Hypnosis for High Performance: How Intentional Focus Can Transform Pain, Sleep, and Stress with Dr. David Spiegel

Mental Training Lab

Mental Training Lab
Hypnosis for High Performance: How Intentional Focus Can Transform Pain, Sleep, and Stress with Dr. David Spiegel
Feb 17, 2026 Season 1 Episode 72
Pete Kadushin, PhD

What do a hypnotized high-school wrestler, Olympic athletes, and modern neuroscience all have in common? In this episode of The Mental Training Lab, I sit down with Dr. David Spiegel, one of the world’s leading experts in clinical hypnosis, to clear up the myths, misunderstandings, and stage-show baggage surrounding hypnosis. Next, we explore how it’s actually being used to reduce pain, manage stress, improve sleep, and enhance high-level performance.

We unpack how hypnosis works in the brain (including its effects on attention, dissociation, and the default mode network), and why hypnosis is best understood as an intentional, goal-directed mental skill, not mind control.

David shares remarkable clinical and performance stories, from eliminating chronic migraines to helping athletes access high quality focus under pressure. We also explore how hypnosis complements meditation, where the two differ, and why hypnosis can sometimes create rapid change where other practices haven’t.

If you’re interested in performance, well-being, or the science of attention and intentionality, this conversation may completely change how you think about hypnosis.

Learn more about Reveri, David’s self-hypnosis app, and get 20% off yearly or lifetime memberships with code MENTAL20: reverihealth.app.link/mental

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This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

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