May 15, 2017

Meet Alexis Cohen of Art Medicine: Hypnotherapy & Coaching for Creatives in Highland Park

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Cohen.

Alexis, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
One day, in my early 20’s, I was painting a mural on my bedroom wall when something very profound happened. I think it was because of the bigness of the piece it was almost as if I entered into another world. The characters of the mural were letting me know how they wanted to be painted. An inner hearing and seeing opened up for me. I shared this with a friend and he suggested that I train with his teachers in Shamanism. This was a life changing move on my part. I trained as a shamanic practitioner in the form of a therapy called Depth Hypnosis. I began to heal the places within me that were having a difficult time holding creative power which manifested as creative inconsistency. Through my own personal healing practice, I began to heal and strengthen my connection to my intuition and creative power which is so essential in creating art.

Starting this work, I stepped into my roles as an artist and healer. I also started to attend births as a doula. My intention in entering into this work was to study how creative flow moves through women’s bodies at a peak creative experience in a woman’s life. How could I help them relax into their power? In order to support women in this process I worked with them on the front end prenatally to help them heal and strengthen their connection to body’s wisdom and intuition. They learned how to be more connected and intimate with their creative power and strength in the birth. When women were willing to do this work their births were smooth and relatively quick.

In order to support women in this way during childbirth, I had to re-commit and dedicate myself to the same healing. It was in doing so that I healed myself as a blocked artist. I went on to becoming a commissioned artist and published my first illustrated books (with many more to come). I was also able to articulate my process as Connect, Clear, and Create, a method that I use with my clients to help them birth their creative visions. Whether that creative vision is a baby, a project, a new career or some aspect of themselves they want to bring forth, the same tools apply.

Has it been a smooth road?
I have always known what the next step to take is even if I am not quite sure where I am being led in the bigger picture. When I decided that I wanted to be an artist, it was quite interesting to me that I felt launched into a career as a birth doula simultaneously. How was I going to muster the energy to be an artist when I was working so hard as a doula? I was booked solid 3 months into starting my doula practice so that part was smooth. But it become very clear early on in my doula career that Birth was going to teach me the most about Creative Power than anything else in my life. I had to come up against hard lessons within myself. I have learned so much about patience, endurance, power, vulnerability, self-doubt, love, joy, humility, non-judgment and compassion within myself and others from birth.

I began to teach hundreds of women how to stand in their creative power. I created a lovingly worn path consciously and subconsciously in my own psyche and learned how to guide women through this same path. I realized it’s the same process to create anything in our lives. We all have to deal with the same stuff that arises when we want to create something bigger than we ever have before. The biggest struggle along the way has always been an internal understanding of how to overcome fear and my own self-doubt in order to take the next step into the unknown. I am inspired by all of the folks I work with because I know if I am brave enough to do it, I can support someone else to do it to.

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Art Medicine: Hypnotherapy & Coaching for Creatives story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a visual artist, hypnotherapist, creative empowerment coach and doula. All of these modalities combined create Art Medicine. I support folks as they heal and strengthen their relationship with their intuition and creative power so they can align with their purpose birth their creative dreams into the world. Sometimes these creative dreams are a project, new career, new aspect of your life or it can be a family. I offer privage packages and workshops. I also work as a commissioned artist and create pieces that hold power, a healing or a message for the patron or intended owner.

My business is unique because it weaves spiritual connection into my coaching and hypnotherapy. I teach my clients tools from shamanism that help them to quickly access their internal guidance. I support folks to free up their creative power by accessing the subconscious and clearing blocks and obstacles. Shamanism is an earth based wisdom that helps us to connect with our internal guidance and power. We work with a meditation style called the journey and we work with spirit guides. The shamanic journey is a way of accessing the spirit world to connect with messages from your guides. When we work with these tools, my clients have greater access to a more expansive field of wisdom that helps them to gain insights around issues they have been struggling with for a long time.

I am grateful and excited about the shifts that I have seen in my clients in a relatively short amount of time. I offer 9 month one on one packages as well as workshops. Imagine totally changing your life and really feeling like you are on the path to making your dreams a reality in under a year. It’s so fast!! My clients are more confident, relaxed and on the path to creating the lives they have been waiting for.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Absolutely! The coaching industry is really taking off. It’s one of the fastest growing industries right now. We are also seeing a trend of creative folks and artists focusing on the entrepreneurial aspect of their business called Creative Entrepreneurs. This is so exciting because there is so much more creativity and spirit infusing into the business world. I definitely expect this trend to continue within the next 5-10 years.

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