Former teacher finds second career as a hypnotist

TILTON — Barbara Blinn jokes that she spent 32 years as a teacher trying to keep her students awake and now she's putting people to sleep for a living. She retired in 2008 from a career that included 26 years as an English teacher at Winnisquam High School and has found herself with a new life as a hypnotist.

She opened her office "The Hypnosis Center" downtown Tilton's Prospect Street in October.

It wasn't until after her retirement that Blinn became introduced to hypnosis. "I had heard of it, but like everyone else I had all these crazy things in my mind, like quacking like a duck, barking like a dog," she said, referring to comic hypnosis shows where the performer gets willing audience members to behave strangely for the entertainment of the crowd.

Instead of looking for a good laugh, she said she came to hypnosis because she and her brother resolved to each lose weight in preparation for a wedding coming up in their family. Her brother had used the technique to successfully quit smoking and he suggested they give it a shot. Blinn, who had struggled with weight since her college years, gave it a shot and visited a hypnotist in Methuen, Mass.

She remembers the session last year, and how she left feeling that she might have just wasted her money. On the way home, she saw a Dairy Queen on the side of the road and did something she almost never did – she drove past without stopping. Had she passed it on the way to the hypnotism appointment, she said her car would have turned into the restaurant as if on "auto-pilot," but after the therapy she was master of her impulse instead of slave to it. She's since lost 56 pounds and counting.

"I've tried Weight Watchers, TOPS, Curves, nothing has worked as easily or comfortably as hypnosis," she said. The conventional diets and weight loss programs, she said, focus on the conscious mind, which is whereas hypnosis therapy is directed at the subconscious mind, which Blinn said controls emotions, memories, impulses, organ function and many other tasks.

The conscious mind can tell you how many calories are in that sundae, but the subconscious controls how one feels about the dessert. Blinn said hypnosis helped her to understand, "You can have it if you want it, but you don't have to have it.... It's my inner mind controlling. It's almost like someone turned a switch on in my mind that said, I'm in control, nothing tastes as good as fit feels."

Her hypnosis weight loss therapy started working immediately and as friends and family watched her pounds drop away, she started referring them to the hypnotist, Jerry Valley, in droves. With Valley's encouragement and mentoring, Blinn became trained and certified with the National Guild of Hypnotists, located in Merrimack, and set up her business.

Many of her first clients were former students who kept in touch through Facebook. From there, word-of-mouth has kept her appointment book filled. Weight loss is one of the most common problems her clients ask for help with, followed by anxiety and panic issues, smoking cessation, anger management and attention deficit disorder. She tells her clients, "If you can see it, you can be it. Your mind is such a great tool if you know how to use it."

Many new clients come in with false expectations and unfounded fears. There's no spinning spirals or swinging pocket watches involved. There's no risk of a person being "stuck" in a hypnotised state, and patients remain in control and aware of at all times.

Sessions with Blinn last anywhere from a 15-minute consultation to an hour or two of hypnosis. During the therapy, she said she relaxes the client by encouraging the "conscious" part of the mind to focus on a pleasing experience, such as sitting on a beach on a pleasant day. By speaking calmy and providing instructions, she helps the client reach a state of relaxation that is near sleep but short of unconsciousness. "It's not unconscious, it's a state of concentration, a very intense form of concentration. They're in a place of total receptiveness." When her client has achieved that state, she begins to provide suggestions based on the problems the client wishes to confront.

There's no drugs and no side effects, but Blinn said the effects can be powerful, such that a long-time smoker can give up cigarettes after a single two-hour session. There will still be withdrawal symptoms and Blinn said hypnosis shouldn't be considered a "magic wand," but added, "As long as the person is really seeking change, I believe it can work. I think the mind is just incredible in what it can do."

Blinn can be reached at The Hypnosis Center by calling 934-2439.

"When I retired from teaching, I just though, What am I going to do with the rest of my life? I still want to help people, what am I going to do? This has been such a good fit. It's been a wonderful second career for me."

CAPTION for HYPNOTIST in AA:

Barbara Blinn, who taught English at Winnisquam High School for most of her 32 year career, has found a new career as a hypnotist and opened an office in downtown Tilton. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)