Frequently Asked Questions

Many of Reveri’s core exercises are available in two interactivity modes. When choosing a session, you can see which modes are offered in the description. The two modes are Interactive (indicated with a microphone icon) and Listening (indicated with a headphones icon).

In Interactive mode, you’ll interact with Dr. Spiegel by speaking or tapping the screen to respond to questions.

In Listening mode, there won’t be any verbal interactions.

Reveri members experience improvements using both the Interactive and Listening sessions; it is primarily a matter of personal preference. Listening sessions may be preferable when you are trying to wind down or avoid disturbing others nearby.

Reveri’s self-hypnosis sessions are designed to be used whenever you need them, so when you should do them depends on your needs. It also depends on the exercise itself. Eat Well is a unique exercise; it should be used every day at the start of your day, as well as every time before you eat.

Our most successful members do the exercises when they feel the symptom they wish to address with Reveri. For example, if you’re feeling stressed, that’s the perfect time to do the Relieve Stress exercise. During some phases of your life, you may find yourself doing this exercise multiple times per day, and at other times, you may only use it once or twice a week.

A lot of our members like to make a regular habit out of doing the exercises as well. Some work certain exercises into their daily routine, like starting their work day off with Enhance Focus so they can set the stage for a focused day.

You can do the exercises as many times a day as it would be beneficial to you. We recommend experimenting with it and rating how you feel before and after when prompted to do so, so that you can track your progress with each session and over time.

Share what works for you in our community clubhouse!

Yes!

In Reveri we combine two things: a positive way of approaching the problem – paying attention to what you are for rather than what you are against – with the intensity of focus that comes with hypnosis. These two work together very well, but it means that no matter what your Hypnotic Profile is, you can benefit from approaching an old problem from a new point of view. With hypnosis you can intensify your concentration, disconnect from habitual ways of approaching it, and enhance your cognitive flexibility – openness to new points of view.

Interestingly, the adult population is split into thirds: Everyone falls into one of three Hypnotic Profiles.

As of December 2022, you can test your hypnotizability directly in the Reveri app! Update your app and test yourself to discover your Hypnotic Profile within moments.

There is much to be gained and nothing to lose for anyone to give it a try — everyone gets a 7-day free trial and hypnosis is safe for all people. See how much it helps!

First, you follow series of instructions to get you into a focused state of attention, also called the hypnotic state. This involves closing your eyes and “letting your body ‘float.’” ‍

Once you’re in that calm, focused state, this is where you'll be given “suggestions.” Suggestions are statements that are directed towards the goal of the session. After you hear and absorb all of the suggestions in the session, you’ll be guided out of the hypnotic state and can take a moment to re-adjust reflect on how you feel.

Reveri is extremely safe for nearly everyone.

Reveri is a mobile app, available for download in the App Store on iOS and the Play Store on Android. You can start a subscription there, or on our website.

With a subscription, you can use Reveri from any iPhone or iPad running OS 16+, and any Android running Android OS 8+. For the smoothest experience, we recommend always keeping your operating software and app up to date.

Learning self-hypnosis with Reveri is as simple as finding a cozy spot to sit or lie down, quieting the mind, and entering a comfortable state of hypnosis, or focused attention. You will do this with Reveri’s exercises, which range from 5 to 13 minutes each.

You can choose from several core goals, including Sleep Better, Reduce Stress, Manage Pain, Eat Intuitively and Quit a Bad Habit.

Each goal includes a careful curation of exercises and Quick Relief sessions to help you achieve your goal.

Reveri’s Quick Relief’s are short sessions (1 - 2 minutes) that deliver quick improvements and build self-hypnosis skills.

When beginning to learn the skill of self-hypnosis, we recommend a daily Quick Relief to build your hypnotic ability. Many members find that with consistent practice over time, they start to get more and more benefit from all hypnosis exercises, and the Quick Relief sessions too.

Yes! All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, meaning everything that happens, happens with your consent. Furthermore, self-hypnosis is a way to gain greater control of your mind and body. By focusing intently, you can learn to harness your mental resources toward a particular goal, like changing your attitude toward smoking or handling stress better.

The hypnotic state is one that is on the normal continuum of waking consciousness. People often slip in and out of this state during the day. Hypnosis just directs your focus while in that state towards a specific goal.

You are always in control with self-hypnosis.

No! A common misconception is that hypnosis requires you to go into a sleeping state. This may come from the original nomenclature being named from the Greek term “hypnos,” which means “sleep.”

While the personal experience of hypnosis varies from person to person, and even from session to session, it is actually a state of highly-focused attention.

Most people remember everything that happens in a hypnosis session, but some people don’t. Even those that don’t remember are still awake and intently focused on the goal of the hypnosis session throughout. When Dr. Spiegel asks you questions throughout the session, you respond, even if you are in a state of deep relaxation.

It’s also a common myth that you need to be relaxed during hypnosis. However, while relaxation may be your experience with hypnosis, it is not essential at all.

Yes — self-hypnosis is safe for nearly everyone, as long as it is done with the help of a licensed clinical hypnotherapist. In the case of Reveri, all hypnosis sessions are facilitated by Dr. Spiegel, renowned psychiatrist with 4+ decades of hypnosis clinical experience and research.

Learn all about the safety of hypnosis here.

Imagine a medicine in capsule form. The medicine is what makes a chemical effect in the body, but in order for it to do its work, it must safely reach your stomach. That’s why it’s administered in a capsule. An empty capsule would do nothing, and pouring the contents of the capsule onto your tongue might reduce the medicine’s potency. Together, the two elements provide the relief you seek.

In this analogy, hypnosis is the capsule. It’s the instrument that allows the safe delivery of content to your body. The hypnotic suggestions offered by Dr. Spiegel (or your licensed clinical hypnotherapist) are the contents of the capsule. These suggestions are the “essence” of the hypnotic experience, but they are nothing without their delivery system.

Learn all about what happens in the brain during hypnosis here.

When prompted to roll up your eyes, look upwards without moving your head. Do your best to maintain this upward gaze when it comes time to close your eyes. Then, when you are prompted, you can relax your eyes back to their “normal” position, while keeping your eyes closed. This is part of the simple induction technique used by Dr. Spiegel.

You can use your mind to create the sensation of buoyancy with your whole body. Experiment with Dr. Spiegel’s suggestions. You can picture your body floating in space, or imagine yourself floating in a hot tub, or choose a different image. See what works best for you. Your body should feel relaxed as you imagine and “feel” yourself floating. This can be automatic for some, and it can take some practice for others. Keep playing with it, and please create a discussion in our community clubhouse if you feel you are struggling or would like some pointers!

Everyone has a different experience with hypnosis. Try not to judge your experience while it’s happening, but rather, enjoy it.

The most accurate measure of success with hypnosis is to ask yourself whether or not the exercise was *effective for you*. If you did the Relieve Stress session, do you feel less stressed afterwards? If you did Improve Sleep, did you fall asleep? Whatever your goal is with a given exercise, did the session help you achieve that goal, or move closer to it?

Some people have very physiological experiences, while some have more cognitive experiences. Some people feel different right away, and others require practice. You can learn a little bit more about what hypnosis might feel like for you based on clinically-validated Hypnotic Profiles, and which one you might be! We also invite you to join our community clubhouse and create discussion around your experiences!

Hypnosis and meditation are related but not the same. Hypnosis involves highly focused attention that can be mobilized to problem-solve by attending to novel aspects of an experience and putting aside more troublesome ones. One can intensely attend toward and away at the same time, e.g. imagining cool tingling numbness in an injured part of the body that can 'filter the hurt out of the pain.' Any sensory experience is actually a combination of many - one can learn to choose among them in hypnosis.

Mindfulness is also useful, but different - less problem-focused, more designed to keep people from fighting an unpleasant experience, a common practice that often magnifies it. Hypnosis and mindfulness also have related but different effects in the brain: hypnosis separates the Executive Control Network from the Default Mode Network (DMN), which involves self-reflection, while mindfulness turns down activity in the DMN.

The idea of the hand floating is to have a sensory experience of being in hypnosis – feeling that one hand really is lighter than the other, and experiencing a different degree of control over the hand that is floating – as though it had a mind of its own. That is hypnotic dissociation. 

See if your hand just floats on its own. It might, or it might not. Don’t judge the experience, just let it happen. If it works, good, if not, just go on to other hypnotic experiences you have the ability to utilize.

You can let your elbow rest on the arm of a chair, a desk, or on the bed beside you if you are lying down, or just against your body, so that it is comfortable but upright.

Two options: 

1. If you don’t feel too disrupted, take a deep breath, exhale slowly, look up, close your eyes and resume.

2. If you do feel more interrupted, start over.

Yes! Whether you have aphantasia, or you sometimes struggle to visualize imagery in your mind’s eye, hypnosis can still be just as effective for you.

When Dr. Spiegel invites you to picture a certain scene during a session, try one of these instead:

1. Imagine being in the situation rather than picturing it.

2. Focus on how the situation makes you feel.

3. Imagine the sounds, smells, and/or even the tastes of the situation.

Some people don’t necessarily struggle to visualize imagery, but they are more compelled via auditory, kinesthetic, or even gustatory (taste) or olfactory (smell) senses. Thus, just like with all things hypnosis, Dr. Spiegel encourages you to focus on the aspects of the experience that work best for you. It is your experience, after all.

Everyone on planet earth can experience benefits from hypnosis.

The ways in which each person experiences benefits, represented by their hypnotizability, varies greatly. Everyone has a unique experience with hypnosis, and will respond differently to different suggestions.

Everyone falls into one of three Hypnotic Profiles, which hypnotizability researchers have grouped together based on commonalities exhibited by people who get similar test results.

To learn how you can benefit most from hypnosis, test your hypnotizability for free in the Reveri app.

No, absolutely not. On the contrary, hypnosis is all about gaining greater control of your mind and body. Furthermore, all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis, so everything that happens during and after a session is your choice.

As of December 2022, you can take the hypnotizability test in the Reveri app! Navigate to the Science tab of your app to get started. Immediately following the test, you will discover your Hypnotic Profile.

Dr. Spiegel and his late father, Dr. Herbert Spiegel, developed the Hypnotic Induction Profile, a clinically-validated assessment of your hypnotizability. It is now in the Reveri app and it can be done within moments. Once you get your results, you will learn Dr. Spiegel’s personalized recommendations to help you get the greatest benefit from hypnosis.

Dr. Spiegel advises that you work with your type of hypnotizability — find what aspects of the hypnotic experience you do have, and make the most of them. “Hypnosis favors experience over judgment,“ he says. “Think of yourself as exploring unknown territory, like being on vacation in a new place. Just see what you discover about yourself without judging how well you are doing it.“

Yes, just trade out the word “left” for “right” and vice versa.

The purpose of the hypnotizability test is to provide you personalized guidance on getting the most out of hypnosis, based on Dr. Spiegel’s experience and clinically-backed research.

It doesn’t, however, determine absolutely all the ways in which you will benefit from a session.

The test should complement and give context to your Reveri experience but is by no means the full story. Hypnotizability is complex, just like you are.

Dr. Spiegel says, “Hypnosis favors experience over judgment.” Try to enjoy the experience and build on top of it as you progress.

Yes, it is most likely you will still benefit from Reveri even if you don’t test into the Hypnotic Profile you prefer.

In Reveri we combine two things: a positive way of approaching the problem – paying attention to what you are for rather than what you are against – with the intensity of focus that comes with hypnosis. These two work together very well, but it means that even if you don’t automatically experience the benefits you seek with hypnosis, you can benefit from approaching an old problem in a new way. With hypnosis you can intensify your concentration, disconnect from habitual ways of approaching the problem, and enhance your cognitive flexibility – openness to new points of view.

Hypnosis is extremely safe and effective, so there is great potential for gain if you give it a try and see how much it helps you to help yourself.

Your Hypnotic Profile matters but it's not prescriptive of the benefits you can experience with Reveri. Focus on the aspects of the hypnotic experience that are automatic to you, and in parallel, practice consistently to get more of the not-so-automatic benefits. Play with the suggestions offered by Dr. Spiegel and see how you can adapt the exercises to your needs. There is no limit to your imagination!

There are other factors that feed into the results of our sessions in addition to hypnotizability such as expectation and determination. You can learn all about the science of hypnotizability here.

The test allows you to contextualize your experience and gain a better understanding of your ability to utilize self-hypnosis.

Yes, we strongly encourage you to test your hypnotizability! Why? Because you will learn something about your unique brain style, rooted in science. You will learn some of your unique strengths, and perhaps most importantly, how to get the most out of hypnosis and Reveri.

Whatever your profile, you will learn something about yourself and how you can best make changes in how you approach problems and take care of your mind and body.

Hypnotizability is a very stable trait in adult life - as consistent as your IQ. If you are in a different environment and/or state of mind when retaking the test, your results might differ somewhat, but they are unlikely to be very different.

Most commonly, if you are on the cusp between two profiles, you can teeter between them.

Reveri is based on Dr. Spiegel's decades of research and clinical experience. Membership is required to unlock the Reveri experience. You can sign up on our website, or in the App Store or Play Store.

A Reveri membership can be an affordable way to achieve a number of common life goals. New users of Reveri get a free trial to test it out prior to subscribing.

We’re sorry to hear you want to cancel. Our Support team would love to know why and help address any concerns before you leave us. We’re open to all your honest feedback at support@reveri.com.

In short, you should cancel the exact same way you started your membership.

If you started your membership in the app, then subscription changes happen directly through the App Store or Play Store. You can also access the cancellation page via the Manage your Membership section in the More menu of your app.

iOS - App Store

Instructions to modify or cancel your membership HERE.

Android - Play Store

Instructions to modify or cancel can be found HERE.

Online Purchases

If you signed up for Reveri online, then you can cancel one of two ways:

1. Through the link in the confirmation email you received after you signed up.

2. Via the Manage your Membership page in the Reveri More menu.

If your membership originated in the App Store or Play Store, and your family members use the same kind of platform (iOS or Android) that you use, then yes, you can! If your membership originated on the website, it cannot be shared at this time, but you can purchase a gift here.

iOS

To enable Family Sharing on your device, click through Settings > Click your name > Select Family Sharing and invite your family members.

Once your family member has accepted the invitation they will be able to access Reveri using “Sign in with Apple,” and their Apple ID (the same Apple ID they are under in your Family Group).

Android

Sign up for Family Library

Important: If you aren't part of a family group, you must create one first.

1. Open the Google Play app.

2. At the top right, tap the profile icon.

3. Tap Settings and then Family and then Sign up for Family Library.

4. Follow the instructions on screen to set up Family Library.

Note: Everyone in your family needs to follow the instructions above to set up Family Library.

If you are sure you’d like to delete your account, we’ll be sad to see you go.

Please email support@reveri.com from the email address associated with your Reveri account so we can delete your data for you.

However, please note that deleting your account is not the equivalent of canceling your membership. You must still cancel your Reveri subscription through Apple or Google first to avoid recurring charges.

We’re sorry to hear you weren’t satisfied with Reveri.

Subscription refunds are processed directly through the App Store, Play Store, or online platform through which you paid (Paddle).

iOS - App Store

Instructions to cancel HERE, and to request a refund HERE.

Android - Play Store

Instructions to cancel and request a refund can be found HERE.

Online Purchases

After you cancel (see above for instructions on canceling), you can request a refund through Paddle.