Paula Marie Jackson co-founded Light-Induced Guided Healing Therapy (LIGHT), a research-backed mind-body protocol to augment self-efficacy and deliver several other benefits that improve physical and mental quality of life. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1999, and due to the severity of her case, she was told she'd be wheelchair-bound within six months. Instead of giving in, supported by her spiritually-centered mother, she devoted herself to prayer and meditation, which led to spectacular realizations that she encoded into a specific visualization and self-hypnosis protocol that she repeated daily. In a few months, she regained the use of several afflicted faculties and returned to work.

In 2011, Paula decided to find a way to deliver her mind-body practice to others with similar challenges on her mother's insistence — this meant putting it to the test using the rigors of science to be sure of its benefits and applications before sharing it with the public. That started the journey of LIGHT as a protocol designed to be standardized, repeatable, and transferable as required by the research paradigm. Two pilot studies were conducted at the University of California, San Diego, over the next eight years, leading to solid data supporting the protocol's efficacy that encouraged the university to include LIGHT as a curriculum for self-care.

In 2019, Paula launched a certified training program for advanced hypnotherapists to become LIGHT professionals at the Centers of Integrative Health (CIH) within UC San Diego. She has now accepted LIGHT as her life's work to aid humanity and raise consciousness.
 

Publications

• Case, L. K., Jackson, P., Kinkel, R., & Mills, P. J. (2018). Guided imagery improves mood, fatigue, and quality of life in individuals with multiple sclerosis: An exploratory efficacy trial of healing light guided imagery. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, 23, 2515690X17748744. doi:10.1177/2515690X17748744
• Hsu, S.-H., Zi, Y., Wu, Y., Jackson, P., & Jung, T.-P. (2018). Exploring mental state changes during hypnotherapy using adaptive mixture independent component analysis of EEG. IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIOCAS), 1-6. doi:10.1109/BIOCAS.2018.8584715

A filmmaker by profession, a physicist by education, and an avid lifelong student, Tom Thudiyanplackal is a first-generation Indian-American gradually gaining comfort with the Western way of life. Tom's career spans over two decades, with credits on numerous projects ranging from Bollywood blockbusters like 'Carry On, Munna Bhai' and '3 Idiots' to the Emmy-nominated documentary 'Seed: The Untold Story.' He is a prominent voice in the emerging virtual production field and a sought-after speaker and presenter at major global conferences for the media and entertainment industry.

Equipped with storytelling prowess and a rich understanding of Eastern philosophy and spiritual concepts, Tom teamed up with Paula Marie Jackson to embody the latter's unique mind-body experience into a protocol that could meet stringent research standards for repeatability and transferability. Light-Induced Guided Healing Therapy (LIGHT) was born out of this combination of West and East, of lived-in, first-hand experiences woven into a soothing tapestry of creative and imaginative worlds populated with the end user's highest potentialities realized into a custom heaven-on-earth experience.

The transformative effects of this affirmative self-activation have been witnessed and verified through countless encounters in the classroom setting, research, and one-on-one experiential sessions with certified LIGHT professionals. Tom continues engaging with the growing LIGHT users and professionals community to develop new content, curriculum, and experiences.

Tom lives in San Diego with his wife and enjoys the year-round weather and endless stretch of beaches of Southern California. He actively engages in creative pursuits and innovation, spending much of his free time in activities that provide a better understanding of the human condition to address complex issues using entertainment's gentle and stimulating effects. You may spot him with his cameras enjoying sunsets along the beach, writing poems, or humming new tunes he composes for future films and shows.

Dorthy Tyo is a certified Master Hypnotist and owns the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy, where she is also a director and instructor. The school has remained active since 1977, which she purchased in 2009. Before becoming the owner, Dorthy taught and developed classes with the previous owner and founder for over 20 years. In addition, she has a thriving private practice in Palo Alto, CA. Her background is in psychology, which she studied at SUNY in Cortland, NY, and she continues to research and learn more about the brain and how thoughts affect emotions, biology, well-being, and lives. Her teachings and private practice continue evolving with newer developments and learning.

Dorthy is an author and developer of many teaching manuals. She co-authored the book ‘Guided Empathy Meridian Tapping: GEMT Practitioner Certification Manual,’ an innovative approach to healing/resolving past beliefs and perceptions that have manifested into dis-ease. She’s also a guest speaker and YouTube channel co-host. Dorthy’s working on a new book about the scientific approach to hypnosis for a better understanding by the general public. She is proud to be certified as a LIGHT Professional by UC San Diego’s Centers for Integrative Health.

Evelyn Wang is a LIGHT Practitioner who is also Board Certified as an Instructor of Hypnotherapy and an NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Trainer.

She is the co-founder of the Center for Advanced Life Skills in Los Angeles—a Board Approved School of Hypnosis and Board Approved Institute of NLP and Time Line Therapy—where she teaches certification trainings designed to help others harness the power of Hypnotherapy, NLP and other change technologies for personal transformation.

She’s also skilled in other integrative healing approaches, like the Enneagram, Hakomi Methods, and the Quantum-Touch® energy healing technique, which she taught for a decade. In her private practice as a clinical hypnotherapist and mind coach, she specializes in stress reduction, habit control, personal breakthroughs, and pain management—with additional expertise in medical hypnotherapy for chronic disease, biofeedback and
fitness nutrition.

Evelyn is originally from Taiwan (which used to be called Formosa, meaning “beautiful island”). When she was seven, her family moved to Guam, and it was there that she learned English. (She also speaks Taiwanese and Mandarin.) At 16, she moved to California, and two years later, she became a U.S. citizen.

She is a graduate of the Gemological Institute of America and worked in the jewelry industry for years before moving on to upper management for one of the world’s largest technological manufacturers for the aerospace, satellite, and military markets.

After experiencing a number of life challenges, Evelyn investigated alternative healing methods, like Hypnotherapy and NLP, as a means of self-care and transformation. And through this exploration, she ultimately discovered her true calling.

Inspired by the lessons from her own journey, and with a deep passion for helping others, Evelyn has dedicated her life to helping others overcome obstacles, resolve deep-seated issues and achieve their full potential.

When she’s not leading certification trainings or helping clients transform their lives, Evelyn enjoys cooking, Pilates and tending to her mini orchid farm.

Isabela Tena is a Master Hypnotist with over 17 years of experience as a practitioner and instructor of hypnotherapy and several other holistic practices. Her expertise in hypnotherapy includes past life regression and metaphor intervention. In addition, as the director of the Spanish department for the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy, she teaches and certifies the Hispanic and Latino community worldwide through venues including Zoom, radio, TV, self-organized holistic tours, and in-person classroom teaching.

With over three decades of experience in the art and science of mind-body wellness, Jack helps others discover how to take their lives to the next level “using the natural, inner technology they were born with”.

He is Board Certified as an Instructor of Hypnotherapy, a Coach Trainer, an NLP Trainer, and a Master Time Line Therapy® Trainer.

Jack is also the founder of the Center for Advanced Life Skills in Los Angeles—a Board Approved School of Hypnosis and Board Approved Institute of NLP and Time Line Therapy®—where he teaches and certifies others to work with the subconscious mind in both a holistic and practical way.

In his private practice as a clinical hypnotherapist and mind coach, he specializes in stress reduction, habit control and self-improvement—with additional expertise in men’s issues, personal breakthroughs, life transitions, and the release of fear and anxiety. He also has clinical certification in biofeedback for stress, anxiety and self-regulation.

Jack has a lifelong appreciation for what the conscious use of choice, inner focus and imagination can bring to one’s life.

As a teen, he received his foundational teaching in the mind’s power when his mother, a nurse anesthetist, became a hypnotherapist. (He had been training in martial arts since he was eight, and he could blend what his mother taught him with his martial arts practice to great effect.)

Jack has also been incorporating strength training and bio-hacking into his way of life since his Pre-Med studies in college four decades ago. He is still a passionate advocate for physical fitness and healthy living and holds multiple certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine® (including specializations in fitness nutrition, mixed martial arts conditioning, performance enhancement, personal training and corrective
exercise).

As a classically trained artist, he enjoys making art in all its forms (songwriting, graphic design, filmmaking, and more).

Sean Michael Imler is an ICF certified Coach, Advanced BodyTalk and PaRama Practitioner, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified Sound Healer,  Level 2 Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique (QHHT) practitioner (past life regression), licensed minister, and astrologer.  He uses various hypnotherapy and NLP techniques to help his clients manage fears, phobias, anxiety, weight control, substance addiction, stress, pain, regression therapy for past and present lives, and more.  As a personal coach, he studied ontology — the study of being.  His methods work across several domains, including relationships, career and business, health, and personal transformation. In addition, Sean practices and teaches various shamanic techniques and meditations. He has written a book on the subject, ‘Living a Sacred Life: The Path to the Superconscious through Meditation and Spirit Contact,’ and offers an extensive online training course.

Presley Farzam is certified as a LIGHT Professional, a hypnotherapist, and an NLP Master Practitioner. He leads classes and meditation groups at his private practice in Los Angeles, California. With his prodigious work in hypnosis and spirituality, Presley specializes in the psychology of the unconscious mind and skillfully aids his clients in navigating it to achieve liberation from negative emotions or attachments. In addition, he is studying communication and psychology and aims to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology to research, teach, and practice clinically.

CHt., CTM-CCM, BMusEd. Eastman School of Music 

Andrea owns Songs that Soothe™, where she creates therapeutic music, soundscapes, and royalty-free music for hypnosis recordings and Soothe Hypnotherapy™. She combines therapeutic music, sound therapy, therapeutic expressive arts, hypnotherapy, and therapeutic coaching with LIGHT. She strives to support others in building self-efficacy through various healing modalities that facilitate self-discovery and a fresh outlook on life.

Since 2015, Andrea has helped cancer patients and thrivors at the Providence Health System’s Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center through its Integrative Medicine Department as a certified clinical & therapeutic musician, sound therapy practitioner, therapeutic art practitioner, and board-certified clinical hypnotherapist.

As a cancer thrivor, Andrea has witnessed the physiological and psychological healing benefits of the therapeutic expressive arts, mindfulness, meditation & prayer, and hypnotherapy. She combines these modalities with LIGHT to achieve balanced health and well-being.

She uses her soothing voice, gifts as an empath, and a deep understanding of the mind-body-spirit connection to serve humans and animals earnestly. Andrea and her husband volunteer as therapeutic musicians at the Gentle Barn to offer sound therapy. She performs her Soundscapes for People and Pets annually at the LA Pug Rescue and for other rescue organizations.
 

Background: 

• Bachelor of Music Education Instrumental Degree — Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, New York  Board Certified
• Clinical Hypnotherapist — American Board of Hypnotherapy -Center for Advanced Life Skills, California 
• Certified Solution-Based Coach — Complementary Therapists Accredited Association (CTAA) 
• Certified LIGHT Practitioner — UC San Diego Centers for Integrative Health 
• Certified Clinical and Therapeutic Musician — Harp for Healing
• Clinical Musician Certification Program — Accredited by the National Standards Board of Therapeutic Musicians 
• Certificate of Completion in Holistic Health & Sound Therapy — American University of Complementary Medicine Beverly Hills, California 
• Certificate of Completion of the Arts in Healthcare Clinical Practice Intensive — Therapeutic Expressive Arts
• Practitioner — University at Buffalo Center for the Arts & the University of Florida Center for the Arts in Healthcare Research & Education 
• ASCAP Published Songwriter — Andrea Mikolajczak Music Publishing

Karen Chang is a lifelong learner and earned an MBA from the University of Washington (Seattle) in 2010. She has pivoted her professional and personal lives with meaning and purpose onto an enlightening path of studying and researching Energy Psychology (EP) modalities. Her foray into EP began when she keenly searched for biofeedback devices to facilitate communication with her beloved mother, who was comatose for years after a failed open-heart surgery. Karen believes we have the innate power and ability to re-activate our healing capacity from within. Once re-activated, profound self-knowing and healing begin.

Karen is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (CCHt) with continuing education credentials in EP. She offers various therapeutic services in her private practice, including meridian tapping, clinical hypnotherapy, HeartMath training, and other EP techniques. In addition, she conducts sessions, training, and workshops online in both English and Mandarin Chinese.

Patrick J. Ryan is a former Buddhist monk who practiced in Southeast Asia. He is now a registered clinical hypnotherapist (RCH), life and executive coach, family enterprise coach, leadership trainer, vision quest guide, entrepreneur, and author, bringing over twenty-five years of proven track record as a coach and hypnotherapist to the public, the private sector, entrepreneurs, and executives worldwide.

Patrick operates by intuitively calling upon the wisdom of ancient traditions and a wealth of advanced training systems, including coaching, hypnotherapy, medical hypnosis, relationship coaching, community mediation, restorative justice, and the study of the Enneagram. His passion lies in aiding his clients to develop a more profound understanding of their personal experiences and guiding them toward success, health, and happiness.

Patrick has volunteered at San Quentin Prison, the oldest operating prison in California, directing the men towards living an awakened life of meaning and purpose. He has practiced and presented his workshops in London, Tel Aviv, Spain, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, Amsterdam, Dubai, Egypt, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia, and throughout North America. He resides in Victoria, BC, Canada, and works with worldwide clients via Zoom.

Diana Linn, PsyD, is a licensed marriage & family therapist, certified medical hypnotherapist, and certified LIGHT professional. She has a background in neuroscience and has been offering psychotherapy for children and adults for 20 years. Diana is proficient in psychosynthesis, which honors a person's many protective and conflicting aspects. In addition, she utilizes Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to reduce the impact of trauma. Diana supports her clients to understand and accept all parts of themselves and strives to guide them on their path to self-discovery and healing.

Jacqueline Rindone has remained fascinated by the power of the human mind throughout her twenty-plus years as an owner and entrepreneur in different business sectors in Switzerland and California. She studied and practiced as a coach and became a certified hypnotherapist subsequently. She also has a master’s in personal, business, and education coaching from the Ecole Internationale de Coaching in Geneva and a Guided Empathy Meridian Tapping (GEMT) certification from the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy. Jacqueline is fluent in French and English and practices these wide-ranging methodologies in North America and Europe. The UC San Diego Centers for Integrative Health has certified Jacqueline as a LIGHT professional. She is leading the development of the French-speaking worldwide market for the certified LIGHT professional program. Being the mother of two young adults with part-Indian heritage has uniquely expanded her vision of the world. ​

Lisa Petrocchi is a medical and master hypnotherapist with a BA in history from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the administrative director at the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy (PASOH), where she received her hypnotherapy training and has worked for 11 years. She manages the school’s master and community outreach programs.

As part of PASOH’s community outreach program, Lisa oversees the group guided imagery sessions at Hope House, a women's rehabilitation center in Redwood City, California. She has also been a guided imagery facilitator at Stanford Health Care (SHC) in Palo Alto, California, for five years. She has worked with patients and their families and the hospital staff at the bone marrow unit and in oncology. In addition, Lisa has been a guided imagery facilitator for the Bay Area Cancer Connection (BACC) in San Mateo, CA, for over five years, where she offers a bi-monthly healing guided imagery support group for cancer patients and survivors.

She is a native Californian and grew up in the Bay Area, appreciating the unique energy of the landscape and embracing the region’s diversity. She acknowledges the personal history we all carry with us and how dealing with our past may lead to guilt, shame, anger, or judgment. Unfortunately, we judge our past from today’s perspective. Lisa prepares her clients for the future by helping them better appreciate their history. 

“There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” — C. S. Lewis

Kate Van Riper, CCHT, is a LIGHT practitioner and instructor who is also a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist in private practice at her office in Encinitas, California, Innerscape Wellness. She personally practices LIGHT, which has provided a profound sense of well-being and even physical healing for her. Kate is a natural healer. Ever since she was a child, she had hoped to become a professional healer of some kind, probably a psychologist. The realities of supporting and raising a family meant she had to take a detour from her professional healing path and so she decided to channel these energies into a suitable replacement career in business. Kate spent many rewarding years leading Human Resources for San Diego companies in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and other industries before starting her wellness business.

Along the way, she obtained a degree in psychology from San Diego State University and attended San Diego University for Integrative Studies. In addition to hypnosis and LIGHT, she has training in alternative healing programs and methods such as integrated East-West transpersonal therapies, neurolinguistic programming, energy healing, circling, and more. Kate loves to cook and travel, especially to areas with “real” weather, having grown up in the Midwest. She and her partner enjoy storm chasing in the local mountains during the season, always hoping for the thrill of a real downpour with thunder and lightning.

Athena Sees is one of the first official LIGHT Educators and Professionals (LEAP). She specializes in using LIGHT for personal growth and helping children overcome growing pains. Using LIGHT’s novel mind-body self-care protocol, Athena has witnessed a lasting change in her clients’ physical and mental well-being.

Before becoming a LEAP, Athena was a hairstylist. After completing a hypnotherapy program over 10 years ago, her clients often referred to her as a Hypno-hairapist. Athena graduated from SDSU with a BA in Economics. With these fields combined, she has an in-depth understanding of rational human behavior and subconscious (or unconscious) behaviors.

Her soothing voice activates the imagination in ways that have led even harsh skeptics into a relaxing hypnotic trance. As a new mom herself, Athena enjoys working with children and parents to overcome physical and emotional challenges. Expect to leave her sessions with a fresh perspective and an encouraging inner voice.

In her free time, Athena enjoys being with her little girl, venturing around Balboa Park and other areas around town. She has two cats and is an avid animal lover. Athena enjoys ceramics, art, nature, and, most of all, learning.

Having practiced as a Family Medicine Physician for over 15 years, Sonia felt inspired to expand her professional capacity to treat the cause of disease and not just symptoms. Her journey of professional and self-discovery led her to the field of hypnotherapy.

Sonia specializes in providing online therapy and in the past 8 years, she has successfully completed over 2000 cases with clients world-wide. In addition, she has trained hundreds of students in clinical hypnotherapy.

Since discovering LIGHT and integrating it with her hypnotherapy practice, she has found extraordinary results in her clients.

Prior to her arrival in the United States, she practiced as a Family Medicine physician in some of the biggest healthcare facilities in India, Singapore and Dubai. She completed her medical education from Moscow. She later gained certifications in hypnotherapy and regression therapy from the globally recognized EKAA institute and TASSO institute in Netherlands, respectively. She also trained under Dr. Brian Weiss.

Sonia is also an international best-selling author and has been featured in international media. She is passionate about bringing the awareness about the power of the mind and integrating the practice of hypnotherapy into mainstream medicine and participating in research to highlight the efficacy of integrative approaches such as hypnotherapy and LIGHT for total health and wellness.

In her free time, Sonia loves watching movies and exploring beautiful San Diego with her husband and 2 young sons.

Background:

Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, CHt (IMDHA-IACT, USA)
Diploma, Transpersonal Regression (Tasso Institute, Netherlands)
Past Life Regression (Brian Weiss Institute)
Certified Member EARTh – European Association for Regression Therapy
Certified Clinical Hypnotherapy Trainer (EKAA Foundation of Integrated Clinical Hypnotherapy)
Certified Regression Trainer (Tasso Institute, Netherlands)
LIGHT Practitioner

Juan A. Gallegos graduated as a LIGHT Educator and Professional (LEAP) at UC San Diego and EKKA’s Integrated Clinical Hypnotherapy Foundation certification program. By introducing the LIGHT protocol immersion experience, he has learned to tap into “inner self” and reorient his life’s compass utilizing the subconscious mind.

Juan is a practice administrator for a thriving private pediatric & adolescent clinic in the South Bay. He is a former community organizer for national civil rights organizations working throughout the Southwest region of the United States.  He is a Mexican American U.S. Army Veteran that loves working with disenfranchised communities and the local bi-national Spanish-speaking community.

Juan is a student of life and firmly believes we are what we manifest here on Earth school. He enjoys riding his beach cruiser, coastal cooking, and long contemplative hikes with Mother Earth.

Sallie Perez Saiz began her studies with LIGHT-Induced Guided Healing Therapy (LIGHT) in 2018 from the University of California San Diego Center of Excellence for Research and Training in Integrative Health.  Sallie has since continued her studies working closely with other LIGHT and LEAP practitioners in San Diego.  She also has completed levels 1-3 in Ekagra Kamma Apara Antara (EKAA) hypnotherapy training.  Sallie plans to continue mind, body, and spirit studies as these practices help to ground her, especially during this period of uncertainty, unrest, and isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sallie is an English Professor who holds an MFA in Creative Writing and an M.A. in English Literature from CSU Fresno.  Sallie is the recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Award and received a Fellowship in 2014 to study Pictorial Histories and Myth-Histories: "Graphic Novels" of the Mixtecs and Aztecs in Oaxaca, Puebla, and Mexico City.  She has taught English composition, literature, and creative writing courses for over 14 years at Fresno City College.

Sallie, like so many other educators, works from home in a new online environment and is a daily practitioner of the LIGHT as she readies herself to work and support her students at the community college.  Sallie is an avid writer and studies Mesoamerican codices, spirituality through mind, body, spirit connections, the feminine, and identity making, applying thematic aspects in her written work and in the curriculum she teaches.  Sallie has three beautiful daughters, and a (grandson) Dachshund named Bear, who she enjoys spending time with during her spare time.  She also enjoys meditating, taking walks, riding her bicycle, horseback riding, and tending her garden in between working in front of her computer, and she encourages her students and her daughters to do so too!

As a culturally diverse Eastern European avidly immersed in philanthropy, Mitzi’s purpose is to create a healing space for individuals prepared to overcome past traumas, raise self-awareness, and surpass limiting beliefs to thrive and contribute to the betterment of humanity.

Mitzi is a Reiki Practitioner and a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. With her LIGHT professional training, she joins our team of educators and practitioners. In her personal experience with LIGHT, Mitzi has regained profound overall well-being, considering her childhood traumas and deep family losses. Mitzi has extensive experience working with people in the hospitality industry and in organizational management. She graduated with a degree in Management for Trade and Banking from Alpha University, Serbia. As an avid meditator, she has cultivated an expertise in crystals, sound healing, and aromatherapy.

You will most likely always see Mitzi smiling and consistently spreading her positivity to make everyone feel a great sense of calm and harmony around her. She loves sports. One of her favorite things is to walk on Swami’s beach and watch beautiful sunsets with her friends. Mitzi has a genuine kinship with nature and loves hiking, whether in the mountains or throughout the Red Rock Canyons.