Deni Van is a Hypnotist and Trance-formational mentor, helping individuals accelerate their personal, professional, and spiritual growth. She is the CEO of Heartfelt Awakening Media, publishing books, meditations, videos, and Podcasts. Deni is also the owner of Sycamore Hypnosis, about 65 miles NW of Chicago, providing one-on-one custom programs in-person locally and internationally online. And she is the creator of personal, professional, and spiritual development training, including CE approved continuing education courses.
Today we’re chatting with Deni Van, CEO of Heartfelt Awakening Media, Owner of Sycamore Hypnosis, and CE approved Instructor. Thank you for being with us Deni, I’m curious to know. What is your most common request for using hypnosis?
Hypnosis for weight loss. If you do a Google search how many times people type in ‘hypnosis for weight loss,’ you’ll find it’s in the hundreds of thousands. So yes, people are looking for that thing to help them achieve their goals and weight loss is at the top of the list. I started my healing journey in 2001, I was 35 years old at the time. On the outside, I looked very successful and had it all together. I remember the day I was diagnosed with a very fast-spreading form of cancer, my kids were six and 12 years old. Feels like yesterday.
When faced with that kind of diagnosis, you're pretty much told what to do next. So the doctor is going on about how they’re going to inject me with radioactive dye to trace and decide if they’re going to remove one or several lymph nodes to help determine if I was going to get chemo with my radiation. As the doctor was going on, there was a tiny little voice inside that said, “That's not for you.” I understood the meaning of ‘time stood still’ in that moment.
I said no to all of it except for removing the tumor. They pretty much retorted, “What! Are you crazy? You could be dead in two years!”
This year, 2020, I celebrated 19 years since that day. Starting my journey from that day to now is about creating inner space. This inner space is a state of being. That's what hypnosis is. Another word is ‘trance.’ And it's so natural to us that when people tell me, “Oh, I can't be hypnotized!” I'll ask them, have you ever experienced watching TV and all of a sudden 30 minutes went by and you don't know where the time went? Or, have you ever experienced driving along a regular route and then realize you can't account for the last 15 minutes? If you've experienced these things, you've experienced hypnosis. In the state of hypnosis is where the change work happens. The challenge can be getting into this state to do the work.
If you're on a journey of weight loss wanting to know about nutrition and what is best for your body, connect to this inner state of trance. One of my mentors Dr. Upledger called this inner space the Inner Physician. This inner knowing and intelligence that we all have access to and it has everything we need. This is where the change works begins. But we have to get our mind, our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs in alignment with the goal of weight loss.
You may have experienced this. You set a goal to lose weight as a new year's resolution, you're committed and ready to go. And then, next thing you know, you're eating all of the things you're not supposed to be eating. You’re right in the middle of a self-sabotaging episode!
Hypnosis goes deep, and it finds the parts that are creating self-sabotage. These parts wake up and react with, "What do you mean you're gonna lose weight? You're not worthy of that! That’s too big of a goal. You can’t do that. Do you remember what happened when…?”
Have you experienced this type of inner dialog?
This behavior is a defense mechanism and it’s easy to use as a learned way to protect oneself. This defense behavior can cloud your judgment. Next thing you know, you're eating things or behaving in ways that are exactly opposite of what you want to achieve.
There is a part of the Mind that I like to call the gatekeeper. It will allow in information that it feels is beneficial and let go of the rest. We know the brain has a limit of so many bits of information that it's capable of focusing on at once. Through hypnosis, we are able to bypass the gatekeeper of the mind and then the unconscious is open to receive the change work.
I really don't like to call it unconscious. I like to call it superconscious. This is the larger part of us. We are Human Beings. The Human is the seen physical part. The Being is the unseen metaphysical part. This part of us is intelligent. I don't like to call it unconscious. However, within ourselves and within our own wholeness of consciousness, we are only consciously aware of a small percentage of everything that is happening. Everything else is in the dark, so to speak, unless we put our focus, attention, and awareness on it.
What is the unconscious?
I love to use the analogy of a big mansion. Imagine it's completely dark inside and It's huge. There are so many rooms, floors, sections, yards, and terraces. As huge as you can imagine. What we're consciously aware of is what we can shine a light on. What's in front of us? This is how I like to explain what's unconscious. We all have unconscious programs running in the background. For example, I want to wear a size six, and I want to wear a two-piece bikini and travel the world but there is a part inside that says, “Oh really? You're not good enough for that! Who Do You Think You Are? You’ve failed so many times in the past. You’ll fail this time.” These parts begin to wake up and protect us from failing again and will pull us back into our comfort zone. This part of us can't be tricked, forced, or coerced.
We go through a hypnosis process to integrate these parts, some are thoughts and experiences, past emotions that were suppressed, and now they're waking up as you react to your reality. All of these parts have to come to the point of willingly integrating all of their knowledge, wisdom, and understanding with the wholeness that you are. At the same time, this super consciousness is taught how to do the rewriting and reprogramming of all the parts at the same time releasing the emotions, beliefs, ideas, programming, and suppression that no longer serve right now. This integration process is so beautiful because it happens within your healing team. So I can't tell you what to do because your gatekeeper is going to not let it in. We utilize this natural state to do the change work.
What are your tips for those who want to use hypnosis for weight loss?
I have 4 tips you can start with right now for just about any goal.
First, check out guided self-hypnosis meditations. Try different ones. See what works for you. These are our best sellers.
Then, become aware of when, what, and how much you’re eating. Know when you are releasing those feel-good hormones.
Next, know you are worthy of your goals. The biggest reason people turn to hypnosis is because there is something inside preventing them from receiving what they want.
Finally, get the help and guidance you need. It’s time to get selfish in the right way. Just like the analogy of if you're on a flight and the oxygen masks come down in the cabin. if you're busy trying to help everybody else put their mask on and you don't put yours on first, you're going to be the first to pass out. Who's going to help you? Shift your mindset on what it means to be selfish. Not taking care of yourself is self-sabotage.
