Look into my eyes

The 47-year-old owner of High Sierra Hypnotherapy has been a hypnotherapist for five years. He’s been in Nevada since 1979. The best part about hypnotherapy, he says, is helping people dramatically change their lives in a very short time. For more information, call 853-5463 or email <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">{ document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,97,32,104,114,101,102,61,34,109,97,105,108,116,111,58,109,121,108,105,102,101,99,104,97,110,103,101,115,116,111,100,97,121,64,121,97,104,111,111,46,99,111,109,34,62,109,121,108,105,102,101,99,104,97,110,103,101,115,116,111,100,97,121,64,121,97,104,111,111,46,99,111,109,60,47,97,62)) } </script>.

You’re supposed to say, “This conversation may be recorded for quality insurance.”

[Laughs] So tell me what you do.

I help people make positive decisions to make better choices and live better lives. It’s sort of like the power of advertising. All ads appeal to people. They appeal to their emotions and what they want, how it makes them feel, rather than what they really need. You read a very well put together ad, or listen to a great commercial on the radio or watch one on TV, they’re selling either sex or an emotion.

They’re not selling the thing, they’re selling the feeling.

That’s right. Brian, what’s your favorite car? If you could have any vehicle, what would it be?

Let’s say a Prius.

OK, oh come on, be honest. But if that’s what you want, and they have a model—remember back to the Chrysler Cordoba, the rich Corinthian leather, the feeling of absolute luxury when you drive, they’re not selling a car. They’re selling the feelings associated with the prestige of owning that 350si or BMW or whatever.

You could say that with the Prius, too. They’re not selling you a clean environment. They’re selling you the hope of a cleaner environment and a more gas-efficient car.

More gas-efficient, and you’re going to save all the money, a cleaner, better, greener world.

So, again, what do you do?

I’m a hypnotherapist. What that means is I help people make better choices so they can lead not only a better life but the best life. I’m also a life coach, and I also practice NLP, so I have three real powerful tools so I can take people above and beyond the next level.

What’s NLP?

It’s neuro-linguistics programming. It is a fraternal twin to hypnosis. You know, fraternal twins can be a boy and a girl. They both help people make better choices on a subconscious level very, very quickly. In fact, I have a technique I use with a lot of my first-time hypnosis clients, or when I do like a public speaking demonstration on hypnosis, I’ll get an audience member to come up, and I’ll help them get rid of a negative belief in three to eight minutes. They’ll go, “This is how I feel about this, and the level of intensity is 8-10,” and typically after a few minutes, they’re down to a level 4-5, or it might even be gone.

Give me an example of that.

An extreme case of NLP—I used to work a lot with weight-loss clients. The negative belief is something like, “I will always be fat.” And I’ll ask them in the interview process, “Well how do you know you’ll always be fat? “Everybody in my family is heavy.” “Well, do you have a sister or cousin who’s a little bit lighter?” “Oh, yeah.” Well, right away that dispels their belief of something they hold to be universally true.

Right, you find examples of exceptions.

With NLP and hypnosis, you just talk to the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is the real total of the real who you are and the real what you are. The subconscious mind is your real personality. The subconscious mind controls 90 percent of what you do. I like to use the example of an iceberg. You’ve probably seen Titanic or watched ice cubes in a glass. Ten percent is above the surface, 90 percent is below the surface. The effect is above the surface, the cause is beneath it. Your subconscious mind is the total of every belief, experience and memory you have.