‘Boss Lady Of The Week’ Is A Weekly Column That Highlights Empowering, Entrepreneurial and Inspiring Females In Our Community
Suzi Nance: President of Capitol Realty Company, Founder of Bring Peace Not Pain, Certified Hypnotherapist, Hypnotist, Peace Coach, Life Coach, Inspirational and Motivational Speaker, Mother, and Grandmother (and, breathe). She is no stranger to the life of a ‘Boss Lady’ by any means.
When I think of Suzi Nance, I think of her wide eyes and a bright smile. When I think of hypnosis, I think of Donnie Darko, a dark psychological horror science fiction-drama. Does anyone else remember that scene with Jake Gyllenhaal? Needless to say, the two don’t exactly ‘marry’ in my mind. I carried my own preconceived notions into Suzi’s office when I met with her (for something other than trying desperately to find the ‘perfect’ six bedroom apartment for my college roommates and I).
Before I can ask too many questions Suzi tells me,
“I am going to tell you a little bit about hypnosis, first.”
Thank goodness.Until this point, my concept of hypnosis consisted of watching college age kids being convinced to walk across a stage acting like chicken; a ‘stress reliever’ during finals week.
Suzi begins to tell me her perspective; “I call it ‘magic’, people are plagued with things for decades and they come in here and an hour later have completely rewired their neural pathways. When the conscious mind makes a decision, the subconscious mind goes into an automatic behavior – the one that it always does, the path of least resistance, that neural pathway. Hypnosis allows us to go in, during a relaxed state, and create a new neural pathway.”
Before our interview, Suzi offered to give me an introductory hypnotherapy session. My self-diagnosis and prognosis will remain private; however, it is a pretty wild experience.
Q: How did you get started? What’s the story?
A: “It is sort of in a nutshell answer, Capitol Realty has been in my family for over fifty years and about twenty five years ago I was going to go back to school to get my MSW and become a therapist but a series of events found me taking over Capitol instead. I have no regrets, I love Capitol, real estate, and the great friends I have met along the way but it was never my passion. I have always wanted to help people, and as fate would have it, I have. Decades before the term ‘life coach’ was the pedestrial, the catch all title it is now how I would be defined. I started a small practice which has over the years has continued to evolve, now I find myself with a very busy hypnotherapy practice.”
Q: What do you like best about being a life coach?
A: “I love being able to help people. I believe that everyone can live the life that they want and so many people don’t. That also lead me to a great period of self-study, all different modalities; how our brain works, how our mind works and hypnosis was one of those things that really worked.”
Q: What do you like best about hypnosis? What did you hypnotize yourself to do?
A: “I never liked to exercise and I did hypnosis and all of a sudden I am doing six classes a week: aerobics, hot yoga, etc. You saw me at the studio! I had been hypnotized before and had good experiences but this was really it, exercise was so far out of my comfort zone. So, I spent two years reading every book and watching every video I could find on hypnosis and would hypnotize anyone that would let me! I started to get better and better and saw great results so then I went to get certified.”
Suzi’s hypnotherapy office is located inside Capitol Realty allowing her the flexibility to run both businesses successfully.
Q: Do you ever practice hypnosis in places other than your office?
A: “I have practiced in may places around the country and many different organizations. I work with Wounded Warriors and their caregivers for PTSD, and have been a presenter at various conventions and expos. Locally, I am at Newport Hospital every two weeks in the behavioral health unit and I was recently invited to take part in Salve’s Stress Buster event. On November 4th, I will be presenting a lecture, on how to have a stress-free holiday season as part of Newport Hospital Lecure series which will be free and open to the public. There are so many different avenues this has career has taken me down!”
Q: Is there a success story that stands out in your mind, specifically?
A: “I treated a woman in her 80’s that has not left the island in over thirty years because of her fear of bridges. After one session I told her to get in the car and drive over the Jamestown Bridge and she called me crying saying that I ‘let her out of jail.”
Q: Can someone hypnotized involuntarily?
A: “ You can only be hypnotized if you want to be and you can only be hypnotized for things that you want. If you are not receptive, it won’t work. If someone really wants to do something, hypnosis can really help make it happen they will be successful in an hour [or one session] because they will allow themselves to open up and the suggestion to take hold.”
Q: When you practice hypnosis, you’re essentially embodying being a life coach at the exact same time. Would you agree?
A: “Yes, we sit down and create a path. To be a good hypnotherapist you have to have the ability to see the whole picture and zoom in on the nuggets that we need to put into place and make it happen.”
Q: Do you self hypnotize regularly?
A: “Yes. I just finished self-hypnosis for when I come out of the grocery store, so I know where my car is parked. I have lost a lot of weight because I have self-hypnotized for weight loss. I go into a trance when I put someone else under trance, so I am reinforcing my same suggestions.”
Q: So, are you saying you reopen your pathways of past hypnosis every time you hypnotize someone else?
A: “No, only if I want it to.”
Q: What is your advice to the skeptic?
A: “It is just this; you go in and out of trance all of the time. When you drive home from Boston and hit your exit and ask yourself how you got there, that is trance. When you’re watching a good scary movie and your heart is beating super fast, that is trance. Trance is a normal state, you cannot get stuck in it, no one can persuade you to do anything you don’t want to do while in trance.”
To say the least, I am fascinated. Suzi is not only a powerhouse business owner but she is keyed into mindfulness and has a true passion for helping others. Capitol Realty is a fully female run office, and Suzi solely operates the Newport Center for Hypnotherapy. She tells me, “I believe in the power of women” and that is obvious. To find out more information on Suzi, you can visit her website: http://www.suzinance.com and get tuned into your own trance, make some lifestyle changes, or maybe even have her help you find your dream home.