Hypnotism may help

YOUNGSTOWN — Focus on the swinging pendulum. Succumb to the soothing voice.

Relinquish all control. Leave your fate to someone else.

Hypnotism. Will it make you quack like a duck or act like a model on a runway?

Will it make you do embarrassing things that you can’t remember later?

Perceptions of hypnotism — the trancelike state that resembles sleep — keep some people from witnessing what others swear is real and life-changing.

City resident Sheri Rektor was skeptical of hypnotism when she made an appointment with certified clinical hypnotherapist Auggie Ruggiero at the Youngstown Hypnosis Center. She had tried to lose weight and keep it off through various programs, and she wanted to try one last thing before succumbing to weight loss surgery.

“I have tried every single diet there ever was; I am an expert dieter,” Rektor, 57, said. “I would lose weight and gain it back. And it’s all because I’m an emotional eater.”

After a series of sessions and several months later, Rektor has lost 30 pounds.

Read the full story in Monday’s Vindicator and on vindy.com