Releasing mental blocks, from a hypnosis perspective
"I have a block" usually means: I know more is possible, and something in me is holding me back.
That something isn't an opponent. It's the part of you that wants to protect you. To your unconscious, a block is a precaution: you've never been there, so it could be dangerous. And "could" is enough for it, because above all it wants you to survive, not necessarily to live well.
Old limits that were never updated
Most limits are learned as a child: how loud you're allowed to be, how much you're allowed to take, what happens when you stand out. Back then they made sense. It's just that hardly anyone checked them later. Often they can be put into a sentence:
- "If I become visible, I'll be rejected."
- "I have to earn it first."
- "If I really try, everyone will see it's not enough."
- "I mustn't make mistakes."
- "I'm not worth it."
Beliefs like these don't feel like rules, they feel like facts. If you mostly recognise yourself in "I'm not worth it", you'll find more under inferiority complexes. If the feeling that the world is basically safe has been missing since you were small, it often comes down to basic trust.
When you notice you're getting in your own way
A block only becomes noticeable when your head is further along than your unconscious. You see what would be possible, and you still don't do it. Then the inner conflict starts, and with it often self-rejection: you take yourself for lazy, cowardly or too weak. One part of you hits the gas, another brakes, and both want what's best for you.
Types of blocks
Blocks show up in many areas of life. Behind them there is almost always the same old fear, trying to protect you.
| Block | How it shows up | What it wants to protect you from |
|---|---|---|
| Money blocks | Giving a discount, avoiding the salary conversation | Standing out, being excluded |
| Success blocks | Easing off just before the goal | Envy, responsibility, a long way to fall |
| Fear of failure | Not even starting | Embarrassment, rejection |
| Learning and thinking blocks | A blackout even though you know it | Other people's judgment |
| Writing and creative blocks | Nothing is good enough | Criticism |
| Decision blocks | Mulling over options, never choosing | The wrong choice |
| Relationship blocks | Pulling back as soon as it gets close | Hurt, being left |
| Visibility blocks | Stage fright, preferring to stay invisible | Judgment, rejection |
| Blocks in self-expression | No voice in an argument, when speaking up or in a foreign language | Conflict, embarrassment |
| Communication blocks | Shutting down, going silent in arguments | Overwhelm, escalation |
| Emotional blocks | Feeling turned to stone or empty inside | Pain, being overwhelmed |
| Sports blocks | Great in training, blocked in competition | Failing in front of an audience |
| Physical tension | Hard neck, clenched jaw, shallow breathing | Danger that is no longer there |
Writer's block and creative blocks
Almost everyone who writes, designs or wants to create something of their own knows the blank page. Your head is full, but none of it makes it onto paper. Or it does, and you delete it right away.
From the unconscious's point of view, showing something of your own is risky. What you create can be judged, and you along with it. As long as nothing is finished, nobody can criticise it. So the block protects you from judgment, at the price that nothing gets made.
In trance we don't work on your technique, but on letting the first draft be bad again. Because almost everything good begins as a draft that isn't good enough yet.
Decision blocks
Some blocks don't look like standing still at all. You research, compare, ask friends for advice and make lists. You just don't decide.
The unconscious is bad at probability. To it, every decision carries the risk of making the wrong one, and making none feels safer. It doesn't notice that not deciding is a decision too.
Often there's an old sentence behind it: "If I choose wrong, it's my own fault." In trance we show your unconscious that a wrong choice can be corrected today and no longer decides whether you survive.
Communication blocks: when you shut down in arguments
Stonewalling is what it's called when someone suddenly goes silent in a conflict, tunes out or leaves the room. Many people catch themselves doing it and are annoyed afterwards, because they actually had something to say.
It isn't indifference. When an argument becomes too much, the unconscious reaches for an ancient emergency solution: freeze and wait until the danger has passed. If you learned as a child that objecting achieves nothing or makes everything worse, you reach for it all the faster today.
In trance we work on making an argument no longer an emergency for your unconscious. Then there's enough calm left to stay and say what you think.
Emotional blocks: when everything is quiet inside
Some people notice a block not as braking but as emptiness. You know you should be sad or happy, but nothing comes. Crying no longer works, joy stays muted.
That's protection too. When a feeling was once too much, the unconscious turns the volume down, and not just for the pain but for everything. In trance we show it, in small steps, that you're strong enough today to feel something again.
Physical tension: when the body brakes too
A block never sits only in the head. When the unconscious senses danger, it gets the body ready too: the neck goes hard, the jaw clenches, breathing turns shallow, the stomach tightens. For a sabre-toothed tiger that was ideal. For the next meeting it's just exhausting.
If the limit stays, the tension often stays too, sometimes for years. When the unconscious lets go because it no longer sees any danger, the body can usually relax as well. How mind and body interact here is something I describe under psychosomatic disorders.
Releasing money blocks
With money, the sentences are especially old, because you rarely formed them yourself. You heard them at the family table: "Money doesn't grow on trees." "You don't talk about money." "Whoever has a lot took it from someone."
From your unconscious's point of view, that's not nonsense. For most of human history, belonging was a matter of survival, and anyone who stood out too much risked being cast out of the group. So your unconscious brakes exactly where you could ask for more. Better to belong than to be rich — for a Stone Age human, the smarter choice.
A question I often ask: are there people who can do just as much as you but earn more? The answer is almost always yes. The difference is rarely in the skill, but in who dares to name their worth. That's closely tied to self-confidence.
Sometimes it's as if you keep running into the same wall, and two metres to the side there's a door. In trance, we show your unconscious that the door exists and that it's safe. I won't promise you more money. But someone who has stopped braking negotiates differently, names different prices, and sees possibilities that simply weren't in view before.
Accepting instead of fighting
With discipline, you fight the part that wants to protect you. All that does is make it more cautious.
In trance we go the opposite way. First we accept that part and acknowledge what it has done for you all these years. Then we show it that things are different today: you're grown up, the old rules no longer apply, and no danger waits outside the old limits. "Thanks for looking out for me. We don't need that anymore."
The hesitation gets shorter afterwards. And at some point you notice you've long since started.