Healing Hypervigilance: How Hypnosis Helped ‘Laura’ Feel Safe Again in the World

Hypervigilance isn’t just “being anxious.” It’s living in a constant state of high alert—always scanning, always anticipating danger, even when there’s no actual threat. For people living with PTSD, this becomes the norm. Their nervous system doesn’t know how to stand down. And slowly, life becomes smaller and more exhausting.

When Laura came to work with me, she was tired. She hadn’t been to her teens’ sporting events in over a year. The noise, the crowds, even just being around people—it all triggered her. She was doing everything she could to manage it, but nothing touched the deeper fear in her body.

One thing I often tell clients is: We all come into this world with limiting beliefs. The question is—what’s your flavor? And when we go through trauma, we tend to collect another layer of beliefs, usually around safety. “I’m not safe.” “I have to stay on guard.” “Something bad is going to happen.” These beliefs don’t live in our logic—they live in the body. In the nervous system. And that’s why talk alone often isn’t enough.

In hypnosis, we bypass the critical mind and speak directly to the subconscious, where these patterns and beliefs are stored. With Laura, once she was in a relaxed and receptive state, I gently guided her to recall moments when she’d felt that familiar hypervigilance—tightness in the chest, scanning eyes, clenched jaw. She noticed exactly where it lived in her body.

Then we did something powerful: I had her call up moments in her life when she felt peaceful, happy, safe. Times when her guard was down and her heart was open. We moved back and forth between the two—hypervigilance and calm, fear and safety. Over time, her mind began to unhook those old patterns. The images of fear became more distant, faded, and eventually dissolved. In their place, we anchored in that peaceful, joyful version of herself.

To seal in the shift, I guided her to imagine a future situation—maybe a busy sporting event or a family gathering—where she would have normally felt triggered. But this time, she stayed grounded in calm. She stayed connected to peace. Her body knew it could choose a new way of being.

Something changed for her after that.

She started going to her teens’ games again. Her husband noticed right away—he said she just felt different. Lighter. More herself. She told me she hadn't realized how much of her life she'd been avoiding until she felt safe enough to step back into it.

This is what’s possible with hypnosis. It’s not about rehashing trauma—it’s about rewriting the nervous system’s response to it. If you’ve been stuck in hypervigilance or carrying trauma that’s still running the show, you don’t have to stay there. There’s another way.

Reach out if you’re ready to feel safe in your body again. Hypnosis can help you come back to yourself—calm, clear, and deeply at ease. Learn More about how Hypnosis works. And listen to one of my sessions for free here.