Practicing meditation can bring remarkable clarity. Over time, practitioners often become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and recurring patterns. But awareness alone does not always translate into change. Many meditators may clearly identify habits of mind such as worry, self-criticism or people-pleasing and yet find themselves repeating the same patterns.
Perhaps it’s the same relationship dynamic that keeps returning again and again. Or the same inner voice of doubt that appears again and again during practice.
What happens when a pattern does not change even after it is recognized?
So what happens when recognizing a pattern doesn’t change it?
Julianna SloaneA meditation teacher and hypnotherapist, she works with practices that explore how the deep, subconscious layers of the mind and nervous system shape our behavior. In this conversation with Mindful, she discusses why understanding our patterns doesn’t always lead to change, how visualization and altered states can open new pathways to change, and how mindfulness practitioners can recognize when something comes up in practice that requires deeper attention.
Angela Stubbs: The topic I originally had for this conversation was “When Insight Is Not Enough.” Many people can recognize their patterns or understand why certain behaviors are repeated in their lives. But insight alone doesn’t always lead to real change. From your perspective, why is this?
Most people who come to work with me already have a lot of self-awareness. But despite that awareness, they still feel trapped. They can’t stop worrying. They can’t help but hold themselves to impossible standards. They keep entering relationships that are not right for them.
Juliana Sloane: There are certainly situations where insight alone may suffice. Someone has an “aha” moment, something shifts internally, and the pattern loosens. But honestly, this is a fairly small percentage of the cases I see, especially when it comes to deeply ingrained patterns and habits.
Most people who come to work with me already have a lot of self-awareness. They frequently practice meditation, they have been taking therapy, and they are interested in personal development. They can clearly explain what their patterns are.
But despite that awareness, they still feel trapped. They can’t stop worrying. They can’t help but hold themselves to impossible standards. They keep entering relationships that are not right for them.
These types of patterns are not just intellectual. They are deeply ingrained habits of the mind and nervous system. People often repeat these for years, sometimes their entire lives. Over time those repetitions create very strong neural pathways that lead someone back into the same familiar patterns.
Understanding patterns can be helpful, but we also need ways to work with the deep conditioning that keeps recreating it.
A very common thing I hear is, “I’ve done a lot of work on this issue. I understand it intellectually. But something still feels stuck.”
Angela Stubbs: How do people begin to recognize when something requires deep exploration rather than constant observation or reflection?
Julianna Sloan:Usually, by the time someone comes to see me, they already have a sense that something deeper is happening. A very common thing I hear is, “I’ve done a lot of work on this issue. I understand it intellectually. But something still feels stuck.”
Feeling that there is ‘something deeper’ to explore is often a good sign that one can benefit from working with these layers of knowledge and experience that lie beneath the surface.
The greatest time anyone can have No Be prepared when they are expecting a quick solution that does not require their active participation. We are not waving a magic wand, we are actively connecting with the mind, body and nervous system to bring about the necessary change.
The work I do is about helping people navigate their inner world and develop tools to access their resources, insights and wisdom. Ultimately, the goal is for people to feel more empowered in their process and to realize that many of the answers they are looking for are already within them.
angela stubbs: If many of these patterns remain outside of conscious awareness, what is happening below the level of the thinking mind?
We think that if we understand something intellectually we should be able to change it. But most of our behavior and emotional reactions are shaped by processes occurring beyond the level of conscious thought.
Julianna Sloan:Many of the patterns that people struggle with are operating outside of conscious awareness. We think that if we understand something intellectually we should be able to change it. But most of our behavior and emotional reactions are shaped by processes occurring beyond the level of conscious thought.
Repeated experiences over time create strong patterns in the mind and nervous system. Those patterns can become automatic, even to the extent that they simply begin to feel like a part of who we are. Even when one understands this pattern, one may still find oneself drawn back into it again and again.
Awareness can help us recognize what’s happening, but the deeper conditioning that drives those patterns may still be at work underneath.
In many ways the conscious mind is a small part of what shapes our experience. If we are only working at that level, we are leaving a lot of minds untouched.
Angela Stubbs: You use this word often trans in your work. For readers who aren’t familiar with that idea, what do you mean by that trans?
Julianna Sloane: When people hear the word trance, they often imagine something unusual or mysterious. And it sure may seem magical, but that doesn’t mean it’s not accessible. Trance is actually a very natural state of consciousness that people go in and out of all the time.
People’s ideas about hypnosis usually come from stage shows or older models where someone takes ‘control’ over another person’s mind. But modern hypnotherapy doesn’t actually work that way. Hypnosis is more collaborative and powerful than people often imagine. A person entering trance remains aware and engaged in the process the entire time.
For example, when you get completely lost in a movie or book and lose track of time, it is a type of trance state. Your focus becomes focused and your normal analytical thinking mind becomes calm.
In those moments the mind becomes more open to imagination, emotion, intuition and deeper layers of experience. In trance-based practices we are intentionally working with a state of focused awareness so that people can explore those deeper layers of their inner experience.
Angela Stubbs: There are many misconceptions about hypnosis. What do people often misunderstand about it?
Julianna Sloane: People’s ideas about hypnosis usually come from stage shows or older models where someone takes ‘control’ over another person’s mind.
But modern hypnotherapy doesn’t actually work that way. Hypnosis is more collaborative and powerful than people often imagine. A person entering trance remains aware and engaged in the process the entire time.
What happens is that the analytical thinking mind starts to relax a bit. We begin to get out of our own way, making the deeper layers of the mind and our own awareness more available.
Rather than controlling someone, the practitioner is helping to create conditions where a person can explore their own inner experience in a different way and become an active agent of change in their own subconscious mind.
In many modern contexts we consider imagination to be childish or frivolous. But imagination is actually one of the mind’s most powerful ways of communication.
Angela Stubbs: You speak about the role of imagination in this work. This may come as a surprise to those who think of fantasy as something unrealistic.
Julianna Sloane: In many modern contexts we consider imagination to be childish or frivolous. But imagination is actually one of the mind’s most powerful ways of communication.
During a focused meditation or hypnotic process, things like imagery, metaphors, and mottoes are often filled with meaning. They are not simply ‘our imagination’ running wild, rather, they are symbols encoded with our beliefs, experiences, world view, memory and much more. In our daily life, we often ignore its power. When people go into a hypnotic or trance-like state, those hidden metaphors, somatic experiences and images naturally emerge for us to actively work with them.
Instead of dismissing those experiences as “just imagination,” we can begin to see them as powerful tools. Sometimes these experiences point us to deeper emotional patterns and allow us to more fully process and integrate our experiences. Sometimes they allow us to experience what it’s like to overcome obstacles or react differently to things that used to cause anxiety, self-doubt or fear. For example, professional athletes do this all the time when they mentally practice breaking a record or performing their best. Whether you’re shooting a basket or imagining shooting a basket, your brain doesn’t really discriminate that much – it takes that information and runs with it. So when you’re working with a hypnotherapist, you’re using these tools to help you explore and integrate new options and approaches to your mind, body, and nervous system.
angela stubbs: How do you see this work relating to mindfulness practice?
Juliana Sloane: I don’t see this work as a replacement for mindfulness practice. In fact, I think mindfulness lays the groundwork to make this possible in the first place.
Meditation helps people develop awareness of their thoughts, embodied experiences, emotions, and patterns. That awareness is incredibly valuable because if you don’t pay attention to something you can’t work on it.
It often happens that when people develop a meditation practice, they begin to clearly see patterns in their thinking, reactions, and approach to their world. They find that they can see those patterns clearly, but it doesn’t necessarily change things in their daily lives.
Practices that engage deeper layers of the mind can allow people to explore in a different way what may be beneath those patterns. Rather than replacing mindfulness, this type of work can deepen the process that begins mindfulness.
Practices that engage deeper layers of the mind can allow people to explore in a different way what may be beneath those patterns. Rather than replacing mindfulness, this type of work can deepen the process that begins mindfulness.
Angela Stubbs: Are there signs that something emerging in behavior might invite deeper exploration?
Julianna Sloane: This often happens when a pattern – for example, anxiety, or self-criticism, or a recurring problem with work, relationships, or life – keeps appearing again and again, even when one is very aware of it.
A person may recognize patterns in meditation or therapy. They understand where it comes from and they can see it happening in real time. But despite that awareness, it keeps repeating.
This can sometimes be a sign that the pattern lies in deeper layers of the mind or nervous system.
Those moments can become an invitation to explore the pattern in a different way and look at it with curiosity rather than trying to force it to change through mere understanding.
editor’s Note:
In an upcoming article for Mindful, Juliana Sloane explains how meditation and hypnosis practices can support people living with chronic illness, including how these approaches can help individuals deal differently with the pain, fatigue, and emotional challenges of long-term health conditions. Keep an eye on our homepage.
