Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

December 1, 2019 By Admin

Quasi Self-Hypnotic Pain Relief

Quasi Self-Hypnotic Pain Relief

To be successful in this intervention you will have to let go of ego-based defensiveness and remain quite focused for quite some time. These are not easy things to do. DO NOT do this intervention if you are feeling highly vulnerable at this time, or if you are not working with a well-trained and experienced psychological health care provider.  If you are in therapy this might be a good intervention to do with your helper, that is if your helper feels confident and competent with this level of clinical intervention.  This is a long intervention, so it may be helpful to have your helper read the instructions to you. It may be a very good idea to share this with your healthcare provider/s to see if they think you should or should not do this intervention. It is quite OK to beak this intervention down into a couple shorter experiences. Here we go!

  1. While lying down in a comfortable positions complete several long, slow, deep breaths.
  2. Take another long, slow, deep breath; this time hold the exhalation to the count of 4-5.
  3. Close your eyes and be very gentle with yourself. Just rest and breathe calmly.
  4. For the next few minutes use conscious distraction to pay close attention to places in your body where you are not experiencing physical or emotional pain and suffering.  Focus strongly on the absence of pain.
  5. Now make an image of either a safe or happy place from your life experience. Do your best to expand the details of this image (colors, people, places, things, etc.). DO NOT get stuck in wishing for this experience again. Simply be with the experience and remain positively focused. If “poor me” sets in, the rest of this intervention will most likely not be helpful.
  6. Now take a closer analysis of the safe or happy place: What were you thinking? What were you feeling? What were you doing?
  7. In that happy or safe place in your imagination, notice what your senses were doing: What did you see? What did you hear? What did you feel? Were there any specific tastes or smells associated with the pleasant experience? What was your interoception like (internal feelings and sensations)?
  8. Now shift into trying imaginal numbing of the painful area of your in-body suffering. You may use an ice-pack to assist this process (no more than 15-20 minutes, never directly on your skin, and never if you have been told not to use ice).
  9. Now note the quasi-hypnotics. As you change the imagined shape of the pain, what do you notice? As you change the shape again, what do you notice? Now work on the size (larger or smaller, whichever feel better). As you work on the size, imagine your favorite color over the painful area and notice. As you notice the color, also notice if pain is more/less in the center of the area or on its periphery. Working from the center or the periphery, notice where the pain or suffering subsides. Where is that place? Be there! Concentrate!
  10. As you move on from these imaginary manipulations, bring your spiritual self to act on your behalf. Allow! Allow your spiritual self to support you in the reduction of your pain/suffering.
  11. Shift gently to any helpful relationship you now have or did have in the past. If in the past DO NOT lament; instead use the power of caring from that experience to support yourself here now. See the positive person.
  12. Now do your best to combine the image of the caring person’s face with your happy or safe place experience. This means you are sharing it with them, and that your memory will allow them to help you.
  13. Say “As I visit my safe/happy place I notice I am feeling less pain.”
  14. Say “As I feel slightly less pain, I notice I am feeling emotionally stronger.”
  15. Say “As I feel emotionally stronger, my sensation of pain is reduced.”
  16. Say “As I notice these improvements, I smile deeply to myself.” Smile now! Smile deeply!
  17. Say “As I smile and focus on my facial feelings, I feel less pain sensations.”
  18. Say “As I feel less pain sensations, I notice gentle, glowing white light all over my body.”
  19. Say “As I notice this healing white light, I also notice feeling less pain.”
  20. Say “As I experience the healing white light and less pain, I feel happier.”
  21. Say “As I feel happier, I breathe more freely and notice pain leaves my body on each of my exhalations.”
  22. Say “As I continue to breathe myself out of pain, smile, and feel more happiness – I feel less pain.”
  23. Now simply rest and smile – breathe in a self-loving manner. Let the pain leave on each exhalation. Just be there! Use the power of your mind to assist you.
  24. After a few minutes you can end and leave your lying position.
  25. You may want to keep a pain-reduction journal – note only positive changes in your efforts. Read the entries again later.
  26. I hope you found this helpful. May you be free from suffering – free from pain! Love yourself more!

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC  

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton SanghaChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon

Filed Under: Chronic Pain, Featured, Self Hypnosis Tagged With: CHRONIC PAIN RELIEF, SELF HYPNOSIS

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Using Creativity in Clinical Supervision Effective clinical supervision is a combination of hearable direction about clinical practice, gentle-direct leadership, clinical “Know-How,” evidence-based skills, complex psychodynamics, and the willingness to work with others on their developmental processes. There are risks involved. I have provided clinical supervision and consultation to other clinicians for 43 years without a […]

Attitudes of Gratitude Thoughts and Applications M. J. Ryan presents some interesting practices in the book, Attitudes of Gratitude (1999).  Here are some ideas. Hope you will practice some of them soon. As The 14th Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh suggest, we should always appreciate the preciousness and miracle of human life – our own life no matter what […]

 Poem on the Wind   I am quite pleased with my experience on BEING in the wind today.  This poem will suggest that you allow the wind to be a metaphor – even a fantasy – that allows your pain and suffering to be swept away by the endless, gentle, blowing wind of nature. We […]

In The Dhammapada the Buddha includes an important section on the topic of happiness.  How to be happy in a life of changing joy, suffering, and neutrality? How to be happy in a world of attachment/craving for desired pleasures and avoidance of all suffering?  Attachment, impermanence and unhelpful experiences – all cause suffering.  It is quite […]

More Psychoanalytic Gems – In an earlier post, I noted a list of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Gems, including a later post on D.W. Winnicott’s approaches to building a therapeutic alliance.  My general aversion to this form of therapy has more to do with its slowness and high costs than to its effectiveness. It is effective!  However, […]

Mindfulness, Movement, and Meditation Practices Meditation Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers some of the most helpful mindfulness, movement, and meditation instructions available today.  His themes here are about reducing your suffering, increasing your satisfactions, and expanding your happiness as a result. Please do not note that “I do not have time to do these things!” […]

Winnicott’s Ideas – Best Possible Clinical Alliance To develop and maintain a strong clinical alliance it is best to follow some of the well-known clinical advice on this topic.  Rogers, Kohut, Winnicott and many others have suggested just how to do so.  Here are some general clinical recommendations for enhancing the clinical alliance. Develop authentic […]

Mindfulness-Based Emotion Regulation The following emotional regulation practices (also called emotional balance skills) have been supported by over 2500 years of mindfulness training and current psychological research on human emotions.  These practices/skills are to be practiced before they are needed, and directly applied when they are needed.  Here is the list. 1) Practice noticing and […]

Consciousness, Emptiness, and Well Being This is an advanced post on the complex relationship among consciousness (awareness), emptiness, and well being. Readers with advanced understanding of Buddhist Psychology will recognize the inherent relationships among consciousness, emptiness, and well being and interactions with core Buddhist concepts and experiences such as happiness and suffering, impermanence, non-dual nature, […]

Chronic Pain and Doing Body Scanning Although doing body scans cannot fully relieve your pain, it may help you manage it better. If your pain is serious and chronic you need to work with a qualified pain management professional, who will use both psychological and medical interventions. Note that a recent issue of Consumer Reports reviewed […]

Self-Help Journaling – Two Methods Generally there are two forms of self-help journaling: writing about worries and concerns OR writing about joy and happiness. In my more than 35 years of clinical experience I have not found the former to be very helpful. Most people stuck in negative mood states are not easily able to […]

Trauma Informed Care – Avoidance Process Although more and more clinicians are learning about and using principles/practices of Trauma Informed Care, too few understand the behavioral dynamics of negative reinforcement in the avoidance of trauma-related cues (people, places, things, internal sensations, emotions and images). This post will give a very brief description of negative reinforcement […]

Psychoanalytic Gems – Even More D. W. Winnicott has made significant clinical contributions to both building therapeutic alliance and maintaining a positive, helpful focus in psychotherapy. Below I have noted various approaches to use in your therapy.  Use of these “gems” requires considerable knowledge and skill by the therapist.  Here is the list: Respect the […]

How to Offer Personal Tribute to Those Who Have Died The Four Noble Truths tell us sobering news. There is suffering, and impermanence of all things including us and our loved ones. Below I have listed several thing you can do to HONOR a person you have lost.  Here is the list. Recall a special […]

Self-Help in Mind-Body Medicine In this brief post we will review several specific ways that may improve your psychological and physical health. The post will be short, sweet, and simple to encourage participation. Here it is. Affirmation – “I am learning to love myself just the way I am.” Repeat this mantra sub vocally over […]

Mindfulness in the NFL Yes, mindfulness as part of sports psychology programming is being used in the NFL.  Yes, big and physically tough football players are being helped via a mindfulness component of sports psychology. There are some important roots here. Dogen, the famous ancient Japanese Buddhist meditation master, brought Chan Buddhism from China to […]

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way to Consciousness: Background A core teachings is that there are three ways of being: the fakir (master of the physical body); the monk (master of faith and feeling); and, the yogi (master of mind development).  A key goal is to KNOW yourself at the deepest levels.  To KNOW is to be, […]

Vipassana Meditation and Introduction Vipassana meditation, as taught by S. N. Goenka, has been practiced in India, Europe, the United States and in many other parts of the world. There are various claims for effectiveness when used as a form of meditative treatment with various populations (often correctional and substance using populations); however, there is […]

Yoga Nidra and Your Inner Peace Yoga Nidra will allow you to relax like you may never have relaxed before.  Follow these modified instructions for your best relaxed state.  If at any time during Yoga Nidra you feel uncomfortable, simply stop and breathe in a manner that restores equilibrium.  Although this uncomfortable outcome is highly […]

How to Find & Choose an Effective Therapist Recently The Harvard Health Newsletter posted some interesting questions to ask while seeking out a psychotherapist. I will add a few more details and areas of inquiry in this post. Keep in mind that these questions and inquiries do not mean you will be happy and improve […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness