How does hypnosis work?
The conscious mind is the logical part of the brain that has to do with reasoning, analyzing, willpower, and dominates our thinking in our awake state.
Our thought processes, decisions, and emotional reactions come from (or are influenced heavily by) our subconscious mind. This part of our mind works as a precursor to our conscious mind thoughts and actions.
The subconscious mind is like your operating system containing all your experiences, memories, beliefs, ideas of how things should be - from which you then live your life from. It makes you... you. And the construction of it makes certain things easy and other things more difficult for you personally to have or achieve in your life.
Hypnosis and regression work so well because you’re working directly with changing the perspective or reality of your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind doesn’t spend time analyzing information; it just accepts ideas, insights, wisdom, experience as they are and as long as they’re in alignment with your morals and ethics.
With hypnosis or regression, when a suggestion is offered, or experience is had which then gives you new insights and wisdom, the information goes directly into your subconscious mind (a.k.a. your operating system). By doing this, you get your subconscious mind aligned with your life goals and intentions instead of setting out to make a change working only with your conscious mind just to have your subconscious memories, beliefs and ideas get into the way of the action needed to get to your goal.
I used to see this all the time as a wellness coach! I call the subconscious mind the invisible influencer. Meaning you can have all the good intentions in your conscious mind but, if not addressed, your subconscious will undermine your conscious actions!
What changes can I expect to feel?
Insights, emotional release, healing or wisdom gained may happen right after the session or take days or weeks to settle into your body, mind, and spirit. Each session is so unique to your goals and intentions so the results are not something either of us can predict.
For most people, the results are subtle yet game-changing.
For example, let's say your intention for the session was to release the overwhelming fear you feel when you need to talk in a meeting at work. Instead of coaching you to take 10 deep breaths and imagining everyone in their underwear when it's time for you to speak, we work with the subconscious mind, so the changes are more automatic feeling. After the session what you’ll most likely notice is the lack of fear you feel leading up to the meeting. Or you may not be aware of anything until after you speak to the group. Then you sit back in your seat and realize all of a sudden “OMG no fear!! That was so easy! I’m free!!”
Along those same lines, you may find yourself naturally (without much thought) acting differently. For example, you may take more risks, feel more like you, feel more confident or peaceful, or communicate better with others where you would typically hold back or not say anything. You might stick up for yourself or ask for something at work or in relationships that you would normally avoid.
Also, because issues tend to be tangled or overlapping, it's common to have one goal or intention for the session but afterward notice that you see improvements or impacts in other areas of your life. It’s the best when this happens!
What can I expect in a session?
Pssst! For an even better explanation of this, see episode 3 of my podcast.
Each session begins with time to set goals and intentions for our time together. In your very first session with me, we'll take more time to do this. Once intentions are set, you’ll get relaxed, and I’ll lead you through a guided relaxation. This will take anywhere from just a few minutes or up to 20 minutes depending on the type of session, how deeply relaxed you need to go, and how quickly you relax.
Once wholly and deeply relaxed, you’ll be asked open-ended questions about you are experiencing based on the context laid out with the goals of that particular session. During this time you are merely reporting what you see, feel, sense or imagine. You're not trying to figure out why you’re seeing it or if you’re indeed making it all up (which we all kind of feel like since it’s such a unique experience!). We dive into the 'why' of it all later in the session.
Depending on what you see, feel, sense or imagine during the session, I’ll help you move through different techniques to remove past life residues or negative/stuck/heavy energy that has accumulated in your body, mind or spirit.
After that, while you’re still deeply relaxed I’ll ask open-ended questions again but this time to help you connect the dots between what you saw, felt, sensed, or imagined and your life today and the goals of our session.
Next, I’ll gently bring you out of this deep state of relaxation. After that, we’ll debrief for a few minutes (you’ll remember everything), and then you’ll be on your way!
Using at home hypnosis or a virtual session with me? Read this to set up your space.
How many sessions do I need?
Because every person is unique in their outlook, beliefs, daily life, families, life history, soul history, karmic patterns, etc. there is no way for me to know how long it will take to get over an issue or challenge in your life. Because of this, when we work together, I’ll let you know what to look for in the future to know when is a good time (if it is necessary) to come in for another session. This is the most effective way to shed layers of issues and live a life of contentment and peace. For some people, they feel completely relaxed and perfectly balanced after one session.
Depending on how entwined the issue or goal is with your history, personality, and lifestyle, it could take as long as a month after a past life regression for the information and insights to be fully integrated into your body and mind. Insights, understandings or connections most often don’t end when the session ends. They continue to develop or pop into your mind days or weeks after a session.
For me personally, I’ve been receiving hypnosis or regression 1-4 times each year since 2013. If I notice I have specific issues I need to work through, I’ll schedule a session, work through some things and then schedule another session when I feel the need. This practice takes mindfulness and introspection. If you have more questions on this, please let me know, and I’d be happy to talk to you more about it.
Change takes commitment and mindfulness. Continue to be in touch with how you feel as you move through your day-to-day life and it will become clear when you want another session. Our entire existence here on Earth is designed for our souls to grow and evolve and, with that, most of us will always feel like there is some work to be done. That said, however, releasing the grip of negative emotions and gaining control of our internal landscape never gets old. Each challenge is an opportunity to feel our strength and gain more knowledge and confidence!
Do I need to do anything before the session begins?
The moment you schedule a session, my spirit guides/angels and yours are working together to create a session and experience for you that will serve you for your highest and greatest good. “Highest and greatest good” meaning trusting the Creator/Universe/God/Divine/your higher power to do what your soul needs most in the session to help you along your personal and unique path of growth and evolution.
That said, many clients come with a specific issue or goal in mind for the session which helps us get direction for where we want to go with the session. With your personal goals and intentions in mind, it’s best to show up to the session also with the intention to be open for an experience that will serve you for your highest and greatest good. Out of every session I’ve facilitated and the sessions where I’m the client in the chair, this intention never ever disappoints. We always get what we need.
Besides that, there are some physical things that you can do the day of the session to help you relax deeper and quicker while we're in session. You can find those here.
Will I remember my session?
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Will I know what’s going on?
With the type of hypnosis and regression that I facilitate, you’ll be able to remember everything we cover during the session. Often times under hypnosis or regression your senses are heightened which can allow you to retain more details than if we were to sit and just have a conversation in an awake state. You will be completely alert and extremely relaxed.
While we are working with the subconscious part of the mind, the conscious mind never fully turns off or goes away. It relaxes but remains active enough to examine the suggestions and make sure they align with your personal morals and ethics.
Also, I record each session and send you the recording when our session is complete.
Many people are familiar with stage hypnosis that leaves people quacking like a duck or doing other silly things on stage while not remembering any of it. I'm not trained in that kind of hypnosis - nor do I have any interest in it!
Can I be tricked into doing something I don’t want to?
With the hypnosis and regression sessions that I facilitate, you need to want any suggestion that is given or change that is desired. For example, if you wanted to change a habit and we worked on different ways to improve it, you have to want the changes for them to stick. So if you come into the session because someone else wants you to change (rather than having it be your own true desire), then it won’t work.
This is also why we work together on what will be suggested or covered in the session. It’s a co-creation between the two of us so we can make sure any suggestions given during the session are ones that you approve of and find believable. That way you'll get the most out of the session.
What if I feel like I’m just making this up?
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What if I can’t be hypnotized?
It’s a myth that weak minded or unintelligent people are the only kinds of people that can be hypnotized. Because of the type of hypnosis and regression that I'm trained in, it’s most effective when the person is determined, motivated and focused on the change they want to experience.
It’s natural to feel like you’re making it up when you’re moving through a session with Past Life Regression, Higher Self Connection or a Spirit/Angel Guidance. Personal reasons for this may vary but what I see most often is that, in this culture, we are trained to believe experiences that are outside of the norm are not happening, fake or made up. Even intuition or a gut feeling, in this culture, is dismissed. With this history, it’s only natural to wonder if it’s all being made up.
This was a direct quote from my Spirit Guide when I asked her how I knew whether something was a message from beyond, my intuition, or my fabricated imagination. She said, “Imagination and intuition are nearly the same. The difference is how it feels. The feeling in your body will let you know whether this is real or completely made up. This feeling is always there whether you feel it now or not. Part of increasing your intuition is getting connected with how it feels since it looks so similar to the imagination.”
And I can testify that this is true and this message helped me so much in getting in touch with and trusting my own intuition. Thanks, Sasha!
How is this different from talk therapy with a counselor or psychologist?
I am not a licensed psychologist, therapist or counselor. I do not accept insurance.
I use the modality of hypnosis to help you uncover the answers and healing you need in your life right now. You are the magic in this session.
In your subconscious mind is stored everything that has ever happened to you. Working from a completely conscious mind is done in most talk therapy. Working only from the conscious mind make it difficult or nearly impossible to access certain memories or change emotional reactions or habits without accessing the subconscious mind as used in hypnosis or regression. Hypnosis and regression are paths of discovery to figure out why you do what you do and why there are some behaviors you have not been able to change.
Hypnosis and regression helped me uncover feelings, thought patterns, and experiences that I was unable to access in regular talk therapy. And, I’m a regular talk therapy client when I need it.
What if I don’t believe in past lives?
People come to me to facilitate an experience where they go into a hypnotic state and receive healing. Some believe these are actual past lives and some think it is the subconscious working in metaphor. There are other explanations as to what the phenomena of past lives are. What I do know is that people - no matter what they believe about past lives - have a meaningful experience that leaves them with a new perspective, insights, an emotional release, and/or answers to their questions. To me, that's the most important part of the work.
Can I buy a Gift Card for someone else?
First, thank you for thinking of me. It means the world to me that you trust me to lead you (and your loved ones!) on this unique journey.
I don't do gift cards of any form because there is REAL magic in someone taking their own energy, gumption, and money and using it in exchange for a session. Also, there are legal and client-rights kind of things involved in the sign-up process so future clients need to schedule their own session.
While this doesn't make gifting a session to someone very fun, it's part of the requirements of being covered by insurance for hypnosis. Are the powers that be afraid I am going to go around hypnotizing people against their will?? I don't know that and I don't know how to hypnotize people against their will. All I know is that if I want to own a business where I work with clients and hypnosis then I need to play by those rules!
Another bit about this:
My clients go places and learn things. That's because I only work with those who sign up for the session and allow themselves time to prepare for the session. While these things happen outside of the actual session time, they are the foundation of the type of experience one can have.
There are changes in our minds and bodies when we move toward something with purpose and will and a session like this is no different.
If your loved one really wants a session and you are going to pay for it, give them the money to make the appointment OR have them purchase and you can pay them back. Make it fun! Get inventive or artistic with the packaging and delivery. Flex that creativity muscle that makes this life beautiful!
Thanks for spreading the word about my work. It's such a joy to connect with others who are into this kind of experience and growth. Muah, muah!