you are getting sleepy at least that's what most people think when they consider hypnosis. >> it's like a 20 minute session you sit in a recliner, relax. >> despite common opinions clinical hypnosis beginning to develop a reputation as a cheap viable alternative on handling many of life's most nagging issues. that story on this edition of equal. >> san jose state universe to you ear watching equal time. exploring new issues each week. welcome to san jose state university and this edition of equal time. i'm your host journalism

professor bob rutger. when we think of hypnosis we think of mind control with no practical use. as jim reports that's not necessarily the case. >> diane is being hypnotized for something that has been bothering her for a long time. she first walked through the doors as positive changes hypnosis two years ago without telling anyone. >> i can't believe you spent money on something like that. that's very typical mommology then. but after i told them and i started the more and more i came and the more i learn about it, i was excited about it. >> as a hypnotist she's seen many people walk through the front door questioning what hypnosis is. >> that's not what we do here. >> each session last about half an hour, twice a week and requires the client to do more than lie down. >> if you've ever had a massage or sitting around reading a

book and you're fairly relaxed that's the state of alpha. that's where, you know, the state of fate is. this is where meditation takes place. it's kind of similar like falling asleep. >> when falling asleep, a person goes through states of relaxed mental consciousness with experts call alpha and beta. it's in these state of mind that science says enhanced creativity takes place. >> there's a heightened ability for creativity for learning and imagination for creating it is what it is you want in life. >> these classes coupled with a specific set of music help bring people into alpha and beta. >> when they start mimicking the light sound and then as technology slows down, the lights and the sound start to lower, your brain waves start to follow. >> i actually have a set of the light and sounds machines, as they call it, at home. >> from there they use the power of suggestion to make the client remember what it was

like before they broke into that habit. >> life as hypnosis, we're hypnotizing ourselves all the time when we start to get that, when we start to understand that then we can begin to make the changes. until we understand that, we continue with the old patterns and the old behaviors and the old beliefs that aren't working for us any more. >> here at the palo alto school, people are certified to be professional hip know therapist. it is here where people learn how to help others help themselves. dorothy has owned and operated the school for five years. the state of california has licensed the school to give certification for people wanting to get into the field. >> they do need to have at least a high school diploma. and that is required by the state of california and many of them have college degrees,

master's degrees, doctorate degrees. >> professional medical institution such as kaiser permanente are beginning to accept the idea of hypnosis. some professionals are even taking classes. >> i'm very interested in energy work and mind body connection and i already work in the medical field and wanted to bring the two together. >> they're hypnotist on staff at stanford hospital, women are giving birth with hypnosis, with no pain and no drugs. it's amaze r for pain. there's hypnotist at the columbia. >> it's not just medical use. it also has a spiritual following. michael operates power hypnosis in san francisco. >> what you expect, how much money you're going to earn, how much love you'll allow into your life comes from the transformation of your expectations.

>> once we start doing that, once we take down the blocks, take down the walls to success or take down the beliefs that i don't deserve then all kind of things can happen. >> when we come back, we'll show you how hypnosis is being used in every day life when equal time returns. so far we've seen how hypnosis has been proven to be more than just psychological. as he continues in his story, we're looking at hypnosis and

how it benefits people's lives and it can actually make them happier. >> and all of the books he's read and the classes that you've attended. >> positive changes hypnosis get variety of different patience. majority of to lose weight. diane cody is here for that very reason. >> i have lost 25 pounds and counting. >> signs that hypnosis does not help cure physical or mental illness, it motivates people to do it themselves. so take this time now because you're worth it. you are worth the time and the energy and the influence of change. we have quit smoking, people who want to quit drinking, stress management, anxiety. people want to come in and have like better comprehension and reading ability and memory, whatever it is that they want to do, they come in here for help and they get the success

they're looking for. >> steven is ceo of positive changes now. but at 18 years old he turned to his hypnosis after a death in the family broke him down. >> i was, you know, sad and a little depressed and she treated me for that and it was, you know, that's i initially got introduced it was pretty astounding. >> the specials in san francisco. he had some bad eating habits she wanted to get rid of. >> i like white bread, anything that was white, it was just the best to me. >> after losing 70 pounds in 7 months more things had changed than just her die jet. >> i feel better than i ever have in my entire life. i feel like i have control of my life. i'm enjoying my life for the first time just goal setting and budgeting and i've got kids in college and making it all happen and everything. it's just writing things down.

it's just instilled in your mind to keep just keep doing it and it's been something that i've put into motion and it has worked. >> though hypnosis is a guided form of self help it is advantages that other forms of treatment do nothing. changes are seen relatively quickly. >> i'm talking ten sessions. you see the results or see you later. >> i was put on a 6 month plan and during that time is when i lost the 25 pounds. >> and patients can take the sessions home with them. >> we can actually put the content of that through the computer. we can upload it. and they have everything that we have here in the office. >> for those who accept the program the materials are there to succeed. but hypnosis is not for everyone. dennis agreed in california tried hypnosis but it didn't work. >> i wasn't able to go down under so to speak. >> california works to raise awareness of smoking and lung health in the bay area. hypnosis is not used as a way

to quit smoking. >> don't actively promote it. we don'ts discourage it either, we do support a variety of intervention for people to quit smoking. >> back at the clinic where we started out, he says what sets it apart from the stigma that society has made for us is the ability to opt out. >> it is their opportunity in that given space to either accept the suggestion and go with it and take action or to reject it. any time you're able to reject, even in deepest stages of hypnosis at any time if something doesn't make sense to you or it goes against your personal belief you can reject that. >> when we come back, we'll sit down with a panel of experts.

welcome back to this edition of equal time. our focus today is on hypnosis. hypnosis therapy. let's meet our guest. >> power hypnosis in san francisco, i work with professional athletes, performers of all variance and people with any and all different types of concerns. >> social worker, working in sunny valley with a major health care provider. >> i work in san jose in a meso physical shop. >> i'm the owner and director of palo alto school of hip know therapy. >> thank you all for being here today. when the public thinks about hypnosis. we have that image in our mind we were brought up with something moving back abdomen forth in front of our eye, but

there's a lot more to it. what value does it have. i think that's what the public wants to know. let's go around and find out. >> well my day began in the joyful amazing way because there was a mess sang from joe who was the light heavy weight champion of california twice who had been working for the last five years reporting to me on this profight last night in redwood city where he knocked out his opponent in the very first round, okay and it was the only knock out of the night. >> what did that have to do with it? >> i've been working with him as a professional sports hypnotist for the last five years. it is glorious, exciting, absolutely authentic because it reaches the heart of when you're doing this work, it comes from an ideally from the heart to the heart and when our hearts are aroused we have energy, joy, and success. so today is a very happy day and i'm delighted to be a

professional hypnotist. >> it sound wonderful. we can't argue with that. vy to be a journalist and say can't we accomplish that with other means in. >> of course. >> then why don't we? >> because hypnosis is best? >> why? >> because it's what i teach. that's not why, when i look -- what i look at from the point of view from mind body connection, as human beings what we're thinking produces a fizz logical response. in every student that i have when i say this quote of err state l which is a vivid imagination compels the body to bay it for it is a natural principle of movement. when i say that, i really want my students and i want my client as well to understand what they're thinking is producing a fizz logical/emotional/empowering response. >> there is another level, though, that i'm sure you would agree with that i learn from somebody with both respect and that where we'll call in broad

terms the pitchial, which -- spiritual which means the best and loving. >> totally agree. >> amazingly wise intelligence that i tried -- i guide my clients to no matter what the situation that can be a health issue, sport achievement, depression whdoesn't really exist. i guide him into that alignment which naturally subjectly and visibly heals. to me that's one of the greatest gifts that we can give hip know therapist. >> a lot of people let's use it to help men stress. hip know therapy or hypnosis. >> it calm person down. it puts them in a different realm. if it's a contemplation it goes beyond this. and it stays in the mind so that we can accomplish the goal. >> you know you get -- get the ocean and get the same impact. why do you need therapy. >> you can create that in your own mind at the moment and what

you're taking care of you still go forwanders at it's not a problem. >> the ocean is like a single session. >> you can't be that loving awareness that's around us and when we have reach that ocean, wow the effects are amazing. for me hypnosis is instrumental in working with clients who have considerable amount of defensive built up or they're resistant to other kind of techniques such as therapy. behavioral modification or i'd like to go behavioral therapy. i had a client who for seven years going through psycho analyst to over come anxiety and she couldn't over come it and i worked for her for like 3 months and i couldn't help her over come it until i did hypnosis with her. and one session with her in addition to listening to the cd we recorded while i did the session with her, she kept listening to it and after a while she began to realize she wasn't as anxious and nervous

and becoming overwhelmed whenever there was a crisis. >> physically as reporter on the story, why do we want to do this, what was your motivation. >> well, we tried in the last academic year to do this story earlier but we ran into a bit of a dead in we couldn't find anything that was wrong with hypnosis and we have to have balance. >> let's say that very clearly. >> yes, we do, that's a big part of the show. but we tried it again this year was a bit of a different focus. we're doing first we're going to explain what hypnosis is and then we are explaining how it -- we can apply it practically to every day use. >> why don't you put that question to everybody? >> what exactly is it? >> like actually i should be more specific, how do the -- your hypnosis center act in your own way? i understand that a different places do things differently. how do you customize it r

your clients? >> let's start with you. >> we'll have people going into a complete state of relaxed you're trying to have them relaxed that you can go into their sub conscious and have them open up and let ideas flow through. >> it's not opening where the miracles really take place and i use that word purposefully. the opening of the sub conscious is opening to that loving intelligence and that's when the healings and the gifts and also the power materialize, subjectly when i work with athletes, you know, i used to use a technique when i worked with joe initially where he saw it and it worked. it worked, you know, when came to me it came to me as a regular fighter and i told them i'm not giving away any trade secrets i said why do you want to see me. i want to win. i said what kind of goal is that. he said, what do you mean, i hit people i'm a boxer. i said what about california

state champion i'm telling you it was like a lightbulb, a big lightbulb went off in his head. his training got up a thousand fold, win, win, win, win, california light heavy weight champion 2-years in a row. we're doing the same thing for him professional and with different methods. one of the mysteries and powers of hypnosis and laws of the mind what you see becomes enhanced. >> you think about the word power, where does that term come from in your practice. >> well, the power is not in my power, it is not the power of mi' grow. as i said at the beginning it's an alignment with the person's own power which is part of his infinite loving truth that we can call a many different things, god, self, awareness. when people touch that it effects them physically and in their souls, their heart and

their mind heals. as you pointed out at the beginning, mind personally quiet them and we guide them into that trust openness, oh, it's exquisite and the beautiful thing about hypnosis is how rapidly it works. all right, how quickly. that's why it's stunning. after 25 years my jaw still dropping at, oh my god, i didn't do this. and as you know more and more is revealed to us as helping to heal people and helping to help their lives happier. i'm so greatfully doing this work. >> but there are people out there watching this wondering, seriously? >> and i do agree with him. i do agree with -- that the spiritual aspect of us and i think that's being recognized more and more not only hip know therapy or hypnosis, but in many schools of though

i do think, though, that oftentimes we have clients who aren't there. if i have, for example, i just worked with a man who is an engineer and it's so he's very left brain in his thinking, you know, he doesn't go to spiritual aspect but what he's interested in is how can i change, how can i have some relief. and this is a man who has extreme back pain and i worked with him twice and that back pain scale from 07-10. 10 being the most started at a 10. the last time i worked with him it was down to 2. now, is 2 workable for him, yes. it let's him go back to work in essence. but the beautiful thing about all of this is that not only is it a mind, body, connection, i've said that. but it is the spiritual aspect. it is that -- i'll use the word consciousness aspect of us, you

know. and as consciousness can shift into some conscious can shift its belief and when we can let go of some of the beliefs, we were talking earlier about hypnosis, well hypnosis happens every day of your life and all hypnosis is self hypnosis. and i will say to a client or student, i only know the words to say. what you're doing with those words inside yours will be totally up to you. >> once we understand i agree with it. i want to add one thing unless we're cognizant and aware that we're being hypnotized by media, okay, by influences of other people and if we are receptive to negative suggestions, one of the laws of the mind i tell every client is never take negative suggestion from anybody and don't give them to yourself. now, that thing alone has marvelous results.

>> that's why i'm saying all hypnosis is self hypnosis. we're self hypnotizing all day long and disempowering ourselves, many people disempower themselves when they're thinking negative thoughts, you know. if you think the thought, oh, i'll never get this done, oh, no, i can't do this. well you get to be right. >> i hear this, i hear real responsible thinking, really good ideas, very good suggestion and you're right. give positive thoughts to get positive actions. but i wonder for the audience out there why don't more medical organizations support this and enable this to be paid for in their medical plans or individuals. why don't they value it? >> let me answer that from my point of view and i've been doing this for a number of years, i think that for the most part medicine, i don't mean medicine per se, but there are many people who are in the

field of medicine who still look at hypnosis as though it's some hocus pow discuss. >> it's hypnosis from the point of view of when it first started, you know in more current times was started by surgeons. it's by the medical community itself. >> hypnosis, one of the reasons that i think it's going to catch on is because it's cost effective and you get immediate results and what health care provider isn't going to want that as opposed to 6 months of psychotherapy. >> you know, the image, how would you all suggest that that be turned into a positive

thing. how do you change the image of hypnosis. >> i like to answer that. i think the show hypnotist when you started with the watch. hypnotism has a long history. at the current time the amount of money profits being made by medical materialist is in the trillions. psycho therapists see sometimes 1500 people a week for 15 minutes each day. so this work for every client that i see that -- i spent a minimum, hour and a half to two hours of meditation because of if i am not wholeheartedly pure with the client, i'm coming from the headspace and i'm not -- i need to come from that place of light and love and healing. to me these are the words that give hope and freedom to america. that's why that will be me. this is about freedom from your own self induced mind control, negative self hypnosis and the trance states that people are

unfortunately there are many doctors but there are many doctors that tell you, you have this and unless you get surgery immediately or have these procedures, this will happen. that constitutes a negative suggestion. >> it's very powerful. >> very powerful one. >> and i've dealt with so many people come to me, you know, who want to snap out of that but they're scared to death. love heals. love is everywhere. love is not some remote thing in the pinnacle. look and he'll say, i understand what you're saying. i think a lot of people can relate to what you just said. there are also people out there that would probably say, come on, sounds very ex-- sounds too generic. i'm not going to trust my life to this therapy. >> you're testing yourself because you have to believe in something when you created in your mind and somewhere there to guide you with your own dreams you become new as a child. it's a baby that's becoming new again. and then you're doing it for

yourself but will hold things by your hand guiding you. >> we're in a society that's tangible mental approach. we want to see results and we want to see empirical data and we want to see absolute proof, how do you get past that? >> when you have a stranger to you talking to you and empowering you and you're willing to open because we enter deuce them, we talk to them. we find out what their thoughts are where they want to go and they reach the goal. it's quick and fast. >> are there women and men cultural communities that are more open to this, lesson to this, or is it universally welcomed? >> carlos, i'll let you answer, then, what do you think? >> i would say that you never know how to define it. but most developing country would be open to it because they're not as engrained into the medical mindset of, you know, pills and stuff. they're more open to otr kind

of treatment. >> we're based on academic institution, does the intellect. >> i would say, yes. when i talk to them about the intellect not to trust the intellect and trust that deeper aspect of your sole and your heart where does so much wisdom and healing coming forth. i have a word they use. they use different works that they can get begins with a d and these people have not been educated intellectually but what hearts hispanic community have and i never had io to that of resistance from any cultural actually, to me this is a universal healing modality that's been given uséou3o

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and we're interviewing people who have found their passions. (female #2) >> asking them about their paths in life, (female #3) >> to get some insight on pursuing our own passions. >> it's kind of weird and sad that the trip is ending. >> i've been really trying to pay attention to people who have made a lifestyle or career when they haven't had a blueprint. >> tapping in to your purpose takes a great deal of discipline because you have to ask the question every day that you open your eyes. (female announcer #1) state farm has made it possible for this series to be shared on public television stations across the country, helping a nation of young people find their own roads in life. like a good neighbor, state farm is there. (female narrator #2) roadtrip nation would also like to thank the college board for supporting this series. the college board: connect to college success.