Sidra’s session was one of the most unique I’d facilitated so far — which is great because sessions like hers are what I love about what I do. She booked the hypnotherapy hoping to gain more understanding about herself so she can find more joy in her future. She’d done a lot of work on herself already after coming from a history of abuse in her past relationships, and has a very open mind especially when it comes to the metaphysical. I was very excited to work with her!
This session was one that really put my intuition to the test, too. As you’ll see when you read it, I was faced with a lot of unknowns as she encountered many unexpected situations. Coming up with the right questions to ask to guide the session in a productive direction was a challenge, and for a while I felt like we were moving in circles. Finally, toward the end, we had a breakthrough.
My method for listening to my intuition is to trust that the first question that pops into my mind is the question I need to ask. I had to lean heavily on that throughout our time together, and it led us to an enlightening outcome. Buckle up, this one is an adventure!
I started Sidra with the cloud technique I often use for clients, but she immediately took things in a different direction.
J: I'd like you to notice a cloud coming towards you. Do you see it?
S: No. I see faces.
J: Okay, can you tell me about the faces you see?
S: Wild animals?
J: Tell me more about the wild animals.
S: There’s a wolf running toward me. It's exciting, but not scary. Now a little animal. It’s a possum. Now a chimpanzee. Something cute like out of South America. Another little monkey-like thing. Big wild cat. Just running to me. I think somebody was with them originally…
J: Do you know who that was?
S: No… maybe me. (suddenly starts crying)
J: What are you feeling?
S: Like I was sad.
J: Why are you sad?
S: I don't know, I just got sad.
J: Notice where those feelings might be coming from and remember that you're perfectly safe to explore. Nothing can harm you.
S: Okay. The wolf is still running. His eyes look right into mine. It makes me sad. I think I can't catch him.
J: Do you want to catch him?
S: There’s a person behind us… I can’t see them. He’s trying to get to me so fast. (crying)
J: Does he get to you?
S: No.
J: Why not?
S: He’s just trying and I can't do it.
J: What's keeping him from getting to you?
S: I don't know.
J: Would you like to know?
S: I wanted him to come to me.
J: Why is it important that he comes to you?
S: Because I know him.
J: How do you know him?
S: I knew him before. I missed him.
J: Would you like to go back to when you knew him before?
S: Mm hmm… Okay.
J: Follow your connection, that energy that you have with this wolf. Follow it back to its origins when you knew him before. When you've arrived, just let things take shape around you, finding yourself in that new memory—that old memory. Let me know what you see.
S: Eyes. Eyes.
J: Tell me more about the eyes.
S: They're like in my eyes. I can't see them because they're like in my eyes.
J: Tell me more about this. What are you feeling? What else do you notice?
S: (no longer crying) I don't know.
J: Are you with that wolf?
S: No, nothing now.
J: Nothing at all?
S: No.
J: Do you notice anything around you?
S: No.
J: Where would you like to go from here?
S: To the beginning.
J: And where's that?
S: I don't know. I think it's a desert.
J: Are you at the desert?
S: No, jungle-y… woods.
J: Would you like to stay in the woods or would you like to go to the desert?
S: I don't know.
J: What feels right to you? Or what feels the most intriguing?
S: I don't know.
J: Are you in the woods right now?
S: Mm hmm, there's lots of leaves.
J: Is anybody with you?
S: I can feel someone but I don't see anyone.
J: People or animals or both?
S: I don't know if there's a difference.
J: Okay. And what are you?
S: Lights I think… Lights or water or something. I don't see… I don’t know.
J: Can you tell me about yourself?
S: I'm just there.
J: What do you look like?
S: Hmm… bright, I think? White?
J: Do you have a body?
S: I don't know.
J: What do you notice?
S: Something's trying to look at me. … Big eyes. Eyes.
J: Same eyes you saw before?
S: No.
J: Whose eyes are these?
S: Not really… real or… Trying to look.
J: Can you step away? Get a bigger picture of it?
S: Just eyes and a little mouth. No, nope…
J: Is it a person or animal or something else?
S: Something else. Keeps looking.
J: Does it talk?
S: No, it stares.
J: What happens next?
S: Nothing… Just going away.
J: Where's it going?
S: To like foggy, smoke, black, nothing.
J: Do you want to follow it or do you want to see what happens next?
S: No.
J: Would you like to stay here?
S: No.
J: Would you like to go to that desert you mentioned, or would you like to go somewhere else?
S: I'd like to go to the beginning.
J: Go to that beginning. Follow yourself to the beginning. And let me know when you get there, and what you see or notice or experience.
S: Just kind of a hole… of light.
J: Can you tell me more about that hole?
S: Mmm… Just dark around it.
J: And what are you?
S: Looking…
J: How are you feeling?
S: I don't know what it is.
J: Do you want to find out?
S: Mm hmm.
J: Go ahead and find out. You know what to do. Follow your curiosity.
S: Just lots of eyes all the time.
J: What do you think those eyes are? What are they trying to tell you?
S: (suddenly crying hard again) They want me to do something for them. I don't know what I'm supposed to do for them. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do for them! They want me to help. What am— what am I supposed to do?
J: Can you ask?
S: They just want me to help.
J: Do you?
S: I want to.
J: What kind of help do they need?
S: I don't know.
J: Did something happen to them?
S: No.
J: Is something in danger?
S: I don't know.
J: I'd like you to invite somebody in who has the answers that can tell you what you can do to help.
S: I want someone to help. Help me, help, help…
She was very distraught and crying very hard. I invited her to ask for help and gave her the suggestion that someone was coming to help her, inviting her to notice their presence and allow them to comfort her.
S: What do I do? The big-eyed one thing that's not people or animals eyes got little… It wants to touch me..
J: Is that okay?
S: Yes.
J: Then what happens?
S: I feel better.
J: Good. Do you know what to do to help?
S: No.
J: Is somebody with you that can help give you that answer?
S: I don’t know…
J: Is this the beginning that you wanted to go to?
S: Uh, I think so. I can't tell if I'm up high or down low. I think I might be looking up, but maybe I'm looking down…
J: What would it mean if you were looking up or down?
S: I don't know.
J: Do you need to know?
S: It would be nice to know.
J: What can you do when you know?
S: Help them. (crying again) Help all of them! Help all of them.
J: What do they need help with?
S: I don't know… They just want me. And I want to do it. (sobbing)
J: I’d like you to take a nice deep breath.
S: They need stuff, but I don't know. I can't tell if they're up or down. I think they're above me and want me to reach and help.
J: How can you get there?
S: I don't know.
J: What does it look like around you?
S: Nothingness.
J: What are you? Do you have a body?
S: I can feel myself like it is now, relaxed.
J: Go ahead and still yourself. Just trust that the answers will come to you. Allow yourself to calm, be open. In that calmness you can find the answers. Trust that you have an inner knowing.
S: (pained voice) What do you want? Tell me, tell me what you want?
J: Do you think the answer could be somewhere else?
S: I don't know. I want to help. Tell me what you want.
J: Is there anything else you can do here?
S: No.
J: You don't feel there's anything you can do? You don't know what to do to help them? -No- And you don't know how to find out what they want? -No- And is anybody there with you that can tell you what to do?
S: I feel like somebody is but I never see them…
J: Okay, maybe you can't see them, maybe it's not something to see. Can you feel them?
S: Yes.
J: Okay, tune into what that person feels like. Is it a person?
S: They don't like to be seen.
J: That's okay, you can feel them, that's all you need.
S: Okay. I’ll try not to look so hard.
J: Yeah, just feel. Tune in, feel what their presence feels like. What does it feel like?
S: They're interested in me.
J: Okay why is that?
S: I look different than them.
J: What do you look like?
S: Big. My hair.
J: What about your hair?
S: They don't have hair.
J: What do they look like?
S: Not much. Little. Funny mouth.
J: Are they people or animals or something else?
S: Something else.
J: Where do they come from?
S: The darkness.
J: Why are they here?
S: They don't want to be seen.
J: Why not?
S: Scared I guess.
J: What do they want with you?
S: Maybe make me do something… (crying again)
J: What do they want you to do?
S: I don't know.
J: How'd you get here?
S: I don't know.
J: Do you want to find out?
S: Yes.
J: Okay. I'd like your memory to take you back to where you were before you got here. Just allow that image to form in your mind.
S: Where did I come from?
J: Where were you right before you found yourself with these beings? Allow that memory to take shape around you. Maybe it comes to you in the form of feelings again. Maybe you see images.
S: Shapes.
J: What shapes?
S: Rocks… There's something like jagged edges.
J: Like mountains? Or smaller?
S: I don't know.
J: Tell me more about these rocks.
S: It's always dark. I can't see nothing.
J: It's okay. You can feel. What do you feel?
S: Quiet.
J: Is anybody with you?
S: I don't know.
J: Does this feel like home?
S: Nothing. Like nothing.
J: Are you still at the rocks?
S: I don't know. Outside like.
J: What's going on outside?
S: I'm trying to see light.
J: Do you see any light?
S: Not much.
J: Is there anybody around?
S: I feel like there is all the time. I don't see nothing though.
J: If you feel like somebody's around, is it somebody close? Somebody you know?
S: Behind my head, can't see 'em.
J: What are you?
S: Nothing yet.
J: Do you have a body?
S: Hmm, I feel like I have a head.
J: Is there a body attached to it?
S: Hmm, maybe.
J: Are you human?
S: Maybe… almost.
J: Tell me more about where you're at.
S: I don't know.
J: Look around. What do you see or what do you hear or what do you feel? Or would you like to move somewhere else?
S: Maybe I'm supposed to meet somebody.
J: Okay. Would you like to fast forward to when that person arrives?
S: Yeah.
J: All right, go ahead and do that. You're able to move forward. Time and space have no boundaries here. Fast forward time to when you meet that person that you're waiting for. Let me know when they arrive.
S: I just don’t know… nobody lets me see.
J: Maybe you don't need to. Does it feel like someone's with you?
S: All the time.
J: Is the person you were supposed to meet with you?
S: (deep sigh) I don't know. I wish I knew.
J: Why didn't you know?
S: Never see.
J: You can tune into how you feel. Don't rely on your eyes. Seeing is just one way of connecting. There are many, many other ways. Seeing isn't necessarily the way you need to connect today. Tune into the feeling of the presences all around you. Tune in specifically to that person that you were supposed to meet. Feel their energy. Feel their presence. There's no need to be able to see them. Feeling them is enough. Because you are energy and they are energy. That's all you need to know.
S: I think they're dead.
J: Okay. That they once had a body and they passed on?
S: Maybe.
J: Okay. And who were they when they had a body?
S: I don't know.
J: Okay. What were they here for?
S: Me to do something.
J: What is it that you need to do?
S: What is it that I need to do? (pause) What is it that I need to do? Feels funny when I say it…
J: Why does it feel funny?
S: (more forcefully) What is it that I need to do? Oh, they want something again from me. What is it that you want me to do? It makes me so sad…
J: Why?
S: I don't know why. I want to know. What do you want me to do? Why make me so sad? (crying again) I don't know why… What do you want?
I was concerned that I wasn’t able to ask the right questions to get her past the hangup with these creatures that so desperately wanted something from her. Finally, an idea struck me.
J: Can I ask you, maybe, what do you want to do?
S: Help them so they don't feel so sad. It makes me sad. (sobbing) I just feel how sad they are. I want to make them happy.
J: Is feeling sad too going to help them feel happy?
S: (pondering) I… I don't know.
J: Do you think your sadness can help them feel happy?
S: No.
J: Do you think maybe your happiness could make them feel happy?
S: (thoughtful) Yes…
J: How can you find happiness?
S: Helping them… So many need help… So much to do… (sobbing) They need help, but I don't know how. I know, but I want to help them.
J: Do you believe that you can?
S: Yes.
J: Do you believe that you know how?
S: I think they tried to tell. They're above me now, I know, I'm below them, but they want to tell me stuff. I don't know what it is, I just want to know. (still sobbing)
J: I'd like you to find a sense of calm and stillness in yourself. It's when you're calm you have a better ability to listen.
S: Okay, I suppose… I just feel it.
J: Yeah, I'd like you to give them their feelings back, and keep your feelings for you.
S: There's so many of them, wanting stuff from me.
J: Can you help them better if you stay in control of your feelings?
S: Just one at a time. Not so many.
J: Ask them to come one at a time.
S: One at a time.
J: And allow just one to come forward.
S: Just one.
J: Allow just one to take shape. The others just fade into the background.
S: Just one. Let me see you.
J: Let yourself feel that one. You don't have to see them if they don't want to be seen.
S: Okay.
J: Trust that you can feel them. What does that one feel like?
S: Heavy.
I saw this as an opportunity to help release some of the stress she had built up so far.
J: Heavy? Imagine yourself feeling light.
S: Okay.
J: Imagine what it's like to feel lighter.
S: Okay.
J: Weight lifting off of you.
S: It's so hard to get up there.
J: You don't have to get up there. You can be right where you're at. Be right where you are. It's okay to be right where you are. Allow yourself to feel light. So you are light.
S: Like a feather light…
J: Like a feather.
S: Not so heavy.
J: Allow your breath to just guide all the weight out of you as you exhale. Imagine you're inhaling light, nothing but pure light, imagine yourself glowing.
S: (breathing)
J: Light, beaming. Light, weightless.
S: It’s sparkly…
J: Yeah. I'd like you to think of something you're grateful for. Something simple, it doesn't have to be anything big.
I really like to push gratitude when I can. Gratitude and stress cannot coexist, so taking moments to feel grateful for something can significantly reduce stress.
S: Sunsets. Sunrise.
J: Imagine the gratitude of just sitting and enjoying the sun. Do you feel the gratitude that you get to enjoy the sun's beauty?
S: Yes, and the moon, the stars.
I could hear in her voice that she was calming down quite a bit.
J: Enjoy the beautiful moon and stars. Feel grateful that you get to see them and experience them. Does that feel good?
S: So pretty and calming.
J: Good, I’d like you to remember tuning into that sense of gratitude will always bring you joy and lightness. And any time you feel heavy or scared or sad, all you have to do is think of something you're grateful for, like the sun or the moon or the stars. Let that gratitude fill you up until it turns into joy. With gratitude all there is to feel is joy and love.
S: There's so many eyes… looking at me all the time…
J: Do you think they want that sense of joy?
S: They… They want something from me all the time.
J: Is it easier to give that to them if you're feeling uplifted or lighter?
S: Yeah…
J: Go ahead and focus on gratitude then. If you start to feel their heaviness or their sadness,
I'd like you to transform—
S: (interrupting) Who are they?
J: I don't know, who are they?
S: I want to help them… (whimpers)
J: Can you do that by finding joy?
S: (deep breathing) I have to see the sun…
J: Can you help them to find something to be grateful for?
S: They need the sun. They need the light. They need the light! (crying) They just need the light!
J: Can you bring them the light?
S: (sobbing) Oh, I want to. There's just so much…
J: You can bring light to them.
S: I’ll try and get it all together… It makes me so tired trying to help.
J: And what can you do to bring yourself out of that tired feeling?
S: I just need a break.
J: Go someplace where you can take a break. Where can you go to take a break?
S: The sun. The sun.
J: Go ahead and go there. Let me know when you’ve arrived.
S: (breathing calms) Yeah. The water helps. Lots of water helps.
J: Tell me where you're at.
S: Water and sun. And dirt.
J: What are you doing now?
S: Getting a break.
J: Do you deserve that break?
S: Yes.
J: Good. You do.
S: I just want to stay in the water, in the sun. Nobody bothers me there. It's all sparkly. (breathing calms more)
J: Allow yourself to feel gratitude for this moment.
S: Yes. It's so nice in the sun. It's so bright.
J: Let me know when you feel rejuvenated, when you're ready to move into something else.
S: It’s better floating on the water, relaxing… the sun…
(long pause)
S: Okay.
J: How are you feeling?
S: Relaxed.
J: Good. Would you like to go somewhere else?
S: Not somewhere dark.
I ask her if she’d like to visit a past life, and she says yes. I guide her to close her eyes and when she opens them again to find herself in a place or with someone that can bring her the wisdom and understanding she needs..
J: As images emerge, go ahead and let me know what you see.
S: A window, I think.
J: Tell me more about the window.
S: I don’t know, it went away.
J: Now what do you see?
S: Light and dark moving. I think there's still a lot of eyes though… I think those eyes just keep going, following me.
J: Go ahead and just let them be. Just allow yourself to know that it doesn't matter what they need right now. You can find out later.
S: There's something with pointy ears. Probably that wolf… far away.
J: Where are you at right now?
S I don't know. In, like, stars.
J: You're in the stars?
S: Yeah, it's stars and sparkles… twinkling.
J: Do you have a body?
S: I don't know.
J: What do you feel like?
S: I'm not very heavy.
J: Where'd you come from?
S: (deep sigh) I guess here.
J: What are you doing here?
S: Waiting.
J: What are you waiting for?
S: I don't know.
J: What do you know? Tune in and allow the answers to come to you.
S: I guess I'm going to be told something.
J: What are you going to be told? What does it have to do with?
S: I don't understand.
J: What do you understand? Do you know what it's like to understand?
S: (moans) No, now I can hear traffic on the road too much.
J: Your physical body or in this memory?
S: It’s... it’s… it’s here. On the street outside.
It was completely silent at the time, but I think whatever caused her to come back to her body and her present awareness happened for a reason. It seemed to help reset her in a way.
J: There's actually no traffic right now. Where do you think the sound is coming from?
S: Whooshy sound.
J: Perhaps you needed to come back for a moment. Would you like to visit a different memory? S: Yeah.
I invite her to imagine the cloud again, and I give her the suggestion that any outside noises she hears will only relax her deeper. The cloud will transport her to wherever she needs to go. I also give her the suggestion that her mind is opening to answers, messages, and memories, and that she is relaxing deeper. When the cloud comes to a stop, I guide her to sink through the cloud and arrive in a memory of where her soul has been.
J: When you've arrived, let me know what you see.
S: (voice is very low and mumbly now) Arches… with points to the top of them.
J: What are they made of?
S: I don't know. Something hard.
J: What color are they
S: Gray.
J: How big are they?
S: (awed voice) Big…
J: What else do you notice around these arches?
S: Uh… Lights at the top.
J: What kind of light?
S: I don't know if it's real, or just sun.
J: And who are you? What do you look like?
S: Just me, I guess.
J: What are you wearing?
S: Not gloves…
J: What do your hands look like?
S: Just hands. Still sinking down.
J: What else do you notice around you?
S: Just sinking in the cloud.
J: What's waiting for you on the ground?
S: Haven't got there yet.
J: What do you think you’ll find when you do get there?
S: Peace.
J: Would you like to arrive there?
S: Yes.
J: Imagine you're on the ground. Do you still see those arches?
S: No.
J: What do you see?
S: I just feel the ground.
J: What's the ground feel like?
S: Like it won't move. It's hard, so hard. There's a little green light flashing.
J: Do you want to follow that green light?
S: It went away already. It's fast.
J: What do you think it was?
S: I don't know. It looked like a boomerang.
J: Is there anybody around? - No. - Are there any buildings?
S: No. Just me alone, always. But I feel somebody's around. I don't feel alone. I'm trying to see.
J: Is it the same person or the same people that you've felt around you before?
S: Probably. They got big eyes, big big eyes… big eyes.
J: What color are the eyes?
S: Black.
J: When's the first time that you've seen these?
S: Oh, forever.
J: Are you one of them?
S: (thoughtful) Maybe…
J: Does that feel right?
S: Maybe. They want something. They need me to do something.
J: What do they want you to do?
S: I don't know.
J: Are they the same beings as before?
S: I think so. Always around. Watching.
J: Are they still sad?
S: They're not the sad ones. The sad ones are up high in the… up higher. I can't reach them.
J: That's okay. Let's pay attention to the other ones that are with you right now. What do they want?
S: Watch me.
J: What's going to happen if they watch you? Can they learn something?
S: (thoughtful) Oh... What do they want to learn?
J: Do you think they want to learn?
S: Oh… I don't know. I've never known that…
J: Does that feel right?
S: Yeah… That makes better, better thought…
J: So if they can learn by watching you, maybe you don't have to do anything but just be?
S: Yeah, that's better.
J: Okay, What do you want to be?
S: Happy.
J: Do you remember how to be happy?
S: (starts crying again) Yeah, it's hard sometimes.
J: It is. Remember that just thinking of something that you're grateful for is a simple way to be happy in the moment.
S: Yeah, 'cause if I'm not happy, (starts sobbing) I let everybody down.
J: It's okay. They're responsible for being happy themselves, right? - Yeah. - Yeah, you're responsible for being happy for you. - Yeah. - Yeah. And how can you do that?
S: Being grateful helps. For the sun. I get to see it. I like to feel the sun. They can't feel the sun. (sobs harder) They can't see it.
J: If you are one of them, how are you getting to see and feel the sun and they're not?
S: They want me to do it for them. I can't do it for everybody.
J: Can you do it for you? - Yes. - Why don't you do it for you and just let them watch? Can you do that? - Okay. - Okay, do it for you. Feel the sun. Knowing they’re watching, and you don’t have to do anything else, but just be. Because they're learning from you by watching you, right? - Okay. - You don't have to do anything for them. You just have to do it for you. Do for you what makes you happy. And they're watching.
S: Will you help me?
J: Okay. You feel the sun?
S: A little bit.
J: Happiness is an energy that transmutes all around you. Something that spreads all on its own. It's not anything that you have to do. It's just something you have to be and feel. You can't make anybody or anything happy by doing anything. Anybody simply being in your presence while you're feeling happy can help them to feel happy.
S: Even if they live somewhere else?
J: Mm hmm. All you have to do is focus on yourself and your happiness.
S: Okay.
J: And that happiness can spread to others. - Okay. - Can you do that? - Okay. - When you forget–
S: (interrupting) They're all dead aren't they? (sobbing again) They're all dead! Are they really dead? They're all dead. They're all dead, I think.
J: Are their bodies dead?
S: Yes, I think so. They don't want to be. They don’t… That's what they want from me. They want me to make them alive again—I can’t do it…
J: You gotta make yourself happy. Are they watching you?
S: They're just all above me all the time.
J: Where'd they come from?
S: I guess I don't know… one time, I knew them maybe. I don't know. They think they know me. They want to know me.
J: Why do they want to know you?
S: So I can help them feel better.
J: Can you let them know that they have to make themselves feel better?
S: They need to go. They need to go and do something to help themselves feel better. I can't do it.
J: That's right. Tell them that.
S: Go, go! I helped you. Go help yourself feel better! You can go find the sun.
J: That's right. Did they hear you?
S: Yeah, they’re separating. Go find your sun.
J: You’re not responsible for them.
S: No. They need to go and find their sun.
J: But you can't do it for them. - Yeah. - So you keep finding your sun.
S: Yeah, I'm putting my sun in the middle. They can see it, but they have to see it first to see me, they have to see that sun.
J: Yeah. And they saw you do it, and they can learn from you.
S: (deep breathing) What's it mean? They just want sun.
J: They can do that themselves.
S: I just have to have sun around me all the time.
J: Yeah, and you just created it, right?
S: Yeah. It's like I'm glowing. I can give them some glow stuff and they’ll stop bothering me....
J: Remind them that it's their responsibility to find that themselves.
S: It might make them feel bad.
J: Well that's up to them. You have to take care of you. You're not making them feel bad.
S: Go somewhere else and find some sun, not just me.
J: Yeah. Let me know when they've all gone.
S: It's a lot lighter now. (sigh) It feels better. I just have to keep sunny. It can't get dark.
J: And what about the other beings that were watching you? Where are they now?
S: Always watching. Always…
J: Do they want anything from you?
S: Just to watch me, and always on the sides, behind, watching…
J: And where did they come from?
S: Beginning.
J: Were you one of them?
S: I… I don’t know…
J: What was the beginning?
S: Dark.
J: And then what?
S: Huh. (mumbles) Beginning…
J: What came after the dark?
S: Eyes were first… Maybe something with a triangle or a point. I don't know what that is.
J: Would you like to know?
S: It's just some kind of light or something. Just keep looking at me.
J: Just pay attention to you. - Okay. - Let's watch. Focus on you. - Okay. - And what do you do next?
S: I guess whatever they want me to do.
J: What do you want to do?
S: Be happy.
J: You know how to do that. What would you like to do next?
S: Maybe move somewhere else.
J: Okay. Go ahead and do that. Where would you like to move to? Would you like to explore a past life?
S: Sure.
J: Go ahead and move there. You can either get back onto the cloud or just close your eyes.
S: They're still watching.
J: Is that okay?
S: They'll never leave, will they?
J: If they're not harming anything, just let them watch. You go on. Do what you need to do.
S: I'm going to go in that tunnel.
J: Okay. Tell me about the tunnel.
S: It’s got slick sides.
J: Where does this tunnel lead?
S: I’m gonna find out, I’m gonna see.
J: Okay. Let me know when you get there, or what you notice along the way.
S: Uh… (mumbles) I can't go anywhere.
J: Why not?
S: It keeps turning.
J: Why are you in this tunnel?
S: It's the only place to be.
J: How'd you get here?
S: I followed something.
J: What did you follow?
S: I don’t know… Stuff floating in the tunnel.
J: What is it?
S: It's too dark to see.
J: Is anybody else with you?
S: No, I don't think so.
J: Would you like to keep moving through the tunnel, or would you like to fast forward to when you get to the end of it?
S: I wanna get in it. I'm tired of trying.
J: Why are you trying?
S: Can't see. It's too dark.
J: Can you create the light?
S: Oh… Try…
J: You did it before.
S: (heavy sigh) I'm just tired.
J: Why are you tired?
S: (exhausted) Just done a lot of stuff.
J: Do you need to build your energy back up?
S: Yeah.
J: Do you know how to do that?
S: No.
J: What's something that relaxes you, rejuvenates you?
S: Water.
J: Go to the water.
S: It's green. Oh, they're looking at me again.
J: Maybe they want you to be happy.
S: They don't smile though.
J: Are they just watching?
S: Yes.
J: What are they?
S: Like big bugs.
J: Where are they from?
S: The darkness, the beginning.
J: Do they watch other people?
S: I don't know. I think they're just mine.
J: Do other people have them?
S: I don't know.
J: Why are they yours?
S: From the beginning, they've been with me. They're the first ones.
J: Are they here to help you? Or just watch?
S: Don’t know… I wish somebody would help me.
J: Can you ask them?
S: They can help me? They never talk.
J: Can you sense anything from them?
S: Just watch. Just want to know things.
J: Do you feel you have guides?
S: Yes.
J: Where are they at right now?
S: All around me.
J: Tune into them. What are they like?
S: Comforting. Always wanting to tell me stuff.
J: Can you hear what they’re wanting to tell you?
S: I wasn't listening.
J: Why not?
S: I was trying to see stuff.
J: Well try to listen instead. What happens when you listen?
S: Something about oceans and swirly water.
J: What about it?
S: There was a lot of it.
J: Where? Or when?
S: I guess when they were there, right? Just water… going in a circle clockwise.
J: What's special about this water? Or what's important about it?
S: It's like life. The beginning.
J: Why are they showing you this?
S: Because I can feel it. So I can feel it. Feels good.
J: Is it building you back up?
S: (happy) Yeah.
J: Do you feel tired anymore?
S: A lot better now. This swirling water turns and turns.
J: Are your guides still with you?
S: Maybe in the water, because I’m floaty feeling. I feel so much better.
J: Good. Do they have any messages for you?
S: Do you have any messages for me? (pause) Just lots of water. Maybe I go to the water. I should go to the water.
J: What happens when you do?
S: I haven't got there.
J: Go ahead and go there.
S: What water am I supposed to go to though?
J: What water do you want to go to?
S: They tell me water. It's water.
J: Is water healing to you?
S: Yes.
J: Maybe they're just reminding you that when you need to feel healed just go to the water.
S: Yes. The water and the sun and nobody wants stuff from me there.
J: Do they take care of you?
S: Yeah.
J: Do you have any questions for them while they're here with you?
S: No. They'll tell me as I need to know.
J: Yes they will. Is there anything else you'd like to know while you're here? Anything else you'd like to do or see before you come back?
S: No, I like the water.
J: When you come back to your body, you're going to take that feeling with you that you're getting from the water, that feeling that you get from the sun.
S: And all the sparkles.
J: It's always with you. And whenever you feel heavy or sad, go ahead and remember what it feels like to be in the water, the sun, the sparkles. Feel gratitude for it. And know that you can feel healed and uplifted every time. Are you ready to come back?
S: Uh huh.
That was certainly an adventure, right? After talking to Sidra after the session she believed that the eyes represented her people-pleasing, all the help she tried to give and all she tried to do for others that she just couldn’t. I had picked up on this during the session and tried to guide her toward recognizing that she’s responsible for her own happiness, not anybody else’s. She also had a thought that those eyes represented her parents in a way, because they made her feel child-like. We didn’t dig deeper into that concept, but she did at least leave the session feeling stronger about prioritizing her own happiness, knowing that that is what will ultimately help others the best.
For me as a hypnotherapist it was easy to get caught up in the spiral she found herself in, asking questions from a more neutral standpoint rather than a productive one. When I reoriented myself to ask more productive questions, like what does she want to do and how can she make herself happy, rather than them, the session started moving in a more positive direction. This was an excellent session that put me back in the student’s seat, which is something I always welcome! We’re never finished learning…