Spring Break
Making believers: AHHH Hypnotherapy
Heather Bowers
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: Features
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Fairly new to the Bloomington-Normal area, AHHH Hypnotherapy has been helping clients conquer fears, quit bad habits and lead more fulfilling lives. The man behind the business, certified hypnotherapist Rick Longstreth, stresses that hypnotherapy is not about making people cluck like chickens.
"Hypnotherapy is the art of helping clients achieve goals and change habits," Longstreth said.
According to Longstreth, only three things are required of individuals who wish to seek out hypnotherapy as a treatment. First, the individual has to want to change their habit or get over their fear. If the desire to change is not there, there is no chance of success. Second, the individual has to be of average intelligence in order to understand the treatment they are about to undergo and how it might help them. Third, the client has to be able to focus on relaxing and following instructions.
Longstreth has treated clients for everything ranging from stress relief to sports enhancement. Recently he has been working with a women who was once a skeptic. Since she has been seeing Longstreth, she has recognized the power behind hypnotherapy and how it helps rewire the brain and produce new positive habits. Hypnotherapy has been so beneficial to her that she has recommended it to her husband and he has been a client of AHHH Hypnotherapy for a couple months.
Others, however, have not been so convinced as to the benefit of hypnotherapy.
David Laube, a financial advisor and businessman, did not believe in hypnosis. Due to curiosity, he decided to see what Longstreth and AHHH Hypnotherapy was all about. Within one session, he became a believer.
"It was amazing to me, the exercises he did. I told him I would be back for a second session," he said.
Laube worked on business and attitude issues with Longstreth and began to feel the physical and mental effects of hypnotherapy.
"After the first session, I slept more soundly than I have in five years and I learned the mind is more powerful than we thought," he said.
His time at AHHH Hypnotherapy and with Longstreth has been so positive that he now recommends it to anyone who needs help.
"[Longstreth] is extremely professional and relaxed and sincere and he wants to help people help themselves," he said.
Hypnotherapy has a long history of helping people. According to Longstreth, it has been around for thousands of years. Only within the past few decades has it become mainstream in Western culture.
With positive endorsements from places like the Mayo Clinic and the National Institute of Health more and more individuals are turning to hypnotherapy for pain relief and fertility issues. Aside from getting help from professionals, individuals can also learn to help themselves.
AHHH Hypnotherapy offers clients advice on self-hypnosis and Longstreth notes that everyone uses self-hypnosis everyday.
"When you daydream you are using self hypnosis. Also, the guy watching the football game on television and not hearing what his wife is saying is under self hypnosis," Longstreth said.
Learning self-hypnosis helps individuals reduce stress in their daily lives and stop bad habits by replacing them with new, positive ones.
Longstreth believes that hypnotherapy would be a good option for ISU students who are looking for help with mental, physical or emotional issues.
"I work with college students all the time and it is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it," he said.
Stress, smoking and weight loss are the common reason why clients visit AHHH Hypnotherapy and Longstreth structures three sessions around each client and their needs.
During the first session, hypnotherapy and how it works is explained in full to clients.
During the second and third sessions, clients experience hypnosis through relaxation methods and are taught how to perform self-hypnosis.
Despite the positive methods that are used at AHHH Hypnotherapy, some might still be skeptical. Many believe that hypnosis is a manipulative tool used on people in order to make them behave in ways they normally would not. However, this is just a myth, according to Longstreth.
"Hypnosis merely bypasses critical factors and helps clients relax. You will not do anything during hypnosis that will be beyond your moral code. Clucking like a chicken is merely the entertainment side of hypnosis and is not something we do at AHHH Hypnotherapy," Longstreth said.
Longstreth also teaches classes on hypnotherapy at Heartland Community College. These classes focus on sports enhancement, a form of hypnosis favored by professional athletes ranging from Michael Jordan to Tiger Woods. Sports enhancement hypnotherapy focuses on eliminating mental barriers that prevent athletes from performing at their best.
Hypnotherapy can also help in the corporate world as well. AHHH Hypnotherapy offers programs that help to increase sales, improve moral, cut down on sick days and relieve stress. By reducing these problems, insurance companies are starting to cover hypnosis in their health plans.
"Within five years, hypnosis will be covered by insurance," Longstreth said.
With insurance companies beginning to recognize the positive aspects of hypnosis, more medical professionals are using hypnotherapy in their practices and more individuals are recognizing the effect hypnosis may have on their lives.
With sessions geared to all age groups and specified for each individual client, anyone can find something at AHHH Hypnotherapy that will help them in their lives. Clients learn to focus their minds and relax, creating less stress and pain in their lives. Whether a person has been smoking for twenty years and has tried practically everything to quit or they are in desperate need to stop chronic pain, hypnotherapy offers an opportunity for changing one's life.
More information on AHHH Hypnotherapy can be found at ahhh-hypnotherapy.com or by calling 309-261-2564.
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