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Lincoln Hypnosis By Sandi Witkowicz
© Copyright 2009, Women’s Edition, Inc. All rights reserved.
Normal 0 With it being American Heart Month, February is a good month to ask yourself what you can do for your heart. Perhaps the answer is to lose weight, stop smoking, or to just better manage your all-too-hectic life. Jeff Martin, certified hypnotist and proprietor of Lincoln Hypnosis Center, offers some solutions.
 
Through hypnosis, Jeff says he helps clients lose weight, stop smoking, and better manage stress.  He has found that stress management is key. Smoking is a coping skill that a person has learned in order to deal with stress and to decompress, according to Jeff. If a person goes out for a smoke, it’s because he or she is nervous, stressed, or bored. Eating that leads to weight gain is also stress-related, he says. With tools offered during hypnosis sessions, Jeff teaches his clients new ways to manage the stress that leads to unhealthy behaviors.
Jeff says all people are wired to move away from pain and toward pleasure. One reason diets don’t work is because there is pain associated with them. People feel that they are never going to be able to eat their favorite foods again. Many people have lost weight through a diet only to gain back that weight plus more, so the expectation of failure is also painful.
Hypnosis offers people a way to change and put back a sense of adventure and happiness into their lives, Jeff shares. It gives people a way to change their beliefs. “If you believe something is easy, it is,” he says.  Hypnosis helps people believe that it is possible to change. It helps them align their values with their beliefs. Many people value their health. They know what to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but they don’t know how to make themselves do it and sustain it. “If we can change your beliefs, then it just becomes who you are,” Jeff states.
Jeff has been a hypnotist for more than 20 years. He is certified, and he is also a trainer with McFall Publishing and the National Guild of Hypnotists. He has had more than 2000 hours of training. He started his business in the Houston area in 1998. Originally a Midwesterner, he wanted to move back to the area. He began looking at opportunities in the Midwest, and found Lincoln’s demographics encouraging. He moved the business to Lincoln about two years ago, and he established his office in the Westfield Gateway Executive Building at 770 N. Cotner Blvd. The office, which I found to be a calming and professional space, features a waiting area and two session rooms for clients’ comfort and privacy.
Jeff offers a free screening for a client’s first visit. Every person is different and has unique issues, Jeff explains. He and the potential client discuss the person’s concerns, and Jeff explains the process. He says he is very straightforward about whether the client is a good candidate or not because he wants the program to benefit them. “I don’t want them here unless I think they can succeed.” After the first screening, he determines the tools for change that will best benefit the individual. He can’t change people, he says. They must change themselves.
Change has occurred for a number of his clients. Many have signed endorsements and have agreed to have Jeff use their stories as proof that success is possible. When I visited his office, I thumbed through the endorsement book that Jeff invites potential clients to read. In it are many testimonials from clients who successfully stopped smoking or lost weight. Many of their comments center on healthy living. One person says she no longer uses food for comfort and after eight weeks, has lost 18 pounds. Another client says, “I have a new plan to eat healthy for the rest of my life.”
Jeff also teaches clients self-hypnosis so they will be able to continue the program on their own. Actually, Jeff says, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. People are using self-hypnosis tools daily, but they are not using the tools that lead to the results they want. He also offers a service guarantee, which is based on the client’s individualized plan. The plan sets out the reinforcement sessions that will be available should the client need them.
Client Billie Trouba was looking for solutions to a weight problem and found Jeff through the Web site, www.lincolnhypnosiscenter.com. She has been going to Lincoln Hypnosis since March 2009. “I was about 20 pounds shy of 300 pounds,” she says. “Now I am in the range of 240 pounds.” She has changed her eating and exercise habits. She says that in the past, she would try to lose weight or try to start exercise programs or join a gym. She’d start, get frustrated, and then give up. She says she used to obsess over food all the time. Since she’s been in the hypnosis program she exercises, and when she’s hungry, she eats good, healthy food.
Billie says she was skeptical at first, but she had tried so many other things that she figured she had nothing to lose. Billie has since referred a couple of friends to the program. She says her friends ask her if it works. To answer that question, she steps back and opens her coat.
Friends also ask her what the sessions are like. You are in control at all times, she says. You are relaxed, similar to how you feel when you are just about to fall asleep. She listens to the tapes daily. The tapes offer suggestions on how to breathe for relaxation. The tapes also offer what he calls “common sense suggestions,” such as eating well-balanced meals and increasing the amount of water consumed during the day. There are also suggestions to help you work through any problems you may have. Sometimes people have fears about losing weight, for example. “We tend to sabotage ourselves,” Billie says. “The sessions help you to deal with negative thoughts.”
Most weight loss programs take about eight weeks, and Jeff meets with clients at weekly sessions. He goes over what has been working for them and asks what things they want to work on in the upcoming week.
Billie says she believes that if the client is open to the suggestions offered during the sessions, they will be successful. She says that when she stepped on the scale and realized that she had lost 40 pounds, she hopped off. She had to step back on to really believe that was the correct number. She says she thought, “Holy cow, I can’t believe this works!”
For more information, call Jeff at 402-465-0409 or 832-746-8804. The office address is 770 N. Cotner Blvd., Suite 310, and the Web site is www.lincolnhypnosiscenter.com.
© Copyright 2009, Women’s Edition, Inc. All rights reserved.
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