Hypnosis FAQ

Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state of focused awareness — the theta brainwave state — in which the critical, analytical portion of the mind relaxes and the subconscious becomes more receptive to change. You enter a state similar to deep meditation or the moments just before sleep, but with full, clear awareness throughout.

In this state, the subconscious mind — where beliefs, emotional patterns, and habitual behaviors are stored — becomes directly accessible. This is what makes hypnosis fundamentally different from willpower or conscious effort: it works at the level where the patterns actually live, not just the level where you think about them.

Hypnosis is not stage entertainment. You are not unconscious, not asleep, and cannot be made to do anything against your will or values.

Yes. Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state — the same kind of absorbed, deeply relaxed awareness you experience when lost in a book, deep in a daydream, or drifting just before sleep. You enter and exit it naturally every day.

During a session, you remain aware and in control throughout. You can hear everything, respond to questions, and bring yourself out of the hypnotic state at any moment. A skilled hypnotist guides the process; your subconscious decides what to engage with.

Hypnosis does not replace care from a physician or mental health professional. If you have a current medical concern, your doctor’s guidance comes first.

No. This is the most common misconception about hypnosis, and it comes almost entirely from stage shows and entertainment media. Stage hypnosis selects for highly compliant volunteers in a performance context — it has nothing to do with what happens in a session.

In a session, you maintain full awareness. You can hear everything, choose what to engage with, and end the session at any moment. Your values and judgment are fully intact throughout. You cannot be made to reveal information you don’t want to share or act against your own interests.

Most people describe it as deeply relaxing — similar to the state just before sleep, or a very deep meditation, but with full awareness. You may notice your body feels heavy, your thoughts slow down, and a calm settles in that’s difficult to produce through conscious effort alone.

Many clients are surprised that they still “hear everything” during the hypnotic state. This is normal and expected — hypnosis is not unconsciousness. It is a focused, receptive awareness. The fact that you hear and remember the session is not a sign it isn’t working.

Most people can achieve the hypnotic state needed for effective work, including people who consider themselves skeptical or analytical. The 5-PATH® approach is specifically designed to work through natural resistance — skepticism alone does not prevent the process from going where it needs to go.

The depth of hypnosis needed varies by what you’re working on. Some work requires only a light relaxed state; deeper root-cause work uses somnambulism — a deeper level of hypnosis that most people can achieve with a skilled, certified practitioner. Factors that genuinely limit the process are rare and would be identified in the intake conversation before the session begins.

Meditation trains present-moment awareness — the practice of observing thoughts without reacting to them. It is open, non-directive, and builds a general capacity for calm and clarity over time.

Hypnosis is directive. It guides the subconscious toward a specific outcome: resolving a limiting belief, releasing the emotional charge attached to a past experience, or dismantling an internal conflict that’s been driving a behavior. Both are valuable; they engage the mind in fundamentally different ways.

7th Path Self-Hypnosis®, which I teach clients as part of the structured work, combines structured elements of both — a daily self-practice that first removes old patterns and then installs new ones.

5-PATH® — Five-Phase Advanced Transformational Hypnosis® — is a structured, systematic hypnosis approach developed by Cal Banyan, one of the most recognized figures in professional hypnosis education. It is taught and certified through the 5-PATH® International Association of Hypnosis Professionals.

The five phases work in sequence:

• Phase 1 — Education, induction, and direct suggestion. You learn about hypnosis, experience your first hypnotic state, and receive foundational suggestions tailored to your goal.
• Phase 2 — Age regression and progression. I guide you to the root. The subconscious is guided to the formative experiences — the initial sensitizing events — that installed the belief or emotional pattern driving the current problem. Finding and neutralizing the origin is what creates lasting change.
• Phase 3 — Forgiveness of others. Unresolved resentment keeps emotional charges active long after the event. This phase dissolves those charges so they stop running in the background.
• Phase 4 — Forgiveness of self. Many clients carry guilt or self-blame that blocks full transformation. This phase addresses that directly.
• Phase 5 — Parts mediation. This addresses secondary gain — the part of you that’s been served by the old pattern, even while another part of you wants to change. Without resolving this internal conflict, change efforts often stall or reverse.

This is why 5-PATH® produces more durable results than suggestion-only approaches: it doesn’t try to override old patterns — it goes to the source, resolves them, and then installs new ones in a subconscious that is now genuinely clear to receive them.

Age regression is the Phase 2 technique in 5-PATH® that guides the subconscious back to the formative experiences behind a current pattern. Most limiting beliefs, fears, or emotional responses that feel automatic and resistant to change were installed by specific earlier experiences — the initial sensitizing event (ISE) — often in childhood, sometimes before we had the cognitive framework to interpret them accurately.

In the hypnotic state, the subconscious can revisit these moments with the emotional content intact. The work isn’t to relive the experience — it’s to identify it, understand it with the perspective you now have as an adult, and release the emotional charge that has been running forward into every related situation since.

This is not the same as “past life regression,” which is a separate and speculative practice. Age regression in 5-PATH® works within your own verified life history — the actual experiences that shaped your subconscious programming.

7th Path Self-Hypnosis® is a self-administered daily practice developed by Cal Banyan as a companion to 5-PATH® work. It combines hypnosis, meditation, and a specific mental clearing sequence designed to do two things: (1) remove old negative programming and blockages, and (2) install positive, empowering states in their place. Cal Banyan describes it as “antivirus software for the mind” — clearing before installing.

Unlike classical self-hypnosis, which typically just delivers suggestions to the subconscious, 7th Path works on removing what blocks those suggestions from landing fully. This is what makes it different in practice — clients who use it consistently report that changes from sessions settle faster and hold more firmly.

I teach 7th Path Self-Hypnosis® to clients during the session work. The daily practice takes 15–20 minutes and significantly accelerates results between sessions. I am certified as a 7th Path Self-Hypnosis® Teacher — credentialed to teach the system, not just practice it.

Most traditional hypnosis delivers suggestion-based scripts — often the same script for every client presenting with the same issue. For a surface-level habit with no deeper roots, this can work. But for patterns with emotional depth — anxiety, self-worth, long-standing fears, behaviors driven by internal conflict — suggestion alone tends to produce temporary results.

5-PATH® is different in three specific ways:

• It goes to the root, not just the symptom. Phase 2 (age regression) identifies the initial sensitizing event — the formative experience that installed the pattern — rather than trying to layer new suggestions over it.
• It resolves internal conflict. Phase 5 (parts mediation) addresses secondary gain — the part of you that’s been served by the old pattern and doesn’t want to change. This is why most willpower-based change efforts stall: the part with secondary gain never gets heard or resolved.
• It builds lasting self-sufficiency. 7th Path Self-Hypnosis® gives clients a daily clearing and installation practice to carry forward after sessions end. The work doesn’t stop when the appointments stop.

The first session is typically 60–90 minutes. It begins with a thorough intake conversation — I ask about what you’re working on, how long it’s been present, what you’ve already tried, and what you want your life to look like when the work is complete. This shapes every phase that follows.

From there, you experience your first hypnosis induction. I guide you into the theta state, Phase 1 work begins (pretalk, induction, direct suggestion), and you leave with a clear understanding of the process and what to expect from subsequent sessions.

Most clients describe the experience as significantly different from what they expected — calmer, more comfortable, and more within their own control than they anticipated.

It depends on what you’re working on. General ranges based on the 5-PATH® protocol:

• Quit smoking: 1–3 sessions using the structured stop-smoking protocol
• Weight and eating patterns: 5–8 sessions; these patterns are layered and change happens in stages
• Anxiety and panic: 4–8 sessions; depends on depth of root material and how long it’s been active
• Specific fears and phobias: 3–6 sessions; targeted fears often resolve faster than generalized anxiety
• Self-confidence and limiting beliefs: 5–8 sessions; depends on how much age regression work the root material requires

These are estimates, not guarantees. After the intake session I can give you a more specific range based on what you bring in.

No. The 5-PATH® system is specifically designed to work through resistance rather than requiring belief as a precondition. Skepticism is common — most new clients arrive with some version of it — and it does not prevent the process from being effective.

What matters more than belief is willingness: willingness to follow the process, to be honest in the intake conversation, and to engage with the phases as they unfold. The subconscious doesn’t require your conscious agreement to respond — it responds to the process itself.

Yes. Online sessions via secure video work as effectively as in-person for hypnosis work. You’ll need a quiet, private space where you won’t be interrupted, and a stable internet connection. Many clients prefer working from the comfort of their own home.

I work with clients throughout the Pocono area — Stroudsburg, Bangor, East Stroudsburg, and surrounding Monroe and Northampton counties — as well as clients beyond the local area via video.

I am a certified 5-PATH® Master Hypnotist, having completed over 100 hours of advanced training in the Five-Phase Advanced Transformational Hypnosis® system under the 5-PATH® International Association of Hypnosis Professionals. I am also a certified 7th Path Self-Hypnosis® Teacher — credentialed to teach clients the self-administered companion practice, not just practice it myself.

I am a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) — the world’s oldest and largest professional hypnosis organization, founded in 1950. NGH membership requires demonstrated professional training and adherence to an established code of ethics.

Yes, I offer in-person sessions serving Stroudsburg, Bangor, East Stroudsburg, and the surrounding Pocono area. I also offer online sessions via secure video for clients outside the local area or who prefer to work from home. Contact me for current location details and session availability.

The first step is a free 30-minute Discovery Call — a conversation to talk through what you’re working on, ask any questions, and determine whether hypnosis and the 5-PATH® process are the right fit before committing to a session. You can book directly at the link on this page.

Hypnosis sessions are private-pay. Hypnosis is distinct from licensed medical and mental health services and falls outside standard insurance reimbursement categories in the United States. Sessions are billed directly and are not submitted to insurance.

Contact me for current session pricing and package options.