Tackle New Year’s resolutions with hypnotherapy: Joliet hypnotist to host informational event Jan. 4, 2023

Try a new way to meet those New Year resolutions: hypnosis.

Brenda Gray, owner of Hypnosis ... for change in Joliet, and certified hypnosis practitioner, will give a free awareness and education event at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 4 on Zoom.

Gray said the event is in honor of World Hypnotism Day, when hypnotherapists all over the world hold events to dispel myths about hypnotism and feel comfortable with hypnotism.

For instance, Gray said most people don’t understand what a trance actually is. A trance is simply focused attention or “the state we’re in every day,” Gray said.

“Each moment we live through, each experience, is a different trance,” Gray said. “Hypnotism just helps us control some of the trances.”

So people experience driving trances, work trances, errand trances, she said. Gray herself recently had an Elton John trance when she watched a recent broadcast of an Elton John concert. For two hours, Gray listened to the music and reminisced about all the memories his songs conjured.

“People think hypnotism is a secret, scary or mysterious art,” Gray said. “But it’s something we do all the time. Hypnotism helps us to realize that whatever we tell our subconscious mind to do, that it has no choice but to do it. And once our subconscious mind learns something, it becomes habit and we do it all the time.”

That’s why people often turn to hypnotism to stop smoking (Gray has a program for that), to lose weight (Gray has two programs for that) and to manage anxiety – the most common reason people seek hypnotherapy from her, she said.

So during Gray’s Jan. 4 Zoom event, Gray will give an overview of hypnotism, basic information and some examples so people know “hypnotism is not magic,” Gray said. Gray will also give the group some tools they can use on their own and guide the group through a 15-minute visualization, she said.

But what about side effects?

“Nobody I know ever had any negative side effects from basically going from one state of focus to another,” Gray said.

The Mayo Clinic said hypnotherapy is safe when performed by a trained health care provider. However, the clinic said people should ask their potential providers questions about where they were trained, whether they are licensed through their state, the scope of their training, their experience and their fees.

Gray said major medical insurance typically does not cover hypnotism. The Cleveland Medical Clinic said, if a licensed medical professional covers the hypnotherapy, many insurance companies will cover 50% to 80% of the cost.

The Cleveland Medical Clinic also said not everyone can be hypnotized – although when people are hypnotized, they are not sleeping or unconscious. They are not under the control of the hypnotist.

Hypnotism can help people take control of the change they want to see in their lives, Gray said.

“People just need to know,” Gray said.

Register for the free hypnosis education and awareness event on Jan. 4 by contacting Gray at 815-557-9752 or change@hypnobybrenda.com.

For information, visit hypnobybrenda.com.