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Huberman Lab

Essentials: Using Hypnosis to Enhance Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Dr. David Spiegel

with David Spiegel

Published November 27, 2025
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About This Episode

Andrew Huberman interviews Dr. David Spiegel about hypnosis as a state of highly focused attention that can enhance control over mind and body rather than diminish it. They discuss the underlying brain networks involved in hypnosis, including changes in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and posterior cingulate cortex, and how these changes support dissociation, cognitive flexibility, and altered bodily control. The conversation covers clinical applications such as stress reduction, sleep, pain management, phobias, trauma and PTSD treatment, hypnotizability assessment, the eye‑roll test, the role of breathing, and how hypnotic-like states show up in performance, children, and group settings.

Topics Covered

Mental health Therapy Trauma Exposure therapy ADHD Stress management Sleep Breathwork Respiration Neuroplasticity

Disclaimer: We provide independent summaries of podcasts and are not affiliated with or endorsed in any way by any podcast or creator. All podcast names and content are the property of their respective owners. The views and opinions expressed within the podcasts belong solely to the original hosts and guests and do not reflect the views or positions of Summapod.

Quick Takeaways

  • Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention and absorption, similar to getting lost in a movie or an engaging task, and it actually increases control rather than taking it away.
  • Neuroimaging shows that hypnosis alters activity and connectivity in key brain networks, including reduced activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and changed connections among the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and posterior cingulate cortex.
  • Hypnosis can modulate bodily functions such as gastric acid secretion and pain perception, illustrating powerful top‑down control of the body by the brain.
  • Clinical hypnosis is useful for stress reduction, sleep onset, pain management, and treating phobias and trauma‑related conditions by enabling people to confront and reframe difficult experiences.
  • People differ in hypnotizability; about one third of adults are not hypnotizable, while about 15% are extremely hypnotizable, and this can be measured with structured tests.
  • The Spiegel eye‑roll test uses eye position during eyelid closure as a quick index of hypnotizability, reflecting how the brain manages an unusual combination of eye position and eyelid movement.
  • Hypnosis often works by helping people voluntarily re‑enter trauma‑related or fear‑related states under controlled conditions so they can change their emotional and bodily responses.
  • Children can be highly responsive to hypnosis, and it can significantly reduce their pain and anxiety during medical procedures.
  • Breathing-especially slow exhalation-biased patterns-is a practical lever for shifting internal state and is incorporated into hypnotic inductions.
  • Hypnotic‑like states are common in peak performance contexts such as music, sports, and public speaking, where people feel deeply absorbed and less self‑conscious.

Podcast Notes

Introduction and framing of hypnosis discussion

Huberman Lab Essentials context and host introduction

Purpose of Huberman Lab Essentials[0:00]
• The series revisits past episodes to extract the most potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance.
Host's professional background[0:00]
• Andrew Huberman states he is a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.

Introduction of guest and opening question

Guest introduction[0:17]
• Andrew transitions to his discussion with Dr. David Spiegel and thanks him for being there.
Initial definition of hypnosis[0:27]
• Dr. Spiegel defines hypnosis as a state of highly focused attention, likening it to looking through the telephoto lens of a camera in consciousness-what you see is in great detail but devoid of context.
Everyday example of hypnotic-like experience[0:49]
• He compares hypnosis to getting so caught up in a good movie that you forget you're watching a movie and feel part of the imagined world, experiencing rather than evaluating it.

Clarifying what counts as a hypnotic-like state

Example of watching sports and bodily reactions[0:53]
• Andrew asks whether feeling bodily excitement or anticipation while watching a sports game is also a state of hypnosis.
Somatic involvement and hypnosis[1:06]
• Dr. Spiegel says that to the extent bodily experience is part of the sport event one is engaged with, that can be a self-altering hypnotic experience.
• If physical reactions distract or lead to thinking about something else, it is less hypnotic-like and more just one of many experiences.

Distinguishing clinical hypnosis from stage hypnosis

Public perceptions and stage hypnosis

Common imagery of hypnosis[1:32]
• Andrew notes that many people think of stage hypnosis and someone swinging a pendant when they hear the term hypnosis.
Dr. Spiegel's view of stage hypnosis[1:45]
• He says he does not like stage hypnosis, describing it as making fools out of people.
• He notes that stage hypnosis exploits factors that scare people about hypnosis and creates the impression that one is losing control.

Reframing hypnosis as control and cognitive flexibility

Hypnosis as gaining control[1:55]
• Dr. Spiegel emphasizes that in reality, people are gaining control; self-hypnosis enhances control over mind and body and can work very well.
Cognitive flexibility in hypnosis[2:01]
• He explains that hypnosis allows a kind of cognitive flexibility-shifting sets easily, giving up usual judging and evaluating, and seeing something from a different point of view.
• This flexibility is a great therapeutic opportunity but can be dangerous if misused, contributing to fears about hypnosis.
Suspending critical judgment[2:24]
• He describes hypnosis as involving the ability to suspend critical judgment and just have an experience and see what happens.
• If people learn to recognize and understand this ability, it can become a tremendous therapeutic tool.

Neural mechanisms and brain networks in hypnosis

Changes in salience network: dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (DACC)

DACC function and hypnosis[2:43]
• Dr. Spiegel says one key change is turning down activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, part of the salience network and a conflict detector.
• He explains that if you're working and hear a loud noise that might be a gunshot, the anterior cingulate cortex signals potential danger and shifts attention.
• By turning down activity in this region during hypnosis, people are less likely to be distracted and pulled out of whatever they are absorbed in.

DLPFC-insula connectivity and mind-body control

Increased DLPFC-insula connection[3:29]
• He notes that under hypnosis, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) shows higher functional connectivity with the insula.
• The insula is described as part of the salience network and the mind-body control system, sensitive to what's happening in the body and part of the pain network.
Study on gastric acid secretion under hypnosis[4:05]
• Dr. Spiegel describes a study where highly hypnotizable people were hypnotized and taken on an imaginary culinary tour, imagining eating their favorite foods.
• These subjects increased their gastric acid secretion by 87%, so their stomachs acted as though food was coming.
• He mentions one woman for whom it was so vivid that she said "let's stop, I'm full" despite not having eaten any actual food.
• When they were then asked to relax and think of anything but food or drink, gastric acid secretion decreased by about 40%.
• They also injected pentagastrin, which normally triggers gastric acid release, and under hypnosis saw a 19% reduction in gastric acid even with that stimulus.
• He interprets this as DLPFC signals via the insula telling the stomach it is getting food or not, illustrating brain control over bodily functions.

DLPFC-posterior cingulate inverse connectivity and dissociation

Posterior cingulate and default mode network[5:06]
• The third neural change he cites is inverse functional connectivity between the DLPFC and the posterior cingulate cortex.
• He explains the posterior cingulate is part of the default mode network, located in the back of the brain, and its activity decreases in meditators.
• In meditation, practitioners aim to be selfless and see the self as an illusion, letting it dissolve; decreased posterior cingulate activity reflects that.
Dissociation and reduced self-reflection[5:19]
• Dr. Spiegel says the inverse DLPFC-posterior cingulate connection in hypnosis means "I'm doing something, but I'm not thinking about what it means for me."
• He notes that one may not remember much of what happened under hypnosis or may not care much about it afterward, reflecting dissociation.
• This reduced self-referential activity allows putting things outside of conscious awareness and not worrying about their meaning, increasing cognitive flexibility.
• He gives an example: if you think "people like me don't usually do this," that might inhibit trying a new psychotherapy, but with reduced posterior cingulate activity you're more willing to try.

Hypnosis, attention, and ADHD

Enhancing focus through hypnosis

ADHD and network disruptions question[6:13]
• Andrew asks whether people with ADHD display disruptions in these networks and whether hypnosis has been used to enhance focus and hold attention.
Hypnosis for focus[6:31]
• Dr. Spiegel says that in terms of enhancing focus, hypnosis has been very helpful in teaching people to prepare their mind to narrow in and focus on something.
• He describes times when writing or reading feels like a game, assembling parts of a puzzle, where time passes quickly due to absorption-calling this a hypnotic-like experience.
• He notes that when he struggles with focus, doing things like self-hypnosis can help.
Potential for ADHD[6:13]
• He says it is possible that for some people with ADHD, training in self-hypnosis might help, but it would depend on how hypnotizable they are.

Clinical applications of hypnosis: stress, sleep, pain, and phobias

General psychiatric and clinical uses

Conditions amenable to hypnotic treatment[7:37]
• Asked what hypnosis has been used for and which psychiatric problems respond particularly well, Dr. Spiegel says hypnosis is very helpful for stress reduction.
Mind-body connection in stress[7:42]
• He notes that the mind-body connection is important because part of the problem with stress is perception.
• He contrasts a reinforcing physical arousal at a football game with situations where body tension, sweating, and sympathetic activation become distracting and trigger negative thoughts.
• He describes a "snowball rolling downhill": you notice bodily stress, think "this is really bad," feel worse, and the cycle escalates.

Techniques: dissociating somatic from psychological reaction

Floating body imagery and externalized problem[8:22]
• Hypnosis can dissociate somatic reaction from psychological reaction by having people imagine their body floating somewhere safe and comfortable, such as a bath, lake, hot tub, or floating in space.
• They then picture the stressing problem on an imaginary screen with a ruler while keeping the body comfortable, learning to control physical reaction even if they can't yet control the stressor.
• This gives people a sense of control-at least one thing (their physical reaction) they can manage-then they can visualize one thing they might do about the stressor itself.

Hypnosis to aid sleep

Self-hypnosis for insomnia[9:11]
• Dr. Spiegel notes that hypnosis is very helpful for getting to sleep and mentions that people report not having slept well for many years until using self-hypnosis-based tools.

Repeated self-hypnosis, learning, and phobias

Network strengthening and long-term potentiation[9:37]
• Dr. Spiegel agrees that with repeated use of self-hypnosis, relevant networks might get stronger, noting that there is not yet direct evidence but long-term potentiation offers a plausible pathway.
Hypnosis and phobia treatment[9:24]
• He explains that hypnosis is used for treating phobias such as airplane phobia, bridge crossing, or fear of heights.
• People with phobias tend to avoid the feared situation, so their only associations and memories are of fear; they lack good experiences because they avoid exposure.
• With hypnosis, if anxiety can be managed enough to allow more varied experiences, people can build a network of associations that is less negative and may become positive.

Narrative, brain state, and trauma processing in hypnosis

Narrative plus altered brain state

Difference between talking and hypnosis[9:56]
• Andrew notes that both psychotherapy and hypnosis use narrative, and asks what is different about the hypnotic brain state that allows deeper engagement and change.
Mental state change as therapeutic[11:16]
• Dr. Spiegel calls hypnosis an "unsystematic desensitization" that changes mental states.
• He emphasizes that mental state change itself has therapeutic potential, citing ketamine for depression as another example of a state-changing intervention.
• He points out that people experience the power of state change every morning: a problem that felt insoluble at night can feel more manageable upon waking.
• He argues we underestimate our ability to regulate and change responses and to be cognitively, emotionally, and somatically flexible.

Mechanism: changing association networks and reward

Facing problems from different perspectives[10:58]
• Dr. Spiegel says hypnosis follows principles similar to therapy: facing a problem, seeing it from a different point of view, and finding ways to reconnect with it in a more positive way.
• He notes that substituting something that feels good rather than bad can activate brain centers like the mesolimbic reward system.
• He stresses that people may discover during hypnosis that they are thinking about a problem but not feeling as bad as before, which can be powerful.

Case example: attempted rape and trauma restructuring

Case description and goal[11:39]
• He describes a woman who suffered an attempted rape; she was grabbed near her apartment, fought back, sustained a basilar skull fracture, and the assailant ran away.
• Police came but, since she had not been raped, they left and were not interested.
• She sought hypnosis to get a better image of the perpetrator's face, an inherently painful and upsetting process.
Hypnotic procedure used[12:22]
• Dr. Spiegel hypnotized her, noting she was quite hypnotizable, and induced a floating state where her body was safe and comfortable and nothing could harm it.
• He asked her to picture the man and the approach on the left side of an internal screen.
• She reported not being able to see facial features well due to the low light, but realized she had not allowed herself to remember that if he got her upstairs he would probably kill her, not just rape her.
Processing self-protection and meaning[13:17]
• On the other side of the screen, he had her picture what she was doing to protect herself, emphasizing that everyone in trauma uses some self-protection strategy.
• She realized he was surprised she was fighting so hard, and concluded she had probably saved her life.
• He notes that although the situation was in some ways worse than she had thought, hypnosis helped her restructure and understand her experience in a more tolerable way.
• She could not identify the attacker but benefited from the reframing, illustrating that hypnosis can accomplish in one session what might take longer in traditional talk therapy.

Evidence for hypnosis added to PTSD treatment

Randomized trial[13:27]
• Dr. Spiegel mentions a randomized trial from Israel showing that adding hypnosis to PTSD treatment improves outcomes.

State-dependent memory, dissociation, and trauma

State-dependent memory concept

Gordon Bower's work[13:53]
• Dr. Spiegel cites Gordon Bower, a cognitive psychologist who helped establish the concept of state-dependent memory: being in a given mental state enhances recall of memories formed in that state.
• He gives an example of a drunk who hides a bottle and cannot remember where it is until becoming drunk again.

Dissociation during trauma and hypnosis

Common dissociative experiences in trauma[14:13]
• He says people go into dissociative states when traumatized; for example, rape victims may feel as if floating above their body feeling sorry for the woman below.
• People in traumatic episodes often report blanking out, not knowing what is happening, or feeling on autopilot, which he calls a kind of self-hypnotic state.
Why hypnosis helps with trauma[14:33]
• When using hypnosis to address traumatic memories, the state in the office may be more congruent with the state during trauma, facilitating recall and processing.
• He frames treatment as needing to reconfront a traumatic situation to modulate associations and approach it from a different point of view.
• He notes that many people are "too good" at separating themselves from recollections, so the trauma remains active but inaccessible for reprocessing.

Control versus avoidance and the role of hypnosis

Hypnosis as a tool for enhancing control

Misconception about loss of control[14:59]
• Dr. Spiegel emphasizes that the key issue is control: hypnosis has a reputation for taking away control but is actually a superb way to enhance control over mind and body.

Impact of naming and stigma around hypnosis

Terminology and public perception[15:09]
• Andrew reflects that naming is important and wonders if clinical hypnosis might have been received differently had it been called something else, separate from stage hypnosis.
• He says part of the reason for the discussion is that he has had great experiences with hypnosis, has seen data, and believes it is incredibly powerful and grounded in neural brain states.
• He predicts hypnosis will become more widespread in coming years.

Durability of hypnotic changes and role of clinicians

Longevity of treatment effects and follow-up

Question about permanence[15:44]
• Andrew asks how permanent hypnotic changes are, whether follow-up is needed, and whether working with a clinical hypnotist is necessary compared to self-hypnosis.
Typical clinical approach[16:15]
• Dr. Spiegel says most people start by seeing a clinician like him.
• He advises seeing someone licensed and trained in a professional discipline who can properly assess the problem and avoid, for example, hypnotically reducing chest pain that might indicate coronary artery disease.
• He notes that when he uses hypnosis for pain, he often sees people once or twice or periodically rather than weekly or daily.
• His process includes assessing hypnotizability with a brief test, guiding a self-hypnosis exercise for the problem, observing the response, and then teaching people how to do it themselves.

Hypnosis and obsessive thoughts/OCD

Suitability of hypnosis for obsessional problems

Obsession and hypnotizability[17:12]
• Asked whether hypnosis can help with obsession or obsessive thoughts, Dr. Spiegel says sometimes it can.
• He notes that many very obsessional people are not highly hypnotizable because they over-control thought and are busy evaluating rather than experiencing.
Cognitive rigidity in OCD[17:34]
• He describes a needed balance between too much emotional absorption and too much rigidity; both extremes can be problematic.
• In OCD, evaluative processes may override experiential ones, as in repeated checking of locks or gas where people do not consolidate a clear memory and keep rechecking.
• He concludes that people with OCD are generally on the less hypnotizable side and are not the group he would select as most likely to respond to self-hypnotic approaches, though some may get benefit.

Hypnotizability assessment and the Spiegel eye-roll test

Defining and measuring hypnotizability

What is hypnotizability?[18:22]
• Dr. Spiegel defines hypnotizability as the capacity to have hypnotic experiences.
Hypnotic induction profile and population distribution[18:29]
• He describes a test called the hypnotic induction profile, a highly structured hypnotic experience used to measure hypnotizability on a 0-10 scale.
• He says about one third of adults are not hypnotizable, two thirds are, and about 15% are extremely hypnotizable.
• People who are low to moderately hypnotizable like explanations about what is being done but can still benefit, and the measure helps guide treatment.

Eye-roll (Eyrul) test procedure

Origin and basic method[19:02]
• Dr. Spiegel notes that his father used an eye fixation induction, asking patients to look up at the ceiling.
• He and Andrew describe the test: tilting the head back, looking up at the ceiling with eyes open, then closing the eyelids while keeping the eyes directed upward.
Interpreting eye position[19:24]
• If, as the eyelids close, the eyes roll back and more sclera (white of the eye) is visible, that indicates higher hypnotizability.
• If the eyes move down and the iris (colored part) is seen as the eyes close, that indicates lower hypnotizability.
• Dr. Spiegel explains that the test asks the brain to do something difficult-keep the eyes up while closing the eyelids.

Eye movements, consciousness, and turning inward

Eye movements and levels of consciousness[19:51]
• He notes that eye movements relate to levels of consciousness; the periaqueductal gray surrounds cranial nerve nuclei controlling eyes.
• He references that we close our eyes when we sleep and have rapid eye movement when we dream, and that drugs affecting consciousness also affect pupils and eye movements.
Zen practice and visual primacy[20:07]
• He mentions a Zen practice called "looking at the third eye," imagining an eye between the other two in the forehead, involving an internal upward gaze.
• He says humans are visual creatures and compares our physical limitations to animals, noting that vision is a major defensive sensory input.
Closing eyes while remaining alert[20:29]
• Normally when we close our eyes for a period, it is to sleep and stop worrying about the world, but in hypnosis people maintain resting alertness while turning inward.
• He characterizes this as an unusual state: focusing inward while letting whatever happens outside occur without monitoring for threats.
• He suggests that looking up and closing the eyes can signal the brain to turn inward.

Voluntary exposure, control, and functional living

Deliberate self-exposure to fears and trauma

Importance of voluntary entry into state[20:53]
• Andrew recaps that therapeutic approaches involve getting close to phobia or trauma and rewiring responses, and notes Dr. Spiegel's emphasis on whether the state is entered voluntarily.
• He describes a hallmark of treatment as deliberately confronting trauma, pain, insomnia, or other problems and readjusting emotional responses while close to them.
Balancing processing with functioning[21:16]
• Andrew raises the concern that being a functional human also requires going to work and interacting without dumping trauma everywhere.

Clinician perspective on safe processing

Defining events on one's own terms[21:28]
• Dr. Spiegel says the goal is to feel in control of access to traumatic material and define what happened on one's own terms.
• He emphasizes that it is not merely being exposed to something upsetting but how one handles it and what meaning one assigns.
• He advocates thinking about problems in ways that enhance understanding and control, including the ability to turn thoughts on or off when desired.
Stress as unavoidable and growth-promoting[22:01]
• He notes that exposure to trauma or stress is part of living and cannot be avoided; it is unpleasant but sometimes teaches needed lessons.
• He suggests that finding an "algorithm" for facing, putting in perspective, and dealing with stress can make people stronger rather than weaker.

Mind-body relationship and pain modulation

Unifying versus uncoupling mind and body

Conceptualizing mind-body adaptively[22:24]
• Andrew notes that some hypnotic processes unify mind and body (feeling what you're thinking) while others deliberately uncouple them, and asks for an adaptive framework.
More control, not absolute control[22:36]
• Dr. Spiegel says the issue is not absolute control but more control, viewing brain and body signals as tools to understand needs and importance.
• He adds that these signals can be managed rather than simply absorbed, and hypnosis is a limiting case of regulating processes like pain.

Pain as an example of reinterpreting signals

Differentiating novel injury vs. healing pain[22:56]
• He says pain needs attention if it signals a new problem, like a broken ankle or crushing chest pain, which should prompt seeking help.
• However, the brain tends to treat all pain as if it were novel; he teaches people to categorize pain as signaling risk of re-injury versus simply reflecting healing.
• By changing what the brain believes the pain means, people can modify how they process it; the same logic applies to emotional pain.
Threat as opportunity[23:33]
• He recommends conceptualizing interpersonal problems or threats as opportunities to act and ameliorate the situation, not as purely passive experiences.
• Blending receptivity (perceiving signals) with active response (acting on them) can improve outcomes.
• He clarifies that this does not mean imagining away serious conditions like heart attacks but realistically figuring out how to rehabilitate and regain as much control as possible.

Hypnosis in children and group contexts

Hypnosis and self-hypnosis in children

Children's capacity for hypnosis[24:01]
• Asked whether children can be safely hypnotized or do self-hypnosis, Dr. Spiegel says yes, although self-hypnosis can be harder and children need more structure.
• He quips that you have to "share your dorsolateral prefrontal cortex" with them a bit, but emphasizes that children can be very hypnotizable.
Use by pediatricians and dentists[24:23]
• He mentions pediatricians who use hypnosis wonderfully, getting children to focus on something else during procedures.
• He says good dentists can use hypnosis to help kids with fear and pain.

Randomized trial in pediatric medical procedures

Study on voiding cystourethrograms[24:48]
• Dr. Spiegel describes a randomized trial, published in Pediatrics, involving children undergoing voiding cystourethrograms.
• He met with each child and mother a week before, asked the child where they liked to be, and told them they would play a trick on doctors: their body would be there but they would be somewhere else.
• Children were guided to visit a friend, go to Disneyland, or otherwise mentally go elsewhere during the procedure, with the mother helping at the head of the table.
• He reports that these children were easier to image, with procedures 17 minutes shorter on average, which he notes is a long time for a small child.
• He concludes that hypnosis can effectively reduce children's anxiety and pain and help them get through difficult procedures.

Group hypnosis applications

Hypnosis in groups vs individuals[25:57]
• Asked about couples or coordinated hypnosis, Dr. Spiegel says he has done hypnosis in groups, such as with women with metastatic breast cancer, but not specifically couples.
• He notes that in the metastatic breast cancer group, about 10 women met weekly and went into hypnosis together.
• He believes group hypnosis can bring out the best in people's abilities because it is a shared social experience and participants discuss it afterward.

Breathing, internal state modulation, and hypnosis

Breathing as bridge between conscious and unconscious

Breath and brain state shifts[26:31]
• Andrew notes that breathing is a bridge between conscious and unconscious states and asks about its role in shifting brain state during hypnotic protocols.
Sympathetic vs parasympathetic breathing patterns[26:24]
• Dr. Spiegel says some breathing patterns may increase sympathetic arousal while others may decrease it.
• He mentions cyclic sighing, where more time is spent exhaling than inhaling, and says there is reason to believe it induces parasympathetic activity.
• He explains that increased pressure in the chest during such breathing allows the heart to slow down because blood returns to the atrium more easily.

Use of breathing in hypnotic induction

Deep breath and slow exhale[26:56]
• He says he uses breathing in inductions by asking people to take a deep breath and then slowly exhale.
• Partly based on research he and Andrew have done together, he now emphasizes the slow exhale more to enhance relaxation during induction.
Breathing as demonstration of internal modulation[27:19]
• He agrees breathing is at the edge of conscious and unconscious control: it continues automatically but can be voluntarily controlled.
• He describes breathing as a way for people to demonstrate to themselves their capacity to modulate internal state.
• He notes that one can change internal state by cognitive processes (as in pain control via hypnosis) or more directly by altering breathing patterns.

Hypnotic-like states in performance and daily life

Hypnosis beyond physical relaxation

Peak performance as hypnotic-like[28:36]
• Dr. Spiegel says that although hypnosis usually involves physical relaxation, there are people at peak physical, athletic, or musical performance who are in hypnotic states too.
Examples from musicians and athletes[28:02]
• He recounts classical pianists saying that if they start thinking about what their fingers are doing, they make mistakes; instead they feel as if floating above the piano, thinking about the tone they want.
• He labels this a hypnotic-like state and notes that many athletes in peak performance are "just flowing with it," not thinking step by step.
• He adds that when people are working or giving a talk and doing it well, they are often in a hypnotic-like state.

Conditions for hypnotic-like performance states

Not always requiring quiet or comfort[28:36]
• He cautions that hypnotic-like states do not necessarily require physical comfort or quiet; they can coincide with intense activity.

Professional standards and closing reflections

Finding qualified hypnotists

Professional organizations as resources[28:51]
• Dr. Spiegel mentions two professional organizations that provide referrals to clinicians who use hypnosis: the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis and the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis.
• He advises looking for someone licensed and trained in a primary professional discipline (psychiatry, psychology, medicine, dentistry) who also has training and interest in hypnosis.

Closing appreciation and future outlook

Host's reflections on hypnosis and mind[28:47]
• Andrew thanks Dr. Spiegel for sharing his knowledge and expresses hope they can have more discussions in the future.
• He remarks that in a world of growing understanding of bodily mechanisms, the mind remains mysterious and people both struggle with and are excited about tools like hypnosis.
• He notes that people want to apply such tools to perform better and feel better mentally and physically, and that Dr. Spiegel has pointed to many resources and demonstrated applications.
Acknowledgment of guest's life's work[29:33]
• Andrew acknowledges that hypnosis is Dr. Spiegel's professional life's commitment and says "we all benefit."

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Changing your mental state deliberately-through practices like hypnosis or structured breathing-can unlock new ways of perceiving and responding to problems that felt stuck from your usual state of mind.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What recurring problem in your life tends to feel unsolvable when you think about it in your usual state of mind?
  • • How could you experiment with changing your state first (for example via focused breathing or deep relaxation) before revisiting that problem?
  • • What is one specific situation this week where you will consciously shift your internal state before deciding how to respond?
2

Interpreting bodily signals (like pain or anxiety) as information rather than commands gives you more room to categorize them and choose how to respond, instead of being driven by automatic reactions.

Reflection Questions:

  • • When you feel physical discomfort or anxiety, do you typically treat it as an emergency, an annoyance, or data to be interpreted?
  • • How might re-labeling a familiar pain or stress sensation as a healing signal or a cue to take a specific action change your behavior?
  • • What is one recurring bodily signal you can pay closer, more curious attention to this week and deliberately re-interpret?
3

Voluntarily approaching feared or traumatic memories under controlled conditions is often necessary to rewire your associations and reduce their power over you.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What difficult memory or fear do you routinely avoid thinking about because it feels overwhelming?
  • • How could you create a safer, more controlled context (with support if needed) to revisit that memory for the purpose of reframing it?
  • • What is one small, concrete step you could take in the next month to move from pure avoidance toward deliberate, guided confrontation of that issue?
4

Your capacity for focused absorption-getting deeply "into" an activity while suspending constant self-evaluation-is a powerful performance tool in work, creativity, and sport.

Reflection Questions:

  • • In what activities do you most naturally lose track of time and feel fully absorbed?
  • • How might you adjust your environment or routines to make it easier to enter that absorbed state when doing important work?
  • • What is one task you will approach this week with the explicit intention of focusing on the experience itself rather than on judging your performance in the moment?
5

Seeking skilled, properly trained professionals when using powerful psychological tools like hypnosis protects you from misapplication and maximizes the chances of real, lasting benefit.

Reflection Questions:

  • • When you consider getting help for a mental or physical challenge, what criteria do you currently use to judge whether someone is qualified to help you?
  • • How could you better verify a practitioner's training, licensing, and methods before engaging in deeper work like hypnosis or intensive therapy?
  • • What is one area of your life where bringing in a vetted professional guide could accelerate progress compared to continuing entirely on your own?

Episode Summary - Notes by Finley

Essentials: Using Hypnosis to Enhance Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Dr. David Spiegel
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