A Few Words About My Credentials and Background

A question just came up about my credentials. Here is my answer:

My academic background is in Communication and I have a Master’s Degree in Communication and Information Studies from Rutgers University, New Jersey, US. My interest at the time of my early studies was in Organizational Communication and that was also the subject of my dissertation. I eventually began to study interpersonal communication and relationships. At this time in my career and studies I am interested in intra-personal communication: how a person communicates with the self. How do we manage change? Why is it easy or difficult? What are the processes, how do we learn them, and why do we seek or avoid them?

I began my Hypnosis studies and my private hypnotism practice in 2008. I conduct private sessions, group sessions, and I also provide entertainment in a most respectful way. I am certified by two schools, with about 350 credit hours of training. I attend two international hypnosis conferences every year and this year I was honored to teach seminars and a workshop at both. I also have a school, the Open Mind Institute of Hypnosis where I certify professionals. My current project and quest is to have my school approved by the State of New Jersey.

To date, I have conducted more than 750 sessions and approximately 1,400 clinical hours. I am not a doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist and I do not conduct psychotherapy sessions. I do not diagnose, treat, heal, or cure. My specialties are Stress & Anxiety Reduction, Smoking Cessation, Weight Loss, and Dealing with Chronic Pain. I refer to and consult other professionals all the time, such as doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, attorneys, massage therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, registered dietitians, and law enforcement as a way to help my many clients. I work within the law at all times and I adhere to the Code of Ethics of my profession.

My clients include people from all walks of life including doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and just about every kind of holistic practitioner you can think of—and we refer clients to each other and I am always willing to exchange services. I am happy to say I have never turned down a client in need, although several times I have declined to work with medical and psychiatric issues, referring them to other professionals for more appropriate care.

If you would like to know more, just give me a call, I am always happy to talk about what I do. You are also welcome to schedule a free consultation with me, over the phone or in my office. Yes, FREE. I have 20-30 minutes on certain days. I will answer all of your questions and I will not pressure you to make an appointment. My most successful clients are intelligent people who want to improve, and they come forward when they are ready to begin.

My Facebook page is here: http://www.Facebook.com/TranceFormationHypnosis

Self-Hypnosis and Visualization

Now that the New Year is fully underway, let me ask: How are you doing with your New Years Resolutions?  Are they working out?  Let’s go over a few facts that you can use to stay on track or get back on track.

On track or off track, our lives are examples of the Subconscious Mind at work.  Do you know that about 88% of your functioning is motivated by the subconscious?  That’s why you can’t explain some things about your behaviors, and why they seem to be “automatic.”  The part of your mind that runs programs in the background is in charge, and it runs the programs that it thinks are best for you.

Your subconscious does what it thinks is best, including: smoking, overeating, worrying, nail-biting, you name it.  Somewhere along the line, your subconscious learned that these behaviors are “good” and necessary, and it will keep running the programs until it learns to do something else instead. The conscious mind wants to be in charge, though, so it will rationalize and justify so that it can feel it has “decided” what to do.  The conscious and subconscious are in conflict—fertile ground for stress and anxiety.

Here’s how to re-train the subconscious mind:  Get into a comfortable position, sitting or lying, in a safe and secure environment.  Allow your mind to relax along with your body.  Concentrate on the rhythm of your breathing until body and mind relax and it seems as if you are in a daydream state.  With practice, you will be able to achieve this state at will, in just a few seconds.  At the point that you go into this state, visualize your desired state as clearly and imaginatively as possible.  See yourself, or pretend or imagine that you are doing the desired behaviors and that you have achieved the goal.  Just pretend.  In this highly suggestible state, affirmations are not necessary, because the imagination works faster than the words.  Trust in the immense power of your own suggestibility, and allow your imagination to teach your subconscious how to do something new or different.  Imagine that you are feeling physically energize and contented and just so happy in every cell of your entire body.  Really feel the sensations, and allow them to continue long after your self-hypnosis session is over.  Imagine or pretend that you are allowing yourself to have the best outcome that you can possibly imagine!

When your conscious mind and subconscious mind are pointing in the same direction, you become unstoppable!

If you have any question about self-hypnosis, give me a call!  (732) 272-7230.

“Hypnosis” Is Just A Word

Some people are just too funny.  I often have to suppress a giggle.  It’s not that I am inclined to laugh at them; it’s that the ideas they express in ignorance are funny.  I don’t think I’m superior to anyone, and ignorance isn’t funny to me.  Ignorance is simply the state of not knowing something, or inexperience.  It isn’t an insult.  No one knows everything.

I love it when the uninitiated think I can get control of their minds and “make” them do things such as quack and wag their tails.  Why aren’t they more concerned that I can make them detail my car and paint my dining room?

Or the belief that I can find out their secrets.  The secrets that I’ve already heard from conscious, earnest clients up to this point would probably disappoint most voyeurs.  I’m afraid that there’s nothing there that I haven’t experienced myself, or seen someone among my family or friends go through.  No, most deeply-guarded secrets are not so scandalizing, at least to me.  And the imagination is not stranger than Real Life.

A lot of people tell me they can’t be hypnotized.  Fair enough!  If they dig in with stubborn resistance, there’s no way anyone can hypnotize them or even persuade them to sit in my office.

And among clients who willingly submit to the process, sometimes I have trouble keeping a straight face.  One gentleman, who admirably came in to let me help him quit smoking, explained that he enjoys smoking a joint with his wife most nights.  He’s not an addict; he uses it the way some people enjoy having a drink at the end of the day.  He asked, “can you make me quit cigarettes but still let me smoke pot?”  The answer is YES!  Tobacco and mary jane are two totally separate things–and one was desired and the other despised by the client.  The mind will have no confusion there.

But ignorance is also detrimental.  If a person will hold to erroneous beliefs, I won’t be able to show them how wonderful hypnosis is, and what it can do for them.  I won’t be able to share this gift with them.  They will never learn that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, and what they get from me is a new skill that they can use, on their own, for the rest of their lives for many issues that will arise.  It’s like getting an Owner’s Manual for the mind!

Lastly, here’s something I like to point out at the beginning of every session: Hypnosis is just a word.  It describes a very natural state of mind that everyone enters into and out of, many times every day.  Whatever that state is, we can learn to use it and control it to a great degree.  Once we learn to manage that state, we learn that it is the key to the most powerful parts of our minds.  It is the way to align all the parts of mind and body, and the way to becoming unstoppable!