Under the Spell of Hypnosis

Before a visit to Temple Hypnosis this week, my only prior experience with a hypnotist took place during my high school’s all-night senior party.

The hired performer entertained us at 2 a.m. by selecting a handful of students to come on stage, talking them into a trance, and then telling them to do stupid or embarrassing tasks while the rest of us laughed at their misfortune.

When I saw a note on Facebook about hypnotherapy, I figured the real deal might be a little different. A friend posted a deal with coupon site Buy With Me that offered two 90-minute sessions at Temple Hypnosis for a bargain $60. I promptly checked out their website, and saw that licensed hypnotherapist Shalynn Flavell offered sessions for individuals struggling to quit smoking, lose weight, cope with a break-up, improve a relationship, discover career ambitions, or any other number of personal challenges.

Intrigued, I headed to Flavell’s West Seattle office to learn about hypnotherapy firsthand. As expected, her practice is a far cry from the humorous performer at my senior party. Hypnotherapy, Flavell explained, simply allows individuals to fully relax and dive more deeply into the issues with which they’re struggling.

Flavell first discovered hypnotherapy when she was 21. She’d been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and needed a transplant. Her bone marrow didn’t match any of her family members, so she was forced to wait for a generous stranger. The stress of cancer and the uncertainty of a wait list led Flavell to seek some sort of therapy.

“So much was going on in my head,” Flavell said.

Since she’d grown up in Hong Kong and felt comfortable with Eastern and alternative medicine, Flavell was willing to experiment. She learned that a family friend practiced hypnotherapy and decided to give it a try. Hypnotherapy kept her sane during the 11 months before a bone-marrow donor was found.

“Hypnotherapy got me to the place where I said, ‘I’m going to be OK,’” Flavell said. “I realized I could choose to see my cancer in a more positive light.”

Flavell’s journey to become a hypnotherapist herself was not immediate following the transplant. The adventurous young woman spent years as a scuba instructor, but kept coming back to hypnotherapy sessions. In 2003, she decided to take classes with hypnotherapist Jack Elias at theInstitute for Therapeutic Learning in Ballard. She became a certified hypnotherapist, registered with the Washington State Department of Health, and began her practice.

 Clients visit her West Seattle studio for help quitting smoking, losing weight, grieving the loss of a loved one, or navigating a divorce. The reasons vary widely, and Flavell says hypnotherapy can be equally effective for a range of problems.

“Hypnotherapy takes an issue and breaks it down to the core,” Flavell said. “It helps anyone who is feeling stuck in their life.”

Flavell said she typically spends time talking to a patient before she begins the hypnosis. The patient tells his or her reasons for wanting hypnotherapy and what she hopes to accomplish. The patient will always be in control during a hypnotic state, Flavell said, and explains that hypnotherapy is really just a heightened state of relaxation. Flavell also observes if a client responds best to visual, kinesthetic or audio cues.

As we spent the first part of our time together in an interview where I asked her the questions—rather than the other way around—Flavell didn’t learn as much about me as she would a typical patient. As such, she decided to incorporate visual, kinesthetic and audio techniques into the practice hypnotherapy, and focus on the broad issue of finding balance in life.

Flavell asked me to follow her hand with my eyes as she slowly moved it upward, in an attempt to draw me into a relaxed state. She had me close my eyes and began talking about sounds outside the room and the sensations in my feet, fingers, toes and other parts of my body. I found it easy to be lulled away by her calm voice, accented with a unique British/Hong Kong/Pacific Northwest combination.

As Flavell spoke, she kept coming back to the word “balance.” She told me to envision a scale with myself on one side and someone else on the other. She asked me to feel the sense of balancing on my foot and toes. The session passed rapidly for me, and soon Flavell was counting backward from five to one to bring me back to attention.

Real clients spend far longer in the state of hypnosis. Flavell attempts to root a trigger in my subconscious, perhaps by repeating a word or phrase relating to the personal issue. A smoker might hear “you are a non-smoker” again and again. In other sessions, clients remain in a shallower state of hypnosis, and they dialogue back and forth with Flavell.

“People always remain in control of the process,” Flavell said. “I’m just the guide because I know the path.”

Since insurance companies don’t cover hypnotherapy, the cost of sessions often discourages potential clients from trying Flavell out. Therapy doesn’t come cheap—Flavell charges $120 for a 90-minute session and $80 for a one-hour session. She is using Buy With Me in an effort to draw new clients to her practice, and she was pleased to see 48 people buy the deal. For interested readers of this article, Flavell will offer 20 percent off for two sessions, if used sometime in the next year.

Flavell isn’t the only hypnotherapist in town. She says that because Seattleites tend to be particularly open-minded and interested in alternative treatments, hypnotherapists can be found throughout the Puget Sound region. In Shoreline, try Starview Hypnosis or in Edmonds, Hypnotic Journey, Lisa F. Geiger and Kate Wells.