A lifelong fear of flying, a healthy dose of skepticism, and one personalized hypnosis recording. Kristina shares the experience that reshaped her understanding of change, and inspired her custom recordings.
A lifelong fear of flying, a healthy dose of skepticism, and one personalized hypnosis recording. Here's what happened.
For most of my life, I was terrified of flying.
Not just a little nervous. Genuinely afraid. The kind of fear that starts building weeks before a trip, keeps you awake replaying worst-case scenarios, puts a knot in your chest, makes you seriously consider just... not going.
This wasn't my only fear. I had other stuff I was working through. But flying had this very specific grip on my nervous system. It showed up predictably, intensely, and logic did absolutely nothing.
If you've experienced a fear like this, you know what I'm talking about. And you know it's not something you can think your way out of.
If you've experienced a fear like this, you know what I'm talking about. And you know it's not something you can think your way out of.
I tried everything people tell you to try.
Breathing exercises. Flight safety statistics. Distraction. A glass of wine to take the edge off.
I knew flying was safe. Intellectually, I got it. My body? My body was not convinced.
That disconnect was the most frustrating part. My nervous system reacted like I was in actual danger, no matter what my rational brain said.
When someone suggested hypnosis, I thought it sounded kind of ridiculous.
I didn't expect it to work. But it wasn't a huge commitment—just a practitioner who offered to make me a personalized recording for flying. She'd guide me through imagining myself calm on a plane. Boarding, takeoff, cruising, turbulence. All the moments that normally set me off.
Listen to it daily before your flight, she said.
I agreed mostly because I was desperate.
The first few times I listened, nothing happened.
No dramatic calm. No relief. If anything, I felt the same fear, so I assumed it wasn't working.
But I'd paid for it. So I kept going.
After about a week, something shifted. Small, but there. I realized I hadn't thought about the flight in a couple days. When the thought did come up, the fear was still there—but quieter. Less sharp.
A few days later, I actually started looking forward to my daily listening session. It felt grounding to take those few minutes and just... imagine feeling calm and steady on a plane.
By the time flight day arrived—when I'd normally be a complete wreck—I felt okay.
Not fearless. Just calm.
The real test was the flight itself.
I still had butterflies boarding. Part of me was waiting for the fear to come roaring back the way it always had.
But somewhere above the clouds, during a bumpy stretch, I caught myself laughing at the movie I was watching.
And then it hit me.
I wasn't just tolerating this. I was actually enjoying it.
That had never happened before.
That recording didn't fix everything in my life. It didn't erase anxiety altogether. What it did was help my nervous system learn a new response to one very specific situation.
Before the recording, whenever I thought about flying—booking the ticket, packing, imagining takeoff—my body reacted automatically. Tight chest. Racing thoughts. The constant feeling that something bad was about to happen, even though I knew it wasn't rational.
The recording gave my brain something different to practice.
Instead of rehearsing fear over and over, I was guided to imagine those same moments—boarding, settling in, hearing the engine, feeling bumps—while staying calm and grounded.
Over time, those images stopped feeling threatening. They started to feel familiar.
Because I was imagining them in a relaxed state, my nervous system formed a new association. So when I encountered them in real life, my body responded differently. Not because I forced it to. Because it had already practiced.
And the recording was personalized. It wasn't generic "overcome your fears" stuff. It used language and scenarios that reflected my actual experience of flying—not some abstract version of fear.
When hypnosis speaks directly to your situation, your subconscious recognizes it as relevant. Your nervous system relaxes more easily. Change happens more naturally.
That changed how I think about accessibility.
Sometimes what helps most is having a tool you can return to, again and again, exactly when the trigger shows up.
That's a big part of why I create custom hypnosis recordings now.
If something in your life feels stuck—a fear, a pattern, a situation you want to approach differently—a personalized recording might help you work with it in a gentler, more focused way.
You can learn more here: Custom Hypnosis Recordings by Kristina Founk
If you're curious about the science behind why this works, there's more here: Do Hypnosis Recordings Really Work? A Science-Backed Look at How They Create Change
Take the first step by booking a free 20 minute consultation call with me to see what your hypnotherapy journey could look like, and ask any questions you may have.