Frequently Asked Questions

What is hypnosis and how does it work?

First, it is important to explain what clinical hypnosis is not. It is not in any way shape or form mind control. You are in control the entire session and can simply get up and walk away at any point. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, which means that only what you want to have happen happens.

And that is the power of hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is an altered state of mind that bypasses the conscious mind and allows direct access to the subconscious mind.

It is also characterized as a state in which the body is completely relaxed while the mind remains totally alert, enabling a means for reaching the subconscious mind.

Hypnosis works by opening a "trap door" between the conscious and subconscious mind, typically closed unless the brain is in a relaxed state (theta brainwaves).

During hypnosis, this door opens, allowing helpful suggestions to enter the subconscious and forgotten memories to be retrieved. The effectiveness of hypnosis relies on the client’s motivation to change, the believability of the suggestions, and ensuring that the suggestions are client-centric and relatable.

Key Aspects of Clinical Hypnotherapy:

Purpose: It is used to treat psychological, emotional, and physical conditions, including smoking cessation, depression, PTSD, and pain management.
The Process: A clinician uses "inductions" (verbal prompts) to guide the client into a deeply relaxed state, allowing them to shift perspectives and edit their conscious experience.
Client Control: Patients are not under the "control" of the therapist; rather, they are in a state of heightened suggestibility, similar to being completely absorbed in a book or movie.
Evidence-Based: It is a recognized, clinically appropriate tool that is often used alongside other therapeutic modalities.

Common Conditions Treated:

Anxiety & Stress: Panic disorder, burnout, and emotional regulation.
Habits & Behaviour: Smoking cessation, weight management, and compulsions.
Physical Issues: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic pain, insomnia, and migraines.
Emotional Healing: Trauma, self-esteem issues, and childhood trauma.

Clinical hypnosis is considered a "rapid transformational approach" designed to help clients unlock their brain's ability to heal and change.

What are the core components of hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy involves several core components:

Root Cause Therapy: Addressing the underlying issues that contribute to a client's symptoms.
Trauma-Informed Therapy: Providing therapy that is sensitive to past traumas and their impact on the client.
Belief Repatterning Therapy: Helping clients change limiting beliefs that affect their behavior and well-being.
Neuro-Rewiring Therapy: Facilitating changes in the brain's neural pathways to promote new, healthier thought patterns.

How does hypnotherapy differ from
Talk therapy?

Talk therapies (like psychotherapy or counseling) often involves retelling and analyzing past stories to gain insight, process emotions, and reframe experiences. This can be healing, especially when clients feel unseen or unheard in their history. However, there is also the risk that recounting traumatic events can retraumatize the client, hindering healing. There is also the risk that the client become “stuck”, in their story, thinking that by endlessly discussing the circumstances of their trauma, they are moving forward, but in reality the neuropathways surrounding the event get stronger and stronger.

However, in Hypnotherapy, the approach is different:

In hypnotherapy, we do note asking: “Why did this happen?” We focus: “How can we help your nervous system feel safe, worthy, and empowered now?”

The goal is not to relive the past, but to release its grip—and to help the brain rehearse new possibilities until they feel natural, embodied, and true.

Why We Don't Revisit the Same Stories in Hypnotherapy

The brain learns through repetition. Each time a painful story is retold, the neural pathways associated with that story are reinforced—not just mentally, but emotionally and physiologically. The brain and body re-experience the emotions, keeping the old pattern alive and embodied.

Instead of reinforcing the problem, hypnotherapy works by focusing on transformation, not repetition by:

Accessing the subconscious mind, where real behavioral change happens.
Bypassing the critical, analytical filter of the conscious mind.
Using imagery, metaphor, and suggestion to rewire beliefs and emotional response
Creating new pathways aligned with desired feelings and behaviour.

What is Neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s natural ability to change, adapt, and reorganize itself throughout life. This process involves forming new neural connections, strengthening or weakening existing ones, and sometimes even reallocating functions to different brain regions.

In simpler terms: your brain is not fixed — it continuously rewires itself based on experience, learning, memory, and recovery from injury.

Repeated thoughts, behaviours and emotional reactions create neuropathways that eventually become subconscious habits.

Strong emotional experiences and the meaning we give something, leave lasting impressions on the subconscious.

Neuroplasticity allows the subconscious mind to be reprogrammed with healthier responses.

What is the subconscious mind?

The subconscious stores information we are not always actively thinking about. Caregiver interactions and emotional experiences influences subconscious formation the most in early life. It is always running in the background and influencing us as it:

stores cultural norms, societal expectations, media exposure, and peer influence that help form beliefs about success, relationships, body image, and can cause limiting beliefs created in childhood;
regulates bodily functions like heart rate and digestion
is malleable, reprogrammable, updateable.

The subconscious is important because:

85% of our daily actions and decisions are subconscious
It can create an emotional response when the conscious mind knows there is no reason for this emotional response
It shapes our self-worth, confidence and perceptions of safety creating our core beliefs and identity
It stores memories and emotions that might be too overwhelming for the conscious mind to process in the moment, often surfacing later as triggers or symptoms.