The HypnoBox Experience: Pioneering the Path to Self-Healing with Bernhard Tewes

When my father finally extinguished his last cigarette after decades of a pack-a-day habit, I became a believer in the profound power of hypnosis. That belief turned into curiosity, and now, I'm thrilled to share a conversation with Bernard Tewes, a hypnotherapist and brainchild behind HypnoBox, who unveils the transformative potential of hypnotherapy for pain management and habit change. Our conversation journeys from the creation of his innovative app to the remarkable stories of individuals reshaping their lives through the power of suggestion.

If you've ever felt trapped in the spirals of anxiety or the depths of depression, this discussion illuminates a path of hope. Bernard takes us through the complex dance of anticipatory anxiety, fear, and avoidance, revealing how hypnotherapy can tap into our subconscious motives for protection and guide us towards rekindling the joys of life. We delve into the marvel of neuroplasticity, uncovering how reshaping our thought patterns can reconstruct our realities, breaking free from the mental chains that constrict our worlds.

Join us for this amazing conversation.

Bernhard Tewes

https://www.bernhard-tewes.com/en/

https://www.hypnobox.com/


Podcast Disclaimer:

The Pain-Free Podcast is presented solely for general information, education, and entertainment purposes. Any information presented in this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional diagnosis. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. As always, users should not disregard or delay obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition that they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Transcript

Dana: 0:05

Welcome to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones. I am a certified personal trainer and I'm here to help you achieve your fitness goals without pain. In each episode, I'll share tips and strategies that will help you stay safe and pain free while you're working out. I'll also interview experts in the field of fitness and pain management. So if you're ready to learn how to stay active and pain free, then subscribe to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast today. Welcome back to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast. My name is Dana Jones and I'm your host, and I'm here with a special guest, bernard Teves.

Bernhard: 0:44

Yes, All right, you got it. Yes, I did.

Dana: 0:48

I'm going to let you introduce yourself, since you know all about you, so go for it.

Bernhard: 0:53

Oh, thanks so much. So, yeah, bernard Teves, I'm a hypnotherapist from Berlin, germany. I'm also the founder and CEO of HypnoBox, the Hypnosis app. And yeah, I work over 12 years now with hypnosis and hypnotherapy, very much into the topic, and I'm very happy to be in your podcast and work on my mission to bring hypnosis out into the world, to bring the message out into the world. Yeah, thanks so much.

Dana: 1:23

Fantastic, thank you for joining us. So, of course, I think it's kind of a kismet that you and I have crossed paths, because I was listening to another podcast and I heard something about hypnosis and I had thought about it because, as you know, I've been working on my pain and the bodily sensations that are associated with the pain, the fear, the anxiousness and all those kinds of things, and so I was listening and I thought, oh, that's interesting, because I remember at a time that my father used hypnosis and I thought, well, I'll give this a try. And so I tried one app and it was horrible and like, very like droning, and you know it wasn't conducive to my personality, shall we say. And so then I started you know, doing what most people do is like bouncing around to different websites and you know what are the top five hypnosis apps.

Dana: 2:24

And your app came up and a couple of the articles that I've read, I know one was in men's health and the other one was in very well, that said, hypnobox is great because you can do all these different things, and so I was curious, so I downloaded it and I was playing with it, and you know, and then, of course, things. Other things happened because I was during a break, so I had plenty of time to do it, but then I, you know, fell off and then your people contacted me and I guess I was like, do they know? So funny.

Bernhard: 3:01

It's so funny because your story is actually the reason, or how you tell it, the reason why I said I want to create HypnoBox. You know, because I also was like in a time trying out things different hypnosis apps, checking out also a lot of YouTube but I never was satisfied with what's on the market. Yeah, whether the voice was not really fitting, the content was not fitting or the background music.

Dana: 3:31

Yeah.

Bernhard: 3:33

It can't be loud or too loud or some bling bling. It can be such a trans killer. So I said, hey, what about creating an app where you can customize everything on your own, where you can even record your own things, where you can add your own background music, where you can really really customize, individualize everything? And that's what I did actually first on my computer. Yeah, so I was recording it with my little hand, I think and then I put it together the sessions and the suggestion elements on my computer. And that was actually the moment where it was like 2014, 2015, yeah, 2014, where the idea for HypnoBox was born. And yeah, then I went out to different programmers and I found actually one and he's my CTO now. So we went together a long way and he's still very much into the whole thing and I'm very happy that I have such a nice team that are really into the product.

Dana: 4:47

It's interesting because of course I know you're coming on here and so I had called my father because I knew that he had done some stuff and so I wanted to make sure that I had the story correct before I put it out there to the world. And it was funny because I had thought that he had purchased, because back in the 70s they had the hypnosis tapes that people would do, and so I thought he had purchased tapes to stop smoking. And what he had told me and I'll ask you more about this he had told me is that he was smoking and his boss wanted a smoke free workplace, and so the boss had hired a hypnotist to come in on a Friday afternoon, which apparently pissed my father off because he said we weren't getting paid. He waited until we were done with our work day before we were allowed to see the person. But he said he got hypnotized once and then never picked up a cigarette again.

Dana: 5:47

And that absolutely blows my mind, because I think there are a lot of people in two different worlds where you believe it or you don't. I think is pretty much what it comes down to. And the fact that he had such a heavy smoking habit and after one session was able to not touch another cigarette again, is absolutely amazing to me, and so I guess my question to you is can it work like that? And then also part two is then how does the app benefit, because this isn't a person, so does it take longer to receive results.

Bernhard: 6:34

Yeah, both good questions. And first of all, yeah, I'm saying I'm the living metaphor, that the things I'm doing are actually working. So I have the same story as your father. So I tried a lot of things to stop smoking in my past and every time I had stress I started smoking over and over again. So I didn't understand it because I thought I have a strong will. But exactly there, I was taught better that my subconscious is actually the boss. So only two to five percent of your daily decisions are made consciously and the rest is done by the subconscious. So that was told.

Bernhard: 7:22

That hypnotist told me who moved into my house randomly. So we started talking and I said, hey, I have some issues here, I can't stop smoking. He said come on, we do one session, no problem. And we did it and it was same as mind blowing. As for your father, I was like I can't. I smoked 30 cigarettes a day, even when I was sick, even when I have gastritis, even when I have a lung infection, everything I was still smoking on. So even if my whole body tells me, hey, stop it, I couldn't do it. So that is a strong program in the subconscious. Thanks a lot.

Bernhard: 8:03

At the same time, hypnosis can open the door there to bring in exactly the new suggestions, the new connections, the new program, because from the nature we are non-smokers and there actually we wanna go and that's such a great possibility with hypnosis. So, yes, it is possible, and your father is a good example, I'm a good example. At the same time, we are all different. For some it might work like this, for some it might take a bit longer. Same with the app. You know. One in one, yeah, of course I'm a fan of one to one.

Bernhard: 8:42

Yeah, in hypnosis, but I also work through Zoom or video, yeah, and do very successful sessions there. And then the app is like a fine-tuning yeah, like where you can do like on a regular base, like meditation, yeah, or brushing your teeth. That's nothing you do like once in a month. Now you do it on a regular basis and you get good results. You stay healthy teeth, and that's what I say. Hey, do self-hypnosis on a regular basis. Yeah, you might change the topic from time to time and stay, maybe, in the hypnosis session with the core topics yeah, but you can change the rest or see what's fitting for the day. But the rest you can change. But we get feedback, amazing feedback, right? People who say, hey, we use it first time using and I sleep like a baby for the first time. It's like hey for us, it's like amazing what kind of feedback we get there.

Dana: 9:44

Yeah, but I say hey, do it on a regular basis, put it into a daily life or make yourself a session to fall asleep and you have amazing results yeah, well, and that was gonna be my next question, because, yeah, sleep has been evading me and I've used it for the sleep, and it's funny because the days that I have used it, I go right, I don't even know if I make it to the session. It's like the lead in, I'm already gone, which is funny because I think if I laid there all by myself, I wouldn't have fallen asleep as fast. But so what do? Like you know, my clients are all different. We're all over the board in terms of people who can't fall asleep, people who fall asleep quickly and wake up in the middle of the night. You know, people who are just up the entire night because they have some, really they have insomnia. So how does hypnosis help break that cycle or, I guess, allow the body to do what it's naturally supposed to do, which is rest?

Bernhard: 10:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so we must first check. Is it the problem if the people can't fall asleep? Is it a problem if people can't sleep through? Yeah, or they wake up early in the morning and can't fall back asleep. These might all be different things. Yeah, that's what I always have to check, also with my clients. So the falling asleep part is often a conditioned thing. Yeah, so there's still a lot going much on in the mind. Yeah, still planning from the day or what did you have to do tomorrow, and so on. Yeah, so the mind is still very busy. That is a conditioned issue often. Yeah, so what hypnosis can do there is guiding you more easily to the border where you go into sleep. Yeah, so it helps you to relax, first the body, then the mind, step by step to fall asleep more easily. Yeah, so in this reconditioning, helping you to falling asleep there also can do the hypnotherapist and one-to-one all with the hypno box. Yeah, helping you falling asleep easier by guided sessions.

Bernhard: 12:10

Sleeping through the night can be something, can be some unprocessed things. Yeah, so there is just the subconscious that is waking you up there. There is no conscious mind involved. So there might be something going on in the subconscious that's not completely processed. Yeah, that wakes you up early in the morning or in the night and so on.

Bernhard: 12:38

Yeah, so still, if that sometimes happened to me, had a challenge going on in my life and three nights in a row I was like, wow, I'm awake at four o'clock. Okay, something is happening here. I have a look at this, yeah. So, yeah, my responsibility, have a look at this. Yeah, to see for me also. Okay, something's happening here, so I'll work with it. I have clients who do that, sometimes for months, for years, yeah, where I say, hey, you're here with two hours sleep in night and they have a feeling that they don't sleep at all. So there are really heavy cases when it comes to sleep. Yeah, and hypnosis is definitely a chance to solve these conflicts that are going on there in the subconscious, and for some it's insomnia, for others it can be other psychosomatic things happening, you know, like also pain, for example yeah.

Bernhard: 13:40

Which can be definitely psychosomatic. But sleep is definitely one of the first symptoms where you can realize okay, something is happening right now, something is not in balance right now.

Dana: 13:54

So when we're talking about the subconscious, because it feels like a lot of, I guess, what ails modern humans is very related, right? So, for instance, you know, I have had migraines since I was a little girl and then so with the migraines, you know, and I actually think it was probably the anxiousness that led to the migraines, to the consistent pain, to then the anxiety, which was at a different level, I think when I was little it was oh, I'm nervous about going to this place or going to somebody's house that I don't know, or traveling for sports, or those kinds of things that you know normal, like not terribly comfortable situations. But you know, most people are like, okay, I feel a little something, or maybe I'm excited, and I immediately interpreted it as a fearful event, and then, of course, then that comes the pain. So then there's a fear of the pain that I had. But then I had a situation where anxiety took over and it was, I don't know, competing for number one for the pain.

Dana: 15:09

For a while. There, I mean, it was kind of ridiculous. And of course, the culminating event was I was on an airplane and I suddenly had a realization of why people try to get up and open the door because I felt the same, because I was freaking out, and there was a couple of different factors. There was some drunk people and a gentleman asked for a barf bag, and I don't like people getting sick. That's a big trigger for me. And then, of course, I'm on a plane and I'm going to do something that was nervous for me, like made me anxious on top of it, and then that situation happened and I thought, wow, I could just grab the door and get sucked out and then I'd be gone and wouldn't have to worry about this. So I guess, how related do you find pain to anxiousness, to possibly depression or insomnia and all those different like? How related are you seeing them within your practice or within the feedback you're getting from clients?

Bernhard: 16:11

Yeah, yeah, it's exactly what you're telling. It can be that complex. You know that it's starting with one symptom and then it's spreading out to different symptoms. The anxiety comes over, so it takes over, yeah, like in your case, and there is a lot of this anxiety, which I call it also homemade anxiety, you know. So it's sometimes different to that anxiety that's really happening. For example, when we talk about being excited, being anxious about flying, you know, there's always an anxiety that comes before. Like what if the anxiety happens when I'm in the plane? Yeah, for sure. And then these are two different things. Yeah, of course, and this will change when you realize, ah, I'm safe in the plane, yeah, but first it's there, so there might be with you the anxiety, like, okay, what happens if the pain will come then? And then, so this is a lot of dynamics that are happening already, like where we're afraid about things that are or might happen then, yeah, and then other complex thing can happen, like depression, because you're afraid to go out, you don't, you're, you can't do your daily things anymore, yeah, which is taking me down. And depression, so you have something's really to to look. Okay, which was first the depression anxiety? Yeah, so in which order might that have been?

Bernhard: 17:44

But what you can do also, then hypnotherapy is To to work with the source behind that. Yeah, yeah, what is, what is the call behind that? And then we can see if we work with, with with resources or with regression work. Yeah, where this comes from. Bring in the, the resources that are needed. Yes, that's what's the hypnotherapists are always doing. Yeah, see which, which resources are needed, yeah, then Activate them and bring them into where is needed there. Yeah, so a learning process can happen in the subconscious, and that's what's always happening in hypnotherapy in the app. Yeah, activating resources, working with them, is positive suggestions and, yeah, it can be complex as you tell, and then you have a really intense situation and then the subconscious learned up.

Bernhard: 18:37

From now on, this is danger, yeah, and then, yeah, that's problems to catch a train or to catch a plane or later even to catch a plane, a train or even a car, yeah, it can have Really radiate from. Yeah, my clients come to me and that are high in the beginning was just a bit in the plan and then it became bigger and bigger and bigger and they were dynamic sometimes where you say, okay, what is the positive intention of my subconscious there, because that is Important to understand. Yeah, everything, everything our subconscious does behind that is a positive intention. Yeah, and that's what is the positive intention if I can't drive a car anymore? Yeah, but there is, of course, protection behind that.

Bernhard: 19:27

Yeah, always and that's a lot, prince anxiety there's always protection, the positive intention, and that's also something, yeah, that we work on in hypnotherapy to explain the subconscious. Hey, it's not necessary anymore to to protect yourself here, because this is not up to date anymore or we are not living in a world anymore where this is actually needed. Yeah, um, depending on the anxiety, for example, yeah, it's in.

Dana: 19:54

It's so frustrating because Now, after doing work, I know that the goal of my subconscious was to keep me safe. Right, because that's it. I perceived everything as danger and then it said, okay, well, we'll just keep making your world smaller and smaller. But there was a level that just made me so angry because I would leave my house driving and I'd get nauseous. And you know, part of it was from the pain medications. The other part of it was just, I think just, you need to go back home, and so you know that then that kind of became a thing, and it was really. I mean, now, looking back, it's really interesting, how, excuse me, how my body, or my subconscious, um, kept shifting, and so when you use the word radiate, that makes sense, because it was what's the next thing to grab to make sure that we keep you safe? And so it's like oh, you don't like nausea, so we're gonna throw that in there.

Dana: 20:56

Or you don't like the feeling of being anxious. We're gonna, you know, do that or you know, whatever it may be, but I, I, one of the things that I noticed after, um, I started doing my work with uh, reading sarno's book, and the things that I was finding out about neuroplasticity and how my body was creating these things to To keep me safe, right, and also repressed emotions and and other aspects of pain, is that, Um, you know and I it was funny I was, you know, in therapy and they said, you know, you should have fun, do something fun, and I didn't know what it was like. I mean, I know what it is right because you watch videos, you see other people do things and you know, but, of course, as a very anxious person, you're like that's not fun, like I can't see getting on a roller coaster as fun or I can't see, you know that kind of stuff. And I realized like I didn't know, I didn't know how to have fun, because I was in a perpetual state of fight or flight for so long that anything outside of, you know, the four walls of my house seemed dangerous. And After a certain period of time you know when I'm in this chronic pain state it was 15 months. Um, you know, my world was very, very tiny and just, I needed a break, and that was part of the reason why I started to.

Dana: 22:31

You know, as I was doing the work, I I realized I needed help, that I needed my therapist, because there's things that obviously needed to be managed in terms of, you know, any deep, dark crap that may have popped up, um, but on the other piece, you know, she's all well, just meditate, or you should breathe, like when you're feeling anxious. You know, do box breathing, and I was like dude, I'm gonna rip the door off the plane like there's no box breathing. That's happening because there was no space. It was the sensation and then the freak out. There was not a moment where I went Is this real? And that's where the.

Dana: 23:07

You know, I wanted the meditation to fit, but it wasn't going to fit, and so then that's where you come in, right, where I just needed, I don't know, five seconds, you know, five seconds between the sensation and the reaction, just so that I can relax. And so I know, technically, in your app, you're not allowed to, um, you know, work with pain, right, because of the rules of the world. But how do like, how? What chronic pain Pain patients have you worked with and what are the results that you're seeing and hopefully creating space for them?

Bernhard: 23:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Only the relaxation, a deep relaxation, yeah. So from my experience, is already helping Patients with pain. Yeah, through that deep relaxation, and that's what hypnosis can offer. Yeah to deep state of relaxation where the body can actually also be pain-free. So there's a very deep hypnotic state called estel state, yeah, which is so deep when you're still aware of the things but your body is actually even completely pain-free. Yeah, so I have colleagues it's not my specialty to do to, to, to join operations, for example, but I have colleagues in Switzerland who are preparing people who are allergic to Stygian, for example, who are joining, preparing them for operations. Yeah, and they, they, yeah, so they train them, it's, it's, it's not a one-shot thing. Yeah, so they really, before the operation, they, they condition them that they can go into very deep trance and in this state they can do actually operations on the open heart and everything. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, they're really, really Documentaries about that where they show that this is really possible.

Bernhard: 25:12

Yeah, because there is a state that Nature had planned for us where there is no pain at all. This is completely and you're still aware of that without any anesthesia. It's Really for me it's still astonishing when I hear that or I see that. Yeah, because I know I did that when I went to the dentist. Yeah, so I really I got myself, yeah, yeah, and I had a heavy operation with my, with my teeth, and I did that completely with self-hypnosis, yeah, condition by some techniques and it's, it's. It was so cool because a week later I went to the dentist and also the healing process I did completely with self-hypnosis, visualized healings, doing positive suggestions, yeah, and he said, looked into a calendar and I said what, when? You, when have you been there one week ago? Can't be. I said, yes, I was. No, it is already already almost healed completely. It can't be. I said, yeah, hey, this, this, this is the, the magic of self-hypnosis, of suggestion. Yeah, I said, hey, wow, this is fantastic. Yeah, so when it comes to hypnobox, yeah, I really can Encourage people with pain to work with Everything.

Bernhard: 26:31

That is like deepening them, yeah, very much, also balancing them, but also looking around a bit which, which other suggestions are good for me, yeah, the, if we look into the, into the security box, yeah, in a balance box, these are all topic boxes where you can, like put elements from in your session and create your own. Yeah, we have really a lot of deepening things just to relax in a very, very deep way. But also have a look what might be the the emotional part behind that pain? Yeah, but that's more the work in in a therapy. Yeah, in a therapy, to look behind, okay, what is the emotional, the emotional part it's behind that pain? Probably, yeah, because if it comes to Chronicle pain, yeah, we always look, okay, what's the the emotional component behind that?

Dana: 27:30

Right, which I never got right. In all the years that I was trying to solve my migraines, I was always looking at, you know, the direct correlation right, my neck hurts, so I must have done something to my neck right, or my back hurts, it must be a vertebra or something that's. That's messed up and I spent a lot of time and probably too much money In that that thing, that correlation, and it's and it's funny because, you know, my, my father and I never really talked about that and I, you know, in now, like thinking about it's like, even as a kid, I remember he used to have, you know, before we had like headphones and stuff that there was a speaker that was like a round speaker and it was flat and you could hook it to your radio and play, you know, plug it in and so then when you went to bed you can listen to it, and he would lay there and listen to things and a lot of what he was doing was this stuff. And just because he absolutely believes in all of this and he believes that we have the ability to heal our bodies and you know, as you were talking about the colleagues in Switzerland, I was recalling, you know, the Dalai Lama had some kind of surgery and I can't remember is.

Dana: 28:46

I believe he came to San Francisco and it was some, either brain surgery or head surgery or something like that. And I remember they said the surgeons were talking about it and they had to give him an hour before the surgery and so he meditated and then, once he was good, then I guess whoever was with them said, okay, come on in, and then they did the surgery and no anesthesia, and I just figured, oh, that's for somebody who is meditating, because that's who he is right, like, is that finding that peace within ourselves and that understanding, right, that's his job? And so I was like, oh, that's not for everybody, right, like that's only for him. But here you're saying it is. You know that we're capable.

Bernhard: 29:31

No, no, it is, we are. Yes, everyone is capable. And there is, I mean this training, this Tibetan monk training, when they sit in the snow and meditate on fire. In a fire, you know, they are the clothes that are wet get dry Even when they're sitting minus whatever degrees.

Bernhard: 29:56

Right, crazy, yeah, suggestion and ideas can do crazy things. And just had had had the stock of the stuff and just had had had the story about the guy who was locked up in a, in a in a van, in this cooler van, you know, the frieze van, I don't know how you call it. They transport meat and everything you know. And he was locked up in the night and he was found dead in the next morning with freezes on on a thing that the van was never on. The freezer was never on, you know, but he believed that he was there and that that just this idea killed him. It's crazy, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bernhard: 30:40

So also the other, the other way around works, you know, and that's what I always trying to explain also to my, to my clients hey, what works in a positive way also works in the negative way. So we got to be so careful what we, what we suggest to our self, what our self talk is also. Yeah, because that's then the civil fair prophecies that we are talking so much about. Yeah, which is happening, and then it's so good to change this focus. Yeah, that's also when we talk about pain. How much focus is on that? Yeah, if I work with with people, with teenagers, how much focus is on that how we can change that and suddenly it can disappear. Yeah, if we change the focus, it will change our reality also. Yeah, so it's a big chance.

Dana: 31:26

Well, and so you brought up a tinnitus, which always amazes me because you can't get away from that. I mean, you know the pain, well, no see, and I know I'm full of garbage here, but so because there are moments right where I'm like, you know, my head would be pounding, but then, I don't know, something would happen and I would be in that experience and I wouldn't be experiencing the pain, but then, of course, once that event happened or whatever, there's a let down and then I'd go back to you know, same old, same old, and with tinnitus, you know that, ringing in your ear. You know, part of me is like you can't escape that. But you can, right. So I mean, it's the same thing, it's just a different location in your body, and you know. So how do you work with people? Because I know I do have some clients that do have that.

Bernhard: 32:18

Yeah, so also how we, how we can change the focus yeah, you can. You can also work, of course, with what's, what's the signal behind that.

Dana: 32:30

Yeah.

Bernhard: 32:31

Is the sound is the same for the pain. Yeah, what is behind that? Yeah, what, what? What does the body wants to say? So normally pain means here is something wrong. Yeah, with the tinnitus, it's the very clear signal. Yeah, so I would say something is too much, something is not right right now. Yeah, and that also can change. So many people or what doctors say hey, once you have it, you have to live with that. That's not my, that's not my experience. Yeah, I can my my. My tinnitus in the past comes and goes, you know, depends on stress levels.

Bernhard: 33:11

So mother and still yeah, if it comes, it's like OK, there it is. I relax into that. So I believe we can really learn also to turn it down more. Yeah, we can learn it more to ignore it, and through the the more to ignore it because, yeah, and that's tough, because, hey, if someone's coming to me and say it's, it's like yeah and right, so it's a how can I ignore it, you know, but that's that's also a way how hypnosis can work there. Yeah, try to reframe that, help the people to to to live with that and have clients with heavy tinnitus and had heavy tinnitus, but it was possible to them to be more relaxed, to work with the source behind. So the whole system learns OK, I'm safe now. So this sound doesn't has, doesn't need to be there anymore. You know, I don't need to send this this signal anymore. There are possibilities, definitely yeah.

Dana: 34:19

It is very interesting how our bodies do things to get our attention, and I don't know if it's wanting us to come.

Dana: 34:30

If they want us to come back to our body. You know, because we have all these other things right, we have computers, we have phones, we have TVs, we have. You know, we have all these distractions and you figure that, well, I was hoping, you know, definitely is growing up, like the more I distracted myself, I was hoping that it would stop the pain. And it didn't work. But I think we there's still that cycle right there. The people are on that treadmill believing that if I just distract myself, then I'll go away. And why doesn't distraction work?

Bernhard: 35:04

Yeah, because it will not solve the problem.

Dana: 35:08

Yeah.

Bernhard: 35:09

And it will just solve the symptom. If people come to me and grinding teeth and they get here, the budding, the budding, the guard from the guard, yeah, yeah, it will just. It will just protect teeth and work on the symptom, but it will never change the course behind that, yeah, why are you grinding teeth? Why there's so much pressure in the night. So that's that's the interesting question how do we get more to the core of the things and work with things behind that? Reflect on that, take our time on that. That is.

Bernhard: 35:44

That is, for me, a very spiritual path. You know, I don't I don't say I understood everything of my patterns, but that's what I'm, I'm, I'm working on, yeah, I'm still working on and I enjoy that still to work on the things, to understand my patterns, yeah, the good patterns, like the bad patterns or some that might come back to, just to stop and reflect on that and to understand that. For me is so fascinating to see how creative of psyche is. Yeah, because psyche is always, always looking for solution, as I'm just like when the client comes in and tells me what, what, what, what development of symptoms or how it is different. Now I say, wow, I'm so, so amazed how creative your psyche is. Yeah, that's true.

Bernhard: 36:33

Yeah, and change the perspective on hey, your, your subconscious, is actually super intelligent and is now doing this and that and, and you know, trying to find a solution to make it easier for you. So always also to validate that. What is actually sometimes happening? Even it makes no sense for consciously, for the subconscious. There is definitely a reason for that. There's a strong, strong logic behind that, what it's doing. Even we might not understand that consciously, otherwise we would have softer consciously. Yeah, that's right, then it would everything be very easy. But that's not how it goes.

Dana: 37:17

Very true. So what are you most proud of? You know, I guess we'll do two sections. What are you most proud of as a hypnotherapist, like you know, what is your best case that you've ever had? And then, what are you most proud of in terms of the app and what it's doing?

Bernhard: 37:36

Yeah, so as a, as a hypnotherapist, I had a. I had a. I had a case years ago, a young girl. She was in the 30s. Sarah I can say her name because there's a reason for that she didn't lift, she didn't left the house for you for four years and social anxiety actually. Yeah, she was afraid of what other people might think of her. Yeah, so that was for her reason not to go out of the house anymore. She had a boyfriend to all the shoppings and so on. Yeah, so she didn't have to and she couldn't, yeah, but then she was like, oh, yeah, this, this can't go on like this and she said, okay, I want to change my life because she gained heavy weight as well. Yeah, she was really on a point where, okay, this need to change, but she really had to be rock bottom, like after four years.

Bernhard: 38:40

Yeah, and sometimes it is like that, yeah, we need to really feel the pain to change something. Obviously, yeah, it's a pity that it is like that, but sometimes it needs to be like that. And, yeah, five sessions, five sessions. And she said amazing, I can do not everything I want. She became a hypnotherapist, actually by herself. That's why I'm so proud of that, because this is just spreading the message now.

Dana: 39:10

Right.

Bernhard: 39:11

She's helping many, many people with her story, same as I am helping many people with my story. People can say, yeah, this is really working. These are not just people who, like, study psychology or something. And now they had a healing, they had a transformation for themselves. And I joined her for an interview in the morning show in German TV, where like four million people are looking every morning, and she had a live interview there and before she was afraid of other people not thinking for her and she did a live interview in TV.

Bernhard: 39:50

It's like great, it was like mind blowing for me. It's like, hey, you're such a great example of what is actually possible and, yeah, things like that I'm experienced day by day in my practice in my life, in Zoom calls. Yeah, what is happening if people are opening up again, if they can go out again, if they get rid of their anxiety, depression of even, yeah, if it's just biting nails and they're proud again. There can be also the small things which are really bothering the people or where lack of self-worth in the end is such a big topic in our work and I think that's the core behind so many things self-worth, so really happy to help the people there, to build up that and see, okay, what is the source behind that?

Bernhard: 40:47

We work a lot with childhood trauma. Of course, parents is always a topic also, but I'm already travelling far out. The second question was would? I am proud of the app. I think you said already that very well-mind that we are the best hypnosis app actually on the market, and for me it's like yeah, super nice. You know, just randomly I saw that and it's like yeah, yeah.

Dana: 41:29

And mental health, which has got a pretty good following too, yeah.

Bernhard: 41:33

Exactly, yeah, and mental health as well. We've been app of the day from Apple, you know, and which is not a normal thing. Yeah, we must have a product that is actually worth it and good and doing something good, so we're super happy about that, and, for me, the reviews that are coming in are so beautiful sometimes when people just say, hey, this helped me to sleep through, this helped me for this and that. So, yeah, this is the mission, you know. This is the mission where you say, hey, we want to somehow bring it out there and offer a tool where people can do the inner change. Yeah, we say, hey, we want to make inner change easy.

Dana: 42:29

So what's?

Bernhard: 42:29

next? Oh, what's next? So I've just been in the studio with the English speakers of the app. I mean, we have the app in German, English and Spanish, so we created new content. Right now I'm writing a book actually. So that's the next big project for the year. I don't want to spoil it too much, right now. Yeah, but it will involve hypnosis, of course, a bit, but it's not the main thing. So that is actually there right now.

Dana: 43:12

Is it a fiction book or nonfiction?

Bernhard: 43:15

No, it's a nonfiction book. It's a book about positive psychology, about hypnosis, about how we change the focus more to the positive and attract more of that.

Dana: 43:30

Fantastic.

Bernhard: 43:32

But it will more be more boom, of course, but that's what I bring out also to the world and that, what's happened, helped me a lot in my life to change the focus and reframe the things that are actually not working that well. You're in a traffic jam? Hey say, oh cool, I can listen to my audiobook. Whatever. That is Right. Just a small example of how reframing can work in such fantastic ways Just make life so much more simple, and how you can see also what is actually positive in my life and how you can attract more of that. That is what I want to bring more out into the world. Yeah, there are more of my workshops coming. I'm trying now to build up my own hypnosis training, which might start this fall. So let's see A lot of ideas, not a good thing.

Bernhard: 44:36

Always a lot of good things, always working on the mission bring out hypnosis, spread out hypnosis. And the word that is just a tool, that is just amazing, amazes me.

Dana: 44:48

That's amazing. So how do people get in touch with you if they want to either gather, get your services, or if they want to attend any workshop that you're having or anything?

Bernhard: 45:01

Yeah, sure, Sure. I have a website, of course, HypnoBox. You find it on HypnoBoxcom Everything. And my website is called Kietz-Hypnosisde. It's a German website which is also translated in English. You rather put it into the show notes. Yes, I will, or if you can link it and there are all the information about the work I'm doing Also doing Zoom calls, of course, and if they have any questions, I'm always happy to answer these.

Dana: 45:40

Oh, thank you so much for joining us.

Bernhard: 45:43

Thanks for the invitation. I'm very, very happy to talk to you and I'm amazed by your path as well, and it's always amazing when you put yourself out like this and saying, hey, there is a way out and there is hope, it's always good for so many people. It's so hopeless sometimes and this is giving a lot of hope and also options and possibilities that are out there.

Dana: 46:11

And that's my goal, and I think that's the biggest thing is that what I did took a lot of hard work. But I also, you know, somebody before me laid out the path, and so I want to make sure I continue to extend that path to other people so that they don't have to work as hard to find solutions. And because, you know, getting your life back is a wonderful thing and being able to go out and have fun is nice, and sitting at home curled up in the fetal position, not so nice. I do not recommend Definitely, definitely. Anyway, thank you for that.

Bernhard: 46:52

Thank you as well, Dan Aron.