Hypnotherapy’s Hidden Potential, Bernhard Tewes, HypnoBox

bernard: a hypnotherapist moved into my house and we started talking and he explained to me, yeah, you can’t stop smoking because your subconscious is deciding for you to smoke. That’s not a conscious decision anymore. Yeah. Your subconscious wants to do you a favor because you trained your subconscious that is connecting to relaxation.

And so we made a session and it took just one, one session and I never had the need to smoke again. It was for me so It’s so mind blowing, so fantastic, I would say, what else is possible there? And so I, I worked with a lot of other topics and said I want to become a hypnotherapist and I, I completely burned for hypnosis from that time on, you know?

bruce: So welcome to the Future of Psychiatry podcast, where we explore novel technology and new innovations in mental health. I’m your host, Dr. Bassi, an addiction physician and biomedical engineer. Today, we have Bernhard Teves. He’s a licensed hypnotherapist and founder of Hypnobox, which facilitates individuals in achieving self hypnosis.

Hypnobox can be used to help improve sleep disorders, addiction, chronic stress, and weight loss. He also does some somatic therapy outside of his Hypnobox channel, such as shamanic breathwork and totem dance and psychedelic therapy. He’s been featured in Authority Magazine on how Hypnobox is helping to champion mental wellness.

So welcome Bernhard.

bernard: Thanks so much for the invitation. Very happy to talk with you.

bruce: You have a very unique app and I think that’s phenomenal. We’ll get to talk about that more. I’d love to understand a little bit about your story for people who haven’t met you or, or know anything about you.

Can you explain a little bit about what you’re about and how you got here?

bernard: Yeah, sure. And I haven’t been a hypnotherapist for my, for my whole life. So around yeah, 2010, I was an event manager. I was in a burnout. I had sleeping disorders, panic attacks. Yeah. depression even suicidal thoughts. So I was drinking a lot. I was smoking like crazy and yeah, I, I was really rock bottom at that time, I must say.

And I got a chronic infection in my stomach and I said, Hey, something’s wrong here. So my whole body said change something because I couldn’t brush my teeth anymore without puking in the morning. So I think, okay, let’s, let’s, let’s change something. I say, okay, first thing I want to change is the smoking thing.

So I stopped smoking with willpower, but every time I was in a stressful situation, I started smoking again and again, and again, I couldn’t understand what’s happening and why can I manage to just stop smoking something, a habit that should be something that no one needs. And I couldn’t, I just couldn’t.

And then a hypnotherapist moved into my house and we started talking and he explained to me, yeah, you can’t stop smoking because your subconscious is deciding for you to smoke. That’s not a conscious decision anymore. Yeah. Your subconscious wants to do you a favor because you trained your subconscious that is connecting to relaxation.

Yeah. It’s connected to relaxation because when you smoke, you inhale deeper, your subconscious thinks relaxation. And so it’s connected. And so it was the first time I understood how the subconscious actually works. And when you ask scientists, they say, hey, like 98 percent of your daily decisions are made subconsciously.

And only 2, sometimes 5%, some say even, even less, are made consciously. You know, and so I understand who’s actually the boss in my brain and he said, hey, hypnotherapy is a great way that we talk actually with the boss and not only with the secretary, the conscious mind, you know, where you think you can decide things, but most of your decisions are actually made subconsciously.

And so we made a session and it took just one, one session and I never had the need to smoke again. It was for me. So It’s so mind blowing, so fantastic, I would say, what else is possible there? And so I, I worked with a lot of other topics and said I want to become a hypnotherapist and I, I completely burned for hypnosis from that time on, you know?

bruce: Were you told to try other types of treatments that you engaged in but failed like nicotine patches and the gum and traditional CBT therapy? You did all of that?

bernard: did, I, I, I did it all. I a, I did Ellen Cares book worked for four months. I, I tried acupuncture. I tried chewing gums. I tried– so all the things that, that, that didn’t work for me actually. Yeah. So hypnotherapy just went completely into my subconscious and, and really convinced my subconscious that the decision it’s actually doing is not the right decision anymore. And you can do that in hypnotherapy through emotional processes, actually, that your subconscious understands and reconnects it. You know, and that’s the, the, the powerful thing about hypnosis, because what you experience in there can be very real.

And your subconscious seizes as real, feels as, as, as it is in reality. Actually, it’s fantastic.

bruce: hmm. Mm. So. Maybe you can walk us through your very first experience, because to a lot of newcomers, I think they’ll probably be able to relate to that. I think maybe entering it, a lot of people have some misperceptions about what hypnosis involves based on media and movies of getting in this really deep trance state that’s highly suggestible, and you’re, you’re just kind of blindly acting out all the requests of another person, maybe for the entertainment of an audience, but I, I know it doesn’t always work like that

bernard: Yeah. In, in, actually in a hypnotherapeutic session, it’s, it’s a bit different, you know show hypnosis is also working, but what hypnosis does or hypnotherapist does is help you to guide you into a state of trance in which your subconscious is more open for suggestions. So what’s happening is that. The subconscious is protected by a kind of filter, by a bouncer, yeah, that’s protecting the subconscious of change.

And in hypnosis, in this deep trance state, the, this bouncer is stepping aside and suggestions can sink in. Yeah. And if they are up to the wishes and will of the client, of the patient, the chance that it can be accepted of the subconscious is very likely. Yeah. So. Hypnosis is more the way to guide someone into trance.

It’s like the process to guide someone into trance, you know, and you’re still aware of everything, you can hear everything, you can remember anything, and you will not talk about things that you don’t want to tell, yeah, so your, your, your conscious mind is still there. It’s more comparable to the moment before you wake up or before you go go to sleep, actually.

bruce: I see. Interesting. So so in order to get into that trans like state, I feel like you need to be relaxed and open minded to awareness, but also The reason that people are doing it could be due to stress and maybe somebody runs really hot and and they’re very anxious How do they get– because it’s almost like a catch 22 in order to get into the state of hypnosis You have to be relaxed, but you need the hypnosis in order to get relaxed.

How do you how do you break through that cycle?

bernard: it’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a very good point. It’s a very good point. So relaxation can, can be, can be trained also now. And sometimes you need longer to, to maybe relax and that’s what we offer in hypnobox. You know, we can, we can make a larger induction. We can you can take more time. You can have more deepening elements in there, you know.

And even if you think I’m not hypnotizable, my belief is that every adult, is very easily hypnotizable. Children are super easy hypnotizable because this bouncer is almost not there, you know? And, like, it closes around the age of 21, you know? And then it’s, it’s still possible, of course, when you’re an adult, you know?

But there are also approaches of other methods to go into trance. For example, through active alert hypnosis, which I call flow state hypnosis, going into a trance state through movement, maybe people know that from dancing, yeah, dancing with eyes closed or runners high or or, or other, other kinds of, of, of movement where you feel, Hey, I forget time and, and, and, and other things, you know, I got that through swimming, for example very quickly.

But I go into this state. I’m jumping tremble in the morning and do my flow state hypnosis, going into hypnosis through movement. And that’s also an approach where people can say, hey, it’s also available on the hypno box and say, Hey, I’m, I’m at the moment, not in the, in the mood for relaxation, but I want to, I want to move. And maybe that’s also another another approach to, to go into hypnosis and to a hypnotic state, not just through relaxation, also through movement. Yeah. But I believe it can be trained and also for the people who are like anxious, especially then, and we get a lot of feedback from people with anxiety.

Actually, this was the first time in a long time I could relax. This was the first time in a long time I fell asleep. Even the first time I used the app. You know, this is possible. You know, but also be patient. Not everything comes like this. Even hypnosis sometimes looks like it. Yeah, but like, like meditation.

Yeah. The repetition also counts, you know, when we work in a one on one session, we can do processes where we can really transform things in an app and in self hypnosis. This is not replacing therapy. Yeah, but it can help you if you work on a regular basis on it to solve really things and reconnect things.

It’s really, really fantastic what self hypnosis can do if, if you work on a regular basis with it. Yeah, sometimes you feel just, wow, this suggestion just sink in and you feel the change, but especially if you work on things that need some impact like self worth, yeah, like losing weight these are things, hey, work regularly with it and you’re gonna have, in some, somehow, things will happen.

bruce: Hmm. How would you use hypnosis to promote weight loss? How does that work?

bernard: Well, loss is especially especially working on the patterns that people have, like, okay, eating is connected very much with emotion. Eating is very much connected with how I feel at the moment. So our approach is, okay, how we can get the people into more intuitive eating. What do I really need?

Yeah. Getting them more into, okay, awareness. Okay. What am I really buying? Right now. Well, so the weight loss is also working on getting motivated to eat the right things to to to buy the right things, to move also more. Yeah, there we have a whole box, so the hypno box is separated into topic boxes where you can like select between a lot of different things and also create your own sessions.

So that’s What the special thing about Hypnobox is that you can create and tailor your own self hypnosis session with the needs that you have, and especially weight loss, you see, okay, what is my need? Do I need more healthy eating? Do I want to have a vegan diet? Do I want to eat less meat? Do I want to drink less alcohol or non alcohol?

Yeah, these are all things less sugar, no sugar. So all, all of these things, you. You can individualize, but of course, we work with the beliefs behind the eating and, and movement patterns that are there.

bruce: Hmm. So you mentioned in one of your podcast interviews that the goal of hypnosis is to achieve clarity and awareness and what clarity and awareness of what exactly is it of the subconscious and how does how does an app go about doing that when you can’t ask dynamic questions of the the user.

bernard: I’m more talking about a hypnotherapeutic process which brings awareness and understanding in the course behind a certain issue. Now, if I work here with clients, I work mainly cost orientated. Yeah, so we go into the emotion and we see where this is coming from, where this is originated and we’re bringing awareness, transformation, bringing in the resources that are needed, right?

And a one to one therapy, a hypnotherapist helps the client, the patient to find the resources that are needed and to activate and bring them in there where it’s actually needed. Yeah. And that can be in the very early stages of the trauma of where it all began. Yeah.

If we, if we work with with self hypnosis, we are more focused on bringing in positive suggestion and changing beliefs.

Yeah. We also offer, of course, meditative

processes in Hypnobox. So I’m also combining some elements And, and meditative elements. Yeah, I have a new technique, which I call hypnotation, where we use breath and mantras, yeah, repetitively to bring it in. But we also have mindful process, which is then more based on awareness.

Yeah, but I believe when I talked about that, I’m more talking about one one and one therapy. And for the app, this is more really based on how we change the inner beliefs through suggestions through visualizations that can be very powerful as well.

bruce: Hmm. Interesting. So it sounds like there is a little bit of a difference there. Can you kind of explain how close to in person hypnosis does this app get you? Like how, how well, how efficacious, how well does it work compared to in person hypnosis?

bernard: I say, I think, I think it’s, it’s a great it’s not replacing it and that’s really important to say. It’s not replacing any therapy. It’s not replacing hypnotherapy. It’s a great, like. add on for, for, for therapy as well. Yeah. So my clients are working with it, but I know many people who are working with it as a standalone tool as well.

Yeah. And it’s still a lifestyle product. So it’s not a medical product. Yeah. We don’t promote that we heal anxiety. We don’t promote that we that we heal cancer or something. Yeah. But what you can do is work on healing through the app on a regular basis.

And that’s very important to understand that, that hypnosis is a tool and it’s always working with things that people bring in hypnosis, certain setting is of course important. Yeah. So it’s good for everyone who’s willing to work with the subconscious and make the subconscious an ally.

And this, this process is that we offer are not transformational processes that you do with a hypnotherapist, where it’s like a communication, but with this positive suggestions, with this visualizations, how you visualize yourself when you are when, when you are in this perfect state, you, you program your subconscious to this goal. And that’s what we do in, in Hypnobox.

We have like most of like 80 percent of the suggestions I’ve been writing yeah, so, and we have other eight authors in the Hypnobox, all hypnotherapists that are specialized, for example, on children, you know, that are specialized on hypnobirthing and so on. Yeah, so we have a lot of specialists writing for the Hypnobox to really bring in the best experience in there, you know.

But we will not like be able through the app to say, okay, we’ll go now into the trauma and heal that. That is, that is not happening. Yeah. And that it would be, would be not responsible as well.

bruce: Right. Would you, for somebody who has tried mindful meditation or relaxation techniques and they feel like they didn’t quite work well for them, what would you say to that individual about potentially trying hypnosis, self hypnosis?

bernard: Yeah. Yeah. I, so many people ask me, Hey, what’s the difference between meditation and hypnosis actually? And I say, okay, meditation is more focused on the quantity of thoughts and hypnosis more on the quality of thoughts. So what hypnosis does is really what we do in hypnobox is put the focus on an induction that takes you in this trance state.

Now while in meditation we normally go directly into the technique or have a short Close your eyes, breathe in deeply and out and starting with the process or visualization or whatever. Yeah, so hypnobox is really focused on how can we get you in this theta brainwave state in which The bouncer steps aside.

Yeah. And that is the focus. So meditation normally works more on an alpha brain wave level, hypnosis on the theta, much more deeper, close to delta, which is sleep. Yeah. The theta brain waves are the brain wave that a six year old child has the whole time. Not in hypnosis. And so if you think who’s learning faster, a six year old or an adult, you know, it’s a six year old.

Why? ‘ cause he’s the whole time in the theta state. And so what we, what we do in hypno, in hypnosis is to bring you into a state where you are much more or easier able to learn. You know, that’s what we do, and that’s the difference actually. So through giving hypnobox and hypnotherapy a chance, you might find that through the way and we’re using very things long, long time known techniques, and we have a lot of deepening.

Techniques in there that are helping you to relax, relaxing first the body to relaxing first the mind. We have a lot of speech patterns like hypnotic speech loops, which are helping you to go deeper and deeper. So give it a try. You know, the HypnoBox is free to test anyway, seven days. There’s a lot of free content that you can actually use also after the free trial, you know, and, and it’s so comprehensive.

It has over 600 audio elements that you can put together. You will definitely find something in there where you say, Hey, I want to work on some personal growth there. Exactly.

bruce: Interesting. So sounds like you had a really transformative initial experience with hypnosis and you wanted to bring that experience to the masses, the public, and let’s hone in onto that time frame of your life. What did that look like? How did you develop a blueprint to get hypnosis into a digital format like an app?

bernard: Yeah, I’d love to talk about it because it was, it was such an interesting phase of my life because I was explain, experimenting a lot with, meditation with hypnotherapy. I really wanted to, to, to change my life on, on this deeper level. It was like a very, very spiritual phase of mine. I mean, I’m always discovering things and trying out things and experience, but that was combined with such deep, profound experience that I said, a hypnosis, self hypnosis, what can I get there?

So watch on YouTube, I tried out apps, but all the time I found out, hey, whether the content is not good, whether the speaker is not good. And the worst for me was that most of the time the music was very bad. I have a musical background, you know, and this, this was for me many times also trance killer. And I said, Hey, you need something like a tool where you can completely individualize your hypnosis sessions, your self hypnosis sessions.

Yeah. And so the idea was born to create an app, which has, is based on a modular system where you can create your own sessions, choose your inductions, choose the deepening, choose the, the suggestions, choose the wake up. So the part, how you can, how you get guided out of the trance again, choose the music and also import all of that.

And I started to record that actually on my, on my phone and created that on my computer with a, with a music program and put it together every day as I need it. And with that idea, so, Hey, And he did an app with that and I went to several several agencies for app programmation and most of the agencies said, Oh, we can’t do that.

That’s the way we have that. It’s too complicated. I think it’s eight years ago or something. Yeah. I mean, you know, technique has changed, but it’s, it was very, very interesting. And with the one with the ones who said, Hey. We have a solution. I’m still working with them, and they become part of the company.

They become become a CTO as well. So it was very, very successful. How is the work together? And it’s fantastic because we all give our whole soul for for this product. And it’s it’s very beautiful to work with.

bruce: What were some initial challenges that you had in developing the app more specifically?

bernard: For sure from, from a technique side, how, how to create this like for both platforms for Android and for iOS for sure yet to do this, this hybrid framework from the technical side. I must say and oh, also it’s quite complex. Yeah. So to have this whole app really bug free and stable, it took us some time.

But because it’s very complex what you can do with it. Yeah. And we have a, we have a really A huge back end, which you need for all the languages who have it now. And we started in German and say, Hey, this, this is successful. Then we continued with English. Now we have Spain Spanish. Yeah. And and, and.

Yeah, we always had new feature ideas. So we created like more features. We were very in contact with the users. So the users were writing us, Hey, what about if we can do this? What about this content? And so on. So this app was completely growing with the help of the users who were. completely into that because we also have a, Hey, this is exactly what I was looking for.

Yeah. And, and so many of my colleagues also say, Hey, yeah, I had I had the same idea, but it’s so great. You did it. And a lot of hypnotherapists are really supporting this. They’re recommending it to the clients as, as, as, as, The tool to work on after therapy or during the therapy, even even that some are sending them audios they can integrate in the app.

Now, very happy about that.

bruce: One thing that I find fascinating about doing a startup is that it kind of evolves into something that you didn’t originally expect it to be. Did that happen for you where maybe you got some feedback, some positive feedback about a particular feature and you realized, Hey, maybe there’s more of a demand for this one feature than another feature, for example.

bernard: For sure. And we still get requested. Some requests of that. Yeah. So we had we had, for example, of course, some bugs that are always like, Hey, can you fix this? There was a small gap in the music loop and Android. Yeah. And people were like, ah, this is. Disturbing my trance even just half a second, you know, we, we, we, we solved that and we got a great feedback for that.

Yeah. There are also, of course people asking for new suggestions. Yeah. So new, new topics, new content, for example, we get a lot of requests for addiction for mobile phones. Yeah. This is like the, the number one request we get right now. Now, so there is a demand of certain content in, within the app that people, that people need.

And we also ask them in the app, Hey, what, what, what didn’t you find what you were looking for? And then we can, we can like work on that. Yeah, we can’t deliver like two weeks later yet. It will take some time, but we know there’s a demand of certain, certain contents. Yeah. There’s a demand of certain features.

And then we try to, to work with that, but the demands are less feature based. They are more content based actually right now.

bruce: How long do you expect a user to continue to use the app for? Is it, is it a lifelong process in your mind ideally? Or do you expect them to work through a particular, to a particular goal and then they kind of graduate from using it?

bernard: I said, I normally say, Hey, stick, stick to one session for three weeks to see what’s happening. Yeah. Best if you do it on a daily basis, of course. Yeah, I’m, I’m, and if you just use the app to fall asleep and you take the suggestions. With you in the sleep, just leave out the wake up at the end. Yeah, you can program that.

It’s easy. And then you just you just take in the, in the sleep. But I know people who are using that in groups before they. Some student just just told me, I met a student on a, on a party. And I say, yeah, I’m, I’m being hypno, a hypno box. We use that in our study circle before we learn. So we all go into trance, listen to hypno box with a suggestion, a better memory, and then we go and start learning together as a, this is fantastic.

Yeah. So there are so many different ways how you can use it. Some use it as a, as a power thing. As a power nap, you know, and, you know, but. But if you go into the app, you will find it can be a lifelong support. If you’re willing to, to, to develop on, and and there are always something new to discover, always something new to mix, maybe you stick with the core suggestions, with the core topics you want to keep in your sessions.

And you just change other things and add new things in it. Yeah. And that’s the, that’s the, the nice thing to, to, to play also with that. to try out new things. Hey, what about hypnotization? What is this technique? What about flow state? Oh, I’m trying it on a bike. Okay, let’s go. Yeah. What about I’m gonna add in the future even hypnobreathing technique that I developed, which is combination of breathwork and hypnosis.

So through breath. Patterns going to trance and then you’re also open for new suggestions. Yeah. So it’s, it’s, it’s really, there’s so many way. I did a session now, ultra ultra depth hypnosis. Yeah. It’s based on a lot of inductions chain together a lot of depth deepening techniques, and you can discover very deep hypnotic states actually.

Yeah.

bruce: Interesting. Have there been any case examples where you’ve used Hypnobox to augment your clinical practice in a case that might have otherwise been particularly challenging to note, find improvement towards? And can you give an example of something like that and how it’s, it’s augmented your own clinical care?

bernard: Yeah. So when I have a bad day, I read the reviews of hypnobox. Yeah. And there are really some really nice stories and examples in the reviews of exactly what you’re saying. Now, if we go now into a clinical environment, we tested the app for sleeping disorder.

And we’re working on a cooperation right now to have more clinical tries to see and to really prove, Hey, this is doing this, this is doing this. And I’m very proud of that. That gets so much interest also from, from, from the science. Yeah. Yeah. We find it interesting. We want to connect more hypnosis. We want to connect more technology.

How can we actually actually prove also, and how can it help with an app to get people deeper into trans? How we can use AI? How can we use camera technique? How can we use things? So we are working on a lot of things and have a lot of plans to use our technology for that if we see it from technological side.

bruce: How are you deciding that roadmap of what to do next? There’s so much new technology that’s being released all the time.

bernard: That’s, that’s, that’s that’s a good question. We were discussing that in the team. We’re having, we’re having workshops. We’re having vision workshops. We’ve seen what is, what is, what is the call, what we need, what which resources do we want to put in? What like any company, it’s a strategy thing strategic decisions.

So how far is AI and of course we’re discussing AI. You know but we didn’t jump directly on that AI train because for us it’s important that we deliver an absolutely high trustful quality and to use AI at this moment for what we do, we’re not there yet. Yeah. We might be there, but I get daily mails hey, let’s do AI things. But I believe what we do with humans, with therapists speaking, doing it, offering that, explaining that is for technology and a technique like hypnosis that needs. It needs that needs some really knowledge and because we’re working with people here right now, we don’t want to use AI for that.

Yeah. But in the future, it can definitely help to select. the sessions to select the content for that, for example. So of course we are very carefully looking how to, how to use that. Yeah. Of course virtual reality can play a role yet can be a more in depth experience for people. So which combinations are possible but the core that we do.

But the moment is, of course, relaxation, how to get people deeper into that. And that is, that is that is our main business. You know, we want to really deliver a hypnosis app where people say, Hey, this is high quality. This is trustful. This is done by, by experts who knows what they’re doing. And they don’t just say, Hey, the AI will do that.

You know, that’s that’s, that’s for the work that we do. Yeah, I, I know that AI can do a lot of great things, writing a lot of great text. And I did, that Chat GPT writes some suggestions, but the soul is missing there. That was my experience.

bruce: What is your primary way of getting new clients or customers to using the app? Because I imagine there’s probably, when people need help, they probably search Google search for the word therapy, not necessarily hypnosis. So it’s a much smaller subset of individuals who are seeking help. Does that play a role into your growth?

bernard: Yeah, well we’re, we’re working, of course, on, or if, if you have an app your main channel is the app store and the play store. Yeah, these are the main channels. So We are also, of course, working with AdWords. So but where are the people really, really looking for? Which keywords, which keywords are people looking for?

Which is connected to that and people who are interested, of course, in meditation are already more open to that. Yeah. People looking for, for certain certain issues. Yeah. Falling asleep or something. Yeah. Of course. These are, these are people that we are think we can support you or give it, give it a try.

You know, if not, you get nothing to do, and to give it a try. Yeah, but hypnosis, and that’s why I’m, I’m speaking here with you in the podcast, because my mission is to bring hypnosis into the mainstream, to, to to get rid of them, all the myths that are behind it to build more trust. Yeah, a lot of studies are, are right now coming up and building this trust.

And this is what, what our mission is to bring hypnosis into the mainstream, build more trust, explain people, hey, this is one of the most powerful tools that are existing here and you can have it in your pocket with Hypnobox, actually.

bruce: Let’s talk a little bit about those myths and misconceptions that people have of hypnosis. Which have you felt that are particularly difficult to break through in terms of the audience or general public’s main misperceptions about hypnosis?

bernard: I believe the most common is that they are out of control and that they sleep, that they’re not aware of what is happening. And this is the main misconception about hypnosis. Yeah. In the hypnotic states in that we work. You’re aware of everything, you remember everything, yeah, and and, and this is important because if you still, and your conscious mind is still with you, even if it’s not that active, your whole your whole value system is still there.

You know, if you don’t like something, you will wake up and say, Hey, I don’t want this in that moment. Of course, there are ways and there are things you can, of course, use hypnosis in a bad way. No question. Yeah. And there is manipulation out there and there is hypnosis used the same way as you can use a knife, you know, you can also use hypnosis in a bad way, for sure.

But there are normally never bad hypnotists or good hypnotists that are bad or have, that are coming together. Now, so even the “show hypnosis” that is happening is a sort of hypnosis, but they work with high suggestible people. They do suggestibility tests before their work now. And I’m not an I’m not against ” show hypnosis.”

I’m just not, not liking if people must, must, must run around like chicken. What is possible and what they want in this moment, but from the outside, it looks a bit weird, you know, and so for me, “show hypnosis” can be very powerful just to show what the subconscious can do. Now, if you are, if you have this selective thinking, if you subconscious believes that this is happening, that your arm is stiff, that you can’t open your eyes anymore, and then you realize, ah, it’s just a thought, and then you can open them again. Yeah, just a little example of how show hypnosis can give you an idea of how powerful hypnosis and hypnotherapy can be.

bruce: Interesting. So what is Bernhard like nowadays after becoming a hypnosis expert? Does anybody ever make you angry? Does anybody ruffle your feathers or is it pretty much impossible now?

bernard: No I’m, I’m, I’m still a human being with, with feelings and triggers and and I’m, I’m still working on this, on these triggers and still, still go to colleagues to work with five things, to work with that. I’m, I have coaches, I have a therapist I’m talking to, so I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m. I think the, or my sense of life is to, to really understand me deeply.

This is my spiritual path to understand me deeply in all of my, in all of my, in all of my way of being, in my emotions, in my triggers and Yeah, I mean everyone who knows who is in a romantic relationship will know that, that, that there are always triggers and you open yourself, you open, you open up to, to someone you love.

And so you’re getting vulnerable and of course, I’m, I’m a vulnerable person and through being open and, and, and, and working a lot with that I also need to take care of course of myself. through being open. And I have a good filter, yeah. But especially with, of course, people I love also can be vulnerable.

And to look at that, what that triggers that is still my spiritual path to get more into that and to know, okay, hey why, why I feel rejected here. It’s coming from there. I now understand, but maybe not just directly in the moment, but later through the reflection. And, and this is very important. in my process that I started really to reflect on myself, to reflect on my behavior, to reflect on my patterns, and then taking over the responsibility to act on that. And that was actually when I say, hey, hypnosis, I, I take responsibility. I do self hypnosis. I go to therapist. I go to teacher. If I have an issue, I take over the responsibility.

And work on that. And yeah, and this is what I wish everybody to take over the responsibility, to do self reflection and ask for help. And this is also something that I want, I want to encourage people. Yeah. Ask for help. It’s a sign of strength. It’s not a sign of weakness. Yeah.

bruce: Yeah, so it sounds like you’re a lifelong learner, constantly improving, and even though you might still have similar stressors perhaps you recognize them earlier and better and are able to act on them with less impulse and more control.

bernard: Exactly, exactly. Yeah. And then you understand, ah, this emotion is coming up. Yeah. And your subconscious, if your subconscious is saying, Hey, get relaxed. You’re safe. You’re okay. You’re worthy. Yeah. And exactly the hypnosis and hypnobox can help to bring in this beliefs a you are okay. You are safe. This is what we want to bring into the world.

Yeah, you are safe. You are okay.

bruce: Can you reflect a little bit about the self medication aspect of using substances and how hypnosis could potentially target that? Because it sounds like what you’re saying is we’re not always aware of why we’re doing something, and that includes using a substance. And how, how does doing hypnosis uncover that enlightenment that somebody might have about why they’re doing it, using a substance?

bernard: No. So using the substance is in the end a symptom, yeah, it’s, it’s a symptom of filling up something or so. I know what I’m talking about because I was a big escaper, you know in my past. So that’s what I learned. Now if there’s a problem. drink something, then it’s easier, you know, great escapism, what I did there.

But this is, this is, this was also a pattern, but also a symptom of way how I didn’t learn how to deal with my emotions, you know. So this is a way Also, or in which hypnotherapy can help with, okay, look behind the emotion there and look behind the emotional part of addiction, of pattern, yeah, and see, okay, what is behind, what is behind that.

And we’ll often come to selfless topics for sure, yeah.

bruce: Very cool.

bernard: What’s your perspective on that would be my question as an, as an addiction expert.

bruce: I think there’s certainly genetic contributing factors, certain perpetuating mental health factors.

I do think there’s definitely, I definitely understand and agree with the self medicating aspect. I feel like our brains and our behaviors we want to default to fixing a problem. And. a substance, it’s the most readily accessible option for trying to get that immediate fix to whatever issue is at hand.

And over time, You know, it’s over relied on and overused and people turn into being dependent upon that external factor. I think that’s why it ends up becoming an addiction. So it is important to, to start to just peel back the layers. Is it social anxiety that people turn to alcohol? Is it the stress at the end of the day that people just want to try to quote unquote turn their brain off?

Are they feeling more upbeat and hopeful by using cannabis? And otherwise they, they don’t feel hopeful about the future. So I think there’s a variety of different ways and it’s fairly individualized.

bernard: Yeah.

bruce: Yeah.

bernard: Beautiful.

bruce: You have any treatment options that really excite you that are on the, on the horizon in the world of mental health treatments?

 

bernard: Yeah, I believe hypnotherapy is, is having a shiny future there and becoming part of the mainstream. Hopefully applying also part of the public health system that, that, yeah, also politicians and, and yeah, all system realize, okay, this is much, much faster track for many things. Yeah. When we talk about sleeping disorder, anxiety, for example, there are so many possibilities.

We did studies about that already. And yeah, and I wish everyone just to to encourage and have the courage just to give it a try, to, to, to trust a bit, to relax, to read into that and how powerful it is if your subconscious becomes your ally. And this is, this is a beautiful, beautiful

path.

bruce: I like that phrase, subconscious becomes your ally.

Bernhard Tewes is great talking to and meeting you. You’re a hypnotherapist and founder of Hypnobox, which is an app that facilitates individuals to achieve self hypnosis. And I appreciate your nuance perspective of the different types of hypnosis and how it can help a wide variety of individuals in complimenting their ongoing therapy or other mental health treatment.

And I think that’s a great opportunity for other people who probably didn’t have access to high quality hypnotherapy

bernard: Thank you so much.

bruce: How might people find you, Bernhard?

bernard: Well, they found the app through hypnobox.com. They find me through my website, www.bernhardtewes.c om, or my practice site, keats hypnosis. de slash en. You will post it in the channels probably, and yeah, I also work online with people from all over the world if they want to have a one on one therapy, that’s that’s not a problem but if we’re going, of course, into really therapeutic themed topics, anxieties, depression and so on, heart sleeping disorders, one on one is, Of course, the the things that, that, that’s, that’s to choose.

bruce: Awesome.

bernard: I also work as a, as a speaker as trainer. I do, I do workshops. So I’m happy to, to, to just contact me. Let’s see how I can help you. How can like be, be, be part of your, your festival event, whatever. I’m happy to, to bring out the mission. to bring hypnosis out there.

bruce: Awesome. Wonderful. Well, Bernhard, thank you so much. It’s wonderful having you on today.

bernard: Thank you, Bruce, for the invitation. It was a pleasure.

bruce: All right. Thanks a lot.

That’s it for our show today. Hope you enjoyed listening. I’m Dr. Bassi, an addiction trained physician and biomedical engineer, interested in the intersection of technology and mental health innovation. There are episode notes and more resources on our website, telepsych health.com, and then navigate to the podcast show.

I’d appreciate it if you please like and share the podcast with your colleagues. It would be especially helpful for us. And if you’d like, please leave us a rating on your favorite podcatcher. If you’re a clinician, I developed a course on how to start a private practice. And for patients, I’ve also developed a course on ACT and CBT based lessons for treating and helping anxiety.

And you can find those all on our website as well. Thank you so much. And I’ll see you in the next episode.