Sessions
Hypnotherapy Sessions
What actually happens in the session, what it costs, how many you are likely to need, and — the part most sites skip — what hypnosis cannot do. Online anywhere in the United States, or in person in Chicago.
The short version
A focused state, aimed at one thing
Hypnosis is not sleep, and it is not unconsciousness. It is a state of narrowed, absorbed attention with the body deeply relaxed — the one you are in when a book stops being words, or when you arrive home and cannot account for the last four blocks of driving.
In that state the analytical layer — the one that argues with affirmations, that hears "you are confident" and immediately produces four counterexamples — quiets down. Suggestion gets through to the layer underneath, which is where automatic behavior actually lives. That is the entire mechanism.
Which is also why hypnosis is good at some things and useless at others. It is excellent for habits, nerves, motivation, focus, sleep, and the stories you tell yourself. It is not a treatment for illness, it is not therapy, and anybody who tells you otherwise is either confused or selling.
The honest boundary
What I am, and what I am not
I am a Certified Consulting Hypnotist. I am not a physician, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a licensed therapist, or a counselor, and hypnosis is not a licensed or regulated profession in Illinois.
What that means in practice: I do not diagnose anything. I do not treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or condition. I will never tell you to change, reduce, or stop a medication — that conversation belongs with whoever prescribed it. And if what you bring me is heavier than habit and focus work, I will tell you so and hand you a referral to a licensed Chicago clinician.
I put this on the sessions page rather than burying it in a footer because it is the most useful thing I can tell you about how this practice runs. A hypnotist who is clear about the edges of his scope is a hypnotist you can trust inside it.
Start somewhere
Seven ways in
Each of these has its own page, because the work is genuinely different in each case — and because sites that list two hundred conditions and explain none of them are not helping anybody.
Sleep & Insomnia
You are exhausted and still wide awake at 2 a.m. The problem is almost never sleep — it is winding down.
Read moreSmoking, Vaping & Drinking
Smoking, vaping, or drinking more than you meant to. One structured program, not an open-ended stack of sessions.
Read moreConfidence & Motivation
The gap between who you are on a good day and who you are in the room that matters is a pattern, not a flaw.
Read morePublic Speaking
You are over-prepared and still shaking. More preparation will not fix it, because preparation is not the problem.
Read moreStress & Overwhelm
Not a diagnosis — a state. If you have started calling this level of tension normal, it does not have to be.
Read moreWeight & Eating Habits
No meal plans, no numbers, no before-and-after photos. Just the eating that happens on autopilot.
Read morePast Life Regression
Three unhurried hours, offered honestly as exploration and personal insight rather than as a claim about reality.
Read moreSomething else entirely
Nail biting, fear of flying, test anxiety, golf, grinding your teeth, getting over an ex, sticking with the thing you started in January. If it is a pattern, it is probably workable. Ask me at the consultation.
Ask about yoursYour first appointment
About two hours, start to finish
- We talk first — a full discovery conversation. What you want, what you have tried, what actually happens in the moments where the pattern shows up. Specific beats general every single time, so I will push for detail.
- A short demonstration. Two or three minutes so you know what the state feels like before we commit to it. This dissolves most of the nervousness people arrive with.
- The hypnosis — thirty to forty minutes. Guided relaxation, then suggestion aimed at exactly what you described. You are in a comfortable chair with your eyes closed. That is the whole spectacle.
- Coming back and talking about it. What you noticed, what landed, what to expect over the next week.
- Your recording. Made during the session and emailed within twenty-four hours, so the work keeps running without another appointment.
Practical details
- Bring nothing. Wear something you can sit comfortably in for an hour and a half.
- Eat something first. Deep relaxation on an empty stomach is distracting.
- Skip the extra coffee. One is fine. Four is a headwind.
- Do not schedule anything tight afterward. Most people are pleasantly slow for half an hour.
- Online works, anywhere in the US. Quiet room, headphones, no interruptions, camera on. Same rate as in person.
- Cancellations: 48 hours notice, no charge. Inside that, the session is billed.
How many sessions, honestly
Habit and performance work: three to five. Quitting smoking: a structured two-session program. Sleep: three or four. Past life regression: one, three hours long.
I will give you an estimate at the free screening call and I will tell you when I think you are done. Packages exist because they save you money, not because they lock you in — and nobody is ever asked to buy one in the middle of a session.
Before you book
The questions worth asking
Ordinary, and slightly disappointing the first time — in a good way. Most people describe deep physical relaxation with unusually sharp attention. You hear traffic outside. You know where you are. You could open your eyes and stand up whenever you liked. The common first-session reaction is "I do not think I was under," followed a week later by "something is different."
Almost everyone can reach a useful state. Depth varies a lot between people and it matters less than most assume — plenty of the best results I have seen came from people who barely felt anything. The one real requirement is that you actually want the change. Nobody gets hypnotized against their will, and nobody gets results because their spouse booked it.
That is not a thing that happens. Hypnosis is not unconsciousness. If I walked out of the room mid-session, you would either drift into an ordinary nap and wake up on your own, or get bored and open your eyes. There is no state to get stuck in.
You keep your judgment and your discretion the entire time. You will not say anything you would not say in an ordinary conversation, and you are free to answer a question with "I would rather not."
For most of what I do, yes — and roughly half my practice now works this way, in every part of the country. Two caveats: you need a quiet room, headphones and an uninterrupted stretch of time, and I strongly prefer in person for past life regression. Otherwise, doing sleep work in the room you actually sleep in is arguably better than doing it in my chair.
In Illinois, legally, nothing — neither title is protected. I deliberately use "hypnotist" and "Certified Consulting Hypnotist" because "therapist" implies therapy, and therapy implies treating a disorder, which is licensed clinical work that I do not do. The National Guild of Hypnotists made the same shift for the same reason. The word matters because the scope matters.