HYPNOTHERAPY-
an interaction with your internal world
Have you ever driven somewhere familiar and arrived without remembering the drive? Or found the right words in a hard conversation without ever planning them? That’s your unconscious mind at work — the part of you running quietly in the background, holding your habits, your instincts, your deepest patterns, long before your conscious mind catches up.
Hypnotherapy works with that part of you. It’s a relaxed, focused state of mind — almost like the space between waking and dreaming — where your body and mind feel safe enough to let their guard down. In that state, you become deeply aware of what’s actually happening inside you: the sensations in your body, the emotions underneath your thoughts, the stories you’ve been carrying without realising it. And from that place of awareness, real change becomes possible. My job is to find the pattern underneath what’s happening and work with it directly — so change comes faster than you might expect.
I’m Sarah Herrmann, a Master Clinical Hypnotherapist, and I use your senses — what you see, feel, hear, and sense internally — to help you connect with that part of yourself. It doesn’t speak in logic or argument. It speaks in feelings, images, and sensations. That’s why some of the biggest shifts happen not through trying harder, but through simply being met exactly where you are. And it’s worth saying up front: hypnosis is something you do, not something done to you.
Once the nervous system is calm and settled and the body and mind perceives the therapeutic environment as safe, communication with your unconscious mind can be established. This is done by listening, feeling, seeing, tasting or smelling your internal world. Utilising your senses during each session is a vital part of creating change in your life. Sarah likes to describe the unconscious mind as your intuition which includes your creativity. It communicates through stories, pictures, feelings, metaphors, symbols and more. This is why children are easer influenced. The conscious part of the Brain has not been fully developed in kids and therefore all behaviours are coming directly from the unconscious. We often see children make decisions based on feelings and not logic.
Definition of Hypnosis
“The induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction. Its use in therapy, typically to recover suppressed memories or to allow modification of behaviour, has been revived but is still controversial.”
Oxford Languages
Qualifications
Sarah Herrmann attended and is continuing in depth training since 2020 at The Mind Academy for basic and advanced qualifications, leaving her with certification as a Master Clinical Hypnotherapist & Master NLP Practitioner, as part of her Diploma of Modern Psychology.
Frequently Asked Questions
This statement is a myth.
The issues I work with most are trauma (including inner child work and inner conflict), anxiety, stress, and sleep difficulties. I also work with fears and phobias, which often respond very quickly — sometimes in just one or two sessions. My goal is always the same: to help the physical sensations underneath your emotions settle, so your thoughts calm down and you feel able to move forward into whatever it is you’re working toward — calm, clarity, or simply the freedom to act.
This is why other practices such as tapping or Reiki may be a great alternative to begin with. Can still create a calmer nervous system and provide you with deeper insight and solutions into your current problem.
It’s a relaxed state of mind with a strong, inward focus — almost dream-like, somewhere between being asleep and fully awake. Most people find themselves deeply aware of their body and their inner world in a way they don’t usually get to experience. It’s less about “losing control” and more about discovering what’s already there.
You’ll remember, you’ll be able to talk, and you’ll stay aware of your environment the whole time. Hypnosis isn’t sleep, and it’s nothing like what you see in stage shows. During a session, you’re given suggestions — but it’s always your choice whether you follow them. Nobody can make you do anything you don’t want to do, in hypnosis or otherwise.
You can keep your eyes open or closed — most people choose to close them, since it helps shift your focus inward.
I work in two ways: actively, where I check in with you throughout the session to track what you’re noticing and feeling, or passively, where I speak more to your unconscious mind while you simply listen.
I nearly always start with the active approach, unless someone’s very in their head or a little disconnected from themselves, in which case the passive approach gives them something easier to settle into. Sessions run about an hour, either seated or lying down, guided mostly by my voice with some quiet moments for you to process in your own way.
It depends on what you’re working with and how much self-awareness you already carry into it. Fears and phobias are often resolved in one to three sessions. Trauma tends to need more — often six to ten. I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all number, so during your free consultation, I’ll get a sense of where you’re at and recommend what’s realistic for you.
Integration matters just as much as the session itself. I usually recommend starting with about a week between sessions, then spacing them out further — sometimes up to four weeks — as you become more self-aware and need less frequent support. In between, I’ll simply ask you to notice what’s shifting in your thoughts and behaviour. There’s no forced homework, just paying attention to what’s changing.
It’s a thirty-minute conversation where you share what you’re struggling with, at whatever level of detail feels comfortable — I mainly need to understand how it’s affecting you and what you want to achieve. It also gives us both a chance to see if we’re a good fit, and for me to make sure I can genuinely help before we begin.
Yes. It’s a common myth that some people “can’t” be hypnotised — in truth, hypnosis is something you do, not something done to you. If someone struggles to relax into it, it’s often less about ability and more about trust — either in the process, or in themselves. In those cases, gentler approaches like Ortho-Bionomy can be a great place to start.
The easiest way to find out if this is right for you is booking a Free Consultation — thirty minutes to create clarity and a plan tailored just for you. No pressure, and no obligation to book anything after.
How we help!
Stress + Anxiety
Grief + Trauma
Racing mind
Motivation
Chronic + Acute Pain
Self-sabotage
Decision Making
