Emily: Hey, listeners, welcome back to the Alignment Unstoppable Podcast. I am joined by a very special guest, Kristin Dwan and I invited Kristin to be a guest on the podcast for a multitude of reasons, but primarily because I have shared on some previous episodes, actually one that had just come out in the beginning of April around doing shadow work and kind of like the behind the scenes conversation or what I’ve been going through with my business and sharing how I’ve really overcome some dark, deep, heavy feelings and the things that I have been doing to get me out of that funk.So one of the things that I’ve been practicing and experiencing is hypnotherapy. And so Kristin is my hypnotherapist. Is that the proper term for you?

Kristin: It is.

Emily: So I wanted to brag a little bit because I feel… I’ve been doing a lot of different things to benefit my health, my well-being, my mental status and, you know, supplements. I’ve been doing cold immersion and I’ve been doing hypnosis. And the hypnosis, I feel, has been helping me so much so that in one of our last sessions together, you brought out a piece of paper that a few months prior or like five weeks, I think it was five weeks prior, we were measuring, you were measuring things like how heavy do I feel, how much in the flow do I feel?

How financially solvent do I feel? How is fall do I feel? Like all these different things that word that I had said, but that you kind of gave back to me to say, let’s give a measure from a scale of 1 to 10, ten being amazing, awesome, one being not great at all.

And in five weeks, I mean, I had to do the math and I’m not much of a math gal, but the percentage increase was significant from like on most of them. I was like a 2 to an 8, 3 to a 9, like these crazy swings in the positive direction. And I was like, Kristin, please, can you send me this image? Because like, I need to show Amanda and show her like, this is such good work that we’ve been doing together. And here is the data. And I love as much as I’m a woo-woo and like, so spiritual, esoteric, I’m all about the energy. I also totally geek out about evidence-based practices and the science behind it. So that’s also another reason, not just because of my own personal positive experience with your work, but also because hypnosis has a lot of data and science backing up why it’s so effective.

So we’re definitely going to get into all that in this episode, but before we do, warm welcome, Kristin. I would love for you to just do an introduction of yourself and sort of what brought you to become a hypnotherapist and like, let’s share your background story.

Kristin: Wow! Oh, well, thank you so much for having me here. And you are amazing. Working with you is so beautiful because I’m not, you know, when we go into the realm of being a healer, it’s like, I’m not healing you, right? I don’t heal any of my thousands of clients. You guys are healing yourself. And what you do is you are open, you are doing the homework, you are really being receptive to it and your mind, your body, your spirit heals itself. So kudos to you, my friend.

Emily: High five! ?

Kristin: So yes, I am Kristin Dwan. I am a certified hypnotherapist. I’m a Reiki master teacher and I’m also a coach. And I started I mean, I can say I started in childhood because I have always been connected to the earth. And I played with fairies and I loved crystals and I started reading tarot at age 12. I’ve always been called to this work, but it was at 23 when I died and came back to life, was when my soul really signed the contract of this is what we’re doing.

Emily: Share a little bit about that, that experience?

Kristin: So as I said, I’ve always been very spiritual reading, tarot, doing, even doing energy work, you know, helping people. And as a child, I wanted to heal the world, like, that was my goal in life. And at 23, I was very angry. You know, I wanted to help people, but I really hated myself. I hated the world. I hated pretty much existing. And trigger warning, there were times in my teens where I wanted to kill myself. Right? A lot of deep dark depression there.

And at 23, I was kind of on a ledge. And what happened was I lit what’s called a road-opening candle. Some people know that is. And for those who don’t, it’s a candle that you burn when you want to get everything out of your way, that standing in the way of what you want in life. And so lit that road, opened our candle, and went to sleep. The next thing I know, my whole house is in flames. So obviously how I was living and how I was being in that house was getting in the way of where I am today, right?

Emily: Huh! wow, man. Oh. That just seemed like a shiver down my whole body. It’s like. Yeah, Wow.

Kristin: You got to be careful. What you ask for. For sure, you got to be careful what you ask for, right?

Emily: Yes. Yes.

Kristin: So I woke up. My house was, like, completely in flames. I had to literally run through a wall of flames to get out of my house alive. Through doing that, I got third-degree burns over 30% of my body, and I ended up in a burn ward. And it was there that I went through multiple skin grafting surgeries, and the first time they put me under my body reacted to whatever they used, and I literally died. That’s where I actually was clinically dead for a few seconds or minutes or whatever it was. And they resuscitated me. And I remember people always ask, Did you see the tunnel? Did you see the light? It wasn’t so much about what I was seeing. It was more about feeling that there was a decision made, like my soul was like, not done. Now I had to go back there again.

I remember hearing like them talking about me and blood pressure and this, that and the other. And then I felt myself hit my body. And that was when they woke me up. That was when they resuscitated me. And I can say that I know what death warmed over feels like because that was exactly what I was at that moment in time. And it took me days to really come back to feel, you know, as normal as you can feel with third-degree burns and a burn ward right?

Emily: Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Kristin: Yeah. And so when that happened, it switched from like, oh my God, my house is gone and I’m in a burn ward, and what the hell did I do with my life, too? All right, I got some work to do. I’m here for a reason. And let’s get this let’s get this show on the road. I wanted to write a book. I wanted to start a band. I wanted to do, like, all these amazing things. And so I was telling my doctor that and he’s like, I’m really glad you’re happy to be alive, but you need to grow some skin before we can let you go.

Emily: So you can’t go out there?

Kristin: Yeah, I look like Freddy Krueger. Like literally, like all my arms, my hands, my feet and through my legs, you know, cause I was sleeping, I had no shoes on. It was summer when it happened. It was in August. So I was sleeping in, like, shorts and a T-shirt. Everything that wasn’t covered basically had some burns on them. So at that point was when I kind of hit the dark night of the soul. I was like, All right I chose to be okay, running through a wall of flames. I mean, alive, at least but not really okay.

I chose to come back after actually dying. And why did I choose this? Why did I choose to come back when all I’m going to do is be here in this hospital in huge amounts of pain, like third-degree burns are no joke. Even though I had liquid morphine going through my veins, it felt like there were hot irons everywhere there were burns.

Emily: Yeah.

Kristin: There’s the added pain. The first time they did the surgery on me, they did what’s called an autograph. And that’s where they took my good skin off, to put on my burns. So that I could be had in pain of being skinned alive like little.

Emily: Oh, God.

Kristin: So there were some,  there were some like, why did I come back for this?

Emily: Yeah, I would be questioning my decision at that point as well.

Kristin: Really higher self, like really? And so it was at that point that I just asked for help. I was like, I know I’m strong. I know that you gave this to me for a reason, but can you help a bitch out?

Emily: Yes, thank you, thank you.

Kristin: And at that point, I felt this suctioning happening on this in the middle of the night in the burn ward. I felt the suctioning happening on all my wounds, and I felt myself leaving my body. And for a moment, I was scared. I was like, well, I don’t mean like dying, like, it felt like I was literally, like being lifted out. And then I just, like, decided who to trust. And so my body went up to the ceiling, and I felt like I was in this warm embrace of the universe. It was the best feeling of ever felt. Plus, I was outside of that body, so I was not feeling that pain for the first long weeks.

Emily: Oh, sweet relief. Finally.

Kristin: And then there was the point where I started coming down and I was like, oh no! 😀 But what happened was I felt myself hit my body again. And there was like 90% of the pain was gone.

Emily: Wow.

Kristin: I’m still there right? I still looked like Freddy Krueger, but the pain was 90% gone. There was just like a little bit of that fire left that hit, you know, and I decided to, like, test out my body. I was like, let me walk to the bathroom and see what happens. And before it would take me like 10 minutes to go like three feet because it was just so painful. And I got up, I walked on those burnt feet and I looked in the mirror of the burn ward bathroom, little tiny. And by the way, you can’t shower when you’ve got burns like that. It takes about, you know, I don’t know, once a week where you can, like, wash your hair. I looked like crap, right? And it was the first time I looked into a mirror and saw beauty. And saw that fire in my eyes and really felt like a love for myself.

So whatever this energy was that took me and healed me, you know, it it not only healed my burns, my wounds, right, but it also healed my spirit, my emotions, like all of that stuff was like finally starting to love myself and look at myself in a way that you would if you actually, you know, liked who you were, you know? So with all that happening, I was like, what was that? Because this was before I knew what Reiki was. This was before I even, like could call, you know, people and like, send me some energy. It felt like this was sending this energy to me was literally something from, from spirit.

Emily: Yeah.

Kristin: So the doctor comes in a couple of days later, you know, and he’s like, wow, you’ve really turned a corner, you know, like your wounds are healing, your skin is starting to take these grafts and you know, you’re going to be out of here this week, whereas before it was like until your you start growing some skin, you might be here for a month. We don’t know. We just have to see how.

Emily: Wow.

Kristin: So when I got home, there was, you know, definitely I needed to do some physical therapy and like heal, but I was out. And so I started doing some research. And once I got a job and had some money again, you know, I went to all of the witchy stores around me. And this is before Google, right? This is before you say, like, energy work, find me one, right? You had to go out there and find it, right?

So I went to all the, you know, New Age stores and looked on their walls where people would like to post fliers and their cards and stuff like that. And I went to all the energy work. I went to crystal healers, angel healers, you know, shamans, you name it, I went to it. And that’s where I first read the word Reiki on the wall. And I was like, well since it’s energy at work, let me try it. And of all the different energy practitioners I went to, that was the closest to that, that spirit, you know, that experience I had in the burn ward. And so at that point, I knew it’s like my folks signed the contract, like I’m going to be I’m going to learn this, I’m going to become a Reiki master, I’m going to teach it. I’m going to write a book about it. I’m going to talk about it to anybody who will listen. And I continue to do that 25 years later.

Emily: Well, I mean, I think this also goes to show how you asked for help. I mean, you were at that breaking point yourself. You were in you in the hospital, you died, you came back with all the pain and you finally asked for help, you know. You went through so much already. And even, you know, even as you said, like, you know, you lit this candle to clear away the things that didn’t support you. It’s like your intention was exactly what you did get.

But I love how when you asked for help, it was shown it was given. And, you know, not only did your body start going into healing, but as you said, we looked into the mirror, you actually could see yourself for the first time and truly love yours. I mean that I feel like, beyond the physical like yay for skin growing, of course. But like, that is such a deep, deep change that, I mean, can take people lifetimes or sometimes you will never get to that place where they look in the mirror and love that image, looking back at them so profound. And so I know you wrote a book and you do share Reiki. And so talk about your book a little bit.

Kristin: So it’s called Baptism by Flame, because I truly believe that my life started after the fire, like before the fire, it was anger, rage, depression, self-hatred, like all the things, right?  And then the fire came in, burnt that all away. And I call it I was burnt alive, you know. I was literally burnt. Take taken through that. And then like the Phoenix-like actually got to where I was supposed to be this lifetime, right? And so when I first was writing the book and anybody who’s an author knows this, when you have the idea, I’m going to write a book and this is what it’s going to be about.

And then the book takes on a life of its own. So it was supposed to be just about the fire experience. And then it became, well, I’m bigger than that because I’m about your spiritual journey afterwards, meeting a living saint, starting a band, starting your business. Like starting a business is the hero’s journey. I mean, is it really is

So then the book became about, you know, the fire and then that spiritual journey afterwards. And the spiritual journey is not like a year, right? So my book spans about 10 to 15 years that I took to write this book. And then it’s told me, all right, I thought I was done. I was like, this book is finally done. Then it told me, well, I’m not just a memoir. I’m actually a tool for the reader to use to go on their own journey. You know, with fire without burning their house down like I did. So then it became at the end of each chapter there, there are guided meditations. There are things for you to do, there are exercises. There’s like an online kind of workbook, right? So finally, when it was released, it became this beautiful tool for the reader to have their own baptism by flame.

Emily: I love it. Well, I think too, what shows up because you are so lighthearted and obviously you’re laughing at this thing and how you look like death warmed over. It’s like it’s so easy for us to laugh at it when we have so much space, between when the thing happened and where we are today. And you can see that you were such a different person then than you are today at the time. Did you find your humor in those moments? Did you feel like it was laughable? This is so funny. I set my intention for burning and I literally burnt my house down, like was it? I mean, you have such a great, like outlook on it now, but in that timeframe, did that, is that how it felt for you or did you know? Yeah.

Kristin: So, I did have a good attitude though. You know, what’s funny is I got my first job in advertising because of this fire. Know before I was like a retail manager, you know, in a very different, like, career. And then, you know, the fire happened, and then it was like, you can’t stand on your feet for that long. You can’t go back to work. Right? So, I knew that I couldn’t go back to being a retail manager. And what was interesting was one of my best friends came to visit me and he brought his friend who worked in advertising. And so, yeah, I’m laying there with like, you know, looking like Freddy Krueger, and I’m just smiling. I’m not laughing at it, but I’m just like, I’m so excited to get out. I’m going to start my… I’m telling them all my ideas. And so this woman was like, have you ever worked in advertising? Do you need a job when you get out of here? Because she’s like, you’re just so positive and like, you just felt my spirit. And she’s like, I’m going to get you a job when you’re out. And that’s what started me on going from like an assistant to, you know, being a regional sales manager.

Emily: Wow!

Kristin: And it was a beautiful like I do feel that that part that was there to kind of like teach me put me into a boot camp of how to build my business, right? That I had to learn how to market. I had to learn how to, you know, have clients be happy and express myself. Right? So, there was I wish it didn’t take 15 years for me to you know, transfer from regional sales manager to owner of a business. But, you know, we’re always right on time. That’s what I did.

Emily: Yeah, I agree. And I think it’s funny because when people transition out of their corporate job into their own business, sometimes we look back and say things like, well, I regret it take so long, or I can’t believe I had to do that job. I see it the way you do is like it took the time it needed to take. You had to get that experience. You had to take that position so that you could learn these different things, so that you could apply it. And, you know, I feel like it’s taken me time to understand what makes me magical and what makes me a unicorn in a saturated market of coaches and healers and really own my gifts. And part of that is my experience through corporate and transitioning into following my passions. And just like you, we would have been like the best friends as 12-year-olds.

Oh my God, if we just live closer to each other because I was into the spiritual stuff and, you know, I was like, Oh, well, what’s the name of the boy you’ve got a crush on? Let’s go look up what his astrology is like, what’s – why?

And I think that when you have that natural inkling as a young kid, when it’s not really nurtured and appreciated and, you know, people are like, excited for you, it does kind of get muted out. But like, it’s so nice that you found your way back. You know, it’s like and I have young kids now and I’m like, watching what they’re interested in, watching what they’re excited about. And my oldest son actually talks about death quite a lot. And you know what happens when you die? And we had somebody close to us, a neighbor who he was particularly close with, who passed away about a year ago.

So we had a lot of different like rituals and ceremonies around, you know, death and dying. And these conversations he’s having dreams about. His like, Mom that’s so cool. He’s reconnecting with you, with your dreams, talk about it, you know. And like, we have this very open dialog, which makes my husband very uncomfortable because of his upbringing. And I’m like, this isn’t like a scary negative conversation. This is he has a connection. Let’s foster this connection and not like muted.

Oh, so I feel like people like you and me like we found that part of ourselves as a young kid, young teen. And then we took it like a different route but came back to that place. And I love that you have always had this desire to help heal the world. I think that’s a really beautiful, beautiful dream and goal and a place to aspire to be like.

I feel like a lot of my audience is in the same exact position. Like, you know, they know that they’re here to help a lot of people. And the problem is that but how do I do that? And so, you know, for me, it took me hitting rock bottom before I started to actually use my intuition and follow that and apply it to my business. I had never done that before I hit rock bottom. And I say this in my workshops, like, by the way, you don’t have to hit total rock bottom to start doing this. You can do it, now!

But I’m curious for you, what was the transition for you when you decided, I’m done with the corporate, I’m going into more of my own business, my own healing work. Was it like a gradual, did you do like weekends? Did you was – how is that transition for you?

Kristin: Wow. So this is why I call it the hero’s journey, because I was making lots of money as a regional sales manager, and I was doing something that I had zero like sole love for what, I was buying and selling commercial airtime for TV. I don’t even, like own a TV, right?

Emily: But you know how to sell the shit out of it, don’t you?

Kristin: No, and I always did it on the side, right? So I didn’t, like, quit one and then start the other. I never you know, I have a business coach for healers, too, so I never tell them like, oh, just quit your job. It’ll be fine. You know from 9 to 5 ish it’s, you know, I worked my desk at in advertising, and then evenings and weekends, the healing woods started to grow. And then I was also in a band. So then from, like, you know, 9 until 2 in the morning, sometimes I’m out there with the band. So I had a huge schedule, right?

Emily: So like, hold on, what did you do in the band? Are you a singer? Are you a musician? What do you, sing?

Kristin: yeah, I’m a singer.

Emily: Of course you are.

Kristin: And I love that I use my voice in many different ways, right? The book is using my voice. The hypnotherapy is using my voice. The singing is using my voice, like my voice has always been. I’ve been in choirs since I was in second grade.

Emily: Yeah. And you do have a great voice. And by the way, I will mention it later, but there is going to be a special gift download for podcast listeners that you’ll be able to experience Kristin’s hypnosis. Anyway, let’s go back to the story. Sorry to interrupt.

Kristin: No worries. So yeah, it was a big full schedule and there was a point where I was like, all right, I’m starting to get more confidence with the Healing Woods because people are saying that they’re feeling amazing that I’m not just working on friends. I opened myself up to, you know, people who I didn’t know. So then it became, well, I have to start closing my door to take healing with clients, right? Like just to like book and all that kind of stuff. I closed my office door at work, but then it became it started to do this and I was like, oh, okay universe, I see you and I’m open to this. Let’s make this happen. My monkey mind, though, was like, I’m going to save money. I’m going to keep this corporate job for as long as I can until I decide that I’m going to transition over. And the universe is like, no bitch.

Emily: Like, I know where this is going.  You’re just like, oh, that’s a cue. You are going to control everything.

Kristin: Right? But I… and I had that confidence, so it was just more like I wanted to save money before doing it right. And then it was interesting like I had I had a lot of debt from the fire, obviously. Right. I had to, like, totally rebuy a whole house and all those clothes and, you know, medical bills. And so I finally, like paid my last portion of that debt. And then I was like, all right, I’m going to give myself like 3 to 6 months to, like, save before I say peace, you know, then the universe is like, you’re ready. And I remember I had this dream. And it was like my guides telling me, you know, you sitting at that desk is doing nothing for the world. Literally, anybody can sit at that desk and do what you do. Not everybody can do what you’re doing in this room, right?

Emily: Yeah.

Kristin: I was like, all right, I get it. I’ll do it sooner. That morning, that morning I walk into work and they call me and they’re like, we’re so sorry. You know, I worked at an advertising agency at that point, and they’re like, we’re so sorry. You know, we lost a big client and, you know, it’s not your work or blah blah blah. And I’m just smiling and…

Emily: Like, here it comes! 😀

Kristin: And I didn’t know what came over me, but I was just like, right on, like, I knew. And they’re like, okay, here’s your severance. They gave me an awesome severance and I got unemployment and I took all their money to build the business, right? And that was 11 years ago now. And 11 years ago the Healing Woods was going strong.

Emily: Wow. Wow. That is so, you know, like, I think that’s the funny part when you are so connected and so instinct, you know, people can see, like when you’re out of alignment, you see those things happen and you’re like, oh my God. But when you’re aligned and you have had these conversations as your higher self with your spirit team and you’re like, listen, here’s my intention. And then you have that kind of prophetic dream. It’s kind of obvious at this point, you know, where you’re like, here I go. It’s like 10 minutes till the day like, you know, it’s going to come. It’s inevitable.

And so when we see synchronicities, it’s not like, Oh my God, that’s so weird. It’s just what is, and you can see it as such a gift. And I think what’s funny is when people have told me that they’ve gotten laid off like that, so good. Congratulations. And they’re like, you’re supposed to be like morning or like, sad for me or some shit. I am always so excited. I’m like, well, you obviously co-created this, this is exciting. What are you going to do, you know?

And I and I love that you had already preemptively like you knew that it was coming. It was just a matter of when. And I love that it was able to really get you in that catalyst to go all in. I mean, that’s beautiful. My catalyst for leaving corporate for good was, I was working as an executive assistant in corporate at a bank, and I was just basically a glorified babysitter to very rich people, rich guys specifically. And it was fine. But again, just like you soul-sucking, and I was like, why am I even here? I was still doing massage and teaching yoga on the side, and I was just kind of actually I wasn’t teaching yoga at that time. I was still doing massage and energy healing at the time on the side. And my unit, you know, that I was we were building within this big bank. It got shut down. Everybody got laid off, which I also was very excited to be laid off and get a severance.

And the institution that I was working for that laid me off also hired me in a different unit. So I got my severance. I got paid out my second vacation time, and I also had a job lined up in like two weeks. It was the strangest, like occurrence of timing. And as that was happening, I took this job and the people sucks. Like the people who I used to work for. I could actually like they were fine. These other people, it was like such a hard know that I didn’t want to work for them anymore. And it was a beautiful kind of leaving of the company into I was like, I don’t even care that I’m taking a pay cut. I’m going to go to work. I actually worked in retail women’s apparel which was like sporty and woo-woo, but it got me back into networking with people who are more spiritual. And because of that, it opened me up to then getting the yoga certification and then just being like, wait a minute, I’m so low right now that I could literally see like six clients a week and make the same amount of money that I work in my 45 hour week job. Like, this is so stupid. And it was another easy choice. So it was a slow, easy, gradual progression.

But it’s like we really do need to be clear with our intentions, with what we’re asking for. So especially for folks who are still in a corporate job figuring it out, you need to decide what you want. And I loved Danielle Laporte’s Book around The Desire Map of like, what is it that you want? How do you want to feel? And those kinds of questions started to help me to determine like, what is it that I truly want on a deeper level? So I think what’s interesting is how like, how then what brought you into doing hypnosis?

Kristin: Yeah. So, within the Healing Woods. I only offer modalities that have really saved my life. So Reiki, you know, we heard that story then, you know, around. And I had always like, dabbled in hypnosis, like receiving hypnosis here and there. And I really started to, like, just know that that was the next step for the Healing Woods, because I wanted to help clients in a subconscious way, not just energetic, not just, you know, feeling good and happy. It’s like, I know that there is a lot of deep shadow work that you can do within the subconscious mind because it’s 88% of our brainpower. And so I was tired of just dealing with the 12%. I’m always like, go deeper, go home like that. That’s the way I’ve always been. So I’m like, okay, let’s go deeper.

And so I decided to, you know, go to Hypnotherapy College. I did a full like two-year course and I did all of it. I did an LP, I did imagery, and I just did it all at once. And the school was like, you know, people usually don’t do this much. I’m like, go deeper, go home. That’s who I am. Like, I had, I think, 2500 hours of training.

Emily: Oh, well.

Kristin: Normally you just need to have like a thousand to like…

Emily: Oh, my God.

Kristin: You know?

Emily: Well, what’s interesting that you say that I’m curious what your opinion is on this, because I because I talk to coaches and healers and other kinds of practitioners pretty much exclusively. I get served ads for a lot of the things that I talk about. So I’ve recently been scoffing in really my eyes at the different ads that are like, speed up your hypnosis training, getting trained in like 13 minutes or whatever they’re selling. You know, it’s like, I mean, I know how I feel about some of these trainings, but I’m curious, like as somebody who’s gotten over 2000 hours of training, what do you feel like that does to the industry? And, you know.

Kristin: It’s great for that person to make money is all it is. It’s not going to give the person getting that 13 minutes of even a weekend. You know, I’ve seen like hypnosis training in a week. And like, the mind is so complex and this is such an important thing that clients are allowing you access to, that you want to make sure that person who’s calling themselves a certified hypnotherapist knows exactly what they’re doing and how to help you and not like lead you to either you know, there’s not much that people can do to hurt you necessarily, but if they’re charging a big amount of money and they’re just kind of like, you know, talking bullshit to you while you’re laying there, you’re wasting money on that. Like, that’s not actually creating transformation and change that hypnotherapy is scientifically proven to do when it’s done, right?

Emily: Yeah, Yeah. So, I mean, I feel like it’s one of those things it’s out of integrity to the actual healing art and to the, the data that has been proven scientifically for a really long time. And I think that goes for all modalities. You know, I have a modality that I teach and I certify people through. It’s a six-month training. And my training, the Integrated Energy Alignment Practitioner Training does have a guarantee to help you become profitable. And I build that in because there’s all a lot of like what to your point of like weekend trainings that you don’t get everything you need in order to have a successful business.

You may be able to check the box that you completed the training, but like what did you get and how can you apply that to real people in the real world? And, you know, I think with online courses it’s like there’s a lot of good that can come with like speeding up your education and being able to access a lot of people’s wisdom in a short window of time. We’ve seen the statistics that most people actually don’t complete their online courses, but that’s also how what I do is change in the industry, and it’s interesting to see our completion rates. But people show up and they’re like, okay, I’m ready to do the work, but really they’re not ready to do the work. And that doesn’t mean they’re bad people. It just means the level of integrity and how serious you take yourself in your career as you have done.

So clearly, Kristin is like you want to dedicate everything to it. You want to go deep. You want to immerse yourself in becoming the best practitioner. And that’s also what I’m here to create, which I find people are not used to that. They’re kind of used to like, you know, sign up for the thing, show up when you can. That’s okay if you don’t do it, that doesn’t fly with what I teach and it’s a good thing. And I really am proud of like myself and my team that we’ve set the bar so high for practitioners. And it also does shake things up a little bit. It’s hard to be a disruptor of an industry of people who are like, we could kind of like check the boxes. It doesn’t really matter if you do it or not. Who cares?

But what I really love about what you’re saying is you take yourself and your practice very seriously and you’ve made it dedication that it is part of who you are as a person. It is a life. It’s like you are. You are making it into something so robust. And I really, I feel that with our sessions, you know, I think that’s one of the first thing I said to them. Like, I really appreciate the space that you hold for me. And I think as other practitioners who are listening to this, I think that’s what’s spectacular about working with somebody like Kristin who can hold the space. They are so present, they can hold the space on such a deep, energetic level that you can have incredible transformations.

If people like I mean, maybe this is like a good time to like check like the practitioners you are looking at investing in and like, do they have what? Like are we comparing apples to apples. I know people do that to me all the time. Like I’m thinking about your program and I’m also thinking about this piece of shit one. I’m like, Oh, okay, you know, was I was like, let’s just compare apples to apples. Because I think it’s really easy, especially in this online age, where, like I used to be the person on the corkboard with my fliers and like, that was the way I would get. Just like you found all these different practitioners. Now, our corkboard is social media and you know, whatever you decide to put on your website that you call the truth. So I think it really is great to see somebody like you who is so committed to your craft and who is so able to convey that effectively and hold this space in such a significant way. So I think I attribute that to your life experience, but also the training and how deep you went with it too.

Kristin: Yeah, well, it was interesting because, you know, again, the universe steps in and so literally the week that I started my hypnosis training, I also got a cancer diagnosis.

Emily: Oh, Jesus.

Kristin: And so the school was like, all right, well, you need to do what you need to do. I’m like, what do you mean? I’m just letting you know I might not be able to make a class or two, but I’m continuing my training because I knew that I was supposed to use the tools that I learned within hypnotherapy to get me through the cancer journey. And I’m 100% fine. I’m cancer free. I’m good.

Emily: Right.

Kristin: It was very, very scary, right? But I learned these beautiful ways in which you can tell the body exactly what you want it to do. The brain, the subconscious controls what’s happening within the body right? And so when you have 100% control over your own brain, whatever the doctors are telling you, it’s like, that’s cool. That’s a good story. But I know what’s happening with my body. I did the same thing within the fire too, but just through Reiki and through my own visioning, you know, they were telling me I may not be able to walk again, this, that, and the other.

There’s been so many different, as a healer, I have gone through so many different just… We’ll call them lessons in life where, you know I’ve had six surgeries like crazy has happened to me, accidents, you know, all this stuff. And I always focus on what I want and my body reacts. And even though the doctor will tell me it’s an 80% chance that this is going to happen, I’m like, I’m going to be at the 20%. Just watch me.

Emily: Yes.

Kristin: So with hypnotherapy, what I was able to do is turn things around on such of amazing physical level, right? The Reiki like, helped me emotionally and energetically. And then the hypnotherapy, once I got my mind 100% on what I wanted, I lost 160 pounds after my journey. And I had uterine cancer, so they had to completely take everything out. And then they told me, well, you know, while we’re in there, we might as well give you a lap band because, you know, you need to lose weight and there’s no way that you’re going to be able to lose weight because you don’t have a uterus now, right? And I was like. You just watch me.

Emily: Wow, wow…

Kristin: I’ll be like, I really just went deep. And it’s not just about food and exercise, you know, especially with me. What happened with me was it was emotional eating. And I learned that when I was eight years old, when my subconscious was being formed and I learned at eight years old, I don’t have any control over anything going on in my life. My dad’s an alcoholic. He’s leaving. My mom’s pissed off. She’s taking it out on me. The only thing I had control over was I’m going to make myself feel better with cake, right? Or whatever. A cookie. And so that brought me to being severely overweight. Right. And then I finally decided, I’m going to use this 2500 hours of, you know, training that I have to not only help others but, like, it’s time for me to help me. Right. And here does that like it comes into your life and it’s like, that’s cute that you want to heal the world, but why don’t you try healing yourself?

Emily: Yeah. Yeah. So I want to come back to what you said, because and it’s is not to pooh-pooh the medical industry. There’s definitely a place for Western medicine, especially when you need to grow skin and etc. But when you say because I want to come back so people can really hear it again around how you got that 100% of your mind in control. So a lot of people are in my, you know, community are like, listen, I’m not making the money. I want to join your program, but I don’t have the money. And they aspire to help more people. They aspire to make more money. But here and now, I’m not making any money and there’s nothing I can really do about it. Nothing can actually help me.

So what your diagnosis said is like, here, the odds are stacked against you. It’s not looking very good. You saying, actually, this is what’s going to go down, watch me and it fully happens. How do you do this? Like, this is the magic pill that everybody is looking for, right? Like, how do you get your brain to cooperate? Because in any cancer diagnosis, there’s fear, there’s worry, anxiety. You start to future cast, like, oh my God, all the things and the people, all,   you’re a student. Like, there are so many things like swirling and spiraling around you. A cancer diagnosis can be one of those things that can break people down and go, okay, I’m going to be that statistic, so why not you? How did you get to this place?

Kristin: So, you know for the people who are saying, you know, I’m broke, I don’t have money. Your mind is listening to you and it’s going to react. And your body, you know, if you say like, oh, I’m always tired, I’m always sick, you know, your experience in life, you know, you know, men are bad. And it’s like your subconscious mind is the record player that is constantly feeding back to you what you’re thinking. And so consciously right, our conscious mind is 12% of our brain power. So that 88% is constantly playing the shit back to you where, you know, I want to work on myself, I want to build a good business, I want to lose weight, right? Like all that 12% is there. And, you know, the conscious mind is where you make your decisions, where you analyze your willpower, right. Like the things that you’re consciously doing in life. Your habits, your emotions. You know, your inner beliefs are in that 88%.

So let’s say like with my weight loss, right? So 12% of my mind was like, God dammit, I’m going to lose some weight. I’m going to like, eat the things I’m supposed to eat, I’m going to exercise, I’m going to do all the things that 88% of my mind was like, yeah, but I mean, what do you do? And because you know that it makes you feel good and life is hard enough, why don’t you just eat, you know? Because that’s what you know. You know. And willpower is I’m going to do these things. I’m not going to eat that. And then something emotional happens, a loss, you know, something disrupts, you know, life, which has happened a lot in the last few years, right. That’s when that subconscious comes in to save the day, because your subconscious I don’t want to paint a picture of it being like against you necessarily. It’s just there to keep you alive.

Emily: Yeah.

Kristin: The subconscious mind is helping your eyes blink, helping you take that next breath, helping your blood flow. It’s doing all these things that we don’t even think about. So when it starts to hear the destructive chatter from your conscious mind, like, we’re going to change it and it’s going to be great. It’s like, No, let me keep you alive. Let’s, let’s, let’s just nix that right now. So what I had to do, I didn’t start with diet and exercise because, you know, at the weight, I was like 400 pounds. I couldn’t do any of that. Like I was in complete and utter pain. So what I started with was healing the inner child, going deep into the shadow work like the emotional healing and then changing the food. I couldn’t even, like, do exercises at that point.

So what I did was I changed my food intake and worked, you know, subconsciously on that to let my body know you don’t need to be hungry. You don’t need to, you know, go for the cake or the wine. When something emotional happens, you drink water, you know, whatever, like I switched, you know, the script inside the subconscious. Then the weight started to come off. And then, you know, after 50 pounds of weight loss without one bit of exercise, then I went into the pool and now I’m able to hike up a mountain and back with, you know, ten miles.

Emily: Oh, my God.

Kristin: It’s a slow right like weight loss. I am a poster child of hypnosis working for weight loss. And I’m the first one to say it’s not like a one-shot deal. You know, like, we’re going to be working together quite a bit within weight loss, especially emotional eating, because we can’t just like, you know, doing some hypnosis around eating and exercise is like when you’re weeding a garden instead of pulling it out by the roots, you’re just cutting it back, right?

Emily: Yes, they do. Well, it’s interesting you said because a couple of years ago I was doing this like Whole 30 challenge and my dog passed away right in the middle of my challenge and talk about like emotional triggers, everything. It was like there was a billboard just like pulling in my face like, you should also eat more cake. You love cake. And it was so glaringly obvious.

When my emotions are in this state, what foods do I typically go to comfort myself with? And I mean, we’re always self-regulating, doesn’t matter what. But I think that part of that, that trigger of when my dog had passed, it was like, wow, okay, so I see this and it gave me an opportunity to sit with that. And, you know, because I was choosing to stick with this diet plan that was choosing to stick with this until the 30 days. If not, actually, I did a bit longer, but I wanted to just sit with that emotion and to sort of see what it was trying to tell me. And I felt like the gift was I was doing this type of diet that I wasn’t allowed. I was restricting that food. I was just fully saying, okay, well, let me instead of eating this, I’m going to just see what this emotion is.

And I find that sometimes even just bringing awareness to those choices, when you can start to kind of look at it from that perspective, like what hypnosis has done to you, just to, especially around food, it sounds like is it’s like let’s bring you back to where this has started, to that inner child that needed nurturing and needed to feel loved and needed to feel connected and that sweetness.

And, you know, it’s also not as I remember when I was in yoga teacher training, we were talking about emotional eating and talking about how when we celebrate something good happening to us, what do we do? We drink and we eat cake. And then we eat all the fatty foods, right? And then when we’re sad, what do we do? We drink it, we eat all the things. So it’s like we’re trying to find that state that we found when we were in a positive mood, in a good place and, you know, recreate it. So, of course, it seems so obvious how we developed these patterns. But I was listening to a podcast yesterday with Dave Asprey talking about why biohacking is great for lazy people and actually why we’re all like innately lazy. Like biohacking isn’t doing more things, it’s actually doing less things, but doing the right things in the right order, at the right times. And what you’re kind of speaking to is also the fact that you know, you can regulate in different ways using different tools. And not everybody is just as one size.

And, you know, I think for you to also advocate to your doctor that, no, I’m not going to have a loud band while you’re just in there tidying up, like because that’s what the medical industry really does. I mean, I had a friend who just told me yesterday her husband had a gallbladder attack and like, we should take it out. He’s like, don’t take out my gallbladder, you know. Just sign this paper just real quick. And he’s like, what does this do? Like just to take out your gallbladder. He’s like, NO, you can’t take my gallbladder. So that being said, it’s like you’ve made conscious choices that might not have been the easiest choices, and part of the easier choice would have been like, Yeah, do the lap band while you’re in there tidying up, you made a harder choice.

And I also think that that goes to like speak for the person that you are making the harder choice, you know, your resilience. Most people don’t take harder choices. We tend to move toward pleasure versus pain. That must have been a hard choice to make. Did it feel like a hard choice?

Kristin: I mean, yeah, there was part of me that was like, Oh my God, is this the sign? Am I supposed to do it? And then there was, you know, I did some meditation around it, did some Reiki on myself, and I just you know, because here’s the thing about the Lap-Band or any other type of sleeve or the surgery that you can eat yourself out of those so easily.

It’s like weirdness in your body and you’re not sure what’s going to happen when you’re 80 or whatever, you know. So I was like the kind of person I am. I take what the doctors say as almost like a challenge. And I’m like, all right, I’m going to give myself a year and I’m going to, you know, figure this out. Like and if I can’t lose the weight because, yeah, I didn’t want to be 400 pounds forever either, right? Like, I was in pain. I couldn’t really do anything physically, you know, emotionally, you know, all of that. So I gave myself a year and one thing about me is with using hypnosis, 100% of my mind was focused on that.

Emily: Yeah.

Kristin: And when I make a decision to do something, God damn it, I do it. And so a year later, and I had lost, like 100 pounds or whatever it was, I was like, all right, there is no doctor who is going to ever tell me that I need to have this, this, this done, you know? And I’m still on the weight loss journey. I still have probably about 50 pounds I want to lose to be at my goal weight. And really, it’s not even about a number for me. I’ve given up on, you know, the thing like this is where I know that I am successful, like a nine-and-a-half mile hike up and down a mountain. I’m successful.

Emily: Yeah, I’d say so. So, I mean, are you still using hypnosis for yourself? What ways do you use it? Yeah.

Kristin: I will never stop using just like Reiki. I will Reiki myself to my dying breath.

Emily: Yeah.

Kristin: I will. Because it’s just so easy. You just connect yourself to the universe. And I’ve actually been a death doula and people pass within Reiki and it’s such a beautiful experience that that’s what I’m going to do for myself when I die. And also, yeah, hypnotherapy, like things are always going to come up, right? Like, yes, I’m well in, my weight loss journey. I don’t need to really focus on that too much anymore. But it always comes up like, you know, they always say another level another devil, right? So it’s like you get to a point where it’s like, I’m going to be seen by 2000 people and doing what I call a bullshit bonfire, right?

Emily: oh yeah.

Kristin: Let’s work on some of that like being able to express myself and feel that confidence and not care about 2000 people watching me, right? So there’s always like as you uplevel in life, there’s always going to be things to, to focus on. So yeah, I’m constantly working on myself and I love it.

Emily: Yeah, I do too. And I think this is also the evidence. That’s how I like to reframe it. Maybe that’s just me being like me, But you know, I like to reframe our challenges as the evidence of your growth, the evidence that you’re doing the work when you know, you just start hypnotherapy school and you get a cancer diagnosis like that to me is like, that’s the evidence that you’re doing the work. It’s like things are being disruptive, things are changing so that you can go on this ascension path and not everybody sees things that way.

You know, I actually did have a student through my practitioner training.  She ended up being hospitalized with this like virus thing that happened is like one month into the training. And I was like, I’m sorry, but she’s coming back in July to actually do the full training. But it’s like I tell them in their Welcome Call, like, it’s not going to be a surprise to me when shit hits the fan, whether it’s your physical health, your family, relationships, work, whatever it is, it’s going to come up. It’s going to come up by design because you are up-leveling in different ways. And I also see that for myself.

It’s like, you know, when I had my recent, you know, Dark Night of the Soul, when I was kind of in this deep funk, you know, every single day when I was working, like I might have been down on some days, but I was never out. There was always this part of me that just said, Yeah, that sucks, but like, there’s not an alternative. So like, you’re going to make a difference in the world one way or another. Like, maybe today sucks though. And I think that where a lot of my community gets is like, we get to this. Like, do I have a plan B? Do I do this, do I do that, do I do this?

And I feel like that’s like literally the worst thing that you can do and it’s because you’re spending so much this energy in between. And I would love to hear your take as a like somebody who works on brain base. Like when you’re having like do I do my soul’s purpose, like follow my passion or do I become a barista like what… I always like the way my mind sees it or like I’m very clairvoyant. It’s like where I see it is like instead of having like 100 units of energy to put towards like one direction, it’s like you have 80 units of energy that you’re just throwing into the wind and like nothing gets anything out. Like your plan A or B don’t get anything for energy.  So I’m curious what your take is on that.

Kristin: So yeah, I always like a garden hose, right? And we’ve got this garden that we want to, like, plant these beautiful things into. And your energy, your focus, your time, it to water, right? And it’s like shooting water at your garden, but there’s holes. And so the water’s kind of going all over the place except for where you want it to be.

And I wanted to talk a little bit about the darkness, right? Like the dark places, because I am not… I work in the dark. I mean, I’m a shadow work, and that’s what I call it. Your power resides in those dark places. So when something shitty happens to me as a lot of things have, I, I immediately like, you know, feel the pain, feel the grief or whatever I need to feel around what happened. And then I’m like, all right, and what is this opening up for me, right? And so that’s where the strength, the power, the transformation, like, you know, things that are planted in the dark, in the soil, it needs the dark in order to start to erupt and grow and root and blossom. And so all those beautiful flowers that we’re seeing now in spring. It started in the pure darkness of the soil.

Emily: Yes.

Kristin: I just see myself as being planted. And I, you know, put that energy towards that beautiful bloom that I want to say in the old days, weeks, whatever, you know.

Emily: I love that. I love that. And, you know, I think that to that point, too, I don’t shy away from it either, because I’ve also been through enough of them to go like, it’s not going to be this bad forever. Like back when I was like maybe 20, I was like, it’s never going to end. I’m going to be in this place forever, an eternity. But I’ve come out so many times. And at this point, because I’m in my zone as a teacher and as a leader, I can see how my journey has then benefited to teach other people on a similar path, to say, well, this is how I did it, and it’d be very beneficial. And so while I’m very consciously aware of like one day you’ll laugh about this and you’ll teach about this. It’s still like, well. But I’m just also here to.

Anyway, I could probably continue talking to you indefinitely, and I’m sure the listeners are enjoying this conversation. Of course, sharing your story was so, so beautiful and very vulnerable to share. I’m sure people could hear themselves in some of your story as well, but also to just, you know, be able to be somebody who has lived through all of this and is shining your light so beautifully and helping so many people.

And, you know, I was gifted when I asked again, I asked for help from one of my friends from my psychic friends network, I like to say, which is basically all my friends at this point. I asked my friend, hey, you know, do you know anybody? I’m looking for a practitioner, a therapist, coach, whatever, what do you talk to, what do you do? And she recommended you. And so I feel like this is me paying it forward to my listeners can say, well, if you’re having a darkened soul and you’re in that dark place in your soil journey, in your seedling journey, reach out to Kristin. You know, I personally have worked with her. I adore her. I’ve done multiple sessions. I continue to I will I was like, you can’t get rid of me. I just want to work with you forever.

But I want to just say, you know, I personally, really do endorse Kristin. And if you’re looking for somebody for yourself or for somebody else, reach out to her. We’ll have all of her links in the show notes below. Plus, we talked about you’re going to get a free hypnotic journey to connect you more with peace. So I would definitely, definitely recommend you start there because at the very least, like now, you’ve talked to her, you’re on the podcast. We’re all friends now.

For those of you who have watched us, you can go to emilyaarons.com/youtube to watch our podcast on the video so you can really connect with her more deeply through the video. But definitely check her out, work with her. You know, I’ve already had a friend reach out. She’s like, Oh my gosh, thank you for Kristin. She already thanked me like the day they had a session. So I know you’ll love her too.

So, Kristin, please share with all of our guests how they can find you, work with you, read about you, etc.

Kristin: Yeah. So my website is the healingwoods.com and there’s a page for my book on there. The book again is Baptism by Flame Ten Steps to Ignite Your Light Within. So I love what you just said about, you know, igniting light because that’s literally, my whole purpose in life. And of course, I’m on Facebook. I’d love for you to find me there. It’s Kristin Dwan CHt who is a certified hypnotherapist.

And yeah, I just want to talk a little bit about the hypnotic downloads. You can also see those on my front page, my landing page. So it’s not just my voice, it’s also I went into a studio and had binaural music created. So it’s music, my voice and between the two and whenever you’re, you know that I have music in the back of my hypnosis, both of those together, like it’s the music is bringing your, your mind into a state of receptiveness. And then the hypnosis is able to come in even more deeply. So this is going to be a recording for you to use literally every day if you need to because I know that sometimes the world feels a little intense. This is going to bring you back into that beautiful ground and state.

Emily: I love that. And I so Just a selfish question about the background music. Is it the binaural music that I had a feeling of that I did. I listened to it in my earbuds and I’m like, I think this is like my natural beats. And because I listen to vinyl music or like some sort of positive, like certain vibration music when I’m working and it does something to me and I can feel it like I think like the hypnosis is great, but I think there’s also probably something never asked you. So this is my answer. Great. Cool. It’s super special. So you get all that beautiful energy baked right in from binaural beats as well.

That’s so cool, you guys, thank you for listening, as always if you enjoyed this episode, please take a screenshot shared on Instagram. Share with a friend. Recommend it to somebody who you care about and you can always find more about Kristin on her website. And also everything will be linked in the show notes. So don’t worry if you’re out for a walk, you’re on a ten-mile hike by any chance. I think the coolest thing ever. If you are hiking, please take a picture and tag us in your Instagram stories. That would be the coolest thing. But always your kind reviews on iTunes or any of your favorite listening platforms are always appreciated. You guys have an awesome rest of your week. We’ll see you on next week’s episode. Lots of love.