I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder when I was entering into grade 4 after my mother had noticed that my ability to focus, learn new things, complete quality work, and the higher need for a lot of reminders she began to ask my teachers questions. Questions that lead to meI repeating grade 2 and that’s when we began the testing in school, and then out of school as well.

I will never forget Dr.Gus. I had never been to a psychiatrist before and I was so nervous. All I could think about was that I felt vulnerable and scared that a stranger would tell me there was something wrong with me or that I might need pills to fix myself as though he would somehow have x-ray vision into my soul. Much to my surprise, he was a gentle-natured goofball of a man, he had a wonderful warm smile and wore jeans in his office! His great sense of humor really helped me to begin to feel at ease. Sitting down to talk with him I just melted, especially after the first 3 sessions I finally felt like someone could see me a little clearer and was rooting for me more than I was able to root for myself.

The testing showed that I was indeed distracted, that my reaction times were slower, processing took longer and the memory retention of information was harder. ADD just found its newest member. While I have qualms with the findings as an adult now with 2020 vision the diagnosis changed my life at that moment, it could have been the worst moment ever and had the ability to define me and my destiny. I was just a shy girl sitting in my seat waiting for what felt like it could be an ending to my dreams before they even began. Dr.Gus was kind, and encouraging, while he treated plenty of adults with ADHD, most of which used regular therapy, in tandem with Ritalin which was all the craze then, he agreed that it would likely be more than what I truly needed.

After all, the major symptom I was having was insomnia, it would be just about time for bed and my mind would just be ramping up on all of the passing events of the day and tomorrows list of anxieties and things to worry about before I even managed to get my eyes closed. The next morning would come and I would feel like I had stared at the ceiling restlessly all night, tossing and turning, for certain the blackboard in the front of the class wasn’t going to be able to hold my attention mid day when my brain was tired and needed rest!

Dr.Gus did something that wasn’t regularly prescribed, he gave me a cassette tape, black, with nothing on the label, truly unremarkable in appearance. He recommended that I listen every-night before bed, that any time I wanted to try to get myself to sleep that I spend the nearly an hour (yes both sides of the tape!) listening to the recording. He recommended that I try to see it as I was listening within my body, and even if I was still thinking that it was okay and it would still work.

I was so bored those first few times that yes I absolutely went to sleep afterwards! Sometimes before the casset tape was even ready for side two and the obnoxious clicking woke me up. None the less I had found some relief and so I kept on listening, I listened every-night for that first week. The second week I stopped listening because I had the whole thing commended to memory, right down the relaxing sensations my body had become conditioned to experience. By week three, I successfully was guiding myself into a hypnotic state, showing my mind, body, and spirit what I needed from it and getting to sleep in less than 10 minutes every night.

To this day, when I head to bed I’m consistently asleep within 5 minutes of my head reaching the pillow much to my spouse’s frustration. I’m now nearly 37 years old, and these tapes were gifted to me when I was 13, that’s over 24 years ago! Don’t get me wrong, there have been times of deep depression, anxiety, excitement, fear where I’ve had to use self-hypnosis progressive muscle relaxation to achieve sleep at times, but never again did I have to use the tape. What happened was that I learned a new skill and applied it as needed for the rest of my life, and there no fear that I wouldn’t get it, or remember it, no anticipation in learning it, heck I didn’t even know what it was called, it happened naturally and easily.

When did I figure out that I had been hypnotized before and that it worked for me? When I was already enrolled at SWIHA for the Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner Certificate Program. I couldn’t wait to become a coach and use hypnotherapy, mindfulness techniques to create a better life for myself, my family, and my clients. By that time I had experienced hypnosis a second time(which I thought was my first) and also had great success which lead me to believe that I could become a coach, and the hypnotist to help others obtain the same great successes, and spoiler alert I totally have!

It was my first class, Hypnotherapy-101 and the very first discussion question was about what myths I had heard and believed about hypnosis. I had already completed watching the week’s work of video presentations and reading assignments, I was so engulfed that I even skipped ahead! My excitement, wonderment, and zest to learn helped me arrive at the ‘AHA Moment’ that I had been using Progressive Muscle Relaxation for sleep for years! By that time 20 years! My old ability finally had a name, and now I began to understand why and how hypnosis works!

Have you tried hypnosis? What was it like for you? I would love to hear your stories and experiences!