The Power of RTT For Gut Health
Have you ever wondered how your mind can influence your gut health?
Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), developed by Marisa Peer, is a powerful tool that combines hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and other therapeutic techniques to address a wide range of health issues, including those related to digestion. In this blog, we'll explore how RTT and hypnotherapy can benefit your gut health, and provide you with a clear understanding of the process and its benefits.
Understanding Hypnotherapy: A Trip Down Memory Lane
My first introduction to hypnotherapy came in 1991 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. I was a first year in college and crowds of students grabbed my attention early one afternoon. They were camped out in the amphitheather﹣all eagerly awaiting a show that was going to happen later that night with some "magician" named Tom Deluca.
UVA Amphitheater: attribution﹣Vtn5n, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Like ants working around their ant hill, students were running and clambering over one another to find any free spot of grass to claim with their own blanket, sheet, or towel. There wasn't a blade of grass showing as the blankets were laid upon the ground, one right next to the other. Among the blankets and picnic items, there were posters everywhere, saying "Pick Me!" and "Choose Me!" and "You Want Me!".
My interest was piqued. I ran back to my dorm to gather my new-found college friends so we could return to the amphitheater for the magic show. I was totally anticipating a magician and thought "he must be good" if thousands of people are this excited by his "magic"...
As day turned to dusk, the stage was lit and several, unassuming metal chairs were dragged into a semicircle on the broad stage. Nothing elaborate, just a few chairs. Mr. Deluca was announced as he entered the arena through the stage's central doors, and the amphitheater burst into cheers and roars of enthusiasm.
Within minutes, he had selected a dozen eager students from the grassy area in front of the stage. Off microphone, he got to work immediately with his selected "victims". Moments later, a few students returned to their blankets, looking despondent and dejected. Something had not "taken" for those 3 or 4 people, but the rest just sat slumped over on those metal chairs in various states of calm relaxation or sleep.
✨ And, then the magic began. ✨
We were entertained for over an hour as our fellow students were made to believe that they were aliens speaking in made-up alien languages👽 as other students were trained to translate what they were saying. One girl was convinced she was a duck 🦆 and quacked and strutted around the stage for the majority of the hour! 🤭
I was enthralled by the spectacle of it all. Hooked and mesmerized by the show, I would return to that amphitheather every single year to see what Mr. Tom Deluca could make willing participants do.
The show never let us down, and never got boring or rote.
But, this is stage hypnosis and quite different from RTT.
While stage hypnosis is entertaining, therapeutic hypnotherapy like RTT is a serious and scientifically-backed method used to help people overcome various health and psychological issues.
Therapeutic hypnotherapy involves several key components:
- Rapid Induction: This is the process of guiding the client into a hypnotic state quickly and efficiently.
- Relaxation and Deepening: Once in the hypnotic state, the client is guided into a deeper state of relaxation, helping them to relax and then become more receptive to suggestions.
- Positive Affirmations: These are positive, recurrent statements that are suggested to the client while they are in the hypnotic state to help reprogram their subconscious mind.
How Hypnotherapy Affects the Brain
During hypnosis, the brain enters a state known as the theta state, characterized by deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility. This state allows the therapist to communicate directly with the subconscious mind, bypassing the critical, analytical conscious mind.
Research shows that hypnosis alters brain activity, particularly in regions associated with attention, perception, and self-awareness. It increases connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the insula, which is crucial for the brain-body connection. This disassociation between action and reflection enables clients to engage in activities suggested by the hypnotist without being self-conscious.
The Role of the Vagus Nerve
The vagus nerve plays a significant role in gut health, as it is part of the parasympathetic nervous system that regulates digestion. Hypnotherapy influences the vagus nerve by inducing a relaxed state, which helps in reducing stress and promoting better digestive function. When the body is in a state of relaxation, the vagus nerve is more active, leading to improved gut motility, improved digestive capability, improved absorption, and overall digestive health.
Additionally, RTT and hypnotherapy can have a profound impact on digestion by addressing the underlying psychological and emotional factors that contribute to digestive issues. Here are some ways RTT can help:
- Reducing Stress: Stress is a major contributor to digestive problems. RTT helps in alleviating stress by promoting relaxation and reducing anxiety, which in turn improves digestive function.
- Retraining the Brain: Techniques like the Healing Vortex and Command Cell Therapy in RTT help retrain the brain to respond differently to symptoms of the digestive tract. For example, by reframing negative beliefs and behaviors associated with digestive issues like bloating and distention, clients can experience significant improvements in their gut health. I myself was able to transform my perception of bloating from one that would produce anxiety, dread, and doom to one that allowed me to prevail over the symptom without becoming fearful or stressed. I see this happen all the time for my clients too.
- Improving Gut-Brain Connection: By enhancing the brain-body connection through hypnosis, RTT improves the communication between the brain and the gut, leading to better digestive health and overall well-being.
A Simple Exercise to Check Your Receptivity to Hypnotherapy
Here’s a simple exercise to see if you are a good candidate for hypnotherapy:
Look Up: Look up as high as you can at a real or imaginary spot overhead. Often, I will cue my own clients to look up into their eyebrows.
Hold this gaze for a few seconds, allowing yourself to blink freely and take a deep breath in and back out again to promote some relaxation.
Slowly close your eyelids: While still holding your gaze upward, slowly close your eyelids, but do not allow them to close completely!
Observe: If your eyelids flutter when you do this, it indicates that you are a great candidate for hypnotherapy. If your eyelids do not flutter or move, you may still be receptive to hypnotherapy, but will likely need a little more work on deepening the relaxation phase. This can definitely come with practice and with repeated efforts.
RTT Techniques for Gut Health
In The Mind-Belly Blueprint™️, we spend an entire month on a very special technique called the Healing Vortex.
The Healing Vortex is a technique used in RTT to visualize and create a powerful healing energy within the body. Through a special recording that I make for all my clients, they are guided to imagine a vortex of healing light entering their body and targeting specific areas, such as the digestive tract. This spinning vortex is directed throughout the body, removing toxicity and inflammation in its path and leaving behind a path of healed and revitalized tissues. This visualization helps in reducing inflammation, improving gut health, and promoting overall sense of well-being.
After we finish working with the Healing Vortex, The Mind-Belly Blueprint™️ then moves on to another specialized technique called: Command Cell Therapy.
In Command Cell Therapy, I conduct a specialized recording that gives direct commands to the cells in your body to go back to their original DNA blueprint so that they can heal and function optimally. In the context of gut health, this technique instructs the cells in the digestive tract to repair and regenerate, leading to improved digestion, better absorption of nutrients, increased motility, healing of the gut barrier, and reduced symptoms of digestive disorders. This kind of work instructs, compels, and commands the body's cells to return to normal functioning through a series of positive, self-reinforcing statements. When the body and the brain are inundated with positive affirmations, the body and the brain respond in kind and Command Cell Therapy has helped numerous clients to regain digestive wellness and to get there faster.
Closing Thoughts
Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) offers a powerful and scientifically-backed approach to improving gut health by addressing the psychological and emotional factors that influence digestion. By understanding how hypnotherapy affects the brain, brain waves, and the vagus nerve, you can see the profound impact it can have on your overall well-being.
Best part? You can do this even when you're tight on time! No stage necessary. No audience needed. Just pop the recording on and listen as you lay down for sleep. Even if you fall asleep, your subconscious mind is listening and responding 24/7, 365 days of the year. Now that's what I call multitasking at its best﹣getting therapy even while you sleep!
If you're struggling with digestive issues and are looking for a holistic approach to healing, RTT could be the very solution you've been missing and the solution that you need. With its ability to retrain the brain, reduce stress, and improve the gut-brain connection, RTT provides a comprehensive method for achieving better gut health, getting back to an abundant diet, and living a more fulfilling life. And, it works perfectly in conjunction with functional medicine principles of healing the gut through removal, replacement, re-inoculation, repair, reconditioning, and repair.
