(Transcribed below:)
Erika Flint: 00:01 Hello everybody, I'm Erika Flint from Cascade Hypnosis Center for Training and Services here in beautiful Bellingham, Washington, and I'm very fortunate today to bring aboard, Anthony Gitch - and I'm going to interview Anthony Gitch today on his success as a professional hypnotist. How are you doing today, Anthony?
Anthony Gitch: 00:19 Great, thank you Erika.
Erika Flint: 00:21 Oh, wonderful. So let me just tell everybody a little about you. Anthony is Seattle's inside guy. He absolutely loves what he does and I knew this from the moment that I met him because he has a lot of really great energy and he says he gets to help people realize how amazing they really are. And you took the class here in Bellingham in 2016 and you've just been growing your business like crazy ever since. So welcome today Anthony, and tell us a little about yourself and a little about your practice.
Anthony Gitch: 00:53 Well, like you said, I graduated in, in October of 2016. I hung my sign on the door and November 2016, it was about three weeks later I think - very quick to get my license through the state. Six months later I quit my 15 year career as a massage therapist and went full time, and I've been growing and growing ever since. It hasn't been easy. It hasn't been easy. I'm not going to mislead anybody and say that it all fell in my lap that fast, but it's been worth it.
Erika Flint: 01:24 Yeah. I don't think it's easy. It's fulfilling and it's worth it. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it, right?
Anthony Gitch: 01:30 Correct. Yeah, absolutely.
Erika Flint: 01:33 Very good. So why did you decide to become a hypnotist? Why did you decide to leave your 15 year career and become a hypnotist?
Anthony Gitch: 01:41 Well, originally I had read an article in a massage magazine about continuing education hours in hypnosis and [said], well that's interesting. It sounds like something that would be fun to do with my clients, uh, get a little bit more pain control. And as I looked into that program, I realized that there was more behind it than what I thought could be. That's when I started doing research and I was lucky enough to find you and I spoke to you on the phone. And when you and I spoke, we connected, you understood the language I was speaking through the work I had done with codependents anonymous in the World Service Organization there and all of the work I've been doing with the facilitation work of Byron Katie's work and nonviolent communication. And you said, you know, all that kind of melded into what you did as a 5-Pather; and…so it motivated me and I was, I was on board that moment.
Erika Flint: 02:39 So what about now? What do you think now that you've been doing it a couple of years? Is all of that previous experience of yours, has it been fruitful and helpful for you?
Anthony Gitch: 02:46 It's been the thing - with the foundation of the Fire Path - it has been the rest of the playing field. Without all of those previous experiences - that 20 years working the program of Codependents Anonymous, all of those pains and struggles that I have to personally go through in my own life has made me exactly the person I need to be to do the best work I can do as a hypnotist.
Erika Flint: 03:12 That's fantastic. Yeah. There's a lot of students who they're not sure if they're quite ready to become a hypnotist because they have some of their own issues, but I just like to tell people, you know, the training itself will help bring some of that out and help you heal and work through some of that. Was that your experience too?
Anthony Gitch: 03:29 It was my experience. In fact, I think I even shared this in class when we had been, when you were teaching us how to teach 7th path. I had gone through, I believe it was either the 3rd or 4th recognition that we were learning and I had a life changing experience it in just a matter of the flash of a second with my subconscious mind. We all know the way that works. I was able to release trauma that I had been dealing with for more than 30 years through regular Western channels and had never found any relief for. And it was done, like I said, in a matter of one evening, my whole life changed in, in how I dealt with certain issues and it is blowing away my family and everybody who knows me.
Erika Flint: 04:13 Absolutely. And I actually, I'm not sure that everybody knows that quite frankly. I think a lot of people believe that when we're hurt or something bad happens to us, like time heals all wounds and we have to wait decades or centuries to just start feeling better. So can you talk a little more about what that was like for you? Because, you know, that's one of the promises that I love about hypnosis. Hypnosis works even when everything else has failed and things can change in a flash. So what was that like for you?
Anthony Gitch: 04:41 Well, so for me, you know, the experience had been, I had spent a majority of my life for my early twenties all the way through. Most of my, all my twenties into my early thirties being ready to pounce on any opportunity I had to justify helping someone that I thought was being put down by a female in charge. If it was a male in charge doing it. That's the way it goes, man. That's way it happens. But if a female in any kind of a situation would step up and start to criticize somebody or to keep them down, I was right there in their face. I didn't care who they were in the company. I had lost jobs from this issue in the past. And it all came. I, I never knew what it was. You know, I've been told by hated women.
Anthony Gitch: 05:33 I had been needed on medication. I was told all this stuff. Well, then I finally did 7th Path, had the experience of reliving what had happened to me in seventh grade by three female administrators that are out of school I went to where I was humiliated, and my whole life changed. From that moment, I got out of drama, I got out of choir, I got out of everything that had to do with my personality and shut down by them - not intentionally on their part, they were just doing what they felt they needed to do. And I had a big problem with women in authority ever since then. And when I answer, like I said, when I felt like they were being inappropriate, I was right there to try to make them feel the same way I felt when I was in seventh grade. Right to that. And, and once I was able to do the forgiveness work around that was done already.
Erika Flint: 06:25 How did that feel to like, be rid of that feeling?
Anthony Gitch: 06:28 So free. It is amazing to be able to have somebody cross my boundaries and, and, and be able to relate to them in a compassionate and empathetic way like I would anybody else now instead of just blowing up and shutting them down and trying to push them down into, um, malleable, “you will do what I say” sort of thing. So yeah, it's been extremely freeing for me.
Erika Flint: 06:53 And how do you think that, because this is super interesting for me because I think a lot of, a lot of hypnotists and a lot of students that train with me, they all have different backgrounds and some of them think, you know, I have to have a - or they ask, do I have to have a degree in psychology? Do I need all this extensive, higher education in a therapy or something like that. And the truth is you just really need to have, you know, life experience, and your life experiences, what's going to help you be an awesome hypnotist. So how do you take your personal experience and translate that to how you're helping clients? Can you talk about that?
Anthony Gitch: 07:25 Yeah. Well, I mean you know, like I said, I've been in recovery for a long time and I'm, and I'm honest about that, I'm open about it, which makes some people uncomfortable, right? Because, gosh, we have to hide what isn’t right about us. And I celebrate those things, I celebrate those things because those are the things that make me the therapist I am. When I went to - we're recoding every day for six years and I listened to 60 people talk about their problems in all that time and help, you know, 30 or 40 of them through the 12 step process. I've heard everything under the sun. I've heard every, I've heard everything and so I can relate to it and…go, “alright.” And I'm not afraid to call people out when I hear them using their victimization is currency, right? And some things that sometimes they need that shock value.
Anthony Gitch: 08:21 I think all of those skills that I learned in that part of my life and I bring it into the hypnosis. And so that's where I am a little bit different because I don't mind telling someone who's sitting in my chair across from me, shut up. You're being a victim. We need to stop this bull****. And that's exactly how I talk to them and sometimes it's shocking to them and that's intent, right? We need to extract them out of that loop. They're stuck in and play into a different place, and sometimes, you know, so people aren't, aren't confident enough to do that, but because of all the work I've done with other people in other programs, I'm just - what you see is what you get.
Erika Flint: 09:01 Yeah, very good, you know, taking it a step from there, what would you say to people out there that are thinking, you know, I dunno, like I want to be a hypnotist, but I don't know. I've got my own issues right now and I don't know if that's going to be enough for me to, to do this work. What would you say to them?
Anthony Gitch: 09:16 I would say do it, you know, I mean just the fact, especially if you can do it and learn the process of 7th Path learning the process of 7th Path and in learning these, the way that we do things in the way that these mechanisms work within ourselves provides us with, with our own internal guidance, right? And how we can change and grow and, and when we can look at ourselves that way and put that on ourselves, we can now see the world differently and sometimes help them see it through their perception, and you would help them change that… in conscious ways. Right? And I think that that's important to do is to step out there and look at your own s*** for what it is and accept it. Revel in it. Celebrate the fact that …
Erika Flint: 10:02 … against the status quo, right? We want better results, we've got to start doing things differently. So if you're just joining us, I'm here. My name is Erika Flint from Cascade Hypnosis Training. And I'm here with Anthony Gitch - and Anthony, your practices in Seattle, right?
Anthony Gitch: 10:20 Yes. West Seattle.
Erika Flint: 10:21 Yes. Tell us about it. What is it, you know, what is that like being a fulltime hypnotist?
Anthony Gitch: 10:27 Well, it's awesome. I, I have a cute little office in a wonderful neighborhood. I, I'm busy - not quite as busy as I want to be right now. You know, I'm as busy as I can be and it's growing every day. It's like I was telling you earlier next week I'm almost booked, which is really exciting. I do a lot of different things. I have products that are only 30 minutes long just to introduce people to what it is that I do, right? Because one of the biggest things we have to do as hypnotists is make it a normal thing. You know, Chiropractic work 20 years ago was something that those woo-woo people did, and that was weird.
Erika Flint: 11:12 haha, Right!
Anthony Gitch: 11:14 And now look at how normalized it's become, and that's what we need to do as a profession for hypnosis. It has gained more momentum now than almost ever in history and that is really important and we as professionals need to take advantage of that and educate people about what it is that we do and how we can help them have these amazing lives that they really deserve to have.
Erika Flint: 11:38 Absolutely. And that's why we're here today, right? We're helping more people understand what hypnosis really is, how we help them. And so let's, let me ask you that question. What, what people and what issues I should say. What issues do you like to help people with?
Anthony Gitch: 11:52 I, to help people with any kind of issue that they have. It doesn't matter, right? I'm, I'm not here to judge anybody on their issues. I'm here to free people of judgment of their issues. So when they come to me, I don't care if they're a vicious perpetrator, I can learn as much from that. Helping that vicious perpetrator forgive themselves and learn how to start moving through their lives in a healthier way. I can learn as much from them as I can from the person that was their victim. Right. And, and teaching that victim of theirs, how not to be a victim anymore, how they can take back control. So both ends of the coin are really, really valuable tools for us to be able to, um, set with and be comfortable with.
Erika Flint: 12:38 Very good. So what, what would you say surprised you about being a hypnotist?
Anthony Gitch: 12:43 What surprised me? What surprised me the most, I think was how many hypnotists there are out there. In Seattle alone, I have got 20 some odd hypnotists in a three mile radius of me. And until I opened up my door, I didn't know that, I thought for sure I'd be the only hypnotist in West Seattle, right. Because I had never heard of hypnosis work except for positive changes. And, and, you know, I find out that, oh my God, we're everywhere.
Erika Flint: 13:16 So what does that mean? What do you think that means? I mean, you know, here in Bellingham there's a bunch of hypnotists too, but really I can only serve maybe, well, you know, because I'm training and everything as well, but maybe 6 to 10 people a month. So that was 120 people a year. That's really not enough. So, when we do the deep work, there's a lot of time and effort that goes into it. So I don't know, you know, the more good hypnosis work there is, I think we're gonna get more and more hypnotists. So good hypnotists are always going to raise the level of professionalism everywhere. So what do you think?
Anthony Gitch: 13:49 I agree with that and I, and I mean, you know, you, you hit it on the nail, it has to be good. If there are people out there who do hypnosis, but where are their ethics? Where are, what is their intent? And, and how are they helping their clients? Are they more interested in, get them in, get them out, or are they more interested in really - what is driving their client? What is driving that behavior? Are they - what are the unit for? You know, that's the biggest thing.
Erika Flint: 14:22 Well, what about you? What are you in it, for?
Anthony Gitch: 14:24 I'm in it. I'm in it too because I want to change the world. I want to - I want to seed my community with as many happy people as I can because when we pass those happy people out into the community, happy people breed happy people or can, can walk around and support each other and they collaborate and they can learn how to improve the world. Right? And that's what's important to me is what kind of imprint can I leave on my community that best represents how I feel about the world?
Erika Flint: 15:00 Excellent. Now when we help our clients, they become better mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, better employees, better at everything. So we get the ripple effect there and, and we say it all the time in the office when people are just responding and reporting that, you know, relationships are improving, they're sleeping better, all of those things. And you know, you're making a difference in the community when you get those kinds of results from your clients. Right?
Anthony Gitch: 15:20 Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's, you know, it's, it's exciting. I received the phone call one time from a woman and, and … you’ve been seeing my husband. I thought, oh, and it was, it was. I immediately went, you know, I'm not going to be able to talk to you about any of this just because of HIPAA guidelines and yada-yada. And she says, no, I don't want to talk you about any of it. I want to thank you for giving me back my husband and giving back my, my, you know, the, the father to my children. And I was just like, I was like, wow. Well yeah, it, it made my whole month, you know what I mean? How often do we get to hear that? And that's exciting to be able to know that you've been able to create or be able to guide somebody to make that change for themselves because I don't do anything but guide, right?
Erika Flint: 16:12 Right, right. The clients and their changes come from within them. And that's a good point to make, I've noticed. This isn't mine control. Everything that we're doing with our clients is helping them realize their own internal strength and goals. Right?
Anthony Gitch: 16:24 Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, so far it's working out wonderfully.
Erika Flint: 16:28 Yeah. Very good. So what would you say any brand new hypnotists and there's a lot of new hypnotists out there, what would you kind of wish you would've known a couple of years ago when you got started? If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
Anthony Gitch: 16:40 I think the biggest thing that I wish I would have known a little bit more then was that, you know, even though we have this phenomenal process called 5 Path, it sometimes takes more than five sessions. Because, you know, and this is all things you learn as you're going through things, which is why I think it's important to know as a Newbie - as clients change, you know, there's this, there's this constant transmutation going on as clients are sitting in our chair, and so as that changes occurring, their wants and their needs change. So as we're moving through the process, we may have to see them 10, 12 more times depending upon because their needs are changing as they're growing…
Erika Flint: 17:25 …and a lot of them are so excited about the change they want to keep working with us on that and other things too. Which I absolutely love to happen.
Anthony Gitch: 17:32 Yeah. And, and so that was the thing that I, I wish I would have been a little bit more understanding on because I was like, at the end of six sessions, I was like, alright - they haven't gotten everywhere they needed to be because they had had the things that we were working on. But I was the first client. I almost started to bring that on myself. That I wasn't able to provide the services that they need it, when in fact I did provide everything they needed. They just needed more than five sessions. They had multiple issues and as an, as the onion unpeeled, those issues started to reveal themselves. And we need to, we need to make sure that we give ourselves permission to grow within our work as well and, and to be able to grow with our clients and allow them to drive that process.
Erika Flint: 18:22 Yeah. And we should always be checking in with our clients and making sure we're giving them the results that they want. But the best we can really do ahead of time is give them, on average, how long we think it might take. What I like to do is just check in with them and see where we're going and where we're headed and how things are, are moving along and if there's any change in my estimation of how many sessions it will take, I just tell them as soon as possible it, you know, it really is impossible to predict the future and predict what's going to change for our clients. The reality is if they knew exactly how to fix their own issue, they wouldn't have to come see us in the first place. Right?
Anthony Gitch: 18:53 Right, right. So, and I mean, thank goodness for, for thank goodness for human beings being human beings because it keeps us employed.
Erika Flint: 19:04 Very good. Well, I want to say - Mary Lou Thanks for your comments. And yeah, she says, Mary Lou says, “I want to change the world too.” And I think it, it really resonates with a lot of hypnotists that I know and a lot of my students will out of my grads who just want to make the world a better place, right? We just want to help one person at a time and that one person usually needs to start with us. Right, Anthony?
Anthony Gitch: 19:28 Absolutely. Absolutely. You've got to do the work on yourself first because of the ways he can't see the tree through the forest or however that goes. You know what I mean? You've got to be able to recognize that yourself. Celebrate it, right?
Erika Flint: 19:42 Celebrate your uniqueness and your difference and we're not designed to always fit in perfect mold that society has designed for us, so we need to step out of that and be okay with it.
Anthony Gitch: 19:51 Yeah, we're perfectly imperfect.
Erika Flint: 19:53 That's right. Very good. Anything else you want to share with our audience today or anything you want to tell your clients? Anything you want to say?
Anthony Gitch: 20:00 You know, I think the only thing that I can say is go out there and do what feels best in your heart. You know, follow your intuition. Follow your love. If this is the right fit for you, don't wait, don't hesitate, jump on board. Get involved and you know, I'll tell the people that are out there getting started and those of you who are maybe wondering, well, how can I get into this full time? I'm only doing it part time. I'll tell you a really great way to do it. Do what I did - six months into it, I said, “well, I can keep doing massage and making sure that I have this solid source of income, and doing hypnosis as I'm doing it and let it kind of build. Or I can shut that door and, and just make sure that you're doing hypnosis and you either make or you make it, right?"
Erika Flint: 20:49 That’s right.
Anthony Gitch: 20:51 I gave up my massage license this year and I forced myself that. No, I can't do massage anymore. This is where I'm going. And it's been scary. It hasn't been easy, but you have to do it.
Erika Flint: 21:02 Congratulations Anthony. That's just fantastic.
Anthony Gitch: 21:02 Thanks, It's been exciting.
Erika Flint: 21:08 So how can people find you?
Anthony Gitch: 21:09 Oh Gosh, they can find me by simply by doing any kind of web search in West Seattle obviously, but ExcelHypnosis.com.
Erika Flint: 21:18 All right.
Anthony Gitch: 21:19 I have got an amazing website, I think. It's full of information. And you know, a call me. I'll tell you, one of the things that I like to offer to anybody out there, especially someone in the profession, I've got a lot of skills in a lot of different areas. I was a COO of a software company. I've been the director of a veterinary hospital. I have run small businesses, so I've got a lot of skills and I'm willing to share those with people, share with you what has been successful for me and what has it been successful. Call me - I’m always willing to help.
Erika Flint: 21:57 That's very generous of you, Anthony. I really appreciate it and that's how we can help, help the world, you know, get better and not just by helping one person at a time by sharing how we do it in sharing our techniques and our best practices. So thank you so much for being here today. I've just displayed your website there for all of our viewers that I'm going to display my now so you can find me. I'm Erika Flint at CascadeHypnosisTraining.com and thank you everyone for joining me today for this fantastic interview with Anthony Gitch and all the great work that he is doing in West Seattle. And make sure to visit his site, ExcelHypnosis.com and connect with us, connect with us and let’s together make the world a better place. Thanks everyone. Bye for now.
