Sometimes insight isn’t the problem.

You can know where a pattern came from.

You can understand why you respond the way you do.

You can recognize that an old belief isn’t true anymore but still find yourself feeling, reacting, or behaving as though it is.

Hypnotherapy offers another way into the work.

Rather than relying only on conversation and conscious problem-solving, hypnosis uses focused attention, relaxation, imagery, and therapeutic suggestion to create an experience in which you can explore patterns, practice new responses, and connect with internal resources in a different way.

At High Vibrational Healing, I integrate hypnotherapy into a trauma-informed, consent-forward, nervous-system-centered approach to healing.

The goal isn’t to take control away from you.

It’s to help you access more of it.

What Is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnosis is a natural state of focused attention and absorption.

If you’ve ever become completely immersed in a book, driven somewhere familiar and realized you barely remember the drive, gotten lost in a creative project, or found yourself deeply absorbed in a daydream, you’ve experienced something with similarities to a hypnotic state.

In clinical hypnotherapy, we intentionally use focused attention and guided experience for a therapeutic purpose.

Depending on your goals, a session might incorporate:

  • guided relaxation
  • progressive muscle relaxation
  • breath and body awareness
  • visualization and imagery
  • therapeutic metaphor
  • ego-strengthening and resource development
  • rehearsal of new responses
  • exploration of beliefs or patterns
  • future-oriented imagery
  • suggestions developed collaboratively with you
  • mindfulness and nervous-system regulation

You remain an active participant throughout the process.

Hypnosis isn’t something I do to you.

It’s something we do together.

What Does Hypnosis Feel Like?

There’s no single hypnotic feeling.

You might feel deeply relaxed and physically heavy. You might feel light or floaty. You might notice your imagination becoming more vivid. You might become less aware of the room around you.

Or you might simply feel like you’re sitting in a chair with your eyes closed, listening to me talk.

All of those experiences are okay.

You don’t have to “go under.”

You don’t have to stop thinking.

You don’t have to clear your mind.

And you don’t have to reach some magical level of relaxation for hypnosis to be useful.

In fact, people can enter hypnotic states while remaining quite alert.

The goal isn’t to perform hypnosis correctly.

The goal is to create enough focused attention and internal safety to explore something differently.

Will I Lose Control?

No.

This is probably the most common misconception about hypnosis.

Clinical hypnosis is very different from the version of hypnosis you’ve probably seen in movies or stage performances.

You remain aware of yourself and retain your ability to make choices. You can speak, move, open your eyes, disagree with a suggestion, or stop the process at any time.

Hypnosis does not require surrendering your values, boundaries, or agency.

And in my practice, consent doesn’t disappear simply because your eyes are closed.

Before beginning, we’ll talk about what you’d like to work on, what you do and don’t want included, language that feels supportive, and anything you’d prefer that I avoid.

You remain in charge of your experience.

What Can Hypnotherapy Support?

Hypnotherapy can be used as part of treatment or personal growth around a wide variety of goals.

Depending on the individual, we might use hypnosis to support work involving:

  • anxiety and stress
  • relaxation and nervous-system regulation
  • fears and phobias
  • confidence and self-esteem
  • boundaries and assertiveness
  • perfectionism
  • changing unwanted habits or patterns
  • sleep and preparation for rest
  • performance anxiety
  • creativity
  • motivation
  • emotional regulation
  • preparation for challenging experiences
  • attachment-related patterns
  • strengthening internal resources
  • self-compassion
  • connecting with a future sense of self
  • developing new responses to familiar triggers

Hypnosis isn’t a magic eraser, and I don’t use it to promise instant cures.

Instead, I see it as one more way to help the brain and body experience possibilities that may be difficult to access through conscious thought alone.

Hypnotherapy & the Nervous System

One of the reasons hypnosis fits so naturally into my practice is that it allows us to work with more than cognition.

When we’re stressed or threatened, our bodies can respond before we’ve had time to consciously evaluate what’s happening.

That’s why telling yourself:

“I’m safe.”

“I don’t need to worry.”

“This isn’t a big deal.”

doesn’t always change what you feel.

Your thinking brain may understand perfectly well.

Your nervous system may be telling a different story.

Hypnotherapy can incorporate breath, imagery, sensation, attention, metaphor, movement, and experiences of safety or mastery to help us work with that story differently.

For me, hypnosis isn’t about overpowering the nervous system.

It’s about working with it.

Hypnotherapy & Trauma

Hypnosis can be incorporated into trauma treatment, but trauma work requires care.

I do not believe that deeper, faster, or more emotionally intense automatically means more therapeutic.

When I use hypnosis within trauma-focused work, the same principles that guide the rest of my practice still apply:

Choice. Consent. Pacing. Titration. Regulation. Agency.

We may use hypnosis to strengthen resources, practice regulation, develop compassionate internal relationships, rehearse boundaries, imagine different possibilities, or support other aspects of trauma treatment.

And sometimes the most therapeutic choice is not to revisit a traumatic memory at all.

Your healing does not depend upon becoming overwhelmed.

Will Hypnosis Help Me Recover Forgotten Memories?

Hypnosis should not be treated as a reliable method for recovering historically accurate memories.

Memory is reconstructive. Hypnotic experiences can feel extraordinarily vivid and convincing, but vividness is not proof that something happened exactly as it is remembered or imagined.

For that reason, I do not use hypnosis to search for supposed hidden memories or to establish whether an uncertain event occurred.

If memories, images, sensations, or associations emerge spontaneously, we can explore what they mean to you without automatically treating them as factual evidence.

This distinction is particularly important in trauma-informed hypnotherapy.

What Happens During a Session?

We’ll begin by talking.

We’ll identify what you’d like to work on, what you’re experiencing now, and what you’d like to experience differently.

Rather than deciding for you what your subconscious “needs,” we’ll develop the direction of the session collaboratively.

When you’re ready, I’ll guide you through an induction designed to help narrow your attention and transition into the hypnotic experience.

From there, the session will be tailored to your goals.

You may be invited to notice sensations, imagine environments, work with metaphors, connect with internal resources, rehearse new experiences, or respond to therapeutic suggestions.

At the end, I’ll gradually guide you back into ordinary alert awareness and we’ll have time to talk about what you noticed.

You don’t need to remember every word.

You don’t need to have a profound revelation.

And you don’t need to walk out feeling like a completely different person.

Sometimes meaningful change is quieter than that.

Can Hypnosis Make Me Do Something I Don’t Want to Do?

No.

You retain your agency during hypnosis.

If I suggest something that doesn’t fit for you, your mind can reject it, modify it, ignore it, or bring you out of the experience.

That’s one reason I prefer collaborative therapeutic suggestions rather than treating hypnosis as an opportunity for me to tell your subconscious what it should believe.

You know yourself better than I do.

My job is to help create an experience in which you can access your own capacities differently.

What If I Can’t Be Hypnotized?

Many people worry about this, especially people who tend to be analytical, vigilant, highly independent, or uncomfortable giving up control.

Fortunately, you don’t need to surrender control to participate in hypnosis.

You also don’t need to become unconscious or stop having thoughts.

Hypnotic responsiveness varies from person to person, and some people experience absorption or imagery more readily than others. We can adapt the approach to the way your mind works rather than expecting you to conform to one particular version of hypnosis.

If part of your brain wants to observe what’s happening and think:

“Am I hypnotized yet?”

that’s okay, too.

We can work with that part instead of fighting it.

How Many Sessions Will I Need?

There isn’t a universal number.

For a focused goal, some people may choose to use hypnotherapy for only a small number of sessions. For more complex concerns, hypnosis may be incorporated periodically into a larger therapeutic process.

We’ll decide together based on your goals and response.

I don’t believe successful hypnotherapy means creating dependence on hypnotherapy.

The goal is to help you develop experiences, resources, and capacities that increasingly belong to you.

How Does Hypnotherapy Fit With Your Other Services?

Hypnotherapy is one part of my broader approach to healing.

Depending on your needs, it may complement work involving:

Trauma & Attachment Therapy
Exploring and processing the experiences and relationships that have shaped your current patterns.

EMDR
Supporting adaptive processing of experiences that continue to feel unresolved.

Somatic & Polyvagal-Informed Work
Understanding and working with the body’s responses to safety, threat, connection, activation, and shutdown.

Safe and Sound Protocol™
A provider-guided listening intervention designed to support autonomic regulation, sensory processing, and social engagement.

Rest and Restore Protocol™
A provider-guided listening intervention focused on physiological restoration, interoception, rest, and recovery.

There isn’t one “correct” doorway into healing.

Part of our work is figuring out which doorway makes sense for you.

You Don’t Have to Try Harder.

For people who have spent years analyzing themselves, working on themselves, managing themselves, or trying to think themselves into feeling differently, hypnosis can offer an interesting shift.

For a little while, you don’t have to solve everything.

You can become curious.

Notice.

Imagine.

Experiment.

And allow your mind and body to experience something different without demanding that they change immediately.

Sometimes healing begins with understanding.

Sometimes it begins with processing.

And sometimes it begins by giving your system an opportunity to discover:

Maybe there’s another way to feel.

Important Information

Hypnotherapy is not appropriate for every person or every concern. We’ll discuss your goals and relevant history before determining whether hypnosis is appropriate for you.

Hypnotherapy does not guarantee specific outcomes and should not be used as a substitute for appropriate medical, psychiatric, or emergency care. Please consult an appropriate healthcare professional regarding medical conditions, medications, or other health concerns.

Hypnosis should not be considered a reliable method of recovering historically accurate memories. Experiences or images that emerge during hypnosis should not automatically be interpreted as factual memories of past events.

What is reiki?

Reiki (pronounced Ray-key) is a Japanese name consisting of 2 words Rei and Ki meaning spiritually guided life energy (commonly known as Universal Life Energy).
Reiki is a form of spiritual healing using “universal life energy” channeled through the practitioner to the recipient. Reiki helps to harmonize body, mind and spirit.

What does a Reiki treatment look like?

The client relaxes, fully clothed, on a table or in a chair while the healer holds their hands on or above them. A treatment typically lasts an hour or so, depending on the treatment required. During a Reiki session, no pressure is placed on the body making it ideal for treating all ages and conditions. Energy flows wherever it is required and can normally be felt as a warm sensation or tingling in the body. Receiving Reiki is often a very relaxing and soothing experience!

What is Reiki good for?

Reiki can be used for many ailments including stress reduction, pain relief, headaches, stomach and digestive issues, back pain, respiratory problems, menstrual concerns, mental health complaints and many more. (Please note that Reiki should never be used instead of medical treatment, but should be used as a complimentary way to become and remain healthy.)

Reiki…

  • Promotes natural self-healing
  • Balances the energies in the body
  • Balances the organs and glands
  • Strengthens the immune system
  • Soothes symptoms and causes of illness
  • Relieves pain
  • Clears toxins
  • Adapts to the natural needs of the receiver
  • Enhances personal awareness
  • Relaxes and reduces stress
  • Promotes creativity
  • Releases blocked and suppressed feelings
  • Aids meditation and positive thinking
  • Heals holistically

To explore more about how Hypnotherapy, Reiki, Yoga, Crystals, and Meditation could be helpful for you on your path toward healing, email me at amandamedwardsLPC@gmail.com.

*Healing sessions are $155 per clinical hour (50-55 minutes).