Janice Manson

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LOVE, SEX & KINK: It’s all in your mind

Janice Manson appreciates that you might be highly skeptical about hypnosis. She was once like you. A clinical nurse by training and education, the West Vancouver mother of three recalls that when she was in school, her philosophy toward healing was “very much in the medical model: science, science, science.”

But exposure to all manner of suffering individuals during her years as a nurse taught her “that there are other things that contribute to someone healing or not healing, achieving something or not. I became more and more in tune with other possibilities, and that there are other dynamics involved.”

Manson eventually became convinced of the powers of hypnosis, first as a beneficiary, and now as a practitioner. After studying in London, England, she opened her MindClick clinic (MindClickPartners.com) in Vancouver last year, taking the unusual step of locating it in a storefront space. “I did that deliberately because I wanted to bring hypnosis out of the closet,” she says, laughing. “I truly believe this is a kind of approach to health and wellness that needs to become more mainstream.”

Some clients come to Manson as a last resort, others because they want to try to circumvent traditional medicine entirely. But the nature of the problems they bring to Manson are numerous — and quite a few of them have to do with sex. Which is why she is hosting the seminar Sex, Lies and Hypnosis, Friday (February 6) at the 17th Annual Wellness Show (TheWellnessShow.com).

Men and women have sought treatment from Manson for a number of sexual issues — fear of intimacy, loss of drive, erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction — usually because “doctors can’t find a biological or physical basis for why they’re having a particular problem.

“Your body speaks for you in a lot of ways, and will manifest symptoms that may have nothing to do with a pure biological problem,” Manson explains. “Erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation — that’s often a habitual kind of behaviour, and, like any habit, hypnosis is great for helping you change a habit.”

In cases where a biological cause for sexual dysfunction has been ruled out, Manson says the cause is almost always psychological, usually stemming from subconscious shame or guilt that was instilled earlier in life. “What hypnosis allows us to do is get past the conscious mind,” Manson says, “to discover the deeply-held subconscious beliefs and examine them and decide whether they fit anymore, and if they don’t fit, replace them with some more suitable beliefs that can guide your life in a direction you want.”

Hypnosis “isn’t curing anything,” she points out. “It’s allowing someone to mobilize their natural healing abilities, because all healing is from the person — naturally.”

But in an age when unprecedented awareness about sex and sexuality can actually have an adverse affect on a person’s sexual confidence (due to “the need to measure their performance against what they perceive other people are doing”), Manson believes hypnosis could very well be the key to a man or woman finally having the mind-blowing orgasms that are every person’s right. “Two to three orgasms a week, whether they’re with somebody or on your own, flood your body with wonderful, rejuvenating chemicals that relieve stress and leave you feeling satisfied.”

Trust her. She’s a nurse.