Giants Manager Bruce Bochy kicks dip habit with Hypnosis

Giants manager Bruce Bochy has used hypnosis to kick a 36-year addiction to smokeless tobacco.

“I never did it during interviews,” Bochy said the other day in the Giants’ dugout. “At least, I don’t think I did, but there could have been times I craved it too much and did it anyway.”

He had tried to quit many times. Joe Garagiola Sr., the former catcher and beloved broadcaster, used to visit spring training sites with a man whose years of using smokeless tobacco had required the removal of one side of his face. The scare tactic, plus some targeted nagging by Garagiola, motivated Bochy. The motivation wouldn’t last.

Sores would appear in his mouth, producing the same effect. “You’d get nervous about it, and you’d start kicking yourself for ever starting,” he said.

Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who played for Bochy in San Diego, developed oral cancer in 2010 and cited a 30-year dipping habit as the cause. He recently underwent a second round of surgery to remove the recurring malignancy. That news gave Bochy more motivation.

Bochy had his hypnosis session early April, during the first regular-season visit to the Diamondbacks. He was skeptical about being able to quit at the beginning of a season, but he didn’t want to wait.

“I just remember sitting in the chair, and she was talking to me,” he said. “There wasn’t something swinging in front of me. She just puts you in this relaxed state of mind, very calm, but she makes sure you don’t go to sleep.”

When his session ended, Paxson asked the manager how long he thought he had been in the chair. “I guessed at least a half-hour,’ ” he said, “and she said, ‘It’s been three hours, a little more than three hours.'”

When he first spoke publicly about the therapy in August, Bochy had been off the dip for four months. He admitted then that he felt some temptations, but not enough to restart a ritual that began with a dip the minute he arrived at the park.

Bochy believed that the dip relaxed him and made him more aware of everything happening in a game. After the hypnotherapy, he said he realized that the dip probably created the need to relax.

“Now, I’m not dipping, and I’m fine, I’m comfortable,” he said. He has recommended Paxson’s therapy to people who contacted him in the past seven months, from players to scouts he hasn’t met.

See the complete story – and how it affected the hypnotist’s business – at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/12/SPR81NJIS8.DTL.

If you’re in Taiwan and would like to book a live session see the contact info on this site. There are also audio sessions available in the store on this site as well.

– Brian