- She was like and then your little finger
becomes more separated from your others.
And I could see it moving
and I wasn't doing it, I mean,
obviously, I was, subconsciously,
but like that's what she was trying to hone in on.
(slow bouncy music)
- Hi, I'm Destiny, and I am going to try hypnotherapy
for the first time.
- So the hypnotherapist we're gonna see
specializes in habit changing.
The habit I wanna change is how much meat I eat.
- So I've decided to try like a plant-based diet.
Personally, just for like health purposes.
A lot of different diseases, heart disease,
high blood pressure, high cholesterol,
diabetes, all run in my family.
- I am someone who cares a lot about the environment,
and I know that one of the biggest changes
you can make is to stop eating meat.
- A lot of people thought I wouldn't be able to make it.
My mom is still shocked that like
I'm not ever eating meat again.
But it's something I feel really good about.
- I've actually never met anyone who's had hypnotherapy.
You see it on TV with like hypnosis
and you like, "Now, go around the room like a chicken,"
like that kinda thing.
But I've never seen it so much in like a hypnotherapy sense.
- My first experience with a hypnotist
was in high school, senior year,
we do like a senior party, kickoff,
before graduation and we had a hypnotist at our big party
and they hypnotized like five of my classmates.
Specifically, I remember a moment where the hypnotist
when up to the people and said,
"If I go boop on the top of your nose, you'll pass out."
And so everyone did that.
After the show ended, we were like, "That was great,
like let's go home," and I remember
watching a friend next to me like,
"Let me try it," and she's like, "Boop,"
and my friend passes out.
- I have no idea how I'm going to respond to hypnotherapy,
honestly like I'm not very good at letting myself go.
- A few years ago, I probably would have not touched this,
I would've been like, "No," like, "I don't believe in that."
But I think I'm in a place where it's like
try something new, you never know.
Like, it's not hurting you, it's not hurting anyone else,
so I'm really excited to see if it works.
- All right, let's go get hypnotized.
- Hi, I'm Cristina, I'm a hypnotherapist
and the founder of Liberate Hollywood.
Liberate is a center, a creative spiritual center
to transform people's lives and help them
liberate to become their best self.
I've been practicing hypnotherapy for almost 15 years now.
And I was in grad school for becoming a psychologist,
then I went and took some classes on hypnosis
and took more and more and became fascinated.
So hypnotherapy is reprogramming your unconscious mind
to change your life.
That could be habits, behaviors,
thought-patterns, beliefs, anything.
You get in there, it's like reprogramming a computer,
but it's your mind.
You go into a deep state where you're hyper-suggestible.
And in that state, your conscious mind kinda
checks out and I get to communicate
directly to your unconscious mind
and we shift things around,
and you wake up and see the world differently.
- So I initially was trying to find a shaman
because I had hit rock bottom
and I came across a hypnotherapist instead.
And went to try one session, was totally hooked.
Right after my first session,
it felt like my brain had had a shower.
I actually went to hypnosis to stop smoking weed
'cause I had a serious problem with it.
And I am now celebrating seven months sober
of marijuana, so it totally works.
- I've worked a lot with people changing diets
and the way that they feel about different foods.
You know, sometimes it's like taking sugar
out of somebody's life, making them eat healthier,
and this is no different.
I'm excited to meet the women.
- Okay.
- So I hear you want to go vegetarian or vegan.
- Vegetarian but also I wouldn't be against going vegan,
I just didn't want to make it too hard on myself,
but if you're able to do it, I'm not against it.
- I'm hoping to fully transform into veganism.
I've kind of been on a journey for about two weeks now,
like kinda experimenting with it.
And it's been going really well.
I don't really miss meat at all,
I've kinda been good on that front.
But like I'm struggling with the dairy aspect.
- If you can make me hate cheese,
I would be like glad to hate cheese.
- We can work on it.
- I'm lactose intolerant, so I shouldn't really
be having cheese or dairy.
But I still love it.
- Well, that's a good thing.
So we can utilize the aspect that
you are lactose intolerant because your body
does have a certain reaction to it.
And so one of the things that we'll be doing
is we'll be enhancing the negative
attributes towards cheese.
There might be foods or different even beverages
or things that, at one point in your life,
you used to drink or like or eat,
and then your taste buds changed,
or it became gross to you or whatever,
and then now you couldn't eat it, right?
And so that you're constantly changing.
- What does this process look like
and like what is the method that you use
to like really make things stick?
- Go like this.
- That's it.
- That's it, then we're done.
- I wish.
- Okay, so pretty much everything
that you're seeing in the world
and the way that you think and your mind
and your responses and even some of those
you know cravings and everything,
they're coming from your patterns within your mind.
Not on a conscious level, on an unconscious level you know?
And maybe you have a pattern of always having
your food be more creamy or having that cheese
or that density and stuff like that, you know,
and so you're having that stronger desire.
And you're feeling like you're missing something, right?
And there might be some other things
that are going on within that as well.
But how hypnosis works is we're having
a conscious conversation right now.
So I tell you, "You're not gonna eat cheese anymore,"
you're gonna be like, "Yeah, right, no."
Under hypnosis, you enter into
a hyper-suggestible state, okay?
And so you're kinda passed out but not passed out.
You'll hear some of the things that I say
and other times you won't hear the things that I say.
- I'm scared.
- You'll feel like your whole body's like weighed down
like a weight but almost like
you're floating like a feather.
A lot of things with food are emotional-based, right?
So we look at different aspects
and what I'll be finding during our session
is I'll go through and learn a little bit
more about you personally,
learn about all of these things that you do want to change,
learn about other things that maybe you've given up
or you've shifted in your life.
And use what I learned to strengthen the session
into create a faster result.
Does that make sense?
- Yeah, that's cool.
- The difference between using an audio and a real human
is that I learn you, inside and out and backwards.
I learn your association,
I even learn your language patterns.
It's not that audio CDs aren't effective,
it's just that they're so general and blanket,
that they work a little bit for a lot of people.
- This is definitely gonna be a new experience for me
but I am open.
I'm currently on my way to Liberate to have my first
hypnotherapy session with Cristina.
I'm extremely nervous, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't.
- Oh my god, I am like equal parts terrified,
equal parts super excited.
I'm just worried I'm gonna like start crying
and be all weird because it's gonna be so intense
or something, I don't know.
- When we first met, she was really thorough
about what she was going to be doing
and very open and honest, so I trust her completely.
But also, I'm scared.
Like, I don't know if I'm going to feel different.
- It's like I partly know what to expect,
but I don't at the same time.
Like in any way just 'cause I've never done
anything like this.
- I just finished my session with Cristina, wow!
It was almost like a psychology therapy session,
like we went into some really deep stuff in my life.
And I definitely got emotional,
which I was like I wasn't planning on doing
but it was great to be vulnerable.
It really worked.
There was a moment where she told me
I would feel like my eyes were glued shut,
and even if I tried to open them,
it would tighten, and I was like, nah.
Tried it, literally could not open my eyes.
It was so scary but I still felt aware,
like if I really wanted to snap out of it, I could.
- Oh my god, it was so interesting.
I've only had one session and I honestly
would probably recommend it already,
even though I haven't really done the whole thing yet.
So for the first almost hour,
she just talked to me kind of like a therapy session.
And she was trying to encourage me
to think more about the more personal reasons
why I wanna become plant-based.
Then the actual hypnosis part,
she laid me down, she did all these like tests.
Like she made me hold my hand in the air
and look at my middle finger.
And then she started saying all these words
that like, "Look at the light between your fingers
as your fingers get further apart from each other,"
and my hands just started moving on their own.
Like I'm not joking.
Like, slowly, but it was doing it.
And as she was like saying,
she was like, "And then your finger
becomes more separated from your others,"
and I could see it moving.
I wasn't doing it, I mean,
obviously I was subconsciously,
but like that's what she was trying to hone in on.
And then she made me close my eyes,
and then she like made the room dark.
Laid back on this very comfortable chair,
but also, my stupid conscious brain
kept trying to like control it
and I was getting like a little panicky in my chest
sometimes because I'm someone that likes
to be in control and I find it really hard to let go
and I felt my body like reacting to that.
- I was drifting in and out of what she was saying.
I don't know if I was asleep or what but it's wow.
So my next session is in a week
and I can't wait to see like what we tackle.
- I'm hopeful that over the next few days
my mindset will change a little bit
and I already just feel like more uplifted
and more like, I don't know.
Just better.
So my friends are all going to Korean barbecue tonight,
and I'm going too because one of my friends
is visiting that I don't see very often.
But that is a ton of meat.
But I'm gonna eat vegetarian and I don't feel
like it's hard for me to do.
I'm curious if I'm gonna like not like the smell
of the place, because it is like very meat-smelling.
So yeah, I'll report back and see if I find it
more gross than I usually do.
- Okay, so I'm heading to my second session
with Cristina, the hypnotherapist.
I've been feeling like a lot better about my vegan diet.
Like I recently went to go visit my family
and they love meat but I just realized
we used to eat so much meat.
Like I used to eat so much meat.
And I just realized it doesn't sound good to me.
Like cheese, dairy, none of that just sound,
it all kinda just grossed me out
when I like had the option to have it.
We went to a buffet and I just got all veggies
and like potatoes, like I just didn't even want
the meat, the cheese, so I think it's working.
- So today is my second session with Cristina,
it's been a week.
I feel a little different, it's not like some crazy,
"Oh my god, I'm cured" kind of thing.
But I definitely do feel like when I'm out to eat,
I don't crave meat as much.
I don't think I realized that anything was happening to me
until I went to Korean barbecue and saw all the raw meat
and I was like, "There is no way I could do that."
Last night, I was exhausted, I worked really late
on edit and I just desperately wanted a burger.
And I actually chose an Impossible Burger.
I was craving meat, I guess,
but it wasn't that hard to choose an alternative to it.
I am hopeful and positive and can't wait
to see what happens.
- Okay, so I just wrapped up my second and last session
with Cristina and like,
sorry if I look sleepy but
that was like such a deep sleep.
She told me that because this was my second time around
that I would fall deeper,
and I like felt like I took a nap.
Like there were moments I felt completely like gone.
This session was really good
and she was really optimistic and happy
and told me I was going to have a really
good week this week, so I'm really excited.
- So I finished my last session,
and I am sad that I finished it.
Because I just want to keep going.
And I actually might just buy another session
just because it makes me feel good.
It's honestly like therapy, but like a little magical,
which is really cool and I like a little bit of magic.
This time, I still felt a little nervous going in
and I still found it hard to like relax,
but I felt very heavy and my eyelids felt heavier this time
so I had a vegan lunch and a vegan cookie.
And that's all I'm going to have until dinner,
which is also going to be vegan.
- So it's been a few days, actually, almost a week
since my hypnotherapy with Cristina.
And I'm honestly not craving meat or seafood or dairy.
I actually went and bought this really cool book online.
I've got my pasta boiling,
about to put it in my cute, little meal prep container.
So we'll just do some pasta with tomato sauce
and some asparagus.
And I'm pretty sure that's vegan, right?
Right.
All done.
I'm so proud of how it turned out,
it actually looks so good.
Simple and vegan.
- So all in all, I really honestly do
recommend hypnotherapy.
I can't believe it actually did affect me
the way it did.
Yeah, okay, so I still like cheese.
But it did what I wanted it to do,
essentially, which is give up meat.
So I can't fault it.
So now it's just Impossible Burgers for me,
no more meat, goodbye.
(light guitar music)