How Hypnotherapy Can Rewire Your Relationship with Alcohol: Sobriety Tools That Actually Work with MyDry30’s Silvia Subirana

In this episode of The Sober Butterfly, host Nadine Mulvina interviews clinical psychologist Sylvia Subriana to dispel myths about hypnotherapy and its application in overcoming alcohol dependency. Sylvia is a clinical psychologist and Head of Content Development at MyDry30, an innovative app designed to help users take control of their relationship of alcohol. Silvia shares her personal journey with quitting alcohol due to health issues and societal pressures. She emphasizes the significance of understanding and controlling one's habits and discusses how hypnotherapy can aid in rewiring the brain to form healthier habits. The episode also explains the differences between dopamine and serotonin and how alcohol impacts brain chemistry. Sylvia highlights the holistic approach of MyDry30, which includes hypnotherapy, journaling, and offers multiple paths for individuals seeking to moderate or completely quit alcohol. The discussion aims to provide accessible tools and knowledge for anyone looking to redefine their relationship with alcohol.

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Transcript

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 0:02

I always say, forget anything, you know, about hypnotherapy or about hypnosis, because that is not the truth. What they tell us in the movies, like, I'm going to just swing a pendant in your face and I'm going to click my fingers and you're gone. And then I'm going to tell you, now you go and rob a bank. That is not how it happens. the mind, when you are in trance, you are still conscious of what's going on. And that's something that calms a lot of people when I say that, because we, we like being in control. We want to know what's going on, right? So when you are being hypnotized or you're being entranced, cause it's the same Basically, you get into a deep state of relaxation where all your worries, all your problems, all that conscious noise just dials down, and you just have silence in your mind or it's less loud, right? And then you can concentrate on your inner self. And in that state, you are more open to suggestions. What does that mean? Suggestions. That are aligned with your values. you're more open to suggestions, but if I say go rob a bank, you don't want to do that. So you're not going to go and rob a bank. But if I tell you, you're gonna have better habits, you're gonna, choose other things over alcohol, then little by little, you are gonna start working on that. Your brain will create that path between those neurons that I was talking about. Because That is something that you want to do that is aligned with your values and with your purpose

the-sober-butterfly_13_01-15-2025_060139: 1:40

hello, hello, and welcome back to the Sober Butterfly. I'm Nadine. I'm Nadine. I'm your host, Nadine, and if you're new here, welcome. I'm so excited to have you. Today's episode is a real treat because I'm joined by Sylvia Subriana. Now, Sylvia is a clinical psychologist. She's from Barcelona originally, and she lives in New Zealand. And she also works with MyDry30. So in the opening portion of this episode, Sylvia gets real about her own decision to stop drinking. And it may not be the reason that you imagine, but it is super valuable to hear her perspective because remember guys, people quit drinking for a number of reasons. Like we don't all have to be alcoholics over here. We also touch on the societal pressures because we know that pressure can nudge us towards drinking. But we can flip the script. We can redefine or change the narrative around. Finding our true confidence and finding true joy without the need for alcohol. And because she's an expert in her field, Sylvia will also break down the science of how alcohol messes with our brains, chemistry. She goes into dopamine and serotonin levels and neuroplasticity and I'm not going to lie to you guys as much as I love neuroscience when I hear these really technical terms, my ADHD brain kicks in and I start thinking about what's for dinner and did I pick up my dry cleaning? so I appreciated so much how Sylvia broke down that science in a palatable way. You don't really need to know anything about the brain, or neurons, or like Neurological pathways like she will serve that on a platter and you will eat it up because it's just super delicious to hear her go into the specifics around how our brain responds to alcohol and how it can keep people sick or stuck for so long because we are just in this. Cycle, but I think it's also really helpful to learn more about the science because you give yourself grace. Like some of it is neurological guys. I promise you, some of it is chemically your brain responding to certain triggers, external stimuli and responses. So we get into all of that. Specific to hypnosis if you wanted to rewire those habits if you wanted to learn about the power of hypnosis If you are even like come on, Nadine hypnosis is gonna help me quit drinking. You sound crazy well we get into all of that in today's episode grab your favorite alcohol free drink, and let's get into it

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 4:18

tell us Sylvia. What was your relationship like to alcohol prior to you deciding to no longer drink at all?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 4:24

I wouldn't say that I used it for like, coping with emotions or anything. I only drank when I went out with friends. That was the only time that I would drink alcohol because I didn't really like the feeling of it. When it was not in a social setting. At one point, I found myself having a lot of gut issues. I had a lot of stress and many things going on. The first thing that the doctor said was alcohol is out of the picture. So, I stopped drinking and I didn't really, miss it. I cut gluten, I cut lactose, I cut sugar, I cut many things in my diet. And then when I had to reintroduce everything, I wanted to reintroduce bread, pasta cheese and stuff like that, that I love. But then I never wanted to reintroduce alcohol. I didn't really feel the need to. And then when I tried at one point to drink, because sometimes I've had the urge or one day I'm like, Oh, I'm in the mood for a drink later on, I drink. And while I'm drinking, I'm like, why am I drinking this? I don't want to feel like drunk, right? That's not a feeling that I like. So I've just embraced that. And even when I have an urge from time to time, because it's common to have urges I stop myself and I ask Is it something that I want to because I'm in the mood or because I'm just getting caught up on everyone else's mood, and most of the times I realize that it's because of the setting, not because I want to do it. So then I choose to go for a mocktail and I feel so much after.

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 6:05

Yeah, I think the social conditioning piece is super relevant because people don't question, why, just simply the probing, being curious about what's driving you to have an urge or just driving you to be like, I'm going to drink. Following up that thought with a why or just like trying to dig deeper. I think so many people skip that step is the point I'm making and blindly drink for the sake of drinking. For me personally and for maybe some people listening at home, the alcohol is like the hard part for you. It doesn't sound like it was as challenging. So when the doctor said Hey, take these things out of your diet, including alcohol, did that bring up any feelings for you? Or were you kind of just like, I'm okay with removing alcohol for a time being?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 6:50

I was okay with removing alcohol because I knew that it didn't have a good Impact on my body like I would wake up the next day after like going out and drinking alcohol not feeling like physically very bad because I didn't have much of hangover, but I, I felt emotionally awful, like all my difficult emotions, sadness, anger would come to the surface in Africa, very powerful way. And I would be destroyed that day. And that was not worth it for me because I had such high during the night that then the low was very low and Yeah, I didn't wanna live like that. And also I think my, my soft spot is my gut. I would say that when I drink alcohol my stomach doesn't feel that well. So that's why I never really crave it because I know that it's not gonna sit well in my stomach. So yeah, that was not a hard part for me. But what was hard was reevaluating what having fun meant for me because everyone, when you go out, pretty much everyone is drinking. I was 22 when I stopped drinking. So I was still very young and I was still going out to clubs and parties and stuff like that. And I would be completely sober, surrounded by very, very drunk people. And at first I was like, is this it? Is, is this how I'm People have fun because people are not fun. Are they, they're having very silly conversations, right? So I had to sit down and reevaluate, okay, what am I doing that is not working? What should I do that would work for me? Right. And then I realized that I had fun with my friends, dancing and just like laughing and doing silly things. So I focused on doing that with my close friends. And then I realized that I could be more in touch with that person that I used to be when I was drunk, like that personality, because in the end, Our drunk personality is inside of us, right? So I started being more in touch with that personality only by doing what I wanted to do, something that was more aligned with my values and with my needs, right? So getting in touch with that part of myself was a really cool thing to learn because now I think that I can have fun in many different settings. I can go to weddings, to parties, I can do anything. And I'm still the last one standing on the dance floor. So, alcohol is not that important. It's what's inside of you that is.

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 9:38

That person exists inside of you. It's just about learning how to extract them without alcohol. Or I always refer to alcohol as a social lubricant because it lowers your inhibitions and it lets people feel like they're able to ease into, whether that be conversations or situations or settings that they normally wouldn't feel as confident. But I think true confidence is. Is sober confidence, right? Like if I can show up as my authentic self if I can tap into my inner child Like being silly and free and like dancing and just finding yourself in these situations where you can like laugh truly belly ache laugh without the need for a substance I think that is so much more profound and valuable and lasting and I resonate with so much of what you said the redefining fun piece is everything because If your barometer is still stuck on Oh, alcohol is needed. It's an integral part of the equation that I cannot take out. Then of course, you're going to be miserable. You're not going to have a good time. But I think if you start to see it as like, Oh, I can be the person that still shows up as my authentic self and has a good time and shows other people that they don't need alcohol to have a good time. That's the part that makes it so much more worthwhile. And my favorite thing when I go out, Sylvia is like, I love when people don't realize that I'm not drinking. I love when I am on the dance floor, like you mentioned, or like, if I'm being just like fun and wild and carefree, and people are like, Oh, what are you drinking? Let me get you another drink. And I'm like, Oh, it's just seltzer. It's just this mocktail. And they look at me like I'm crazy. Like, wait, like you're like this on a regular basis. That is my favorite part of life. I am this carefree or like wild or free person without alcohol.

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 11:30

That's happened to me. Yeah..

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 11:31

Happened to you as well. Tell us. What was that experience like?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 11:35

So yes, I don't know how many times I've been dancing and being goofy with my friends in the dance floor and then someone has approached me like, Sylvia, you're driving tonight. What are you doing? Why are you drunk? And I'm like, I haven't had one drop of alcohol. What are you talking about? And they were like, what about drugs? Drugs don't count either. And I'm like, no, I'm like, I've only drank a Coke. So I'm completely fine. Right. So people get very I don't know, surprised that you can be in touch with that person or that part of you without any substance

the-sober-butterfly_25_12-24-2024_142305: 12:08

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Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 13:39

I want to tap into your expertise as a clinical psychologist. What role does alcohol play in terms of altering our brain chemistry? Because I think many people realize. Alcohol is bad. Like that's a very general statement, but I don't think they realize the impact like to what extent Is alcohol impacting our brain health our mental health?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 14:00

So when we drink alcohol, there's a lot of things that go on in our body because in the end is a substance that affects our hormones, affects our perception, affects our body, affects so so many parts. For me, the biggest one is that affects with our hormones and neurotransmitters. But yeah, basically alcohol is a depressant that we call it. To explain it easy for everyone. Even though drinking alcohol gives us that high at first, we have a spike of feeling very good. I like to differentiate it between two neurotransmitters or brain messengers. One is dopamine, the other one serotonin. Dopamine is that high, that spike that you get, that you always want more, right?

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 14:44

Isn't it like the pleasure reward system or something like that

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 14:47

Exactly. Yeah. All the time looking for more, looking for more pleasure. and we sometimes think that that is happiness because society has taught us that that is happiness. That wanting a new house, a new car, a new phone getting likes, getting followers, that is going to give us happiness But that couldn't be further from the truth. That is pleasure. That is dopamine, right? So alcohol is another one. I'm not like another social media house car, like it's another one of those highs, right? So what the body does is even though you have that spike of dopamine at first the body. Little by little creates tolerance and resistance to that Alcohol, which means that you need more to get that same effect little by little the The body loses its capacity to generate dopamine on its own. And now we will always need that substance, that external thing to get those levels of dopamine because the body gets used to it, right? That is a problem because obviously we get addicted to that Spike constantly.

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 15:59

Is that like the tolerance, Sylvia? Or am I conflating that with something different? You know how the more alcohol you drink with time, you build tolerance? Is that connected to dopamine, like that neurotransmitter pathway, like we need more and more of it because we're kind of like lowering our bar? Does that make sense?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 16:19

So it happens with both things. We, we generate tolerance to alcohol and we generate tolerance to dopamine. So we need more of both in order to get that. And when we say that, or what I said before that alcohol is a depressant is because it also, makes that the body It doesn't segregate serotonin as normal, so it's not balanced and it will always need more and more and more of alcohol to get to that stage of high, but we don't realize that getting more and more and getting to more stages of high in the end bring us to more and more depression.

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 16:59

that makes so much sense because The highs that I experienced when I was high on a substance like alcohol, sometimes other substances would never outweigh the low that I felt the following morning or the following days. I know this doesn't align to your drinking, but I think for so many people, myself included, that's the cyclical nature of drinking because you start chasing those highs, right?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 17:28

Exactly. Okay

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 17:29

To remove yourself from the low. It's like, Oh, hair of the dog. Now I'm just going to drink again the next and repeat this same pattern of drinking. Which can lead people to have a real dependency. And so I know that's not your story, but when you were explaining the difference between dopamine and serotonin, I was like, Oh, makes sense. So just to kind of wrap it up neatly with a bow, dopamine is basically promoting. Pleasure, which is not to be mistaken with real contentment or happiness. So is the serotonin a hormone that's released when you actually are experiencing authentic joy and happiness?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 18:09

So how dopamine works is that we want more as again, we always want more, more, more. We want that high, right? Our body's like, I like feeling like this. I want more. However, when we feel, or when we segregate serotonin, the body says, I like that. But I don't want any more. I am content I am full, right? So there's no addictive component related to serotonin, whereas in dopamine there is, so serotonin is achieved. For example, when we are surrounded by the people that we love, or we do something like a hobby that we really, really enjoy, or we connect with our creativity, like Painting or drawing or whatever. So these little moments for ourselves and to be surrounded by people, because in the end we are dependent animals, right? We're social animals and to be surrounded by our loved ones. Really, really makes a difference because that is how we build that joy, that contentment that you were talking about. And that is how we segregate serotonin. So that is key to get to that happiness that society constantly tell us that we need to reach. Right. But we just keep seeking it in the wrong places

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 19:33

Wow, so we're confusing dopamine with serotonin. We say we want happiness, we say we want contentment, but we're settling for hits of dopamine, dopamine, which can show up in many different forms specific to alcohol, maybe other what would you recommend for someone who is addicted to that high that pleasure that they experience from drinking? What would a first step be?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 19:56

The first step that I would say is to try to see how dependent they are, because even if you drink once in a while, you can have a little bit of dependency. I'm not demonizing alcohol because I understand that. Some people love drinking once in a while. And I am, I'm completely on board with that. If that is what you want to do. What I always tell people is do it out of choice and do it out of habit. Right. To make it clear that I'm never gonna you know, shame someone for deciding to drink, even though I don't drink, right? And I'm always surrounded by people that drink and I am completely fine with that. But when people challenge their, their habits and their, well, their drinking habits is when they realize at what stage they are. So If they have that high dependency, that dopamine dependency that we were talking about in the end, I always encourage to have a break or try to moderate a little by little. And it's going to be hard. It's going to be very hard because the brain is used to that. Pattern, right? So it will take a while. That's why there's many, many tools out there that can help with that. And one of the tools that we're working with on my dry 30 is hypnotherapy. And I'm bringing this up because it's, it's a very, very powerful tool. And the way that it works is that Our brains are very neuroplastic that we call it, which means that they are able to learn at any age. We think that only kids can learn, but that is not true. That's completely not true. Even like 90 year olds can learn. Maybe it will take longer, but they can still learn, right? Their brain is still plastic. So what the brain wants to do is save energy because there's so many things that the brain needs to do, in our bodies to make sure that everything works, that It's efficient. It tries to save as much energy as possible. So, if you have a habit, for example, you get home from work and you have a glass of wine, because that's your way to relax. You have the habit and that habit is in your, in your brain, like from one neuron to the other, like from one brain cell to the other. There are messengers that get used to that path, right? That connection. So they make that connection stronger and stronger and stronger. And eventually it will be like a motorway. It will be a very, very big path, right? Between. Those two neurons. So how can we get out of that? Because as you were saying, sometimes we get addicted to those highs and those highs are because our brain has gotten used to that. And it's very difficult out of willpower to just get out of those. Brain connections, because again, they are very powerful and the brain wants to save energy. So it doesn't want to work extra. And it's like, why are you doing something different now? No, let's go back to what I know. Because the brain in the end doesn't, doesn't understand if something is good or bad for you. It just understands what you do often and what you don't do often. Right. So in the end, it will always want to go back to that. Thing that you do often. So there's tools like hypnotherapy or meditation and many things in general that. Help redirect those paths. But hypnotherapy is the one that we work for because it's work with, sorry, because it's very powerful to generate all the paths that are healthier. And later on, you have the ability to choose that other path without having to put a lot of strength on it, a lot of willpower on it, because your brain has already created that path without you even realizing

the-sober-butterfly_14_01-15-2025_061119: 23:58

I'm sorry to interrupt today's episode, but I have a quick favor, if you love what you're hearing on the Sober Butterfly. Make sure that you are hitting that follow button. Okay. And if you haven't done so leave a review, your support is invaluable and it helps the show grow so that more people like you can receive messages like this and while I have your attention, don't forget to follow me on YouTube. I heard your feedback I know the Sober Butterflies want more video. You guys want video content and I promise I'm going to be delivering. Okay, Butterflies, I'll let you get back to this enlightening conversation with Sylvia.

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 24:45

That's really helpful in terms of like the neuroplasticity of our brains, recognizing that although the brain, it sounds like it's a creature of comfort or does that make sense? An organ of comfort. It still can be rewired and it can also adapt, but It's up to us to sort of figure out how to do that. And it's beyond, it sounds like the science goes beyond willpower. I'm curious to learn more about, The role of hypnotherapy, because this is something that I think people hear and forgive me, but I want to just echo sentiments that I've heard before. It's like, with hypnotherapy, I think they see it as like, more woo woo. And when I say woo, I can't think of a better word right now. But like this idea that like, oh, it's not real science, not real psychology. So can you kind of break that down for us and shed some light on misconceptions related to hypnotherapy in regards to helping someone who may be struggling with sobriety or choosing to reframe their relationship with alcohol.

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 25:44

Yeah a lot of people think that it's woo woo. You can say that,

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 25:46

Thank you. I was like, I don't want to offend Sylvia, but yeah

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 25:49

yeah, don't worry. So in the end, I always say, forget anything, you know, about hypnotherapy or about hypnosis, because that is not the truth. What they tell us in the movies, like, I'm going to just swing a pendant in your face and I'm going to click my fingers and you're gone. And then I'm going to tell you, now you go and rob a bank. That is not how it happens. the mind, when you are in trance, you are still conscious of what's going on. And that's something that calms a lot of people when I say that, because we, we like being in control. We want to know what's going on, right? So when you are being hypnotized or you're being entranced, cause it's the same Basically, you get into a deep state of relaxation where all your worries, all your problems, all that conscious noise just dials down, and you just have silence in your mind or it's less loud, right? And then you can concentrate on your inner self. And in that state, you are more open to suggestions. What does that mean? Suggestions. That are aligned with your values. Again, you're more open to suggestions, but if I say go rob a bank, you don't want to do that. So you're not going to go and rob a bank. But if I tell you, you're gonna have better habits, you're gonna, choose other things over alcohol, then little by little, you are gonna start working on that. Your brain will create that path between those neurons that I was talking about. Because That is something that you want to do that is aligned with your values and with your purpose So little by little hypnotherapy creates that path between neurons without you even realizing the only thing that you're doing is listening to an audio because it can be an audio or it can be with a hypnotherapist, which can be Yeah, like having therapy, but you just relax and close your eyes and then just concentrate on what the voice is telling you and suggesting you. It's very similar to meditation in a way you get into that state of relaxation, but the difference with meditation is that meditation normally is like focusing on different parts of your body, for example, or visualization.

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 28:07

Body connection

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 28:08

Yeah whereas hypnotherapy is more, uh, with a target, like for example reduce the urges to drink or reduce the anxiety, reduce many, many different things. Hypnotherapy is used for a lot of things, but basically the mind body connection that you just mentioned is present in hypnotherapy but in a different way because In, in hypnotherapy the body makes that association. For example, when you have a drink or when you want to have a drink at the end of the day, because you want to relax, that means that you are anxious, right? You come from work stressed. So your body or your mind thinks, okay, if I'm stressed, I deal with a stress with a glass of wine. So the mind makes that association. What happens in the body? You feel stress, you feel tense, you feel anxious, right? You feel pressure on your chest. You have maybe shortness of breath depending on how stressed or how much anxiety you have. And then you have that glass of wine and everything just relaxes and you feel that your body is relaxed. So with hypnotherapy what we want to do is make that association from the calm state. Let me explain. So when you think you're stressed, I'm going to drink alcohol and not drinking alcohol is giving you more stress because that is your way to cope with things. With hypnotherapy, we, work on your mind to make that association of calmness with alcohol, right? So little by little your body starts not reacting with anxiety to that thought of drinking alcohol and in the end you're gonna think of alcohol and your body is not going to be tense because your body will associate that calmness that was given with hypnotherapy with the anxiety that was given to you by your body and it's not going to be tense. To the alcohol so you're not going to react Anxiously or with stress and then you won't associate that as your only coping mechanism

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 30:10

wow, I want to unpack some of that and You know what I'm hearing and correct me if I'm wrong from my psychology 101 course at university. I'm thinking of Pavlov and you know how the bell and the doll, the doll, the dog. So is it allowing you to recircuit your brain or like rewire the way you associate an external stimuli with something else. So Pavlov he trained the dog when he rang the bell to salivate or the natural response was a salivation because the dog expected food and then with time he Was able to reprogram the way the dog responded to said trigger being the bell, whether there was food or not present. I don't think I'm doing a good job of explaining that. But is that similar in the essence that like you're basically retraining your brain to form different associations with external stimuli?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 31:04

It works a bit differently, but yeah, eventually it's more or less the same. So, yeah, the brain just in the end makes that association of alcohol calm, calm state instead of calm alcohol related to anxiousness. So, yeah you could say that it's similar to conditioning

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 31:22

Conditioning, right. Thank you. That's the term. Typically do you find that your community from MyDry30 or the clients who come to you, are they looking to form healthier relationships with alcohol or are they looking to abstain altogether?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 31:37

We have a bit of everything. We talk a lot about moderation as well as complete sobriety, right? Because As I said before, we don't like demonizing alcohol. We think that it's very important to make people feel welcome. There's a lot of programs out there that Treat, treat alcohol as if it was the devil like you don't, cannot be surrounded by nobody else's drinking and stuff like that, and people get very anxious and very guilty if that's not what they want. So we found that when you approach people. With grace and just more understanding of any individual situation, because every person is different. Right. And if we just understand that some people don't want to quit completely and they just want to moderate they find that. Well, if you're more understood and more open to do something about it, right? So what we find is that there's people that want to moderate and there's people that want to completely quit. And our program is 30 days of. They're completely dry, like 30 days of no alcohol at all. But then after that, you have two paths, two possible paths to choose. One is moderation and the other one is sobriety. And that is completely up to the person that has done the program. And we're not really sure on the percentages yet, but I would say it's like 55, 45, so there's not that much. Like big, there's not a big difference between the the two, groups. Because again, in the end, everybody just has different things that they want to explore different goals.

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 33:22

And it's about meeting people where they are and helping them get to where they want to go. And I feel like if you prescribe a very rigid no, like one must abstain from alcohol for the rest of your days to your point about demonizing alcohol, then it feels restrictive. And people are less likely to buy in and then I love the word shame in this context, because I think shame keeps people sick. Because if I feel ashamed of my desire to drink or my desire not to be sober long term, then I'm going to default to probably, you know, You know, keeping said information to myself maybe not sharing with those who are there to support me or using alcohol in a way that is more of a negative coping mechanism. So I, I like that people get to choose and I feel like when they have autonomy over the direction and the course of their life, they're more likely to be successful. And you can always redefine. Success. You can always change your mind. Like you can go from moderating to abstinence altogether, full sobriety, or you can go from full sobriety to moderation. Like there is no judgment. And I think sometimes if I'm being honest in the sober community, we can, I'm using the pronoun we, we as sober people, I think can be a bit a bit harsh when it comes to how we see sobriety. And just remembering that not everyone needs to follow the same life path like that's okay And we should celebrate those differences and those wins as we wind down I kind of want to touch on a little bit more of the tenets of my dry 30 So that people can understand if it's a program that would help them or benefit them or if they know someone that would be beneficial So I want to circle back to some of the things you mentioned with my dry 30. I know The hypnosis program is a part of that. And a question I had earlier that I forgot to ask you. So I'll ask now can everyone be hypnotized because as a girl who has struggled with meditation and quieting my mind and quelling my thoughts how can we work on lowering some of our doubts if we are struggling with getting to that state?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 35:33

It's very normal to have doubts because in the end is something new. It's something that we don't really understand what's going on. And as I said before, we love having control of what's happening and we love understanding what's happening. Right. So. That's why from my dry 30 we did a you know therapy program that is 15 minutes a day, which makes it very short so people like you that you said that you struggle with meditation and you I struggle with meditation as well. I have practiced meditation for many, many years, mindfulness, many different types, and now I'm better at it because obviously when, like when you practice, it's like a muscle, right? That it takes time. Some people they access to it easier. And for some people it takes some more time and that's completely fine. And I understand it can be quite frustrating. So that's why. We offer hypnotherapy audios that are only 15 minutes, because that makes them very I would say approachable for everybody. They're an easy way for people to just listen when they can, because everybody has 15 minutes a day. Whereas if we created, I don't know, like a one hour program, a one hour long program, it could be more difficult for people to tune into that. And for people that struggle with keeping their attention and their mind wonders, well, while they are listening to that audio, 15 minutes is very doable. And. I would say it doesn't bring that anxiety that sometimes comes when you're listening to that meditation and then you're like, I'm not focusing, my mind is wondering, like when, I don't know, it's not going where it's supposed to be and then you start feeling guilty and then you get into that spiral that it's not where you're supposed to go, right and then, can everybody be hypnotized? Essentially, yes. We self hypnotize ourselves all the time. For example, how many times have you driven home from work and then you get home and you're like, how did I get here?

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 37:38

Sober? I'm joking. It's a bad joke. Yeah, I know I've been there where you're just going through the motions and you're tuned out and you're thinking about your laundry list of other things going on. Yeah, that's true.

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 37:52

that is, Essentially, what trance feels like, what being hypnotized feels like, when you are just in that state of you're doing something but you don't realize that you're doing something. People do that all the time and we don't really realize that we're doing it. So that is something that's natural for, for people to get into that state. So even though we think that it's something new, something different. We do that to ourselves all the time. So yeah, everyone is susceptible of being hypnotized because everybody does it to work through themselves. And then when the last question that you said how can we work with people that have a bit reluctant to it or are a bit we feeling a bit hesitant. I'm not gonna convince or try to convince anybody. I always try to. let people know that I'm not going to force anything into them because forcing something is just the opposite of what I'm trying to do, right? I'm trying to make people feel comfortable with their choices and with their values and if I'm forcing something because I know that it works but they're not ready for it then it's not going to work because they're going to block it. So, Instead of doing that, I always love telling people what do you have to lose, just try it and see how you feel. If you don't like it, that's completely fine, then it's not for you, right? Because we cannot all live like everything. just give it a try and see if it works for you and embrace it with an open mind because if you are already like being very judgy with it then it's not going to work because again you have control in hypnotherapy even though you get into that state of relaxation where you're more open to suggestions as i said before you have the control to not get into that state if you don't want to so if you don't approach it with an open mind then you're not going to get into that state and it's not going to work so again If people just don't feel like they want to do it and they have very strong feelings against it, then fair enough, but I know that it's a very powerful tool and it's something different that it's not on many other programs out there. And I know that there's many people that have tried many different tools and many different methods when it comes to stop drinking alcohol. So again, open your mind and try a new tool. It's not going to harm you because it's it's something that works. The worst thing that could happen is that it simply doesn't work So you just stay the same, right?

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 40:41

Be open minded if you don't want to do it. No one's gonna make you Don't fight against yourself Be open to the process. I like to tell people to treat Anything regarding getting sober or removing alcohol, tell them, treat it as a social experiment. You know, take data, take inventory qualitatively and quantitatively of how you're feeling and how you're doing. And I think the non permanence piece is really helpful because it's very daunting to think about, Oh, for the rest of my life, I'm supposed to be on this path. No 30 days. 30 days is great. Like 30 days to me sounds very feasible. I haven't heard of many tools related to redefining people's relationship with alcohol. So I really appreciate you sharing that with us. And as we wind down Sylvia today, I'm so grateful to have you on the show learning from you. I wanted to ask you Lastly, around the whole My Dry 30, the program, what ideally should people hope to get from the entire experience?

41:54

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Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 45:00

I wanted to ask you Lastly, around the whole My Dry 30, the program, what ideally should people hope to get from the entire experience?

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 45:12

So the The program is a holistic program. What does that mean? That when someone drinks alcohol, that's not something that happens independently of anything else in their lives. In the end, we are connected. Everything is connected in our lives and our bodies and our minds. So when we say that we have a holistic approach is because we try to tackle many different aspects of people's lives. So the program is 30 days, 30 minutes a day. And those 30 minutes, they have 15 minutes a day of hypnotherapy and then 10 minutes a day of journaling and five minutes of reading. That journaling is because the hypnotherapy works in the unconscious part, not works without us realizing that it's working. So that is a part that we don't really, uh, work on, right? We just listen to that audio and we embrace it with an open mind and We get into that state of relaxation, but then the journaling questions are a very good tool to then learn about yourself, to learn about how you deal with emotions, about how you cope with stress, about how you like have a relationship with different people, right? About many, many different things, and that is in a conscious level, because in the end, we want to give people answers. tools to understand how they are and what their values are so they can make choices that are more aligned to that. And then the reading is again, given knowledge to people and it's like a five minute topic, which can be like anything really like creating habits, peer pressure happiness versus pleasure. What we explained, before. So. many, many different topics and it's very, very accessible because it's literally only for five minutes a day. And then apart from that, there's optional things that can be very helpful as well. But again, if people don't want to do it, then they're completely free to not do it. And for example, one is a toolkit. We offer different meditations, different breathing techniques and different exercises to learn more about different things. For example About dealing with strong emotions. There's different exercises there. Dealing with past trauma different things like gratitude and yeah, things like that. And then we have actions and connection days, which are different little actions that you can do. They're like a banner that they pop up, not every day, but on random days of the month, and they suggest different things that you can do. And for example, one is something as easy as say thank you to someone that you appreciate that you have in your life, right? Because we. We appreciate a lot of things in our heads, but we hardly ever share with the other people that we're grateful to have them. Right. So again, when, when I say that we take a holistic approach is because we understand that people that struggle with alcohol or people that don't struggle with alcohol, people in general sometimes need an extra Help in different areas or aspects of their life. So. That's why we want to help people not only get a better relationship with alcohol and that's it, but also to get better in many different aspects of their lives and have that whole experience. So then after those 30 days, they don't go jump back to old habits, but they have learned a lot about themselves and then they can choose what they want to do and how they want to approach alcohol after that

Nadine Mulvina, The Sober Butterfly: 48:56

I love that so much. Thank you for sharing that with us, Sylvia. And I'm going to plug in the show notes for anyone at home who, as mentioned, is interested or may know someone that could benefit from MyDry30. I'm going to plug the resources. In the show notes. So be sure to check that out. Sylvia. You have been such a light. Thank you for shedding light on a lot of just misconceptions. I think around sobriety around hypnosis and those two entities working together. You've also helped, I think, clarify, at least for me, A lot of differences related to dopamine versus serotonin and just how it impacts the entire body. And I love your approach when it comes to holistic health, because we are more than just, you know, the mind, we are everything in connection. And I think getting sober really does require tapping into these different parts of us. So thank you for that. And speaking of gratitude, truly, truly grateful to have you here on the show today. Thank you so much.

silvia-subirana--she-her-_2_01-10-2025_130729: 49:59

Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed our conversation.

the-sober-butterfly_15_01-15-2025_061352: 50:02

And there you have it. That's a wrap. I hope you found this conversation with Sylvia Subriana as inspiring as I did, because I learned a lot. And I wish that I had Access to a tool like my dry 30 when I was getting sober, they understand that your journey is your own. There is no one size fits all prescribed method to sobriety. You just find what works for you. And if something was Sylvia resonated with you today. here's what I want you to do to butterflies Screenshot this episode. I'm so serious. Take a screenshot tag me in your stories on Instagram tag me at the period don't forget that period At the period sober butterfly and you can also tag my dry 30 Everything linked in the show notes so you can find all of those handles We would love to hear your thoughts also, please subscribe to our channel, the Sober Butterfly on YouTube. And if you have a quick sec, leave a review. It takes less than a minute, I promise. Your feedback is appreciated. It means so much to me, and as mentioned, it just helps so many More butterflies find their wings to fly. All right. I love you guys. Thank you for being here every friday I will see you next time until then stay strong stay beautiful and stay alcohol free Bye for now butterflies