No one we’ve met has seen anything like the COVID-19 pandemic before! As we all know, the shock that it created brought out the best and the worst in all of us. Sometimes we were heroes in our families, communities, and circles of friends. Other times, we turned to compulsive overeating, drinking to excess, hiding away like a hermit, and exercising for half the day to cope with and keep ourselves busy during the shut-down period.

Now, though, it’s spring again. We’re emerging from our homes and re-entering the big, wide world. We have to show up for work sober, and we can’t wear our puffy jackets to hide what happened from gorging on the fattening snacks we have hoarded away.

Some of us will emerge hesitant, while others jump up and down to get back to business. None of us are anything like the same way we were before all this started. We could be wounded, strengthened, or both. Now, as we emerge from quarantine, it’s time to take a look at ourselves and see what has happened, and how we need to change if we expect our fellow humans to want to spend time socializing with us.

Let’s look at four possible roles you and/or your clients may have fallen into during the pandemic, and then we’ll offer suggestions for reframing these - and other - unwanted behaviors.

The Hunk

Self-care is a good thing, but there are those among us who have taken it to extremes! Did you spend your stimulus check on a stationary bike with an infinite number of possible options for terrain, and still can’t pedal enough? Are you juicing and fasting until you’re pretty sure all your organs are as pure as the day you were born? Are you obsessing about your weight, measuring the circumference of your left bicep, or putting in 4 hours on the yoga mat every day?

You could probably find plenty of people with whom you can compare notes, but the conversations won’t be all that riveting. How many times can you listen to a variation on a recipe for a pure berry smoothie and honestly say you’re mentally stimulated? 

Admit it. You got compulsive about your physical health and appearance because...the pandemic brought out your fear of not being here anymore! Your line of logic went something like, “if I get buff and clean out my body totally, I won’t die from the virus.” 

To some degree, this was good thinking. Yes, the immune system’s health increases in proportion to how well you take care of your body. Still...there are limits. That fear of death often propels us toward some rather bizarre behavior, and until you confront it and deal with it, you run the risk of missing out on an occasional piece of cheesecake because you’re afraid you’ll have to detox all over again.

The Chunk

Did you just try to fit into your business casual shirt to go back to the office and didn’t? Have you recently grabbed your “fat jeans” to wear to a birthday party, only to find that zipper just won’t go up the whole way? You, like millions of others, may be coming to terms with excess pandemic poundage.

Sitting in front of the TV and Internet news, watching the death count tick up and up, is enough to make anyone grab for something soothing. A huge bag of chips probably wasn’t the best choice you could have made, but chances are it was sitting there. Haven’t you been hoarding just about any comfort food you can think of?

You may have also got into the foodie frenzy that’s been sweeping the nation. Formulating the creamiest bechamel base possible for that batch of bacon mac and cheese you want to try can be fun and rewarding, but you probably shouldn’t have eaten the entire casserole in three days. Those cooking videos seldom show what happens when people eat as much as they cook, when they want to eat it, but your body will!

Why would you do this, eat too much of too many bad things? Maybe you’re afraid there won’t be enough. Or, you might just be eating to make sure you’re still alive. Ah! It’s that fear of death again - and in this case, it could literally kill you. Compulsive overeating is an unhealthy habit you’ll want to lose as much as you’ll want to drop the excess weight that’s holding you down.

The Monk

What’s that? People want you to gather with them? In person? That can be scary during a pandemic, but if you’ve taken all the precautions, and you continue to use common sense, many of the authorities who originally thought we should stay six feet or more away from one another are saying it’s okay for us to meet real people again.

The isolation that we’ve experienced during this pandemic has been a mixed blessing. On one hand, it’s been alienating and anxiety-provoking. On the other, it can feel comforting to those of us who want to have more time to ourselves.

It’s a fact that the amount of time spent away from the rat race of pre-pandemic life has been a gift to many of us, there are those who have taken it to extremes. As with diet, exercise, and everything else in life, we need to maintain balance and exercise moderation. Catching up on the local buzz via Zoom with your next door neighbor just doesn’t make sense when it’s easier and more fulfilling to chat outside, over the fence or on the sidewalk.

If you’re feeling anxious about getting back out into the world, find yourself rejecting invitations from friends and family, or experiencing irrational fear about attending an in-person meeting or business event, you may need to address the existential fear that lies beneath your anxiety. Is it the death issue again? Or is the idea of being “re-born” after the lockdowns bringing up unresolved pre- and perinatal issues? 

The Drunk

What was your first impulse when you found out you could procure beer, wine, bottles of liquor and even mixed drinks as take out or delivery? If you decided it was a sign from heaven that you should drink more to stave off the angst of the pandemic, you had lots of company. 

There’s no doubt that drinking yourself to sleep has the potential to be a relaxing alternative to staying up nights worrying if any virus particles have entered your abode. You do have to watch out, though, when you drink so much that you begin to see those scary, spiky viruses appear along with the pink elephants that traditionally arrive after 4 or 5 pomegranate and lemon drop martinis.

Addiction to any substance is serious business, and if you feel that you’re using alcohol or other consciousness-altering substances, including marijuana, anti-anxiety meds, and painkillers more than you should, it’s time to address the problem.

Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy Training - The Solution!

For therapists, the burdens of dealing with the pandemic have been overwhelming. Clients became even more anxious than ever before, more new clients pressured us to take them, our schedules became overloaded, and we may have become every bit as stressed out as the very people we tried to help. 

On top of that, we may have noticed the limitations of talk therapy. While it is very helpful, talk therapy often takes a very long time to get at the deep-seated fears that the pandemic has awakened in so many clients. Don’t you wish you had a tool that could make getting to the source of their problems (and maybe yours, too) easier?

That’s where Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy and the other modalities offered through the Wellness Institute and its practitioners can help. Now that you’ve seen 4 ways the pandemic might have affected you and your clients, let’s look at 4 ways that Hypnotherapy Training at the Wellness Institute can help you bring things closer to “normal” again

1. Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy addresses hidden fears. By giving clients the opportunity to connect their unconscious impulses with the conscious mind, old conclusions such as “I’m helpless” or “I’m not worth taking care of” can be reframed effectively, and change people’s lives.
2. Heart-Centered Modalities integrate mind, body, and spirit. Mindfulness, the art of integrating all aspects of our human potential, is at the core of Wellness training and practice. Learn how somatic messages can unlock key issues, how to treat psychological and spiritual shock, and how integrating soul-level awareness leads to better health and greater happiness.
3. Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy expands your business. If your practice hasn’t been performing as well as you’d like, adding the skills Hypnotherapy Training at the Wellness Institute can give you will help you to grow your business! Directly address addictions and other obsessive behavior, and extend your reach into the community with TrimLife^TM and Personal Transformation Intensive^TM group programs.
4. Heart-Centered Therapies help therapists to heal, too. At the Wellness Institute, our mission is to “Teach the teachers and heal the healers.” When you experience the healing energy of heart-centered hypnotherapy and other modalities, you clean your own energy field of old and undesirable patterns, and clear the way for you to become the best therapist and healer you can be!

When you engage in training at The Wellness Institute, you’ll learn new and effective ways to transform The Hunk, The Chunk, The Monk, and The Drunk into the best human beings they can be, as well.

What’s next?

Sign up for our Six-Day Training and certification in Hypnotherapy to get started. After that, you can enroll in the Advanced Internship, The Personal Transformation Intensive Leadership Program, and Mentorship, in-depth study for potential teachers, which explores Jungian theory and practice. All our programs are experiential  as well as didactic, and our students agree that the training they receive at The Wellness Institute transforms their lives. 

Now that it’s time to change the unwanted behaviors people have acquired through the pandemic, isn’t it time for you to take a step toward becoming a more powerful therapist and healer? Sign up for a program at The Wellness Institute today.

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