Hypnotherapy: One Womans Journey from Despair to A Dream Come True

It’s not about swinging pocket watches or putting someone to sleep. I don’t make people cluck like a chicken or bark like a dog. And I can’t make clients do or say anything they do not want to do or say. I’m a clinical and interpersonal hypnotherapist. I use the state of hypnosis (a natural, altered state) and hypnotherapy techniques to help people shift behavior and perspective so they can live a more fulfilling and satisfying life. I help them heal old emotional wounds (and some current ones) so they can live their happiest life. A great example of what hypnotherapy can do comes from my work with a recent client.

She walked into my office earlier this year with a forced smile that said, “I’m emotionally drained… and extremely sad.” It was Amanda (not her real name) — a woman in her mid-50s who had been having difficulty just getting out of bed in the morning. 

Amanda explained that she had been in a long-term relationship with a man (“the one”) that spanned over a decade. She had planned to spend the rest of her life with this man until that dreadful day when he announced that he was in a relationship with another woman and was planning to marry her. Amanda was crushed, and over the course of the months that followed, she sank deeper into despair. She was feeling stuck and without a plan for moving forward.

In our first session together, I was able to get some history and additional details about what she had experienced and the shifts she wanted to make. We also put together a list of goals so we could stay on course and select the proper hypnotherapy tools to achieve them. We took a few moments to discuss hypnosis and hypnotherapy so she would be fully informed and comfortable with the process. 

We did an exercise to begin building the foundation for our work by extracting the beliefs surrounding her sadness, grief and anger. That was followed by a brief induction to bring her into a state of hypnosis so she could relax and envision her future in a more positive way. When she emerged from hypnosis, she had a beautiful smile on her face — she was relaxed, relieved and hopeful.

Amanda loved to travel and had dreams of flying and exploring new cities. And she announced in our second session that she had successfully completed an interview with a major airline to enter their flight attendant training program. However, she expressed some concerns with not being able to retain new information at her age and she had a fear that she might fail the training. We worked on her confidence and she left the appointment feeling optimistic about embarking on this new adventure as a flight attendant. She was excited about learning new things and could see herself graduating from the program and having a successful career as a flight attendant. 

In our last session, we utilized techniques to continue shifting her toward her goals. We wrapped up the session with her feeling excited about her future and her life. She left for the flight attendant training program just a few days later.

Halfway through the training program, Amanda texted me a picture of her in her flight attendant uniform. She said she had completed three assessments and received two 97s and a 100, and passed all her drills (this, coming from a woman in her mid-50s who doubted that she could learn new things!).

Just a few weeks later, at the end of the program, she sent a picture of herself graduating and getting her pin. She texted me from the crew’s lounge to let me know she was getting her first assignment. Talk about a feel-good moment — I was so proud of her!

I reflected on the day she came in for her first hypnotherapy session — her sad demeanor, the tears and despair, and lack of hope for moving forward with her life. And then, over the course of just one month and a few hypnotherapy sessions later, she was able to move forward and achieve her greatest dreams. Nothing can express just how grateful and blessed I feel to have a front-row seat to my clients’ life-changing transformations through hypnotherapy. I’ve worked with many clients and, like Amanda, they find that there’s always the possibility of a more fulfilling life just around the corner.

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Lori Burke, CCHt, CIHt, CTHt
Certified clinical & interpersonal hypnotherapist
321-652-1039
LoriBurkeHypnosis.com
Facebook:  /lori.burkecht
Instagram:  @LoriBurkeHypnosis

Meet Our Thought Leader

Certified clinical, interpersonal and transpersonal hypnotherapist Lori Burke CCHt, CIHt, CTHt helps clients get to the root cause of their issues and resolve them. After a career as a software engineer at Kennedy Space Center, her ever-increasing interest in the mind-body connection and hypnosis led her to a career in hypnotherapy. Her practice is in Viera.