by Colleen M. Quinn

Stage fright, that nauseous feeling in your stomach when standing in front of a crowd, is not usually considered a good thing. If anything, it can make you forget lines, stutter, or become physically ill. But what if instead of being nervous, it made you more confident? Stronger? Even calmer? What if any negative feeling could be resolved, and possibly used to make you feel better? It is indeed possible, as Marilyn Penn, a certified Counseling Clinical Hypnotherapist (CCHt), can tell you.

The practice of hypnotherapy had always sounded interesting to Penn, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that she looked more deeply into it. “I had an issue come up for me,” she says. “I was angry, frustrated, suspicious. As I did my research, I thought ‘I bet hypnotherapy would help.’”

Penn began hypnotherapy soon after with Zoilita Grant, CCHt, a certified hypnotherapist from the Colorado School of Counseling Hypnotherapy, in Longmont, Colorado. While resolving her own personal obstacles, Penn realized that hypnotherapy was a way to help people. Motivated by her compassion for those dealing with personal pain and trauma, whether physical or emotional, Penn studied at the school and received her certification as a hypnotherapist. She is now putting her skills into action by offering group hypnotherapy sessions and will offer individual sessions in the future.

But what exactly does hypnotherapy entail? Forget what you may have seen at fairs or on television, people falling asleep or barking like dogs. Hypnotherapy offers very real help for very real problems. “Hypnotherapy involves counseling with a client to work with issues and goals, and to facilitate the most growth,” Penn says. The most important thing to know about hypnotherapy is that a hypnotherapist works with the client: “You are not under the hypnotherapist’s control,” Penn says. “They can’t make you do anything you don’t want to, for instance, you can always come out of a trance.”

In the simplest terms, a therapist helps a client uncover the barriers or blocks within themselves that are preventing them from living the life they want, whether it’s a single event in that person’s life or a pattern of behavior. “People don’t always know all the ramifications of their problems,” Penn explains. “They need to find the impetus for their pain.” Hypnosis is merely a tool for doing so, and is used not only by hypnotherapists, but also by other therapists and counselors as well. Hypnosis works through a person’s focus and concentration. Penn describes it as a very relaxed state, where the worries of everyday life are put aside to concentrate on a person’s inner self.

“The therapist acts as a facilitator for the person to get deep into their consciousness,” Penn says, “and to find their blocks and strengths.” In this state, or trance, a person can discover what is bothering them, whether it’s an apparent problem or not.

Over time, these blocks may have an effect on a person’s behavior or way of thinking, often in a harmful way. “Your must confront your experiences to let them go,” Penn says. Part of letting go is to recognize these blocks, and then to take the steps necessary to change the resulting behaviors. Penn says that it’s an empowering experience to take control after a hurtful experience, and to be able to “stand up for yourself in all situations, and to be there for yourself.”

Hypnotherapy works as much as the client works. A client’s determination helps solve whatever problem they’re working through. There must be a willingness to learn, and to confront feelings and emotions that have been suppressed.

Hypnotherapy can be used to help a number of common problems many people struggle with, such as weight mastery, physical pains, anxiety, and smoking. In many cases, it’s a matter of changing patterns of thought and behavior, which can be achieved through hypnotherapy. For example, a person can change their attitude towards their weight and exercise by thinking “I enjoy exercise,” rather than thinking about how much they don’t want to do it. “You must be consciously aware that your thoughts are very powerful,” Penn says, “And you can direct this [way of thinking] towards the way you want your life to be.”

Penn currently is working on group hypnotherapy sessions, starting April 12, 2007, and meeting each following Thursday for six weeks. A schedule is available on Penn’s website, www.transformationhappens.com. The group session called “Love Your Butterflies,” will focus on overcoming stage fright. And as a musical performer, Penn is no stranger to stage fright. While clients will not experience deep trances as in individual sessions, they will participate in guided imagery, which is concentrating on a particular scene or event in the imagination.

The first sessions will be about getting to know others in the class, and creating a comfortable learning environment. Penn will conduct the following sessions similar to performance classes, with clients standing in front of groups to face their stage fright. Each time a person stands in front of the group, Penn works with them with “instant alert hypnosis.” This is not a deep trance, but a call for the client to pay attention to what they are feeling in front of a group, and what their concerns are.

Penn says that overcoming stage fright is a great example of how hypnotherapy works. Standing in front of a crowd often triggers adrenaline in the body, creating that nervous feeling most people identify as fright. The goal in her group sessions is for people to learn how to use that nervous energy to make their performance better, whether it’s simply talking to a group or giving a speech.

“It’s a gift of more energy,” she says. “You’re teaching the butterflies in your stomach to fly in formation!”

Penn plans to offer individual sessions in the future. These sessions will be for those who have varying degrees of needs, and who want to work on one or more specific problems. In an individual session, Penn says it’s very important to get to know the client, establish trust, and to create a safe, supportive environment.

“The first session will be mainly talking,” she says. “We get to know each other, and go over their concerns and issues.” Depending on the client, Penn might do a short hypnosis session so that a client will feel comfortable with being in a hypnotic state. Penn and the client will then delve deeper in following sessions.

In all of her work, Penn’s motivation is to inspire and heal. She hopes that others can find the healing she did through hypnotherapy. The first step is allowing oneself to find the problem.

“Within ourselves, we have the seeds for our transformation,” Penn says of hypnotherapy’s benefits. “We just have to realize that happiness is our birthright. It requires work, but we can do it!”