"Most peoples minds are asleep... drugged by knowledge, the scriptures, or what someone else said" (J. Krishnamurti)

Hypnosis is another one of those words... very abstract and people generally have a lot of ideas and feelings about it even though they have never had a direct experience with what they think it is.

Quite simply, Hypnosis is about working with states of consciousness, specifically trance-like to deep trance states, for the purpose of bypassing the interference of the conscious mind in order to make some kind of desired change. I say interference because if your mind was not creating interference you would be aware of your problem and its solution. Anything you would not choose consciously (the feeling of resistance or stuck-ness for instance) and are aware of consciously, must have an unconscious operator - like a program, creating it. Most of these operate outside of our awareness. 

Trance states are a powerful way to access the unconscious mind for desired change. Everyone is familiar with these states ie; driving your car or watching TV. You know time has passed but your not aware of it.  We use the Ericksonian method of indirect suggestion for therapeutic change. Indirect suggestion uses "artfully vague language" to allow the client's unconscious mind to choose the best solution to the problem. Erasing old programs for ones more desired. This is quite different than the hypnotist on stage that gets people to quack like a duck.

No  swinging watches or crystal balls... some trance work is done with guided visualizations and clients remain fully awake. It really depends on what a person is comfortable with.

Can I quit smoking or loose weight? Yes... and maybe not. All patterns of behavior start somewhere and for a positive reason. Powerful behavior patterns such as overeating and smoking can have many connections to beliefs and values that a person may not be willing to investigate or change. But the height of this investigation is understanding and wholeness. And at that height, a person will naturally move away from habits that detract from that wholeness. 

I heard a client say that the most difficult thing for him was to decide he wanted to quit. Once he finally decided, he said it was easy. Hypnotherapy gets you to the state of mind where you have the choice... and it is easy once all the interference from the conscious and unconscious mind is gone.