Smoking, weight loss and - unexpectedly - past life progression are among the most common reasons people see hypnotherapist Jessica Pidgeon when she visits our region.

“Generally my most common reasons people are for smoking and weight loss,” Jessica Pidgeon told the Western Plains App. 

That may not be surprising with 1 in 3 (31%) Australian adults were obese in 2017–18, an increase from 1 in 5 (19%) in 1995. While the number of people trying to quit smoking. In 2019, 11.0% of Australians smoked tobacco daily, down from 12.2% in 2016 and 24% in 1991. 

But there are surprises in the methods Ms Pidgeon uses: “I use a method called gastric band which is like the gastric band but without the surgery,” she says.

Pigeon says she uses this in conjunction with lifestyle change including what foods, how much water you drink, “emotional baggage” and limiting beliefs.   

Detailing the virtual gastric band surgery she says “The mind is absolutely incredible. Anything we can think of, the mind can do. By putting your mind through the actual surgery, the body is capable of replicating those results. We do all the fasting and everything before the surgery. I take them into a gentle relaxation and then several levels of depths so I am communicating directly with the unconscious”. 

Hypnosis is said to work through brain concentration and a clinician will place a person into a “trance” or “hypnotic state.”

It is not uncommon, particularly in the US and the UK for psychiatrists and psychologists to also practice hypnotherapy. In the UK hypnosis is covered by the National Health Scheme. Clinical research has shown that it can help relieve pain, and anxiety and improve sleep. 

Research published in referred scientific journals suggests that people who use self-hypnosis more frequently may lose more weight and develop better dietary habits than those who practice it rarely or not at all.  

“In a smoking cessation session, we can disconnect all the triggers that are associated with it, such as having it with your morning coffee”. 

“A lot of the time took up smoking because they did it when their friends did it, we take people back to the very first cigarette they had and imagine changing their decision to have it.” 

The American Psychological Association says hypnosis for smoking cessation works about as well as other types as methods such as patches and gums. 

Jessica Pidgeon who will visiting the region at the end of March, also believes that people remember past lives during hypnosis. 

ABOVE: Jessica Pidgeon. Source: Linkedin. 

“It often starts with a simple exploration, where are you, what are you wearing and people will start talking about periods they were never alive in.”

“For instance fear of dark and fear of flying, we can go back into the past and see where this comes from,” she told the Western Plains App.

“ I mean something has happened that had enough energy and feeling behind it that they never want to do it again. 

“I had one client who had a fear of small spaces,” she said “We were able to go back to times when the holocaust was in the 1940s. They were led into the rooms and saw how it all happened. So we can tell them, it's okay you haven’t been marched off into a camp, you haven’t been put into a confined space”.