Welcome back to another edition of Burnout Breakthrough! Today, we’re diving into the transformative world of hypnosis with Leonard Johnson, award-winning hypnotist and CEO of Coast to Coast Hypnosis.

Leonard’s insights on combating burnout, stress, and everyday challenges using the power of the subconscious mind are both eye-opening and practical.

Whether you’re juggling the chaos of the holidays or looking for quick wins to manage stress, Leonard’s tools and techniques offer simple yet powerful solutions.

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hypnosis-and-burnout — Hypnosis and Burnout

The Role of Hypnosis in Burnout Recovery

Hypnosis taps into your subconscious mind, where your habits, beliefs, and automatic responses are stored. By addressing this deeper level, hypnosis enables profound shifts in attitude and behavior—helping you to break through stress and overwhelm.

Leonard explains:

The Power of Positivity: Your subconscious mind acts on your dominant thoughts. Feed it negativity, and it will search for more negativity. Shift to positivity, and your subconscious will align with calm and control.
Post-Hypnotic Suggestions: Simple triggers like seeing the color red can act as reminders to stay calm, relaxed, and in control.

quick wins with hypnosis — Quick Wins with Hypnosis

Quick Wins from Leonard’s Techniques

#1. The Lemon Visualization Exercise

This quick activity uses your imagination to activate your senses and focus your mind. Try it now:

Picture yourself in your kitchen, opening the refrigerator, and grabbing a bright yellow lemon.
Imagine the coolness of the lemon against your cheek, the scent of its fresh aroma, and the tangy taste as you bite into it.
Your mouth might start watering—it’s proof of the power of suggestion!

This exercise demonstrates how vividly your mind can create an experience and how you can use that same power to shift your emotions and mindset.

#2. Mantras Before Sleep

The thoughts you focus on before bed replay in your mind as you sleep. Leonard suggests repeating calming affirmations like:

I am calm.
I am relaxed.
*I am in control.*These affirmations not only enhance your sleep but also set the tone for a more balanced and centered day.

#3. Post-Hypnotic Triggers

Use the color red as a calming trigger. Every time you see red—whether it’s stoplights, signs, or decorations—remind yourself to feel calm and in control.

#4. The “Quick OK” Technique

If stress hits in a public setting, discreetly form an “OK” sign with your fingers. Rest your hand on your lap or at your side while repeating, I am calm, I am relaxed, I am in control. This subtle action is a grounding technique to center yourself quickly.

#5. Deep Breathing for Instant Relaxation

Leonard highlights the power of deep breathing to release serotonin, endorphins, and melatonin—natural stress relievers. Try this:

Inhale deeply for 4 seconds.
Hold your breath for 4 seconds.
Exhale for 4 seconds.Repeat until you feel grounded and relaxed.

science-and-history-hypnosis — The science and history of hypnosis

The Science and History of Hypnosis

Hypnosis isn’t just stage entertainment; it’s a scientifically validated tool with a rich history:

The AMA approved hypnosis for medical use in 1958, recognizing its effectiveness in pain management and stress relief.
Hypnosis has roots in ancient Egypt and Greece, where it was used in healing temples.
Today, it’s widely applied in areas like weight loss, smoking cessation, and anxiety reduction.

Practical Applications for Burnout

Leonard’s techniques aren’t just for individual stress management—they’re scalable for corporate wellness programs. Companies can benefit from:

Stress Management Workshops: Employees learn techniques to manage burnout and increase productivity.
Motivational Hypnosis Sessions: Unlike fleeting motivation from a speech, hypnosis embeds lasting change in mindset and behavior.
Pain Management and Test Anxiety Relief: Leonard works with groups like college students to tackle specific challenges, such as exam-related stress.

Why Hypnosis Works for Long-Term Change

Unlike temporary “rah-rah” motivation, hypnosis addresses the root cause of stress and burnout.

Leonard explains that it’s like inflating a balloon: instead of deflating over time, the positive effects of hypnosis grow and expand, empowering you to achieve sustainable results.

Your Bonus Resource Recap

Here are actionable takeaways from today’s episode:

Visualization: Practice the lemon exercise to harness the power of your imagination.
Mantras: Repeat affirmations before sleep to program calmness into your subconscious.
Triggers: Use the color red as a calming reminder during hectic moments.
Subtle Techniques: Employ the “Quick OK” and deep breathing exercises to stay grounded in public settings.

Where to Find Leonard Johnson

Ready to explore hypnosis further? Leonard offers tailored programs for individuals and corporations:

Website: www.coasttocoasthypnosis.com
Email: info@coasttocoasthypnosis.com
Phone: 1-800-874-5659

Leonard is also available for training aspiring hypnotists and collaborating on corporate wellness initiatives.

Final Thoughts

Burnout is a universal challenge, but with tools like hypnosis, you can shift your mindset, find calm, and regain control. Take one of Leonard’s techniques and practice it today—whether it’s the lemon exercise, a calming mantra, or a quick breathing session.

If you found this post helpful, share it with someone who might benefit from these insights. Together, let’s create a more balanced and empowered life.

About the Author:

Kathie Owen is a seasoned corporate wellness consultant, life coach, and former fitness and wellness director with over two decades of experience in creating healthier, happier workplaces. With a psychology degree from the University of Houston and a passion for motivation, Kathie has dedicated her career to ending toxic workplace cultures through holistic wellness programs that truly make a difference.

*Kathie Owen,* *Corporate Wellness Consultant since 2012 (Our Story*)

Having worked in both corporate and fitness environments, Kathie blends her expertise in employee engagement, leadership development, physical health, and mental well-being to design programs that prevent burnout and inspire thriving teams.

She’s been a certified fitness trainer since 2002 and has personally coached hundreds of individuals to reach their wellness goals. Now, she’s on a mission to share her strategies with companies that value their people.

Through her 12 Days of Burnout Breakthrough series, Kathie combines personal stories, expert insights, and practical tips to help you recognize, prevent, and heal from burnout. Her goal? To show you how a little bit of wellness can transform not only your workplace but also your life.

When she’s not leading workshops, coaching aspiring wellness professionals, or writing her next blog post, you’ll find Kathie walking her dog Rusty, diving into her favorite self-development books, or dreaming up her next big idea to inspire and uplift others.

Follow Kathie on Social Media

Transcript

Kathie: 0:00

Okay, welcome back to another day of burnout breakthrough with Kathie's coaching podcast. Today, I have a very special guest, a hypnotist. And yes, we've already had one, but I'm going to give you a really cool insight to how this person works with businesses and helps with Hypnosis, but today I'm going to let him introduce himself to you first, and then we'll come back to me and we'll ask him some questions. So, Leonard, please take the stand and introduce yourself.

Leonard: 0:38

Well, thank you, Kathie my name is Leonard Johnson. I'm the owner and CEO of Coast to Coast Hypnosis and the amazing Dr. Z Comedy Hypnosis Show. I'm an international award winning hypnotist with a lifetime award from the National Guild, which only about 140 people in the world have. When a corporation hires me, they always have a little fun with it because of my entertainment background. And, um, I could talk about me all day. However, it's all about the people. We want to discuss it. We want to help during the season.

Kathie: 1:10

Awesome. Thank you. So we are talking about breaking through burnout. We all call it something different. It hits all of us. We're human. It happens. And today we're going to ask Leonard how we can Breakthrough burnout using his methodology and I cannot wait for this one. This one's gonna be so good. All right, I'll turn it back over to you.

Leonard: 1:40

Okay, hypnosis is one of the most powerful tools you can use for stress and burnout. It's in, it's all around us everywhere and we're reminded of it all the time. It's all about attitude. And planting it into your subconscious mind. Subconscious mind runs, duties are to run all bodily functions and run them properly. You don't have to think about breathing or your heart beating. It automatically does. If you do, we get problems, okay? And it also must act out dominant thought. So if you put negative things into your head, it's going to go find you the negative things to bring to you. So you put positive things. And attitude is one of the most important things. And I'll give you an example. I love to go watch people at shopping centers, especially around Christmas because they're going insane. Okay. And, it's like an obligation instead of a celebration. And I happened to see this gentleman. He's a young man, I guess around 30 years old at the time. And what was interesting is I noticed he had no hands. He had prosthetics. He had the hooks. And he's on the phone. Now with all these people running around, he's telling this guy, or whoever he was talking to, This is the greatest day of my life. And I said, That guy gets it. Go with the flow. Now, we know we have, people have had, uh, things, tragedies maybe happen around this time of the year, but we gotta get through that. We gotta break through it. Breaking through the, um, burnout, uh, like a, uh, a marathon runner, it hits the wall. You gotta keep going, okay? And it always starts with changing your, your attitude. And one of the things is, the last thing you put into your mind at night plays over and over until you awaken in morning. So why not put positive things like, I am calm, I am relaxed, I am in control. And this feeds over, so what does the subconscious mind do? It says, I gotta bring them calmness, relaxation, and they're in control at all times. So no matter what happens, they have it there. By feeding your subconscious mind, okay? Also, if I said, if I, every time you see the color red, it's called the post hypnotic suggestion. You'd automatically be calm, relaxed, and in control. When you're driving down the street, you can see an automobile, uh, tail lights, a stop sign, a lady's lipstick, a lady's fingernail polish, tablecloth. Anything. It's red, it's all around us on these signs in many different shades and colors. It doesn't matter what shade or what it's on. It will trigger the subconscious mind saying, I got to be calm, relaxed, and in control. And we teach all this, okay? I'd like to do a little demonstration for you and your group here. And this is, just use your imagination. That's what hypnosis is all about, imagination and suggestion. Once you believe it, its yours, okay. So what I want you to do is, Kathie sit back. Deep breathing is also important because when you take deep breaths in and do a lot of pain management with this, when you hold and you let go, it releases serotonin, endorphins, and melatonin. Fifty times more powerful than the manufactured stuff, okay. Lack of a better word. So what I want you to do is sit calmly and cross your arm and cross your legs. I'm not gonna hypnotize right now. I'm just gonna let you use your imagination, okay? So what I want you to do, Kathie you can close your eyes if you want. I want you to get your imagination. I want you to imagine that you're in your kitchen. When you have an image of being a feeling in your kitchen, now you're great, you're great. Now walk over to the refrigerator door, put your hand on the door. You can feel the texture of the door. Imagine that you're opening. The light comes on. Makes you wonder, is the light been there all the time? And you look and it's a very bright lemon. I want you to reach in, pick up the lemon. Now put it up to you, the side of your cheek, rub it on your cheek. You feel, let me know when you feel the coolness. Okay, now take that lemon and walk over to the table. Cut it in half. Okay, cut it in half again, and bring it up to your nose. Smell the aroma of a lemon? Okay. Now I want you to take a bite out of the lemon, Kathie. Another bite. Okay, you could open your eyes. That's basically what hypnosis is. What we're doing, we're getting all your senses involved. Tell me what you saw, felt, smelled.

Kathie: 6:45

Yes, I, I saw the lemon, the bright yellow. Um, I felt the coolness on my cheek and then my mouth started watering when you said to smell it and then when I cut it. I could even feel my face making a sour expression. Um, I, I felt all of those things and that's the power of imagination. It is so powerful and we don't use it for our own benefit. I feel like a lot of times we let the negative thoughts run. are on autopilot because we have the dang negativity bias always going on. And that hypnosis right there helped me see that my imagination is very powerful.

Leonard: 7:41

It is. And you've got the total focus there. I use this with many athletes, um, especially golfers and baseball, professional baseball players. Okay. I work with a lot of them and it's called getting people want to call it getting in the zone Okay. Now think about hypnosis people say Oh hypnosis. Well, no, it's around us at all times And in fact The Vatican okayed, birthing hypnosis I'm not sure what year it was, but anyway, that's a fact, one of the Vatican things, they okayed you to use hypnosis for birthing, okay, so women that can't take pain medication or whatever, okay. In 1958, the AMA okayed hypnosis. In Britain it was, it was two years earlier. So it's been around a while. It's been around a long time. It goes back to the sleep temples in Egypt. Okay. Thanks. And the Greeks. Now, like I said, it's around y'all day. I wanted to do one, one demonstration with you. Kathie put your hand up and do this. Look at your hand. Look at my hand. Look at your hand. Look at my hand. Okay, make a little OK circle like this, look at my hand, look at your hand, and now place it on your chin. Your chin's right here.

Kathie: 9:05

Okay, for those of y'all that couldn't see, I actually put it on my cheek just like he did. And

Leonard: 9:12

that's visual suggestion, okay? It's around us all the time, okay? I'll give you an example. If I said, Aflac what would you think about

Kathie: 9:24

the duck on the commercial?

Leonard: 9:27

Right? How about pizza? Pizza,

Kathie: 9:30

uh, little Caesar's Pizza.

Leonard: 9:32

And what is the real thing?

Kathie: 9:34

Coca-Cola.

Leonard: 9:36

There you go. Now. So it's using hip in, uh, advertising all the time. Whether they know it or not, I'm not sure. Okay. But back in 1970, there was a lot of things going on in the world. There was chaos, Vietnam was going on and a lot of things. And um, so what happened? It's Coca Cola sales are down, so how do we get it up? And they wrote a little jingle, it's a little song, it's called I Want to Buy the World of Coke and Live in Peace and Harmony, by the Hilltop Singers. And it was shot to the top and the Coke sales went to the top. So Pepsi had to do something, they turned around and did Pepsi Generation, okay? So you see, it's a competition, but they're putting it in your mind. Politicians are good for putting thoughts in your head, okay? You know, and like I'm, I live in the New Orleans area, and the big thing is the Saints here, so people are always mesmerized by them. You know, and another thing is, you're driving down the street, you miss your exit. So how did I get here? Well, that's road hypnosis, and it's actually in the manual.

Kathie: 10:46

What do you mean by it's in the manual? Is it in the, the

Leonard: 10:49

Driving, you, automobile manual. Look it up. Most, most of them have it in there. Road, it's called road hypnosis because you're going along, you, you know, how'd I get here? The subconscious takes over. The subconscious also, during hypnosis, people say, Oh, I'm going to reveal some secrets. We don't want your secrets. First of all, it protects you. It will not reveal anything that you will do something that's immoral to you. Okay. We cannot do that. Can I make you do something you don't want to do? Will I ever come out of hypnosis? Well, I used to tell people that, yes, you'll come out. Might be around December 16th, but you will be doing your Christmas shopping. Now, in beautiful time to use post hypnotic suggestion of red is this time of year, because it's everywhere. So if you walk in and you're calm, you're relaxed, you're in control. And if people would do this, let me do it with you a minute. And we're going to do that calm, I'm calm, I'm relaxed, I'm in control. And practice this. You can take this and put it to work immediately. And teach your friends and family this. Because when you're doing this, okay, what I want you to do is take a slow deep breath in and let it all out. Another deep breath in, Kathie and let it all the way out. Another deep breath in and hold. And then let it out. Relax, let it out. Now, Kathie, you can open your eyes. And you tell yourself, you become the I am. I am calm. Feel it. Just let these out. Well, you can do it. You can say it out loud. I am calm. I

Kathie: 12:34

am calm.

Leonard: 12:35

Feel the calmness. I am relaxed.

Kathie: 12:38

I am relaxed.

Leonard: 12:40

I am in control.

Kathie: 12:41

I am in control.

Leonard: 12:43

Now, if you tell yourself that when you're going to sleep tonight and repeat it over and over you're going to notice a great calmness between now and the next time we talk. That simple little thing, folks. The deep breathing. I am calm. I am relaxed. I am in control. And in your case, when you see the color red, it'll automatically make you calm, relaxed, and in control.

Kathie: 13:04

And like you said, we see that a lot this time of year, so that's perfect. Great!

Leonard: 13:08

It's a great time of year for that. You know, I use other ones too, like one I love is to tell people, every beat of their heart, they become stronger and healthier, stronger and healthier. And they don't even have to think about it, you know. But when you start seeing this red, you know, all I gotta do is say, you know, Listen to this. Podcast, however it's given, given out and they just go ahead and do that and think that red is their color and just continue to do that. Might even see, when you close your eyes, imagine, I am calm, written in red. I am relaxed. I mean, another thing, if you put your eyes on a 45 degree angle, you're already creating, you're creating an alpha, you're in alpha, it's a creative state, okay? And what you can do from there is create your new reality, the calmness, the peace, seeing everyone getting along for Christmas, okay? I mean, you never know where Red's going to show up. That's my voodoo doll for my show.

Kathie: 14:08

I love it. So what would you recommend, um, in the moment, if there is stress in the situation, do you have a little trick we could do?

Leonard: 14:19

Yeah, they could sit there and do this with their hands, either both hands while they're doing the exercise. Of the, I am calm, I'm relaxed, in control. And just put it together when I know a situation's coming up. I had some high school teachers that did a lecture one time. And, you know how, how, uh, for lack of a better word, abusive high school kids are? Well, they were walking, next time I saw them, they were all walking around like this. And, we're not, we don't care anymore. Let them, let them knock their lights out. They can't get to us. Okay? And that's simple. It's that simple. Don't make it difficult. You know, and forgiveness is a big part of things. We use forgiveness a lot. If a person sat down and forgave themselves, if let's say you had a dispute with someone, you visualize that person and tell them that you forgive them on all levels of consciousness and all things are cleared up between them. And then, uh, see yourself being forgiven by that person or even doing it to yourself. That will clear up a lot of things during the holidays and take a lot of stress off people. Now, I'm going to tell you one thing. I had a little thing I did a few years back. It's just, I said, okay, where can I give people, my, uh, children for something that they've all grown? That, uh, they can, will keep giving during the rest of the year. So I found the simplest thing in the world. I went to the movie theaters and bought passes. And guess what? Every time they went during the year, they could think about their Christmas present and I gave it to them. It's so simple. People love to get out.

Kathie: 16:03

Right. That's good. That's really cool. So I, I love this. This was very helpful. My whole hope and inspiration for doing this 12 Days of Burnout Breakthrough is to give you, the audience, a quick win. The listener, Even if it's just one person, I want to give you a quick win. And every day we've had a quick win and different insights. Different ways of looking at things and I really, really enjoyed today's episode. It was very impactful. I know I felt a difference. I feel more empowered. I know that that going to sleep mantras are very powerful and they stay with you all night long. Which is really good, especially if you're having trouble sleeping or having stress during the holidays. I like this too. The okay, the, um, nobody even has to know you're doing that. You can keep it down your leg and they don't even have to know. So thank you so much, Leonard, for being here today, for sharing with us. I know I'm going to have you back again because it's just invaluable. how he works with corporate wellness. He's one of my experts inside of my program and provides us with insight for motivation, for powering, empowering your mind and just getting past those little blocks that hold us back. That's what I really like. So before we close out, I want to let Leonard tell you, where you can find him, where he's on the internet, where if he's on social media. All of that good stuff. So let me turn it back to you and let's hear about it.

Leonard: 17:52

Okay. Yeah. You can reach me at, uh, info at coast to coast hypnosis. com. I'll just go to www coast to coast hypnosis. com. And it's all one word. Okay. They can look at that. I can go to the amazing A M A Z I N DRZ at AOL. com. Yeah. And it, it takes, I take the G out of it then. I have a 1-800-874-5659 and I'd be happy to talk to anyone. Um, talk about hypnosis. I'm a trainer of hypnotists. I certify other people. And that's what I put out of thing today. Want to make a difference? Become a certified hypnotist. Because we do make a difference and it doesn't take these long, drawn out sessions. As far as corporate goes, I have programs to help people stop smoking, lose weight, uh, increase their sales, getting over certain hang up sales. Maybe they got a little burnout here, uh, another thing we do that. And also, well, stress management, of course. The easy techniques that I'm teaching you today, plus a few others. They can walk away that day, they got takeaways from that moment on, they can use for the rest of their life. And that includes telling them to teach their family. Okay, another good thing that I work with, I'm a specialist in pain management. And also, uh, I'm working with, uh, community college here. This is the second year psychology department had me, um, come in and work with test anxiety. And I'm getting so many beautiful letters from people. If you want to do a corporate thing and you really want to top it off, we can do this, whatever your program you want, stress manager, whatever, and have a show. So if you've got a convention or something, here we go. I'm here.

Kathie: 19:43

Oh, yes. I love it because I also work with motivational speakers and I think that Leonard would be a great compliment to that at the end of that, just to keep that motivation going. So. Oh, go ahead.

Leonard: 19:59

One thing about motivation. With hypnosis, it's not rah, rah, rah, we're there at the thing, and then as you leave that balloon starts to deflate. No, we start to inflate, that balloon gets bigger and bigger, you take off and fly with it, okay? And um, hypnosis does that. It makes it permanent. Just like I have tremendous success with weight loss. Get them through their hurdles. Okay, but that's fine. I could talk for me all day. Let's talk about these people that need the help.

Kathie: 20:28

Yeah, so this has been very informative, very helpful. I, I, I'm going to re listen to this. I'm excited because I get to edit it. And, and I also include in every episode, I include a blog post and it will be, the links will be in the show notes and description below. That will have all the links. bonus resources, and the details on where you can find Leonard Johnson online, and all of that good stuff. So be sure to check that out. That's our episode for today. I trust that you found it helpful. If you know somebody who can benefit from this, please share it with them. And until next time, I'll see you next time. Peace out and Namaste.