Ten years ago, Sean Maness and Will Koen, of Maness Hypnosis, had both struggled to overcome obstacles. Maness, a musician, had a goal of joining a professional orchestra. Koen was overweight and tried multiple diet plans, but was unsuccessful in shedding pounds. Through hypnotherapy, each had learned and implemented strategies to change negative behavioral patterns and develop positive mindsets to achieve long-lasting results.

Koen had tried many diet plans to lose weight, but he eventually realized that those approaches were missing the mental and emotional aspects behind unhealthy eating patterns. “I did self-hypnotherapy every day, using visualization and creating positive suggestions to retrain my mind, which increased my motivation and kept me focused,” he says. He achieved his weight loss goal in October 2008 by losing 120 pounds. He credits hypnotherapy with permanently adapting to healthier eating.

Because Maness had found success through hypnotherapy to help overcome challenges that kept him stuck, he switched careers so he could share it with others. He trained at the Hypnotherapy Academy of America, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and became a certified hypnotherapist. Koen, who knew Maness previously, was also so impressed by the results of hypnotherapy that he had decided to become certified through the International Board of Hypnotherapy. In 2016, he joined Maness’ hypnotherapy practice, Maness Hypnosis. Maness does the hypnotherapy work with clients, and Koen handles day-to-day business operations.

Although hypnotherapy has been used for more than a century to help people overcome obstacles, some people are still unsure of what it is. Koen defines hypnotherapy as a heightened state of focus where the subconscious mind is more open to changes, including positive suggestions. “It’s not magic,” he emphasizes. “It’s basically a state of meditation, but in hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis, you’re working through processes to help yourself overcome certain mental blocks like negative emotions, beliefs and thought patterns that are habitually keeping you stuck, and creating positive programming for your mind.”

While many hypnotherapists do just a handful of high-priced sessions, Maness works with clients longer, often three months or more, to help them achieve lasting change. The process he and Koen have engineered helps clients replace old limiting mental programming with new mental programming to create mental and physical habits that support a lasting change.

Maness includes a maintenance stage, where he works with a client after achieving their goal to help reinforce the positive changes so they don’t slip back into bad habits. Clients eventually reach a termination stage, where they actually have habits that support them that are second nature. At this point, they no longer need Maness’ help.

Clients begin with a 20-minute phone consult with Koen to determine if they’re a good fit for the program. He notes they don’t work with people under 18, those with a serious mental health diagnosis or clients seeking hypnotherapy for drug, alcohol or nicotine addiction. During the first appointment, Maness assesses which stage of change the person is in and collects thorough background information.

In following sessions, Maness works with them to define the problem and the causes, and talk about outcomes. He finds out how he can best support them in achieving the original goal they decide to work on together at the consultation. If they are experiencing a block such as emotional eating, Maness helps them find the subconscious source that drives that behavior and helps them change their beliefs and thoughts. He also helps them heal emotions surrounding those blocks so they can move forward.

Each session is structured toward the client’s needs at that time. “I like helping people change habits after years of struggling. To see that change is life changing for me, too,” Maness concludes.