The Power of the Mind
Local hypnotherapist teaches people to connect with their inner selves to create change…
It’s the perfect place to “invision” my life. From my seat at the Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa, I can feel the warmth from the fireplace as I gaze out at the ocean lapping onto the snowy beach. But even more inspiring than the view across the ocean is the woman leading this Invision Your Life seminar—Jeannie Spencer.
Hypnotherapy isn’t about being out of control—it is about being more in control than you have ever been,” says Jeannie Spencer, who offers seminars designed to get clients to invision they lives they want to lead.
As a clinical hypnotherapist and certified master hypnotherapist, Spencer has helped hundreds of people overcome unhealthy behaviors and negative thought patterns by utilizing the power of their own minds. The Invision Your Life seminars are a culmination of the most powerful tools and techniques she has used in her private practice. Spencer has designed the seminars for “people who are committed to their own personal development. It is for those who are ready to connect with themselves in a very powerful and meaningful way,” she says.
Spencer’s seminar is not your typical self help experience. Her enthusiasm for her work is evident from the moment she steps into the room; her infectious smile and soothing voice are the perfect motivators for a day of deep, introspective work. And it is work. She is not there to simply boost confidence or lecture about goal setting. Her seminar is more like a self defence class in which participants examine their weaknesses. But instead of despairing over them, Spencer teaches how to address these weaknesses using our most powerful tool—our mind.
A few days before the seminar, Spencer’s sister and business partner, Laura McGregor, sent each of the participants a short questionnaire in order to determine participants’ goals and assess each individual’s suggestibility. Suggestibility traits are important because they influence how people consciously take in messages and how their bodies respond to those messages, Spencer says. This knowledge of the participants is one of the things that makes this seminar so exceptional—she is able to gear her hypnotherapy scripts to the different types of personalities in the room, and when addressing questions or talking to participants one on one, she is careful to work with their specific personalities. Spencer says that this is important for making the seminars interactive and for “teaching people how to communicate with their partners, their children and the people they work with.”
Spencer’s website (www.invisionyourlife.com) highlights her teachings and the personal and professional values that are the cornerstone of her practice. Although Spencer is the face of the business, she is the first to admit that McGregor makes things happen—from 4,000 miles away in her home in Edinburgh, Scotland. “My clients would probably be sitting on the floor in my basement if it weren’t for Laura,” Spencer says with a laugh. This cross-Atlantic office is where the day-to-day administration of Invision Your Life is conducted. “We joke that we are working 24 hours a day due to the time difference.”
Spencer knows how rare it is for people to take time for themselves and when they do, they deserve a lot more than instant coffee, a cucumber sandwich, and a badly organized event. “Laura ensures that our clients get to experience the true luxury that introspection and time for yourself brings.
“It constantly amazes me,” Spencer adds, “how people give so much to others, but when asked to give one day to themselves they hesitate. It just goes to show how giving we are as people. People in that place of hesitation should consider how that giving can make them feel, if they do it without the stability of looking inward and replenishing their own energy first.”
I took a time out from my 60-hour work week and my two-year-old daughter to attend the seminar because I needed to make some important decisions in my own life. Because they were so important, I wanted to be sure I explored all my choices and made a decision based on thorough contemplation and understanding of my own needs. I also wanted to feel the energy of a group setting and take tools away with me that I could use every day. I am a firm believer that the mind needs exercise as much as the body, and hypnosis is a great way to ‘work’ the lesser used areas of the brain.
According to the Canadian Hypnotherapy Association, “hypnosis, when used in the therapeutic context, is a comfortable state of mind which permits one to focus attention on the healing of body and/or mind.” This state of deep relaxation enables you to access your subconscious mind —home to your inner thoughts, fears and deepest emotions. Hypnotherapy is the process of using hypnosis to achieve a beneficial result, such as pain relief, removal of negative behavior patterns or freedom from phobias.
Spencer has helped people overcome chronic pain, negative behavior patterns and even freedom from phobias by helping them tune into their minds and bodies in this way.
Betty Boyle, whose late husband was a client of Spencer’s, discovered that hypnotherapy was a great comfort to both her and her husband. “He was dying of throat cancer and Jeannie’s skills gave him times of peace,” Boyle says. “When he died I realized I could benefit from her gentleness and skills as well. There were times when I simply needed to purge myself by talking about him and then we ended these sessions with the relaxation of hypnotherapy. She helped me through a terribly traumatic time.”
Hypnotherapy is nothing like the hypnosis people see on stage, and the challenge for many hypnotherapists is educating people about the differences between the two. “We don’t turn people into chickens, we turn chickens into people,” Spencer says with a laugh.
“Hypnotherapy isn’t about being out of control, it is about being more in control than you have ever been,” she explains. “People who succumb to hypnosis on stage will never do anything that goes against their integrity. They will snap back into their conscious mind if the stage hypnotist takes it too far, which is why stage hypnotists excuse people from the stage as the show goes on.”
Because of the unique processes Spencer learned at the Coastal Academy of Hypnotherapy she is able to teach people “how their mind accepts or rejects suggestions by communicating directly with each person’s unique subconscious mind.”
There are four hypnosis ‘sessions’ woven into her seminars, and you come out of each one more invigorated and confident than before. You are aware of everything around you in the room but your mind is amazingly focused on the words Spencer is wrapping around you. Her voice becomes a balm and you begin to see simplicity in the complexities of life. I have always struggled with meditation, yoga or activities that require me to quiet my mind, but I slipped easily into hypnosis and was able to sit quietly with my thoughts and Spencer’s empowering suggestions.
Interspersed throughout the day are the success stories that inspire Spencer to do what she does. One such story is about a client who was embarrassed about his hands and the nails that were bitten to the quick. Spencer met him and his wife not long ago and he proudly displayed his perfect nails—a sign that the deeper anxieties were also healing. Another is of a client who had just ended yet another dysfunctional relationship and found, through ‘hypno-journaling’ and ‘intentioning,’ that everything she needed in a partner could be listed on paper, and that person could even knock on her door. She is now happily married with two children.
Spencer also teaches hypnobirthing, a unique method of relaxed, natural childbirth education, enhanced by self-hypnosis techniques.” Hypnobirthing works with a woman’s natural instincts and empowers her to make decisions that are not based on fear,” Spencer explains, adding that “fear creates tension and tension creates pain.” By eliminating the fear/tension/pain cycle, women are able to work with their bodies and their babies.”
Phebe May, a mother of three girls, decided to take a hypnobirthing class with Spencer before having her second baby. “I was slightly traumatized by my first labor,” May admits. “I was reading books on how to birth a child without fear, but felt that I needed more. My husband and I attended four hypnobirthing classes that gave us the tools to manage the stages of labor without fear. As a result, birthing my second baby was an amazing experience. It wasn’t painless, but my mind actively helped my body manage the pain, rather than surrender to it. Because of hypnobirthing, my fears and anxieties around childbirth dissipated to the point that when I went into labor with my third baby, there was a smile on my face.” (Spencer’s next hypnobirthing class takes place March 1—call Spencer at 250-702-4769 to sign up or for more information.)
Women having trouble conceiving can also benefit from Spencer’s skills. She works with women that for some unknown, non-medical reason are not able to have children. Her voice fills with emotion and excitement as she relates that “each time I have helped a woman release what is blocking them, they have conceived within one or two months!”
Spencer’s other achievements include a guided hypnosis CD, which will be available for purchase on her website in mid February. “The CD has been designed specifically for those who are always fighting against having enough time. It’s based on the theory that everyone can manage 20 minutes of their day for self reflection,” says Spencer, “even if it’s just as they are falling asleep.”
Rita Picard, a former client of Spencer’s, agrees. “As someone who has lived most of her life in a state of high anxiety, I found Jeannie’s hypnotherapy sessions to be the most calming, centering and relaxing experiences I have had in decades.”
This sentiment was visible throughout the room that winter day at the Kingfisher. All participants left feeling stronger, more focused and better equipped to handle the challenging situations and suggestions we encounter every day.
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or call 250-702-4769.