Hypnotherapy is Not a Magic Wand.

Allow me to be real for a moment.

I want everyone who is reading this post to understand something. 

All hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

We’re in and out of hypnosis 100 to 120 times a day naturally. We’re consistently and constantly giving our own subconscious mind messaging through the thoughts that we think, the words that we speak, and the pictures that we put in our head. 

Allow me to be even more real about something. 

I do not—ever—take credit for a client’s success, and I don’t take any credit for their non-success at all. 

I am not responsible for their success or their failure in any way, because all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. 

So when people come to me and they want me to help them, and they want to be in only one session (aka, they want a magic wand), it’s probably not going to be like that. 

Let’s be real for a second. 

How can you possibly undo 30, 40, or even 60 years of programming in one session? 

It’s not going to happen. 

This applies to weight loss especially.

Here’s a big example of how hypnotherapy is not a magic wand, especially if you want to lose weight. 

I’ve noticed some people want to pay the least amount of money possible, and they want to exert the least amount of effort possible. 

And they want their body to just literally shed…what, hundreds of pounds? 

In a week?! 

It doesn’t work like that. 

Any weight loss program that you go on, your body needs to release the weight slowly and steadily and consistently at a healthy rate. That way you’re not taxing your liver, you’re not overburdening your whole system, you’re still eating, and you’re nourishing your body. 

What happens instead? Well, people think hypnosis for weight loss is like a magic wand, when it’s not. At all.

You’ve still got to do the work. If you’re a 250-pound woman and you want to lose weight, even if you’re at the most rapid state, two pounds every week, you can do the math. That’s not going to happen by next month. You are not going to be the skinny person you want to be next month if you have more than approximately ten pounds you want to lose. 

So again, I don’t take responsibility for success, and I don’t take responsibility for failure. 

In my experience I’ve had clients who come to me and they need to lose maybe 10 pounds. They state “I don’t have eating issues, I just want to lose 10 pounds.” 

Here’s my question. 

Does their body actually want to release those 10 pounds?  Is it an unrealistic goal? Is the person already restricting their food and their body is starving? Are they drinking water? Do they exercise regularly? 

Are the expectations reasonable? 

I want you and anyone who’s seeking hypnotherapy for weight loss to come to with realistic goals. 

You need to follow guidelines when you’re losing weight. If you are doing my weight loss program, did you purchase the garment in the size you want to become? Are you listening to your audio recording daily? Are you creating time to get 30 minutes of exercise daily?

If a person isn’t doing anything different, how can anything change? Repeating the same pattern and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity. No hypnotherapist, health coach, trainer, or other person can be responsible for the choices that we ourselves make. 

Why this is a real problem

People want a quick fix. Everything is now a quick fix. I can buy a meal right off the Internet and I can have it right now. 

You can’t lose weight right now. You can’t snap your fingers, eat all the popcorn you want, keep snacking, keep binge eating and drinking as much alcohol you want, and lose weight. 

It doesn’t work that way. 

You actually have to change your habits. 

Hypnosis is a single tool to help you get there. You don’t go to your counsellor’s office, psychologist’s office, or psychiatrist’s office and say, “Fix me right now. Today is the day I’m going to leave fixed.” 

So why do some people have that expectation of a hypnotherapist? 

Hypnosis is just one tool to transform your way of thinking.

There are many misconceptions about what hypnosis is and isn’t. It is a tool to help facilitate change over a process of time. Granted, the process is probably faster than a psychoanalysis or cognitive behavioural therapy—it is, clinically, been proven to be faster, but you still must do the work, engage in the process, which is usually on average about 4-6 sessions.

If you come in and the first session is about smoking, and the second session is about your weight, you’re not working towards the one goal. 

You need to pick one thing, and then work towards one thing at a time. 

It’s very effective if used properly.

If you’ve read up to here, thank you.

I implore everyone to keep this post in the forefront of their minds whenever they’re considering changing the way they live their lives. 

Whether it’s about weight loss, giving up smoking, releasing a fear, eliminating anxiety, or something else, all of these are wonderful goals to have. However—repeat after me—hypnotherapy is not a magic wand.

It will take time, effort, and above all dedication on your part to see the results you want to see from hypnotherapy.

If you’re ready to commit to that time—if you’re ready to use hypnosis the way it should be used—give me a call.