The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners.

by Katherine Zimmerman

I have personally experienced over 20 surgeries. Many of them have occurred since I became a hypnotherapist so I would like to share some of what I’ve learned about how to accelerate physical healing.

One of the keys to accelerating physical healing is visualization, by itself or in combination with hypnosis. Visualization works because the subconscious does not know the difference between visualization and an actual event. As we know, the subconscious does not judge or analyze. That is the function of the conscious mind. The subconscious simply accepts what it is told. I have proven this again and again in accelerating my healing. Visualization has repeatedly accelerated my healing to a point where my doctor was amazed. Notice that I did still see a doctor. And because I believe in the mind/body connection, I also continued to exercise (when physically possible) and ate nutritious foods. Visualization is not a cure-all, but it is an incredibly powerful tool in healing.

Visualization works whether you believe in it or not. It does, however, work more effectively and more quickly when we do believe. Its effectiveness is also increased when we are in a hypnotic state–either occurring naturally just before sleep or upon waking, or induced through hypnosis.

My Story: The Bone Glue Visualization

A few months after I left my “day job” I broke my right femur. Although it is the biggest bone in the body, breaking it was not all that hard. Among other things, it was an incredible inconvenience. I was determined to heal as quickly as possible so that I could get back to building my practice.

As soon as I got home from the hospital, I arranged to have a private hypnotherapy session with a colleague. I had two goals for this session. Short term, I wanted to relieve the pain and long term, I wanted to create a metaphor for mending the break quickly.

In hypnosis I was 100% pain free. In fact, the pain subsided automatically as I entered the trance. Pain is a double-edged sword. We tense our muscles when we are in pain, which makes the pain worse. The converse is also true. When we relax our muscles, we release or at least lessen the pain considerably.

My second goal was also easily attained. With my colleague’s assistance, I created a mental image that I could use during my daily self hypnosis sessions. My subconscious suggested a tube of “bone glue” that I could squeeze into the break every day. I could “see” the glue being absorbed into the break. I used this metaphor daily for about thirty days. Two days before my next doctor’s appointment I went into hypnosis as usual but was unable to use my bone glue image. My body/mind was saying that the visual image was no longer necessary. My accelerated healing was validated when the doctor saw my next x-ray. She said, “You’re making new bone like gang busters! What are you doing?”

As a consequence of this accelerated healing, I was allowed to put weight on my leg sooner than originally predicted and was out dancing in record time.

Unfortunately, I stopped there. If I had thought out the healing process more thoroughly, I would have continued with restoring my muscles, nerves and tendons to their natural state. Since I skipped over that part, I have spent many hours in the gym and on the dance floor rebuilding my muscles. It is important to take a look at how all the systems in your body are affected by the illness, surgery or injury, and address each and every one.

I also used a metaphor successfully years ago when my knee gave me trouble. When I was in my early 20s I had surgery that eventually caused my knee to wear out. I did two things to keep it working. I exercised the muscles surrounding the knee and when I experienced any pain I used a visualization to clear it up. This visualization also began during a private hypnotherapy session.

In hypnosis I “saw” the inside of my knee as a cave. When I was in pain the cave was dark, dank, wet and gloomy. It was not a place that I would enter willingly. To relieve the pain I simply imagined cleaning out the cave. I brought in a scrub brush, soap and water and sometimes friends to assist.

Once the cave was clean, I imagined a window and sunlight streaming through it. I planted grass and flowers. Within two days the pain was gone. Does my visualization make any sense? No. This was a challenge for me in the beginning because I am very analytical and wanted to know why visualization worked. Down the road I was able to let it go because it worked and I was comfortable. Clients won’t care either as long as their condition improves.

When working with clients to help them accelerate physical healing I think that the key is to allow the imagery to come from them. If a client is stuck, I will certainly suggest that they adopt my imagery. They usually say “no” to my ideas but then magically come up with their own.

Key Points
▪    To lessen or eliminate pain, use trance and visualization.
▪    Let your subconscious suggest an image that is effective for you.
▪    Use the image until your subconscious is no longer willing to conjure it up, or until your healing is complete.
▪    Don’t stop too soon. Evaluate whether other related systems in your mind/body could also benefit from visualization.
▪    Make sure that the pain no longer serves any purpose.

Katherine Zimmerman is an internationally-known author and speaker, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Reiki Master, and EFT Practitioner. She is the Director of the California Hypnotherapy Academy offering CE courses and an independent study program. https://trancetime.com