People have a lot of misconceptions about hypnotism. They think it’s mind control and they’ll be made to cluck like a chicken—or worse. They think that some old bearded guy with a pocket watch will be waving it in front of them saying, “You’re getting very sleepy.” But modern hypnotherapy has lots of practical uses that could be just the thing to help you avoid the resolution blues in 2008.

“People get all that stuff from the media—from movies and TV,” said Linda Coulter, a Certified Clinical Hypnotist at Successful Thinking Hypnosis Center, which is one half of the Rejuvenation Center found at 7350 Peppers Ferry Blvd. in Fairlawn. Her business partner is Sean Terry, a massage therapist who specializes in sports and dance therapy but can do other massage therapies and even Reiki. (See the article in this issue about Reiki and other types of energy healing.)

Coulter stresses that hypnosis is a medically approved health and wellness program accepted by the American Medical Association since 1958 and its practitioners are very professional.

World Hypnotism Day just passed on Jan. 4, which was an opportunity for hypnosis professionals around the world to share their knowledge of skills, pushing hypnosis further into the mainstream with interviews, workshops, and seminars.

With such information being disseminated to the public, Coulter hopes that the general population will realize that there is no hocus-pocus surrounding hypnotism. No pocket watches. No hypnowheel. No instructions to assassinate a head of state. Instead, hypnosis allows the client to enter a deep state of relaxation. Once in this state of relaxation, the subconscious mind begins to come to the forefront and be more accessible. A hypnotist is then able to communicate with that client’s subconscious mind.

Coulter stresses, though, that this does not mean that a hypnotherapist can suggest that a client do something against his or her will or moral code. “We all have free will,” Coulter said. “We all have our moral boundaries. No one can make you do something you don’t want to do.”

Coulter said that she does have a small percentage of clients that like to work on a metaphysical level. “They like to balance their chakras,” Coulter said, “or get in touch with their inner self.” But she stresses those clients are certainly a minority.

Coulter instead uses hypnotism mostly to assist people in practical applications, such as weight loss, stress management, pain control, and smoking cessation. “I’m not a therapist,” Coulter said. “I don’t get into finding out what emotional trigger there was that caused thus and such. We work on the present. We’re dealing with behaviors and actions rather than emotional issues.”

When sitting with Coulter, you can relax in a big easy chair, with tranquil music playing lightly in the background. The room is not too light, not too dark. It’s not too hot, not too cold. Coulter’s soothing voice and slow, methodical speaking style will encourage you to relax. In some respects, hypnosis is the opposite side of the coin to meditation. Whereas in meditation you get into a relaxed state and then try to put everything out of your mind, in hypnosis you get into a relaxed state and then focus on something specific, such as pain, for example.

“There are so many Americans who suffer from chronic pain,” Coulter said. “Even if they’re medicated, sometimes you can’t take enough—and still function in society—to alleviate your pain.” Coulter works with clients to essentially “turn down their pain.” She said that she treats clients with problems such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, cancer pain, or an injury such as a torn rotator cuff.

“Pain is there to tell us that something is wrong and to pay attention to it,” Coulter said. “Chronic pain serves no purpose. You know the problem is there, and you don’t need to know that anymore.” So hypnotists try to block that ability for the pain message to get to the brain.

Coulter doesn’t eschew Western medicine nor does she take an antagonistic stance toward traditional doctors. In fact, she said that more and more doctors are recommending patients to her because doctors are now becoming more aware of the benefits of hypnosis. Coulter, who is also a registered nurse, likes to work with physicians to come up with a plan for patients.

One area in which Coulter works with doctors and clients is her work with pregnant women. Another hypnosis practitioner who works with pregnant women is Alicia King from Well Rounded Moms in Radford, a group that emphasizes natural childbirth and services such as midwifery and doula. A doula is someone who is at a laboring woman’s side offering emotional support and physical comfort. The doula also helps during the pregnancy with education about the pregnancy and birthing process.

King practices a specific brand of hypnotism called HypnoBirthing, known as The Mongan Method due to its creation by Dr. Marie F. Mongan. HypnoBirthing is a very specific form of hypnosis. In fact it combines hypnosis with the guided imagery and breathing techniques similarly found in other natural childbirth methods.

King said that HypnoBirthing in many ways is about dehypnotizing people and letting them know the truth and the facts about birth. “Over the years, there has been a lot of unnecessary fear that has become associated with childbirth and most come from the interventions and medicalization of birth,” King said. “We dispel some myths and then we get into deep relaxation. And that’s what hypnosis really is, it’s a form of deep, deep relaxation.”

King said she works with the subconscious mind in the way that the brain reacts to certain things. “For instance,” King said, “when people hear the term contraction it makes their bodies immediately want to tense up. So instead of using the word contraction, we use the word ‘surge’ or the word ‘wave’ to be more appropriate for birthing and to eliminate some of the anxiety.”

During the actual birthing process women are led to alter their breathing in a fashion that helps their bodies to stay relaxed and keep her out of the fight-or-flight state that can accompany such a scary and personal event.

But typically, Linda Coulter sees a majority of clients who want help with those types of things that we all make resolutions about. She says that stress management, weight loss, and smoking cessation are behaviors that hypnosis can help to modify.

Coulter said that occasionally she can help someone with weight or smoking in one session, but that is rare. Most of the time she sets up a plan with the client, and sometimes works with the client’s physician to establish that plan. A big part of the strategy for success, according to Coulter, is to have the client simply avoid that initial urge to eat or smoke or whatever behavior it is that they are trying to eliminate. “For instance,” Coulter said, “we might have a person to think that instead of accepting that urge to smoke, they should wash the dishes or go get some exercise. It helps them to substitute one behavior for another to get their mind off the behavior they want to avoid.”

Both Coulter and King believe that hypnosis will continue to grow as a legitimate health and wellness tool in the New River Valley, assisting to help people in very practical ways to take better care of themselves.

Tim W. Jackson is the Editor of the New River Voice and heard David Letterman’s voice in his head during the process of writing this, saying “I be hypnotized.”