Today, more people than ever before are struggling with irrational fears and phobias that infringe on their quality of life. While some phobias are more common than others, the one thing they all share is that they originate in our subconscious minds. Our subconscious mind is where we store our oldest memories of early traumatic experiences, experiences that can trigger intense emotional reactions to normal everyday tasks.
Because they are hidden away in our subconscious, most of us are completely unaware of our triggers, let alone the long-forgotten memories that created them. But there is hope. Through hypnosis, our mind can relax into a deep trance-like state that can allow us to access our repressed subconscious memories. Over time, hypnosis can even rewrite the neural pathways in our brains that our subconscious triggers use to keep us afraid. Hypnosis can help us replace our negative thoughts about flying with positive ones.
What is the difference between a fear and a phobia?
Fear is one of your most primal emotions, and your ability to feel fear is critical to your survival. Fear is what tells you to move when a car is speeding towards you head-on. Fear tells you to back away from the edge of a tall cliff. Fear heightens your ability to focus and speeds up your reaction times, which allows you to get out of harm’s way when you’re in danger. A phobia, on the other hand, is an emotional reaction to a perceived event. To put it simply, a phobia is when you feel afraid of something that hasn’t happened yet. Phobias are the result of deeply ingrained neural pathways in the brain that produce a fear response, despite the absence of any real danger. Depending on how early certain neural pathways were formed can affect how long it takes to reprogram them, but hypnosis can help to initiate and accelerate the process greatly.
How fear of flying impacts your quality of life
A phobia of flying can have severe consequences for your quality of life. A fear of flying can cause you to miss out on countless social and professional opportunities, which can result in a loss of income and a loss of connection to the people you care about the most. Many desirable, high-paying jobs require employees to fly from location to location regularly. You probably pass up great job opportunities all the time, that you are probably more than qualified for, simply because flying is a requirement.
You might also be losing touch with certain family members who live too far to drive to. You probably promised to visit in the past, even made plans to, but found yourself canceling only a week or so before because the thought of flying paralyzed you with fear. A rapid heart rate, sweaty palms, shaking, even a full-blown panic attack, are just some of the symptoms you face when even considering stepping onto a plane. If left untreated, these symptoms can lead to depression.
There’s rarely a single cause for your phobia of flying
The reasons why you developed your phobia of flying can be numerous. Maybe you had one frightening experience, like an emergency landing or severe turbulence in which the breathing masks were deployed. Some people develop their phobia after the birth of a child, while others inherit it intergenerationally after observing a parent’s intense fear of flying. Your phobia of flying may have developed from a combination of any of the above factors, or none of them at all. Many people develop fear and have no explanation for it.
How can hypnosis help me overcome my fear of flying?
Hypnosis works by relaxing you into a trance-like state and opening you to suggestions. The goal is to achieve deep relaxation while still awake. This allows you to access your subconscious mind while actively focusing on positive thoughts and overcoming negative ones. The more often you expose yourself to positive reinforcements through hypnotic suggestions, the higher the chance there is of overcoming your phobia of flying. If there are any deeply traumatic experiences that your subconscious has blacked out, hypnosis will help them to resurface. Though it may be uncomfortable at times, understanding and becoming aware of these underlying causes is critical to the process. Knowledge is power when it comes to conquering your phobias.
Can I overcome my flying phobia even though I’ve had it for years?
Yes! With the help of a good hypnotist, you can overcome a phobia you’ve had for many years, although the longer you’ve had it the more time it can take to overcome. You can also take small steps to overcome your phobia on your own. Try planning a trip for yourself that requires a very short flight, or one with several short connecting flights. This is what psychologists call exposure therapy, and in conjunction with hypnotic suggestions have shown to have a significant impact in overcoming a fear of flying.
Hypnosis allows you to recall your past traumas, and rewrite the subconscious script that is keeping you living in fear. Hypnosis will draw you into a state of deep relaxation and open you to positive suggestions about flying.