Stephanie Sato of Synchronous Hypnosis is a Registered Hypnotherapist in the state of Washington, a Master 5-PATH® Hypnotist, and a Certified Hypnotist with the National Guild of Hypnotists. Whether in-person at her West Seattle office or through private online sessions, Stephanie is ready to guide individuals on a transformative journey. With a background spanning over 17 years in the public sector as an attorney, she shifted her focus to pursue a path of helping others without engaging in adversarial processes. Her exploration led her to training in life coaching, mediation, and a rediscovery of her passion for brain science. Now, Stephanie is dedicated to helping individuals access their inner wisdom through hypnotherapy, facilitating deep and permanent change to overcome life’s challenges. MysticMag finds out more.
Stephanie, how and why were you first drawn to the power of hypnosis, and can you share a personal experience or a client success story that highlights this transformative power?
I worked as an attorney in the public sector for many years and was looking to make a career change. I had the opportunity to train as a coach and would notice that sometimes when a client achieved a particularly meaningful insight, it was as if they were in a trance. I wanted to be able to recreate this state on a regular basis. I didn’t realize at that time that my clients were in hypnosis when they achieved those big insights.
Even while working as an attorney and all the way back to the time I was in elementary school, I was interested in all things spiritual or metaphysical. So, in a way, I have been searching my whole life for something that seems magical. (I later found out that my birthday falls on World Hypnotism Day, so I think it was meant to be!) I have taken many spiritual training classes over the years in a parallel life with my other life as an attorney. Talking about all things ‘woo’ is not as acceptable in that career path. One day during the pandemic, I was looking for new things to learn on YouTube when I happened to come across several Dolores Cannon videos on YouTube. (I have read her whole Convoluted Universe series since then.) I was fascinated by the information she collected over the years and went to see a local QHHT practitioner. After that, I signed up for a certification training to become a hypnotherapist.
My personal experience with the power of hypnosis through working with various hypnotherapists is the transformations I’ve made and continue to make in my life. I am able to live much more authentically through hypnosis. I changed careers, lost 50 lbs., alleviated my TMJ, and left an unhealthy relationship. The power of hypnosis allows us to become more and more of our true selves. Not in the way other people or society believes we should be living our best life, but in discovering what we truly want to do and how we want to be and pursuing those things that bring us true joy. Hypnosis allows us to find those mind blocks that prevent us from living the life we want and to remove those blocks one by one. It’s a work in progress for sure. I’ll have a big breakthrough, then other times, I feel like I just found another layer of the onion to peel. Also, the synchronicity has been crazy! Almost all of my clients in the last 9 months have been a mirror to something I’m struggling with. Not in the exact same way, but once I see more closely, they are the same. So, in a way, I’m healing along with my clients.
In your practice, you use hypnotherapy techniques tailored to each client, including regression therapy. How do these techniques help individuals uncover and address the root causes of their symptoms, behaviors, or habits?
Although I trained in regression therapy for my initial hypnotherapy certification, I have to say that it is not my favorite or go-to method. I know that some clients find it cathartic to re-experience past traumas to release them once and for all, but many more people avoid doing the work because it’s natural to want to avoid something painful.
I’m in the process of updating my website as I’ve trained in additional methods of hypnosis from many wonderful teachers since the website was created. As a result, my understanding of what hypnosis is and how it works to facilitate change goes beyond regression therapy. I’m a conceptual learner and I like to understand the big picture, then allow my creativity to incorporate tools from my toolbelt of hypnosis techniques and spiritual training.
I’ve learned that as much as 95% of the decisions we make on a daily basis are made outside of our conscious awareness. Dr. Bruce Lipton noted that children are essentially in a theta brain wave state until about age seven. The theta brain wave state is associated with sleep and deep meditation or hypnosis. One of the definitions of hypnosis is being in a highly suggestible state and I think it is pretty common knowledge that children are highly suggestible.
So, another way to describe it is that we form our map of reality by the time we are about seven years old. By map of reality, I mean we form almost all of the beliefs about ourselves, about other people, about what we should and shouldn’t be doing and thought patterns according to those beliefs. After about the age of seven, it is more difficult to change that map of reality without entering that same brain wave state to update what was programmed.
Most of us are making decisions today based on what was helpful or useful to us before the age of seven and we are not even aware that we are making decisions in this way! We are often unaware of our own limiting beliefs because many of the daily decisions that perpetuate those limiting beliefs are made outside of our conscious awareness. I’ve also come to the understanding that none of us are observing what is there. It is all a matter of point of focus. We miss things all day long unless we know to look for them. For many of us, thousands of opportunities have passed us by with our own limiting beliefs preventing us from even seeing that they were there because we are experiencing the world as seven year olds.
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In my experience, one of the easiest ways to induce that brain wave state or hypnosis is through imagination. Imagination is fun and easy and allows us to explore and update that old map of reality through colors, shapes, sensations, metaphors, and analogy. These techniques allow individuals to communicate with the subconscious part of their mind in a less threatening way than to have to relive past traumas. Very profound changes can be made through the use of metaphors and analogies because that is the language of the subconscious.
This also means that the client does not have to rely on me to know or understand the root cause because their subconscious knows. Our subconscious is often very willing to help us when we communicate with it in its language and ask it to update the old programs to meet the current needs of the adult we have grown into. The client themselves sometimes does not know or even consciously learn what the root cause was for the issue they were experiencing. As hypnotists, we often say ‘the issue is never the issue.’ The cause could have been something as an adult we find totally benign, but in the interpretation of the toddler, it was for some reason devastating. So, the root cause often does not matter as long as the beliefs and thought patterns that we put into place due to that ‘root cause’ are updated and reset to serve us for who we are today.
Hypnosis has been recognized in the medical community since 1958 for various purposes, including overcoming chronic pain and healing psychogenic illnesses. How do you collaborate with the medical community, and what specific challenges or issues have you successfully addressed through hypnotherapy in conjunction with traditional medical treatments?
As hypnotists, we are often advised not to say we treat medical conditions unless we are also trained as physicians. That being said, I collaborate with the medical community through clients who come to me by referrals from their doctors or therapists. It’s usually when they have tried everything else and not much is helping so they think, “why not hypnosis?” because most medical doctors understand that hypnosis is not harmful. It’s only harmful if it is used to remove pain that is trying to tell us that we need to get medical attention. For example, if someone is having a bad headache, I wouldn’t do hypnosis to get rid of it unless they have seen their medical professional and know that there isn’t something more serious than stress underlying the cause such as a stroke or a brain tumor. I have worked with a client who has restless leg syndrome to bring relief so they can sleep better. I have worked with many clients who have also been diagnosed with depression and anxiety who find relief through hypnosis.
Your practice focuses on a range of issues, from health and wellness to stress and anxiety. How does hypnosis contribute to achieving a healthy harmony in one’s life, and what role does it play in alleviating emotional challenges, such as grief and loss?
Through the methods of hypnosis I practice, hypnosis contributes to achieving healthy harmony in life by letting off steam from the pressure cooker of life. As we go through life, things build up and build up and build up. We often continue to mentally, emotionally, and physically hold on to so many small and of course big traumas from life – parents getting divorced, losing a grandparent, childhood abuse, a bad breakup, the stress of working full time and raising a family, the pressure to be successful in the ways that society pressures us we need to be successful. It helps to first use hypnosis techniques which will release some of those things we have been holding on to, so that we can then work on the thought and belief patterns that contribute to and perpetuate what causes us to live in disharmony with ourselves. Grief is a process, but if it is on top of all of the other small and big traumas we have been holding onto, it can feel unbearable. Letting go of the old stuff lets us process current emotional challenges such as grief and loss with less difficulty.
Many people might have misconceptions about hypnosis, such as losing control or being unaware of their surroundings. How do you educate and reassure clients about the reality of hypnosis, emphasizing that they remain conscious, alert, and in control during the process?
Since I learned about what hypnosis is and how it works, I always find this question to be amusing! Another saying we have in hypnosis is that when a client comes to our office, we first have to take them out of the trance they are in to put them in a trance that is beneficial for them so they can make the changes that they seek.
I educate my clients by explaining that we are all walking around in hypnosis for the first seven or so years of our lives. And from then on, we are experiencing 95% of the world from the thought and behavior patterns we put in place while we were in hypnosis before the age of 7. Also, we are bombarded with so many subliminal messages from the advertising industry that go right into our subconscious. So, in a way, we are all walking around in various trances all day long. We are not in control to begin with, and we are not aware of what is truly going on around us because our point of focus is so narrow as to only let in what is consistent with our old map of reality.
I also explain that hypnosis feels different to different people. Some people feel relaxed and focused at the same time. Others feel like they are in a state that is similar to just before they nod off to sleep. I let them know that they will be able to hear me, and I won’t do anything to keep them from getting up and walking out if they choose to do so. I also encourage potential clients to chat with me over the phone and ask questions or discuss concerns they have about hypnosis in general to alleviate their fears about how we would work together.
How do you envisage the role of hypnosis in the years to come?
I love this question! I think in the near future, everyone will be doing hypnotherapy. As we increase our knowledge of how our minds work and more of the planetary control begins to shift towards higher vibrations, people will begin to understand that hypnosis is a wonderful way to release baggage and change thought and behavior patterns that are no longer serving them. If you haven’t tried hypnosis, I highly encourage it. It changed my life!
I’d be more than happy to do a free 20 minute phone consultation to answer any questions you have and/or a $109 full consultation and Mini-Hypnosis session so you can sample working with me before deciding to sign-up for a session package. If you decide to sign up for a session package after the Mini-Session, I will fold the cost of the Mini-Session into the session package, so then the Mini-Session would also be free of charge. I work in-person in my office in West Seattle and also over Zoom. If you are not local to the Seattle area and would like to work with someone local to you, make sure to check their credentials, reviews, and speak with them to see if they feel like the right fit for you. It’s no different than finding a doctor or therapist. The most important thing is that you feel a rapport with the hypnotist and feel comfortable with them.
If you would like to find out more about Stephanie Sato, please visit https://www.synchronous-hypnosis.com/
