What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy often used in combination with other forms of therapy to address a variety of mental and emotional health issues, such as unhealthy behaviors or habits, pain or physical discomfort such as nausea and vomiting, phobias, anxiety, and depression. This medium facilitates deep introspection in order for someone to find alternative, more effective ways of managing negative or unwanted behaviors and thought patterns.

The key to hypnotherapy is arriving at a calm and relaxed state of mind, called hypnosis, in which you are more receptive to exploring why you may think or behave a certain way. One of the major misconceptions about hypnosis and hypnotherapy is that you will completely lose your ability to control your thoughts and behaviors. This is often perpetuated in television shows and movies portraying people who are hypnotized and embarrass themselves or make shocking revelations.

On the contrary, hypnosis allows you to enter a trance-like state, in which you are still awake but your heightened awareness and focus on the questions and imagery at hand help you better tap into your subconscious. The hypnotherapist will facilitate the session by guiding you through imagery that promotes relaxation and, most importantly, security, as the therapist will want you to feel safe and supported when discussing your concerns.

What are the benefits of hypnotherapy?

There are a multitude of benefits to exploring hypnotherapy, but they will differ from person to person based on their emotional and mental needs. Bio-individuality – the IIN concept that encourages each individual to embrace what makes them unique in both body and mind – plays a big role in hypnotherapy, as not everyone who experiences the same kinds of feelings, such as anxiety, will feel them nor think about them in the same way.

Four major benefits of hypnotherapy:

1. Improved sleep – Hypnotherapy can help those who struggle with sleep, whether it’s trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or even sleepwalking and extreme insomnia. By learning relaxation techniques during your sessions to apply in real time, you can promote great sleep every night.
2. Reduced chronic pain – Chronic pain is categorized by experiencing pain for longer than six months, which can be due to anything from disease treatment, such as cancer, to joint pain from fibromyalgia. In a meta-analysis of controlled trials of hypnosis for chronic pain treatment, researchers found that applying methods of self-hypnosis reduced pain in many areas including cancer pain, low-back pain, arthritis pain, sickle cell disease, and TMJ (temporomandibular joint dysfunction).
3. Weight loss – One of hypnotherapy’s main goals is to promote positive behavior change, so it’s no surprise that hypnosis combined with healthy lifestyle and diet practices can also promote weight loss. Research on hypnosis and weight loss is limited because it’s difficult to quantify the impact of just hypnosis over other changes typical to induce weight loss, such as improved diet and increased exercise. In a randomized control trial of obese individuals, practicing self-hypnosis lead to improved inflammation biomarkers and satiety after meals, as well as greater weight loss in participants who practiced hypnosis more regularly.
4. Relieved symptoms of anxiety – The cornerstone of hypnosis is guided imagery, which is exactly what it sounds like. A hypnotherapist will guide their client to conjure imagery encouraging a relaxed state, as well as imagery that evokes their anxiety, such as how they feel before public speaking. Simultaneously, the hypnotherapist helps their client realize they are safe despite their physical discomfort.

How can hypnotherapy be integrated into health coaching?

Health coaching supports people in making sustainable behavior change, which makes hypnotherapy a perfect complement to a health coaching practice. Health Coaches support clients in a myriad of ways, helping them take a holistic view of their health and addressing the areas of their lives that need the most care and attention. At IIN, we call these areas of primary food, the things found off the plate that nourish us, like the quality of our relationships, satisfaction in our career, and the impact of our home and external environments on our well-being.

Health coaching encourages people to go inward to find the answers to their health concerns, which is also what hypnotherapy focuses on. This introspection helps an individual tune in and listen to their unique needs and bodies, instead of searching for external quick fixes, like diet fads and programs, to meet their health goals.

Whether a Health Coach decides to get certified to practice hypnotherapy themselves or refer their clients to a credible practitioner, hypnotherapy is a supportive medium that gets to the root of what might be holding someone back from realizing their healthiest self.

IIN’s partnership with HMI College of Hypnotherapy

Health coaching and hypnotherapy go hand in hand. So how can Health Coaches provide the benefits of hypnotherapy to their clients?

The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) is now partnered with HMI College of Hypnotherapy to provide IIN graduates with the opportunity to get certified in hypnotherapy! If you’re an IIN Health Coach or a soon-to-be IIN Health Coach ready to change lives and continue to spread the ripple of health and happiness, HMI College of Hypnotherapy provides two pathways to certification, both completely online and full of interactivity and real-time interaction with instructors.

Learn more about our newest partnership in this free webinar replay, hosted by IIN's Head of Brand Jim Curtis and HMI College of Hypnotherapy's Director George Kappas, MA, LFMT.

If you're ready to enroll, get started here. As a special incentive for IIN graduates, you’ll also receive a bonus gift upon enrolling. This is the perfect opportunity to expand your expertise and help even more people achieve their fullest potential!