Hypnosis is something I have been mildly interested in since I worked in a comedy club back when I was in college. At the club one of our regular performers was a guy named J. Medicine Hat – a stage hypnotist. He created ridiculous spectacles on-stage ranging from the typical “human acting like a farm chicken” to the more extreme “adult show” where things happened that aren’t necessarily designed for this professional forum.

That is what most people think of when they think of hypnosis. People do not realize that hypnosis, or “trance,” is a regular part of your everyday life. Think of hopping on an elevator, hitting the button of your floor and then glazing over while your elevator takes you to your destination – awakening you with the jolt of the elevator and a simple “ding.” Or maybe your routine drive to work where you know the route by “muscle memory” and you zone out lost in your favorite song or podcast. On that drive you are not consciously thinking about every turn you are making. You just drive. Even binge-watching your favorite Netflix show is a type of trance. Why do you think you feel uncomfortable, maybe even stressed, when you a watch a suspenseful show like Ozark?
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Hypnosis is mostly just about shifting the focus of your attention and subtle suggestions. For example, if I talk about how people’s conscious minds, while they are sitting, do not feel their feet on the floor. The overwhelming majority of you who just read that sentence will distinctly feel your feet on the floor.

​When it comes to communication and building rapport, everyone does it a little differently. There are several ways we are innately different in communication – do you communicate better standing side by side or face to face? Do you like to talk during an activity like golf or racquetball, or do you prefer to sit down face to face with no distractions of movement?

Part of my work is helping people become better at communicating. I want my clients to match and thrive in any social setting, so that effective communication is never a barrier to their goals.
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Another part of my job is helping business leaders make sure that their workplaces accommodate various personality types, so they can make every employee thrive in a comfortable environment while concurrently developing their people’s communication skills to make the workplace more cohesive in the bigger picture.