Session #360: Kathryn Toohey on Refocused Hypnosis

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This is the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast, session number 360. Katherine Tooey on Refocused Hypnosis. Welcome to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast with Jason Linett, your professional resource for hypnosis training and outstanding business success. Here’s your host, Jason Linett. This is a conversation I’ve been wanting to capture for quite some time now.

I first got to know Catherine Tooey by her joining our hyp. Business systems community and immediately kind of identifying herself as someone who dove into the material and started to implement and put things into use. And even better, as you hear this conversation, you’re gonna hear some of the story that’s really behind that way of thinking, that a bit of a vulnerable personal story of something that she wanted to overcome and then becoming the client of hypnosis.

And admittedly seeing some really great results as the outcome of that, and then later on as a similar yet different issue arose then making the decision to, on the second pass, not necessarily be the client, but now to dive into learning the technologies of how all of this works. And becoming the hypnotist herself, which is a big part of her journey.

It turns out of being on the inside of the process, learning what actually has to occur for someone to make that change, and how sometimes it does require that we go to those places that we don’t quite want to go, but that as we break through that internal challenge, that’s where the biggest breakthroughs.

Actually occur and as there ought to be on a podcast about hypnosis. We do wrap up this conversation with a very, uh, enlightening conversation about musical theater and how, from the performance side of things, this is exactly where I know you expected it to go. From the performance side of things, there’s something to be gained by stepping into that character, but how this also relates to, as we help our clients create their own personal breakthroughs, it’s doing something to us as the practitioner.

Along that journey too. A few things to really highlight here, by the way, would be a big part of Katherine’s story is that quest for how do I get better at this? How do I improve upon this? So you’ll hear an insight where she began with one training and then from there, Asking the question as to what else can I now learn?

How can I get even better at this? And even some of the projects that she’s currently producing that are already running by the time that this episode launches, that sometimes it does require going outside of our common shared language of hypnotic techniques and principles. And how from either our personal experiences or from other coaching and consulting modalities, how we can actually serve our clients even better.

You know, by asking the right questions, what are the breakthroughs that people need to have? What are the conversations we need to have between working with a kid and a parent to then begin to create that space where this change can occur? So this type of conversation’s, one of my favorites to share with you, because it just shows.

The passion for helping, the passion for learning, and yes, the passion of, um, being relatively short as she’s five foot two. And I’m five foot four. Um, We fit most places is the right phrasing here. So this whole theme of refocused hypnosis is that of, again, consistently leveling up our efforts. And you’re gonna hear that’s a big part of Katherine Toy’s story.

I’d encourage you to head over to the show [email protected] slash. 360. This is episode number 360, so just work smart hypnosis.com/ 360. That’s where you can find the links to check out Katherine’s website, the different social media platforms that she regularly post on which we spend a big conversation around that.

And while you’re there too, check out hypnotic business systems. Dot com. This is the all Access Pass to my Hypnosis business training library, where there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. There’s no need to just guess and test on your own. Learn from a community that’s there to support you with strategies that have proven consistently to work time and time again, not just in my neighborhood, but indeed as you.

Part of the conversation here all around the world, even in smaller markets. By the way, when you’re on that page, hypnotic business systems.com, look towards the bottom, There’s a little floating bar that’s there that actually will give you an invite to get a free on-demand training called Six Steps to a Six Figure Hypnosis Business.

It’s my gift to you for listening to this program, and it’s gonna walk you through six very specific strategies. That you can plug into your business right away. That’s all available to [email protected]. And with that, let’s jump directly into this phenomenal conversation. Here we go. It’s session number 360.

Katherine Tooey on Refocused Hypnosis. The very first introduction was back in around about 2007, maybe 2008. I was training to be a high school music teacher on the where I live, and I was really struggling. Irritable Bowel syndrome, ibs, which I don’t know if had been formally diagnosed at that point.

And I had tried everything, Jason. I had tried eliminating different things from my diet, um, changing up my exercise regime, different supplements and things, and then. I was getting pretty desperate and I found an advert in the Yellow Pages for a hippotherapy clinic, and this advert, it was not along the lines of what you teach actually with and this advert listed.

Absolutely every single thing that Hippotherapy could help with. And one of the things that they listed was ibs. So long I went, and I have to say it took me many years and many thousands of pounds to get better, but it really did transform my health and and many other things in my life as. That’s amazing.

Thank you for sharing that. I, I’d be curious to ask, we sometimes run into that situation where it takes some time for the effects to really be there, but oftentimes inside of that, here’s like this one specific moment where something kind of clicked. Does that kind of line up with your story? Or was it more of a gradual?

A little bit. So I was seeing this lovely husband and wife team and it’s interesting that now I look back, I wonder what I would make of it now with the experience that I have now as a trained therapist. Um, so I was seeing this really nice lady and. She got to the point where she knew I wasn’t really getting results and she said, I think you need to see my husband.

And originally they had suggested I didn’t see the husband because he happened to work in the same school that I worked at, although I didn’t know him. Anyway, it was when I started seeing him that I started to get results and he challenged me. He did a lot of conversational hypnosis. So I was the client going home going, He didn’t even hypnotize me today, , and it was at times quite difficult, but it was what I needed.

Yeah. When you say it was a challenge, when you say it was a bit more difficult, like how would you describe that? So that it was a lot of conversational stuff. He was asking me questions that I did not want to answer. He was encouraging me to go to places I did not want to. Yeah. But would you say that then by addressing those things, that’s what created, you know, the change?

100%. 100%, yeah. Yeah. And in fact, I’ll share with you what it led to in time was me leaving my first husband, and when I made that decision, I, I had a conversation with the both of them, this lovely couple, I’m gonna name check them. Actually. Their names are Mary and Xavier Nathan, and they have a clinic on the Olive man called Satan Hippotherapy Clinic.

And I had a conversation with them and they basically said, We knew that’s what you needed to do. You just had to get there on your own. Yeah. And fair play to them. They let me go years.

well that’s, that’s the podcast episode last week actually with Kathleen Shannon. That’s a theme that popped up there that we, we sometimes have that moment where from the practitioner side we can see, okay, this is exactly what needs to perhaps occur, but. It’s a bit inappropriate to outwardly say, No, you need to think this way.

No, you need to take this action. Yeah. Uh, we we’re gonna bounce around to this conversation, I’m sure. So now that, now that you’re in the role of working as the hypnotist with clients and, and having that sort of breakthrough, that the bit more interactive work, the, let’s say, challenging situation, how, how has that informed, would you say, the work that you now?

This is interesting. Um, I haven’t come across that type of a thing very often so far, but I. in terms of it informing the work I do. It’s that thing of, it’s never a case of, Oh, it didn’t work, it’s just right. We have more work to do. We, we just need to keep going and not every client wants to do that, is willing to do that.

Especially I found when I’m dealing with children and young people, which I’m sure will touch on in this conversation as well. It’s just getting the parent to understand that maybe there is a little bit more to do. Yeah. Got it. Got it. So then let’s, let’s rewind back. So here is this experience. You were on track to be the high school music teacher here.

Was this transformation with hypnosis. At what point in this story did it kind of click to go, I wanna learn how to do this? So the story, um, has different strands as. Everyone’s story does. Yes. Especially by the time you get to a certain age, because everything is always perfectly linear and it’s just start here, finish there, and it’ll just plays out.

Right? Absolutely. Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start was only a matter of time before I started quoting musicals at you. That’s one for track . Yeah. We’ll have a tally, so I. Came to the conclusion, needed to leave the husband that same year I was move, I’d moved schools and I was working in my old high school where I loved being a student.

I did not love being in that school so much as a teacher. And I was feeling pretty stressed. I was feeling quite vulnerable, being honest, uh, going through that divorce and. Kind of just came to the realization that I needed to take a little break from high school teaching. Mm-hmm. . And so then I made that decision, gave my notice, took an office job, um, in finance, and basically just decided never to go back.

I was so glad that I did it. I was so glad that I had the experience, and I feel like I draw upon my teaching career in this career every single day. So I’m very pleased and privileged that I had that and I did enjoy the most of my teaching career in terms of when I decided to become a hypnotherapist.

So, fast forward many years, can’t work out how many . I was remarried, very happily married, Pretty bored in my job, and struggling with a number of health issues. Interestingly, not IBS anymore, but kind of an immune system issue that was coming out in my skin and I’d had kind of different, um, what’s the word?

Different diagnoses, but nothing kind of firm. And I decided that I would go down the reef of looking into hemotherapy myself. That’s not quite the right order. I’m telling that story. There are a few other things that happened. We lost a family member, my. Mother-in-law, which created a lot of stress, um, in our family and in, in my marriage actually it was, it was really traumatic for my husband, um, like my second husband.

And at that time I was struggling. I was very stressed. I didn’t know how to support him, and I could feel myself kind of slipping back into. Ways and little patterns that I recognized from that time that I was really struggling going through my divorce when I was teaching. And I thought, I know how to sort this out.

I know what I need to do. I’m gonna go back to hypnosis. But by this time I was like, I wanna learn to do this for myself. Nice. So that was how I did it. Yeah. So then walk us through some of that journey. Like where did you go? What were some of the places that you learned from? Well, I knew that I needed to do something distance learning.

So this is back in 2017, 18. I was doing my research and because I live on the aisle of man, I, I knew that there wasn’t anything, you know, local that I could do here. So it needed to be done. Distance. And at that time I wasn’t aware of anyone teaching or training online. And I suppose I probably didn’t do a huge amount of research cuz I now know that the company I went with, they pretty much come up to the top of any Google search that I seem to see in the uk.

A company called Hypnotic World. Are you aware of them? Yes. Yes. So I did the course. And they don’t specify that you have to do any practical training, which. Became increasingly alarming to me as I was going through the course, and I was really enjoying it, really loving the studying and submitting my online exams, but I realized it was like learning to drive a car by mm-hmm.

studying, so I needed to go over to to the uk and um, most of the courses actually were in Scotland, um, to go and do some practical training, which is where I really got a taste for it and realized, I have to do this in order to actually make, make a proper go of this. What you’re describing there is, I think a, a segment that a lot of people find themselves inside of, and there’s something to model there, which is that.

You know, I, I, I would give the disclaimer of course, that I’m not specifically talking about the first group that you referenced, uh, because I’m sure then by learning the practical, it actually went back and ratified. Yes. A lot of the stuff you had learned at the beginning. So it’s a mistake I think when someone says, Uh oh, that wasn’t as good.

It’s like, well, no, the next thing you do compounds what’s already there. Yet. Um, this is not that company. This is not one that actually anyone has ever referenced on this podcast. Um, but only one time ever did I have, uh, the story given to me that, well, I took a training before, but it was all in a classroom, uh, watching PowerPoint presentations, and we did not do any hands on practice quote, given the known risks of hypnosis.

Ooh. I’m like, I was like, Oh, that’s, that’s a new one. Um, which then it was a practice session. We were hosting a training and she’s like, Oh, that’s what this is supposed to be. It. Welcome . So it, it’s where we can find the moment of here’s what’s missing, but rather than point a finger of blame to go, Well what else can I do to further this knowledge?

This is why, you know, so many of us keep taking courses and I will often host things, mostly cuz I wanna be there too. Uh, . So then by getting the hands on what was, what was, again, we’re always looking for turning points. What was different now that the hands on was there? So the hands on I was doing at the same time.

So this company still ran practical workshops. They were just optional. And because of me living overseas, I thought, Oh, I’ll be able to take the, just do it by the book option. And my husband was quite happy with that idea because it was gonna cost less money. . But I, I did one. Um, in Scotland. So that was two flights away from me, but I made it work and I was very lucky with that teacher, a man called John Sellers who, Do you know John?

Yes, yes. So he, he teaches, you know, rapid inductions and I really took a shining to John and I think with my teaching background, he took a bit of shining to me and thought. You know, this girl has got a background in teaching and she really seems to have an interest in this, and that was my first experience.

But I just came on so much in that one weekend. I just thought, Wow, if you know, if you can grow in confidence in two days, imagine what can happen if I keep going with this. So it was down to him really. Yeah. Awesome. So then here you are out of the training. At what point did you start to begin to see clients?

So I started, let me think. I gained my qualification in the summer of 2019 and. I hadn’t, you know, truthfully told, done very much practice on my own because I was struggling to find anyone to, to actually practice with apart from when I was on these training courses. So I started to work with friends then, so around about August of 2019, friends and friends of friends.

Ready to then I, I launched my business in December, 2019 to kind of hit the ground running in January, 2020, So I guess paid clients started. Yeah, January, 2020. Nice. Nice. So the, along that journey, you already brought up the conversation of the niche. Did you begin by targeting something specifically or beginning more as the generalist?

Or what was the pathway for that? So I had become a listener and a fan of your podcast. I had discovered the Brain Software podcast and I’m gonna talk, I’m, so, I’m sure a lot about Mike and Chris. Mike, Man down Chris Thompson. Um, because I have to say both. Those podcasts, I feel really accelerated my learning as well.

Oh, awesome. Thank you. Because I was still working a day job for a long time. Um, and my only chance to really study and learn was whilst I was at walking or whilst I was training in the gym, I didn’t have a lot of time to kind of sit and just study at home. So where are we going with. Niche, Right. So , I signed up for a business scheme that my government runs.

So on the island, man, where I live, we have our own government, which is the oldest government in the world, apparently. Ah, nice little fun fact. Um, and we have, we’re very lucky here. They, they run, um, a small business course, which I signed up for. And as part of that, I needed to create a business plan. And my business plan was all.

Because I’ve been listening to what you teach and I’ve been thinking about meeting, and I call it niche, sorry, . And I thought I would go with IBS because that was my story. And indeed, when I first started seeing clients, I did see quite a few people, nearly all young ladies in their twenties for ibs, but not so much recently.

So it’s kind of gone more in different directions, general anxiety. Um, and weight loss is something that I work with a lot and it’s something that I’m really passionate about as well. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. So then what’s been working, you mentioned taking, you know, this training in terms of here’s this grant, here’s this opportunity to learn business.

What were some of the strategies early on to start to bring people in? So the business course for me was very surface level. Mm-hmm. , and I don’t think anyone. It’s gonna be offended by that cuz they won’t probably listen to n podcast. They’re not that audience. I hope that’s not offensive. Finally, our first, um, criticism and complaint from the government of the is of manage not time for all these episodes.

That, yeah, I knew that it was kind of very surface level and. I knew that I needed to, to do something more proactive. I was aware of your work, and I think I’ve told you this. I thought, Well, I’m not ready for Jason yet because I’m totally new to this and he must be, you know, really, really expensive. So I was having a conversation with my friend, also my fitness coach, um, and he’s an experienced online fitness coach, and he recommended.

A group online business coaching program called High Impact, which I joined and so did he. And that was a real turning point for me. I joined not really knowing what I was signing up for, but it was three months of group business coaching. So there were all Fit Pros and me, and it was all basically about social media strategies.

So, Up until March of 2020, I didn’t even have a Facebook profile, a personal one, um, because I used to keep a very, very low profile, which I think was the school teacher in me wanting to kind of keep a very separate personal life to professional life. So I felt totally out of my depth, but they just kind of coaches on regular posting, using your own profile three times a day, getting on Facebook Live.

And I started doing that in July of 2020 and within a month quit my day job. Oh, nice. It was brilliant. . Yeah. So then what kind of message was it that you were finding people were best responding? So because it’s Facebook and it’s personal, by its nature, it’s my friends and right. My friends are friends, and so it, it couldn’t be very niche.

So I did talk a little bit about IBS and stuff, but nothing too major. I would just start talking about, The imagination. So I did my third, my very first Facebook Live, which is hilarious and awful . Um, and every so often I repost it to say, you. We all have to start somewhere and the lemon test video and that got good feedback.

And I think just as, as I’ve gone on, whenever I post anything to do with my, my relationship, if, if ever there’s a picture of my husband in there or a photo of my dad in there, it seems to always go viral. , . So stuff to do with Yeah. Relationships and real life stuff, I guess. Well that’s, that’s one of those things that there’s a balance to this that, you know, people do business with people and there, there’s a conversation that I’ve had many times over where people go, But you’re posting about your family iCare.

It’s like, well there’s, It’s not that we’re necessarily hiding anything, but I’m also, you know, as a social media telling the stories that illustrate a point, telling the stories that I’m okay sharing. and not revealing too much, you know? So how, how, how would you answer that question of creating that balance?

It’s a really interesting one, and. I suppose I always know inside whether it sits right with me or not. And certainly when it comes to photographs, I will always ask the person’s permission, um, you know, to share a photograph, um, if, if they’re in that photo with me. But I think. The thing that really has been transformational for me is letting down those barriers.

So when I first launched the business, my husband helped me set up a Facebook business page and I got my business logo and you know, it was almost like there was this wall. Between me and the world, once I started using my personal profile, that wall had to go. Yeah. And then I was able to kind of just show up and be authentic, which is that I know what everyone says, but for me that really was liberating.

And I think often it’s those things that you can feel a little bit vulnerable about sharing. The other things that people really do respond well. Yeah. So then as you’re working with the clients now, they’re now responding to you. Did, did you find that made the process, would you say, more effective that now they had this connection to you?

Now they had this draw in terms of I know this person well, what I was really surprised about was the number of people who came to me, he already knew me, and maybe that was because of my story when I saw the husband and wife team and they said, Well, you don’t think you should see. Xavier because you two work at the same school.

So I kind of had this idea in my head and we sometimes learn when we training, don’t we? Oh, you wasn’t Work with people, you know? So I, you know, thought there needed to be, to be that separation. And what I found was I was working with so many. People that I know from theater circles, maybe ex students of mine, people I went to dancing school with, theater school with my friends kids.

And so that really was it. It felt very, um, empowering to me and it was so nice that people would trust me to do that because we live in such a small community here. I was just really surprised by. . Yeah, I was gonna say, that’s one of those things that, you know, we, we often have the question that pops up in a training as to should I work with people that I know?

Should I not work with people that I know? And I’ll, I’ll keep this general for obvious purposes, but I’ve had people in like the hypnotic business systems community, or even inside a private consulting that live in such a small population, , Yes. That there’s going to be that crossover Anyway. Let me throw myself under the bus here with a story as to someone who I went to college with who calls up one day and the conversation turned to, But yeah, but we know each other from college and it’s kind of a personal issue, so I’d prefer you to work with someone else.

I could recommend a bunch of really great people. And she goes, Oh, we weren’t that close. . Oh, Okay. I could do Thursday at four. How’s that? ? Thanks. I think, I thought we were friends, but Okay. Um, how much , so we run into that situation, is that something that you’ve found there had to be a bit of a balance to, would you say?

Yes, because of the nature of where I live. Yes. And also I think just, you know, managing people’s expectations about confidentiality and them having that trust there from the out. And maybe that’s, again, with, with the teaching background, people have that kind of trust in you as, as a teacher. But yeah, I felt very privileged to have that trust of people.

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So then let, let’s move things forward then. So from the social media strategies, now people are coming in, what else did you start to do to have clients begin to find you and become clients? So definitely some referrals. But honestly the Facebook, the, the regular posting. And when I do back off on the regular posting, because I’m busy doing other stuff, like working with clients Yes.

Or building a website that I do notice the leads start to fall away a little bit. So, Ready now to implement some other things, other strategies so that I can kind of take a little bit more of a backseat on the social media because it’s very demanding. Yeah. So I have built a website, as you know, it’s brand new.

But what I wanted to say was I actually had a conversation with a friend of mine, um, a hypnotherapy session actually with a friend of mine, Louise Bic, and. Because when I found out I was gonna come on your podcast, I felt like, but you know, I haven’t got much, I, I’ve hardly done anything. You know, I’ve only had my Facebook profile.

I have a YouTube channel with not very much on there yet. And I have an Instagram page, which I don’t really understand or use yet. Cause I don’t know Instagram yet, but I will learn. But then she reassured me that, you know, I could tell the story. You literally don’t need anything to start except right.

You know, a passion, a willingness to help people, a good intention. The skills obviously. I’m a Facebook profile. Well, it’s, it’s the reality. I mean, this goes back to the correlation. You know, part of my story was beginning with like business networking, going out and giving talks, a lot more active strategies because these social media platforms were just kind of beginning.

At that point and didn’t quite have the well known reach and all the same strategies work from one to the other, but kind of like where you are right now. Cause I’d imagine now there’s streams of referrals that are coming in. Now there’s, you know, because there’s a footprint of what you do. Everything begins active.

Then only over time does it become passive. And the mistake I see people make time and time again is that they think, Here’s this really exciting, sexy, passive income stuff and they wanna start there. Yet they don’t have the digital footprint or even the content. To actually pull that off and you know, the same as I was pounding the pavement, going to meeting after meeting, and giving talk after talk.

That’s what we can now do by, as you’ve done the Facebook Live, by doing things on social that can reach an audience even faster and we get to stay home. Yeah, yeah, definitely . And actually on that point, I’ve done a few corporate presentations, um, and some actually to some departments in my government over here.

And just that willingness to say yes, um, yeah, when it’s unpaid, that’s fine. And also that challenges me to be able to stand up and, and deliver a talk. I know that’s good for me. It takes me out of my comfort zone, and the more I do it, the more comfortable I get. I need to get better at kind of finding out the analytics behind what does bring someone in.

It’s on their consultation form. Uh, but I need to probably do something with that data. So I, I’m pretty sure that those things do help as well. Yeah, absolutely. So let, let’s talk about some of the specialties that have come out of what you’ve been doing that you mentioned working with weight. You kind of hinted working with, uh, with parents, with children.

Walk us through some of the things that you’re the most drawn. The weight loss stuff really does draw me in. So I discovered Laurie Hammond on your podcast, and I think, Has she been on, has she been on three times? Uh, either two or three times, I believe. Yeah. And so when, when I discovered your podcast, I binged and listened, you know, went back, listened to them all, and then I found out that she had trained with Mike Mandel’s Academy and.

Signed up for their academy in 2019 to compliment what I was already doing. And I really resonated with Laurie, partly with her own story of her weight struggles, partly because of her kind of just nature and the way that she comes across resonated with me because sometimes in the hypnosis world, there’s these really big dynamic.

What’s the word? Extrovert, Male characters, , which made me think, well, that’s, you know, that’s not me. How can I show up in a way that is, is authentic to me? And the way that Laurie comes across and presents herself just made me think, I can, I can do that. And it wasn’t until I’d listened to more of her stuff that I realized she hasn’t been doing this as long, nearly as long as I thought in my head when I’d hear what she’d been doing.

Anyway, so I’ve been on a couple of her, um, training courses with group weight loss. Mm-hmm. , and I can’t remember the order of everything, whether I discovered Fred through her. Or through, No, that was probably through Mike’s Academy as well. So I’ve done, um, I’ve done Freddy and Anthony J’s course as well and they are obviously very big promoters of Laurie Hammond.

And so I started running my own group weight loss course. Yeah, very much influenced by Laurie’s work and with her express permission, she’s allowed me to use some of her material. And then what’s lovely, what I’ve really felt so confident in is that over the course of this year, I’ve run my first. Great weight loss program and by its nature, and it’s come to its conclusion and I’ve designed the second one that’s starting in January, 2022.

It’s transformed to something else. So I’m now at the stage where I’m starting to put my own spin on things, which is really exciting. Nice, nice. So when you say your own spin on things, like, what do you mean by that? Well, I guess rather than just thinking, Well, I know how to do this because I start with this, then I go to here.

I’m now going, I, I think I want to leave that part out. I think I’m gonna draw upon this from Tony Robbins and bring that concept in. And I’ve been liaising a lot with my fitness coach and we are potentially doing some stuff together, sharing ideas with him and thinking about, Right, what can I bring in from his world?

That’s nothing to do with hypnosis. Yeah. Like, Like what? So I’m thinking, I guess things that people struggle with, like, well, I suppose are the same things like binge eating behaviors, kind of bad habits around food. Not making enough time for food, but thinking about it and talking about it in a different way rather than just me thinking about hypno speak.

Yeah. Well, that, that’s one of those things that I think you and I have had this conversation before just in, in passing online, that when, when you’re inside of that world, I’ve got my weight loss story. We message things back and forth around like weightlifting and such that when you start to understand the insights of those communities, it’s this different approach.

Which is not necessarily that we’re the ones going back to, you know, the story of the two hypnotists who were holding back from saying, Yeah, we knew that’s what you needed to do. Mm-hmm. . But it, it’s where there’s this different level of communication. And as part of why in some of my targeting over the years, I went directly after strength training clients who were following like this sort of, um, paleo style eating thing.

And we can get laser focused like that because I already knew their language. I knew the gurus in that world. I knew the conflicts they were running into. I did keto for like three weeks and went, okay, no, not for me. Um, but because of the reading of that, that was a very knowing laugh there because of, because of that combined with a bunch of keto specific clients that I’ve seen.

It brings this different level of communication into it where again, it’s not that we’re necessarily prescribing and saying, go do this, but when we already know their world, it’s a different level of communication with the client. Definitely. I agree. And so my first group weight loss program I kind of developed.

With different ideas and I’ve been working one to one with weight loss quite a lot throughout 2021. And interestingly since I launched my group program, I haven’t taken a single one to one weight loss client. So I need to, Well, I dunno if it is nice or not because that was my biggest earn. But anyway, it’s just interesting to me.

But I kinda. That first program and the way of working one to one with people. Certainly the program was very much about, here’s my kind of ethos and the ethos around it. So that program was called weight Loss from Within. So it was kind of about intuitive eating. It was about not calorie counting, it was about not being married to the, the weighing scales, and I needed to step away from.

So that the new program is basically, it’s the mindset around weight loss. It is not, here’s how to do it, here’s my approach. It’s very much, you know what to do, you’re just not doing it. Mm-hmm. , how do you get out of your own way? So what are some of those breakthrough moments that you know, you feel people need to have to get outta their own way and get the change in motion?

Accountability. Yeah. So a lot of people hire a fitness coach because they are hiring accountability, so they are transferring the responsibility onto their coach in a way. Mm-hmm. and that kind of, and, and it creates this really interesting relationship and dynamic, which, and I’ve been able to talk closely with my friends, so his name’s Gianni Ftia and he’s my fitness coach where, you know, people will.

They’ll almost resent him because of, of, you know, their results or them feeling restricted and it’s just reminding people, you have chosen to do this. So it’s not a case of, Oh, I’m not allowed to have this. Yeah. So it’s the use of language and this is where I’m so excited to. Help fitness coaches maybe within their programs, help their clients by using different language.

So if you are saying things like, I’m not allowed, you’re disempowering yourself. That’s, that’s a massive thing for people. Be to begin to realize that one of the patterns with weight loss is that all or nothing. Mentality. Yeah. As opposed to, you know, now that I’ve had this one thing, it means that all is lost.

Or, uh, it’s around the holidays and once I’ve had this one thing, that means I’ve completely lost it. But this, this place of changing the language. This is, you know, the whole thing around lying to ourselves. I can’t have that. Well, you’re a grown adult and you could pick it up and eat it. You could . Yeah.

But the difference is now you’re making that decision. Do, do you feel, is that something to be, let’s say, lectured to the client or turned into a technique, or how are you conveying that? I, I suppose it’s different in a group setting to one to one, but I will talk about the use of language and how we talk to ourselves and stepping in.

So I’ll do a protocol hypnotically about, you know, stepping into your own. Accountability into your own autonomy where ultimately the book stops and starts with you. And when you can become a hundred percent accountable to yourself, you kind of have to let go of any resentment that you might feel towards anyone or anything else.

And something, a link that I made. The IBS stuff and maybe a lot of people with weight loss is this kind of feeling of being a victim. And that’s a word that I use carefully and only at the right point. But if we, if our language with ourselves puts odds in the position of being the victim, which was certainly my story, struggling with ibs.

Where, you know, you feel sort of powerless and a victim of your circumstances until you can turn that around in your own mind, using your own language. Yeah, you’re stuck. So then you mentioned also working with, as you know, with families, with kids. Tell us, tell us more about that. It’s been really interesting.

There’s been more and more children and young people recently, and I think that’s been a referral thing. And I have, I got mixed feelings about it. So yeah. I really enjoy working with children. I love getting on their level. I love kind of finding out what makes them tick. You have to work quickly because of their short attention spans , and it’s managing the expectation and checking everyone’s okay, but still thinking, Okay, we need to be done in like 45 minutes.

Yeah. And also when, when to say to the parent, Is it okay if we do this session now on our own? Do you think that’s okay? So for example, I was working with a 17 year old boy whose mom wanted to be with him on the Zoom session. I just, uh, jump in for a second and just share an, I think I’ve talked about this before in here, there’s an inside joke that my wife and I have, which is always, uh, the phrase, Oh, that explains everything.

Yeah. Sorry, you were saying. Exactly, exactly. So, you know, it’s that letting go. And since, actually it’s quite a recent thing where I now, when I work with a, a young person, I will insist that I do a session with the parent as well as part of that kind of program. Yeah. What, what do you find is the benefit of that often?

I mean, it’s so new, It’s so recent. I’m yet to actually do that parent session . Yes. Although I’ve done kind of that a video thing for some one parent, but I think helping the parent use the right kind of language at. Yeah. Helping them out the right questions. Yeah. And now here’s the question that you knew was eventually coming, now that we’re coming into about 40 minutes into this conversation, and it’s where I think you perked up.

At one point you had just joined, I think it was hypnotic business systems at this point. And then suddenly I was on the podcast quoting the Matilda Musical. Yeah. Uh, . And, and there was the friendship, uh, favorite musical theater quote. Oh, lyric. I have so many, uh, favorite lyric? Well, cuz it’s in my head. Um, hang on.

Just because you find that life’s not fair, it doesn’t mean that you have to go in and bear it. If you only take it on the chin and wear, it won’t change a thing. Even if you’re little, you can do a lot . Yeah. Because I’m only five. Two . Yeah. Five foreign shoes. There you go. . Honestly, I’m embarrassed just using that one right back at you.

I just have so many in my head and I was wondering where this conversation would go because musical theater has influenced a lot of the work that I do as well. And one thing that I would like to share with you is, so I used to do a lot of musical theater. I haven’t so much, I haven’t done anything since 2018 and I wish that I had studied this stuff earlier because I used to, when I played a character, when I played a role, I would take a little bit of them with me and was always.

I would grow from it. Oh, that’s good. Yeah, so for example, and I, I was really lucky I got to play some really diverse roles and I’d go to the auditions and people would be like, Catherine can’t do that cuz she’s this. And I’d be like, Watch me . So played Gazette in La Sab, Adult Gazette. And then the next show I went into, I auditioned.

I was Nancy and Oliver, but she can’t play that. It’s an Alto role. Watch me and playing Nancy and Oliver because she’s feisty and. Ballsy, and again, I’m only five foot two and very petite. So people thought, well, that, you know, they couldn’t quite see it. But I got the role for some reason and I had to dredge things up in myself and find a level of confidence and a physicality, and I’m pretty sure now that it was, I guess, using my body in that way, having that posture, using my voice in that way, that just gave me.

Confidence. And then later that same year, I made some big changes in my personal life based on that confidence. I love that, that insight, and I mean, looking at the same thing that you know, there’s something to be learned by watching a book, writes you a movie, reading a book, even if it’s a piece of fiction, that there’s something that the character is going through as the experience that we can begin to draw from.

And this is part of why. I, I do a bunch of other hypnosis things nowadays beyond just seeing clients one to one. Yet. That’s the part that keeps me working with the people in this one to one environment because you’re getting that hands on experience of the change. And it’s the reality that as you, as you’re in the presence of that person making that breakthrough, it does something to us at the same time too, right?

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. And I remember Xavier and Nathan, so my first, the therapist, the guy that challenged me and got me breaking through , , I remember him. So his, his sister I think was an opera singer, so he was interested in, in music and the stuff that I did. I remember him drawing my attention to the kinds of roles that I played or was interested in playing.

And it was often the slight odd one out, the slight misfit, you didn’t necessarily find a place with everybody else. So like ette is kind of on her own. Dress nicely. Watch everyone else’s being a poor, cocky French person in Lane Rob. Mm-hmm. . And I remember I was auditioning for Bell and Beauty and the Beast, and Bell is the girl who doesn’t fit in.

And he was kind of drawing these comparisons and, and, and I start it, it did that definitely there was a little penny that started to. In my mind like, Oh, okay. And I think through playing those kinds of roles, Eliza Dolittle, you know, kind of a fish out of water, it’s helped me find my way. And I didn’t grow up in a world where I knew what a hip therapist was.

I didn’t grow up going, I wanted to become, I hit the therapist, but I’m not scared. To be a little bit different and not scared to tread my own path. And I feel like watching those stories unfold or being inside of those stories has helped that for me to unlock those things in me. So here’s the moment. I was like, Do I share mine now?

Please do. And we’re, we’re recording this in December. It’s coming out in January. But just to date the recording, uh, this is sadly, uh, a few days after Stephen Sonim passed away and the, the context of the scene. And of all things the musical Assassins , um, which yeah, there’s a dark reference. There’s this musical, which is one part play, one part musical, and it’s a very light story, but it’s like these retellings of the people who tried to kill American precedence and, Hey, let’s make it into a musical.

And it’s dark and it’s weird. Uh, and there’s a lyric in one song that every now and then a mad man’s bound to come along doesn’t stop the story. Story’s pretty strong. Doesn’t change the song. So the same through line to what you had referenced there of, it doesn’t matter what someone else’s opinion may be, what someone else says is right or wrong, it comes back to here’s what our story is, here’s what we stand for, and here’s what we’re doing about it.

So, especially as, you know, as I teach business, here’s people who would pop up and go, Oh, but I live in a small community that’s not gonna work here. And I’m like, Go listen to the episode with Catherine . Here’s people who are saying, Well, there’s too many voices on social media. There’s, it’s like, well, no, it’s not the platform, it’s the strategy that you’re bringing to it.

And you know, the momentum that’s necessary to do some of the social work that you’ve done. Back to the networking that I did, it came about, it comes about from this internal story that it’s my ethical responsibility to let people know that this is an option that’s out there and how dare I not let them see how easy it is to find me.

Mm. I love it. Yeah. So then where can, uh, you’ve mentioned some of the projects you’re working on. Where can people track you down? How can they find more about. So they can find me on my website, which is two e hypnosis.com. So that’s T O H E Y hypnosis.com and all my social links are on that website. Yeah, and what we’ll do too is this is episode number 360.

Uh, so if you just go to work smart hypnosis.com/. 360 that’ll bring you over to the show notes where you can find link to two hypnosis as well as all the social links as well. Katherine, it’s about time we do this. Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much for having me. And any final thoughts for the listeners out there?

My final thoughts are just go for it. And I actually thought I would talk about the more. Having fun. So I’m part of N M H A, Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy, and through their work and the way that you approach things as well, Jason, you know, with such humor is just because somethings work. It doesn’t have to be serious.

You can do this work and you can have fun with it. Jason Ette here once again and as. Thank you so much for interacting with this program, leaving your reviews online and sharing this on your social media streams. I’d also encourage you to interact with Katherine. Head over to work smart hypnosis.com/ 360.

That’s where you can find all the links to interact directly with her. And while you’re there too, check out hypnotic business. Dot com learn what works with more than two dozen specific proven business action plans that are ready for you to model, ready for you to implement. And my goal is to get you up and running even faster, even easier, Which is why the program now features some done for you marketing materials.

That you have my permission to slap your name on, make whatever modifications to make it your own, and get you out there running and seeing clients even faster. Check out all the details and learn even [email protected]. Thanks for listening to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast and work smart hypnosis.com.