I Was Five Feet Tall and 216 Painful Pounds

Repeat after me: all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

What does this mean exactly? It means YOU are in control.

This is what Jay Luck, master hypnotist and owner of Wisconsin Hypnosis Center, reminds the thousands of clients the program has helped in the past 38 years.

“Clients are learning to create a belief in a successful outcome and to believe they’re worth it,” says Jay. “Because when they begin to believe it, the outcome comes quite easily.”

At Wisconsin Hypnosis Center in Appleton and Green Bay, and at Apple Valley Hypnosis in Minnesota, as well as online, Jay’s clients learn to think differently.

The ripple effect

“When you’re learning to change your mind, you’re really hypnotizing yourself to create a different belief that will help you get to your outcome,” he says. “So, if you think of the law of attraction, it simply means whatever you think about, you’re more likely to attract.”

Whether it’s wanting to quit smoking, lose weight, gain confidence, or change other struggles, Jay says it’s simply that people feel stuck in these bad habits, and it may feel too daunting to try to change.

“The conscious part of our brain wants to have changes. The subconscious part of our brain, however, doesn’t want to change because it’s comfortable doing what it does,” he says. “When you look at changing habits, patterns, and beliefs, that’s all we’re doing. We’re trading old habits for new habits, and the new habits get the results people want.”

Jay also shares sometimes when a client comes to the center for hypnosis regarding a certain struggle, it can cause a ripple effect of positive changes in other areas of their lives.

“A lot of the work we do is covert, and what I mean by that is clients have things change in their lives they didn’t necessarily come here to change; they just happen to change because of what they learned,” he says.

The clients’ success stories from Wisconsin Hypnosis Center say it all:

“I used to smoke approximately a pack a day. I have tried to quit well over 20 times and have always fallen off the wagon. After my first session, I had none of the cravings or aggression that I associated with quitting in the past. I had no problems. It [was] easy.” —James D.

“At the beginning of this process, I was nervous and scared; however, I have learned a lot about myself. Hypnosis has strengthened me from within and will be a practice I will remember forever.” —Catey F.

“[Since hypnosis] my sleeping has been more consistent and less troubled. I feel less anxious about my sleeping habits.” —Richard M.

One success story that is particularly remarkable is from Sandy Halferty, who came to Wisconsin Hypnosis Center for weight loss. Here is Sandy’s story in her own words:

Hypnosis is a life-changer

I used to eat a 1-pound bag of potato chips nearly every day, including licking my finger to pick up the last bits at the bottom of the bag. At 60 inches tall, I weighed 216 pounds. I had acid reflux, high blood glucose, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high body fat percentage, ankle, knee, and hip joint pain and looked like a beer keg with pony keg legs. I was tired, crabby, moody, and depressed.

Taking the first step

After a friend told me I had become “a bitter old hag”, I decided to call a number on an advertisement I had clipped and saved for nearly two years. Not expecting a response on a Sunday night (or maybe hoping not to get one), I was surprised when someone answered the phone. My call was to Wisconsin Hypnosis Center, and it has forever changed my life. The first appointment was for a screening that allowed Jay Luck, master hypnotist, to assess whether he was able to help me. It also gave me an opportunity to assess him and to learn more about what guided self-hypnosis could offer me. The screening was very interesting and informative, and we set up my first session for the next day.

I fell in love with self-hypnosis

During my first session, I listened to a tape. I remember Jay saying, “you did really well, Sandy”. And I said, “I will pay you again if I can hear that again”. At that time, I was unaware of what happened, but looking back, it is when I fell in love with self-hypnosis.

Learned what I needed fast

We set up my next appointment, and I left with “homework” (a list of questions about my goals) and a CD to listen to every day. Looking back at my answers on the first homework sheet, I am amazed how much I had already learned about what I needed to do after just two sessions. As often happens when we begin something new, the rest of our life continues to move. My husband suffered a stroke a week after I began my program. The notes on my calendar were “very ill, bleak, horrible day, severe eye pain, headache, tired, angry, crabby, and weary”, which showed that I suffered with him.

Peace, quiet, privacy, and 56 pounds down

In August, I began exercising a few times each week, and very shortly after, I couldn’t resist doing it every day. Soft suggestions on the tapes I had been listening to were translating into behavior changes without even realizing it. I ride a stationary bicycle, walk, do strength training, and yoga. My most significant turning point occurred when I had lost 56 pounds. I was feeling confident and pleased with myself but still felt something was weighing me down. Jay does hypnosis, but he offered me something much better. He suggested I intentionally focus on the action of forgiveness, something totally under my control that I needed to do alone.

Let go of useless emotions

During the next nine weeks, I relaxed into a trance and mentally recited the Ho’oponopono prayer (something Jay teaches) every day and night. I never felt lasting improvement by talking about my trauma in detail over and over and trying to figure out why it happened to me. I can never separate myself from what happened, but I have finally let go of the emotional charge of it. Using the Ho’oponopono prayer for deep, intentional forgiveness during a self-hypnotic trance allowed me to separate myself from the pain of my trauma. I finally found peace. I lost 27.6 more pounds and tons of bitterness and shame from something brutal and horrible I experienced when I was only 17 years old, and I did it in just nine weeks.

Final results:

• Weight: 120 pounds
• BMI: 23
• A1C: 5.2%
• BP: 123/78
• HDL: 76
• Triglycerides: 58
• No acid reflux
• No joint pain
• No “bitter old hag”
• No bags of potato chips

• Walking 6 miles in 84 minutes
• Top: 38 inches
  (was 54.5 inches)
• Middle: 28 inches
  (was 46.5 inches)
• Bottom: 34 inches
  (was 48 inches)
• Jean size: 4/6 (was size 22)
• Shirt size: 8/10 (was 4X gaping between buttons)

The simple version of my story is I began my program intending to lose 87 pounds, and I ended up losing 96 pounds in just under a year. I gained so much more, including a rich abundance of physical and emotional health. Guided self-hypnosis needs to be experienced, and my goal for telling my story is to encourage others to see it as an alternative to guide them to getting their goals or just to experience it as an exciting adventure. Thank you for reading my story.

Just like Sandy and thousands of others, Jay says you too can change your life through hypnosis.

“Picture yourself five years from now. What do you want to see?” he asks. “I’m teaching my clients to believe in that goal to the point when the belief in it becomes so strong there’s no problem getting there.”