About sheila
My personal mission is to support you in creating and living a healthy and balanced life.
I specialize in anxiety, chronic pain, insomnia, and sports hypnotherapy, but welcome any issues that are stopping you from creating what you want in life.
Anxiety expresses itself in many forms, like fear of flying or driving, fear of public speaking, teeth clenching, picking. Even lack of motivation, creative blocks or procrastination often have anxiety at the root.
I have had a widely varied professional life and worked in many industries, with many different kinds of people. My personal journey has been passionate and eclectic. Please review my credentials and some life highlights below. If it all sounds good, use the link below to schedule a 30-minute Zoom. Or, if you prefer, please call or text me directly.
Schedule a Free 30-Minute Zoom Here or text/call 808-987-5535
Certifications:
CHt Certified Hypnotherapist, Member American Hypnosis Association #012417
Certified Therapeutic Imagery Master
The Path to Healing Trauma with Peter A. Levine PhD
Hypnotherapy/Therapeutic Education:
Certified Master Hypnotist, Certified Hypnotherapist, Hypnosis Motivation Institute
Ongoing program in Mind-Body Psychology, Hypnosis Motivation Institute
Ongoing certification in Somatic EMDR through The Embody Lab
Specialty Professional Certifications, American Hypnosis Association
Pain Management; Smoking, Vaping and Cannabis Cessation; Weight Loss; Sports Performance; Healing the Inner Child; Tinnitus; Past Life Regression Therapy; Therapeutic Imagery Facilitator; Social & Driving Anxiety
Professional Speaking Engagements
American Hypnosis Association, August 8, 2024, Hypnotherapy for Perimenopausal, Menopausal and Post-Menopausal Women
Other Trainings:
Fears and Phobias, Self-Confidence and Self-Image, Behavior in Relationships, Grief, Creative Blocks
✨✨✨
Personal and Professional Background: Am I the Right Hypnotherapist for You?
I’ve been at the table with decision makers for Fortune 500, including some in the Top 5.
I helped birth Wilson in Cast Away.
I started surfing at 36 after a divorce, a career loss and a death, in frigid, shark-infested waters, which saved me from suicide, and changed my life forever. (If the surf story interests you, more below.)
I am mom and dad to a spectacular daughter, who is a freshman at Brown.
I have run a podcast empowering women surfers for the last two years, though it has taken a backseat (for now) to hypnotherapy.
As the marketing director of a small business, I placed products in 3 of the world’s biggest retailers.
I’m fluent in: corporate, hard knocks, entrepreneur, surfer, woo woo, and artist.
I have been married, divorced, single, madly in love, betrayed, and healed.
During a big south swell, a surfboard scalped me. I still surf – with a helmet.
I lost my mother to COPD from smoking. My brother to addiction. My step-sister to addiction and bipolar disorder.
I cared for my mother in my home until her death.
I quit smoking (with hypnotherapy). And drinking (with AA). I am not letting go of sugar. At least, yet.
I write things. Sometimes people pay me, and threaten to turn my stories into movies.
I failed at an MLM.
I swam with tiger sharks, on purpose, using self-hypnosis to keep me calm.
Sean Connery poured my tea and kissed me on both cheeks in London.
My education includes Socrates, Conservation and Resource Studies and Ecosystemology at UC Berkeley; Psychic Training at the Berkeley Psychic Institute; Writing and Theater Arts at Humboldt State (BA), CAA in Hollywood, Transformational Coaching Training with Derek Rydall, Certified Hypnotherapist Training at Hypnosis Motivational Institute (CHt).
Schedule a Free 30-Minute Zoom Here or text/call 808-987-5535
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ~ Pablo Picasso
The Surf Story:
In 2001, at the age of 36, in the midst of a depression, a divorce, and a death in the family, I began surfing the freezing waters of Humboldt County in Northern California. The call was both inexplicable and undeniable, and EVERYTHING about my life changed forever. Twenty-three years later, I am still at it. It has been as challenging as tsunami storm surge and as glorious as perfectly lined up peeling walls. You know, like life!
Surfing gave me my voice as a woman, and as a writer, and a storyteller. It taught me humility, commitment, how to overcome fear, how to fail, how to manage shame, how to paddle back out, how to never give up. It gave me a daughter. It brought me to Hawaii. It gave me a home.
It gave me the inspiration to write a movie script, Dropping In, a shero’s journey about a woman who finds her strength, courage, and commitment through surfing, and translates her victories to her life back on land. The movie is currently optioned by Resonate Entertainment and hopefully will make it to the screen in 2026.
To honor other women’s journeys of transformation, I started the podcast, Dropping In To Power: Transformational Stories From and For Women Surfers. This podcast focuses on women of all ages whose lives have been transformed by surfing – but the podcast is for anyone who wants to feel lifted, inspired, seen and heard. I just closed out the last episode, fittingly, with a Surf Hypnosis Meditation. You can find the meditation here on Youtube (and subscribe if. you like).
With all my best intentions, I began a passion project: 365 Days of Waves. This project started as love letters TO the ocean, but morphed into (sometimes) daily love poems FROM the ocean. I am momentarily surrendered far shy of 365 days, but there are nearly 200 days for you to enjoy! You can check it out on Substack on the link above.
Thank you for reading and sharing my story. I hope to help you unleash your talents and live your dreams!