls and she had no clue that my uncle was really cool.

 Our family regarded him as eccentric. He lived in the middle of a cornfield in a trailer.

This humble home was crammed with stuff along with his wife and children. And “yes” he was unusual.

This lovely man of freedom and spirituality was exactly why I loved and admired my uncle. I guess you could say I took after him as I’m presently living in a trailer, not in a cornfield but the desert.

That night he played a cassette tape for us and we slept like babies, peacefully and deeply.

It was my uncle’s voice, deep, melodic and gravely, inducing us with relaxation techniques, suggestions and mindfulness. It was the essence of, what I know now, as entering into a trance state. Of hypnosis.

From that moment on, without consciously understanding or even remembering, I sought out Hypnosis. I bought cassettes and books on Hypnosis, creative visualization and similar subjects and at the age of 27 I joined S.G.I. Buddhism which is the act of intoning the phrase Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo.

 This repetitive phrase along with the musical quality of these sounds in a rhythm induce a trance- state. A mystic state.

 I have loved the feeling of weightlessness and floating that the trance state brings.

I am now in my home town, after being away for about 30 or 40 years.

 Being with my sister and being here has brought back to the fore very vivid memories and one of them was of this event with my uncle Ray.

 He truly was a mystic and ahead of his time and I thank him so very much for planting the seed of Hypnosis in my subconscious so that I may be of help and service to many others. Dedicated to my Uncle Ray.

As I slowly count down from twenty to one, I walk down a stairway. I breathe in for a count of 3 and out for a count of 5 and I relax. I relax deeper and deeper as I walk down these stairs. I see at the bottom of the stairs a door and I continue towards it.

I don’t know whether I will enter into trance in the middle of my descending or I will enter into trance when I come upon this door. 

My eyes are closing and I feel well inside of myself and well with the all of the world.

Life Change can happen in a Trance state

The Doorway to our own lives may be accessed more easily in a Trance State.

This is my first day and first page on this blog-site and I'm so looking forward to touching your lives and being touched by you. Blessings in all things

love Barbara

graphic by Jeffrey R. Burgess