The Evolution of Healing: Integrating Touch and Hypnotherapy

In this episode of the Feeling Good podcast, we hear from another David Burns—not me (David Dean Burns), but rather David Erik Burns, my wonderful and beloved son. Erik discusses his journey in creating BloomHarmony.org, his new clinical practice that integrates hypnotherapy with somatic work.

To kick things off, Erik shares personal stories about his relationship with his father, David, including the story of his birth and struggle to breathe in the pediatric intensive care unit, and how touch has played a significant role in his life and healing journey. He emphasizes the idea that words alone sometimes fall short in attempts to convey love or transmit healing. A loving touch, in contrast, can make an immediate and profound impact.

Today’s conversation delves into the mind-body connection and the importance of emotional expression in therapy. Erik calls his innovative approach hypnosomatic healing, which involves a combination of guided hypnotic imagery with massage.  The mind/body connection refers to the dynamic relationship between your thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and attitudes (the mind), and your physical health and bodily functions (the body).

Erik emphasizes the transformative power of touch and the need for openness in therapeutic settings, exploring how these elements can lead to a profound healing experience. Erik also discusses the tremendous value of longer therapy sessions as well as the powerful role of trance states in therapy and in life.

They also discuss the ethical balance between therapist livelihood (which naturally requires charging for sessions) and the therapist’s genuine commitment to the relief of suffering, regardless of the patient’s financial resources. Both Erik and his dad, David Sr., agree that in an ideal world, health care would be free and available to all, and regret having to charge for treatment. Erik always takes the needs of his clients into account and works for a reduced fee or for free if needed.

Erik explains how and why the mind-body connection is so crucial to genuine healing and describes the importance of energy management during sessions Here's how he explains it:

Energy management is about showing up with the proper state of consciousness for a session. Transpersonal work relies heavily on the therapist interpersonal relationship, so the state I am in has a huge influence on the outcome.

We teach a 3-sided model: emptiness, awareness, and love. "Energy" management would be the preparation I do to both Empty myself from pre-conceived notions (AKA getting out of my own way), to step into observer consciousness, and to become rooted in love. I guess a simpler way to describe energy management would be to become an open unconditional channel and to silence the monkey mind as much as possible. I believe I may have been referring to the inner child dialog I often do before a session to help achieve this state.

The dialogue also explores the transformative experiences clients can undergo in therapy and the tools therapists can use to empower clients who feel helpless, hopeless, or defeated. The personal connection between therapists and clients is highlighted as a crucial element in the healing process.

While gut problems, such as irritable bowel and chronic abdominal complaints are important targets for hypnosomatic therapy, Erik emphasizes the potential value of his approach for a wide variety of complaints, including

Emotional problems

• Depression, grief, despair
• Loss of motivation, pleasure or satisfaction in life
• Anxiety / stress / worry / panic / fear
• Recent or past trauma
• Feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, worthlessness
• Feelings of hopelessness, discouragement, and frustration

Interpersonal difficulties

• Anger
• Relationship conflicts
• Loneliness
• Feeling isolated, unlovable, unloved
• Blame, bitterness and resentment

Physical / somatic complaints

• Chronic belly pain, back pain, chest pain, headache, etc.
• Chronic fatigue / exhaustion / burn out
• Dizziness

Spiritual

• Feeling empty, rudderless and lost
• Wondering, “Who am I?”
• Wondering, “What’s the meaning and purpose of my life?”
• Wondering, “Why am I struggling and suffering?”

Here  are Erik’s actual words, from his website, BloomHarmon.org:

I

Hi, I’m Erik.

I believe in your potential to live a pain-free, vibrant life. Why do I believe in you?

Pain relief is not just my profession — it's also my personal journey. I've lived with gut disorders for most of my life, including food allergies to wheat and milk, intermittent pain, and ulcers. I sought help from Western doctors but never received much relief. Modifying my diet provided some improvement, but it never fully addressed the underlying issues. Finally, I discovered hypnotherapy, and my life really started to change.

As an undergraduate at Stanford University, I studied neurophysiology and  deepened my understanding of the mind-body connection. I also trained in deep tissue and polarity massage, which showed me how treating the mind and body together can maximize the effects of each approach. This holistic understanding led me to develop my primary modality, hypnosomatics, a comprehensive body care treatment that combines elements of massage and hypnotherapy to supercharge recovery.

A lot of research has been done into the underlying causes of chronic gut pain. Conditions like IBS, SIBO, and GERD have been studied extensively. Gut-directed hypnotherapy (GDH) is widely considered the most medically effective form of treatment for these types of conditions, with treatment success rates often exceeding 70-80%. This discovery was transformative for me, and it can be for you too.

Today, I am mostly pain-free and thriving, and I want to share the tools and techniques that were so helpful for me. My approach to well-being goes beyond reducing pain; it's about empowering you to transform your own life from within and, ultimately, to thrive.

Thank you for listening today!

Erik, Rhonda, and David