Kaylan Vialpando and Maria Reddington met in January and decided to pair their two practices, MindSet Hypnosis and Healing the Mind Hypnosis. The resulting business has a dual focus: weight loss, nutrition and exercise counseling, as well as hypnotherapy for smoking cessation, emotional health, habits and addictions, pain and sports performance.
Vialpando says he “has more of a clinical therapeutic approach,” while Reddington “looks at things from a more metaphysical level.”
Q: What did you do previously, and what led you to decide to launch this business?
A: Vialpando: I spent the last 21 years working with people trying to change their bodies. I taught health, fitness and weight loss classes at the college level for years and owned a wellness center in Twin Falls before moving to Boise five years ago. My professional experience taught me that many factors went into change. It wasn’t always about diet or exercise. Sometimes it had more to do with emotional issues, habits or limiting beliefs that caused people discontentment with their bodies. So, several years ago, I began to intensely study hypnosis and what it can do for people, and I acquired multiple certifications in hypnosis.
Reddington: I worked for a weight-loss company that (thought) it was OK if the client was or wasn’t successful in weight loss — that it had to be something the client was doing wrong — as long as they kept coming back to purchase (the) product. I decided there was more to weight loss than what they were teaching. I decided at that point that hypnosis was the direction I was going, to help people with their habits on a deeper level.
Q: How have you accomplished this?
A: Vialpando: I’ve owned other successful businesses in my past, so I already had a decent grasp of how to get a business going. Also, I managed a large hypnosis franchise for awhile. That led me to further my education beyond my bachelor’s degrees and pursue my doctorate in clinical hypnotherapy.
Q: What challenges have you faced, and how have you met them?
A: Vialpando: Hypnosis in general is plagued with misconceptions, which is too bad because it’s such a helpful tool. The medical association has recognized hypnosis as valid since the 1950s, but many people get their impressions from stage shows or movies, which is not at all what real clinical hypnotherapy is like.
Reddington: Finding the right location for the business. Overcoming the idea that there are a lot of people who do not understand what we do.
Q: What do you hope to achieve in the next three to five years?
A: Reddington: We hope to add other professionals to complement what we are already doing. Get corporations into our wellness programs. Offer Lunch and Learn presentations to companies. Help schools and parents with troublesome bullying, kids’ self-esteem, getting better grades.
Audrey Dutton: 377-6448
