I have always felt a change in the air that begins when school starts and lasts all the way through the end of the calendar year. When I was growing up, this time of year was a time of excitement for me, cued up by the first day of walking into my new classroom. I haven’t been in school like that for years, and I have no children at home, but to this day, as I see the the children walking to the bus stop, ready to hit the books again, I can’t help but feel a giddiness that stays with me all the way through the holiday season. The air seems filled with magic every day.

There’s a term for this: associative regression (AKA revertigo). Though it is most known for the phenomenon we witness when someone we know starts to act like a younger version of themselves when around family or old friends, it can also happen with times of the year, dates, locations, smells, foods, and sounds (the latter three are also referred to as the Proust Effect). In my professional experience, it is all coming from the same place: dormant or resting neural pathways of the mind being triggered by an outside source to turn back on again. Upon sensing the outside stimuli, the pathways are activated again, and emotions from the past are involuntarily awakened.

Having happy feelings from the past suddenly show up in your life can be a lovely result of the above occurrence, but in some circumstances, unwelcome, very unpleasant sensations and emotions can be evoked by associative regression. You can probably think of at least one situation in life that seems to get to you more than it should. If the emotions triggered by a response are negative, it’s not always easy to control the feelings that come out simply by wanting them to go away or trying to think happy thoughts.

Sometimes the neural pathways of the mind have been so conditioned to act a certain way that they are stronger at times than our will to make things feel better.

When you are struggling with a situation that evokes negative feelings that seem out of your control and you're trying to find an effective solution, it’s time to look deeper at why your neural pathways continue to pattern the way they do. Answers can be found by exploring your life to determine the length of time these patterns have been going on consciously. Thus begins your journey to change and rebuild these patterns. However, to clear off the trigger, it’s important to find and release the moment that your brain programmed those feelings into existence, the event (large or small) that was the catalyst for the recurring pattern. This is done most easily when you utilize the power of the subconscious.

In hypnotherapy, we are able to ask the semiconscious mind to find the moment where the pattern first began, and it does a pretty impressive job of giving us the answers that lead to change.

In my practice, I find that many of these changes to the brain happen in very minute, barely-noticeable events that lurk somewhere in memories that very few of us would attribute to being the moment our minds started running differently. They can be things as small as the moment your five-year-old self felt pushed out of a group of siblings or the moment you dropped your ice cream cone on the ground for the second time and thought, “I ruin everything.”  Of course, they can also come from larger traumas as well. 

When you bring strong feelings together with thoughts about yourself and your environment, neurons fire and wire together with much more power. Stronger neural pathways will overtake old thought processes. The old pathways will become weak and will eventually atrophy to the point that you won’t use them much at all.

When enough emotion is attached to a newly introduced negative feeling, the label that you put on yourself and your temporary situation can become a permanent situation. In hypnotherapy, you see it for what it really is. You are able to challenge the old feelings and thoughts, reframe them with reality, and realize that you are no longer in that situation, thereby releasing yourself to experience a more free type of living. 

It is no surprise that I recommend hypnotherapy for this type of change. As your hypnotherapist, you and I can get right to the root of the problem—no monkeying around. However, if you are averse to hypnosis, you’re in good company; I used to be, too. But that’s a story for another day.

Hypnotherapy in my office is a very relaxing, healing experience where I do my best to help put you in touch with your inner self and recognize that you have more control over your mind than you realize. But if it is not for you right now and you still want to begin exploring your subconscious, there are other therapies and treatments you can utilize: breathwork, yoga nidra,  ketamine treatments, and other alternative medicines can also offer you a way into this sacred space of the brain. 

I also recommend trying some self-hypnosis. Lie down and breathe deeply; you may consider listening to a yoga nidra recording to help yourself relax as deeply as possible without sleeping. Imagine the feeling or predicament you are looking to change and then ask yourself, “When is the first time I felt this way?” Let your mind trace back. You may be surprised at what you find. 

In hypnotherapy, we do the work together to help resolve that point, then let your mind explore and implement new options. What could it feel like instead and what will it feel like now? 

I wish you success and restoration as you explore, discover, and release the feelings that you recognize are no longer working for you. As you continue this practice, your journey forward will be so much more simple and clear. 

If you would like more information on hypnotherapy, please visit balancedmodernhypnotherapy.com, text or call Erin at 435-429-2560, or email her at [email protected].