About Hypnotherapy

How I help my clients transform…

Boise Hypnosis is all about YOU.

It’s about your problems and your pain – and helping you transform them into lasting solutions for your well-being.

It’s my job to be your guide and your coach – to listen carefully and understand the problem… then help you every step of the way to replace old patterns that aren’t working with new empowering ones that do.

Did you know that YOU are a hypnotist??

Surprised?

It’s true. Hypnosis is a totally natural (and very common) function of the human mind. Hypnosis can be described as a process where a person’s attention is focused, their imagination is engaged, and they are completely absorbed in what they’re doing.

Most people don’t even realize they’re experiencing hypnosis, hypnotizing others, and being hypnotized by others all the time. Practically every day…

For example, stop for a moment…

… and think back to the most recent movie or television show you really got into.

Was your attention focused on the experience? Did you allow your imagination to help you “see” the characters and events as real on some level?

Did you become absorbed in the experience? Did you find yourself naturally laughing at the funny parts? At the sad moments – did you choke up or shed a tear? Did the time seem to fly by?

If you answered “yes” to most, or all, of these questions you were experiencing “hypnosis.”

This is one common example of “hypnosis.” There are countless others. Like, becoming engrossed in a good book, experiencing a state of “flow” while doing something you enjoy, playing a sport and being in “the zone,” enjoying a fascinating conversation, or even just reading this About page right now…

And you accidentally “hypnotize” other people.

Have you ever told scary stories to kids for fun, perhaps around a campfire? If you haven’t, I’m sure you can imagine doing so.

You can imagine them sitting around, eyes wide, listening… (their attention focused on you). As you tell your spooky tale, you can almost see their imaginations following along – making pictures of everything you say. They’re absorbed… fascinated… and when you get to the dramatic apex of your story – they gasp and scream!

Why? Because they were “hypnotized” by YOU – the “hypnotist!” And, without even realizing it, you are being “hypnotized” by others, mostly by accident, all the time.

You even hypnotize yourself!

And sometimes the ideas being delivered are not fun at all. Sometimes they are untrue, thoughtless, cruel, or terrifying. In fact, I can virtually guarantee that the problem you want to fix right now is, at least in part, the result of a form of accidental, negative hypnosis.

Anxiety disorders are a perfect example. Anxiety is largely a (habitual) misuse of imagination. All kinds of things can trigger a fearful thought. And people that suffer with anxiety don’t just experience one scary thought; they habitually misuse their powerful imagination in a vicious cycle twisting themselves into knots – creating terrifying scenarios in their mind.

For survival purposes, people are hard-wired to respond powerfully to fear. Few things in life are more compelling at focusing a person’s attention than fear. People who suffer with anxiety tend to focus on the fear and ignore any information that they are actually perfectly safe.

What we focus on, we amplify. So, anxiety sufferers easily become absorbed in a vicious cycle of imagining terrifying, worst-case scenarios – which create fearful feelings and symptoms in their body (known as the fight or flight response) – leading to more fearful thoughts… and more fearful feelings.

In time, this pattern becomes a habit.

Did you notice the same elements of focused attention, imagination, and absorption in all the above examples of “hypnosis”? I hope so, because it’s very important that you do.

Accidental, negative “hypnosis” is a big part of the problem when someone feels trapped in anxiety, or can’t seem to quit smoking, or struggles to lose weight and keep it off, or is feeling powerless to make other important changes in their life.

So, if accidental, negative hypnosis is largely to blame for your problem… that means purposeful, positive hypnosis is the perfect way to correct it.

For example, we can use hypnosis to help a client suffering from anxiety to break the cycle of negative thoughts and feelings. Because people simply can’t feel deep relaxation and fear at the same time, we can counter fearful thoughts and feelings by teaching them how to relax deeply in hypnosis.

We can help them get in touch with powerful and positive feelings of calm, safety, and peace. Together, we can create an ideal place full of these positive resources that they can connect to whenever it’s helpful.

We can also help them rapidly create new and better habits – by teaching them how to use their powerful imagination in hypnosis to practice feeling calm, comfortable, and in control in situations where they used to feel anxious in the past. This is exposure therapy – the most effective way we know of to deal with fear-based issues like phobias and generalized anxiety. Hypnosis makes treatments like exposure therapy easy, comfortable, flexible, and turbo-charged!

Hypnosis is fascinating and largely misunderstood.

We have talked about many of the reasons hypnosis is both fascinating and misunderstood. I’d like to think, by now, you’ve learned some things about hypnosis that you didn’t realize before and that you now understand it better.

We’ve talked a little bit about what hypnosis is. I’ve also explained how, when misused, it can unwittingly make us feel trapped and miserable – but you can begin to recognize its influence in your life. And hopefully, now you understand that you can learn how to avoid much of the accidental, negative variety and that you can use hypnosis – with purpose – to help you create the positive changes you want in your life.

But there’s another reason hypnosis is misunderstood and fascinating. And I’m sure you’re curious to learn…

How hypnosis works!

In other words, how does hypnosis operate so powerfully to make us stuck or set us free?

To understand this, you must first realize that the mind and the body do not operate separately. The truth is, they are MASSIVELY CONNECTED!

Imagine walking into your kitchen. Notice where everything is… the sink, the stove, the drawers, the refrigerator. In your mind’s eye, walk over to the fridge. Grip the handle and imagine, as you pull on it, you hear the unique sound it makes as the door comes unsealed. Notice the cold air touching your skin.

Looking into the fridge, you can see the brightly lit interior. Now, reach into where you keep a fresh lemon. Imagine taking that fresh lemon in your hand. Feel the weight of it – notice the cold, bumpy texture. Look at it briefly – see the bright yellow color, the distinct shape. Close the fridge door and carry your lemon over to the counter. Imagine setting it down on the cutting board.

Now, walk over to where you keep the perfect knife for cutting a juicy lemon. Take the knife firmly in one hand, holding the lemon in the other – feel the knife slicing through the lemon as you cut it in half. Almost immediately, you begin to smell that fresh lemon scent wafting through the air. Take a lemon half and lay it flat on the board and slice it in half again.

Pick up a newly sliced lemon wedge and bring it up to your nose. Breath in that fresh lemon scent. You can smell it so distinctly now. Notice the juices running down the lemon and onto your fingers. Feel the cold, wetness of the juice on your fingers – a little sticky – as you bring it up to your mouth.

Now, bite into that lemon… feel the coldness against your lips, sense the juices squirting into your mouth, flowing down around your teeth, onto your tongue. Taste the tartness of it – a bit startling. You can’t help but pucker… So, so tart!

Behold the power of hypnosis!

If you allowed yourself to get into the above description at all, you’ll notice that your mouth is now watering to some degree. Did you find yourself swallowing a few times as you read it?

The amazing thing is – your body’s ability to salivate (mouthwatering) is not under conscious control. No matter how hard you try, you cannot consciously “will” your mouth to salivate – that function is controlled entirely by the unconscious part of your mind.

If you, like many people who read or hear that description, just experienced a moist mouth…

Congratulations! You just used your mind (through focused attention, imagination, and absorption – aka “hypnosis”) to make a real and quantifiable change in your body!

And there are other examples of the mind powerfully influencing the body. Like when you begin to think about being with someone you are very sexually attracted to, and you start to fantasize in great detail about the specific things you’d like to do with that person… and voila! your body (ahem) responds. Am I right? Again, you cannot consciously “will” your body to respond sexually. That, too, is in the realm of the unconscious mind.

Much of how “hypnosis” works is because of the fact that in many important ways, the human brain and nervous system cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is vividly imagined in “hypnosis.” This is one of the primary reasons hypnosis has such a powerful and immediate effect.

And our responses go much deeper than salivation, lubrication, or blood flow. Numerous studies have clearly shown that hypnosis influences our bodies in countless powerful ways – including altering our blood chemistry and literally changing how our brain is “wired.”

Amazingly, science has even proven that hypnosis causes changes at least as deep as our DNA! Specifically, how our genes are expressed – an area known as “epigenetics.” The power of hypnosis may go even deeper than that; we just don’t know yet.

I’ll help you understand – and harness – your natural power.

My clients learn to use their innate ability for hypnosis for their benefit in order to create the lasting changes they want. So, no matter what you want help to resolve: overcome anxiety, stop smoking, lose weight and keep it off, conquer a fear or phobia, or improve your golf game, hypnotherapy can help you get what you want more quickly, more easily, and will frequently work when nothing else has.

Some of the many things I do with hypnotherapy at Boise Hypnosis are: helping clients gain insight or better understand themselves, their emotions, or their situation; comfortably process past painful experiences or trauma; creatively solve problems in ways they hadn’t thought of before; imagine what it might be to act, feel, or think differently in certain situations; adopt healthier attitudes and beliefs; and mentally rehearse new skills and begin to form better habits.

So, what is a hypnotherapy session like?

Next, I’ll describe step-by-step how a typical first session will go – to help you feel completely comfortable with the process at Boise Hypnosis.

Clients are greeted at the door by me and are seated at my desk. They’re then asked to read and fill out a bit of paperwork (just two pages).

After paperwork, clients typically watch a video entitled “The Truth About Hypnosis” to correct common myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and hypnotherapy. After the video, I’ll answer any additional questions clients may have.

I will usually skip the video for clients who have already had positive experiences with hypnotherapy (with me or someone else), have no questions, and feel perfectly comfortable working with me. In that case, we can move on.

At this point, I’ll ask clients if they are ready to begin the hypnosis process. I’ll introduce them to my big comfortable recliner chair, I’ll do my best to minimize distractions (silencing cell phones, etc.), and ensure clients are as comfortable as possible during the process. This includes asking them if they’d like to visit the restroom before we begin, offering them a comfy blanket for their legs if they get chilly, etc.

I do what I can to make it clear that the clients’ job throughout this process is very simple…

… follow my instructions and do their best to imagine what I ask them to imagine.

Then, we begin the formal hypnosis with what is known as an “induction.” There are many ways I do this, but the purpose is the same – to help clients to relax, focus their attention, engage their imagination, and just become absorbed in the pleasant process.

Next comes a “deepening” stage. This helps clients to focus further, ignore distractions, and become even more absorbed in the process.

The next part is known as the “change work” phase. This is where most of the transformation happens. Depending on the change clients are wanting and the type of session, this can be as simple as directly speaking to the subconscious mind to make the changes clients want.

And there are all kinds of additional processes, tools, and methods to help clients get the changes they want as quickly and easily as possible.

The last part of the hypnosis is the exit portion or what I refer to as the “exduction.” This is a gentle transition from hyper-focused and deeply relaxed to broader awareness and feeling positive and energized.

It’s about building a better life…

Human beings can learn, grow, heal, and evolve.

Working together, we will replace old problematic patterns. We’ll create and amplify new and better patterns with empowering new habits that put you firmly on the path to lasting solutions.

Hypnosis makes those changes happen far faster and easier than they otherwise could… so you can finally enjoy the better life you’ve wanted for so long.

Boise Hypnosis is an “evidence-based practice”…

… which means that the tools and the methods I use are supported by scientific studies and research – not magical thinking or guesswork. I do what works!

Science has found hypnosis to be effective for many, many problems; and the evidence supporting it keeps growing every day. For example, one recent and very large meta-analysis of over 440 studies, including quality randomized controlled trials, involving nearly 2000 participants, showed significant clinical effectiveness of hypnosis for a very broad range of conditions (Flammer & Bongartz, 2003):

Accelerated healing in bone fractures, anxiety, analgesia (for invasive medical procedures), analgesia (during labor), analgesia (breast biopsy), asthma, blood loss in surgery, burn pain treatment, chemotherapy-related vomiting, chronic headaches, duodenal ulcers, enuresis (Bed Wetting), hypertension, insomnia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), local anesthesia, osteoarthritic pain, postoperative recovery (open heart surgery), postoperative vomiting, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), smoking cessation, test anxiety, tinnitus, and warts… and this list is just the beginning.

A vast amount of research is showing hypnosis to be an evidence-based approach to a huge array of issues, and more are being added at an accelerating rate. What all this means for you is that you can rest assured that the work we do together is maximally efficient and effective. So, you’ll be feeling better in no time!