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The Amazing Authorities Podcast
Hardwired to Rise: The Happy Hypnotist on Fear, Healing & Human Potential
00:23:16
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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the Amazing Authorities podcast where game changers, visionaries and category leaders share how they built their brands, platforms and global influence. Your host is Mitch Carson, international speaker, media strategist and creator of the Instant Authority system. If you're ready to learn from those who've done it and want to become the go to expert in your space, you're in the right place.
- [00:31]
B
Amy Coford is here today and she is going to put us in a trance because she is the hip hypnotist. The hip, happy hypnotist, Amy and him. Welcome to the Amazing Authorities podcast.
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C
Thank you so nice to meet you, Mitch. Thanks for having me.
- [00:53]
B
You're welcome. And I love your background that's almost hypnotic because you've got the awards and you've got some beautiful blue light that, that up lights that look great. So that. Is that by design? Is that to put somebody in a hypnotic state?
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C
Well, it's just to, yeah, to look better. I, I like color. I don't want just a plain background.
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B
Well, we're both wearing black shirts, so I don't know, I, I think I'm colorful in my personality, so I'm going to have to work with that as opposed to the black shirt. I just finished a TV segment on Channel 3 NBC here in Vegas about my book and I use that as a vehicle to launch books for authors to get more press. And I practice what I preach. And now you are an author. You have just produced and published a book. Tell us about what you put your two years of blood, sweat, tears, hypnosis into the happy.
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C
Okay.
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B
Yeah.
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C
And I have, I have poured my soul into this book. It took me so much longer than I thought it would. So a couple years ago, two years ago, I had this inspiration in the form of a voice that came to me and said, I mean, not, hey, I probably sound a little weird, but just this inspiration that said, you need to write a book about fear. And it happened while I was driving up to Seattle. I was listening to a self help book, my two youngest kids were on their devices and it just came to me, you need to write a book about fear because you have a unique perspective and the world needs this right now. And so at first I resisted, no, I'm not going to write a book. I'm too busy already. I can't fit something like that in. And then the voice 1. So the funny thing is, as we were driving to Seattle, we stopped to eat lunch and I started writing it during that lunch. So the voice one, immediately, even though I was resistant I started writing it and noticed that it just was coming to me so easily because I've worked with a lot of people, I've done thousands of sessions and notice that fear is really the problem. Right. That I've. Most of the people that have come to me do so for depression, anxiety. I get people to stop smoking, sports performance. Right. So there's a lot of things that I've helped people with. But I, I saw the theme and that is that it's basically just different fears manifesting as. Right. Some issue. And so I set forth writing the book and here we are. And I'm very proud of it. I made sure that it's the best damn book about fear conquering on the planet.
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B
What's the name of your book?
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C
It's called Hardwired To Rise. Live Fearlessly, Prosperously and Optimally.
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B
Wow. Well, we've got to buy it. Where's it available?
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C
On Amazon.
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B
Okay. Amazon.com and not Amazon already.
- [04:14]
C
Soon. Right. I've got the audible in underway, but yeah, for now it's available on Kindle and on Amazon as paperback.
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B
Okay, that's great. And you're going to have the audible version up shortly. That's great because more and more people are consuming through their ears. Hence we're on a podcast today. You've got, you've got your quality mike. I've got my quality mike. We're about six inches from our device. We're doing it and we're here understanding. So how did you get in to become a happy hypnotist? I like the hh.
- [04:48]
C
All right. Yep. That's a great question. So when I first started as a hypnotist, I was naturally just getting clients come to me for depression and anxiety. It's interesting the niche picked me. I didn't necessarily. That was not when I first became a hypnotist set out to do. You know, I didn't have in my head, I'm going to be an expert at depression and anxiety as a hypnotist. I just thought, well, I'll do hypnosis. And then all my clients were for depression and anxiety. And the interesting thing about that is I just happen to know a lot about it. So I think that things align with the universe. I've had personal experience with depression and anxiety. And so it just naturally I knew what to do. I knew how to help these people to come out of it. And so the way that I became Amy the happy hypnotist is, number one, I love to be happy. But number two, because I Love to help other people be happy. So we have a happy hypnotist.
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B
Happy hypnotist who helps others. Okay, well, we got a lot of H's in there. Happy hip hypnotist who helps. Okay, wow. We can get. That's about H. H to the fourth power. Well, I have to play now. What was your background before you became a hypnotist? I mean, it just. You just didn't roll over one day and say, I'm going to be a hypnotist?
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C
No. Almost though. So in the past I did human resources. That was my line of work.
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B
So you care about.
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C
And then I was a stay at home mom for several years. I had five kids.
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B
Wow. But you know people, that's what gave you the, the ability to connect is you knew people with five kids, you know, personalities, and you worked in hr. So we're already by default. You're a human connection specialist.
- [06:48]
C
Exactly. I've always loved people. I'm a total extrovert. And so, yeah, I, my youngest was about to go to kindergarten. So I was at that time of life where I said, okay, here's a different time of life now. Now I gotta, I really want to find my thing right now. This is the season where I just find my thing. And so I actually just started asking God and kind of putting it out there in the universe and saying, hey, I would love some guidance. You know, right now I'm just open to what is going to be the best for me and others and, you know, just guide me. And the next thing I knew, for some reason that I can't explain other than inspiration, I was googling all about hypnosis and I was looking into it and then I started reading more about it. And then I went to a hypnotist to see what it was like and found a school certified. And from there my first few clients had some major issues. And even as a brand new hypnotist, it was working. How did you find some really major clients?
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B
How did you find clients?
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C
Well, my first client was a friend. I said, hey, come, I need to practice. Right. So she paid me 20 bucks and we did a session that was kind of just not that deep. But anyway, he referred me to some friends and some of her friends had some major traumas. And like I say, it was working. Even though I was brand new at it, it was working. And so that actually lit this spark, this flame in me where I thought, I love this, I absolutely love this. Like I just lit right on fire about it. And so Because I loved it so much, I said I want to be one of the best hypnotists in the world. The best. And so really the certifying to become a hypnotist was just the very first step. Once I found out how much I loved it, I was passionate about finding more training and who's the good hypnotists out there and what can I learn from them? And so I've traveled the world, I've gone to many, many hypnosis conferences. I've been in one on one trainings. I've trained with two of the what are considered the top hypnotists of the world in our field, Paul McKenna and Marshall Silver. In fact, I was on the phone with Marshall earlier today. So yeah, it's just been a huge adventure. So. But it started with just asking the universe to guide me. And here we are.
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B
Who have you helped? Tell me about the people. Give me a specific without mentioning their name.
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C
You mean like what issue did they have?
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B
Well, okay, just say Judy came to me with this problem.
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C
Yeah, okay. Yeah, you want to know like an issue? Okay. So yeah, one of them, my very first clients, I had only been doing it for a few weeks at the time she came to me and she. Two of her daughters had died at different times and her husband, all three at different times. Add to that that she had other issues besides that. Right. But they had all died from a genetic heart ailment. And so our sessions were very profound and she really, it helped her so much, she felt so much better that she referred me to others. I had a few other people that came to me with early childhood sexual abuse and yeah, other traumas. I had one lady that came to me who this was a few years later after that, but she had, she was shot when she was five accidentally by her brother who was playing with a gun. Where she spent years in the hospital. A lot of her childhood was spent in the hospital where she was abused in the hospital by workers. And on, you know, on and on. One of her kids died. So I've had it. I've had a lot over the years. A lot of people with really major things and I love to help them because instead of them coming and me feeling depressed, right. Leaving, oh, this was so hard. It's not like that at all because it worked so well. I'm invigorated after a session because they feel better.
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B
Well, how do you feel?
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C
What do you mean?
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B
Well, when you've helped somebody, does it drain you? Does it invigorate you? You get invigorated. And they're invigorated.
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C
I get invigorated by the thrill of knowing that I can help them and helping them and seeing them leave my office feeling better than when they came in.
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B
So this was in your. I mean, it might have been God's plan for you or the universe's plan for you to find profession.
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C
Okay, for sure. And, you know, we all have experiences in life where at the time that we're going through something very difficult, we can't possibly understand what the reason is for it. Why, you know, why? We ask a lot of why is this happening to me? And I had experiences with long bouts of severe depression, and it ends up that it served me right. It helps me to help others. And I've had a few others difficult experiences that help me to help others. So, yes, those were preparing me to be really good at helping others with depression and anxiety.
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B
Have you helped people who might have a problem with smoking? Can you help them get out smoking?
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C
I do a lot of stop smoking, and I do it in one session. Gums, patches, and willpower have about a 30% success rate. And I have over 92% success rate. They come into me, they've smoked for 40 years or whatever, 45 years. I get them to stop in one session.
- [13:23]
B
How about drugs and alcohol?
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C
Yep. So with drugs and alcohol, it's not one session because we're working through those issues that have caused them to want to escape. So when they come in, I'll say, this is actually your problem. B. The alcoholism, the drug addiction is your problem. B. The real problem is your problem. A. What is it that you're trying to run away from? What is it that you don't want to face and feel? You know, that's what we resolve first. And sometimes they don't even know what that is. And I'll tell them, that's okay. You don't have to know what it is. But there is a problem. A. I guarantee it. There is a reason why you keep feeling this tendency to escape from reality. And so if you don't know what the problem is, that's okay. It's in there and I will resolve it for you. Even if I never know exactly what it is, I will get your unconscious to resolve that problem A for you. Then we work on the actual addiction.
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B
Okay. So handle the underlying issues. Then you'll understand why you drink, and then you'll program them to stay off drinking and. Or drugs.
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C
Yep.
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B
All right, That's a great solution. What about weight loss?
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C
Yeah, weight loss. I've done some. I don't do as much nowadays, I think because of the shots, Ozempic, Ozemik, all that. But yeah, so that was kind of the same thing where I would say to them, you know, what to do. That's not what. What you're here for. You're not here for me to tell you how to eat and exercise. What you're coming to me for is to get that emotional eating out. You know, resolve that for you, because you're emotional eating or whatever your issues are. But it's not that you don't know what to do. And so what I would do is we would work on the emotional eating. What are the things that cause you to go to food for comfort. So it's very similar to drugs and alcohol. Okay, Right. It's a form of escape or a form of coping. And then we would work on specific things. For some it was that they ate too much. And so then we'd do a session about that. So, yeah, with weight loss, it was really customized to their specific issues. And yeah, it worked great. I had a lot of success with the weight loss hypnosis, too.
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B
Now, have you helped CEOs or business owners? How do you help them?
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C
Absolutely.
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B
Tell me how you would help the. That type of individual.
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C
So I've had several business owners that come to me. They're not making as much money as they want to, or they're not as productive as they want to be. So again, there's different things. And so what we'll do is, yeah, resolve that. And then I always have a lot of, like planting the seeds of success. And, you know, the, the subconscious is just a computer. So really, when I do a hypnosis show, I'll tell them, you know, you'll see that on the stage I can get people to do funny things. But what if I told them to go make a million dollars? It's the same concept, right. They'll go do it because they believe that they can, because I told them that they could.
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B
That's a strong. I want to drill on that because it's a matter of. For me, after I became a published author, my income increased 16 fold because I felt and believed I deserved. I had ticked the right box. So do you believe our beliefs restrict us or keep us in a box, and then once we suspend those beliefs, it allows us to make more money, have more happiness, etc.
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C
Absolutely. And I talk about that in my book, right. That fear, when you let go of fear, you can make more Money. So yeah, and just I talk a lot about beliefs in my book too and how beliefs are a result of our thought or our beliefs are a result of ideas that we embrace and then our beliefs create our thoughts and then our thoughts create our emotions and.
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B
What creates our reality.
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C
So from there, from your emotions becomes your being, your actions and that becomes your being. So I draw out the entire chain of events, ideas, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, action, being.
- [18:13]
B
So how does this compare with nlp? Neuro Linguistic programming?
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C
I actually use a lot of NLP in my hypnosis sessions. Most hypnosis hypnotists do. NLP and hypnotism go very closely together. And Richard Bandler who was one of the co creators of nlp, he's a hypnotist.
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B
Ericksonian.
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C
Yeah, he studied, yes, Milton Erickson. So yeah, and I actually met Richard Bandler last summer. I went to a in person thing that he had class and anyway, so yeah, he's a hypnotist. So yeah, a lot of. I use a lot of NLP in my sessions.
- [18:56]
B
Okay, great. And where do people get in touch with you?
- [19:01]
C
Amycoford.com A M Y K O Ford.com is a great way to get a hold of me and any social media. You'll find me under either Amy Coford or Amy the Happy Hypnotist, depending on which platform.
- [19:15]
B
I love the Happy Hypnotist.
- [19:17]
C
That's.
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B
That's so Amy.
- [19:20]
C
Thank you.
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B
That is so catchy. What do your kids think of you? Their mom being a, a hypnotist?
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C
I've seen a lot of things over the years. Sometimes they've come and watched me do shows. They seem mildly impressed.
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B
Okay, so you do. Yeah, you do shows. You do shows and you do one on one.
- [19:44]
C
Yes. So I do hypnotherapy and I do hypnosis shows and I'm a motivational speaker. So with the motivational speaking sometimes. Well, most often I do a hybrid speech and what a hybrid speech is, I deliver really great content first. And I always do an audience hypnosis and I always have at least a couple people that won't. One or two that won't, won't participate because I guess they're afraid of hypnotism. Even though I go through all that with them ahead of time. Here you don't. It's not this, it's not this. Right. And then after that I will actually bring people up on the stage and hypnotize them and get them to do funny things and the audience laughs. Their head Off. The hypnosis shows are a blast. And so I often have, when someone hires me to speak, oftentimes they will opt for that. Now let's do that. That sounds fun. And it is. It's so much fun. I routinely have people come up to me afterwards and say, that is the hardest I have laughed in years.
- [20:56]
B
Oh, that's great. That's great. So they can book you through amycofer.com yeah. All right. Well, Amy, you've been a great guest today. And any last words that you want to impart?
- [21:07]
C
I would love to impart. And we could go on for hours, by the way. There's so much to talk about. But yes, here's a mess that I would love to leave with all of you beautiful listeners. And that is that you are so much more than what you think you are. And that, you know, the title of my book is Hardwired to Rise. And when you read my book, it does. It helps you realize that you are so much more than what you think you are. Whatever you've thought of yourself, you are so much more than that. And I actually did a chapter in a book called the Gifts of Pain earlier this year. And my, my chapter is about from self critical to self love. And it talks about how the re. The way that I was able to transition from self critical to self love is learning who I really was. Right. Like, not my body, not that. But I am just such a powerful being, full of light and, and energy and power. Right. And that's everyone. We're full of love and light, and when we connect to that, great things happen.
- [22:17]
B
That's fantastic. Well, great words. Thank you for coming. And I will invite you back again down the road after your book has. Has hit the bestseller list and is now approaching the New York Times bestsellers. That's what you will.
- [22:34]
C
It is, it is. It's definitely. It's going to be number one on New York Times. All right, thank you so much, Amy.
- [22:40]
B
Cofford, the happy hypnotist. We will see you again soon. Thank you.
- [22:44]
C
Hey, thank you so much for having me.
- [22:47]
A
Thanks for tuning in to the amazing authorities podcast. If today's episode inspired you, take a moment to subscribe rate and leave a review. It helps more experts like you rise to the top for behind the scenes access and free resources to boost your authority. Head to MitchCarson.com until next time, stay amazing.