Cynthia - Hypnosis Frequently Asked Questions

How did Cynthia learn hypnosis?

Cynthia recieved her Certification in Brief Eriksonian Hypnosis and Neuro-linguistic Programming from the Mid Atlantic Hypnosis Academy. She was certified by a master instructor in clinical hypnosis who primarily trains health care professionals such as Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Social Workers. Cynthia learned hypnosis to deepen and extend her work with clients giving them more tools to make transformations in their lives.

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is the method of achieving "trance states." Trance is facilitated through "hypnotic language patterns” that include guided three dimensional visualization, metaphors and stories, suggestion and other techniques.

What is "Trance?"

Trance is a natural state of focused attention, often very relaxing. Everyone has been in trance nearly every day. A perfect example everyone has experienced, is driving in the car listening to music and not remembering part of the drive. This is a typical version of "daily trance." Some experts believe that most people are in trance at some point every day.

What can Hypnosis and Trance be used for?

Most commonly, Hypnosis and NLP are used to help people remove unwanted behavior, involuntary reactions and debilitating blocks in their consciousness that prevent them from moving forward and achieving their goals in life. Other areas are phobias, stress reduction, interpersonal issues, academic and sports performance, motivation and creativity, anxiety and even working with specific cases of PTSD.

Hypnosis can also be used for weight reduction and smoking cessation but Cynthia does not work in those areas.

Common Misconceptions about Hypnosis

Can I be told to do something against my will? -  You do not lose your moral compass and you will not do anything against your will.

Will I fall asleep? - Generally clients are focused and awake. At the deepest level of relaxed trance clients still respond to suggestions.

What will I do under hypnosis? - Goals and outcomes are discussed in advance of sessions, and it is those outcomes that are worked for.

Can I move? - Of course, most NLP and Brief Eriksonian Hypnosis has the client at some level of physical activity. Some techniques even require the client to be moving their hands.  However, there are cases where the client may wish not to move some part of their body, such as their hand, in order to understand that they are in hypnosis.

Will I remember the session? - Each person's experience of hypnosis is unique. Some people remember everything that is said, others may let their minds drift.

How will I know if I've been hypnotized? - Most people innately will know that they have had a subjective helpful and relaxing experience. One key feature is that time seems "to fly."

How is Hypnosis different from a Psychic Reading with Cynthia?

Hypnosis and NLP are a specific, effective and proven set of techniques using linguistics, grammar, visualization and trance to help people remove unwanted behavior. A psychic reading is the actual "tuning in" to a person's spirit, or larger consciousness to help the individual see "further down the road" of life. While a psychic reading can determine what the roadblocks are, it often takes hypnosis and NLP to remove the blocks.

Hypnosis, NLP, and Brief Eriksonian Hypnotherapy - A Very Brief History

Some experts say that hypnosis has been around as long as human beings have. Modern hypnosis started with Franz Anton Mesmer, a German physician who discovered what he he called magnétisme animal (animal magnetism.) Although Mesmer actually never used "hypnosis" or "mesmerism" he was the forebearer of modern hypnosis, and stage performers began to "mesmerize" people in the mid-1800s.

It was one of these stage performers, French mesmerist Charles Lafontaine (1803-1892) that caught the attention of Dr. James Braid.  Braid, a Scottish physician and surgeon, specialising in muscular conditions, was an important and influential pioneer of hypnotism and hypnotherapy. Braid adopted the term "hypnotism" as an abbreviation for "neuro-hypnotism."  and it is from his influential work that others derived the term "hypnosis" in the 1880s.

Many people were involved in hypnosis in the early 1900s including Sigmund Freud, but it wasn't until Milton H. Erickson, M.D. that hypnosis started to re-enter the medical mainstream.  During the 1960s, Erickson was responsible for popularizing a new branch of hypnotherapy, which became known as Ericksonian hypnotherapy, eventually characterised by, amongst other things, the absence of a formal hypnotic inductions, and the use of indirect suggestion, "metaphor" (actually they were analogies, rather than "metaphors"), confusion techniques, and double binds.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming was founded by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder after they "modeled" the work of Gestalt therapist Fritz Perls, family therapist Virginia Satir and Milton Erickson M.D. who was selected as the third model for NLP. Erickson, was well known for his unconventional approach to therapy; for his ability to "utilize" anything about a patient to help him or her change, including his or her beliefs, favorite words, cultural background, personal history, or even neurotic habits, and for treating the unconscious mind as creative, solution-generating, and often positive.

Session Recordings

At your specific request a hypnosis session can recorded for your convenience. This is done as a "gratuity."  The fee that is paid is for a block of time, not for the recording of the session. If you want to absolutely insure that you get a recording of your session, please make a point to record it yourself in the way that you can.  Cynthia does not guarantee the delivery of your reading. Again, the fee that is paid is for the time spent with Cynthia, not for the file delivery of the recorded session.  All files are sent in standard Windows and Mac* compatible audio format.

Session Recordings - Technical FAQ.

We record readings at clients' request and for the client's convenience. The files that we produce, are emailed to you in a Windows and Mac* compatible audio file via the file transfer service Yousendit.com. Clients must have an email account to get their reading. The download links sent via Yousendit.com expire shortly after they are sent, so it is incumbent on the client to download the file in a timely manner. We do not provide CDs or cassette tapes of readings. Please note that we cannot provide phone or email support.

*Mac users may need to download - FLIP4MAC - a free addition to Quicktime that allows Macs to play windows files.

Session Recordings - Additional Terms

Please note that the copyright for the proprietary techniques used are soley owned by Cynthia Chauvin Miles and Two Dragons International Inc. and that session recordings or the proprietary techniques used in them cannot be sold in anyway.