Success Stories

Hypnosis & Coaching is a new kind of therapeutic relationship for many of my clients, and you may be curious what our work together will look like. Below are some examples of clients that have found the change that they wanted in their lives. Every client is different, and every journey is different. If you have any questions, reach out for a free consultation. *Our work together will always be confidential. Clients have volunteered their stories to encourage others to find the success they have reached. Names and some details have been changed at the client’s request.

Kara’s Phobia About Public Buildings

  • Kara didn’t understand why, but she has always had a fear about public government buildings. In 50 years of life, she had successfully avoided having to enter one. Unfortunately, an issue had arisen with her drivers license, and the only way to resolve it was to go to the DMV. Kara had heard that hypnosis could help, and we began our work together.

  • Kara and I initially worked together for three sessions, but Kara was able to confidently walk into the DMV after our first 90 minutes. Encouraged by the immediate success, Kara wanted to continue working together on other areas of anxiety in her life. In our sessions, we used internal family systems and EMDR techniques combined with hypnosis to quickly diffuse her aversion to public buildings. In our future sessions, we used those same successful strategies to diffuse anxiety to other major triggers in her life.

  • Kara has returned to work together several times when she has found a trigger that is particularly potent in her life. As Kara has done more work, I see her much less frequently. She reports that the work we have done on one trigger has trickled down to other triggers that previously had made things difficult. She feels like she now has enough tools to use hypnosis on her own when anxiety rears its head.

  • Breaking an addiction or habit is one of the most common reasons people seek out a hypnosis practitioner because hypnosis is so effective at making quitting fast and easy. David had been smoking multiple spliffs (marijuana + tobacco cigarettes) nightly for over a decade to help regulate his anxiety. For a long time, he had noticed the spliffs were increasing his anxiety, not lowering it. David recognized he was habitually and chemically addicted to the spliffs, and was having trouble breaking the habit on his own. He decided it was time to make a change.

  • When clients book a session to end a smoking habit, I usually offer two paths - quit today or taper off. David wanted to taper off his use of spliffs, so we built a 5 session plan to end his smoking habit. In our sessions, we used hypnosis to let David manifest the belief he was no longer a smoker. We tapped into the deep desire David had to stop smoking, and empowered that want into action. We employed coaching techniques to strategize positive habbits to replace the need to smoke. Each week, David gave up more spliffs until he had fully quit.

  • David recognized that his body needed a break from his busy life, but that break didn’t need to be smoking. David was able to honor that desire by building a new habit of walking and meditating. In our follow-up, David was extremely proud he was not only able to quit marijuana/tobacco, but build new healthy habits that were even more effective in releasing stress when he would feel it build up.

David’s Desire To Quit His Marijuana/Tobacco Habit

Akeem’s Struggle With ADHD Symptoms

  • Akeem had struggled with organizational ADHD his entire life. While he has been incredibly successful, he had always felt embarrassed about his challenges with organization and constant ruminative thinking.

  • In our work together, if you have a medical diagnosis you are seeking treatment for, I will ask that you see your medical primary first so we can work together to build the change you want. After a medical check-in, instead of working on the diagnosis label, we will focus directly on the change you want to make. Over eight sessions, we used a combination of hypnosis and coaching to build strategies to help Akeem feel like he was in control of his organization. We tackled the two changes individually, then integrated the resources so each change would strengthen each other. Our work together ended when Akeem felt like he no longer needed reinforcement to naturally reach for his new resources.

  • While many people think about change as a matter of ‘will’, it has much more to do with finding the easiest will-free path for your body to experience a better way. When Akeem’s body discovered its ‘better way’ for addressing his symptoms, he felt like they didnt have power over him. In our work, Akeem learned many techniques that he still uses. The techniques allow him to apply hypnosis to other things in his life he wants to change.

Brigette’s Feeling of Loss After Her Divorce

  • Brigette’s divorce was incredibly complicated for her to navigate. Her partner made the split particularly painful, and that pain had endured. After years of feeling unable to be at peace with the support of her regular talk therapist, Brigette wanted to try something new.

  • Brigette and I met together for a single session to build a new path for her to move forward with what she cared about in life. In our session, we did work to counteract the feeling that the loss was all-consuming and unmanageable. We used hypnosis to create a space for the divorce in Brigette’s subconscious - one that she could visit, appreciate and grow from when she needed to. In our session, Bridgette was able to explore all of the real and boundless love in her life. She built a subconscious connection so that she would be reminded of that love when she was feeling low in the future.

  • As fate would have it, Brigette saw her ex-wife the day after our session out in the world. In our follow-up, she excitedly told me that her heart started to beat, but then a sense of calm washed over her body. She was able to feel love in her life, and how her past relationship contributed to that. Brigette noticed how the work we did together was showing up at other times when she felt stressed - she would notice the anxiety, but then calm would wash over her.

Libby’s Jaw Pain From Grinding Her Teeth Every Night

  • Libby had been grinding her teeth every night for 17 years (since grad school). She recognized that she clenched her jaw when she was anxious. She was frustrated that these symptoms would happen without her noticing, but she would notice the jaw pain and headaches that came with them.

  • Over five sessions, Libby was able to find complete relief from her Bruxism. In our sessions, we examined the root of the anxiety she was experiencing and explored why her body was using grinding as a method of managing it. Together we discovered other, productive places to put the energy the anxiety was producing. Rather than be at its mercy, we built ways for Libby to apply her anxiety as a helpful motivating force. In our work, we also examined what anxiety was beneficial, and what was vestigial - unhelpful anxiety cycles from older parts of her life. In hypnosis we honored those old anxieties and went through practices of forgiveness to diffuse them.

  • Libby no longer wakes up with jaw pain and leaves the Advil she used to carry around at home. Her headaches are gone and she no longer dreads them distracting her from what is important in her life.

Kranthi’s Desire To Build A Creative Practice Into His Busy Life

  • Kranthi had built a very comfortable life in business, but always hungered to have a place to put his creativity. He never felt like he could use that muscle at work, and felt too exhausted from his job to make time for art at home. Kranthi sought out hypnosis and coaching so he could build his own creative practice that felt giving, not draining.

  • Over nine sessions, Kranthi and I built a painting practice that he is deeply proud of. Our work began by using coaching and hypnosis to figure out what he truly desired from a creative space. We then explored Kranthi’s sensory modalities to learn what language felt most satisfying to express his potent creativity in. As our work continued, we used our sessions for - coaching: building time and place for creative work - hypnosis: putting Kranthi in easy and direct connection with his creative power - and education: teaching Kranthi foundational painting techniques to bring even more confidence to his practice.

  • After building up his portfolio, Kranthi is applying to his first round of art residencies this year. He is looking forward to being in residence with other art makers, to share his practice, and learn as much as he can from his new art community.

Testimonials

  • The session with Jacob was deft, imaginative and powerful, taking directions I never would have anticipated, and yet engendered surprising relief and forgiveness. His sensitivity artfully guided the work and I felt a lasting sense of curiosity, amusement and tenderness for what we uncovered and recalibrated. A wonderful experience I'd love to revisit and highly recommend.

    Eliza Shaw Valk • Hypnotist & Coach

  • Going into our first session, I held some skepticism about whether Jacob's practice would be able to assist me with curbing certain unwelcome habits. Within minutes of the end of our session, I was ready to recommend Jacob to my friends. Months later, I remain a vocal advocate of his work. Thank you, Jacob!

    Mike R. • Lawyer

  • After my hypnosis work with Jacob I feel expansive and relaxed. A feeling of calmness is within my body similar to how I feel floating in the ocean. My busied mind has quieted and my body feels attached to my mind again. 

    Zena Verda Pesta • Artist