A healthy mind = a healthy body. Hypnotherapist Sapna Uttam walks us through the maze of the mind and then some

MON_2302 (1).jpgCliché as it sounds, the mind is a very, very powerful tool. It is the cradle of our self-awareness, complex behaviour, experiences, and emotions. It is also a repository for our memories.

While it is widely believed that only 10 per cent of the brain is employed, the untapped subconscious is 6,000 times or up to 90 per cent more powerful than the conscious mind. Subconscious mind.JPG 

It can therefore be said that a positive, healthy mind (we’re talking about the 90 per cent here) is directly correlated to overall physical health and, in more ways than one, it possesses the key to healing. If left untreated, an imbalanced or “sick” mind can hamper the process to not only an emotional, but even physical recovery.

powerful minds.JPGFact: We all have our demons within, our crosses to bear. This could be a childhood trauma that has since involuntarily been ignored and swept under the rug. Perhaps it is the skirting of a deep-rooted issue or insecurity that stemmed from the growing pains of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. It could be a phobia or fear. 

Disharmony and toxic lifestyles are also culprits to contend with. Say, family, marital, financial or work-related stressors that, while one may be aware of such, peers and society set the expectation to just “deal” and continue business as usual.

These traumas (whether big, small, or, in the mind’s eye, exaggerated even) vary in the degree of not only severity or gravity but in our individual coping mechanisms. Many a time, the individual may not even be aware of the trauma and its ramifications to emotional or physical health,  let alone how to approach it.  

Enter the hypnotherapist. 

A hypnotherapist, I hear you say? 

Well, yes.

Not to be confused with hypnotism, hypnotherapy, explains seasoned hypnotherapist Sapna Uttam, “is a form of therapy that accesses the subconscious mind. All behaviour is governed by beliefs, and we work with the beliefs you have accumulated in the subconscious mind. Not only beliefs, but memories, memory blocks, buried events, trauma and many more.”

Adds Uttam, who has is certified by both the Ekagra Karma Apara Antara (EKAA otherwise known as the Integrated Clinical Hypnotherapy Foundation) and the International Medicine and Dentistry association (IMDHA),

“This form of therapy will help you realise how your mind works and how you can shift things that you have programmed about yourself in the past and create a way to better your life and thus your health.”

While studying under the EKAA curriculum, Uttam, who has also taken courses in Applied and Metaphor Psychology in Hong Kong recalls her professor telling the class, “You might be one’s last resort so you’d better get used to it.” 

 Not one to be fazed, Uttam kept an open mind. Since she started practicing hypnotherapy, Uttam has helped people with mental illness such as depression, anxiety, cancer, eczema, liver problems, diabetes, inner child healing, health issues, eating disorders, trauma, fear and much more. 

Hypnotherapy, as per Uttam, taps into the subconscious which is used in our day to day activities. Studies on the human mind have been proven that as a child, our minds are like sponges. She further explains that everything we see, hear, encounter and experience gets absorbed deep in our subconscious minds, and continues to influence us behind the scenes for much of our lives. This subconscious influence can either be a blessing or a burden, depending on how it drives our thoughts, emotions and beliefs.

Hypnotherapy thus takes us back, enabling us to confront our earliest, most impressionable years and allows us to delve deep. “Hypnotherapy digs in and releases unwanted emotions like fear, self-doubt and negativity and it scrubs it from our subconscious mind. The first step to achieving that is knowing exactly what childhood experience or experiences are adversely affecting us and why,” Uttam further expounds.

But the digging doesn’t end at the subconscious. There is more to be unearthed. Essentially, at the core of hypnotherapy, Uttam helps people understand the metaphysical part of their diseases and illnesses. 

“One should know that poor eating habits, stress, etc., aren’t the only causes of illnesses but that emotions, too, contribute and is the biggest factor as to why one gets sick. Every illness has a metaphysical meaning, be it mental, emotional, and/or physical and it is my job to help people understand this on every level possible,” she points out, before adding, “As a person who believes in nutrition I believe that a disease in the body is a calling out to look within. I encourage clients to have an honest look within and work through it whilst undergoing treatment and shifting their diets accordingly towards a healthier lifestyle emotionally, physically, mentally, and even spiritually.”
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     What triggered, or rather, motivated the confident albeit altruistic crusader to want to take up such a niche practice started with, as would be expected, her own personal experience. One that certainly isn’t easy to share to this day. “I started remembering bits and pieces from my past – from my childhood to be more exact – and those memories were coming to me like flashbacks and I didn’t understand what was happening. But, I understood the emotions attached to it and I didn’t know how to deal with it but I knew I couldn't ignore it,” she recalls. Hand.jpeg

“No matter how much I vented,” she continues, “it never toned down. I have always believed in the mind and body link and to ignore such emotions is to let them fester, which will only lead to disease later on in life. That was not something I wanted for myself. I was not interested in taking pills to suppress my emotions so I wanted an organic way of dealing with my issues and that landed me in Hong Kong to do my sessions. In the process of doing this I was very interested in bringing the said curriculum to Manila as I knew I wanted to help the way I was helped.”

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 Uttam has been practicing in Manila for a couple of years now and is beyond gratified and fulfilled to see the individuals, now friends, that she’s helped, changing their lives in ways they’d never even imagine. “I find this method to be more organic and more hands-on with your own progress,” she shares. “Bottom line is they come to me to look for comfort and solace hoping that they would eventually rid themselves of their suffering and in the long run be whole again.” Happiness_2.jpeg

So you’ve weighed up the pros and cons of Western Vs. Eastern medicine. You’ve paid a visit to a natural and holistic doctor. You’ve given homeopathy and acupuncture a whirl. When you’ve tried all possible alternatives, and you still haven’t cracked the problem – why not give hypnotherapy a try?

 

 

For more information, contact Sapna Uttam at hypno8@icloud.com