Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Join James Petrossi in 'Leave the Feed: 30 Days of Disconnect' as he interviews creators and mental health advocates about their journeys, the digital quagmire, and tips to create a healthier relationship with social media.
[00:00:00]
James Petrossi: Hello and welcome to Leave the Feed 30 days of Disconnect. Today is day five. Say it mean it, and today is all about autosuggestion reprogramming our mind, and no better person to talk about than educator, author, and clinical hypnotist, Shauna Cummins. Shana, welcome to the show.
Shauna Cummins: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
James Petrossi: So how does one become a hypnotist? What inspired you? Like what sparked this journey? How did this unfold?
Shauna Cummins: Well, it's, you know, it's a very classic kind of like. Healer practitioner origin story, which is I was in need of help myself. I was seeking lots of different healing modalities at the time. [00:01:00] I was very burnt out from a career in fashion and publishing, and thinking about going back to get my master's in social work.
And I found hypnosis as client kind of. Desperate need of healing at the time. And it helped me very immediately and profoundly a way where my life was like before hypnosis, after hypnosis. I ended up training with that practitioner who I went to go see. And then I ended up getting a, a mentorship. With a hypnotist in New York, and I trained under her for a year and a half, and it just became my whole life very quickly. Like, I was like, oh my God, all the roads were leading to this. I didn't really know this existed, but this is exactly what I'm supposed to do with my life. It really was one of those things, you know?
So it was just very healing and especially for my sense of self-worth and my purpose when I found hypnosis. And it, and so much so that I was like, I wanna study this.
I want to, you know, learn all [00:02:00] about it. And I quickly, you know, went in the direction of, of. Professionally becoming a hypnotist. It made that much of an impact on me. But I understand the misconception of it 'cause it's so pervasive in Hollywood and, stories about like losing control or clucking like a chicken.
And I think when I first, went to a hypnotist, I still had those misconceptions as well on some level. So I'm, I'm always like very passionate about dispelling those myths and, you know, making it much more accessible and kind of like an everyday, you know. tool that you can use. But yeah, so for me it was really just discovery of like self-healing and getting me out of a, of a bad spot that I was in in my life.
Yeah.
James Petrossi: Then like what type of education does a hypnotist go through and and how is that, I imagine education's ongoing and then working with clients, like how does that journey unfold?
Shauna Cummins: Well up [00:03:00] until, you know, the present moment, it's still unlicensed and unregulated in terms of like state licensure. it's sort of a special specialty, like a specialization that you do with. Extended mentorship and certification and trainings. and so a lot of, you know, licensed therapists will do a training specializing in hypnosis and have that be part of their, you know repertoire.
And then there will be people who do it as like lay hypnotists who do certifications and work with it, you know, either professionally but not therapeutically or. You know, this sort of thing. And so for me it was kind of like an in-between. I, I have a background in social work in my undergraduate education and I had explored that you know, professionally, but decided it wasn't for me.
And I went into like kind of, you know, the [00:04:00] arts and fashion and publishing and then going back to social work school, getting a master's. Deciding, actually, I wanted to pursue hypnosis, you know, full time. I decided to do a training with a really renowned hypnotist here in New York. Melissa Tears, who specializes in with the kind of n modern neuroscience of h hypnosis, like understanding how your brain works, how to work with it, like a muscle, how to change your thought patterns and beliefs.
And also, know, referencing the, the more. Mystical side of hypnosis, but really making it very practical you know, foundational practice. And then with, after I did her training, I was very lucky to get a mentorship with another hypnotist in New York where I trained for a year and a half under her.
And. doing supervision. So it was very much like old school mentorship style, know, trainings. And then I will do a training, [00:05:00] you know, every year or so in something directly related to hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, neuroscience or sound healing or meditation. And down the line I my own curriculum in my own school of hypnosis where I. You know, kind of offer it as a training in a, in a year long mentorship as well. So it's, yeah, it's kind of like at the intersection of like unlicensed therapies where it allows people, you know, to work as a healing arts practitioner you know, outside of the confines of, of licensed therapy.
But then at the same time, it allows licensed therapists to have a little bit more of creative. Sometimes spiritual approach to their work. So I, I, have a lot of like thoughts about the licensed unlicensed intersection of, of the, of the field. I still feel like at this moment I feel [00:06:00] good that where it's at 'cause it's a little bit complicated, but, yeah.
So that was my, my journey.
James Petrossi: Changing patterns and belief systems are so difficult for so many of us. We have traumas that we go through. We have habits that we can't break. And what are some of the themes or some of the reoccurring, problems that people come to you with, what are they seeking when they seek, you know, your, your counsel, your advice, your practice.
Shauna Cummins: I mean, it really is like. in anything, you know, but it could, the people traditionally think of hypnosis for, you know, to stop smoking to, you know, to overcome insomnia, to change these habits sort of specifically, or maybe like overeating or you know, things like that. But can also really work with hypnosis in a general way as well.
And even when you're working with it very [00:07:00] specifically. to stop an addiction or something. The stop smoking hypnosis has really now become much more like, I think, you know, content social media addiction and, and in some of my hypnosis trainings have referenced like, oh, the, the smoking of our generation is now going to be. Like social media addiction for the, for this, these new generations. And like how to, because it's so ubiquitous, you know, and how to like separate yourself from that. So it'll be interesting to talk to you about that, but it's always important to go to a foundational core belief system that you're. when you're, even if you're changing something specific. So it's like you change your relationship with how you speak to yourself. You change your relationship with yourself, and then you change your relationship with the, the thing that you're managing, you know? yeah. So people come to me for general and specific changes that they want to make. [00:08:00] Yeah,
James Petrossi: It's interesting that you brought up the analogy between smoking and social media addiction. 'cause we've talked about it in other episodes in this show that it is this generations. Smoking just because it's analogous as a habitual routine. But you know, it's a pleasurable experience. Not just the act of smoking, but the social connections that used to come from it when people did smoke and they have those conversations outside.
And I think with social media it's a little bit more complex. 'cause cigarettes, you know, you reach a point in time in history where people know this is very unhealthy, not just for you, but for everyone. Around you, and it's easier to say, I need to address this because it's hurting myself and the people I love.
Right? And possibly strangers. I walk by down the street where social media is inherently a part of life now. It's really become embedded in the fabric of everything that we do. From how [00:09:00] we shop to where we get advice. You know, you're on social media, creators are on social media and they're platforms for us to share really powerful messages, but at the same time, they can suck us down really dark holes.
And those dark holes can come from being a creator who can't stop chasing an identity through the amount of followers they have. Or it could be the person that's like. Incessantly scrolling and is just like, I need to know what's going on. I need to know what's going on. You know, in your experience like working with social media addiction, like what have you seen as some of like the challenges, the aha moments and the to be determined as this journey of helping people find peace in this reality unfolds.
Shauna Cummins: I mean, it is. It is really tough because it's like a lot of people will have their businesses you know, reliant on social media as well. So like, it's like they recognize that it's interfering [00:10:00] with their mental health and their wellbeing and their on it too much, too mindlessly and, you know, maybe even. Affecting their sleep, but at the same time, they, they need to be on it. So how do they do it? So it's in that way, it's a little similar to food, like food addiction 'cause it's like you need it, but at the same time, like how do you work with it? So having boundaries is really important on couple of different levels.
Like we work with this sort of framework of the neurological levels of change. It's sort of like a, a diagram that. like designates the different levels that you have to be conscious of, of change. I don't know if you're familiar with that or not. It follows the model of the language of learning by Gregory Bateson. and so the neurological levels of change is the bottom one. Like the most important one is the environment. The second one is your behavior. The third one is your and capabilities. The fourth one is your [00:11:00] beliefs. Fifth one is your identity. And then the sixth top of the tier, like it's like a triangle is your source energy.
So there's top down and there's bottom up change. And with something like social media, you have to do both. For example, the influencers or if it's part of your identity, like. You're sourcing, you know, validation and reward. You know, dopamine hooks from social media.
That's gonna be something that you're gonna be unpacking your beliefs, your identity around that. So you're gonna have to really have things in place where you can have positive affirmations and awareness of when those triggers come up. And start to resource your identity outside of social media, you know, and start to really find evidence. In your everyday life outside of social media for your worth and for your worthiness and feel, feel agency in that. And then in your environment, you have to really set yourself up for success, your environment, and your habits. Like put it in a [00:12:00] box, you know, put it outside of your bedroom.
Like those basic things make huge differences because. Otherwise, it's just like always there, you know? So you really have to work at it from the top down and the bottom up, because it's like just in everything everywhere, you know? So yeah, it's, it's has to a lot of strategy involved, but
James Petrossi: Yeah, without a doubt. Without a doubt. And you know, even with that identity, it might be a little different for me because I've always had an identity outside of social media. For me, it's difficult to have an identity inside social media 'cause I, I have a natural resistance to it. But someone that grew up and their parents were filming them, posting content about them from the time they were a child.
They have a tablet in hand, a phone in hand at age five, six, whatever it is. It's hard to relinquish that connection. And as you're working with people that struggle with addictions social [00:13:00] media or other, you know. How does auto suggestion and, and like, how does that really play a role of, of setting affirmations and creating affirmations and having the right positive self-Talk about yourself.
How is that foundational to making sure that you're prepared for and being an active participant and not quitting social media, but finding that balance.
Shauna Cummins: I mean it, I think it's fundamental to bring yourself back to the basics of like. Your relationship with your self-awareness, your self-concept, know outside of this moment and this kind of like attachment and addiction to the device, to the media. And just bring yourself back to, what do you want?
Why is this not working for you? You know? What's your plan for how to move through it [00:14:00] and, bring yourself to a place of awareness where you can start to a sense of when the social media is triggering you, what it's taking away from you, how to interrupt that and then interrupt it with self collaborating affirmations that are gonna reinforce positive, resourceful beliefs about yourself.
You know, so for example, like I have, know. I am, you know, in control. I have, you know, everything that I need here without my phone. Like, you know, I have, you know, agency and imagination. Like, I can, you know, set my goal for myself and follow through. I believe in myself. You know, all of these things, depending on what it is exactly that you are, what beliefs you're really wanting to reinforce. It just really helps to direct your attention. And align it with your intention and your mind. [00:15:00] It's like the old saying, it's a wonderful tool, but a terrible master. will follow your instruction when you do it, especially with repetition and reinforcement. And that inversely is how social media works so well it's reinforcing all of these things. You know, into your senses, into your subconscious mind, into your emotional mind. It's making you cry. It's making you angry. It's making you lust. All of these things are like going into your emotional mind and influencing you. You know? So you doing the opposite. You don't have to do too much. You just have to do it consistently by setting yourself up for success with these positive beliefs and affirmations in addition to. Putting some boundaries around it because it is kind of like in your face all the time, you know? So you have to kind of take some control over that and interrupt the pattern and reinforce your agency and the beliefs that you want to [00:16:00] cultivate and influence yourself. You know, it's like becoming your own influencer. 'cause social media is, know, just like advertising. It's following our ability to go into trance, which is very natural. You know, which is a sort of self hypnosis and it's using that against us to profit from us, to influence us. And so it's a natural ability that our brain has. It's the way, you know, that we can do for ourselves.
But unfortunately, it's so unconscious and ubiquitous that, you know, social media and the advertising or is doing it kind of, it's so unconscious for us, you know? And it's just like everywhere that once you start to identify that. You know, in small everyday ways, when you start to reclaim your attention and start to influence yourself with your affirmations and know your intentions for what you want for yourself, you will see the how you have agency there, you know, and how you can, you know, [00:17:00] make improvements in it and to reclaim your attention and work with it, you know, because it's a really, it, it's a very precious commodity.
That's why all of these big corporations. know, are taking it away from us and like siphoning it from us, you know? But it's really the way our, our brain works and how, so it's about learning how to, how to make it work for us, you know? And I know it's hard to be like, you know, it feels like it has to be like all or nothing thing.
Like I'm just gonna go live in the woods, you know, without social media or the internet. But it doesn't have to be like that. I feel like it can really. You can set healthy boundaries around it and we can learn how to, you know, live with it. And, and most importantly, really cultivate clear spaces where you can connect with yourself in a more reverent, sacred way, you know, outside of all the influence of social media and really influence yourself.
And affirmations and self-hypnosis is a really [00:18:00] powerful way to do that, you know? So your brain does follow your instruction. you, when you do it on a regular basis,
James Petrossi: Yeah. I love what you said about being your own influencer, right? And you know, your brain will follow your instructions. The observer creates the reality. And where are you directing? Your consciousness to, and I feel like for a lot of people that might have grown up connected to the digital world, it might be a little bit frightening at first to be in this existence.
And you know, we all have a level of self-awareness, but. Most of our actions are unconscious. So to harness that strength and that power, you know, doesn't come from waking up every morning and putting your phone to the side and saying you know, I have what I need within me. You know, it takes. A depth of desire to create that change.
And, you know, what advice do you have [00:19:00] for people that are struggling as a creator or maybe just a dream scroller or they're just trapped in the feed for hours a day and, and they really need to connect
Shauna Cummins: connect,
James Petrossi: back to themselves to be their own influencer. You know, what can they expect at the beginning of the journey so they don't get.
Frightened by their own experience or turned off or scared from what they're experiencing.
Shauna Cummins: I think, you know, starting small and and consistent would be the best way, you know, just to build up. You know, the, the resources and the, the strength to do it. You know, like for example, you know, taking it out of your bedroom when you sleep, you know, like working with that. And when you do that, maybe having a practice where you go inside and think about what you can thank yourself for, like what, think about your day and review it in your mind, like a memory training exercise without the [00:20:00] help of anything else. Very small everyday ways. Doing that for a week, doing that for 30 days, you know, doing along with the book that would be really impactful and go a long way because your brain going to. Look for the things that you're directing your attention towards, the questions that you ask yourself in that space outside of technology, your brain is gonna try to look and source for, you know answers and, you know situations that match that. And then you can really embed that into your mind by deeming it important, just breathing it into your body. Just taking it in and your brain is like, oh, that is important. That's what you're. what you're thinking about, what you're feeling. We're gonna remember that. And you know, the brain has a negativity bias.
It's part of our survival, like our fight flight, freeze fawn mechanism system. And that [00:21:00] social media is hooked into that, just like the slot machines in Las Vegas are hooked into that. It's hooked into a reward deprivation. Comparison, you know program in your brain, which is part of the survival brain or the amygdala where things are just black and white, this or that, they're very binary.
So it's, you know, one bad thing happens, you're gonna think about it without being conscious. You're gonna be like, gosh, why did that happen? And then you're gonna have bad feelings about it. But if you have a conscious practice of. You know, outside of your phone, outside of social media, bring your attention to what you love about yourself and your life, what you're thankful for. Your brain is gonna go there consciously and deem it important. It doesn't do it really on its own. It doesn't track positivity and progress on its own, but once you start to do it as a practice, then it's really cool because you do find what you're looking for. There's another part of the [00:22:00] brain, it's called the reticular activating system, and. It is responsible for the confirmation bias, like finding what you're thinking about. If you're obsessed about something, you see it everywhere, you know? And so you, if you think, if you're thinking like, oh, I'm thankful for this. I'm thankful that I did this for myself. I feel good about this, that I wanna do more of that, you're gonna start to consciously collaborate with your life and create it.
Whereas if you're just, and we, you know, a lot of us are. Mindlessly surfing, you know, the internet and social media. Then everybody else's influences are coming in there and they're influencing our, they're going through our survival network. So we're getting cortisol, the stress hormone spikes, we're getting adrenaline strikes, we're getting, you know, oxytocin, like love hormone.
We, and then also we're being influenced by what we're looking for, what we're thinking about by other people's. You know, desires. So [00:23:00] it's just a really good practice for everybody right now to reclaim their imagination and reclaim, tune into their own desires outside of like, you know, social media feed, you know.
James Petrossi: Yeah. I love that. Building off of the Be Your Own influencer, this idea of conscious collaboration with yourself. Being able to be the one that's the director, not the one that is having their strings pulled by streams of content. And I think when you become a conscious collaborator with yourself and you are able to direct yourself over time, it becomes easier to disconnect because you're not fueled by that your motivations and your needs and your desires are more inward than outward.
And, what's it been like for you in the process? 'cause you know, you live in this world and you're an author and you have a business and you're on social media. So like how has it [00:24:00] been for you adjusting to digital realities and how do you find peace in these environments and consciously collaborate with yourself?
Shauna Cummins: Well, it ebbs and flows into to be totally transparent. But I have to say, I, I am really excited about the new year and I really want to do your book into the 20, the new year, the 2026, like leave the feed 30 day challenge, and am really looking forward to creating. on some habits that I had just started healthy, like media training habits. I, I feel like the last year or two, because I have been going through lots of adjustments in my life a default mode of like checking out like my nervous system, survival mode of like escaping, like I don't really have many other places to escape to anymore in my life. And so I see [00:25:00] that it's. suited for social media escapism.
It's just, it's just a freeze response. And it just like feeds it to like a really detrimental place. I don't feel like it's been, I feel like it's gotten to a, a bad place in the last year or so, and I'm recognizing it more and more.
And my partner moved in this last year and I, my habits changed, you know, so anyway, I just, the last like four or five months, I just moved the phone back out of my room at night, which has been huge. And and I have like a time limit limit thing on the, which has been helpful, but I am going to increase it with like a. Getting a box for it, putting it in in the box, and really timing myself for the time that I just scroll, you know, like mindlessly scroll, like as if it's I'm watching a movie or something like that. Like I, I want to increase like, the [00:26:00] challenges for myself with that. But, you know, I see that it, it really is a, you know, like a coping survival thing.
I see that very clearly in this last year. It has hadn't been that bad. In my life but I see how it kind of got to a bad place, but very related to stress, very related to coping mechanisms and just like perfectly suited for that, you know? And I have my practices of, of meditation, self-hypnosis that I do every day that I find very nourishing and helpful to work with my imagination and. To feed it in a, in a positive kind of sovereign way. but yeah, I, I see that social media has, it's been, it's like I've been eating fast food, for a year, and I feel like shit. Like, that's how I feel, that's how I feel like it's been doing to my brain. I feel like it's been rotting, you know, like it's, because it's also,
James Petrossi: [00:27:00] Yeah.
Shauna Cummins: It's just like a lot of like fear and. Divisiveness. You know, like I, in my practice, I also bring people together. We have, my partner and I have a space here in Brooklyn where we bring people together for ceremonies and experiences and, you know, kind of community healing and therapy. And I'm really like so passionate about that right now because people together, know, who have different belief systems and backgrounds, and to be in a space where we could really. Feel our shared humanity and, you know, wish well for each other, you know, and connect. I feel like that's really old school, but really radical right now. And really important, you know? And that's what I'm wanna do more of, you know? 'cause I feel like the social media thing really mean there's a lot of good things that have that come from it too, but it does reward really bad behavior. And I don't like [00:28:00] that.
James Petrossi: Yeah. Well, I, I appreciate your honesty because it, it's a, you bring a, a universal truth as we all. I have to stay vigilant constantly over our behaviors, our habits, how they're changing our belief systems. You know, everything that we do is in a constant state of flux. As a human. We go through something in life and we might find comfort in food, social media, drinking, whatever these vices are, or things that are desired to avert our attention away from.
The inner world and the inner experience economy, and it's a, it's the challenge of being human, right? How do you stay spiritual in a material world? And I think it's, it's beautiful that. A lot of what we are seeing is more creators like yourself who are on social media and who have followings, you know, getting their networks into sacred spaces to [00:29:00] have more of those in-depth connections, which I think, you know, helps give social media a purpose.
You know, it's like, you know, you need to have an audience and what do you, where do you take that audience? What do you do with that audience? How do you nurture that audience, and how do you use social media as a tool? Rather than, this is my reality. And when it becomes the reality, that's when it messes with us.
When it becomes a tool, then it's, wow, look at all of the opportunity I have. But it doesn't make it easy by any means. I mean, it makes it difficult for us .
Shauna Cummins: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. It's, that's why it's so great that. You're o this book to the world and, and the podcast to like help people, I think come together and hear how the other people are managing and finding their way. You know, outside of it, it's really important
James Petrossi: what's your hope for those that are taking this 30 day challenge? For those that [00:30:00] need a break from social media and those that need to practice some autosuggestion, some self-hypnosis,
Shauna Cummins: My hope is that they a sort of reservoir of supportive resources and imagination that they have within themselves. Slowly but surely, it's a place that. They can always go back to that. That never leaves them, that's always there for them, you know? And that they can cultivate, you know, an even deeper self intimacy with, you know, for, for healing, for reflection, imagination. The auto suggestion, you know, for me it's really about an intimacy with yourself. You know, and like we, like we talked about, like. Becoming your own influencer and with yourself.
James Petrossi: Thank you so much. You've been. An amazing guest. Really appreciate you. For those of you that are listening, [00:31:00] share, leave the feed with a friend. Subscribe to the channel. Don't be afraid to disconnect, and stay tuned for the next episode. Thank you again, Shauna.
Shauna Cummins: you so much. Thanks.