`You are NOT asleep and there is, in fact, a heightened sense of awareness. At the same time there is a deep relaxation of mind and body and emotions, and most people experience a wonderful sense fo peace and contentment.' -- Hillary Soares Hilary Soares turns her talents to hypnosis By Patricia Calnan After a long and distinguished career in nursing, Hilary Soares retired last November -- but not for long. The woman who founded P.A.L.S. (thus transforming cancer care in Bermuda) and went on to become the administrator of the Island's first hospice, has now carved out a new career for herself.

"I knew I had ten or 15 years of working life left in me and I realised that I wanted to help people become one hundred percent well. I had become interested in hypnotherapy as a healing tool and I decided to go for training.

I discovered the American Hypnotism Training Institute in California and went there. It turns out to have been the best decision I've made in years. I want,'' she emphasises, "to be able to pass on the knowledge I've acquired for the benefit of Bermuda. I would be very interested in offering my services as a clinical hypnotherapist to the prisons, to help inmates who really want to change their negative lifestyles so that they can succeed, instead of constantly failing at life.'' Conceding that there are many misconceptions about hypnotism, Mrs. Soares, who has established the Bermuda Hypnotherapy Practice on Clarence Street in St.

George's, says, "Hypnotism is accessing the deep, inner mind, enabling negative behaviour and attitudes to be replaced with new, creative and positive ideas. It can only be done with the moral acceptance of the client and nothing can be accomplished without the client's total commitment to change.'' Explaining that during hypnosis, the conscious mind -- rational, thinking and opinionated -- is temporarily set aside to facilitate access to the deep, inner mind, Mrs. Soares compares that part of the mind with a filing cabinet: "It records every emotional experience that we have ever had, accurately and in full. It's my job to unlock that cabinet, because we all have our own resources to reach that inner mind. When a person is fully committed to the process, the results can be truly astonishing. This process is also called `transforming therapy' and refers to St. Paul, who said we can be `transformed in the twinkling of an eye' -- and that's really what we're doing -- changing a person's attitude from one set of old ideas to some new, productive ones.'' The list of medical and emotional problems which can be relieved through hypnotherapy is almost endless. It includes addictions, abuse (both emotional and physical), stress, insomnia, stuttering, phobias (such as fear of snakes or spiders), chronic pain, smoking, eating problems, lying and cheating, weight gain, learning difficulties and low self-esteem.

Mrs. Soares stresses that hypnosis is a natural state, with attention withdrawn from the outside world and focused completely on the inner world.

"You are not asleep and there is, in fact, a heightened sense of awareness.

At the same time, there is a deep relaxation of mind and body and emotions, and most people experience a wonderful sense of peace and contentment.'' The process can be especially useful in addressing problems that have their roots in the past: "This could be a difficult, unhappy childhood, abuse of some kind which may be affecting present relationships. Or,'' she adds, "it could be something relatively straightforward, such as helping a person to remember when to take medication, or someone who keeps losing things!'' Mrs. Soares is also a firm believer in the power of hypno-suggestion. "If you've had a heart attack or are injured in a traffic accident, for instance, you may be virtually in a hypnotic state as your thinking powers may have been affected. What you have then, is your `emotional', or `deep' mind -- what some people call the subconscious -- and that part of your mind will help you to survive. It can be very useful if attendants, such as emergency personnel, ICU nurses make specific, positive suggestions to the patient. Even if unconscious, the transmission of soothing, healing thought will help stop the bleeding and maintain blood pressure.'' Hypnotherapy has also been found to be very effective in psychosomatic illnesses (caused or aggravated by mental stress). "If we can find the source of that stress, it can be neutralised.'' Describing hypnosis as a process that takes place in a quiet, calm atmosphere, the facilitator uses a `script' which takes the client, in stages, to a state of complete relaxation. "When the deepest level is reached, breathing slows down, even though the client is wide awake. At the end of a session, I encourage a client to tell me what their sensation of hypnosis was. so that they understand that they have indeed been hypnotised. Some of the physical signs include a flush on the cheeks, and when they open their eyes they are pinkish or reddened.'' She reveals that at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, a hypnotist's tape with healing suggestions plays to the unconscious patient during serious surgery and in the post-operative period. "Their results have been excellent.

Also, if someone is badly burned, you can tell the victim that their arm is cool and comfortable, and suggest the idea of lying in a cold snowdrift which will help heal the body. This too, has had very good results.'' Mrs. Soares, who is a Justice of the Peace, trained as a nurse at the famous Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford and worked in Canada before she came to Bermuda.

Married for 33 years to Earl Soares, with three adult children, she founded PALS in 1980 and became the guiding light behind the establishment, in 1990, of Agape House, a home that cares for the terminally ill. A stroke survivor herself, she co-founded with Mark Selley, the Bermuda Stroke and Family Support Association in 1992.

Mrs. Soares says that, as a clinical hypnotherapist, she only treats clients who genuinely want to be treated. "If someone walks in here because `my wife sent me' I send them away again, unless or until they want to come for themselves. I tell them `I'm not treating your wife, I'm treating you!' The difference between failure and success depends on whether the client wants to be helped. Then the response will be good and the number of visits made are reasonably short. Long-term treatment,'' she emphasises, "is absolutely out! We have to recognise that, more often than not, it is the expectation of being sick that keeps us unwell or not functioning at our best. It's my job to turn that around and put people on the path to physical and mental health. It is positive expectations that keep us strong and on the right track.''