SMOKEY POINT — Certified hypnotherapist Scott Whippo was welcomed to the community during a ribbon-cutting on Saturday, Aug. 24, by Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert at the office for his new practice, Greyhall Hypnotherapy, which shares space with the Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce offices.

Whippo had previously provided his hypnotherapy services to friends and other clients for the past couple of years, in areas ranging from weight loss to sports performance and even test improvement, all of which he identified as sharing a common factor.

“It’s about stress reduction,” Whippo said. “My youngest son Nicholai was stressed about a math test for Western Washington University, but with my help, he blew it out of the water.”

Whippo hastened to add that all hypnosis is essentially self-hypnosis, and that he merely guides his patients through the process of reaching the places where they want to be.

“There are reasons why we overeat, or engage in other behaviors, that we don’t really think about,” Whippo said. “What I do is bring you into contact with those reasons, so that when you understand why you’re doing something, you can negate it.”

Likewise, Whippo identified certain difficulties in sports performance as stemming from negative emotional states that prevent athletes from believing in themselves and achieving their full potential.

“If you try too hard, you’ll just stress yourself out more and set yourself up for failure, so the key is to just relax and enjoy and understand what you’re doing,” Whippo said. “What I provide is the trigger that lets you realize what you’re capable of doing.”

In Whippo’s experience, 10 percent of the population is extremely susceptible to hypnotic suggestion, while another 10 percent is very difficult to get through to, so the remaining 80 percent falls somewhere in the middle.

“I feel really lucky to be here,” Whippo said of the offices that he and fellow Greyhall certified hypnotherapist Gabriele Guenther will share with the Chamber. “Everybody comes to the Chamber, so it’s really good of them to help us set up here.”

“I’ve know Scott for quite some time,” said Tolbert, who described Whippo as active in his community on behalf of others. “His offices are conveniently located, and it’s great that he can help people make life adjustments.”

Greyhall Hypnotherapy is located at 4126-B 172nd St. NE in Arlington, and is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays through Thursdays by appointment. For more information, call 425-244-5517 or log onto www.greyhall.net.