This is a draft of my re-written article on visual floaters. It's an updated version of the article I wrote for The book "Through the Open Door, Secrets of Self-Hypnosis," by Kevin Hogan and Mary Lee LaBay.
Enjoy, and feel free to let me know what you think.
Thanx,
-Craig
* * * * * *
A Short Pattern to Manage
Visual Floaters
© 2000-2014 by Craig R. Lang,
CHt
612-888-4976(HYPN) craig@explorewithhypnosis.com
Very common among we 50-somethings,
visual floaters are those annoying dark spots that occasionally appear to swim
into one's field of vision. At their most benign, they are merely the result of
the normal aging process of our eyes. For many years, these have come and gone
from my visual field, usually lasting a few days to weeks, and then vanishing. However,
during the fall of 1998, one particularly annoying spot appeared, permanently
fixed at the center of the visual field of my right eye. This very large dark
spot occasionally interfered with my ability to focus - and occasionally even
caused a degree of pain.
Several trips to the
ophthalmologist established that there was no actual problem with my eyes - no
retinal damage, no degeneration, etc. The good news was that that my eyes, like the
rest of me, were merely growing older. The bad news was that there is no
treatment for the problem. Floaters are just something you have to live with -
even this large obnoxious one swimming in the very center of my vision.
During the months prior to writing
this article, in preparation for an upcoming hypnotherapy certification class,
I had been reading many books on NLP, hypnotherapy, and self-hypnosis by
authors such as Rossi, Hogan and Hunter. Inherent in many of the techniques
suggested by these authors was the use of metaphor and guided imagery. An
example might be to control pain by imagining a device, perhaps with a control
knob that could be turned down to decrease the pain. Since I am an electrical
engineer by trade, being both visual and analytical, such a device metaphor
seemed useful in dealing with my annoying visual companion.
Also, during this time, I had
become very dedicated to the study and practice of meditation, spending
approximately an hour in trance each evening before retiring. In the practice
of meditation, affirmations are also very significant tools. Some authors [Peterson,
"Creative Meditation"] describe them as a means to accomplish useful
change through the meditative process. The idea immediately suggested itself
that my normal mediation time could be used to install a simple self-hypnotic
pattern, reinforcing it using affirmations to help me manage the obnoxious
floater problem.
That evening, as I was going
into meditation, an image formed in my mind of an optical filtering device,
which I imagined in place between my retina and my brain. This device was
"programmed" to filter out unwanted "garbage" images, such
as my floaters. I mentally switched it on and reinforced it with the
affirmation: "You have a filter in your mind that removes unwanted spots
from your field of vision". In addition, I installed an anchor on my left
hand by touching my left thumb and middle finger (convenient when driving, with
your hand around the steering wheel). Descending into a meditative state, while
holding my thumb/finger anchor in place, I silently and continuously repeated
this affirmation in place of my normal meditative cue words.
The next day was sunny and
bright, a perfect opportunity to test my imaginary filtering device. While
stuck in traffic on my way to work, the familiar spot appeared. Gripping thumb
to finger around the steering wheel and silently repeating to myself: "you
have a filter..." the spot abruptly vanished. It remained delightfully
absent for several moments - until I moved my eyes. As it reappeared, I again
repeated, "You have a filter...", placing thumb to finger. The spot
again obediently faded to oblivion. Each time the spot appeared I repeated my
affirmation and the spot vanished.
The next several days were
clear and bright, affording lots of additional practice opportunity. Within a
few weeks, I found that the mere appearance of the spot would the trigger thought
of the affirmation, thus invoking the filter. Now, the moment the spot appears
it triggers the filter, which suppresses it. The spot has become its own
demise.
Visual floaters can be a
major annoyance, and might be the sign of a more serious vision problem. Please
consult your eye doctor should you experience a sudden or extraordinary
occurrence of them. However, for floaters resulting from the normal aging
process, this simple combination of self-hypnotic imagery, anchoring, and
affirmation can help you manage them conveniently and effectively. A few
evenings of trancework, combined with a few days to weeks of practice, and you
may find that they have become manageable to insignificant. And the more you
practice this technique, the less you will experience your unwanted visual
companions.
This article was written at the request of Dr. Kevin Hogan,
and can be found on page 257 of the book “Through the Open Door, Secrets of Self Hypnosis” by Kevin
Hogan and Mary Lee LeBay.
Bio of Craig R. Lang
MS, CHt
E-mail: craig@craigrlang.com
Craig R. Lang is a Certified Hypnotherapist with the National Guild of Hypnotists and
the principal of Explore with Hypnosis.
He specializes in hypnotic healing work with people who have experienced
reality-transforming events such as UFO encounters, metaphysical experiences
and sudden psychic awakenings. His dream is to help others to integrate these
events into their lives. He also does hypnotherapy work to help people with
career, mind-body, and life-quality issues. These include weight loss, pain
relief, fear reduction and building personal confidence.
Craig is certified through the Minnesota Institute of
Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy, in Minneapolis as an Advanced Clinical
Hypnotherapist, NLP Practitioner and Hypnotherapy Instructor. He lives and
practices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, working with a variety of clients. In
addition to hypnotherapy, his other interests include meditation and research
into new-science areas such as consciousness studies, UFOs and psychic
phenomena.
He can
be reached at his website: www.explorewithhypnosis.com,
by phone at 612-888-4976(HYPN),
or by e-mail at craig@explorewithhypnosis.com.
