Frequently Asked Questions

Hypnosis is simply the ability to non-critically accept a new concept or idea into your subconscious mind. If someone has ever told you something, and you have acted upon that information as if it were true, you've been hypnotized. Another word for the same phenomenon is influence.

The mind is built with both a conscious and subconscious portions. The conscious mind is the one you're using right now to evaluate whether or not you agree with what you're reading. The subconscious mind is like a computer. It simply follows through on the programs it has been given. Remember when they say we use only 10% of our actual brain power? That's the conscious part. The subconscious is the rest of the 90%. If we can come up with such great stuff through conscious thought, imagine what incredible results await you when you can harness the full potential of the entire subconscious.

They are two sides of the same coin. Hypnosis is being open to new suggestions. Trance is the biological state of mind in which you are most receptive to accepting those suggestions as true.

Yes, and you don't even need to try. All people naturally pass through trance at least twice a day: Just as you are waking up from natural sleep and just as you are about to fall into natural sleep. Those transition points are our most suggestible moments.

Children are naturally in trance all the time. Notice how they have no filters (Kids say the darndest things!!!). That goes for input and output. Until the age of about 7 or 8, kids have no critical factor to evaluate new programs as they come in. So, young children believe EVERYTHING you tell them whole heartedly and they often take it literally.

Believe it or not you are still subject to the forces at play. These are irrefutable rules of the mind. The quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our communication both internally and externally. You have about 1,500 words per minute of constant monologue whizzing by in your subconscious mind. Regardless of belief, the content of that self-talk determines everything that you can be, do, or have.

Hypnosis isn't magic. Just as it isn't magic to have someone show you how to throw a perfect free-throw, it isn't magic to be hypnotized to change your life for the better. When you reach your point of readiness for change, you decide what programs you want to change in your internal computer (the subconscious mind) and use hypnosis to do the re-programming.

Remember, the conscious mind is the thinking mind, and the subconscious is the feeling mind. Most people, when they want to change something about themselves will think and talk about what they want. You can spend decades engaged in talk-psychotherapy and not get anywhere. Because while we think with the conscious, we DO with the subconscious. If there is a discrepancy between what you are consciously thinking and what is programmed in your subconscious, the subconscious wins. No matter how or what you think, you can only do what the subconscious FEELS like doing. The most effective way to get under the hood and rewrite the programs whizzing around in the subconscious mind is through hypnosis.

Only if you want to and only if doing so is going to get you closer to your goals 🙂

As we've already learned, hypnosis, or trance, is a natural state of mind. Just like being asleep and fully awake aren't against anyone's religion, neither is hypnosis.

We do things all the time in which we give up control. Have you ever flown in an airplane? Ridden in a bus or taxicab? Have you ever had surgery? Have you ever loved someone with reckless abandon? In each of these situations, you are less in control than you are in a regular session of hypnosis. In hypnosis, you are actually in a state of enhanced awareness and perception. So long as there is good rapport between yourself and the hypnotist your subconscious programs can be re-written for your benefit. If anything starts to smell funny or anything happens that is in-congruent with your core beliefs, that rapport goes out the window and the ability to be hypnotically influenced ends. In other words, even in trance, you are in total control. When working with a hypnotist, going into trance is a choice. Just like you would choose your surgeon carefully, choose your hypnotherapist very carefully.

Your mind will be active and alert the entire time we are working together. You will maintain awareness of your surroundings the entire time. Afterward, you will recall as much detail as you would from any normal conversation and be able to clearly talk about it afterward.

It doesn't. YOU make your life better using hypnosis as a tool. You see, in order for things to change in your life, YOU must change who you are. There is a way for you to get everything in your life that you want and it requires you to think and act in a way that is different than how you have been thinking and acting up until this point.

While in hypnosis, you may experience a profound feeling of heaviness in your body. Or, you may feel a light airy sensation like you're floating above your body. Or, you may just feel like you're sitting there in a chair. What ever you feel at the moment, it's perfectly fine. There is no one single universal feeling of being hypnotized. Everyone experiences it in their own way. Whatever you feel while in trance is perfectly fine. Any way it goes, you're going to have a great session.

While in hypnosis, it's perfectly fine to attend to any physical needs. You can itch, scratch or shift yourself in the chair, feel free to do so. Hypnosis is not simply an on/off phenomenon. It is a continuum of consciousness. So, while you feel the itch, you may slide into a slightly lighter level of trance. The best thing you can do is to scratch the itch because doing so is going to immediately make it easier and easier for you to go deeper into drowsy relaxation. Finally, if you need a blanket or suddenly feel the need to go to the restroom, just let me know and we'll find a way to make it happen easily and readily.