Episode 22 - Hollie Eaddy: Finding Yourself Again With Hypnotherapy

Hollie Eaddy is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified Life Coach, Jungian Coach, Holy Fire Reiki Master Teacher, and founder of Heal With Hollie Clinical Hypnotherapy. Her education in Mind-Body Psychology supports her integrative approach to subconscious healing, nervous system regulation, and emotional wellness.

With a background in domestic violence advocacy and trauma-informed support, Hollie helps clients release emotional patterns, strengthen self-worth, calm the nervous system, and create meaningful subconscious change. She brings compassion, intuition, lived wisdom, and clinical skill to her work, and is passionate about helping people understand the power of the subconscious mind and the healing that becomes possible when old emotional patterns are met with safety, compassion, and intention.

Website: https://www.healwithhollie.com
Free meditation/resource: https://www.healwithhollie.com/magnoliaandfire-newsletter 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealwithHollie/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healwithhollies/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heal.with.hollie

Transcript

Welcome To Hip Talks

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Hip Talks. I'm your host, Catherine Hinchy. I'm a certified hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, and Sherub Senior Certified Professional in Human Resources. After spending a decade working in the music industry, my path led me into the world of the healing arts, where science, energy, mindset, and transformation all meet. Each week, I sit down with a different healing practitioner to explore the many powerful modalities available to support our growth, well-being, and personal evolution. So come with me on this journey of discovery and learn about all the opportunities for healing and transformation that are available to all of us.

Meet Holly And Her Approach

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Holly is a certified clinical hypnotherapist, certified life coach, a Yunion coach, holy fire reiki master teacher, and founder of Heal with Holly Clinical Hypnotherapy. Her education in mind-body psychology supports her integrative approach to subconscious healing, nervous system regulation, and emotional wellness. With a background in domestic violence advocacy and trauma-informed support, Holly helps clients release emotional patterns, strengthen self-worth, calm the nervous system, and create meaningful subconscious change. She brings compassion, intuition, lived wisdom, and clinical skill to her work and is passionate about helping people understand the power of the subconscious mind and the healing that becomes possible when old emotional patterns are met with safety, compassion, and intention. Wow, I love it. Welcome, Holly. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you. Can you start with talking to us about, I mean, your bio says a lot, but maybe a little more specifically about the people that you're working with to help heal?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

So a lot of people come to hypnotherapy because they want to stop doing something or start doing something or feel better, right? In some area of their life. So they might come in for anxiety or confidence, trauma patterns, relationships, but underneath almost every single issue, there is usually a deeper question. Who am I underneath what happened to me? Who am I before the world told me who I was? And who am I underneath survival? And that's the part I love working with predominantly women who have woken up one day and said, Wow, what is this? What is this like? Who am I? Where did I go? It reminds me of that talking head song.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah. Yeah. This is not my beautiful life. This is not my beautiful life. Amazing. So you have a lot of different modality certifications and and whatnot. So how did you come to work in the healing world to begin with?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Well, I actually

Why People Seek Hypnotherapy

SPEAKER_01 3:45

I think when we need to be healed, we see healing, whether it's through learning to heal others or through conventional methods of trying to heal. And I was also a victim of domestic violence and childhood trauma. But it led me to domestic violence, counseling, and advocacy. And I really love that work. I absolutely love that work. But as I went along, that work can become very, very heavy. And so I started moving into more of the depth psychology, Jungian type work, which treats, you know, the whole person, mind, body, spirit. I also discovered Reiki and went in that direction, but nothing really felt right. Like it was, this was it, right? This is me. This is what I want to do forever. And I actually came across HMI on Facebook of all places. I didn't know. And I was in a did you? Yeah. It's it's it's so wild. I was at a place where I was really looking for change. I was looking for that thing that I could be passionate about that drives me, right? And here it was. And I was like, wait a minute, there's something called hypnotherapy. How does this work? And I was back then, usually a person who would circle around and circle around and talk myself in and out of it probably 20 times. And I didn't. I dove straight in, filled it out, and jumped right in. And it's been such a wonderful, wonderful tool. And I am so passionate about the ways that it helps people.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

I have a few questions for you. So can you clarify for all of us listening what it is to be a holy fire Reiki master teacher?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Sure, sure. So, you know, there is regular Reiki, and holy fire is just really an additional symbol. And that symbol allows, it is like a warming feeling that you bring down through the whole body that's healing.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

And do you utilize your uh Reiki training in your work with your hypnotherapy clients?

SPEAKER_01 6:14

If they ask me to. But I always only do it if a client asks. It's always with permission.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

And when you mentioned that you are a clinical certified hypnotherapist, what does that entail?

SPEAKER_01 6:38

So it goes a little bit deeper into the mind-body connection, into the somatic of the body and how the body works, how the mind works. Um, I also, you know, of course, with the Dr. Release, I help with pain management, with different in different areas like that versus just habits or you know, starting a habit, stopping a habit. So it goes a lot deeper into the anxiety, deeper problems, the trauma, being trauma-informed with that.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

And when you help women or men find that underlying why, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

So when I say I help women uncover who they are, I mean I help them separate their true self from all of the roles, all of the survival, all of the layers of expectation that we're under. I mean, we're a lot of us are mothers, wives, partners, caregivers, the responsible one, the strong one. Uh, we're the emotional manager of the household, right? The peacemaker. I mean, the list goes on and on, right? Yeah. We hold everyone together. And sometimes by the time a woman comes and sits in front of me, she spins so many things that she barely remembers what she wants for dinner, much less anything else. I hear things like, I feel so lost. I used to be confident. I know I should love myself, but I don't. I'm tired. I don't know who I am anymore. Or I'm tired of being strong.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

I hear a lot of I'm done making all the decisions. I just want a break from making the decision. Can you just make it?

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Right. Yes, I hear that too. And I always like to gently say to

Remembering The Self Beneath Roles

SPEAKER_01 8:44

them, you're still in there. You did not disappear, you adapted. And I think it's such a distinction because you're not broken, and feeling broken can bring shame or like you've done something wrong, right? You're not doing enough, you're not doing it right. But when she realizes that she simply adapted in her life, something kind of softens, and she is able to begin to feel compassion, understanding about herself, and possibility. So uncovering who she means or who she is simply means her remembering the woman beneath everything, beneath the conditioning, the relationship wounds, whether that's you know, childhood or just our relationships with friends or partner, beneath the people pleasing, beneath that fear of being too much or not enough, and just helping them discover who they really are inside. We kind of get buried. I always like to say, somebody can throw one blanket on you, and it's nice, right? It's comfortable, you can handle that, but let's throw a hundred, let's throw two hundred, and then you're smothering and you're still trying to breathe, but you're still under there. So it's peeling back those layers gently to help her remember, help her remember her confidence, help her remember strength in a way that she wants to use strength, help her remember what made her laugh, what brought her joy, where her passion lies, and that you can have all of these roles and still be you.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

You know, I can tell how effective you are because you are really putting me into hypnosis in your smoke, but you're you're a very lulling, gentle voice, and um wonderful pacing. So, what can you share with our listeners that they might not know about healing after domestic violence?

SPEAKER_01 10:58

I think domestic violence changes our pattern so much in the subconscious mind. You know, the always feeling like you're doing something wrong. Because within that unit, typically you're blamed for everything, even when nothing's wrong. So you kind of take on that mindset of feeling like you're doing everything wrong. So I think just helping them come back to themselves in the way I described, of understanding that you did nothing wrong. You're a human, and other people's emotions, other people's reactions are theirs. They are not yours. And just because somebody thinks and says something to you does not make that true. So really uncovering those deeper layers of everything they've been told they were, how inadequate they were, that is the part of helping them build themselves back up.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

And what do you think people would be surprised

Healing After Domestic Violence

SPEAKER_00 12:09

to know about hypnosis or hypnotherapy for the person who's never done it?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

I think what they would be surprised to know is that it's not mind control. But it is not barking like a dog or quacking like a chicken or duck. So I think there's so many misconceptions, right? And I like to compare it to meditation, but meditation often it's reaching the conscious mind, right? With a meditation, we're trying to clear our conscious, our mind, get our mind quiet. Subconscious is like a deeper form of that, but dealing with the subconscious mind, attacking it from the level of patterns. I mean, we have automatic patterns every day. We don't tell our arm, hey, lift up, reach out, grab that doorknob, turn it. You know, it's an automatic reaction. And everything, all of our emotions, all of that is an automatic reaction in the mind. A lot of people like to say some things are triggers, but it's really a pattern in that subconscious. So I think people misconceive that we're going to erase memories or um mind ninja them somehow, control their mind. And it's not, it is a gentle conversation with the subconscious mind.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

I think a lot of people too, yes, they also think that there's going to be some kind of a magic wand that I'm gonna fix their problem by

Hypnosis Myths And Nervous System

SPEAKER_00 13:36

just putting them under hypnosis right away. And it's a little bit deeper than that, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yeah, yeah, it is, it is not a magic wand, definitely. And, you know, regulating that nervous system, we don't we walk around in such a high intensity, high stress world these days, that I think so many people are surprised of the fact how relaxing it is and how good it feels that just for those moments in hypnosis, that their whole body can release and relax.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah. And for folks who don't aren't familiar necessarily with the term somatic um and how you work with that, can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

So in somatic work, we work directly with the parts of the body that hold emotions. Our mind will often shove the emotions down into our body, especially if we're not willing to deal with those emotions. So they get stored in the body. And so we kind of you can have maybe there's so much power in our body, and we say it all the time. So when we say, Oh, that makes me sick to my stomach when I see that person, or oh, that's such a pain in my neck. And it really is because those emotions are coming from those parts in the body. So allowing those emotions to release from the body, to get them flowing again, because emotions aren't meant to sit within us, they're meant to flow through us.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Talk to me a little bit about your practice. You're based in Texas, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

And so do you see clients in person over Zoom? Both?

SPEAKER_01 15:31

I do both. I just recently moved into a

Somatic Release And Body Wisdom

SPEAKER_01 15:35

therapy office with 15 other therapists of all different kinds, from psychologists to LPCs, you know, just a whole variety, uh, even a yoga therapist, which is amazing to have in here. So I do see some clients in person. Still, the majority of my clients are seen online on Zoom, because Zoom, a lot of people I get that question. I'm sure you probably do too. How can you have it online? How can it be effective? But sometimes it's even more effective because you're in the comfort of your home or you feel more relaxed. And then others like that benefit of coming into an office and being able to just get away from everything, right? So I do see uh both clients in person and online. I live right close to Fort Hood, and so I do see a lot of military as well. But predominantly

Online Sessions Military And Men

SPEAKER_01 16:39

I think the two clients that I service the most is the woman we've been talking about. And I also think this manifests the same, not the same way in men. Men kind of come in with, why did I get angry at everything? And, you know, uncovering that that anger is often feeling, you know, unappreciated, um, feeling like they don't have purpose, feeling like they don't know who they are. But theirs usually just manifest in a different way. They become frustrated, they build that emotional armor around them versus the way it manifests in women. But I think the biggest clientele that I see is people who have just gotten lost along the way.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

That's very interesting that you talk about the difference and how it manifests in men and women. Do you notice that there's also a difference in manifesting in terms of the military clientele that you see? Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

The military, you know, they're taught to not have the reaction to be the tough person, whether they're male or female, because I work with both male and female military. And so they really hold everything in and just giving them the permission that now they are allowed to express freely everything they're feeling. So I think that is a big part of working with them. It's just helping them with that pattern in the subconscious that says, I can't express anything. I do what I'm told, I serve my country, which is great qualities for the military, right? Yeah. So that is a really big part of helping them understand that they can express themselves outside of their jobs.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

And can you talk to people about your experience as a Jungian coach and what that means? And are you infiltrating that uh technique with hypnotherapy?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yes. A Jungian coach, it's really you treat the whole person. Psychology treats the mind. And we think about a medical doctor, it treats the body, and whatever spirituality you believe in, you don't really get treated there, but you connect in that way, right? So Young Yin takes all of that together and combines it. It takes into account what's going on in your mind, what's going on in your spirit, where are you feeling it in the body? What's going on with all three? So it's it's a I like to say it's a full system guidance, right? It is coaching people, finding out their goals, what they want, what direction they want to go in, and incorporating all of it in there, not just mindset or changing the subconscious, but spiritually, how does that line up and how do we help you spiritually get to where you're going as well? How do we help you physically? Where, you know, again, the body tying into that. And I naturally, I feel like use a lot of that in my practice. Um, I'm always asking

Jungian Coaching Dreams And Meaning

SPEAKER_01 20:07

if I see somebody, you know, holding a part of their body tense. What are you feeling right now? Where do you feel it in the body? You know, I do a lot of let's scan the body, let's see where you're feeling things, because that can really tell you a lot. And even in hypnosis, I do the talking to the body part, seeing what it needs, what it wants, what it has to say. So I do really incorporate quite a bit of that um within the sessions.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

I always think about um Carl Jung and I always think about dream, you know, the whole dreams, dream world and dreamscape and all of that. Do you incorporate any of that work into what you do?

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Yes. I in first session, every time I always talk about dreams. And I always remind them that when we're working with the subconscious, since the subconscious is what controls our dreams, pay attention because you may start having an increase in dreams. And if you keep a journal of those, perhaps as you look at the different symbols, maybe you will uncover something there. And we can dialogue back and forth with it, you know, and find out what that specific dream might be saying underneath and the importance of it, because our subconscious talks mostly in metaphor, right? It's not very often that it's going to tell you flat out anything in a dream. It's all metaphorical and symbolic.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

And going back to what you were talking about about helping people connect with their spiritual side. I've had this a couple of times, and I wonder how you encounter it where you have a client who has no spiritual belief. They simply just don't believe in any of it. Yeah. And um, I agree too that it's uh as Because I've just been on my own spiritual quest in you know the last couple of years and how much it's helped me heal. And I wonder how do you approach healing or helping guiding somebody to heal themselves that has that um belief?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

I think definitely using a lot of science with them often helps. It's so funny because earlier today I had a gentleman that's agnostic and but he was fascinated about the things he his habits that we were working with. And he said, you know, I'm not spiritual. I'm agnostic, I don't believe in spirituality. But after the session he sat up, he said, I just I had a feeling once where I was in the mountains and I just knew that everything was okay, and it was just an inner knowing that everything was okay. And he goes, and I don't count

Science Based Spirituality And Habits

SPEAKER_01 23:01

that as spirituality, he goes, but I just knew I can't tell you how. And I said, Well, our intuition or our knowing lives in the subconscious. And and he goes, Wow. And so just making that connection that it that it that is where it stems from, kind of helped him understand that we can anchor him in for that feeling. We can bring him back to that moment so that when he's trying to stop what he's doing, he can go back to that moment of knowing everything's gonna be all right. So I think just using science in a way that makes sense to the client, um, allowing them to know that our bodies are miraculous.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Part of that for me is spirituality, but to someone else, it may be that you know, we regenerate cells and we it is amazing when you talk about intuition and just like breathing, and we're not thinking about breathing, we're not thinking about so many things that our bodies are clocking and our mind is clocking and tapping into and understanding. And so if we just can be still and quiet for a moment and listen to what it wants to tell us, it will always lead us in the right direction.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Yes, exactly. I do that, I don't know if you do this, but I do that a lot, even when someone's trying to stop a habit. I give them that pause of saying, ask the body what it really needs. I mean, when we crave sugar, we're really not craving sugar, we're craving a sweetness of life, right? Yeah, something sweet, kind, gentle. So I always tell them, you know, pause, ask yourself what you're really feeling, what you really need, because the body answers. The nervous system only knows to make us reach for what it can relate it to, but that's often not the actual thing that we're wanting.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Holly, thank you. Would you like to lead us through an exercise? I would love to. I would love to. Hey everyone, if you're listening while you're driving or operating heavy machinery, please hit pause at this point and come back when you're safely somewhere where you can listen and go into a nice trance state.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

I'm just gonna do kind of a short. I say short, it's gonna be short, little hypnosis, just a little 10-minute one. All right. Let me get situated here. Okay. So wherever you are right now, as long as you are somewhere safe to relax, just allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to settle for a few moments. And begin by noticing your breath. Breath coming in, breath moving out, easy, steady, natural. There is nothing to force here.

Guided Hypnosis To Find Yourself

SPEAKER_01 26:31

Breath is breath, and as you notice breath, you may begin noticing the body, the shoulders, the jaw, the chest, the belly, the hands, the place where your body is supported, and with each breath you can allow your attention to turn inward gently, quietly at your own pace, breathing in and breathing out. And whether you relax deeply or simply become a little more present, your system knows how to receive what is useful. And in a moment I'll count down from five to zero, and with each number you can move a little more inward into that quiet place inside where you can listen to yourself with more kindness. Five settling into the breath four letting the outside world soften three becoming more aware of your inner world two allowing the body to feel supported one coming closer to the truth of who you are and zero deep sleep, deep rest quiet presence, safe enough to listen within. And now I want you to gently bring your awareness to this question Who were you before anyone told you who to before the pressure before the expectations before you learned how to please perform hide defend stay small stay angry or be strong all the time before anyone told you that you were too much or somehow not enough Who were you before you learned to scan the room to protect yourself to become whatever kept you accepted just for this moment allow yourself to sense the original self underneath all of that Maybe this part of you feels young Maybe this part of you feels timeless Maybe this part of you shows up as an image a feeling a color a memory a warmth a quiet knowing and whether you see something clearly or only sense it softly that is enough Now ask gently Was there curiosity Creativity boldness Playfulness Tenderness Adventure Leadership Stillness Joy a desire perhaps to explore to love to build to be seen or to be free and whatever comes forward just notice it you don't have to explain it and you don't have to defend it, you simply witness it this is part of you This has always been part of you and it always will be part of you And now very gently simply notice roles you have worn the strong one the good one The Responsible one the funny one the easy one the difficult one the angry one perhaps the successful one the fixer the protector the provider the one who never needs anything the one who handles it all and as those roles appear you can see them with compassion because these roles were formed for a reason they helped you belong somewhere they helped you survive something They helped you get through what you got through and now in this quiet moment you don't have to fight them you can simply say inward thank you Thank you for protecting me and as you say that notice what softens maybe something in your chest maybe something around the throat belly heart maybe something in the face and whether it softens a little or a lot your system is already listening already hears already feels and as for a few moments those old restraints soften, fear softens, shame softens, pressure softens, the need to prove the need to control, the need to be perfect, they all soften, and you are standing in a life that feels like yours, not a life built around anything else, not a life built around other people's expectations, but a life that reflects the truth of who you are. Look around, where are you? Are you in a home that feels peaceful in nature, near mountains, trees, water, gardens, the city perhaps? Feel the space around you. Is it warm, expansive, sacred, alike? Look at how you are carrying yourself when you are simply you. How do you breathe? How are you moving through the day? And what does your body feel like when you see your true self? And just take that in for a moment. Who is around you? Who allows you to be honest? Who feels peaceful to love? Think about what do I truly want? Is it purpose? Confidence, freedom, honesty, intimacy, adventure. Maybe you want peace in your own mind or just to feel like you again. And whatever answer comes, whatever begins to come, let it be welcomed. Because the self beneath the mask often speaks in layers. One says I want peace, another says, I want to stop caring so much. Another says I want joy. And all can be true at once. Now just imagine this future version of you, the you who is living more honestly, more freely, more peacefully, turning towards you now, and this version of you understands, knows why you adapted, knows how much you carry, and offers one simple message to you. Listen, it may come in words, a feeling, a sense of knowing. Now ask your future self one question What is one small way I can begin living more like myself now? Perhaps it's an honest conversation, a boundary, permission to rest walking outside one breath before reacting, one moment of telling truth, receiving support, one moment of remembering I am still here, and now allow the subconscious mind, the nervous system, and the deeper wisdom of the body to gather everything useful from this exercise, the breath, the remembering, the compassion for the roles, the vision of the life that feels true, the feeling of wanting the one small step, and let it all settle in safely, already beginning, already organizing, already becoming available in the days ahead. And you may consciously remember all of this, or simply carry a freedom, a feeling of it. And either way, something inside has listened, has recognized truth. Something inside knows there is a self beneath the mask. The self is still here, and that self is allowed to live. And now I'll count from zero to five. At zero, the experience integrates fully, and from one to five you will return to the room, clear, present, steady. So at zero, fully integrated, one feeling the body supported, two, breath becoming a little fuller. Three, awareness returning to the room around you. Four, bringing back calm, clarity, and the feeling of yourself. Five, eyes open wide awake. One, two, three, four, five, eyes open wide awake.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

Wow, I went in really deep, Holly. Thank you for that. You're welcome. That was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Tell us how we can find you. You can find me at healwithholly.com. Everything is there, all the socials, all of that, whichever one you follow. I know we all like something different, and all of my information is on there.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Great. And I will put a link to that in the show notes. And Holly, thank you so much for coming today. This was really lovely. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. You've been listening to Hip Talks, original music by Tracy Moore and the Jazzy Fat Nasties. Podcast Editing and Sound Engineering by Zachary Trainer. If you like what you heard, please like and share and follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you make a comment, I promise I will respond.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Kid would love to live kids again. Kid would love to live so