The Moment I Knew Hypnosis Was Real

When I decided I wanted to be a coach, I was still hosting The Marketplace Ministry Podcast with my co-host Justin Jeffcoat. Justin was in sales, and I had over a decade of experience running a small business. Not only that, I had served in the military, and had recently completed a Ministers in Training course at Abundant Life Church in Radcliff, Kentucky. With all of my life experience, the next natural step was coaching.

To become a coach, I felt I needed to have my own coach. One day, I’m hanging out in a Clubhouse room hosted by Cliff Ravenscraft. I listened for around 90 minutes.

Later that evening, Cliff sends me a DM thanking me for spending over 90 minutes in the room with him. “Is there anything I can do to serve you or support you today?”

I admitted that I often struggled with imposter syndrome. Cliff said, “That’s exactly the type of thing I specialize in. What would you say to a complimentary coaching experience with me?”

I jumped at the opportunity. After our first session, Cliff tasked me with listening to his podcast Cliff’s Notes on Profitable Coaching, and reading (or listening) to The Prosperous Coach by Rich Litvin. I completed his tasks in less than a week, and reported back to him. He invited me to a second coaching session. And this is where he told me about Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz.

I secured a copy of the audiobook and began listening to it while I would Instacart and DoorDash. One afternoon, I was on break at Best Furiends Pet Resort. As I sat in my car, I listened to the audiobook. It came to a point where Dr. Maltz was talking about three different visualization exercises. At the time, I did not realize it was hypnosis, but now I can see that it was.

One exercise, Maltz describes, and I paraphrase:

“Imagine you are a marionette puppet. Imagine that all of the strings are pulled taut. Feel the tension in your body. And in a moment, imagine all the strings are let loose at once. And notice how your body becomes loose, limp, and relaxed.”

It was very effective for me. I was experiencing some stress at work that day, so it wasn’t difficult to imagine my strings being pulled tight. When I imagined the strings being let loose, all of the tension in my head, neck, chest, arms, and legs just disappeared at once.

It was a simple exercise, and at its core, very hypnotic. And that is when I knew hypnosis was real.

What made it even more real for me, was how much Dr. Maltz talked about hypnosis in his book. Psycho-Cybernetics was written in 1960, by Maltz, who was a plastic surgeon. The fact he discussed hypnosis openly in this book made me realize it was not a work of fiction but something doctors took seriously.

Later, I heard Cliff interview Lori Hammond, Mike Mandel, and Chris Thompson in a Clubhouse room, and listened as they discussed and demonstrated hypnosis in real-time. That was the first time I heard the pitch to join the Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy. At that time, it was free to test-drive the course for 14 days. After speaking with my wife, we agreed I would try it out.

After the first two weeks, I enrolled in the program and completed the Neo-Ericksonian Hypnosis Certification in less than four months after completing 40 hours of instruction. That was only the beginning. Later, I took the Mindscaping course and the NLP Essentials Course.

This summer, I am attending HypnoThoughts Live, the world’s largest hypnosis conference. All of this started from a desire to help people improve their lives. In the process, I wound up fixing my own issues.