Deering couple offers healing through hypnosis

More than thirty years ago John Sheehan asked his wife-to-be, Elizabeth Early, what she wanted for a wedding present.
"I told her I'd give her anything that I could," he said.
Early asked him to quit smoking, and after just one trip to a hypnotist John was through with cigarettes.
Flash forward to 1999: the couple is reading the paper and they breeze over an advertisement for a hypnotherapy class coming up. A pair of life-long learners, Elizabeth says the class fascinated both of them, but she took the class solo as her husband had traveling conflicts.
"It was really exciting to learn something new that I could use to help people," Elizabeth noted.
In 2003/04, working as a Consulting Ethicist, John found himself sitting at a US Airways Club in New York. He realized he didn't want to spend his time staring at the walls of clubs anymore, when he had so much to go home to.
Upon arriving home, John took a concentrated course in hypnosis at the Thomas Institute of Hypnosis. After taking that initial course John practiced a little, but he wanted to feel more comfortable with hypnosis so he took a year long course in clinical hypnosis and earned the designation of a clinical hypnotist.
Since then, the couple has used their Deering home as a Hypnosis Center, using hypnosis to improve their client's physical, emotional, mental and spiritual quality of life. Sheehan and Early view hypnosis as an effective method for releasing negative beliefs, transforming limiting habits and removing old patterns of behavior.
Most commonly, clients come in for smoking cessation, weight loss and stress relief. However, they also see clients trying to overcome fears, students who have difficulty concentrating in class, and elderly members of the community dealing with pain management.
John said he feels there are three main misunderstandings about hypnosis that they seek to clear up. He said most people generally think about hypnosis from watching a stage hypnotist, and while highlighting the validity of such shows for entertainment purposes, Sheehan notes that's not what they seek to do at the Sheehan and Early Hypnotherapy Center.
The first misunderstanding about hypnosis is that the client will lose control. John says the fact of the matter is that when you're in a state of hypnosis you're in greater control than at any other time in your life.
Clients also worry that they will reveal something during hypnosis they don't want to. Again, John reiterates that while in a hypnotic state you're in complete control, and you will neither do nor say anything that you wouldn't normally do when you're in a wakeful state.
Another fear is that one will become "stuck" in a hypnotic state.
"The fact is no one has ever been stuck in hypnosis," John explains. "If I were to get up and walk out of the room, and you were hypnotized, which I would never do, one of two things would happen. You would either think to yourself, 'He hasn't said anything in a while,' and you would wake up, or you'd fall asleep for a little while and you'd wake up and be back to normal."
Imagine an iceberg. The top of that iceberg, the part sticking up out of the water, is your conscious, analytical mind. That's the part of your mind you're using right now to read this article and weigh what you're reading with what you think you already know about hypnosis. Your analytical mind is the filter through which all information goes into the bottom part of that iceberg, your subconscious mind.
The bottom of the iceberg is much bigger, and it needs to be because your subconscious mind is where everything you have ever heard, seen, smelled, touched, tasted or sensed is stored. Some sensations sneak into your subconscious unfiltered, but most often they are filtered by your experience.
What hypnosis does is give the analytical part of your brain something to do — concentrate on the music, ambient noise outside. Hypnotists want that part of your mind distracted so that when they are talking to a client, the suggestions they make - for instance, that you don't want to smoke - go directly into your subconscious mind, where all habits are formed and reformed.
Sheehan highlights that hypnotherapy also hinges on post-hypnotic triggers. Hypnotists give clients triggers, like the color red, to reinforce suggestions such as 'you don't want to smoke.' During a session, a hypnotist may say, "Every time you see the color RED, RED, RED your powerful subconscious mind will reinforce you to never smoke again."
For the first few days, a client may remember that the hypnotist mentioned he'd be seeing the color red. However, within a number of days that thought is gone from your conscious mind, and when you see something red in the future it will activate the thought that you don't want to smoke anymore in your subconscious mind, or the bottom of the iceberg.
Most importantly, Sheehan says, the key ingredient for successful hypnosis is that the client must want the result they're looking for.
"You have to want. If it's not YOU driven, it probably isn't going to be successful," Sheehan emphasizes. "You have to want to make the change you're asking us to help you make. And if you don't, you're wasting your money and our time."
At Sheehan & Early the success rate and number of sessions needed to achieve success vary for each person.
"We love to see people, and we love to hypnotize people, but we don't want to see people forever," John emphasizes. "We want you to be as successful as you can be long term. For some people it doesn't take much time at all, for others it takes longer."
For smoking cessation, Sheehan & Early boast a success rate in the high 80's, with just two sessions of hypnosis: one talking about what hypnotherapy is, focusing on stress relief, and then one session talking about smoking.
Otherwise, the number of sessions for each client ranges from four to eight.
Elizabeth says the nice thing about their practice is that they offer a husband-wife team. Elizabeth tends to specialize in using hypnosis for weight loss and weight management and John's specialty focuses on fears, self-image problems, and anxiety. However, they can both work with each issue, so clients have a choice between seeing a male or female hypnotist.
Doubt you can be hypnotized?
Have you ever driven to work and not remembered the trip? Have you ever daydreamed? Has your husband or wife been trying to talk to you while you're watching TV and no matter how many times they say your name they can't get your attention?
Sheehan says all those examples are instances of light hypnosis, which reinforces his belief that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.
"The hypnotist is just a guide, just someone who is putting the thoughts that you want in your mind, into your mind," says Sheehan. "But it's you, you're doing it; it's your mind."
To find out more about the Sheehan & Early Hypnosis Center, visit www.sheehanearlyhypnosis.com or call 888-464-3070.