#94 – Using Hypnosis to Unlock Your Creativity with Certified Hypnotherapist Lauren Best

Shannon Mattern (00:02.152)

Hey everyone, welcome back to the profitable web designer podcast. And I'm so excited for this episode. You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting for this. I'm here with Lauren Best and she was introduced to me by a web designer academy graduate. And we're going to be doing something really, really fun today. So before I like get too off the rails with this, Lauren, would you introduce yourself and let everyone know a little more about who you are and what you do?

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (00:32.786)

Sure, thank you for having me. I can't wait to just see what's going to come up today for us. For anyone who's meeting me for the first time, I'm Lauren Best. I am a certified hypnotherapist. I am a business and mindset designer, also a personal transformation strategist. And so I kind of work at this intersection of wellness and consciousness and creativity, and in some contexts, business as well.

And a big part of my work is to really, for my own life, but to also support others to do this is to disrupt perfectionism in order to provoke new possibilities for our work, for our lives, for showing up as ourselves and just really authentically discovering what is gonna feel good for us, whether it be in our lives, our relationships, in our business, in our work. So it's really this intersection of,

putting for me a lot of puzzle pieces together that maybe weren't fitting before and allowing myself to be this guide for other people to do the same for themselves, to really listen to their inklings and what feels good for them beyond anything they think they should be doing because I've lived in that world of shoulds for so, so long and it really wasn't supporting who I am or my heart or my values. So it's what I'm all about.

Shannon Mattern (02:00.986)

Yeah, so when I was connected with you and I'm like, she's a certified hypnotherapist. This is fascinating. We need to talk. We chatted a little bit before we scheduled this podcast. And if you're a regular listener to the show, you know that I am like all about mindset in terms of like, we have all of the strategies. We know what to do logically.

And then, you know, we also talk about like your mindset and how that kind of plays into whether you take actions or don't take actions, whether you create results or don't create the results that you want. But this is like a whole new tool in the toolbox that, I have no experience with at all. And that's why I'm so fascinated, to dive deeper into this with you today, but can you get.

our listeners, just a little bit of backstory about your journey to where you are today serving business owners in this way.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (03:04.082)

Yeah, my gosh. Well, it was, you know, one of those happy accidents. Like, I never grew up knowing about hypnosis. I only really tried it for the first time somewhere near the beginning of the pandemic when I found myself back in Canada really unexpectedly after living abroad over in Singapore and also in London, I think collectively for six or seven years. And...

over in those places and spaces I was working and studying as a designer of products and furniture and then eventually into service design and business transformation and design. And I, you know, looking back, I don't think I gave enough credit to myself for the intuitive like sparks and inklings and whispers that I did have. I think maybe,

you know, they were there, they were always there, but I wasn't always listening to them. And then I'd have these moments where I would listen and it would almost be like this extreme of, you know, not listening to listening. And I think it confused a lot of people. It confused me when it came to how I showed up in my relationships or in my work. And yeah, I ended up back in Canada after being in Singapore for less than two years. I didn't even really, I feel like,

grouch the surface of what I was doing there, working as a consultant, working with government level organizations, with small medium enterprises, startups, new business owners. And I found myself back, not sure what to do. I really loved the work I was doing, but the environment was not for me. It was not bringing out the best parts of me.

I wasn't feeling empowered. My confidence was shot. I was just really in this mode of not knowing, like in that fight or flight, in that breeze even, of just not being able to take action in a way that felt good because I didn't, my nervous system was just like totally, like felt so unsafe. And I remember feeling like this idea of going back to work in the workforce.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (05:27.538)

was terrifying. Like I could feel it in every cell of my body. I was starting to interview for different service design positions in Canada. I was working online at the time for a startup, nonprofit as the operations manager. And that was a lot of fun. But for me, it didn't really have that longevity of like what was next. And so I was putting myself out there and...

every single time it was, I don't know whether it's like just the energy I was giving out or a little bit of self -sabotage or again the universe kind of just being like, you know, not yet. It just, things were not working out for me. Even with the introductions that I had, the amazing support I had from people. And I kind of, you know, at the time too thought, I can't imagine working 40 plus hours a week right now, again, really not even knowing about what my nervous system went through or.

just mentally, emotionally, physically. And I kind of thought to myself, you know, I guess I'll start my own business. And I had always, since I was young and since I studied business in university, I thought, yeah, one day. It'll be like a one day thing once I work in corporate for a bit. I want to get paid to travel. I want all the perks, whatever, which never happened. Like I've never actually traditionally worked in a corporate organization. I've worked with them.

I'm adjacently, but it was kind of like this dream to do that and then to maybe eventually once it made sense for me, start a business. So I was starting my business from this place of lack and a place of just, you know, fear really. And I didn't really realize that at the time fully. And I started getting curious about what could a business look like for me.

You know, I have these amazing skill sets as a business transformation specialist, you know, with human centered design, design thinking, like that kind of stuff came so naturally to me, but I was so like, I was not confident at all. My self -esteem was so, so low. I didn't feel worthy, I think of working with clients or like I was smart enough or good enough, even with the track record that I did have. And so it became this kind of.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (07:48.594)

this process of coming up with all these wonderful ideas on paper and just this fear to take any action was just like I was in this loop just going in circles and circles and circles and maybe a little bit here a little bit there I'd talk about it and then I'd go in circles again and I'd maybe get like a beta client here or there and again it was just this loop of confusion and self -doubt and really not knowing where I was.

was going and feeling like I needed to know. This was like the height of my control, my control issues of needing to know all the answers and not being okay with uncertainty, which I'm very comfortable with now, even though it's uncomfortable, it excites me. So it took a long time to get there, but I realized while I was trying to like design this perfect business or design these amazing strategies, which have

worked before, it's easy, I've designed other businesses for other people, I just couldn't figure it out. So I was beginning to think, okay, there's something else here, something else that I need, like a new approach I need to take that is not in my awareness right now. So I went to this online summit, which I think my mom had shared with me, this is like in the pandemic, everything's online. And...

I went to this online summit and I saw this hypnotherapist there and I'd started hearing about hypnosis a little bit in some of the entrepreneurship communities I was in, but I didn't really know a lot about it and I saw this woman, Mahesha, who's now my mentor and still my hypnotherapist and taught me everything I know. She was speaking at this summit and I just for whatever reason thought like, okay, like I didn't know how and I thought she'll help me. I know she's gonna help me.

She'll help me with my business. Little did I know, once we started working together, that was a piece of it. But it was all these other stories and experiences that were so strong in my mind, in my subconscious mind, all these beliefs of lack and of not being good enough and being shown time and time again that I shouldn't be doing this or I should do it this way or this and that.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (10:06.706)

that I really needed to go back to all the way from the time we're little kids. And the more these experiences happen, these beliefs get stronger. So we started working on just what beliefs was I holding onto or allowing to define me and slowly but surely started moving through all of these stories and...

all of these things that were just like really, while still all this change was happening in my life, really holding me back. So for whatever reason, while I was really going through it, and I wanna give myself more credit for this because I don't think I did at the time that although I felt like I was a big mess, and trying to figure all this stuff out emotionally.

that I still said yes and there was a part of me that knew like this is going to change my life forever and you know I've had this pattern of needing or wanting to wait to the perfect moment to do something and like on paper maybe or my logical self this was not the perfect moment by any means but I still did it. So she was training other coaches which I was kind of dabbling I wouldn't identify as a coach but at the time was coaching a few solopreneurs to kind of test that out.

So she was training coaches to become certified hypnotherapists to kind of add again, like you said, this new tool to their toolbox. So I said, like, how do I sign up? Like, let's try this. And I mean, I never would have imagined to do that, but I just knew because it was helping me even with the little baby steps of putting myself out there more. I was so afraid to speak about what I was doing or put myself out there.

that those little bits I knew would help my clients because the people I was working with were in that same situation, just really afraid to put themselves out there, to believe in themselves. So I really kind of distrusted my gut feeling and my intuition, even though, again, I didn't know what was gonna happen next, and decided to become a hypnotherapist and...

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (12:20.082)

Slowly over the last few years, I've been blending it into this strategy where like my confidence, I feel so confident now in what I'm doing. And it was such a journey to get to this place. But, you know, it's just about, I think for me, trusting that we find these things, we find these practices or these tools, or we meet these people at whatever timing, even if it is not perfect timing, that some way, somehow eventually,

it'll all make sense. So when it started to make more sense, or even when it didn't, I just invited myself to trust more. And I think that is because a lot of that subconscious work I was doing to just tell myself, like, I get to feel safe not knowing. I get to trust myself regardless of what I know for sure. So it's, yeah, it's been a wild few years, to say the least.

Shannon Mattern (13:15.08)

jotted down a few things while you were sharing that story that really resonated with me and you know like the perfectionism. I've never thought of myself as a perfectionist except for I keep seeing different definitions of what perfectionism is because I'm like I don't mind mistakes, I don't mind typos, I don't need everything to be perfect but but

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (13:26.802)

Mm.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (13:36.146)

And.

Shannon Mattern (13:42.856)

the need to know, the not being okay with uncertainty, all of those pieces where I'm like, that's a piece of perfectionism that I did not know was a thing. I thought it was like, you need everything to be in its place. And I'm like, no, I don't need everything to be in its place. I don't even need to know where everything is, but I need to know what's going to happen next. And I want to be certain. And so that just jumped out at me as something that's like,

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (13:45.678)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (14:12.328)

I can see why people would not take action when they don't know what the outcome is going to be and how unsafe that would feel. So that's one thing that really like jumped out at me where like, logically, I think that I don't need to know. And logically, I think, I can test this and see what happens. But subconsciously or in my nervous system,

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (14:18.674)

Mmm.

Shannon Mattern (14:39.272)

I'm like, no, I need to know that that's going to work because if that doesn't work, then what? And so it's like this battle between my logical mind and whatever's going on that I'm trying to stuff down or that I'm not even aware of running in the background that's like this push and pull. And so that really jumped out at me. And then the other thing that you said was like, there's...

got when you were attending that summit, like there's, I'm like, there must be a new approach out there that's not in my awareness. And that made me think of like, you know, when we do mindset coaching with our students in the web designer Academy, like the best way that I can do it is to have conversations with them and they will say something that I'm like, and they don't even realize what they're thinking, but they have to say the thing out loud to me to.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (15:12.498)

And.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (15:16.882)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (15:39.208)

for me to be able to like really pull it apart and show it to them. But like, if it's buried even deeper than the conversation that we can have, right? How do you get to the core of that? So I feel like it's like mindset coaching is like more surface level than what you do. Would that be a fair assessment?

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (16:02.002)

say, you know, like you said, it's like in the consciousness already, and maybe they have they weren't aware of it until they say it out loud. And then it's like that becomes in our conscious awareness, right. So when it comes to using hypnosis to access the subconscious mind, we are exploring sometimes things that are part of our long term memory that are part of our beliefs or these stories that maybe we don't remember or we don't recognize.

that, okay, this situation that happened actually created this pattern for me to stay safe in this way. And so that's why I'm showing up in this way because although it may not be helpful for me or supportive for me, it's what I know. It's what my body and my mind is safe experiencing. And for anything else that is different, we don't have that neural pathway yet in our brains that say this gets to be safe to experience this or.

you know, uncertainty, the very like, you know, it's where I started with too is right, this like not being okay with uncertainty in the very first hypnosis script I ever wrote and that I ever created, which I still like share with people. It's like my number one go -to audio I share is about dreaming during uncertainty and visualizing this life we love because even though...

we don't know what it could be like to show up differently or it could be like yet to take action in a different way or what is not yet in our conscious awareness. There are still these dreams that we have that often we don't take action on or we don't believe in because exactly we don't know what will happen next or we don't know if we'll be successful in it or if it's, you know, if we have...

People have different fears, right? Fear of success, fear of failure are two very common ones. So even if it is something you're like dreaming about and you're like, ooh, what if I do receive the success that I dream of? Or what if I fail in public and am humiliated or whatever it may be? There's, yeah, I think that depth to not only recognize maybe where...

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (18:16.178)

where these beliefs are coming from because they are often tied to maybe experiences that we wouldn't have linked together. And so that we can access that and become aware of it within hypnosis by playing within the subconscious mind. And then consciously, in the way that you're doing, really find, okay, well, what action would feel good? And sometimes in hypnosis and playing in the subconscious,

we come up with new ideas and possibilities that we wouldn't have when we were just kind of playing in our conscious mind where the shoulds are very present or these ideas of, you know, what I should be doing or the expectations that I have or what I know for sure. So that's where I think there's a lot more possibility to play with and we can allow ourselves maybe to become more open to.

expanding our capacity for more creativity or play or doing things differently. And that is reflected in our conscious awareness and the action that we take and builds that capacity consciously to come up with more ideas in a way where we maybe don't need to access the subconscious mind to allow ourselves to be more confident or more creative or

more wild or just listen to our bodies and make really simple decisions. So it kind of is that next level of just, yeah, like going deeper in a way and really beyond what we are aware of, being able to really access and see what our mind is gonna show us or bring to our awareness. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (20:03.656)

So as you're sharing all that, I'm kind of thinking about our listeners who are web designers, right? And they're usually in one of two places, right? They're kind of where you were at the beginning, where they're planning their business on paper. And they're building their website. They're doing all these things, but they're not taking that next step to put themselves out there, put themselves out there for whatever reason, right?

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (20:10.706)

Right.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (20:19.858)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (20:32.008)

fear of success, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, all of those things. Or on the flip side, they are doing those things, but then they might be kind of experiencing what you were experiencing when you were searching for jobs. Like I'm putting myself out there, but my clients are saying, like the people that I'm...

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (20:37.33)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (21:01.064)

making offers to are saying no, you know, for whatever reason. And that could be that there's some, you're afraid of them saying yes, because then you have to like follow through on your end of the deal. Maybe you're putting too much pressure on yourself. But on the flip side, I also want like, or like,

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (21:04.722)

Hmm.

Shannon Mattern (21:25.512)

one step removed from that, your client is dealing with their own stuff. And it's not always just about like the price of the package that you put in front of them. They have their own like, okay, if I make this commitment to work with you, you know, then what, what if I fail? What if I succeed? Am I ready to take this on? And so I just wanted to like kind of talk through all of that because I see people's like,

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (21:30.162)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (21:47.122)

Mm -hmm.

Shannon Mattern (21:53.576)

make inferences about why things are happening and telling stories in the space of not having the information and making decisions based off that that doesn't, that like aren't real, I guess, if I could explain that in any way. And so, and then I also see people like people listening to,

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (22:00.85)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (22:10.034)

Yeah, totally.

Shannon Mattern (22:18.952)

this podcast, like hold themselves back from getting the help that they need to move forward because moving forward feels scary. So why would I pay to get help to move forward when moving forward feels scary? And it's unknown. And I don't know what's going to happen and I might fail. And so that was just my like word, you know, all of my thoughts that I was thinking about, like everything that you were saying. So I don't know if you want to unpack that, but.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (22:28.05)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (22:31.922)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (22:36.978)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (22:41.01)

you

my gosh. Thank you, I think, for sharing all those layers because they are very layered. And I think even if you're experiencing one thing, like that fear of rejection, it is intertwined and mingled with that fear of unknown or reject whatever it may be. And there can be that self -sabotage energy that comes behind it. And so I think one thing that I really

worked on subconsciously was not only to get my confidence this place of like, okay, number one, I get to trust in myself in what I'm doing that actually not knowing all the answers is what's gonna invite me to be more present and to be more creative and to support people in the way that they need because putting them into a cookie cutter thing that I know for sure isn't gonna benefit them. It's not gonna...

allow me to support people in the best way possible, but also on the other side of that, something, and I've been sharing this a lot more with people of like, we have these perceptions of needing to be experts and needing to know it all. And we look to, we can look for so many examples in real life, whether it be leaders of this or that, that sometimes you're like, this person has that job, like really? And so there are these,

I think more people who maybe are on these perceived expert levels who are starting to say, actually, I don't know anything. I'm like making this up. And like a big part of that is for me to, again, be present, to respond, to create, to design, to, you know, be in this space of just playfulness and being present. And so I think the more...

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (24:38.482)

you know, I'm talking about this work and all this work that I've done or support people with, I think there's an important element to share is like, I don't have all the answers. I don't know all the things. Yes, I have all these tools that will help me find more clarity, that keep me curious, that allow me to, you know, find insight or like you do very well is finding these nuggets of information that people are sharing. And with that is, or because of,

or where it stems from really is that safety that we get to create for people to be vulnerable, to show up, to share these things that will lead to something else, right? If we're like showing up with these kind of like faux personas, nothing that we create together is going to be of genuine or authentic creation, right? So I think there's that element of like...

you know, we all start in a place where we don't know the answers. You go into a conversation not knowing what they're gonna say. I go in, even this experience of putting, I think putting myself out there, the first thing I did, because I was so afraid to show up on social media, was starting to do podcast interviews. And for me, I thought that's my one thing I know I can show up for, even though it may feel a little scary every time I do it, I feel really good because again, I don't always know what I'm gonna say, but I began to trust that whatever,

I ended up saying is exactly what was meant to come up. And so it's through that repetition again, where we can really build that confidence and, you know, even be in a place where we don't know, but still feel confident, I think is just really empowering. And also knowing, I think it took a long time, a long, long time for me to know like, I can help anyone. And it comes with that confidence and saying like,

You know, I have all these tools and I have my own creative mind that I know is gonna, you know, always show up for me. And, you know, I can help anyone. I know this, but who do I actually want to help with? Who do I want to help and how, right? Do I want to spend time convincing people that, like, I know this is gonna help them, but if they're not ready, can I inform them to the best of my ability and then also leave this decision to them and know,

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (27:00.658)

you know, I know I can help them and they would be wonderful to work with, but are there other people that maybe are more ready and that I can trust and by showing up in a way where I'm not in that lack, because I've done that so many times of being in that state of lack, making decisions or putting out offers or trying to have conversations with people in a way that, you know, is thinking about, okay, well, how do I, you know, like, I know this will help them, but how do I really invite them?

to work with me and that not necessarily coming from a very high vibration or energetic place and just taking that pressure off ourselves to know whether or not someone's gonna work with us or not. I have so many people now that I've talked to over a year or two years ago that are now ready and it's like, yes, I'm always here to support you in whatever way you need or whatever way I can meet you with, but it doesn't have to be today. So.

It can feel, I think, discouraging in those moments, but I think the more we surrender to that trust, the more we can take that pressure off of ourselves, right? How many times do we make a quick decision? It may happen sometimes. It may be out of lack. It may be out of excitement. Why are we making decisions quickly anyways? So questioning that, but also...

I think it was a lot of investing in myself and sometimes making those really uncomfortable and kind of scary decisions to invest in myself. When I wasn't making a lot of money and I'm not someone who's gonna say like, I think you should take out a bunch of credit cards, right? To, you know, some people do and I have like put things on credit cards because I knew like this is gonna help me whether or not the money comes, I get to trust and it's something I wanna do for me. But...

I also thought about this last year, the year I invested more in myself than I ever have in my life, regardless, outside of post -secondary education. And it felt scary, and it felt like this really big thing, what if things don't work out for me? And I just eventually, there was a few things I would tell myself. One of them would be, if you're not gonna invest in yourself, you can't maybe expect other people to, but...

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (29:26.354)

you know, how is it different from investing? You know, we invest in the stock market or we invest in property or, you know, there's so many other things we invest in. You know, why not me? Why shouldn't I be worthy of investing in myself? So that was like a really hard conversation that I did have with myself that kind of unpacked this idea that like, maybe it's too much to make these investments in me, but.

Yeah, that was one thing I think I definitely was really faced with last year and was really happy that I decided to just like the first time I did hypnosis or decided to train to be a hypnotherapist. Those were like big scary things, but like, look at me now, you know, if I hadn't my life would be so different and maybe I would have ended up here. It might have just taken a lot longer. Right. So there's the.

I hope I impact all those things. I might have missed something, but it's exactly what I needed to be.

Shannon Mattern (30:26.5)

That's exactly what it needed to be. And I just, everything that you said, I'm like, yeah, like I feel like the needing to feel like you're an expert before X, Y, Z is kind of part of that, like perfectionism and control or needing to know how a conversation is going to go and all of those things. And I just, I love everything you're saying about just like surrendering and trusting and just.

taking the pressure off. So one of the things that we talked about doing in this episode is a little like hypnosis demo for the audience so that they can, for our listeners so that they can see what it's like. And I'm super curious what it's like. So we have about 20 minutes left in our time together and I would love to experience.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (31:00.306)

Okay.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (31:06.258)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (31:18.322)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (31:22.728)

this because as everybody knows on this podcast, I'm a total open book and I've never done this before. And I would just be fascinated to learn more about the process and kind of share that with our listeners as they're here with us today.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (31:34.93)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (31:39.922)

and hopefully very curious as well. Let's do it. We can do a little suggestibility test, which I do with all people who I'm seeing for the first time and that they're experiencing hypnosis with me for the first time, even if they have experienced hypnosis before. It's really not like a pass or fail type of test. It's just for me to understand how you receive suggestions because everyone is so different.

Shannon Mattern (31:42.632)

Hahaha.

Shannon Mattern (31:47.944)

Okay.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (32:09.586)

There are a billion techniques as well in hypnosis and different suggestions because hypnosis I really see as a self -development tool that allows us to surpass that critical mind, to access our subconscious mind, for not only to experience deep relaxation, but to reprogram our beliefs and rewrite our stories. And so it's based on this suggestibility. And for me to share suggestions with you.

You know, for people who as well, I think, may have seen all on TV, like how it's like about mind control and this and that, I assure everyone, anytime you want to open your eyes, you can. It's likely you won't want to because you'll be so deeply relaxed and your subconscious mind is supporting you to feel that relaxation. But it's something that you get to, you know, open your eyes and walk away if you want to. There's no type of control in that way.

you are in that control, you are in that seat to drive the bus, I'm just here to support you based on the responses that I'm receiving from you. So what we'll do, I think, for the suggestibility test is that I'll guide you through some movements and then I'll ask you to relax. And since you'll already be in that hypnotic state, I'll share with you some affirmations around some of the things that we talked about already that need to know that...

being okay with uncertainty so that you're already beginning to reprogram your subconscious mind as well. But did you have any questions for me before we do get started?

Shannon Mattern (33:46.472)

No, I am just really curious and open to whatever this is going to be.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (33:47.826)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (33:53.682)

Beautiful. Okay, so what I will ask Shannon to just make sure that you're really comfortable in your seat and if you can have your feet firmly planted on the floor. And then what we can do is if you actually Okay, maybe I will ask you to raise your right arm and just have your right arm and your hand in front of you. You can kind of Yeah, perfect with a slight bend in the elbow. Amazing.

So I'm gonna ask you to just focus on that middle finger. Focus your gaze on that middle finger, even that nail, the top of the nail on the middle finger. And as you focus on that middle finger in your nail, you may notice how, and I can already see your fingers beginning to jerk and spread, and just that is telling you that you're becoming more and more relaxed. And you can just continue to focus on that middle finger, allowing the fingers to jerk and pull and just relax more and more. That's right, that's beautiful. And as you're noticing,

your finger and your hands jerking, your fingers jerking, you can begin to imagine as if the tip of your nose has a magnet and the other magnet is on that middle finger, that middle nail. You may feel your hand beginning to move towards your nose, allowing the hand to just slowly or quickly, whatever pace feels good, to move forward towards the nose, just allowing the hand to come forward and closer and closer and just feeling more relaxed and allowing the hand to come closer and closer.

And Shannon, is it your arm or your hand that's coming closer to your face?

Shannon Mattern (35:28.84)

I think it's my hand.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (35:30.642)

That's right, amazing. So just allowing your hand to come closer and closer. And once the hand comes close enough, maybe three inches away from your face, you can just allow your hand to drop into your lap. Just allowing your eyes to shut. Allowing your soles of your feet to be firmly planted on the ground. Just allowing your breath.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (35:59.09)

to become.

more still, more flowy, more deep, whatever feels good. You may even notice the stillness between the breaths.

or you may even notice the expansion of your ribs.

or the desire to inhale more deeply, just trusting that the body knows exactly what it needs.

Trusting that with every inhale comes an exhale. That you can just allow the body to relax more and more. You may even notice your eyelids becoming more relaxed or heavier. You may even notice the flicker flutter of the eyes.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (36:51.986)

It's allowing your eyes to relax more and more, going deeper and deeper. You may even try to open your eyes, but you won't be able to, not because I say so, but simply because of this powerful nature of your subconscious mind. You can try to open your eyes, but you won't be able to, not because I say so, but simply because the powerful nature of your subconscious mind and the ability and desire to relax more deeply, that's right.

you find yourself going deeper and deeper into this state of relaxation. You can just trust your mind and your body to relax more and you can even invite any thoughts that may be coming up to just simply kind of mold into the shape of clouds and allow those thoughts to flow and to float on by like clouds in the sky. That's right.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (37:46.034)

you allow your breath and your body to relax and your mind to relax more and more. You can just allow yourself to begin to imagine what it feels like in the body to not need to know all the answers, to feel this trust inside of yourself that amongst uncertainty, amongst all the things we do not know, that you have this innate trust in yourself, this wisdom, this knowingness.

that no matter where you begin, there may be one or two or multiple paths, and that there may be this curiosity inside of you that wants to move along one or maybe jump to the other and that's okay too. That you never know what you'll find along those paths. Maybe a bridge, maybe a friend or a stranger that is there to support you.

Or maybe you'll find more pieces of yourself or little versions of you cheering you on from the sidelines, just knowing that there's no need to know it all. That you too, at the same time, which can be really confusing, but it's something that we get to experience is that everything we need to know, we already know. Yet there are so many possibilities and answers.

that once we open ourselves up to this idea of not needing to know all of the things, that we become open to amazing possibilities and opportunities to show up for us.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (39:34.578)

there's so much that by showing up and being present and open, just even taking these baby steps that come from the heart that honor the values that you have, that we get to take off the pressure to know, to see and...

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (39:56.018)

As you're on your journey to get home, you may not be able to see every inch in front of you because there may be a little bit of fog or there may be a distraction over there, but that you still trust yourself to take that next move without needing to know everything that's in front of you.

because there gets to be the safety within your heart, within your body.

that knows that it's safe to not know all the things.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (40:35.474)

that we can get creative to come up with ideas and that's so easy for you as someone.

who is so in tune with other people and being able to listen to the things that they may not know yet.

that you're like this amazing extractor of information and insight that allows and supports other people to transmute their superpowers and creativity into such magic and goodness.

that every time you are faced with a new opportunity or project or client or

new part of your business or your own personal growth, that there gets to be so much excitement that you meet with this, that you get to feel this excitement of not knowing. And every ounce of your body is this way of being this invitation for you to create more, to explore more, to surprise yourself more.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (41:48.498)

There gets to be so much creativity that's in locked each and every time.

that you have these new experiences that may not have a clear map yet, that you have your toolbox of amazing tools and knowledge that you can pull out at any time, and that you always intuitively know exactly what tool to call upon. And maybe that gets to change sometimes too. That's right. Just taking a moment here, Shannon, to just take a deep breath in through the nose.

feeling yourself embodying this excitement, this knowingness, this self -trust and exhaling any doubt.

exhaling, any resistance.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (42:44.946)

It's allowing your body to begin to notice what it feels like.

to just simply trust, without knowing all the things. And knowing that starting today from here on out, it'll be easier and easier for you to notice these moments where you get to just simply trust. That even before the insight or the idea comes, this feeling of trust, this feeling of excitement.

this inner knowingness.

It'll become easier and easier for you to notice these moments where you are testing yourself, where you're not worrying about what's next or what's around the corner.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (43:35.378)

You can take a moment again to just take one last deep breath in through the nose, out through the mouth.

In a moment here, I will count up from zero to three. And on the count of three, you can open your eyes and be wide awake, completely out of hypnosis and feeling better than you have in a very long time. Zero, going deeper still. One, feeling calm and at ease with the sense of knowingness. And two.

becoming more and more aware of your surroundings. And three, eyes wide open, wide awake. How are you feeling?

Shannon Mattern (44:20.592)

I don't.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (44:25.554)

You

Shannon Mattern (44:28.68)

So...

Like...

It's hard to even describe how immediately relaxed I was. I feel like I woke up from a really good night's sleep just now, even though I was awake for all of that.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (44:50.674)

Yeah, and that was like, I don't even know how long we did that for, less than 10 minutes? 10 minutes? Maybe? Maybe 15? I don't know.

Shannon Mattern (44:55.944)

Like my shoulders just like melted like

which was an interesting feeling. Yeah, that was really. And then.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (45:07.058)

Hmm.

Shannon Mattern (45:13.)

I don't know, I felt like a little bit of buzzy excitement in my chest, but also like really calm. I don't know how to describe it, but it was a...

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (45:21.01)

Hmm. It's like that knowing that we get to hold in our hearts, right?

Shannon Mattern (45:27.176)

Yeah, that was fascinating. I'm still like, I don't know, still processing.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (45:32.882)

Processing. Yeah. Well, thank you for trusting me to guide you. It really means so much to me. And, you know, there's things that you may begin to process or just want to move your body. I always encourage people, and this is like a little mini session together, but I always encourage people, you know, if you feel like dancing or moving or getting a cup of tea and lying down or, you know, if there's a way that you like,

Shannon Mattern (45:53.64)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (46:03.206)

already something you do to move some energy. A lot of people like to journal. I usually like to dance for like 30 seconds and then make a cup of tea. Like everyone's really different. So just whatever is gonna feel nourishing to you to continue your day is just the perfect invitation to give yourself.

Shannon Mattern (46:17.224)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (46:24.04)

my gosh. Okay, so I want to talk to you for like another hundred years about this experience, but we do have to wrap up. I'm like, we should have started with this because I'm like, what is happening? but can you tell everyone where they can go to connect with you, to learn more about you, to learn more about this process, and then just share like, you know, if this, if something like this was the first step, like what would happen next? Like, how do you work with people?

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (46:28.722)

Yeah.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (46:50.182)

Yeah, absolutely. So the first place I would kind of send people is actually to my sub stack, which is possibilities in between. So when you subscribe, even as a free subscriber, in that first email you'll receive from me, you can actually access a link to my free hypnosis audio, which is dreaming during uncertainty to visualize a life you love. So you can receive that and kind of just dive into my world.

but if you visit my website, lauren -best .com, you can book a free mini complimentary consultation call with me where you can also experience the suggestibility it has, ask any questions, we can talk about what kind of goals you have, if any at all, maybe there's just feelings that you're wanting to, or limiting beliefs, or like stuckness that you're wanting to move through.

You don't need to know all the answers to show up to this and for me to support you, that's my job. So please do both one of those sessions with me and we can chat. It's no pressure to go any other place beyond that. But how I love to work with people, especially those working with me for the first time, is through a set of six sessions. So why six sessions is because also scientifically, you know,

When it comes to those six sessions, there are studies that show that six sessions of hypnosis is equal to like hundreds of talk therapy sessions. So the results are really incredible, but it allows us to move through these different layers. And sometimes people have an idea of what they want to focus on, yet in these hypnosis sessions, something else will come up first, which is part of that ripple effect and part of the puzzle. So.

We usually meet for every like every two weeks for a succession. Some people then work with me longer in that same way. Some people, depending on where they're at, continue with me like once a month. So it kind of from there, we can branch into different possibilities if it is, you know, focusing on your business. I also am so excited. I'm doing these amazing design sprints. So using human centered design and design thinking.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (49:12.21)

We'll do like a three hour sprint together where we'll also incorporate hypnosis into that experience. So we'll consciously be discussing things. We'll go into the subconscious to build that clarity and that confidence and move through anything that needs to be moved through. And then we end with a really great place of having a few action steps that will feel really good for you or some clarity in some way for you to go out.

off into the world and take action or show up in the way that you need. So that's a really fun, I think, experience that is quite intuitive and expansive. And I'm happy to bring those back as well.

Shannon Mattern (49:56.68)

Thank you so much for being here, for sharing all of that. I'm going to link everything up in the show notes. I'm still processing what just happened. And I'm for sure. We, yeah, we need to continue this debrief this, this. I will definitely be sharing more about this, like in my podcast episodes. But yes, let's touch base and follow up and see how we can.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (50:06.098)

Yeah, maybe we should do a LinkedIn live or even just a personal voice note. I'm always up for that. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (50:24.84)

continue this conversation because it's truly been fascinating. And yeah, thank you so, so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

Lauren Best @laurenbest_co (she/her) (50:34.098)

Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate you too.

Shannon Mattern (50:42.344)

You're welcome. Bye.