Treating Anxiety Connected to a Child Needing Surgery

“I found the session enabled me to resolve an issue without discussing it. I found this empowering and feel it facilitated a calm and positive experience in the hospital”

Introduction

Being told that your child may need surgery can be a stressful experience. This can lead to becoming anxious about what might happen. That anxiety can be underpinned and heightened by past uncomfortable experiences in the hospital environment.

This article is by Inner RePatterning™ Practitioner Fahrah Mir. Fahrah takes us through how she worked with Erica using the Inner RePatterning™ technique treating her anxiety issue. Inner RePatterning™ is a simple approach that does not require that we talk about what created our problem. Neither does it require us to understand or analysis it. This approach works by simply activating a natural releasing mechanism. When we activate this mechanism we can release the memories and programming from our past and become more present with the now. Being naturally more present in the now enables us to be more resourceful and to behaviour appropriately to whatever situations are happening in the moment.

I hope you enjoy it.

All the best,

Tania A Prince

Treating Erica’s Anxiety: Her Story

Erica is a young mum with two children. She has recently been told that her six month old requires an assessment for investigate surgery and she has been feeling extremely anxious since. She didn’t have a positive birth experience with her first child and feels really anxious about even stepping into the hospital. She is also very conscious that her baby may well be picking up on her fears.

Preparing for the Inner RePatterning™ Session

We began the session by me giving a short overview of the Inner RePatterning™ technique. I then introduced the pre-frames, reminding Erica it is the awareness that is important, there is no need for words, attempts to understand or to analyse. The importance of just being aware of how you know you feel about a certain issue, without any criticism or judgment.

I then explained to Erica the importance of having a clearly defined outcome, which can be tested at the end of the session. I asked her ‘what needs to happen for her to know that she no longer has this anxiety/fear problem?’ She said she feels the tension is her neck, shoulders and her jaw, it would no longer be there and the tightness across her chest would be gone. She said she just wanted to feel like she was managing the tension. I asked her what that ‘managing the tension’ might be like in outcome terms, she said ‘feel less anxious, calmer and to feel more in control of it’.

I paraphrased the outcome back to her to ensure that she wanted ‘to feel calm and in control and to minimise the tension she felt in her chest, back, shoulders and jaw’, she agreed. I asked her if she was, to give the tension a number out of ten what it is. She said it was ‘an 8/10’ and I asked her what she would like it to be after the session. She said a 3/10 she knows its normal to feel some anxiety.

Turning off Fight or Flight: Creating a Safe Zone to Gently Work with Her Anxiety

I then began to create the safe zone, by showing her the thymus point and asking her to tap slowly and gently on it, suggesting she allows herself to begin to breathe deeply in and out (her body physically relaxed at this point). I then asked her to look straight ahead, soften her eyes slightly with a smile and look at inch above whilst being aware of my hand in her peripheral vision. She found this a bit odd initially and it took a few explanations to get her to feel comfortable with the process.

I then explained I would be reading out an intention, she did not need to say it out loud, but simply allow the words to filter in and breathe when I asked her to take deep breaths. I then set the intention, again I noticed her body relaxing and entering into a deeper state of relaxation as I read the words.

She had also closed her eyes, I reminded her to stay in the peripheral vision, even though her eyes were closed.

I then asked how she was aware she had these anxiety problems, she said because she felt them in her body. I asked her to put her awareness on that and then gently remove it from her body, placing it outside of her self, so that she can observe it. I asked her to take a few deep breaths and let me know when she had done that. She took a minute or so and then said she saw a red pot bubbling away. I suggested she just allow it to just be, without any criticism, judgment or analysis.

I asked her then to focus on what is going on for her internally right now, she said she felt good, she felt removed from the issues, distanced.

I then asked her ‘if there was any colour that could enhance the feelings that she was experiencing right now what would that be?’ she said green, so I asked her to visualise that beautiful green colour surrounding her from head to toe, breathing it that beautiful vibrant green into her heart, to all levels of her energy field, I suggested she take a few moments to really breathe in that green colour. As she did this, I noticed her shoulders relaxing as she breathed in and out. I reminded her to continue tapping on the thymus gently and staying in the peripheral vision.

I then asked her ‘if there was any colour that could even further enhance the feelings that you are experiencing right now, what would that be?’ She said ‘blue’. I asked her to breathe that colour now through her heart and her body again allowing it to permeating though out every cell and molecule and into her energy field. As she did this, her eyes seemed to be moving, so I reminded her again to soften her eyes and stay in that beautiful state of peripheral vision. I suggested she take a few more deep breaths and really enjoy that blue colour.

I then asked her to gently take her awareness externally to the red bubbling pot; she said she felt it was smaller and further away. I asked her if there was any other colour that could help her to really deal with that red pot issue, she said ‘gold’. So I asked her again to take a few deep breaths breathing in a beautiful, vibrant gold into her body, her heart and to the deepest levels. As she did this, she stopped tapping and seemed to be getting lost in thought, so I reminded her to keep tapping on the thymus and enjoying the deep breaths, bringing in that gorgeous gold colour.

I then asked her if there was a colour that could magnify these feelings even more for her, what could that be. She said purple, so we completed the same process of breathing in the purple, increasing the vibrancy and really ramping it up so that she could feel it in permeating through her heart and every cell, molecule and hair of her body.

I then asked her how she felt internally now, she said she felt much calmer, so I asked her’ if there was any colour that could really help you with that feeling of calmness what would that be? She said ‘yellow sunshine’ so I asked her to breathe in that beautiful yellow sunshine and as she took those lovely long deep breaths to continue tapping gently and bringing in that vibrant sunshine energy into her heart and her body, really basking and enjoying that yellow sunshine. As she did this I could physically see her relax even more into a deeper meditative, relaxed body state.

After a few minutes, I asked her to gently take her awareness externally. She said the ‘pot’s gone!’

Enhancing Positive Feelings

I asked her if there was any other colours that could really, blissfully enhance the feelings that she was feeling right now and she said ‘its green again’ I said ‘that’s okay’ let’s bring in that amazing green colour again into the heart, feeling it from the hair on your head to the soles of your feet, wrapping it around you and feeling it flow throughout your heart and your whole energy field. As she took some lovely deep breaths, I could sense the session was now at an end, so I asked her to place her palm on her heart when she was ready and then place her other hand on top of it. Expanding and allowing the experience to filter through every cell, fibre and part of her self. I asked her to “be at one with the experience, accepting it without any analysis, judgement or criticism”. And to, “set an intention to release anything that maybe blocking you from being in a place of inner peace and joy right now”.

I asked her to take a few more deep breaths and gently open her eyes when she ready to come back to the room. As she came back I noticed her face looked more visibly relaxed. Her eyes seemed brighter.

I asked her how she felt and she said, ‘much calmer, there’s less tension in my jaw (as she flexed her mouth open), my shoulders feel more relaxed and there’s less tightness in my chest’. I asked her how her tension levels felt; she said a 1/10. She said she felt it was rapid, yet gentle technique and wished she had come to see me sooner.

Post Session Feedback Related to the Treatment of Anxiety

I wanted some Inner RePatterning™ to help provide me with some positive strategies to deal with a trauma linked to birth, and also, my daughter having an operation. I wanted to be prepared to be strong and calm when entering the hospital.

Zahrah made me feel instantly calm and positive about how Inner RePatterning™ could help prepare me for a challenging situation. During the session, I liked the way Zahrah continually checked that my anxiety was ‘shrinking’. It enabled me to feel inner peace and I felt I was deep in my subconscious. I found the session enabled me to resolve an issue without discussing it. I found this empowering and feel it facilitated a calm and positive experience in the hospital.

By

Inner RePatterning™ Practitioner: Zahrah Mir