Junoon it is!

  • March 04, 2018
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Junoon…a ‘dewanapan’…a madness….is what is required. The junoon to achieve something. The junoon to be where you want to be. A single most stubbornness to pursue your goal. Where its just your passion, your zeal, your single minded determination…almost to the level of fanaticism to get what you want. Where just nothing else matters. Where its just you and your destination.

Beware though, this junoon can get you to a rock bottom. This junoon can keep you hungry. This junoon can keep you real poor. This junoon can get you expelled. This junoon can displace you. This junoon can make you misunderstood , even in the eyes of your closest ones. This junoon can change everything that’s comfortable around you. This junoon can also send you to a state of oblivion, or even anhilation.

Are you prepared to embrace this junoon? Don’t be scared, because what will get you there is what made you go there in the first place – your intention. That something inside you that tells you – Yes! This is what you want.  You will get the strength. You will get more and more of this strength as long as your aim is to be of benefit to others – be it living or non-living. When all seems to be lost, a new door opens. When all energy seems to be drained, an inspiration makes you run. When you sit down tired with your head in your palms, wondering what to do next, a savior appears.

And then, before you realize it, you have reached there. You have run your race and come out tops. And the difference between you and any other runner? Junoon.

Infertility – Hypnosis and Regression

  • October 07, 2016
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Infertility refers to an inability to conceive after having regular unprotected sex. Infertility can also refer to the biological inability of an individual to contribute to conception, or to a female who cannot carry a pregnancy to full term. In many countries, infertility technically refers to a couple that has failed to conceive after 12 months of regular sexual intercourse without the use of contraception.
According to The Mayo Clinic, USA:
– About 20% of cases of infertility are due to a problem in the man.
– About 40% to 50% of cases of infertility are due to a problem in the woman.
– About 30% to 40% of cases of infertility are due to problems in both the man and the woman.
Though hypnosis has been used in the cases of infertility, its use has been limited to assisting in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Even as the role of the mind-body connection is appreciated, the role of hypnosis in infertility is still being limited to the following:
i. The management of stress in the relationship arising due to infertility
ii. To handle the despair and loss of hope as the treatment period lengthens
iii. To deal with the negative impact on self-esteem and general well-being of the couple
iv. Using self-hypnosis for relaxation as a means of reducing anxiety and psychological stress related to painful and invasive medical procedures.The use of imagery and relaxation techniques have been of value in conjunction with procedures of Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART).
Hypnosis can do a lot more in cases of infertility – going to the cause
Why does a couple find itself in a situation where it can’t produce a baby? We know what the pathology is. Given below are the reasons that work within the subconscious mind, giving the individual absolutely no clue about their presence. These are some of the reasons that we have come across from our practice of Hypnotherapy while dealing with couples with infertility issues –
Reasons arising from the man:
Why is a man not able to make his partner pregnant? What is in him, working at a subconscious level that does not want to start the proceedings of creation?
Is there a fear of taking up the responsibility of fatherhood? Does he not trust his partner of doing the job of conceiving perfectly and healthily? Is he for some reason hesitating in taking his relationship to a higher level? Has he seen traumatic upbringing either in himself or around him especially in relationship to his father or mother, and has a fear of it, so much so that he does not want to produce a child? Does he feel, due to some reason, that the world is not a safe place for his child to grow up in? Or is it a thought coming from a past life where he has had traumatic experience with child bearing/producing that he has decided that producing a child would not be a good idea. Is there a past life vow of being celibate? A fear of abandonment that makes him feel that he will be denied the attention of his partner after the child is born?
And remember, all these are coming from his subconscious and he has absolutely no knowledge of them. They do come out in a deep hypnotic trance.
Reasons arising from the woman:
The woman too may have her own fears – fear of getting pregnant or fear of the pain of labour. She may have a desire to be involved in her career and may feel that pregnancy and childbirth will impede her growth and progress. She may have low self-esteem and low confidence and may feel she is not capable of handling the process of creating and nurturing a child. There could even be a past life curse of being barren and infertile. She may have had a maiden life of being in a family of ‘higher’ culture and finance compared to her in-laws, and not wanting a child with the surname of her in-laws because she feels embarrassed or ashamed of the surname. It may just be her way of hitting back at her mother-in-law by not conceiving, the negativity possibly coming from a karmic backlog.
Reasons arising from both the man and the woman:
Here are subconscious thoughts that act on the couple as a team. If either has a subconscious thought that does not want to take their relationship to the next level, it may be resulting in infertility. Is there a mutual mistrust between them? Is there a competition between them and does the woman feel that getting ‘bogged down’ with the issues of child care will make her partner ‘rise higher’ in the field that they are competing in? Have the couple shared a past life where they have seen traumatic deaths or helpless deaths of their children and decided to come together as partners in our next life, but not bear children? Or is it a curse coming down the ancestral lineage?
Whatever be the thoughts in the subconscious, these thoughts manifest in the physical body and result in cases where in spite of ART there is repeated failure. For those who can’t afford ART, there is just trauma and despair.
Hypnosis and regression therapy help in these cases. They go the the causes and resolve them resulting in healing, even at the physical level. We have had cases where couples have benefited, not just in handling the trauma and despair, but also through conception. We have seen couples conceive naturally through our therapies without any medical help.
So if you are having infertility issues or know someone who is going through the ordeal, consider Hypnosis and Regression therapy. They work wonderfully and naturally.

-Dr Rupinder Singh Sodhi, Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers

Hypnotherapy: For Doctors

  • February 27, 2016
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Hypnotherapy fits in as a perfect complementary add-on to the medical practitioner of today.  A doctor can use it to remove the cravings of a diabetic or motivate him to do his walking regularly so that the medication being given will be more effective. A doctor can use hypnosis to reduce stress in a hypertensive to keep his blood pressure under control with his regular antihypertensive medication. A doctor can use hypnotherapy to reduce the pain in a cancer patient or to keep the side effects of chemotherapy to the minimum. A doctor can use hypnotherapy to make the patient visualize the radiation given to him for cancer being utilized to maximum effect. The uses are plenty and can be combined easily by a doctor to give the patient the best possible end result.

Here are a couple of examples of early doctors who have successfully used hypnosis in their medical practice:

Dr. James Esdail (MD 1808 – 1859)

In the 1800’s Dr. James Esdail reported performing a number of surgeries in Kolkata using hypnosis (then known as mesmerism). His claims were investigated by a committee on Sep 7, 1846 consisting of James Atkinson, Inspector-General of Hospitals, as chairman; Evelyn N. Gordon; D. Stewart, Presidency Surgeon; James Hulme; J. Jackson, Surgeon to the Native Hospital; A. Rodgers; W. B. O’Shaughnessy, M.D., F.R.S., secretary to the committee. Out of the seven patients followed up by the committee, 4 had absolutely no pain during surgery and in the remaining three there was doubt if there was pain or not.

Dr. John Elliotson MD (1791 – 1868)

Dr. John Elliotson is also known to have performed surgeries using hypnosis as anesthesia. In 1834, he was appointed as a physician to University College Hospital, London. Professor Elliotson’s application of hypnosis scandalized the hospital medical committee. He was asked to stop using hypnosis. Rather than abandoning his hypnotic techniques as instructed, he resigned his offices to pursue his hypnosis practice.

Various studies have been conducted on the efficacy of hypnotherapy. Here are a few of them:

The Power of Hypnosis: Psychology Today -Studies show that hypnosis can treat everything from chronic pain to poor study habits. By Deirdre Barrett, published on Jan 1, 2001 – last reviewed on Sep 2, 2010.

Surgery: Hypnosis given during surgical radiology not only diminishes patients’ pain and anxiety, but also shortens surgical time and reduces complications from procedure (Lancet 2000)

Cancer: In a study of 16 patients who normally experienced pre chemotherapy sickness (Nausea & Vomiting), hypnosis relieved the sickness in all of them (Oncology 2000)

Immunity: Hypnosis seems to significantly raise the activity of B Cells and T Cells, both key to immune response, in highly hypnotizable subjects (American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 1995)

Smoking: 3000 smokers participated in study by American Lung Association for group hypnosis for stopping of smoking, 22% did not smoke for up to after one month (The International Journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis 2000)

Attention Deficient Disorder: Hypnosis is as effective as Ritalin in treating ADD in Children (Presented at American Psychological Association Meeting, 1999)

Pain: In 169 patients, self-hypnosis was largely successful in relieving chronic tension headaches (The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2000)

Medical procedure in children: Paediatrics 2005- Hypnosis reduces distress and duration of an invasive medical procedure in children. David Spiegel Lisa D. Butler, Barbara K. Symons, Shelly L. Henderson, Linda D. Shortliffe.

Pain and Anxiety: American Psychological Association 2011 Hypnosis today – Hypnosis continues to show promise in reducing pain and soothing anxiety.

Miscellaneous: Western Journal of Med. 2001 Oct; 175(4): 269–272. PMCID: PMC1071579 – Hypnosis, can reduce anxiety, particularly that related to stressful situations, such as receiving chemotherapy. Hypnosis is also effective for insomnia. Hypnosis enhances the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for conditions such as phobia, obesity, and anxiety.

The more I research these wonderful uses of hypnosis, the stronger my urge gets to synthesize these two fields, medicine and hypnosis. Being a medical practitioner myself, I have seen tremendous improvements in my clients who have had issues ranging from physical to emotional, mental to spiritual. We have worked with cancer, diabetes, blood pressure, infertility, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, fears, phobias, addictions, low confidence and many more.

It is my appeal to the medical professionals to adopt hypnotherapy in your medical practices and see the changes in the overall result of your treatment. More and more doctors are getting familiar with hypnosis these days. In the last century there were just 2-3 MDs who had written book in this field. Today there are many. And that’s a good sign.

-Dr Rupinder Singh Sodhi, Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers.

Past Life Regression Therapy

  • January 06, 2016
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I have been extremely curious since my childhood about the possibility of having multiple lives. What if I too had a past life? What if I could see and remember that life? What if I see being connected to my loved ones in that life too? Little did I know that this quest would take me to an unending adventure and make me view the concept of past lives beyond curiosity. Here I am today, conducting past life regression therapies with clients for therapeutic and healing purposes on a regular basis.

As fancy as it may sound, I choose to believe that we have been here before and we will be here again. Apart from the innate knowing, numerous experiences of having undergone past life regressions and vividly remembering my past lives, there is a lot of research being done in this field. One of the most noteworthy one is by Dr Ian Stevenson, MD. He studied almost 2500 children who reported past life memories. In approximately 1200 of these cases, Dr. Stevenson was able to objectively validate the child’s past life memories.

Another brilliant jewel in this field is Dr Brian Weiss, MD, who popularised the concept of past life regression and brought it to the masses through his books esp. Many Lives, Many Masters; Through Time into Healing, Only Love is Real and many more.

Ron Van der Maesen (1999) conducted an evidence based research and worked with fifty-four clients who had reoccurring disturbing voices or thoughts. At a six month follow up, 25% found the disturbing voices disappeared, and a further 32% could now cope. Overall 80% had a positive subjective experience and would recommend this therapy for reoccurring problems to others.

The good news is all of these researchers mentioned above are top-notch in their field of Psychiatry. They have been trained in the scientific view of physical and mental symptoms. And yet, the phenomenon of past lives is beyond the scientific logic and explanation.

In my practice with Dr Sodhi, I have seen physical, emotional and mental issues dissolve with past life regression therapy. Personally, I have experienced miraculous results myself through these regressions. Last month, I had persistent cough for about a month which got resolved through this technique. I saw a past life in which I had committed suicide by gulping down a bottle of poison. As I was made to relive it and the effect of the poison going down my throat was released energetically, the cough disappeared almost instantly. This was one of the sessions where I had experienced immediate relief following the session.

Many clients are baffled when they see their own past life. They ask us whether it is their imagination or is it real. Dr Sodhi has a classic answer to this. He says that if one were to imagine, why wouldn’t she/he imagine all good things? Why would one imagine sad, poor or dramatic lives providing a clue to her/his problem? Well, he has a point there. To me, frankly, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care if it was a past life or a figment of my imagination. I would not sit and google the details, the names, the years, the place that I saw in my regression. Even if it is my imagination, it shows a projection which is dealt with any way. After all, there has to be a reason for having that particular kind of projection. Whether these past lives are real, projections or stories, they sure provide a window to heal, to evolve…That’s what makes this regression therapy one of my favourites. It touches my soul to see people connecting to their Higher Selves, getting guidance and beautiful pearls of wisdom. They emerge out of the sessions with marvellous insights and amazing clarity. With every past life regression therapy that we facilitate, the eternity of the soul is exemplified and reiterated before us.

– Mitali Akarte Kokate, Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers.

 

 

 

 

Weight Loss with EFT Tapping

  • August 11, 2015
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Weight! A heavy and often touchy topic for many of us here. It is that monster which tries to catch up with us the moment we relax a bit. It is that shadow that refuses to leave us even at noon. It is our much abhorred companion which may disappear for some time but loves us enough to return back. But hey! Does it really have to be this bad? What if it is that poor little creature which has a message for our well-being that we refuse to hear? What if it’s a warning sign that our system needs to be cleansed emotionally? What if it is our guardian trying to protect us and would be happy to retire once we learn to be on our own and stable?

The key to tackle weight lies in acceptance and not resistance. Instead of resigning to it, let’s look at our weight directly. Let’s see what it brings us, how it makes us feel, what is causing us to gain weight, what is it that we refuse to look into by having this layer around us, the questions are many. The issue of our weight gain needs to be closely examined and understood. It’s the first step to understand our own selves, even the parts which are carefully hidden but make their presence felt anyway. An effective way to do this is by using Emotional Freedom techniques (EFT/Tapping).

Since my late teens, I had shared this love-hate relationship with my body. I would obsess over my weight gain and try a variety of diets only to discard them in a couple of days. I would enroll in a gym only to lose motivation in a week’s time. It had become a family joke that I lose weight only by looking at or passing by a gym that I never have to go inside. The closest I got to my ideal weight a few years back, and still had many kgs to shed was for my wedding. The motivation was at its peak. But it was a temporary weight loss and within a year I was at my heftiest best. I had given up on myself after that. I had stopped caring. Though my weight kept fluctuating, I never really made any attempts to lose weight. What came as a pleasant surprise last year, was when I had lost 5 kgs without doing anything about it, no diet, no exercise. I had not even noticed it because I had not bought a weighing scale as it would constantly remind me of my failure to lose weight. People started complementing me which initially I didn’t take very seriously. One fine day, I happened to check my weight and I was shocked to see all that weight disappear. I was back to my wedding weight, even a couple of kgs lower than that. I was thrilled and I knew why I had lost all that weight. I had started practising as a Hypnotherapist with Dr Sodhi around that time and had learnt EFT Tapping. I had been doing it for many of my own issues and having sessions with my clients and I definitely felt lighter and happier. I started telling my friends and family about this discovery and they were thrilled too. Next thing I knew, I was teaching my Mom EFT and other mind-body-energy approaches to facilitate weight loss. In a month, she had lost 7 kgs, again without any kind of diet or exercise. Many months later what shocked us even more was that she was having Hypothyroidism at that time which went undetected. She lost all that weight with EFT defying her health condition and it’s tendency to gain weight.

EFT Tapping helps in resolving our deep rooted issues which lay the foundation for weight gain. We can work on our beliefs about ourselves, others and our relationship with food and exercise with this beautiful technique. We can resolve emotional disturbances and find our balance. It is a very fast and effective way to lose weight and more importantly to get in touch with our own self. In fact, when we focus on our own well being, weight loss is but a happy by-product.

At Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers, Thane, we have used EFT for weight loss with our clients as a part of our 3-day workshop called ‘Why Wait to Lose Weight’. We also have a weekly group therapy programme spanning 7 weeks where different aspects of weight gain are explored and resolved. Through this platform, we have seen people not only lose weight but also that they learn to embrace themselves despite the weight. They get in touch with their own selves, start communicating with their bodies and give themselves the respect that they have always deserved. They start enjoying their lives first and feel the confidence that they had thought would come only with weight loss. By dissociating these conditions, they are happy in their bodies and weight loss follows.

As Jessica Ortner from The Tapping Solution puts it ‘We have it backwards, weight loss doesn’t lead to confidence, confidence in yourself and your worth leads to weight loss!’ I am only happy to testify it.

-Mitali Akarte Kokate, Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers

 

EFT: Emotional Freedom Technique in Deep Waters!

  • April 11, 2015
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In Feb 2014, I was all set to experience my inner self and so I enrolled myself for Vipassana. Anxious, yet excited, I began my journey. I went to Igatpuri, finished the documentation work, set up my room and submitted my phone (which was the hardest thing ever!). As I sat in my room, the severity of the loneliness caught up with me and I threw up. I was trying to calm myself and I threw up once more. Soon, it was time to assemble in the hall. The churning in my stomach began and I threw up yet again. By this time, I was really exhausted. I knew it was a desperate subconscious attempt to get out of there, back to the safe and the known. I knew I didn’t want to be there, I just couldn’t be there. So I approached the authorities, made a few calls back home. My husband told me that he would be there to pick me up the next day. I was shifted to another area and given a room away from the other participants. It was eerie, I was alone.  My health worsened with a bout of diarrhoea. I was desperate for the morning to arrive. Though I was relieved, I also felt like a failure, deep within. I knew I had failed myself.

I was quiet throughout the journey back home. With every passing moment, I cursed myself for being such a coward. I could have been better the next day. If only, I could hold on for a day…That evening, while mindlessly surfing the net, I came across a link to the World Tapping Summit by The Tapping Solution. I had seen a video of tapping, also known as Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT while studying Hypnotherapy and it had really intrigued me then. A beautiful synchronicity caught me unawares. It was the day the 10-day summit began for which I just had to enrol free of cost. The 10 days beautifully coincided with the 10 day Vipassana course I had just left. So, to compensate for my failure, I took it upon myself to listen to their two audio presentations daily. I would tap along, make notes and internalise every word spoken. The times I couldn’t attend, I made sure I recorded them to listen to it later.

By the end of those 10 days, I had another tool added to my repertoire of therapies, this one being my favorite. I knew I was made for EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)  and it is going to change my life. In the days that followed, I applied it to anything that I could for myself, headaches, back pain, anger, lethargy, etc. I even worked on the feeling of failure that I got because of my return from Vipassana. It helped.

But the best of my EFT sessions were yet to come. In June 2014, we went on a family trip to Bali, Indonesia. We all excitedly enrolled ourselves for deep sea diving in Gili, a beautiful sub island. The lessons in the pool were a cakewalk but I knew the first session in the ocean would be a real test. Though I love being in the ocean, it really intimidates me with its endlessness, in terms of depth, expanse and sheer power. So, in my first attempt, I came down with a panic attack and refused to go down to the sea bed. I just floated on the surface, wishing if only I had enough courage…When I climbed back to the boat to go back to the shore, I experienced a bad sea sickness. I knew I had to tap on it. My father insisted on a tablet, but I remained adamant. Within a few moments, I was ok. I kept tapping even while having lunch. I tapped as and when I could, to prepare myself for the next day. I had to do this. And I knew in my heart that EFT could make me do it.

The next day, as a measure against sea-sickness, everyone popped a pill. I went ahead without it. I kept tapping and the first hurdle was over. The next one was jumping from the boat, backwards, with my head first. It was scary as hell the first time. They had to push me. This time, I did it rather elegantly. I was impressed, partly with myself, majorly with the power of tapping. When I was taken down, I was mesmerized by what I saw. It felt like I was not on earth anymore. It was so beautiful and yet so crude, nature at its best. No sound, only life echoed in my ears and I was filled with gratitude to God to have given me this chance to witness the marvel that I did. I touched the sea bed, and I knew, that no matter where you are, you need a base to hold magnificence, you need grounding. Seeing so many fishes swim by, I was wooed by the number and variations of colours that swam with me. So many vibrant colours, changing and moving. I was exposing my senses to the best experience ever. I swam through the ocean delighted, camouflaging myself with the serenity of the depths of the ocean.

As I climbed back to the boat, I sat on the stairs leading up, with the lower half of my body still under water and a current of joy running up my spine. I knew I had befriended my fear, only to let it go…

Since then, I have used EFT with so many things, with myself, my family, friends and clients. I even got over my fear of flying using this wonderful yet simple technique. I later undertook professional training to learn it and it has further increased my orbit of using it.

For me learning Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT is like having a black dress, a white shirt and a pair of denims…absolutely essential in one’s wardrobe of life! I hope it touches your life the way it did for me and millions of others.

– Mitali Akarte Kokate, Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers

Hypnosis – Fears and Myths

  • April 07, 2015
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“I have lost a gold chain at home. I suspect the servant maid has stolen it. Can you hypnotize her and find out?” This was an enquiry I had received over the phone for hypnotism.

“I will not be able to hypnotize her if she is not willing” I said.

“She is willing for it” He replied.

“Even if she is willing, she can tell me in hypnosis, that she has not stolen it, even if she has” I replied.

This really surprised him.

And it surprises many people. Because, many people think hypnosis is something where you just spin a pendulum or look into the person’s eyes and make any person sing like a parrot or dance like a monkey or chew onions and appreciate them as apples, or worse still, steal bangles, rings and any other expensive item worn by the ‘victim’.

Hypnosis is a lot different.

Willingness – You require absolute willingness to hypnotize a person. I tell my students, that after you learn hypnosis, if someone approaches you and says that I don’t think I can be hypnotized, can you try, just tell the person, you are right, you can’t be hypnotized. It’s pointless and a waste of time accepting a challenge like that, because the fact is that, you just cannot hypnotize a person against his will.

What you speak while in trance – You have control on what you speak in a trance. You can censor, criticise and comment on what you say. I cannot hypnotize a person and ask him to reveal anything that he does not want to tell me – like the name of his secret girlfriend, or anything that is irrelevant for the session like the PIN no of his credit card. You have absolute control on everything that you speak in a trance. You can choose not to tell something, you can even tell lies (though this never happens, as we are all interested in a therapeutic cure). And that is why statements under hypnosis are not valid in a court of law. But such a statement can be investigated further in forensic hypnosis.

Hypnosis is not a zombie like state – It’s not some sort of a coma where you can’t move. Even in a trance, you can open your eyes, stand or move around if you want. Only, it’s such a relaxed state that you may not want to. After all it’s a state of focussed concentration, and just like when we relax and listen to music, we like to close our eyes and focus, we do the same in hypnotic trance. And yes, you just can’t be forced to do any action against your will – no going out and robbing the bank!! 😉

The hypnotist does not control your mind – In a trance, your conscious mind is awake and in control. The trance is yours. The hypnotist is a guide. You are in total control of yourself. A hypnotic trance in no way reduces your mental capacity. Nor is it only the weak minded who get hypnotized easily. It’s the more convinced who do. If you feel that I can help you in your problem with hypnosis, the more you believe that, the more deeper into a trance will you go.

No dangers of a trance – Hypnosis is like meditation. Have you heard of anyone getting harmed by meditation? It’s a relaxing process. Has anyone been harmed by the process of relaxation? And yes, if in a trance, you regress to say 3000 years back, building pyramids in Egypt, there is no way that I can leave you there. That’s because, I am only making you view a memory, you are not doing a time travel. Hypnosis is safe.

No data can be deleted – “I am very troubled by these thoughts, can you hypnotize me and delete those thoughts?” I get such queries. In hypnosis, we can’t delete data of your subconscious mind. We can work on the emotions that the data has produced in you, much of which may not be in your conscious awareness, and we resolve them. You will be comfortable with the data. And that is the therapy.

All I can say that it is that a hypnotic trance is a state worth experiencing, it’s relaxing and you get to be with your inner self, something that we need the most right now.

-Dr Rupinder Singh Sodhi, Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers

My story with Hypnosis

  • March 24, 2015
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Namaste,

Years back, in my first year as a medical student, I came across an intern who had learnt hypnosis. He would come over to our room and hypnotize us. He wanted people to practice on and my room partner and I were junior most in a medical hierarchy and so we had no choice but to be willing participants. My room partner, as luck would have it, was a subject who could easily be hypnotized and that was all the more reason for this intern to keep visiting our room.

During one of those sessions, and this was somewhere in 1976, he made my room partner to lie down on three stools, one below his feet, one below his head and the third below his buttocks. And he hypnotized him. And suggested to him that his body has become as stiff as an iron rod. He then removed the stool from below his buttocks.

I was so amazed at what I saw. Here was this well-built 84 Kg individual who was lying on two stools – one below his head and the other below his feet, believing he was as stiff as an iron rod, and his body was just that – an iron rod!

It made me think – if a person could be made to believe that he is something that he is not, then the same way he could be made to believe that he does not have something that he has. Pain for instance. If he has pain, then he can be made to believe he does not have it.

That got me interested in Hypnosis.

But the hectic schedules of medical education got into me, and time just flew and hypnosis remained a fond memory.

After my medical education, I took up jobs, first with a Government organization, then with a private organization, and I finally quit to start my own practice, on the outskirts of Mumbai.

After about 25 years of a typical clinical practice, I got an email, informing me about a workshop on hypnosis. I had no idea how that mail came to me, spam or a message from a higher source, call it whatever you like, but it did bring back to my active memory the older fascination of hypnosis.

Seven years back, I followed that lead and learnt hypnosis. Practised it. And then went on to teach it.

It’s been a wonderful and very satisfying experience. Dealing with the thought that triggers it all, be it just a minor disturbance or a major illness…there is always a thought behind it. Hypnotherapy made me see the power a thought can have over us…and made me realize how powerful our mind is, how capable the mind is to heal us, to lead us to a safer journey…towards our destination. God Bless.

-Dr Rupinder Singh Sodhi, Dr Sodhi’s Enhancers