Mindfulness and Hypnotherapy: The Key to Addiction Recovery

Mindfulness and Hypnotherapy: The Key to Addiction Recovery

For many years, hypnotherapy has been known as a way to receive help with habits and addictions. The National Institutes of Health have stated that adding hypnosis to any life style change supports the change!

I’ve recently read some new research on habit recovery. What they discovered has powerful implications for hypnotherapy.

The researchers were looking at how people’s brains can change in ways that enable them to recover from addictions. They discovered that, when people learn to come into their bodies and de-focus from the mental chatter, when they are quiet and centered, open and focused, and given the skills- the pathways to follow- they are able to perceive the cravings of addiction simply as body sensations that pass away on their own. They found that, as participants practiced these skills when a craving came up, the cravings gradually diminished, and their ability to respond to them with awareness increased.

This way of working with addictions gets to the core of the problem- how we relate to cravings. It cultivates the resources of awareness and focus, having the strength and self-compassion to meet our experiences directly, and our capacity for becoming present and resourceful in the moment a craving hits. It offers hope for the many people who suffer from addictions.

For us as hypnotherapists, it means that we have clearer guidelines as to how to help our clients end their addictions to food, smoking and other behaviors and substances! Watch for an upcoming course on how to work with your clients to end the cravings that drive their addictions.