“Leaving the ground scares people,” says Jeffrey Rose, a clinical hypnotist in New York. “It’s mostly because flying is something they cannot control.” What people can control, however, is how they think—which is where hypnosis comes in. During a session, Rose guides a patient into a hypnotic state, in which he introduces patient-specific positive, therapeutic suggestions as a replacement for a particular fear or habit. At its most basic, Rose says, “hypnosis replaces the negative ‘My plane is going to crash’ with ‘My flight will be safe.’” Beyond controlling your thinking, you can also manage your behavior. “That gives you an additional sense of control over the experience of flying and helps make you a more confident flier,” Rose says. A few lifestyle changes will “get your overall stress level down before you fly,” he explains, “which will put you in a better position to successfully cope with your flight-related anxiety.” As with any lifestyle change, it’s far easier said than done. Like, for starters, getting enough sleep several nights before a flight (even if that directive flies in the face of all the last- minute tasks and packing required before a trip).

Leading up to a flight, Rose, also a nutritionist, suggests avoiding caffeine (another cortisol- booster) and alcohol (which is dehydrating and elevates your heart rate), and drinking lots of water. So if you can’t bide your time before the preboarding announcement at Starbucks or the airport bar, what exactly should you do? “Well, exercise reduces stress hormones,” Rose points out. “Walk the terminal.

THE JOURNAL NEWS  November 6, 2014 Educators urged to ‘Start School Later’ 

Jeffrey Rose of Nyack, a clinical hypnotist and nutritionist who treats sleep problems in adolescents and adults, started a Rockland County chapter of the national Start School Later campaign about a year ago as he noticed more parents bringing sleep-starved teens into his office in September.

Rose and his wife have daughters who are 3 and 6; the older one goes to Upper Nyack Elementary. He jumped into the movement because he didn’t want to wait until they get to the upper grades to try to change the status quo, he said.

In Seeking Holistic Methods to Quit Smoking, Well+Good interviewed hypnotist Jeffrey Rose to discuss success rates and methodology. Practitioners see an uptick in smoking cessation clients this time of year—smokers comprise 30% of Rose’s practice. And both use their chosen technique in conjunction with a thorough lifestyle evaluation. “We discuss everything from medical history to why they’ve decided to quit, their mindset when smoking (i.e. what are their triggers) and their sugar and caffeine consumption. Rose explains his holistic approach, “We start by having a long conversation about their diet, sleep patterns, exercise routine, alcohol consumption…I want to learn everything I can about them so I can help them be more resourceful in rejecting cigarettes.”

HYPNOSIS
How often: one two-hour hypnosis session + self hypnosis audios
How it works: Forget every schlocky hypnotism stage show you’ve ever seen. Hypnotism is essentially a narrowing of your attention, and it can never make you do anything against your will, explains Rose. After a lifestyle discussion, you watch a 25-minute hypnotic video, almost like a mini-session, that introduces a future aversion to cigarettes. Then Rose himself hypnotizes you: you relax while he encourages you to imagine healthy, smoke-free years ahead. This positive suggestion helps create new thought patterns and habits. Then he has you visualize someone else smoking and think about how disgusting it is. “In hypnosis I am teaching their subconscious that smoking, though pleasurable, is extremely unhealthy and stupid. Once my client’s subconscious mind knows that there are more healthy choices, it will let go of smoking.”