Reading the recent article in the SF Chronicle has helped me refocus my thoughts on the ways I have worked with clients over the last couple of decades in dealing with different types of pain.

It is well known and accepted that relaxing the muscles in the body takes pressure off different pain sites and allows the body to soften and let go of tightness… that is one type of pain that lets go easily with Guided Visualization… picturing being in a comfortable beautiful place relaxing both the body and mind… maybe even imagining the pain disappearing out the bottoms of your feet and into the ground.

Another way of letting go of pain is to work on letting go of old grievances with people in your life… even getting to a place of forgiveness… not forgiving the person’s act… but creating a place of freedom from pain in your heart…so that you are not holding on to it so tightly… that way, it seems that the pain can let go…

And yet another way to not experience the pain of a shot or a blood draw is to learn how to focus your attention on something else while this is going on… one client uses the device of putting herself into a beautiful and happy place in the South of France with the smell of natural lavender… that calms her and allows her to focus on being somewhere else when she needs to have blood drawn.

Often physicians who run Pain Clinics send patients to me to help them deal with the emotional aspect of the chronic pain they are dealing with. The doctors tell me that they have done all they can do for the patient in the realm of medication and surgery. The docs report back to me that they really don’t understand what has happened for their patient, but they are pleased with the results… the patient has been greatly helped by working with hypnotherapy and the Emotional Freedom Technique.

One man I am currently working with has reported to me that after just 3 sessions, his neck pain is reduced about 70% already.

Often a recording of Guided Visualization is a major help in preparing a patient for surgery and clients have reported to me that their surgeon has reported that due to the hypnotherapy work, the patient’s operation has gone especially smoothly and quickly and their post-op course has been very short and positive and healing is rapid.

So, all in all… it seems quite clear that pain can be reduced and released with Hypnotherapy, EFT and Guided Visualization.