Hi Jerry, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Many years ago, I was a youngish dad with a wife and three young children, living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was a social worker at the time, not loving the bureaucracy that made it hard to actually help people. But I didn’t have much of an idea of an alternative career path. A friend recommended a psychic. A student of tarot, I wasn’t averse to such a “mystical” consultation. The psychic said I would make a good (possibly “great”) hypnotherapist. I said, “what’s hypnotherapy?’ She told me, and I thought, okay, sounds interesting. Not long afterward, I was sitting in a waiting room of an acting school, waiting for a couple of my kids to get out of their class. I happened to have a tarot book with me. The only other person in the room asked me if I read cards. I told her yes–and then I followed up, strangely, by saying, “but I’m looking for a hypnotherapy school.” She said, “I know just the school for you.” And I knew intuitively, without a doubt, that she was right. The school was the Alchemy Institute. It hadn’t been around all that long. What distinguished it from other hypnotherapy schools (there were several in the Bay Area) was that it the curriculum was based on working with spirit guides. I mean, working directly with spirit guides to heal childhood trauma, emotional wounds, injuries to the spirit that generated people’s current-day complaints and issues. I seemed to have a gift for it. After the first weekend intensive, I tried the magic out on a security guard at the social services office. She had tried twice and failed twice to pass her firearms target test, the only obstacle standing in the way of her getting her credential necessary for permanent placement in her job. She had one more chance to pass the test, or she would have to wait a year to try again. I applied what I’d taught, guiding her to find a calm, confident place within herself and picture herself getting a passing score. A few days later, she let me know, beaming, that the test was a breeze. From there, once I received my basic certification, I started doing sessions for my social services clients. (Of course, I couldn’t let the higher-ups know, because it’s not like we were actually trying to HEAL people.) But everyone I worked with found the work powerful, transformative, and deeply healing. Looking back, I actually had been looking for a therapy modality that went beyond “talk therapy.” My problem with that was that you could get some comfort, derive some insight, have an outlet for your complaints–BUT the problem wouldn’t go away. You would talk ABOUT the issue, whatever it was, but It would never go away. It was different with hypnotherapy, at least with Alchemy. You were engaged in moving energy, changing its configuration. So, I established a part-time private practice in addition to my social work gig. Several years went by, and I finally decided to leave that job–I felt like, given the ever-encroaching restrictions the county administration was imposing on the program, I might as well have been a security guard myself! The program had stopped really helping people. I found a glorified administrative assistant job with the University of California and not too far into that career enrolled in an addiction’s counselor program through the Cal State University extension. Upon graduation, I got a job as an addictions specialist at a well-regarded residential/outpatient treatment program. One of my selling points was my hypnotherapy certification (and skills!) I introduced hypnotherapy as a treatment modality and, in addition to my private practice, was seeing as many as 10 clients a week at the program for sessions. The work was almost universally well-received. We were able to get to the underlying trauma, the fertile field from which addictions grow. Epiphanies were almost the norm. I worked at the program for 10 years. I’ve been the resident alchemist at Miraval Resort & Spa in Austin since the beginning of 2019. I still maintain my private practice. Almost all the sessions I conduct in my private practice are online. I’ve found that sessions I conduct over Skype or FaceTime are every bit as effective as in-person. I love helping people overcome deep-seated problems, especially when nothing else has worked for them.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The rehab program where I worked was affiliated with a hospital. Our medical director was a psychiatrist who, as you might imagine, was all about diagnosing various disorders and prescribing psych meds. Being the “expert,” he had a supercilious regard for me and my work. His successor was somewhat less smug, but they both held the belief that the psychiatric, med-dispensing approach was unquestionably more effective than mine. Of course, they were wrong! ? After putting in 10 years at the rehab, I relocated to Los Angeles, both to be near my daughter and to bring my practice to the creative community there. I’m a musician, and I have something of a specialty of working with artists and performers. Let’s just say my practice didn’t catch fire. After four years, I packed it up for Austin. I’ll also say it’s always a challenge to get people to try hypnotherapy in the first place. People tend to have misconceptions about hypnosis–that they are going into a trance state where the therapist will be “controlling” them, and they’re at the mercy of the therapist. This is the opposite of the truth; the way I was trained, anyway, the client knows what’s going on the entire time and is actually always in control of the process. Partially to blame is the phenomenon of stage hypnosis where the hypnotist will get the participant to behave foolishly, for entertainment purposes. That doesn’t interest me.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
For working with people struggling with addictions, the work of Gabor Mate is indispensable, particularly In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. Miguel Ruiz’ books The Four Agreements and The Voice of Knowledge have proved very helpful in life in general. Also, Shaman, Healer, Sage by Alberto Villoldo. I appreciate also Joe Dispenza. Joanna Moncrief’s book The Myth of the Chemical Cure is pretty dense and clinical, but worth reading. A British psychiatrist, she takes on the pharmaceutical corporations and shows clearly that psych meds aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, to put it kindly. Of course, I’ve found tarot to be a good companion over the years. I am enamored of Native American wisdom. Jamie Sams’ and David Carson’s Medicine Cards deck and book is an excellent source, as is Denise Linn’s Native Spirit Oracle Cards. And I love The Mystical Shaman deck and book by Albert Villoldo, Colette Baron-Reid, and Marcela Lobo. I appreciate divination decks because they can give you a grounding and reassuring perspective in a short time. Since my work is about tapping into the subconscious, any divination tool that does the same I find appealing–and worthwhile.
Pricing:
- Initial sessions are 75 minutes at $175/hr = $215
- Initial sessions are 75 minutes at $175/hr = $215
- Discount pricing is available for multiple session packages
- Usually 2-4 sessions are all that’s needed to resolve even deep-seated, long-term issues
Contact Info:
- Address: Office location 821 W. 11th Street, Austin, TX 78701
- Email: jerry@wholenewlight.com
- Website: http://wholenewlight.com
- Instagram: @wholenewlight
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wholenewlight
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jeromezeiger
Image Credits
Photo #1 by Rosalyn Gatto. Photos #2 & 3 by Jessica Vohs
