The Hypnotist

            Today, I visit the hypnotist.  She is no ordinary hypnotist.  She has a PhD in neurosciences and a bevy of other degrees.  With such lofty titles, one might expect her office to be in a large hospital and filled with complex devices for measuring brain activity.  Contrary to my expectations, her office is not located in a large medical complex; instead, it is in a yoga studio.  After entering the studio, I am forced to sit by the yoga check-in desk while awaiting the doctor’s arrival.  I feel out of place in my tie and work clothes while scantily clad yogis file in for the noon yoga session.  The doctor arrives ten minutes late, reportedly having been caught up in Asheville’s notorious noon rush hour.  My first impression is she is not a stereotypical neuroscientist.  No white coat for her:  she wears a stylish tight dress and has short, cropped, dyed- black hair - think Joan Jett.  She is lithe, muscled, and adorned with numerous tattoos exposed along the margins of her dress.  She ushers me into her office which is small and spartan in appearance.  There are no pictures on the walls.  A 1940’s chaise longue is the prominent feature of the room.  Soothing music plays softly in the background.  The doctor motions for me to take my place on the chaise longue while she sits down in an upright chair at its head, the classic psychiatrist-patient position.

            The doctor asks what I hope to gain from hypnotherapy.  I mention my Type A personality, stress, and difficulty sleeping.  “How do you relax?” she asks.  “By exercising, having a beer after work, and chilling out while watching Netflix with my wife after the kids have gone to bed,” I reply.  She asks me to describe my image of total relaxation.  “Lying on the beach with a margarita in my hand,” I respond.  She smiles.  The doctor then gives me some relaxation exercises I should perform several times each day to escape the multiple demands placed on me and to clear my mind.  Basically, it is a thirty-second exercise with three steps:  first, one takes in all visual stimuli while focusing on none individually; second, one takes in all auditory stimuli while focusing on none individually; and, third, one takes in all tactile stimuli while focusing on none individually.  She mentions this is not a great exercise to do while driving.  “Probably not,” I concur.  Shifting gears back to the upcoming hypnosis session, she has me choose a trigger that will tell my body it is time to enter full relaxation.  I choose closing my book at night before I go to sleep. 

            We then begin the hypnotherapy session.  She says I will remember what happens.  She explains that similar to the Hollywood depiction of hypnotism, she has the ability to make me forget portions of the session, but that is not the goal of today’s session.  She asks me to fully let go and relax.  I lie back in the chaise longue and close my eyes.  She has me focus on relaxing my muscles from the top of my head to my toes in stepwise fashion.  I begin to wonder if I will fall asleep.  In a soothing voice, she leads me down a flight of ten stairs with an open door at the bottom leading to the beach.  With each step, she instructs me to double my relaxation.  Eventually, I make it to a tranquil beach where I lie in the sand with a margarita nearby.  She tells my worries to leave me in little bubbles that float away like clouds on a gentle breeze.  The sand is warm, and I have no cares.  After relaxing for several minutes on the beach, she instructs me to visualize a candle.  The flame is warm with an aura surrounding it.  As I stare into the flame, she guides me into an empty blackness.  I feel it.  My mind is blank.  She says I will achieve this state of total relaxation each evening when I close my book and place it on my bedside table.  She continues to reinforce that I am totally relaxed and free of worries.  After a while, she says she will count to three and with each count, I will be closer to awakening, and on three I will open my eyes.  I feel so relaxed I am unsure I will be able to open my eyes.  Somehow, I force my eyes to open on three.  That is it.  We are done. 

            I rise from the chaise longue.  I sheepishly pull out my Groupon and hand it to her.  We schedule a second session, and she gives me a CD I am to listen to on my own.  She also reminds me to practice “zoning out” as she had instructed.  As I drive back to work. I am totally relaxed.  I don’t turn on the radio for fear of losing my Zen state.  I contemplate whether or not I had been hypnotized.  I am not sure.  What does it mean to be hypnotized?  I am definitely relaxed.  I am eager to try the techniques she has shown me and to listen to her CD.  Will I fall instantly into a state of relaxation each night when I close my book?

Next week . . . Has hypnotherapy worked for me?