Spinning Through the Veil of Consciousness and the Power of Your Unconscious Metaphors...

Panic Attack on the Airplane and a visit from the Dali Lama and my Grandmother...

by Kris Hallbom

I was flying from San Francisco to Indianapolis to celebrate my father’s 70th birthday. I started feeling anxious as soon I walked onto the airplane. And by the time the plane took off, I was having a panic attack.

I couldn’t believe it. I have traveled to over 25 countries around the world, and I fly all the time. How could I be having a panic attack on this day, on this plane? Not to mention that I’m a NLP coach and hypnotherapist, and work with these kind of issues all the time.

Around 10 minutes into the flight, I looked down at my hands and they were chalk white. I had heard of people who were white knuckled flyers, and now I was one of those people! It occurred to me in that moment that I needed to take charge of the situation. Apparently, in the midst of my anxiety attack, I had forgotten who I am and what I do for a living.

I immediately thought about spinning the anxiety. But my only challenge was that I was sitting in a small space, and had someone sitting right next to me. I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself, so I was going to have to be creative in how I worked with myself.  Fortunately, I was sitting in an exit row, and I had a little more seating room than usual.

The first thing I did was to identify where the anxiety was in my body– and it turned out to be in my head. So I envisioned all the anxious feelings and images floating out of my head, to the back of the seat that was directly in front of me. There was a blank TV screen on the seat, which ended up being the perfect place for me to examine the anxious feelings I was having––and all the unconscious images I had been visualizing during the flight.

The very first thing I saw was an image of a plane crashing and everyone dying. This image didn’t surprise me at all. “No wonder I had been panicking,” I sighed to myself.

It was the unconscious image in my mind that had been generating all the bad feelings associated with my panic attack. I next identified which direction the image of the plane crash was turning, and it was spinning clockwise. I drew a circle around the image with my minds eye, so I could see the clockwise motion of it better. I then reversed the spin direction of the image, and spun it counter clockwise as fast as I could until it transformed into a healing gift/metaphor.

The first metaphorical gift I got from my unconscious mind was the Wheel of Fortune from the game show, “Wheel of Fortune". I smiled when I saw the wheel. Yet, I felt a little bit confused by it, because I didn’t understand what it meant. So I decided to spin the wheel again, just like they do on the game show to see what my next gift would be. I gently spun it in a counter clockwise motion with my mind’s eye, until the next image appeared to me. Suddenly, I begun to see an image fill in, and I was completely surprised by what I saw....  The image turned out to be the Dali Lama!

The Dali Lama, looked at me with a gentle smile on his face, and said, “Be at peace now, and relax.”

I could feel my whole body loosen up, and I immediately began to feel at ease upon hearing his kind words.

I was so delighted with the image of the Dali Lama and having so much fun, that I decided to do one more spin with my mind's eye to see what would come up next. So, I carefully spun the Dali Lama in a counterclockwise motion, and waited for the next image to appear to me.

Once again, I was completely surprised by the image that I received from my other than conscious mind. It turned out to be my grandmother, who passed away when I was a little girl. I’ve always felt like she was my guardian angel. So this was a really special gift for me. Interestingly, she didn’t show up on the TV screen on the back of the airplane seat…

Instead, she was floating outside the window of the airplane. I was sitting in a window seat, and I looked to my right­– and there she was– and she had a special message for me:

“Kristine, this is not your time. You are not going to die on this day, or in this airplane. You have a long life ahead of you. Now listen to what the Dali Lama said. Be at peace now, and relax,” she said with a gentle smile on her face.

I completely relaxed in that moment, and fell fast asleep. I slept through the entire flight, and was completely startled awake by the sound of the wheels hitting the ground at the Indianapolis International Airport. I looked outside the window, and the sun was setting in the most beautiful way.

As far as the images of the Dali Lama and my deceased grandmother are concerned… I’m not sure what to make of that. My scientific rational self would like to say:

“They were unconscious metaphors, generated by my mind to comfort me in that moment distress. This is what makes the most logical sense.”

However, there is a spiritual part of me that would like to think that, perhaps, my grandmother really did visit me from the other side.

I guess I'll never know.

Since then, I have flown to Europe and Australia several times and I'm always completely at ease on the airplane and totally relaxed, even during severe turbulence. It's easy for me to sleep through the bumps, and to have a total peace of mind.

Kristine Hallbom is the co-founder of the NLP Institute of California and is a principle author and developer of Dynamic Spin Release™ and the WealthyMind™ program. Recognized for her ability to translate complex ideas into practical skills, and for her warm, approachable style, Kris has trained and coached clients throughout Europe, South America, Australia, Canada and the United States. She is a long time trainer and student of NLP and Systems Thinking, and holds a degree in Psychology and Languages.

© 2010 Kristine & Tim Hallbom