Written by: Heidi Kyle, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Do you know you possess a superpower? Do you know your parents, friends, relations and every single sentient being you meet has the same superpower? It’s your subconscious mind. Many people will say, “Oh yes, I have heard of that” but they often have no idea that this part of their mind is so powerful. The pervasive ignorance of the power of the subconscious is a phenomenon that, one-day humanity will look back on and shake our heads in amazement.
Without a good working knowledge of your subconscious mind you will not be able to achieve your potential. Worse, you may find yourself stuck in a program from which there is seemingly no escape. Many therapists talk about “self-belief” and “self-confidence” and many other thought-based mind techniques but they either fail to understand or to convey that all of these can only ever be as effective to the extent that the subconscious mind will accept them.
What is the subconscious mind?
The subconscious mind is the part of your brain that stores all memories, experiences, habits, emotions and reactions – it has a vastly faster processing ability than your conscious mind. It can store thousands of times more information. Its purpose is to be your processing unit – it is the part of you that wakes you up, puts you to sleep and knows how to drive a car without thinking about it. It can be likened to your life force.
Much of it’s work goes unnoticed by your conscious mind.
Your conscious mind, conversely, is the thinking, rational mind that you are aware of every day. The part of you that engages with others and reflects on your actions in a conscious way. It’s the rational mind.
However, the subconscious mind controls habits and reactions which is why often people will be doing something (eg.smoking) and yet at the same time hate themselves for doing it. The subconscious controls the habit.
The subconscious mind is a series of programs
Do you know you are already programmed by the age of three? The No. 1 reason why at times the subconscious mind will not accept the positive affirmations that we are advised to do every day is because it has already been programmed. Our programming began in the womb and it continues quite intensively until approximately the age of 3 years old. Once you reach this age the programming is largely complete – there may be a few less significant programs that will be installed via experiences, but they are not as powerful as the earlier programming before the age of three.
Psychologists and psychiatrists are aware of this; Sigmund Freud pioneered much of the early childhood theory. However, most psychologists and psychiatrists do not actively work with the subconscious mind. The so called “inner child paradigm” theory is a true reflection of the subconscious mind and is probably the closest mainstream theory gets to engaging with the subconscious. The inner child paradigm in psychology is the study of the inner child aspect of ourselves and has many parallels with our subconscious mind programming. The subconscious mind is a child like mind in many ways in that it lacks the reflection of the rational mind.
We have many examples of alternative thinkers who have realised the power of the subconscious mind, there are a number of great books and articles on this subject. However, while these writings are fascinating and true, they are not getting at the heart of the issues people face daily, namely: their individual programs. Many of these programs hold the individual back, for a variety of reasons, and so manifesting can be very difficult when a negative pre-existing belief is at work which does not want to accept certain positive views of the self.
What is a program and how does it work?
A program is installed as a result of an experience that may happen before, during or after birth that the mind – in whatever stage of development – processes or interprets in a certain way. The developing mind may not process the same as a more developed mind. These experiences can be many and varied. They are often quite harmless experiences but they can also be traumatic and frightening. They are external experiences that the mind is processing at a stage of development when the subconscious is very highly susceptible and alert to them.
Here is an example: a child of 18 months old hears her parents arguing repetitively, she deduces the argument is about her and concludes that she is not wanted. This belief, being transmitted at such a formative age, goes directly into her developing subconscious mind. Result: she decides that she is not wanted. This child grows up and as an adult reports a constant emotional problem of not fitting in, not belonging or feeling constantly rejected. This is because her mind processed her parents arguing at a developmental stage, it then decided to believe she wasn’t wanted, it then created a deep-seated belief system that supported that. Now in her life, she believes this but, because the program was set up so long ago, she has no conscious memory of it and so she cannot retrieve this memory in order to challenge it as an adult, using her rational, conscious mind.
The program runs on and it results in the conscious mind interpreting and applying all life experiences in a manner that supports this program, in our example, the belief of the child that she does not belong. So even if positive experiences occur in later life the subconscious mind will only accept those experiences that support the belief developed in early childhood. Therefore, in this example, even if she were to meet accepting people she will subconsciously find ways to either sabotage the acceptance or ignore it completely in favour of other experiences that support her programme. (Many people who sabotage relationships are running early childhood programs).
How can we challenge these programs and change these patterns?
In our current level of evolution we can only change these programs through the mind that created them – that is the subconscious mind. The subconscious stores all of our memories, our habits and our beliefs. Through therapeutic hypnosis we can access this treasure trove of information and reframe unhelpful belief systems.
The most effective way to challenge these belief systems is via Regression Therapy (also known as Analytical Hypnosis Technique). In this technique we guide a client into hypnosis and we regress them back to a point where they can’t consciously remember and we expose the early memory and it’s associated belief system. We can then help the client to understand that they are now adults, this memory and belief was from their child-self and we can assist them to reframe this positively to enable them to move forward in their current experiences.
Regression Hypnosis is administered by only a small group of hypnosis practitioners. Its one of the most detailed and advanced of all the hypnosis techniques and does require many hours of training in how to guide, without leading, the client.
How long does this take?
Hypnotic Regression typically takes several sessions of hypnosis while we explore and train the client in hypnosis. In my own experience, I was able to release years of negative emotional patterns that stemmed from a childhood with a parent with a serious mental illness. This experience was so life changing for me that I decided to train myself and dedicate my practice to this incredible technique.
It is important to ensure the practitioner for regression therapy is qualified and experienced. Hypnotic regression is subjective in its nature but there are amazing gains to be made emotionally. I have had clients who have been in therapy for ten to fifteen years, trying to deal with their early parental relationships, only to release this in three hypnosis sessions. It’s truly awe inspiring to do this work. Typically, after starting the process, we aim to do the actual regression session in the third hypnosis session.
I always say to my clients, “we don’t have ten years to waste talking about this” and it’s so true. Our productive lives are so short and so precious why spend years feeling anxious, unwanted, rejected or any of the panoply of negative emotions that many people experience daily? Not to mention all the negative experiences we endure as a result of faulty emotional conditioning. We really don’t need to do this when we understand the incredible healing power of the subconscious mind.
Heidi Kyle, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Heidi Kyle is a well-known hypnotherapist and counsellor in private practice in the incredible Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. Heidi started her career in the corporate world in London and has since used her experience to craft a unique style in the helping professions. With hypnosis and our shared consciousness being the next frontier of evolving humanity, Heidi has developed the "Centred Consciousness" approach to take back our power in our lives and to understand our own unique role in the human story. Heidi's mission is to bring about change in the human psyche to benefit all. Heidi is currently working on her first book "Journeys in Hypnosis".
