Alchemical Hypnotherapy & The Empowerment Process
by Judy Chang Gummelt
As a clinical psychologist
and psychotherapist with 15 years of various counseling experience,
I am always looking for new techniques to add to my toolbox. I believe
that the most effective treatment requires that I work with my clients
as a whole system and not just treat their minds. I evaluate their diet,
nutrition, exercise, physical health, quality of life, and spirituality.
I also believe that treatment that simply revolves around talking about
their problems, thoughts, feelings, etc., though no doubt useful is
very limited in its possible benefits.
Catharthis is an important part of the healing process, a form of grieving.
The most powerful sessions I had ever witnessed, and experienced for
myself, were ones that involved the whole being, body and soul. This
may involve hitting a pillow, yelling, screaming, crying, whatever needs
to be done to obtain closure. The client is encouraged to re-experience
some core event, but this time without holding back his or her feelings
and impulses. This often results in a sensation of great release, and
deep calmness sets in.
However, emotional release has its own limitations. Clients are often
left feeling sad, lonely and empty. The experience of a great void within
was sometimes even more painful to deal with than the hate, sadness,
anger, despair, negative behavior patterns or whatever it was that the
client came to treatment to rid themselves of. My work with alcoholics,
drug addicts, codependents and "Adult Children Of" introduced me to
the important aspects of a Higher Power and to spirituality's role in
the healing process. However, not everyone is able to readily embrace
and benefit from the idea. Many of us have had bad experiences and associations
with organized religions, or have become disillusioned with our God
or spiritual discipline.
I learned the techniques of using hypnosis and guided imagery, including
John Bradshaw's inner child bonding exercises, throughout my education,
training, and professional work, but somehow never found it to be all
that powerful. It never occurred to me to combine all of the above technologies
in one powerful session, until I attended my first "Empowerment Intensive"
workshop with David Quigley, developer of "Alchemical Hypnotherapy".
It was a healing, transforming and spiritual experience I will never
forget. The first of three days is spent in a variety of exercises to
help the group bond with each other, get in touch with our inner children,
and resolve any conflicts or discomfort any members may have with each
other.
For those of you who believe hypnotherapy is a passive experience, I can assure you that this is anything but! One Alchemical process includes speaking to whomever they feel the need to communicate with in whatever way they need to. This often has the client up and yelling at parents, beating or slaying villains, castrating sexual offenders, and rescuing inner children or past life personalities. It can be quite a work out! The thing that makes this experience very different from regular psychodrama besides the hypnotic state, is that there is usually a positive bonding and healing experience in the end with the uncontaminated loving inner mother, father, mate, higher power, or other guide. Sometimes it's our present day adult self providing our inner child with the love and nurturing we didn't get, and then becoming the inner child accepting this love, which can provide a tremendous Catharthis of joy
. The experience is one of being emptied of some traumatic experience or painful feeling, and filled with it's opposite. The ideal nurturing, the sacred love, the way we had always wanted it to be. And it feels real! David says that in hypnosis our bodies don't distinguish between what really happened in the past and the experience we create, or should I say allow, to happen during a process. Sometimes it takes a while for the experience to sink in. Our skeptical mind may not allow us to buy it at first, but usually by the end of the weekend we are aware of having been transformed in a very deep and profound way. We are different.
Alchemy transforms "the lead of emotional debris into the gold of self-realization." The individual sessions of Alchemical Hypnotherapy are quite different and also very valuable, though not usually as powerful as the weekend Intensives. Touch is not normally used because of the client's need for safety and boundaries, but that really depends on the level of trust in the therapeutic relationship, how long they've been working together, sexual boundary issues, etc. Like the processes in the weekend Intensives, the sessions are one and a half to two hours long but since one is not being triggered by the group's raw emotions and by participating in other people's processes, one does not normally go as deep in a single session.
Oftentimes in the group sessions, several processes will be happening simultaneously and spontaneously because members are so deeply touched by what they are witnessing. This is encouraged as it all contributes to the power of the experience. What seems to work best in individual sessions is to have several processes on consecutive days or as close together as possible, until there's a major breakthrough and the client feels finished. In addition to the use of Inner Guides, there is powerful work done with past lives, including examining possible "contracts" with others and working through shame and guilt. There may be atonement to be made and forgiveness toward others or ourselves.
The wonderful thing about past life regression is that it works even it you don't believe in the idea of past lives. You can see it as a metaphorical and creative process and still reap the benefits. I am still amazed at how our unconscious is able to take so many events and issues in our lives and create or relate it to a single Alchemical process. Our "Conference Room" technique makes comprehensive use of all the different parts of us working toward some kind of integration around a particular issue or behavior that we want to change. This often takes several sessions to complete. We will often have to go into completing communications, rescues, past lives or other processes during a typical conference room session.
During my training in Alchemical Hypnotherapy, I became aware of how much sense it all made. As though deep inside I somehow always knew these things intuitively, as though being taught this skill was something of a reminder, a validation, a coming home to what I had always known but could not articulate much less put into practice. I had been pursuing this in my various training and therapeutic experiences in a fragmented way. I was fascinated with cathartic therapies such as Primal Therapy, but found it limited and overly focused on staying in Pain. I loved work with Psychodrama, but again found it to be limited. Hypnosis, guided imagery, meditation and inner child work had their benefits but often were not able to sink deep enough to create permanent change in the client. It was a good coping mechanism, like taking an aspirin for a headache but not getting to the source. Forgiveness was a great goal for people who held on to anger, resentments or shame, but often difficult to genuinely feel. Spirituality, faith, and a sense of connection to a Higher Power contributes greatly to healing but often clients would have difficulty getting in touch with or trusting it. Alchemy seems to pull it all together.
Judy Chang Gummelt is a psychologist and hypnotherapist with a private practice in Manhattan. She practices in Portland, OR and in Manhattan and can be reached at: 831-238-0416.
E-mail Judy
at: JChangNYC@aol.com
Website: http://members.aol.com/JChangNYC/index.html
