Article: Healing the Body through Depth Hypnosis: A Case Study in Energetic Sovereignty

By Joanna Foote Adler, Psy.D., CHT

Editors’ Note: Joanna Adler, Psy.D., CHT is a Depth Hypnosis Practitioner, a licensed Clinical Psychologist and an instructor at the Foundation of the Sacred Stream. She holds a doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she specialized in the study of Transpersonal Psychology and Family Psychology. Joanna has been working with individuals, couples, and families as a psychotherapist and spiritual counselor since 1993. She has trained extensively in the fields of Buddhist Psychology, Applied Shamanism, Energy Medicine, and Depth Hypnosis, and teaches nationally and internationally in these fields.

Joanna completed an efficacy study of the spiritual counseling model of Depth Hypnosis, which offers clear evidence of the efficacy of Depth Hypnosis in treating depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and raising well-being.

The Interconnectedness of Being

The mind, emotions, and spirit are inextricably linked to the physical body. Our bodies serve as a vessel that expresses our thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual states; these dimensions constantly mirror one another, meaning dissonance on one level can manifest across the others. Generally, when an unresolved issue persists, it “calcifies”—moving from a spiritual vulnerability into mental patterns and emotional distress before finally appearing as physical symptoms. By the time a pattern reaches the physical body, it has usually gained significant density and momentum.

While external factors like toxins and nutrition play a vital role in our experience of health, chronic physical issues can also emerge from imbalances on the other levels. In Depth Hypnosis, we can track these physical symptoms across the different energetic levels – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual – back to the experiences that initiated the patterns causing problems. By following this trail back to the original energetic imbalance, we can address the root cause and begin to restore the individual to their natural state of wholeness.

Depth Hypnosis Spiritual Counseling has its roots in transpersonal psychology, hypnotherapy, Applied Buddhist Psychology, Applied Shamanism, and Integrated Energy Medicine. These modalities combine in Depth Hypnosis to offer clients a powerful and efficient way to address issues.

Case Study: Hannah

Hannah, a woman in her mid-twenties, had been working with me for several years to address chronic anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Through Depth Hypnosis processes including regression and others, we discovered that her symptoms—such as needing to knock on her bedroom wall three times to feel safe—stemmed from a deeply “porous” energy field. Hannah lacked boundaries and frequently allowed the emotional states of others to occupy her internal space. She found that she lowered her boundaries and brought others experience into her body as a strategy to try to connect with and understand others, but that this way of approaching others ended up having significant downsides. Physically, this lack of energetic sovereignty manifested as chronic fatigue and persistent infections. She took on the feelings and experiences of others, and her burdened body struggled to stay healthy in the face of all she was trying to process.

Through our work, Hannah began learning how to be present with others while allowing their experiences to stay outside of her energetic space, and to set more healthy boundaries. As she learned to take up space and align with supportive internal resources, her health improved significantly—until a crisis tested her newfound stability.

The Cost of Merging with Trauma

When Hannah’s cousin was involved in a major car accident, Hannah rushed to help. The cousin, who had a history of suicidal ideation, fell into her familiar dark thoughts in the face of the pain of her injuries. Because of Hannah’s habit of “merging” with those she loves, she unwittingly absorbed her cousin’s energetic signature.

Within days, Hannah was overwhelmed by a systemic yeast infection, including debilitating thrush that made eating nearly impossible. Even after three rounds of anti-fungal medication, the physical symptoms remained unchanged.

The Depth Hypnosis Inquiry

In our next session, Hannah reported a frightening development: she was experiencing new and unfamiliar intrusive thoughts of self-harm. I helped Hannah to enter an altered state of consciousness through a Depth Hypnosis process, and she was able to identify that these thoughts did not feel like her own, but were instead an energetic pattern she had absorbed from her cousin.

Through focused inquiry, Hannah realized that her desire to help her cousin had caused her to allow her cousin’s experience to merge into her own. Once she identified this internalization, she was able to:

1. Release the pattern: Consciously letting go of the pattern of suicidal ideation.
2. Retrieve her power: Using the image of a Redwood Tree which she had discovered in an initial Depth Hypnosis process, she filled herself with the tree’s grounding, resilient energy.

Resolution: The Return to Wholeness

The shift was almost immediate. Twenty-four hours later, Hannah texted: “Guess who’s feeling better?” By addressing the spiritual and mental levels of the “infection,” her physical body was finally able to respond to treatment and clear the yeast.

Tracking her experience across all four levels—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—allowed Hannah to see the mechanics of her own vulnerability. It transformed a painful physical crisis into a profound lesson in sovereignty.

Moving from Fragmentation to Integration

When we resonate too deeply with another’s suffering, we do not actually help them; instead, we simply become a second site for that suffering. True compassion requires a sovereign stance—allowing us to be present for others without sacrificing our own life force.

Hannah’s recovery shows us how the body can be seen as a map for the soul’s spiritual journey. The yeast infection was a physical manifestation of her lack of boundaries. By utilizing Depth Hypnosis processes to find a grounding resource—the Redwood—Hannah was able to release the unwanted thought patterns and move from a state of fragmentation back into a much more integrated state. This case serves as a reminder that healing can be an act of reclamation. When we clear the clutter of others’ experiences, we have much more ready access to the power of our own essential nature.