One of the most powerful things about hypnotherapy is the utilization of a technique called ‘Inner Child Healing’. This technique allows us to gently get to the very root of a problem. Not just the surface symptoms or the most recent flare-up, but the original moment something got planted in the mind or body like a seed. And just like a weed in the garden, if we only clip it halfway down the stem, it might look gone for a little while, but it will usually keep growing back.
When we use hypnosis to go right to the source of that feeling or belief, we can pull the whole thing out from the roots. That’s where real healing lives.
Let’s say someone comes to see me because they have a fear of flying. They tell me about a time they experienced bad turbulence and how terrifying it felt, so naturally they assume that’s where the fear started. But during hypnosis, we don’t just talk about the fear. We go inward, with kindness and curiosity, and what sometimes happens is that their subconscious brings them back to an entirely different moment in time. This process is called Inner Child Healing, or sometimes it is known as Regression.
Maybe, all of a sudden, they’re five years old again, playing hide and seek, and they remember hiding in a broom cupboard… and realising they can’t get the door open. Their little heart is racing. They feel trapped, alone, panicked. No one can hear them calling. And in that moment, a fear of small, enclosed spaces is born.
Fast forward to adulthood, and sitting in a tight aircraft cabin with the doors locked and no control over the situation, that same panic rises. Not because the plane is dangerous, but because the body remembers what it felt like to be that little child in the cupboard.
When we revisit that memory in hypnosis, it’s not about reliving the trauma. It’s about gently meeting it with new understanding. We can comfort the child, offer them safety, explain that they were never truly abandoned, and that they were actually found and loved and safe all along. This kind of healing goes deep. And once the root is gone, the fear often releases completely.
Now, hypnotherapy doesn’t always involve inner child work. Every person and every issue is different. Sometimes the subconscious guides us somewhere else entirely. But when inner child work is called for, it can be a powerful way to shift the old story and make room for peace.
And the beautiful thing is, it’s all done with care, respect, and support. You’re not broken. Your mind is just trying to protect you the best way it knows how. Together, using this gentle practice of Inner Child Healing, we simply listen and observe the past in a new way. And from there, healing begins.
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