Session #197: Tracy Barrett Adams on Hypnotic Expectations

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This is the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast, session number 197, Tracy Barrett Adams on hypnotic expectations. 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. To the program, it’s Jason Lynette here and happy day before World Hypnotism Day.

And what an amazing way to celebrate this annual holiday. Thanks to Tom Nicole by spending this time here with Tracy Barrett Adams that a couple of years ago I branded the terminology of somebody being a hypnotic worker, uh, which is that person who is out there teaching other people how to do the work of a hypnotist, but at the same time, they’re in the office, they’re really seeing the clients.

They’re really doing the work. And Tracy just completely epitomizes that concept of being that hypnotic worker, that you’re gonna hear this incredible dialogue of, uh, being raised in an environment where hypnosis was a normal thing, uh, an amazing experience by being introduced to hypnosis, thanks to a dentist, using it for her own personal, uh, journey in terms of overcoming some challenging moments and then taking those steps to eventually learn the work open up shop and really, A lot of what we are gonna talk about here is this concept of how do we set that appropriate expectation, which is not to say of explaining to the client why it’s not going to work.

No. In many ways, explaining how it is going to work and how they are going to be effective, yet giving those specific parameters that they can be looking for in terms of as. She says, as quoting, Scott Sallet here, getting traction in terms of getting that process in motion. Take some notes and listen to this one a couple of times over because there’s some amazing takeaways in this conversation.

You can check out Tracy’s website. The links are gonna be in the show notes [email protected]. I’d also encourage you to check out HT live.net and click on the workshops. Because we’re gonna spend some time in this conversation talking about some of the work that Tracy has done, working with people who are challenged by sleep problems, working with insomnia, and there’s a post-conference offering that Tracy is doing called Put Insomnia to Rest, which I’m sure there’s could be a lot of real world applications of hypnosis in there.

So check out that too. All the links will be again, over at Work Smart Hypnosis dot. I’d also encourage you to head over to hypnosis training institute.org. If you head over to that site, that’s the website for H PT I, and you can actually find out all the details for the upcoming H PT I Winter Hypnosis Convention.

It’s happening in late February, 2019 and Las Vegas. I’ll be there as a speaker, an amazing lineup, and Tracy Barrett Adams will be there speaking on medical hypnosis. The art of building a thriving practice, an amazing workshop. I’m sure that I’m gonna be sitting in the room listening to that one while you’re on the web.

Also, head over to work smart business.com, not just Hypnosis. Now, also business. This is my upcoming book, which if you’re listening to this before the book launch in late January, heading over to that site will give you all the details to get a free digital copy of that book before it officially launch.

If you’re listening after the book launches, that website will likely redirect over to Amazon, and that’s where you can pick up a copy of the book online work smart business.com. And with that, let’s jump directly into this phenomenal conversation. This is session number 197, Tracy Barrett Adams on hypnotic expectations.

First, introduction to hyp. Was when I was about seven years old. Uh, I had a dentist who used hypnosis. He was kind of a hippie and, uh, in Cal, Northern California. And, um, following a, a kind of a rough experience as a child with a dentist who was supposedly a pediatric dentist when I was about three years old.

and as it turned out, he was, uh, roughing up all of the little children who were going to see him. And so I, it wasn’t, wasn’t, I don’t remember anything about it. Um, my, my mother, um, my mother was, uh, the, actually the, the ringleader of the, of the, the mothers who. Got him run out of town. But that’s another story.

They, they ultimately, that though did lead to my, No, I think that’s gonna be the only story this week. I did, did lead to my introduction to hypnosis because after that experience, when I was about three, I refused to go to the dentist. I just, you know, I would wake up every morning and say, Do we have to go to the dentist?

And my mother would say, No. No. So, but years went by and, uh, she knew she had to create some method for me to get my teeth clean. And she found a dentist about, uh, two hours away. But used hypnosis instead of Novocaine, and he seemed like a really nice guy. And so my mom and I went to the dentist about four times and we would sit, I would sit in the dentist chair.

My mom would sit there, the dentist would put me into hypnosis. He set an anchor. Over the course of a few sessions, he said three anchors, um, a little buttons on my arm, one that would make me completely numb in my mouth, and another that would cause me to stop salivating. And another that would completely stop the peripheral blood flow in my gums, in my mouth.

Wow. And uh, and then I had, I was really behind on my dental work at this point, so I needed to have quite a bit of it done. And that was one of the, the things that the, the bad dentist used to threaten children with was poking them with a. So, Oh, wow. Yeah, I had all of my dental work done, supposedly with no needles, including many feelings of, some extractions of baby teeth and, uh, no novacan.

And it was really, uh, fun. The introduction to hypnosis, uh, my, uh, whole experience was very positive all the way up till I was about 13, and I kept that same dentist, but at that point, He said, Look, , can we go to Novak now? . So, and uh, it just was taken, you know, it took a little, when I, as I saw him less often, those, those, uh, he had took some time to reinitiate the whole thing every time, so mm-hmm.

Uh, and then, uh, and then when I was also, uh, so the time went by and then, um, in my twenties I also had a more, I think, serious application. I had a, had a, a. Traumatic experience that like sometimes they do, instead of getting better over time, it just continued to get worse and dominate my life. And, um, just really stumbled upon a guy who I thought was a psychologist, which he was a psychologist, but he was also a hypnotherapist and he did a single session life changer for me.

And, um, I, I walked out of there. Thought that was interesting. And about two weeks later I realized that the lights had come on. So, uh, uh, it was, uh, transformational. And uh, so those were my first experiences as a client. And then several years later, met a person best by chance who was hypnotherapist that was at a turning point in my life and looking for a career that would be more satisfying than what I had been doing.

And just immediate light bulb went off. And I said, Well, that’s what I’m supposed to do. So, That’s amazing. So just we kind of jump around here, How has mm-hmm. , how have those two specific experiences would you say influenced the work that you’re now doing? Oh, totally. Uh, that was when I got into hypnosis.

I knew immediately that I wanted to work with pain. Um, that was my, my goal, wanted to work specifically really with end of life pain because I’d been through some experiences with my dad at the end of his life that I really felt that was a great connect. Ended up not being quite the direction I went, but um, just from the practical standpoint, it was, was easier for me to.

create that, uh, niche for, uh, working with, uh, uh, just more chronic pain. I was also a person who had had migraines for years, uh, from the time I was a teenager. And I, without knowing it, had used self hypnosis to deal with them. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing, uh, until I became hypnotist. But then I discovered, oh yeah, that’s, that’s how I’ve been resolving those migraines and why I don’t have them anymore.

Self hypnosis process that I taught myself. So I, uh, began specializing in, uh, more neuro on the neuro side and, and that’s really the, the direction things went. But I, I would say that my, uh, uh, sort of side focus that I don’t market to or talk about a lot is I do a fair amount with people who are maybe also working with a, a mental healthcare team as well, but processing.

Hmm. Got it. So there, there’s a question that’s popped up here several times that there’s one part of the hypnotic population. Let’s say it to completely over generalize this. Uhhuh is very comfortable working with hypnotic pain relief, and there’s another category that’s kind of afraid of entering into that.

What, um, what advice, what tips would you share with them that kind of have that, that. Boy, you know, it’s a, my first client I was, even though I’d had all the training, I was a little scared of that too. And I talked to another mentor, uh, who said, Oh, well just ask the client what would make that feel more comfortable?

Would it be cold? Would it be warm? Would it be just soften? It, would it, you know, rather than even asking them, you know, if they describe their, their, their discomfort, you immediately have the metaphor for, uh, something that’s going to be more comfortable and even. Talking about what it would be like to have things be more comfortable creates, uh, that memory, the start, gets the foot in the door for that.

And, and it’s surprising, uh, I think to people how easy it is to work in this area because there’s really no. Uh, conflict. People want to feel better. Yes. And there’s, there’s no resistance. People want to feel better, and there is no resistance to trans either in working with pain because people are already there.

If someone’s in pain or fearful of pain, they’re already in trans. And so it’s really just a question of using that. And, uh, it’s, uh, it’s and setting expectations. That’s the other piece I think that’s important is that we, uh, have to be clear that we’re not promising. Uh, cure or, uh, you know, we’re not gonna be promising an anesthetic that you’re walking around with that’s, uh, perpetual.

Um, making sure that those, those client expectations are aligned. With the fact that it’s a process and the fact that we may be looking at, uh, shifting sensation more, or we may be looking at improving quality of life more, but that it’s hard to do the work without experiencing some benefit. We just get to need to get clear with what those expectations are.

That’s beautiful. So then back to that startup story. So you went through the experience of learning how to put it all together in terms of using it for yourself. Uh, but then what was that next step of then solidifying the learning and actually taking action, learning it. Um, that was a journey, I will say

Mm-hmm. . It was a, it was a, it was a lengthy journey. I, it’s still ongoing, I think, but the, uh, my first thoughts were to find. Uh, look at, look for training. And when I started looking for training, I ran into the obstacle, uh, as a person who knew nothing about the field at all, other than. His dentist who had gone off for some weekend seminar and had a book, I think and uh, um, my, and this psychologist who was the, uh, head of a department at San Francisco State.

So, uh, these are two, two people who weren’t doing it as a profession. They were the only exposure I’d had. And, um, so I didn’t know what the educational requirements were. I didn’t know, I thought I would be, looking in a six year journey just to get, uh, be, become qualified. And, uh, so was really surprised to see become certified, to be just in a weekend.

And yes, uh, I was really shocked and thought, Well, this can’t be what I want. And um, so I, as I was looking at the, the internet was a little younger around this and there were, uh, It just seemed to me fewer options than there are now is less, um, less evident. And maybe it’s just my knowledge now that makes it more evident.

But I did do some research and find a hypnotherapist, uh, who worked primarily with pain in her practice, who also did training, and it wa and she was someone who had worked with research in pain with University of New Mexico. And, um, my family was in New Mexico, so I traveled down to New Mexico and really worked with her one on one for a while and did my initial training with her and did my medical certification with her.

And it was limited because it was working with a single individual. And so her style, which is ultimately turned out to be much different than my style. Nevertheless, it. Very concentrated in a, in a, I think a good concentrated way. It was, uh, it was because it was so, um, individualized. And then from there I went off and kind of traveled the world and did heavy training I could get, and I thought everything on video that I could find.

And, uh, and I, um, and I worked a lot with mentors. . So I, I did a lot of one on one for the first, uh, six months or so that I was seeing clients. I probably was on the phone with a mentor every, every week at least. Just consulting either about specific clients or talking about how things were going. Yeah.

And that’s, that’s a topic that’s popped up here several times that, uh, a lot of people often try to go at it alone. Uh, were you seeking out to look at that mentorship process? Were you seeking out people who already had that as an option, or were there people that you would learn from and then felt this is someone I need to learn more from and then reached out organically?

It was more that. It was more the latter and the people that I worked with, because I hadn’t ever been to a conference, you know, I didn’t, you know, the people that I met were people that I either met while I was in a training or teachers from those trainings, and I was extremely passionate when I started.

I’m very, very passionate and very committed, and so I think my instructors could all see that and they were like, Okay, well here just you need me then gimme a. Because I think they can tell I was gonna stumble around a little bit and I was very passionate. And so, um, I had some, uh, a couple of mentors that were, that really said they really offered that up to say, you know, give me a call.

And, and, and so I did that and, and some, some of those relationships were paid relationships and some not. Um, and some of those team therapists are well known and some not, well, not, and some, some not well known. And, um, and, well not either. Um, anyway, the, the, um, , uh, the value of that was so tr tremendous because I didn’t know what I didn’t know starting out.

And so as I was establishing a practice and doing all the things, I’d been an entrepreneur before I had, I mean, I’d always been self-employed doing something. So that business piece wasn’t very complicated or challenging, but the piece of having someone in front of me, I was juggling new knowledge with empathy and, you know, relating to them that, that piece, putting those pieces together, it was really great to have some support for that and not to be isolat.

Yeah. So what was that career path before? You said always an entrepreneur? Um, yes, pretty much some little brief window in the early eighties. I was, I worked for the man, but no . Um, I had, um, I was a, I used to be an actor and, um, so Oh really? So that was, yeah, that was my, um, first career and. I left that to get married and have kids and had four kids.

And when they got a little bit, you know, school agey, I started a theater program that was, um, for, uh, kids, for Youth and did something that I had done as a kid, which was, uh, started a, a touring program. We would with, um, high school kids and mid-high kids, junior high kids, we. Uh, did a literature program where we took literature and turned it into plays and like we did it through the looking glass and phantom to booth and, and the kids did the writing and mentoring.

We also did theater and improv, and then we would turn this into a show. By the end of the school year, we’d have this show that we’d take on tour to elementary schools. And um, and it was loads of fun and it wasn’t. I was saying I was an entrepreneur. I had a husband who had a job too, so it wasn’t exactly, um, you know, I didn’t have to make my living off of it, but it was, it was something that, Uh, uh, was a, was a good side income and it was a lot of fun.

And, uh, yeah, that’s a, that’s a theme that’s popped up here many times over the, the theatrical background that, you know. Yeah, the whole aspect of the creative style of it, the, the putting it all together And, um, I probably have quoted the same Lauren Michaels line on here at least a hundred times about, uh, whether the show is ready or not.

We go live at 11. Yeah, that when you’re, when you’re there in front of the client, it’s, it’s the, Okay, here’s all the preparation that I have up until now, let’s put it into use. And there’s always that opportunity later on to, you know, to go back and review and say, Well, I could have done it this way. I could have done it, uh, that way.

For you, which, which aspect of the, the theatrical background would you say helped to influence the hypnosis the most? Uh, two things. Uh, one is the imaginative sense of putting yourself in a. Of being and, and being really connecting to what it’s like to be in this other person’s shoes. And, and then, uh, so that’s one piece.

And the other piece is the improvisational piece. Uh, having, you know, in the moment, um, pulling something out of the hat that is based on that relationship that we have doing, you know, in the moment being re responsive and kind of melding that basic. Skill set of hypnosis with the creative piece, with the, with the metaphor in the moment and with the, uh, the connecting.

And it’s in a, you know, a lot of times working with, in hypnosis, it is like, it’s like when you’re doing a scene in theater and it’s just going right. It’s just flowing and here we go. And it’s just my job to find that point of flow with them and, and, uh, it, it feels like a, uh, in a, in a way, a real parallel.

you know, two actors who are, who are in the, really in the moment and, and it’s really working well. What’s beautiful about what you just said though is that, you know, not necessarily the, the performance, the creative aspect of it just being, the relationship of you and the client, but that, that character study side of bringing the modeling into it of let me now associate into what this person is going through and, you know, what’s that motivation?

What’s that subtext? Why are they here specifically on this day? Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, that’s it. Yeah. So in the startup phases of things, what were, what were some of the things you did to, to get those initial clients? Uh, well, first thing I did, and I, I, I will say I, like I said, I was passionate and I, and I, it was, I had a, just a, I’m not a wooooo person, Jason, I’ll just tell you, yes, I am the least wooooo person that I know.

I used to say I was the least woohoo hypnotherapist, but now I’ve met a lot of, not woooooo hypnotherapist, so I can’t, I can’t claim that anymore. Um, but I would say that, So I really took a big leap and so I needed to make it work. I just really needed to do that just for on, on, on a lot of levels and I had nothing better to do than make that work.

Mm-hmm. ? I did. I did. So the first couple things that I did, just on the, kind of from the external side is that before I even got my certification completed, uh, was, you know, still a few weeks away from that. I already had a website. Completed. Yes. That I really liked before that was even done, I had the website completed before I was, and I had office space that was serviceable.

Mm-hmm. and, and flexible and really professional looking. I had a, I rented office space in a medical tower. Beautiful. Yeah. That, uh, that said, you know, so that when people called me or when I talked to them, I could say, Yes, you wanna go to this medical tower? I’m on the 14th floor. And, uh, that felt just exactly what I wanted my clients to feel, that they were, that they were going someplace that they could associate as, um, uh, a part of the medical community, if not a, you know, a medical practitioner.

Um, and so that’s what I did kind of from the externals, the external side is I got those just basic ducks in a row so that people could find me, and if they found me that what they found was what I, what, what they were looking for. And then, um, I was very fortunate. I have to do, have to chalk this up to a little bit of luck in that, uh, my niche was so clear.

It was so very, very clear that I wanted to work with medical stuff. I was not interested in working with non-smoking. That was something I knew because I, I knew I wanted to work with migraine. Clients and the smell of cigarette smoke is a trigger for many migraine people. So I knew I just didn’t want people smoking a pack of cigarettes before they come in to quit and then stick making my office smell like smoke.

So , I connected with another hypnotherapist in town who was really part of my journey to becoming hypnotherapist in the first place. She’s much younger than I am. I mean, not that much younger, but she’s quite a bit younger. Um, my children were about to be out of high school when she was pregnant with her first, so, um, She’s that kind of, it’s got that kind of relationship.

But she’d been practicing for a few years quite successfully, primarily on quit smoking stuff and phobias. And she had no interest in working with healthcare, but she got calls for it all the time. And so we worked out a really nifty cross referral process where she was already practicing and thriving and she would refer all of these medical.

Calls medical, hypnosis, pain, um, and anxiety. And, and anybody who wasn’t her ideal client, basically she referred to me and I referred anybody who was looking for smoking or to not be, you know, scared of their, their, uh, the spider in the closet. So that’s, that was how I got those clients, that first initial wave of clients.

And I also did some Google ad. . Yeah. Let, let’s pause there for a second. Cause that’s a beautiful thing of building that symbiotic relationship with other people that you know, rather than the, No, I need all the business to myself that we are allowed to, as the practitioner, pick that thing that you feel you work best with.

The thing that you’re also just the most interested in. And, um, I, I’d side with you on the, on the claim and maybe we’ll arm wrestle one day of the least, woo woo hypnotist in the market. . Um, but it’s to say that there’s certain people that I can hear some of the detail. and go, you know, I think you’re gonna be a better fit for this specific person.

Mm-hmm. , or, um, as I’m in the midst of some major projects, I am referring so many clients out going mm-hmm. , No, I’m on one laser focus path for the next 45 days. And here call, call Monica and Ramsey right down the road. They’re phenomenal. Here’s, uh, Meredith down the road and it, it’s that we all win when we do that.

Mm-hmm. . Oh yeah. And, and now I’m. Doing that too. I mean, I, I still, my, uh, the colleague that initially we referred to each other, we referred back and forth to each other. Uh, she’s practicing quite a bit. Her, excuse me, that, uh, Hypnotherapist who was referring quite a bit to me, you know, we no longer really.

She, we refer cross, refer occasionally, but she’s changed her, the nature of her practice a bit. As her kids have grown, she’s just, um, not practicing as much. And so, But I don’t depend on those referrals. Now I have my own and I refer out, there’s a, a practitioner or a couple of practitioners in Seattle that, because again, I’m so laser focused on some of these other projects that I’m working on now that I am, uh, not interested in working that five day client week anymore.

So, I’m, I am, uh, referring to a practitioner who’s newer and awesome and, uh, and, and is really eager to, and also very passion. Uh, and eager to, to learn some things and, uh, and there my experience in terms of competition in Seattle is really been phenomenal. When I began practicing, I think there were three of us who were really.

Making a living. When I started practicing a few, a few of us who were similar to me, you know, who would’ve maybe been looking at the same ideal client. And now there are probably, I would say, 20 in Seattle. Wow. Yeah. And business has not diminished a spec. I think that’s because it’s not really competition.

It’s normalization. It’s the more hypnotherapist there are, the more people know about it. Somebody else’s advertising is contributing to the pool of people who are being exposed to hypnosis. And, uh, it’s, it’s all working together. There’s a, there’s a quick funny anecdote here that shared the similar through line that, you know, back about nine years ago, it was about maybe four or five of us in this area, then it became three, and now there’s a couple of dozen.

And it changes the dynamic of that decision as to, you know, do I do hypnosis, yes or no, or do I, you know, or instead it becomes, which one do I work with? Right. And there was a funny dialogue that popped up just by way of just Facebook messenger the other week where, Overtly saying the name of the person.

Of course, it just became clear that this one very specific person was calling all of us and was making one very specific request. Ah. And I finally got the message from this person going, Oh, I book with this person who’s actually one of my students, who oddly enough isn’t the same office complex that I am.

And just that place to go, Great, you’re gonna do wonderful work with her. She’s Phenomen. You know, to send that support over that. Again, it really is widening that perspective as to this is the work that we do. Uh, you mentioned there, you know, getting into the online world that, uh, trans, you know, bringing some of the work into Google AdWords to get clients too.

Um, I don’t advertise on Google AdWords anymore for, Yeah. My practice, I, I did for a long time and. , uh, it was, it was costing me a lot of money and I thought, well, I must be getting a lot of clicks cuz this is costing me a lot of money, . And so I, I can’t remember what exactly happened. Oh, I, I think I took a bra.

I, you know, you can stop Google AdWords and I, I was going on vacation or something and, and I was really booked out for a couple of months and I said, Well, I’m just gonna stop this for a little while because I don’t really, I just don’t wanna pay for it right now. And I, and I stopped. and I saw absolutely no shift in the calls or the emails and, and just nothing changed.

And so I thought, well, okay, I won’t do that , I’m done. And so and so I don’t do it anymore. And also they, um, they, we were, and we were, Oh, that’s right. I remember we were in the middle of a, an email exchange where they were not liking my website because they felt the, there was some of the wording that I was using that they didn’t care for.

They didn’t wanna, they wanted me to change for my advertising and I really didn’t want to, so, mm-hmm. , I, I, I was speaking truth on my website and, um, . So, uh, I, I was, I was pretty, pretty committed to that. And, um, and that was part of my decision based on other things that were going on that I could just afford to stop that for a while and then have not looked back from that.

I still do use Google AdWords for my, um, hypnosis for childbirth classes. I, I do. Awesome. Yeah, just a little bit, you know, about a hundred dollars a month, just no question that I am on the fir I fill the entire first page. Google where if you look up hypnosis for childbirth in Seattle, I think, well, maybe not the entire, there’s a couple people maybe popping up on that first page, but a lot of it, But that’s, yeah, it’s mostly me and my, and my, and my, my, uh, colleague Kira sometimes pops up, but she and I, um, have partnered together with the Hypnosis for childbirth for years.

So it’s, that’s still me. And, um, but I do run that ad. Just, it’s, it’s just like, just, just wanna stay at the top, be, Yeah. No, I, I’d share there’s, um, Google AdWords Express. Which is the local map based listing. I, I turned that off a while ago, and I may play with a strategy at some point in the next couple of months.

Um, for some reasons I’ll mention here in a moment. Uh, but the specific language that Google is looking for there, um, anytime there is any testimonial, will, at least has been my finding that they want to see that results may vary. Uh, statement mm-hmm. , which when they came after me for that, which I’ve, I’m playing the game at all times.

Guinea pig to go, Well, what would happen if I do this? Okay. Mm-hmm. , So I’m booked out, but let’s play with this and see what happens. And I’ve got a campaign that’s currently running just for stop smoking and it’s, it’s not amazing right now, but it’s bringing in enough that I can keep it running. And if anyone wants to see the specific language that I got Google to approve, if you go to Virginia hypnosis.com and just look at the footer of the site, adding that, uh, was enough to get the approval in my case.

But yeah, it’s a game that’s changed differently. Even the way the keywords are set up, it’s constantly changing that I had one month that I spent way too much money cuz my keywords were all set up incorrectly cuz I was doing what was sexy eight years ago. And apparently that changed . Ah, yeah, that’s the thing.

That’s the thing. Um, but you brought up something there that’s absolutely critical that you know, you should be able to test what you’re doing and track it and see if it’s actually working and sometimes being willing to turn something off to see what happens. Is sometimes the only way to go about doing that, unless it’s a specific, you know, uh, confirmation page or tracking page.

Different ways of going about it. Yes. Yes. And, uh, I have, uh, my experience with, um, doing any kind of advertising for the local market, I, you know, it’s been everything I’ve done has been helpful and when I’ve stopped doing, , it’s been okay. And now I’m exploring what it’s looks like to do marketing for the more national and international market.

And I, I know can tell you I know nothing about that. So I’m book exploring. The more, Yeah, the, the more specific you can get, the more you can play the game of who else would be interested in this. Right. So I, I can give the reference that the book I’ve got coming out in January, it’s specifically filling a gap that was left open between two major books and the, in the business industry.

So that will be the audience that I’ll be targeting, which that will introduce the hypnosis to them as opposed to eating with the hypnosis. And, uh, little quick fun fact with Google AdWords, and this might have changed, um, in the last six and a half years, and I’m about to find out. If you move your office and you’ve got reviews on Yelp, those, uh, reviews travel with you, uh, with Google.

Oh, this is that. Uh, that this is dating back six years. I’m gonna have to check into this cuz I’m moving Virginia Hypnosis in the next couple of months. Oh, that If you move your office with Google, however, with the map listing, they wipe all your reviews clean. Oh, I’m gonna have to check into that. Uh, in fact, what I will do is, uh, listen to this episode, uh, post our conversation.

And I’ll have the answer in that, uh, post role as a bit of a teaser. And also cuz I need a few days to find that out cuz mm-hmm. , that’s, that was one of my concerns around something went wrong with my physical space, not my actual business and I’ve gotta move. Um, Well, that’s right. I saw you had a leak or something.

Oh, we had, uh, they like to use the term water infiltration. , uh, in three months i’s, That’s nice word. I know, right. And, uh, organic growth. No, that’s mold. Shut up. Um, so we’re moving, um, But it’s about time. Yeah. So then I wanna bring into the conversation then, uh, the, I I have to ask it in a fun way cuz it’s one of those topics that I’ve heard you speak on several times before.

Uh, Hey Tracy, how’d you sleep last night? Oh, fantastic . Thank you. I slept great. Yeah. Let’s chat about working with insomnia cause I know that’s one of the specialties that I’ve heard you talk on before. Yeah, it is, uh, an area that I, uh, accidentally fell into as a practitioner. You know, I went into migraines cuz I, I had had experience with that.

I knew I used it, but, and I, but it was also a lifelong insomniac. And I, I had not slept, I didn’t sleep well as a kid. I was a nons sleeper as a kid. I was an anxious person. I, I don’t, I told, I told this story at, um, Hypno Thoughts Live, but, you know, I saw, Do you remember? Get Smart. Yes. So, okay, so when I was a little kid, I watched an episode of Get Smart, Get Smart, and there was one where Agent 90 nine’s head was a ghost head.

It was, and it was floating at the end. It was just the, it was part of the little end, haha moment at the end of the episode. Like a little funny, like little, you know, clincher on the episode that Agent 99 was, you know, pretending to be a ghost. And I spent probably the next three. Not sleeping, waiting for Barbara Feldman’s head to float into my bedroom.

So, Oh wow. I was a real anxious sleeper and would go over nights and nights without sleeping and it was just pretty, pretty chronic and unsolvable. And then after I got into hypnosis, once I became a hypnotherapist, I thought, well, maybe I can use this on myself. When I did and it was like, Oh, I can sleep now.

It’s amazing. And, and I just thought it was me. But what. Running. What I was seeing so often were clients who were dealing with the issues that I was primarily working with them on migraine or, or, um, you know, other kinds of things. And they were also not sleeping well. And so I started working with them, uh, giving them some, um, re resolution with their sleep and then, They began working, excuse me, referring people to me.

They would tell their doctors that they were seeing with pain while I, I’m still like, you know, I, I still need this medication, but I’m also, I’m sleeping so much better. I feel so much better. Um, so I, I developed a program around it that is pretty reliable. And, and the, the big thing that I see with working with insomnia, or that I’ve heard from hypnotherapist is that people come in for that hypnotherapy session and maybe they get a few things can happen.

Is that mm-hmm. if they’ve had a chronic issue. They might find that they resolve whatever that was that started the, the sleep problem. They might get to the absolute bottom of that, but the body is still really in the habit of being awake. Yeah. The body is still really good at staying awake at night, and so we need to retrain that body.

And then the other piece is that people are, you know, usually. Sleepless for a few different reasons. One is that body piece and, and some of those is that, that people have trouble, um, with anxiety. They’re worried about things that are maybe gonna happen in the future. Also, nighttime is one of those places where feelings of shame and regret about things from the past really rise up and, and can, um, uh, whether we are even consciously thinking about it or we just get that bad feeling.

And so working with some thinking strategies, some emotional strategies, some stuff that we do in. And then a lot of what happens between those sessions. And I will give clients, my program that I have is. You know, in the actual hypnotherapy piece, it’s completely client centered. It’s whatever we’re, we’re needing to do to resolve the core issue.

Um, and a lot of it is about ways that they’re retraining themselves to think about rest and think about sleep. And the, the root of it is that we set the expectation not to get more sleep. Because the stakes are always really high about sleep, right? ? Mm-hmm. . It’s like, I gotta get sleep. I gotta get to sleep.

If I don’t get to sleep, my life is gonna suck. And so their future pacing at night, whether or not sleeping, having a rotten day the next day, and their future pacing the results of not having slept. And so we work with, well, let’s shift that. Let’s lower the stakes and just make it about, at first, does make it about feeling better tomorrow.

Whether you’ve had eight hours of sleep or eight minutes of sleep, that it’s about feeling better. And then when people start to feel better. , then it sets the system up to sleep better and to rest better, at least to get more out of that rest. And then we can break the cycle of adrenaline and uh, vigilance that comes with weariness.

That expectation part of the conversation is amazing that, I mean, the random personal anecdote that is, at one point I had, I forget if it was a Fitbit or an up the job one, one of the fitness trackers that’s not an Apple watch, and it’s the type that Oh, where it, while you sleep and it’s gonna give you feedback as to how well you slept.

Oh no. And it’d be nine 10. I, I’m, I’m I, I lay out, I go to sleep by like 9 30, 10 o’clock at night. I’m up around five and here’s the day. It’s like I left and I’ve been up for a while. I’ve been getting things done and I look at the app and it says, You’re a sleep quality. And it gave like a grade rating of a C minus and suddenly the day just fell apart.

Suddenly it’s exhausted. Yeah. I was feeling, I was feeling good up until I got the grade and I return that thing for that research. Talk about the, talk about the power of suggestion. Yeah. I tell people suggestion. Yeah. People walk in with that thing and I’m like, take that. Please just take that off when you go to sleep at night, unless your doctor says you have to, um, then take it off.

Because that’s exactly, that’s exactly what happens. And you know, I’ve had numerous people come in and feel better that just by, just by trusting that they’re, even if they’re awake, that they’re doing these things and I’m suggesting they, they do that will help their body rest. They start future pacing, feeling great the next day, and they come back and they go, Well, I don’t know how, why I’m feeling so much better, but I’m feeling so much better and I didn’t sleep.

But it’s just they’re giving themself that suggestion that that’s going to be a benefit and pretty soon. Uh, that combined with everything else really, uh, will for most people. We’ll turn that we’ll experience significant improvement in the actual sleep pretty soon cuz the body needs to rest. It just needs to know that the coast is clear.

It needs to have a, the, um, the resource to. Get to sleep and stay asleep. Staying asleep is the, probably the bigger issue that I get then more than, um, than not getting to sleep is people who go to sleep for a couple hours and then wake up and can’t get back to sleep. And that same formula for instant gratification can be applied to so many other things of mm-hmm.

to get your, to get your weight loss client already. Feeling slimmer, even though the scale may have just budged a little bit from week one to week two, just massively gets that foot in the door that, yes, this is working. I can keep this up to have the, the stop smoking client, you know, just breathing more easily as a result of that first meeting.

Yeah. And, and that’s, and that, and those things are, uh, you know, that setting expectation and actually starting to, um, help the client be present in that expectation to be, to bring that into the moment, to that, that feeling better in whatever it is. The nice thing about something that you want, like, well, probably like smoking and, uh, your body knows that.

The body knows it’s a toxin. So once we’re done, we’re done. Mm-hmm. . And usually with hypnosis, the body doesn’t, once it’s gets the nicotine out, um, Then I actually don’t work with smokers very much. I dunno what I’m talking about. But I think that , I think that, that, that’s what I think that, that we, that the nicotine gets outta the body.

That I used to smoke whack when I was an actor. I used to smoke. So it seemed like once, once we got the, the, the stuff out of the body that then it was really all mental then it’s just really is a mental game. But, um, working with some of these things that are on, whether it’s chronic pain or, or an a chronic eating issue, those are things.

You, you know, figuring out how we’re gonna live with that ongoing, you still have to eat, you know? Yes. It’s creating that, creating that new relationship with food. Uh, creating, I think the parallel with food and sleep is, is really legit cuz you, you have to have a new relationship with nighttime, with bedtime, with morning.

You have to have a new relationship with, um, um, with food. You’re dealing with new relationships with, what does it mean to be rewarded? What emotional comfort, Um, those, those relationships. , uh, as we create new ones getting familiar, it’s just like we were talking about setting that expectation. So we, the thing that we’re creating becomes something that’s known, something that’s familiar, and therefore something that’s more attractive and available to the unconscious mind.

Yeah, and you’ve brought up that theme beautifully number of times now about setting that expectation. When, when, in that process, when in that exchange with the client, is that expectation being set? For me, it’s in the phone consult. I do a, I still do a phone consult with every single client that I work with.

Well, pretty close to every single client that I work with. And, uh, I, I know that everybody doesn’t do that, and that’s not everybody’s thing, but for me it is. I am. So I feel like I get so much out of it and we make, it helps us make more of our time in the session and it really helps me filter people that I’m not, that I’m not particularly interested in working with.

And it helps the client come in. Uh, I don’t have to undo any expectation when they come in. Yeah. And so, So we set up, uh, in that phone call, we’re getting rapport and I’m finding out what it is that they want. I’m letting them know what I do, and then we look and see does that fit? Is that, uh, is that look like it goes together?

And, um, I’m always really honest with them and let them know. You know what, what the range of experiences people have and, and I think people appreciate a, not me, not telling them that. Well, and, and if there’s a 98, 90 8% success rate with, with getting people, you know, resolving this particular issue, whatever that may be.

but I do tell almost everyone that it is hard to do the work with intention and commitment without getting improvement. It’s really, you really have to, It’s hard to do it. And, and people that’s, that’s authentic. It’s true. And, and people can hear that. And, uh, and that I think helps so much with getting going.

People come over that first session and they’re really ready and they’re really, um, set to go. And I feel like I save myself time and angst by doing those phone consults. I take some flack from some colleagues. Well, no, I love that about it. I, I do the phone consult myself too, because it’s that Oh, really?

That’s that first step of the process. Yes. I, I, I automate the hell out of everything. So the reason is that in my mind that yes, it’s a big program that I’m booking with somebody, but that 15 to 30 minutes on the phone with them is technically in my mind that first. Yes, I agree. It’s where, whether they book with me or not, I want them to leave better off from the experience and knowing that they can do that even better when they’re actually in the room with me.

Mm-hmm. , it’s where I’m really setting that foundation as to this is where it’s gonna go. I’m still curious about the whole setting expectation. Let’s. Let’s say that I’m the client who’s now potential client calling and I’ve got a history of migraines, you know, and it’s been off and on. Here’s what’s helped, here’s what hasn’t helped.

I’m just looking for something, uh, else that may be beneficial. What are some of those expectation bullet points that you’d be sharing? Uh, first of all, I would be listening, uh, before I even looked at setting up that expectation. So Nice. I would be listening to. What is this person hoping for? What is their horses desire?

I’m not gonna set up expectations around things that they’re not even interested in or aren’t looking for, or are, have already, you know, uh, expressed that they’re, that we’re, you know, aligned. So, Um, so just from that standpoint, I’m really, I’m really listening for the, their, um, the, the part of them that’s hopeful when they’re calling and I speak to that hope and say, Well, this is where we could go with this.

So let’s say somebody’s calling for migraine. And, and, um, I have, I’m fortunate that I have a number of, well, a couple of, of neurologists and the, and the one hospital system where the neurology department will refer to me. There’s a big crackdown on opioids and. Um, perhaps there are some migraines that are so severe that nothing helps but an opioid, but a, but a heavy drug.

And so unfortunately those are the clients that are mostly getting referred to me by the headache clinics because, and I say unfortunately because those are the people with the toughest, toughest situations to uh, intercept people with the migraines that respond really well to the most easy medicine could also probably resolve their migraines entirely with some self hypnosis like, , but that’s another story anyway, so people call and if they’ve got this intractable situation, I will, I will quote, you know, I’ll do some version of, uh, somewhere in that conversation.

Probably do, uh, Scott Sandlin quote and say, Well, you know, what we’re looking for is measurable improvement, and it’s generally speaking, we’re going to look for traction to measurable improvement. You’re expressing your situation is like this. And so we’d be looking for that 15% improvement to let us know we’re on the right track.

Nice. And, and people will usually say, just like Scott Sandlin said that, that was one of the first trainings that I took when I was looking for that extra training. And it was a Scott training with the Michael Elner and he said, Most people will say, Yeah, 15 percent’s pretty good when you’re in a lot of pain

And that’s a big quality of life improvement. And that’s exactly, you know, I say that and people say, Yeah, that. That sounds good. And which is really different than probably what they thought they were gonna hear. You know, they might have thought they might, if people come and sit down, then they don’t know.

They might think, Oh, can you, can you fix the, can you just fix it? And um, and, and, and it’s not to say, and I will usually say in that conversation, I will say it’s a big range of experience, cuz I want people to expect the best because in fact, some people do come in for working with. and it fixes it. It’s some people, they have their, because people who work with migraine are also really good at self hypnosis.

It responds exquisitely to self hypnosis and some people come in and with, have had lifelong history, ofili, debilitating migraines, and some of those people within a very few sessions are able to get out in front of them. Virtually every time and create a real resolution. And so I tell people that. I say, This is one end of it, this is one side.

Mm-hmm. . And then on the other side, there, there are people who, um, who really, it just doesn’t seem like it’s the right process for them when we get into it. And, and that that’s, and there’s every, those are the two, sort of, the two ends of the range of experiences that people have and, and. That I’m an eclectic.

I tell them I’m an eclectic practitioner. I use a lot of different kinds of techniques and it’s, And to work with them to find the fit to help them get that traction. And so, you know, I’m just really, I think not trying to sell people a cure in that expectation time is, is really helpful, especially for people who have people.

Who are constantly being barrage with try this herbal remedy that’s gonna do it. Yes. And, um, do go to this kind of a energy worker that’s gonna do it. And, um, I think that, um, and also for people who are being sent by their doctor, Which it happens. And sometimes they’re being sent by their doctor so they can check the box so they can get their next dose of opioid.

So, you know, that’s a thing that happens too. And so helping those people understand that we’re not, for those people who might come in with actually kind of a negative, um, expectation, that’s like they’re doing it because they, they need to, I’ll, you know, if we can get to a point where they’re willing to take whatever they can get out of the process, then, then I know they’re gonna get something out.

Yeah, even if it’s just some self-regulation, coping is, is helpful. Um, and even by setting that expectation of, you know, whether it’s just 10 to 15%, you know, so often getting a much bigger response than that, really getting that foot in the door. I mean, to bring in the day language of, look at it as that opening wedge.

Right. Yeah. And, and, and once, I mean, and really when we working with anything that has been causing suffering, whether it’s insomnia, whether it’s pain, um, whether it’s unhappiness with your body for any reason, even, even something like, uh, degenerative. I work because I work with neuro stuff. I work quite a bit with people who have MS and other, uh, kind of things with a not very positive prognosis and just.

Being able to tap into some positive resources, tapping into, um, the feeling of just lightness or, or, or laughter, ease. And to be able to touch that and experience it. Is something that then people know, Oh yeah, I would like to be able to do that on demand and, and can relate to that and feel that this is something that’s worth pursuing.

And even in that phone conversation, uh, I’m not selling them on anything. I’m not being inauthentic, but I will in that phone conversation as I’m listening for what that feels like to hope, I do a little bit of conversational, like. Well, can you imagine feeling like this? Mm-hmm. . And, and, and people can, you know, I say I will ask the question cuz it helps me.

Can you remember a time where you felt lighter? Can you remember a time before? And people say, Oh yeah, that was great. And you can hear that shift in their voice and, and then, then to say, Well, you know, that’s what we’re, that’s what we’re cultivating. We’re cultivating that, uh, that kind of feeling, that emotional state that then influences the body.

And people go, Okay, I get that. And they, you know, That it’s, it’s authentic and it’s, uh, and it’s also hopeful. Outstanding. So then is there a specific focus of, um, sort of that next phase of all of this that you mentioned working with some things, looking towards a, uh, a little bit more of a global audience?

Well, yes, I am looking at, um, more of a global audience in that I’m getting into training now. I mm-hmm. , um, mentioned my original training, I really, I feel was worthwhile. There were. , I think, and maybe any training, there’s gonna be some gaps. Uh, what I’m doing now is moving into the training arena more. So I’m doing a certification program, just not a medical certification, but a, a, um, a hypnosis, uh, hypnotherapy basic a hundred hour certification in March.

And I’m doing, um, more online trainings and, um, training. One of the things that I found in Seattle, I’m doing more of. Just on the local level is training therapists and, um, a couple of doctors on using hypnosis like my dentist, you know, doing little weekend things like my dentist cook must have taken.

And, um, just on a local level, kind of on request, but I’d like to do that on a broader scale as well. And, um, so that means. and gearing up the, the passion to say, Yes, I’m gonna do that. And, and figure out, um, what that, what that looks like to, um, to launch into that arena, um, beyond just content, beyond the content creation and into putting it out there.

A chair kind of goes back to, uh, what you already mentioned of just simply asking that market, you know, what would be the easiest way for you to learn this? What would be the most beneficial to you that mm-hmm. , you know, kinda like going into that consult with a pre-organized idea of, Oh, these are the things I need to say.

The way you beautifully pivoted that question, you know, to ask them what are your biggest needs? And then deliver that. Mm-hmm. , let the audience tell you what they need. Right. Yes. That’s great advice. It is a, it, it, it is a little, it’s one of those, uh, uh, questions that it really requires a shift in focus.

It’s taken me a long time to really recognize that I need to shift the way I do my practice in order to, to pivot my, my focus out to that new area of business that it’s really, um, and what I’m doing something now that. did when I first began practicing, when I first began practicing before I had any clients, I just, uh, even though I was still making my living in that moment, doing something else, uh, I was self-employed at, I wasn’t running my theater thing at that time.

I was doing, um, uh, transcription of raw footage of video of, uh, of television shows. Um, and, uh, it was a, a good little living, but I was moving into this new area and I was about to jump off the. Employment train and just rely on, on hypnosis, and people would ask me. I, I get around socially quite a bit in Seattle.

My partner’s an actor still, so I, I get, I get out a lot. . People would say, What do you do? And I would say, I’m a hypnotherapist and I primarily work with pain . And I don’t think I’d seen any clients when I first started saying that, but it was really part of me claiming that as my new job and to say, This is my job now and that’s what I’m doing on this side to say, yeah, this is, this is not something I’m doing on the side.

This is, I’m not a hypnotherapist practicing and training. I’m a trainer and a hypnotherapist practicing. So it’s a really, that’s been a, a good shift. Outstanding. So where can people find out more about you online? Um, Cornerstone Hypnosis Training is where my trainings are, and, uh, Cornerstone Hypnotherapy is for my practice.

And I do work with people online. I do also do mentoring now. Um, , but my trainings as I’m, uh, getting content completed, I’m putting it up on the site, um, and all the information about my live trainings is going to be on that site. And my online or recorded stuff is gonna be on there as well. So. Fantastic.

It’s been wonderful happen on here. Yeah, it’s been great. Thank you, Jason.

Jason Lynette here once again, and as always, thank you so much for sharing this program on your social media streams, leaving your reviews online. Head over to the work smart hypnosis.com website for the links to Tracy’s upcoming, uh, training events, as well as the information about her workshops at Hypno Thoughts Live, as well as the H P T I winter hyp.

Convention and also check out work smart business.com. If you’re listening before the launch, you’ll get a free copy. If you’re listening after the launch, that’ll redirect likely over to Amazon. And for those of you that were waiting for the tag at the end of this conversation as promised, I’ve gone over to support.google.com and found a bit of a cryptic answer and a little bit of, uh, Googling on your own can find some strategies that.

Best, Um, everything says we’ll generally move the reviews to the new location. So if you remember back to the conversation with Tracy, uh, back about at this 0.6 and a half, seven years ago when I moved my office from Old Town Alexandria to, uh, Fairfax County side of Alexandria, where my office is now. . Uh, in that move I learned that my, uh, Google reviews got swiped clean.

Uh, all of my Yelp reviews stayed, but the Google reviews all just disappeared. And looking at the Google website, I’ll read the quote here and we’ll link to this in the show notes. If your business moves from one location to another and keeps the same business name, Google will generally. There’s the keyword, we’ll generally move the reviews to the new location.

There are some exceptions for businesses heavily tied to their locations like hotels, golf courses, or scenic attractions, which that makes sense there. Uh, to do a little bit of a search online, uh, you can find there’s some helpful strategies that point towards at least. How do you retain those? Uh, as I’m in the process of, uh, moving my office in the next couple of months to a much different location.

Still in the same area. It’s just time to do a little bit of an upgrade around here. Chase Lyt here once again and see you soon. Thanks for listening to the Work Smart Hypnosis podcast and work smart hypnosis.com.