Hypnotherapy
Arlington, TN · Serving Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland, Millington & Surrounding Communities — Atoka, Barretville, Bolton, Braden, Brighton, Brownsville, Brunswick, Bush Grove, Cordova, Eads, Ellendale, Gallaway, Hickory Withe, Mason, Memphis, Munford, Oakland, Rosemark & Somerville · Mississippi (DeSoto & Marshall Counties): Hernando, Horn Lake, Olive Branch, Southaven, Walls & Byhalia
By Cissie Pryor, R.N. — 39 Years of Practice
Hypnotherapy is gentle, relaxing Behavior Modification treatment that provides a powerful and effective method for creating lasting lifestyle changes. This holistic approach is often referred to as personal and professional self-improvement.
Cissie Pryor's psychiatric, hypnosis, and professional nursing background specializes in areas that include anxiety, smoking cessation, over-indulging, weight loss, increased job or sports performance, and dealing with day-to-day stress. Cissie can work with past-life regression, chakra rebalancing, spiritual re-alignment, and relaxation.
What Is Clinical Hypnotherapy?
Clinical hypnotherapy is a therapeutic process that uses guided relaxation, focused concentration, and carefully constructed suggestions to create a state of heightened receptivity — sometimes called a trance state. In this state, the conscious, critical mind steps aside, and the deeper layers of the mind become more open to therapeutic suggestions, new associations, and behavioral restructuring.
Contrary to popular misconceptions shaped by stage hypnosis and entertainment media, clinical hypnotherapy does not involve loss of consciousness, loss of control, or susceptibility to unwanted suggestions. You remain fully aware throughout the session and retain complete agency. Hypnosis is simply a deeply relaxed, focused state — one that many people enter naturally during activities like meditation, deep reading, or highway driving.
What makes Cissie Pryor's approach unique is the depth of her training. She studied under Theodore X. Barber — whose decades of scientific research fundamentally transformed our understanding of how and why hypnosis works — and under Dr. Paul D'Encarnacao, whose clinical methodology gave Cissie the practical framework she has refined over 39 years of practice. This lineage of training is found nowhere else in the Memphis area.
What Hypnotherapy Can Help
Smoking Cessation
Many clients quit after a single session
Weight Management
Addresses behavioral patterns around food
Anxiety & Chronic Stress
Root-cause behavioral approach
Phobias
Fear of flying, needles, public speaking, etc.
Sports Performance
Mental training for athletes
Professional Performance
Public speaking, confidence, focus
Sleep Improvement
Insomnia, restlessness, racing thoughts
Habit Modification
Nail biting, overeating, procrastination
Pain Management
Chronic pain with a psychological component
Past-Life Regression
Spiritual exploration for interested clients
Chakra Rebalancing
Energy alignment and spiritual integration
Confidence & Self-Esteem
Transformation of self-limiting beliefs
The Science Behind Hypnotherapy
Theodore X. Barber's landmark research demonstrated that hypnotic responsiveness is not a fixed trait — it is highly influenced by the client's expectations, imagination, and the quality of the rapport with the practitioner. This finding transformed how clinical hypnotherapy is practiced: rather than attempting to "induce" trance in a reluctant subject, skilled hypnotherapists like Cissie work with the client's own natural capacities and readiness.
Modern neuroimaging research has confirmed that hypnotic states produce measurable changes in brain activity — including altered activity in the prefrontal cortex (associated with self-referential thought and self-criticism), the default mode network (associated with rumination), and the anterior cingulate cortex (associated with pain processing and behavioral regulation). These neurological changes explain why hypnotherapy produces real, measurable outcomes in areas like pain management, habit change, and anxiety reduction.
Cissie's 39 years of clinical practice have given her a refined, intuitive understanding of how to apply these principles with each individual client — adapting her approach to your unique cognitive style, history, and goals in ways that a script-based practitioner simply cannot.
Serving the Greater Memphis Area, Mid-South & Mississippi
Living Health Day Spa is located at 11900 Mott St, Arlington, TN 38002 — approximately 20 minutes from East Memphis, 5 miles from Bartlett, and 3 miles from Lakeland. Clients drive from across the Mid-South because Cissie Pryor's credentials and training lineage are simply unavailable anywhere closer. An initial 105-minute session is $209.
Hypnotherapy Session
A 105 minute hypnosis session typically involves a short Q&A to discuss areas of interest, difficulties, or habits and desired results. After a thorough assessment, we undergo a wonderfully relaxing session utilizing a variety of Relaxation and Hypnosis techniques which enable you to master your own results and achievements. You'll come away from the session feeling 'Renewed and Refreshed'.
Hypnosis Follow-Up Session
Although usually not necessary after an initial consultation, some clients do decide to come back to discuss other issues or preferred outcomes. A follow-up session allows you to deepen the work begun in your initial session or explore new areas of growth and transformation.
Begin Your Transformation
A Credentialed Hypnotherapist trained specifically to work with lifestyle issues.
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