Session #107: Catherine Hickland on Hypnotic Journeys

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This is the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast, session number 107. Katherine Hicklin on Hypnotic Journeys. Welcome to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast with Jason Lynette, your professional resource for hypnosis training and outstanding. Business success. Here’s your host, Jason Lynette. Welcome back As always.

Here we go with session number 107 of the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast, and this week on the program featuring somebody who I’ve known about in hypnosis for quite some time. And then by way of attending, Anthony Galley’s corporate hypnotist master class. Out at her training center in Las Vegas. Finally getting to meet in person.

Katherine Hicklin joins me on the program this week, and Katherine is somebody whose journey is one that, uh, I can kind of mirror though. I think she did it with a whole lot more class than I did as, uh, there she was as an act. Uh, spending time actually on television programs such as One Life to Live and working the Broadway stage in Leise and this incredible career of performance, and then leaving that behind.

To transition to become the hypnotist. And she’s someone who you can hear the passion in her voice, you can hear the dedication to the learning of the process, and now spending a ton of time performing shows all around the country. And, uh, even so the aspect that you’re gonna hear us talk about inside of her journey is that of if you build it, they will come.

Uh, so the story of opening up her own training facility, At her own home out in Las Vegas and hosting a lot of guest training events such as Anthony Galley and others as well. And the upcoming Terry Stokes Better. Your best training that you’ve probably been seeing some information about online or, uh, Terry was on the program last week here so you can learn more of course about Katherine Hicklin by heading over to Catherine Hick.

Dot com. You can learn more about the upcoming event, the stage hypnosis training with [email protected]. Though in the meantime, this is an outstanding journey, an outstanding lesson of the passion of helping clients, entertaining audiences, and really breaking down the barriers in terms of what is possible with hypnosis and how it can begin to influence our own lives.

So let’s jump right in. This is session number 107 Katherine Hicklin on Hypnotic Journeys.

Okay, so it’s funny you should say the superhero. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen my, um, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen my, my sizzle reel, I guess you would call it, but, uh, I, I, I have a superhero element to it. Um, I have me come falling from the sky and hitting the ground with my feet and the feet cracking underneath it, and I just walk away.

And that’s my superhero image. I am all about the superhero for me. I have been teaching, uh, the concept that as we all have an inner superhero, we can all access our inner superhero. It’s how do we do it? And which is the reason I love hypnosis so much is because what we’re doing, if we’re doing stage or if we’re doing, uh, hypnotherapy, we’re training people that they have a mind that they can use.

So, More to their advantage than they already are because we don’t learn any of these things about the mind, the mind power, the power of the subconscious mind trance or hypnosis. We don’t learn anything ever anywhere about that unless we seek to go somewhere to learn about it. It’s not anything we’re taught in school.

Can you imagine? Jason, if we were taught, uh, instead of like, say fied or, you know, humanities or whatever it is, a class that you can probably do without if you were taught how to use your unbelievable subconscious mind. I mean, if, if we could excite the imagination of kids instead of. Teaching them skills and things that they’ll never use or aren’t interested in, which is what causes boredom in all of us.

So the inner superhero, the superhero concept to me is it’s, I have based my entire career stage and hypnotherapy on. So it’s so funny that you would couch it like that. What I love about that is that we would often learn who the people were in history and what they did, and it’s often glossed over as to how they got.

And what was the imaginative process? What was the journey to get there? That it, it’s so much more interesting. For example, the story of Thomas Edison. Yes. We can just state the fact. Yeah. Light bulb. He did that. But so much more interesting to hear the story of his lap assistance. Thought he was insane cuz he was clapping and applauding when each iteration didn’t work.

So, So what’s that imaginative journey? What’s that, uh, strategy to get? There is often so much more interest. . Oh, yes. And, and, and really not that much talked about. So you’re so right about that. So then inside of your journey, where did the hypnosis first appear? Well, you know, it’s interesting. Um, I, I remember when the secret came out.

Remember when it was like an online thing and you could watch the Little Sec Secret movie? And I don’t remember exactly when that was, but I. saying, Okay, you know, I’m just gonna buy this and, and see what it’s about. And I’m watching, and as I’m watching it, I’m thinking, Wow, I have been living my life like this.

My whole life, uh, and I didn’t even know what I was doing. So some people will call it attraction. Some people will call it conjuring. Some people will call it all kinds of things. But the law of attraction really is real. And I’ve been doing that since I was a little girl. Um, I, I knew I was gonna be an actress when I grew up.

I knew without a shadow of a doubt what I kind of acting I was going to be doing. I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was going to be successful at it. So in my mind, there was nothing anybody could say to me that would, that would make me think otherwise. And when I was growing up, I, I would literally, um, Take a hairbrush and talk into it as if it was a microphone and, and I would be on the me Griffin show in my imagination, and I would be on, on talk shows and I would be on television.

And I was always, this was my child’s imagination. Well, into my early teens I was doing this and what I was doing was actually attracting that to me. But during this time, so even though there, I knew that there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to have an acting career, that I was going to be successful.

I. What kind of acting career I wanted. I knew a, a trick on thet, which is the way it played out. Now, the hypnosis part, where that came in was, I guess when I was a very young girl, maybe 11 or 12 or so. I remember watching the Merv Griffin show and all these shows that, of course, my imagination saw me on in the future.

And there was, uh, a. A lady hypnotist named Pat Collins. Of course, everybody know who’s who that is, and she was always on these talk shows and I also saw her in movies and I saw her and well, I began to read about her and, and, and be fascinated by her, and fascinated by hypnosis. And I just thought that it was fantastic, you know, that somebody could do this.

But I didn’t think of myself as ever doing this. Um, of course I was going to be an actress, but when I moved to Los Angeles to begin my acting career, I think I was about 18 years old. And that’s when I saw myself moving there. And indeed, that is what I did. And when I was there, she was. In a, in a, she had her own club on the Sunset Strip.

And so I went to see her because I had this little obsession with her from, uh, from my childhood. So I went to see her show and what I saw, I could not believe was real. I mean, I saw it on TV and all that, but when, when I saw it in person, I, it, it, it was, there was no doubt in my mind, you know, that it was real.

Mm-hmm. , um, back then she did the ellipsy and it was okay for people to do that back then. Of course, we’re not allowed to do that now because of our insurance. But there were so many things and there were famous people in her show. Lloyd Bridges was in her show. And, uh, you know, there was no doubt that in my mind that this was real.

I also had that moment thought to myself, I would really, really love to learn how to do. But it was just a thought that was, like I said, in the back of my mind, which we all know what that means. Mm-hmm. , because what I was there in LA to do is become an actress and be successful at that, which is what ended up happening to me.

But then after 38 years of, um, of my acting career, I began to realize that it was time for me to wind that down. It was very tiring. I was on soap operas, you know, for all those years. Uh, held lead roles on these shows, and I didn’t realize that I didn’t have a life, um, until I was just really burned out.

I lived in New York City and that was really hard, and I just remember one day putting my hand on the door to go inside ABC Studios, which is where my show won. Life to Live was. And I just thought, I don’t wanna do this anymore. It was the same passion that I had getting into that business. was the fe same passion I felt when my hand went on that door.

So I realized that I was going to not be doing that much longer because I didn’t have the passion for it, and I’m all about the passion. So, uh, I started to think in my dressing room that day, but if I don’t do this, what would, what would I do? I. What would I do that would make me happy, I guess I should say.

And then I started thinking about hypnosis. I, it just popped into my mind in the old days and Pat Collins and all that. And so I decided that for the last few years that I was on one life to live, that I would study hypnosis and, um, That’s what I did, and I didn’t tell anybody. . And then I did my first show in New York City, um, towards the end of my acting career in, in a big, beautiful theater.

I put a lot of pressure on myself, which is just the way I am. And, um, and that was it. I, I never looked back. And when I left the show, uh, which coincided almost immediately with the show being canceled after 45 years of being on the. , it was like, wow, this was just meant to be again, You know, I, it was the law of attraction at work, conjuring, whatever you wanna call it.

But I loved hypnosis so much, and I love it so much more than I ever thought that I would, that I have never wanted to do anything else since then. I love it. I love it. There’s a theme. Yeah. And that’s what I do. Yeah. There’s a theme inside of that, of that turning point and what, what really stands out to me that I’d love to chat with you about.

There’s a moment when I’m teaching a hypnosis class and whether it’s, uh, a nurse, whether it’s a teacher, whether it’s whatever profession. People have that discovery as they’re learning hypnosis, that moment of, I’m already doing this. So the way that you read The Secret and you went through it and went, I, I’ve already been doing this for all these years.

Uh, when you were making that transition and doing that study of hypnosis while transitioning out of the acting career, what, were there any elements of, I’m already doing this, that you were kind of hitting on. Well, you know, it’s interesting because the more I started to study nlp, Trans Hypnosis, I realized that I was already doing that too, and I had no idea.

Um, I, I knew how to make people feel relaxed. I knew how to transport people with a story. I knew, um, the, the right words to use. I knew how to get people to say yes. I knew a lot of things that I didn’t know I already knew. I’m not saying that I, I knew I was already a hypnotist. I’m just saying that there are principles, um, you know, behind the art of suggestion and other things that I was already doing.

And, and again, I thought, oh, I’m home. Because like I felt with my acting career, like I felt with all I’m home. I already know the principles of this. Now I just wanna be really good. I wanna be successful. I. I, I want to be really, really good at this. I wanna be respected at this. And someday I would like to teach this.

I mean, I, I ha it all was in my mind. And I, I just, um, and I just do think that even when people go to a hypnosis class, cuz. When you study and, and we’re always forever students, anybody that wants to be great at what they do, you know, you never stop learning and you should never stop learning. You should never stop seeking to be better at what you do, no matter what it is in life.

But when I go to certain classes, you know, if I go to somebody’s masterclass or if I go to someone’s regular class because they have something I think that they can teach me, and I look around and I think, Well, how many of these people are actually going to do this? How many of these people are actually going to go out and be a hypnotist, do a show or open a practice?

And then I realize by the end of a really good course that it doesn’t really matter how many people are going to do it. because, so, because every person in there is going to walk away with an incredible understanding of their mind that they didn’t have before. And maybe they’re going to discover that this isn’t what they really wanna do, but they’re so thankful they took this class because it changed their life in another way.

Do you know what I mean by that? Yeah. I mean, there’s, it’s, it’s one of the conversations, and this has popped up here. As a hypnosis discussion that I think there’s a side of it that, you know, I worked for a while in, in, in the theater career on the management side, and through that, you know, various conventions you would interact with people on the hypnosis training side.

Not everybody attends a hypnosis training. Because they have the goal of becoming a hypnotist. Uh, people come in with different experiences, different goals, different things that they want to pull out of that training experience. And of all things, it’s a, it’s a high school theater conference. That I, uh, went to, that I was actually a speaker at, I think, Oh, this is dating back 2003, 2004, and the big keynote speaker, I’m in my early twenties at the time, and I’m laughing to myself because these 15, 16, 17 year olds didn’t know who the keynote speaker was.

It was the folk singer, Janice ean. And to hear, Oh my God, to hear Janice ean up. Well, first of all, why is she speaking to a group of actors? Well, if I’m remembering the history right, in the early 1980s, uh, she went through acting training with Stella Adler, and there’s a whole story of she turned down the graduate.

I think she’s done only a few acting projects over the years, yet she was there as a singer, as a songwriter, going through the most intensive acting training. To get in touch with her emotions, to get in touch with what she was living through, to become a better songwriter and a better singer, to better connect with the audience.

So would you say that she failed that acting training because she never went on to become the professional actor? No, of course not. That we, there’s different experiences we can pull out of a training experience. That’s exactly right. And so whenever, you know, when I see people that, you know, I always let people know, you know, even when I, I, I’ve taught acting classes before I would take teach, even when I was on the shows, I, I would do short, um, seminars for people just starting out, you know, cold reading, things like that.

And I used to say to people, you know, you may in the course of studying acting, realize that you are. You don’t have what it takes to be an actor. Take the rejection, you know, work this hard, give up your life, whatever it is that you see. But you may discover that you are a writer or you may discover that you wanna work behind the scenes.

Maybe a producer, maybe none of the above. But you’re going to love the experience that this gives you, you know, and how it’s gonna stretch your mind and imagination. And I feel very much that way about hypnosis as well. I just think, you know, just because someone doesn’t go out and do it doesn’t mean they’re not going to go out and be great at some part of it, or use a component of it for some other part of their life.

It’s a very, That’s why I love hypnosis and hypnosis training so much because, you know, I just think it expands people’s. Imaginations to where they might go. And regardless of what that direction is, and a great hypnosis trainer who, uh, sadly did pass away recently, Jerry K would tell his students, I believe, on the last day of his class, uh, people would often ask, What training should I do after this?

And Jerry would say to this group of brand new certified hypnotist, take an acting class. If you can’t communicate emotion to the unconscious mind, you’re not gonna get any changes or something of that nature. So then from your perspective, what is it from the acting career that prepared you for the hypnosis career?

Well, you know it, First of all, I, I wasn’t really sure I was going to be a stage hypnotist when I started studying hypnosis. I really thought about having, having it as a, a practice because I’m. And was, I’ve always been a, a writer and you know, I always wrote spiritual writing and I always wrote, um, writing that would lift people up out of where they were and transport them somewhere else.

That’s just the kind of writer I am. I’m a definitely a self-help writer. I’m a spiritual, um, leader, writer. I just love this kind of thing. I grew up reading that, so that was my influence. But I think as far as what, um, I could take from the acting part of what I did is that when I, when I was studying and I was just talking about being a hypnotherapist, all the.

Um, one of my teachers said to me, Are you not going to do this on stage? And I said, Oh, I don’t think so. I think, you know, I, I was very motivated by that, but I, my heart is in the, my heart is in, in, you know, helping people. And he said, Well, you’re, you would be crazy not to do this. Because, you know, I, I start in, um, Lay Mis on Broadway and, you know, I did a lot of theater and in addition to my television work and live performances, I was a singer.

I don’t use that part of my talent anymore, but I did that a lot. And, and so he said, You know, you already have what it takes to be on a stage. Why wouldn’t you take it to the stage? And so that really was what kind of got me into stage, stage performance with hypnosis. But I, I still love. I love my hypnotherapy business as much as I love getting up on a stage and performing.

Um, but I, I think that, you know, the acting for me and the writing for me has always allowed me to paint pictures with my words and. I’m a people person because I’m so used to being an entertainer of some sort. So I think that that really helped me to transition into live performance with it. But I think in the, in the hip and, and you know, you use the same things, your exciting people’s imagination with your words and your, and your thoughts and teaching them how to go into their own places with it.

So, um, I, I think that that’s how it helped me the most. But I certainly don’t think that anyone needs to have acting experience to have the love and passion that I have for it. And I think that great teachers, that’s what they’re for. And Gerald Kind was amazing. I mean, he was one of the best people you could ever learn hypnotherapy from.

He was incredible. When he retired, I was so sad because, . He was just, he was amazing. So then who were your early trainers? Well, when I first got interested in this and started really like looking, looking, looking, I contacted Gil boy, um, because I could see his importance in this world. And he was very old by then, but he was so wonderful because he, he spoke to me a lot.

At the time I found him, he was in Arizona. And so he was, he was really of great help to me because I was living in New York City. I was still acting, but we spoke a lot. And, um, he, he was such a great guide from, even though I didn’t sit in a classroom with him, we would have these tremendous talks. And he was, oh gosh, I wanna say he was in his eighties by then, maybe late seventies.

Um, so then, uh, When I went, when I went into um, stage, I studied with Mark Soard, who I thought was really great. Um, he really gave me something special, you know, because his training was at that time very small. And, uh, I was able to, um, I was able to, Have a real hands on experience with him and, uh, the fact that he was doing a show every night, I would be able to see what, So I would say Mark Soard is the person that really got me up on the stage and, um, gave me that confidence to, to get up there because I really did have terrible stage fright, even though I was used to being in front of people.

I had terrible stage fright and I had to overcome that to actually be a performing hypnotist. Being an actress, I was used to having a script. I was used to being in control. I knew I had to move over here on this line and over here on that line and pick up this prop at this line. And I knew what the other person was going to say to me.

And you know, it was a very controlled environment. And when I moved into hypnosis, it’s like you and 30 chairs or however many chairs you have up there, and let’s see what happens. And there’s no script. And let’s see what happens. And you’re at the mercy of, you know, a lot of things, let’s put it that way.

Um, that was hard for me. I was scared out of my mind first time I did it. And, um, I’d say for the first year, you know, it was, um, It, You know, I did a lot of shows because I, you know, I would, I started out, uh, on that show in New York and that was a 400 seat theater, and after that, I decided I wanted to do fairs and break that market was, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, but I did break into it and I did every little crappy fair that would have me, because I knew that, you know, a great teacher can give you everything but experience.

And so I. Swallowed my pride and dared to fail. You know, as Justin Trans would say, you know, I just dared to fail. And so, you know, after, uh, after a about a year, you know, it just became like my second skin. And I, and I really, I love it. I, now, I, there’s just not much I, I fear at all. I mean, in fact, I can’t think of anything that hasn’t happened.

Mm. Short of someone dying off my stage, , you know what I mean? Like, I, I haven’t, I have faced just about everything you can face, as I’m sure you probably have as well. Yeah. Uh, my thought is always with the fair, I probably haven’t, I definitely haven’t done as many as you have though, the moment where, Okay.

And as you hear the sound of the grease pig contest, that just helps you all to relax even further. And moments up thinking and that’s, lemme tell you, this is what I left the management career for. That’s okay. . , exactly. And a grief pig. That’s easy. I mean, you know, there I’ve had helicopters taking off every five minutes behind my stage and the blades, you know, the air of the blades, the wind blowing through everyone’s air.

Mm-hmm. and I mean, mean, you know, I, I think, and I’m talking of also just a reactions and you know, when you do fairs, I mean, now I, you know, I, after all these years, I, you know, I, I’m lucky, I’m very fortunate, but I worked my way to this place where I do the fairs that I want to do, and, and that I, they’re big and they’re easier for me because, you know, I really did every bad situation out there in that market for the first few years.

And honestly, there were times I wanted to quit because I thought, God, this isn’t fun. This is really hard. Mm-hmm. . It was just because I, I really was kind of spoiled, you know, I had had a very good career before this, and I realized that I had dues to pay, and that that’s what it was. Just like in the beginning of my acting career, you just have to pay your dues and then one day you realize, Wow, you know, I could handle just about anything that comes at me.

And all this was to teach me how to do that because you’re going to have to learn how to handle things. There’s a story that comes from any of these reality competition talent shows where there’s sometimes the moment where here’s the person who comes out and he’s there on stage, he’s got a guitar, he’s got a band around him, and he performs this incredible song, and it’s this big production.

And the judges will vote this person through to come back. And oftentimes there’s the feedback of, But next time we just wanna see. and it’s that moment of being on the stage and maybe there’s just a music track behind them and there’s no hiding behind the guitar. I, I flash to, um, a friend of mine that I knew by way of odd circumstance, he was the actor in regional theater.

And then come to find out, Oh, you went into the hypnosis too. Okay, how’d the hell did that happen? And it was him talking about. He, he’s a guy who, like many male actors nowadays would keep himself shaved bald because it was always easier just to throw on a wig. Uh, so his call time was always a lot faster and getting ready was always a lot faster.

Just stick the hair on and he was good to go. Um, he’d always be the guy, you know, putting on the makeup, putting on the costume, and just his phrase was, I’d have to hide behind that. And the first time doing a stage hypnosis show really is that it really is that jumping, you know, throw them to the wolves moment.

and he described that moment of going, Oh dear, there’s the audience, and I’m looking at them. Oh, that’s new. Yeah. . Exactly, . I mean, it’s, it’s very true because when you’re on a stage as an actor, you don’t see past the second row if that and Right. And you’re not supposed to go to the audience, depending on the play.

It’s, it’s a thrilling, daunting, It’s all good. You know what I mean? Like, it’s, it’s, it’s an incredible thing. And the first time you do a show, you, you know, you just, all you’re doing is praying that someone gets hypnotized. Right. And that you can remember what to do with them. I mean, it is daunting the first time you do a show, but it’s also.

Goes so much better most of the time than you ever think it’s going to. Mm-hmm. And it’s such a thrill and an it, it’s like an addiction and it’s, it’s a stage ship knows. This is just, it’s a really awesome thing to do and I, I love it so much, but again, I also love sitting in a room and yeah, that’s where I wanted to bring it back to someone changed their life.

Is there a story of working with somebody on the, on the change side that really solidified that this is the direction you wanted? Oh yes. Oh, definitely. I mean, I, I love when I work, um, let’s see, I’m, you know, there, there was a, um, person who, um, God, there’s so many, and I’m trying to think of my favorite, but, um, this is my favorite, I think.

Uh, so there was a producer in, um, Hollywood who. Was now, oh, probably at the time, 51 years old. And when he was, I’m gonna say 14, when he was in school, 13, 14, maybe that age, he was in school and somebody read his palm and told him he was going to die of a hard check when he was 52. So of course, you know, within the back of his mind as we talk about in the back of your mind, is where everything is stored.

And sure enough, when he started creeping up in his forties, it came back to the forefront of his mind and he started to have incredible fears about this because it just haunted him, even though he didn’t think about it through his twenties, through his thirties, late forties. Bam came off the hard drive right into his conscious mind.

And so his, he started to get very, very bad anxiety over this. And the closer he got to 50, it got really worse. So at 51, he called me and, um, I said, Absolutely. I had him come to Las Vegas because I couldn’t, I, I live in Las Vegas and I couldn’t leave. So he came to Las Vegas. And it was really fascinating because he didn’t really, really remember a lot of the details of that day, that, that, that when he was a young boy and when this was told to him that he was gonna die of a heart attack at 52 when someone read his palm.

So when I regressed him back to that time, um, you know, , he was in vivid memory of the room, of the people who were there, of what he was wearing, what everyone else was wearing. Every little detail that I, I asked of him, he had the answer to. He was fantastic. He was a fantastic, um, I, I still use the word subject, but he was fantastic subject.

And, uh, when we got to that point where that. Was read, It was interesting because what it, what had happened was that he was in school and he was very cocky, was a cocky kid and there was a substitute teacher, or I can’t remember if it was a teacher’s assistant, but something of this ilk. And she wasn’t that much older than, than the kids.

And she hit on him. Now, he didn’t remember any of this in his conscious mind, but when I, but we were in trance, he, he, so this teacher hit on him and he blew her off because when you’re 13 years old and someone’s 19 or 20 or 21, they’re like an old lady to you, right? He blew her off and she, uh, in her, her ego, G told him that she was a palm reader, grabbed his hand and told him he was gonna die of a heart attack when he was 52.

Uh, so this is what the circumstances were. He couldn’t really remember all that in a conscious state. So then what I did was I just brought him. I took him out of there and I brought him forward years and years in, into his life. And he already, you know, he had kids and in, in, in life he, he had a marriage, he had kids.

And so I, I would bring him into the future. Into the future, into the future, and I kept bringing him to the, the events of their life that, which hadn’t happened yet. So I, I took him. His kids in high school. I took him to his kids in college. I took him to his, their graduation, to their weddings, to the birth of their children.

I took him so far into the future that he lived way beyond 52 and so. . And you know, it was interesting because at their wedding, tears ran down the sides of his face, his eyes were closed because he was in these beautiful moments. And then of course, session is over. I really took my time with him too because I wanted him to go so far into the future that 52 was like young.

And um, he’s now, uh, I’m gonna say, 62 and he doesn’t ever think about that. You know what I mean? Like he doesn’t ever think about it. It, I mean, it changed his entire life. Now, you and I and anybody else that knows how the mind works, knows that it’s very possible a person could tell you such a thing. And indeed it 52 years old, you’ll die of a heart attack because you’re programmed to your subconscious.

it’s very dangerous, the things people say to us and that we lock onto and we may not even know it. So I would say that that’s probably one of my favorite things that I ever worked on because it was so clear to me what I had to do. And he was such a willing subject and it did change his life. And I’ve had many other great things that, um, have happened.

And, uh, I think that that’s, you know, really. Yeah, I mean, is there, is there a story that stands out from the stage side that really solidified that? Oh God, , I, I mean, I don’t even know how many shows I’ve done. I really don’t because I, I do hundreds of shows. I mean, I do a couple hundred shows a year. For the first five years I did it, I do about 150 a year now.

Cause I’ve pulled back. I’m, you know, and I, cuz I got married and I’m at home more and want to be home at more, um, and I have my theater that in Las Vegas. And so I, you know, there, there are things that I, I’m doing that are taking me a little bit more off the road and I, Oh, oh my God, there are so many.

It’s hard to even, like, it’s hard to even have one stand out. I, because there were so many great shows, so many great things. Oh, oh, I love, uh, this one. Guy came up and, and, and his, uh, girlfriend, he brought her up on stage and they both were, um, they were both, uh, on stage and he told me, um, you know, sometimes people just blurred out something in a show that his wife was terrified of snakes and that, uh, she wouldn’t even let him wear his snake skin boots,

And I just thought that was pretty funny. And so they both ended up being great volunteers on stage and. At the end of the show, which, um, I, you know, I just, the audience doesn’t care, you know, they don’t know what to expect. So you can pretty much do anything on a stage as long as it’s not terribly offensive.

And, you know, so I, I put my hand on her shoulder and I, at the end of the show and really just released her from the fear of, of snakes. And, um, the audience, of course is like, not thinking, Oh, well that’s weird. You know, it’s a hypnosis show. They don’t know what they’re gonna see. And, uh, I guess. , Uh, half an hour later after they got off the stage, I was just getting ready to go on from my last show of the night and he came over and told me that he’d taken her to the snake exhibition and she literally held a snake.

Nice. And so, you know, I’ve done that with people with smoking on stage. I’ve done that with them, with phobias and fears, and I love doing that in front of an audience because it really does, um, make audience members go, Oh wow. You know, we’re all laughing and things like, and we’re laughing and we’re having fun, but she’s helping somebody right now and we’re witnessing it.

And that’s, that’s really cool. But I do use my show. In a way to, I have a very funny show at at, or sometimes it’s, you know, funny and sometimes you know, you fall on your face. But that’s just the nature of live performance. But I always at the end of the show, take the last five minutes. And make it something special for the entire audience.

And you know, I call it the gift and, and you know, and I, I take them to another place. So it’s a, it’s a, it’s an empowering thing and, but that’s my choice. That’s kind of show I do for me to do an adult show is not in my element. It’s not who I am. Mm-hmm. . And I think they’re great and they’re funny and I love watching them, but I, I would feel very strange doing adult.

Um, so my shows are usually very family, family orientated, so I can take them to a different place than say somebody that’s doing an adult show. And like I said, I enjoy watching, uh, those when they’re good. So there’s an do whatever kind of hits. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Oh, I’m done. Oh, okay. . . Okay. Uh, Kate, edit that part out.

So anyway, the wonders of technology. You’re, so there’s an, let me get a clear transition there. So there’s an element of being the self starter that I love that I wanna bring this towards, which I, I tell my story from my side, which was that, um, it’s 2009, 2010. Uh, my wife and I get married in 2008. We knew we were about to have kids and there was planning and timing and all that fun.

So there’s a reason why to walk down the hallways of my office. Most of the certificates on the wall are from 2009, 2010 because, well, Claire was born in 2011 and I’ve traveled a lot less since than for that reason. Um, so that’s about the time that a couple of years ago I started to do a lot of guest training events and I’d bring people here into my office, which I think you may have won up that strategy cuz you built the audience, you built the theater right there in your backyard.

Yes. That was a part of my dream too. . Uh, when I first taught hypno uh, hypnosis stage training, uh, the theater was actually inside my house and the concept for me is that I wanna get people up on that stage. Because the biggest thing, most people that take hypnosis training, stage training course, they’ve never been on a stage and.

They are going to face the fears that I faced as somebody new, getting on a stage, having people stare at me, waiting to be entertained. It’s horrifying. It’s terrifying. And anyone that says, Oh gosh, I never knew a minute of that, good for you. It’s not likely. Most people are gonna feel that way. Most people are going to feel stage fright.

So the biggest way to me to get people over that was to get them on a stage immediately. And that’s why the concept of having a theater even inside my house, important to me and my husband and I decided that that was, you know, an element that we were gonna bring to it. Then the classes started getting bigger.

I started having guest teachers, you know, want to teach at my theater. I only let people teach there who I think really have something special to teach people that they’re not going to learn somewhere else, that are unique. Uh, and we decided then that. We’re going, the classes were getting bigger and I teach personal development trainings called Get Your Fire Back, which are very popular.

So as the classes got bigger, we decided to go ahead and build a full theater, which we did. And it, it comfortably only holds 50 people. But it’s a full training facility. It has a stage, a full sound package, you have full lighting package, and we have up to three. videos up, video cameras going and they’re, you know, all very high end video.

So some even up to 4k. And we have everything state of the art in there and, which is great because I want people to have a great training experience. I want the trainers to have a great experience and I want the people coming to have a great experience. So that’s why the training theater was born and.

as I let other people come in and teach there. Um, you know, Justin Tra has taught there many times. Uh, Anthony Gayley just taught there. Um, uh, Richard Barker has taught there for his, uh, what do you call it? He taught his one class there for marketing and, and, uh, Terry Stokes is coming in and you see, I, I just am so excited about this because it is, An experience to be trained there.

It is different than anywhere else you’re going to go because the classes cannot be that big. You are going to get one on one, hands on, let me say experience. You’re not gonna be lost in a crowd. You’re going to be together all the time because once you get on the compound, the gates close and you are there from morning till night.

You’re together. So it’s a very bonding experience. You’re also dealt with a very hands on approach from every teacher that’s, that comes there, including myself. And you’re going to leave there having had a, a much different experience than anywhere else you’re gonna train. And I really say that with confidence.

So love and I can definitely back that up that you and I met, uh, when I attended with Anthony Galley out there, uh, just mm-hmm. back in February. And the real experience of. This is not just a training location, it’s a true training event where everything from, uh, welcome reception the night before, the snacks, the meals throughout the day, and how I, I’ve never seen, And yes, we can credit Anthony for a huge part of that for an outstanding course.

Yet it’s where at the end of a training, the, the, in a longer training, you usually see this happen more frequently, where it becomes this big kind of family atmosphere by the end of the entire week of training. Um, you had solidified that by the lunch break on the first day. Thank you. And, and you know, really that’s the, that’s the goal because you, you know, when you have a two day course, you’re not going to have a week.

But one thing I’ve, I’ve experienced myself in taking trainings in other places was that, You have a 15 minute break and 12 minutes of it is waiting in line to get coffee. Right. and you know, trying to get to the bathroom and you know, trying to find somewhere to eat at lunch and people go off and it gets a little cliquey because people go off into groups.

But what I love about training at my place, and it’s happened with every trainer we’ve had, um, and myself included, you know, is that people are together, they eat together, they study together, they laugh together. They’re, they’re in a very tight environment of, there’s a lot of, It sounds so corny, but there’s a lot of love in that training because people.

I haven’t yet in all the trainings there. Not once, which is amazing. I have not experienced a problematic personality, which can really disrupt, uh, a training to the point of other people just ruining it for them. That experience, I think too, that that’s because we end up vetting the people that sign up.

We really vet them, you know, and. We, we make sure you know that this is going to be a great experience for everybody. So I, I can’t tell you. And also it Anthony’s, Anthony Gayley had an amazing group. Yes. I mean, he really did that. They were extraordinary people. And, um, and that was really a good, you know, and I was really happy to meet you at finally Jason and, you know, and it was just really, it’s so great if anybody.

Is going to train. I just hope it’s, it’s at, it’s at my theater because it really is an incredible experience. Well, it’s coming up next month. Uh, share a little bit about the upcoming event with Terry Stok. Well, I am so thrilled to have Terry Stokes finally teach because he’s only done, you know, he, he, he, he’s only appeared at other people’s trainings or, you know, he’s just spoken for a little bit at other trainings.

And then when you were all in, um, Las Vegas a few weeks ago at the event you were at, and Terry was at, and a lot of other people, I think he actually had. Like a half an hour or an hour. I’m not really sure, you know, with people, and people really enjoyed that. But about two weeks or three weeks prior to that, he had come over to my house to discuss with me the possibility of, of a training seminar at my theater.

Well, Terry was one of the very first people I met when I moved to Las Vegas, uh, many years ago. And, um, I just respect him so much because he is, I call him the Godfather because he, he. Has been doing this for so long, and I loved his whole persona. I mean, he would get dressed in a tux for his show. He had a drink in his hand.

That was his persona, you know, And, but it was a definite, and, and it was actually Terry, So Terry was being Terry. And, uh, his material was always really fantastic. And it wasn’t long after I met him that I start, and I, I always go see as many shows as I can of other hypnotists. I love going to see, , but I started realizing that a lot of the things people were doing were originally Terry Stokes material, including a lot of the material that I was doing, because we all do the same thing.

We see or get inspired by what we see somebody else do, and then we do a version of it, or we do the same thing, you know? Or this just is the way it is when you’re first starting out. That’s, you know, that’s. I began to really thank God. I mean, this man is the originator of almost all of the stuff that we do other than our signature pieces that we create, which is not easy to do because when nobody teaches us how to do that, and I think more people would have original material if someone taught us how to do it.

And so when Terry came to talk to me, I wasn’t sure what it was that he had in his mind, but when he told me that it was to it, he wanted. people that are already doing shows or that are already trained hypnotist and that they are going to get up on the stage, but they, but they really didn’t know how to create material routines.

I got so excited by this, um, because I would love to take that class and I will take this class. I will not only. Run this and, and host this. But I will be in that class because this is the one thing nobody teaches nobody. And if they did, would they be qualified? Like he would be. So I got very excited by this and I know that that’s, this is something we all need.

So, you know, there’s a lot of trainings out there to take and each one of them will have a, a purpose. , but if there’s any money that you’re going to spend right now, if you’re already out there doing it, it’s to better your show. And that’s why he’s calling it Better Your Best, because we’re all out there, of course, doing shows and we’re doing the best we can, but how awesome would it be if we were doing more original material that we were coming up with because someone is teaching us how and why and what makes it funny.

And, um, I’m very excited by this. So that’s what Terry Stokes training is going to be. And, um, I’m super excited about taking this class. Yeah, absolutely. And that’s coming up. That’s gonna be on, I’m checking the dates here cuz I have known to quote things quickly. 16th and 17. Right. Which I thought was brilliant.

That, uh, that, you know, I’m gonna be out there too for that. And to, to look at, Wait a minute. That’s the prom party season with high schools. Oh wait, it’s a Tuesday, Wednesday. Oh, they thought this. Yeah. Cause sure enough, I wrap up a long talk about that. Yeah. I wrap up a couple of shows on, uh, Sunday morning the 14th, and then, uh, later that afternoon Happy Mother’s Day, then fly out.

Uh, so perfect timing and details for that are over at, uh, Terry Stokes live.com. Uh, we’ll put links to that in the show notes. And there’s actually a photo of your training area, uh, specifically one photo from outside that I snapped, I think over a break. Which again, you come back to, you’re in the long term training and there’s the theme of go off, run off, do your own thing.

But there was a break where it was only like a 10 minute break during the class, and there’s Anthony and there’s everybody in the class just sitting around the pool over a break. Continuing the conversation of the class and then formally going back inside. So looking forward to that, that kind of one to one experience with, uh, with Terry in this, uh, unique course all about learning the, the creative process of how do you come up with your own stage persona and your own material too.

Definitely needed. Right. And another thing that’s really great about this is that, you know, all your food is, your breakfast is in there, your lunch is in there, your snacks, your water, your coffee. I mean, you spend a lot of money on this stuff when you’re at a training in Las Vegas. Um, one of the reasons we also love the midweek experience was because the, the South Point Hotel, which is right across the street and we shuttle people, um, from there to my house, it’s only a five.

Or less drive. And, um, so you’re not spending a lot of money on food and you’re not spending all the money on transportation. Um, and you’re, you’re, the only meal you’re gonna be responsible for is dinner and. Um, if you recall, people were so full from all the food they ate all day and snacks, and nobody even wanted dinner.

You know what I mean? They were like, I can’t eat anymore. They, but what’s great is then you go see a show at night, um, and it’s just a. You know, there’s, so, in addition to the fact that the curriculum is going to be great, and Terry is doing something really interesting for everybody that is coming to this training, is that he’s going to review your show.

He’s not, you know, before the training. Not during the training, cuz obviously, but he’s going to have you send him your show and he’s going to critique it and he is going. Pick it apart in a good way. Not for any other reason, except to say, This is this, you’re gonna do this, we’re gonna change this. This is what you need.

You know what I mean? It’s a, it’s a, it’s to better your show. Exactly. And so, you know, he’s, he’s spending a lot of time prior to this training, going through people’s shows and, you know, or even afterwards too, we offered. And well, and afterwards too. Yeah, of course. Because depending on how many people, of course some will be before and some will be after.

But the point is, is that it is such an amazing opportunity for you to really get your show into the best shape it can possibly be and experience this, this training, um, situation that we’re talking about. It’s just so. Yeah, and again, that’s coming up in May, 2017. [email protected] though.

Katherine, where can people find out more about you? They can go to catherine hicklin.com. That’s C A T H E R I N E H I C K L A N D, uh, dot com. And uh, you can find out more about me there. And I really look forward to people coming and I get to, One thing I love about this is getting to meet a lot of other hypnotists, which for me is really.

You know, just meet people. I only know a little picture from Facebook on and, and, um, getting to meet great people like you, Jason. It’s, you know, this is part of the unique and wonderful thing of owning this theater and, and getting to meet all of these great people. Awesome. Jason Lynette here and as.

Thank you so much for interacting with this program. Thanks so much for heading over to iTunes and leaving your review for this program, leaving your commentary on the Facebook threads, on the Work Smart Hypnosis page. And I’d take this time to share the stage as it were, uh, by inviting you to join Katherine Terry Stokes and I’ll be there as a student myself at, uh, the better your.

Training with Terry Stokes. Terry Stokes is a stage hypnosis legend, and many of the working pros that are out there really, really building this profession are standing on Terry’s shoulders. So the creativity that you’ll be learning his process in terms of how do you develop your stage character, the the real thing that’s bringing me to this event.

Is to get inside of his writing process. How do you craft your own unique program with your own unique routines in such a way that, I mean, you hop on any Facebook group, you hop on any, uh, conversation about stage hypnosis and the dialogue is all of this. Oh, people are bottom feeders. They’re doing shows for 300, $400.

I can’t compete with that when the answer is my friends. Yes, you can. And the way you do that is you become your own. In previous podcast sessions, I referenced the book, uh, so good they can’t ignore you, which the book is good. I really recommend reading it though. The title of it gives you enough to get the right idea.

Uh, and that’s the business mechanis

m where I’m in an area where people are charging a whole lot less than I am. In terms of hypnotherapy sessions. My fees are at times three times higher than some of the others. And the way that I do that is the whole mindset of building my business in such a way that the phrase is so good, they can’t ignore you.

And that’s what I’m looking to get as a takeaway to really enhance my corporate presentations, my state hypnosis presentations. That’s what I’m looking to learn from Terry Stokes. So inviting you to. Sit there with me. Head over to Terry Stokes live.com, get all the details for that upcoming event. As Katherine referenced, it’s an incredible learning atmosphere and definitely a savings as hotels or affordable nearby transportation, back and forth.

Breakfast launch snacks. She classes it up. Terry Stokes. Dot com. See in Vegas. Thanks for listening to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast and work smart hypnosis.com.