Hypnosis helps us focus on an individual thought while being fully aware of everything happening in our hearts and minds.

Dear Friends,

I'm excited to share a really thought-provoking interview with you today. Recently I spoke with Erika Flint about her online course, Hypnosis Happy Hour. If you have ever been curious about hypnosis, or fearful of it, then you will enjoy this dialogue. Erika is an award-winning hypnotist, author, a speaker, and a cohost of a podcast series. Read on to learn about this very interesting topic!


Madisyn Taylor: I think the word hypnosis really scares people. We all think of those parlor tricks in Las Vegas where the hypnotist brings somebody on stage and makes them act like a chicken in front of an audience. I think people don't want somebody messing in their brain. So what exactly is hypnosis?

Erika Flint: You're right--hypnosis tends to scare people because of how it's portrayed in Hollywood and in stage hypnosis shows. Hypnosis is a normal and natural state of mind that we go into nearly every day. You've likely been in a state of hypnosis thousands of times in your life! Some of the more common states of hypnosis include watching a great movie--when you get pulled into the story and feel captivated by the characters and storyline--or listening to music that touches you emotionally, bringing you fully into the present moment.

Hypnosis is about focus, and the more you're able to focus on a single thought, single idea, and be fully aware of everything that is happening in your heart and mind, the more successful you can be in life. This is how hypnosis can be helpful for people--it helps them solve big problems they haven't been able to work through. In hypnosis, you are highly focused and receptive to positive suggestion. You become aware of things you weren't aware of before, leading to valuable insights and mental clarity. These insights and clarity help you feel more secure and confident in everything you do and help align what you think and want with how you feel. This way you can more easily set and follow through on goals you have for your life.

The way hypnosis does that is by quieting the part of our minds that is fearful and judgmental and tends to always want certainty. We call that part of the mind the conscious mind or the critical factor. The conscious mind is an essential part of us, yet it can also keep us trapped in fear-based and limited thinking. In contrast, hypnosis allows us to tap directly into our subconscious mind--the part that is creative, expansive, and believes in infinite possibility.

MT: You initially wrote this course to help people who need to have an after-work drink, eat food that isn't good for them, and maybe even engage in behaviors that aren't good for them. A nice side effect of hypnosis is a good night's sleep and also a reduction in brain fog. Talk to me about this.

EF: I've helped hundreds of people lose weight and stop drinking with hypnosis. What I learned through that process is how important it was for my clients to have something to look forward to at the end of their day. The idea of a happy hour, as in going to the bar after work, is something that is a valid concept; we all need to relieve stress and recharge after work. People need stillness in their day, a time when the mind and heart are quiet, a time for reflection and peace. People need delight and joy in their day as well. What I consistently found with my clients was that so many of them are stressed and come home with nothing to look forward to except something to eat and drink, and they have no energy to do something more rewarding, such as paint or work on a project. Eating and drinking are so powerful; they provide instantaneous gratification with very minimal effort. It doesn't take a lot of time or energy to feel better with food or alcohol. Yet people are left with what I call guilty residue. They don't feel good later. So they're trading happiness in the moment for guilt, poor sleep, and weight gain tomorrow.

I wanted to provide people with the joy and stillness they want and need at the end of their day without the guilty residue. Hypnosis offers that.

Brain fog can be caused by eating poorly and by consuming alcohol, but it can also be caused by too much stress. You can think about stress as fog in the brain: too much to do, not enough time. It also produces a fear-based fight-or-flight response. In that state, it's impossible to think straight because we are biologically designed to do anything but think when we're overly stressed.

With hypnosis, we can eliminate the knee-jerk fear-based reaction to situations in our life and instead have a thoughtful response. This gives people control over their own response to difficult situations and increased self-confidence in themselves and their life.

MT: In this course you cover so many interesting ideas and concepts. It really is a fascinating course, and I learned so much. One of the techniques you talk about is the hypnotic anchor.

EF: A hypnotic anchor can be thought of as a "trigger." I think we've all heard about triggers before, and they are often thought of in a negative sense. For example, someone may have an experience where their boss gave them that look again, and it "triggered" them, so they went to the bar after work. What we're talking about is that one event (boss with that look) caused a thought and feeling in the body, that then caused a reaction. It's a cause-effect relationship with the trigger being the cause (the look), and the effect or impact usually being a feeling in the body (fear, insecurity, anger), and behavior (drinking, eating unhealthy foods). However, triggers don't always have to be bad! That is the idea behind a hypnotic anchor. What if every time you started to feel stress, you touched your hand to your heart, took in a deep breath, and remembered how much you loved your kids, and it immediately and automatically calmed you down and reminded you why you're working so hard? That is the hypnotic anchor's power; we can link two things--the touch on the arm or hand with a positive emotional response that evokes a state of mind (peace/happiness) that we want to achieve as a reaction--on purpose and without thinking about it.

MT: I love that. I have been practicing that myself for years and never knew it was a hypnosis technique! Can you explain the difference between meditation and hypnosis and why they are both helpful?

EF: There is an overlap between hypnosis and meditation. They both elicit the same focused state of mind. However, there are two primary differences. One is with intention, and the other is ease of use. Most people find hypnosis and self-hypnosis easier than meditation because it's more focused on a single element, which leads us to the second difference--the intention. With meditation, the intention is often to clear the mind or focus on a single element. With hypnosis, the intention can vary. The intention itself is the hypnotic suggestion. So the intention of hypnosis is more purposeful, more directed. For example, a common hypnosis suggestion for my weight loss clients is "you eat only when you are actually hungry." A hypnotic suggestion for relaxation includes "it's easy for you to relax deeper and deeper with every breath you exhale."

MT: Our brains are so amazing. I think most people don't know enough about our own supercomputer! As humans, we tend to focus on the negative, which is called negativity bias. Why does our brain naturally tend to embrace the negative?

EF: Negativity bias is a biological construct. We are born with it, and it has helped the human species survive. The story I like to use to demonstrate this is the saber-toothed tiger and apple story. Imagine that you're a caveman or woman and you're being chased by a saber-toothed tiger. You run for your life. All of a sudden, you spot a shiny red apple. Now you haven't seen an apple for years, and you'd love to stop and pick it. If you do, you'll be eaten by the tiger. Our ancestors--the ones that survived, that we come from--didn't stop to pick the apple. They successfully escaped the tiger.

Over time, our brain developed to focus on what is negative in our experience and ignore what is positive, which helped us adapt and survive. In modern times, it's not quite as useful in a day-to-day sense. This is why you can give a presentation and nail every element of your delivery except for one. And when you get home and your loved one asks how your presentation went, you're much more likely to tell them about the one thing that went wrong, rather than the 19 things that went right. Our brain is focused on the negative, yet we can override it--and we need to in order to stay focused, happy, and peaceful. The first step to overriding our biological response is to understand it, and then be aware of it and purposefully focus on the positive. You begin by telling your loved one the elements of your presentation you were proud of and did well on. This can rewire the brain and train us for success. I call it overcoming your own biology, and it's what I consider real-time evolution! And we can do it easily with hypnosis.

We still need to be aware of the negative though and work to resolve it if we're looking for a healthy balance, starting with the positive, then addressing how things can be better next time.

A good question to ask is, what went well? And if you could do it all over again, would you make any changes? If so, what would they be? This empowers us to feel good and get better. Note that your brain will likely not want to start with the positive! That is negativity bias at work.

MT: In lesson five you teach about overwhelm. I am no stranger to this as I juggle a family, run DailyOM, and write books. Why does our brain go to overwhelm immediately, and how hard is it to shift?

EF: Overwhelm is stress, and it's related to negativity bias. Our brain wants to focus on the negative and get rid of it as quickly as possible, or get things checked off on our to-do list as soon as possible. You are a successful businesswoman, mother, and author, and your brain thinks, "I should be able to do all these things, and I don't just want to do them--I want to do them exceptionally well!"

And it's true. You can do all the things. You just can't do them all at once. This is where prioritization is critical. Hypnosis can help there too. Yes, I can be good at all these things, but I'm living in a world where there are 24 hours in the day, so what is realistic for me to accomplish today? I can then feel good about my choices without making comparisons to anyone or anything else (including someone else's opinion about success or accomplishment). Sometimes our good intentions get the best of us. Consider a kind and compassionate person who always wants others to feel good and be their best. They are more likely to feel overwhelmed because they care. I will often ask my clients, would they rather not care and stop worrying so much, or would they rather continue to care and shift their level of worry and overwhelm? They always answer they want to continue to care and shift the level of overwhelm or worry. Achieving this state of mind comes down to a few simple things. The rule of thumb is the following: Is this yours to worry about? Meaning, can you resolve this, can you take action, and make this worry go away? If not, it won't serve you or the world to worry about it. Worry equals action. If you can take action, do so. You'll feel better. If you can't take action, you must do something else, like self-hypnosis or read a book. Being worried without being able to take action just adds frustration to your experience and makes things worse.

MT: What can students expect when they finish this course?

EF: They can expect to feel more peaceful and happier without food or alcohol as the drivers of their positive emotional states. They will feel more in control and not so overwhelmed by or at the whims of their emotions. For example, they'll feel more peaceful and energetic during the day and sleep better at night. They can expect to be able to say no to foods and drink that they don't want to have. They'll have more choice, and they can probably expect to lose weight if that's what they want. Students completing this course report how much more peaceful and happy they feel in their lives after the first three days of the class--and that the techniques are easy to understand and follow, and incorporate into their daily lives.

MT: Thank you, Erika, for taking the time to talk with me. I learned so much.

Course Overview

Are you noticing that you're relying on food or alcohol to help you unwind at the end of your day? What if I told you there was another way that didn't involve drinking alcohol, eating food, or even attending a traditional happy hour? And that it would not only help you to unwind and feel good but also help you lose weight, sleep better, and feel better about everything in your life? I'm Erika Flint, a best-selling author and award-winning hypnotist, and once I learned the art of hypnosis and how it could help me, I stopped relying on happy hour after work to unwind. I stopped buying the fattening food at the grocery store to feel better after a stressful day at work. What I didn't expect was that my sleep improved, I stopped overeating in general, and I felt like I had more time because I had more energy and mental clarity. This is what this course is all about - showing you how to unwind, improve your health, enjoy every day of your life (not just the weekends) and have more quality time by learning to harness the power of hypnosis. Imagine coming home from a stressful day at work, and feeling better in as little as 12 minutes. Feeling more relaxed, more focused, and happier - not from that beer or glass of wine, or that pint of ice cream - but from powerful hypnosis. Start living an optimized life now.


How Does It Work?

Starting today, you will receive a new lesson every day for 3 weeks (total of 21 lessons). Each lesson is yours to keep and you'll be able to refer back to it whenever you want. And if you miss a lesson or are too busy to get to it that day, each lesson will conveniently remain in your account so you won't have to search for it when you're ready to get back to it.


Get Started Now

We are offering this course with the option of selecting how much you want to pay. No matter how much you pay, you'll be getting the same course as everybody else. We simply trust that people are honest and will support the author of the course with whatever they can afford. And if you are not 100% satisfied, we will refund your money.


How much do you want to pay?

$15$35$50

This is the total amount for all 21 lessons


If you have found yourself interested in hypnosis and the many ways it can help you, Erika's course is 21 days long and you can work at your own pace to fit your schedule. Until next time.

Be well,

Madisyn Taylor
Cofounder, Editor-in-Chief
DailyOM