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

America’s Opioid Problem-2020; A Brief Update Unfortunately, Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is alive and well in 2020. Today approximately 150 People are dying each day due to opioid overdose. The CDC noted that from 1999 to 2017 approximately 399,000 people died in the United States from Opioid overdose. Related to chronic pain, this is one […]

Mind Training Over Our Impulses Mindful awareness of our impulses is a very important pathway to improved emotion regulation and, perhaps, more happiness in life. It can be unusually helpful to people suffering from anxiety, depression, and substance misuse. Vedana refers to the feeling tone in our body.  It is one of the foundations of mindfulness […]

Risks and Solutions for Compassion Fatigue Perhaps nothing more than compassion fatigue causes more helpers to prematurely exit their fields.  First responders are generally seen as the most at risk for compassion fatigue (and possibly PTSD), followed by emergency room medical staff. A third group, medical and clinical staff working with high risk terminally-prone patients is […]

Honoring First Nation – Native American Spirited-Wisdom American First Nation or Native American People (according to how they wish to be named) have  a strong spiritual traditions honoring life, the earth and the heavens.  Naming these wise peoples is a problem; out of respect one would call them First Nations, Native American, or a specific […]

Quintiliani’s Whole Person Recovery Planning To me the “whole person recovery planning” includes biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and self components and changes. To simplify – it is not simple or quick – I will simply list the core components of this comprehensive form of recovery process.  I may add more details to this process in […]

Gratitude Along with Sadness and Fear – It Is Life The famous Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh gently advises us to appreciate the many things that we may take for granted.  For example, when he does walking meditation he believes and feels that the the earth below his feet is, itself, a miracle of reality. […]

Mindfulness and Concentration –  Experience Differences In this post I will explain some basic differences between mindfulness and concentration, both of which are required for effective meditation practice.  This will be the first of three posts dealing with what mindfulness and concentration are, how to experience them briefly in a body-based activity, and how to […]

Wise Mind and the Neuroscience of Mindfulness Practice What is wise mind? Marsha M. Linehan developed this clinical process in her work on dialectical behavior therapy. Wise mind is the middle way between rational/reasonable mind and emotional mind; it allows us to live with balanced reason and emotion in daily interactions. When practiced regularly, it […]

Mindfulness & Happiness – Tools In this post I will provide basic instructions for several mind-body practices that allow calm equanimity both at rest and in action.  We will cover RAIN, RAINDROP, Cloud Journeying, Gratitude, Tapping, and other Body-Based practices. RAIN (Tara Brach) – This simple to use approach helps you to maintain a cognitive […]

Meditation for Managers and Helpers  Let’s Talk – Contact Me – Click Here I am a Licensed Psychologist-Doctorate and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor with 35 years of clinical experience in community clinics, schools, professional organizations, and universities (OSU, UVM, etc.). I have been the past Clinical Director of Howard Center, and Past President […]

Our Brains React to Worry According to research by The American Psychological Association in 2015, some of the core sources of severe stress reaction for Americans are: financial problems, job-related problems, family problems, and health problems.  Our lives are complete only with joy/happiness, suffering and boredom – sometimes referred to as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral […]

Meditation at the Deepest Levels In 2007 M. A. Singer’s The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, opened up a whole new, deeper perspective on why consciousness or pure awareness is the root of self. Even in a Buddhist  “no-self” view, Singer’s inquiries leave us with a great deal to unravel.  Here are some reasons why […]

Trauma Therapy:  Basics from Some Expert Clinicians For many years trauma therapist have used many approaches in their psychotherapy. Most of these approaches lack strong empirical support for outcomes, and are often the “favorites” of these therapists.  One might wonder what benefits therapists derive from using approaches that are not evidence-based. If an intervention fails […]

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 […]

Understanding Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy? Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (or Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, hereafter CBT) has been noted as the most common evidence-based therapy approach used in the United States.  That said, the most common “therapy” approach used here remains generic talk therapy with more or less psychodynamic characteristics. Given the absolute limited level of outcome-based evidence for effectiveness of […]

Concentration Vs Mindfulness? Many people new to meditation often confuse the differences between mindfulness or accepted bare attention to whatever arises in the moment and concentration or strong penetrating awareness on one thing without distraction.  Concentration is a more intensely focused and engaged form of mindful attention.  Concentration is sustained, powerfully focused, one-pointed attentional awareness. […]

Self-Care to Reduce Compassion Fatigue First let’s begin with what some people do to counteract the stressors of living in a hurried,“over-technologized” world. Technically, “technologize” is not a popularly accepted word, but it is a sad  reality. We live in a time when texting while driving may become the new addiction-based cause for many, many […]

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 […]

Mindfulness Practices for Expanding Acceptance Mindfulness and contemplation can be great allies in our struggle to better understand each other.  This is especially true when it comes to matters of interpersonal relationships and highly significant relationships.  It is also important in diversity, or as some now refer to it – variation in human beings.   Variation may […]

Mindfulness Training  From The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton,Vermont The Problem:   Many people become stuck in the suffering of their past, and they continue to re-experience an event in the futile hope to better understand it, or to find an escape from it.  Many of the same people become fixated fearfully […]

Mindful Happiness Tags

WISE MIND ACTIVITIES MINDFUL HAPPINESS BRAIN MINDFUL MEDITATION SELF ESTEEM TRAINING SELF MEDICATION BUDDHISM HAPPINESS SELF THERAPY. MINDFULNESS TRAINING CONSCIOUSNESS CLINICAL SUPERVISION MINDFUL TRAINING VIPASSANA MEDITATION ELEANOR R LIEBMAN CENTER MINDFUL MEDITATION MINDFULNESS THICH NHAT HANH PRACTICE PRACTICES DR ANTHONY QUINTILIANI ANTHONY QUINTILIANI COVID-19 MBSR ADDICTION EMPTINESS ACTIVITY SUFFERING SELF CARE PSYCHOTHERAPY SELF COMPASSION VIPASSANA MEDITATION PRACTICE COMPASSION WALKING MEDITATION JOURNALING TRAUMA BREATHING ENLIGHTENMENT EXERCISES VERMONT

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

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

Copyright © 2022 · Mindful Happiness