Using Hypnosis to Heal Insomnia (among other things) -- with Chel Hamilton

Before The Afterlife

Chel is the host of the popular Mini Meditations Podcast, and has been a successful hypnotist for more than ten years. She’s also an articulate spokeswoman for the landscape of the mind.

If you’re inclined to lie awake at night, this one’s for you. So yeah … ultimately, this episode is about that healer of all healers, meditation. Which also turns out to be a powerful tool for insomnia.

I begin this episode with my biggest question: can meditation heal insomnia? (Take note if you’re a woman of a certain age who hangs out for hours, awake, at night.) Chel says, “It’s like creating an anxiety attack … only you’re doing it in bed.”

So true! “On a neurobiological level we are being programmed all the time,” Chel notes. That includes any time we are on social media, standing in check out lines surveying candy and magazines, or just turning on the TV.

The antidote is meditation, which allows us to get into a calm place, Chel says. Without this we can make the worst decisions and take the worst actions. But if we practice getting calm and clear even just for five minutes per day, we can ultimately see this life as it really is.

I invite you to listen in to what was a fascinating discussion of the impact of meditation on the mind … even if you think you’re not a meditator.

What I learned:

• How meditation heals insomnia
• How to stop obsessing over chocolate chip cookies (!)
• The cost of a few glasses of wine before bed
• Why we ‘get busy’ thinking in the middle of the night
• How negative self-talk interferes with rest
• Why meditation matters to your overall well being
• The value of mindset shifts and how to use meditation for them
• The difference between silent meditation and guided meditation recordings on the brain
• How a Type A person can approach becoming quiet and sit in meditation

BIO

Chel Hamilton is the founder of Columbus Ohio Hypnosis. She has been practicing as a full time Hypnotherapist since 2007. Before that she worked with alcoholics and drug addicts for over 11 years helping them overcome their addictions and recreate their lives.

In addition to seeing clients one-on-one, she also teaches classes in weight loss hypnosis four times a year through the Upper Arlington Life Long Learning Program. Chel speaks at events and schools about hypnosis, hold day long workshops in subjects such as Past Life Regression Hypnosis, Self Hypnosis for Sports Performance, and more.

Chel sees clients ages 8 to adult for a wide variety of issues and offer a mix of weekend, evening, and daytime appointment hours.