Maybe it was the title of the book that pierced my 12-year-old attention span to grab this book from the library shelf, or maybe it was vivid colors, who knows. What I do know is I never imagine how that book might affect me 30 plus years later. The book was about odd careers, or weird jobs, something like that. It intrigued me. Maybe because I have always identified as weird. That adjective used to bother me. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned to embrace it. Weird means I am not boring. Weird means there are other weirdos like me. Somehow, that feeling left me feeling less alone.
I remember vividly turning the page of that library book and reading “hypnotist” – and I knew what hypnotize was. I’d watched enough sci-fi movies by age 12 to hear and have a loose understanding of what it does. It would be apx. 14 years later before I would experience hypnosis first hand, by Rev. Retha J. Martin, who would become my hypnosis teacher and mentor. I remember reading that book entry and NOT thinking: ‘how cool it would be to get people to do what I want them to do’ — I remember thinking: ‘I wonder how that works.’ It was that book that planted the seed which would later lead to this fulfilling career.
In fact, I learned how it worked and how I could use it to help people, thus – Haven Hypnosis was born. I later developed my motto: Start living the life you deserve. I am privileged to help people do just that. I do not take lightly the responsibility I hold to steer people back onto their natural paths. Part of what I do is educating people about the myths and misconceptions of hypnosis. Still today, to the general public, hypnosis is an enigma of witchcraft and Devil’s play. I can assure you, I practice neither. I have met people who are self-proclaimed witches. Of those I have met, I came to understand they too had many misconceptions thrust upon them.
Though I am trained in clinical hypnosis and not stage hypnosis, I find myself explaining the differences to people who are inquiring about what I do. If it were not for stage hypnosis, some people may not engage me in conversation to learn about my part in the world of hypnosis. Stage hypnosis is where most people formulate their idea of what hypnosis involves. Still, even when I come at them with kindness, science and facts, many well-educated people, I might add, jokingly throw their hands upward to their face and proclaim ‘Don’t look into my eyes!’ I laugh. It makes me laugh when it happens. Of the people who do this, about half will stop and listen and have a real conversation about hypnosis. The other half will listen, but not look at me, at all. I also find this humorous. While hypnosis can be that easy, for some, I would never engage in an unethical practice of entrancing someone with my eyes, nor without explicit consent. I did it once. We got married two years later and fifteen years later he is still here, working in our home office as I type this blog. To date: I’ve never made a person cluck like a chicken, quack like a duck or bark like a dog. I’m still working on that… (I joke…)
I love to talk to people about what I do. I do not mind the sneers and jeers, but at Haven Hypnosis & Wellness, we practice kindness.
I understand I am not for everybody. I know I am not the best hypnotist on the planet, either. Every day I am learning, even 20 years later. But that is the beauty of it all. I don’t have to be THE BEST, just have to be the best for you. I am pretty darn good, if I say so, myself. Perhaps I am the best hypnotist for you.
Do you want to know more about what I do and what services I offer, or maybe you want to make hypnosis a career, or learn more about training to be a hypnotist or hypnotherapist, or maybe you want to be a part of the largest hypnosis conference in the world (you don’t have to be a hypnotist to go!)? Message me or call the office. You won’t even have to LOOK INTO MY EYES… I’m happy to chat.
Be well. <3