TO SERVE & PROTECT
It may not feel like it at times but your brain ALWAYS wants the best for you. Your unconscious mind is always working with a positive intention. The problem is your unconscious will do anything to keep you safe and occasionally its actions aren’t always logical. This might result in phobias, habits or odd behaviours. You may well be consciously aware that these behaviours are causing problems in your everyday life but, because your unconscious mind runs the show, it seems you cannot change.
In simple terms, it’s the job of the hypnotherapist to persuade the unconscious mind to keep its positive intention but change its behaviour.
LET’S GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT…
If we are in pain and focus on that pain, the sensation of that pain tends to get worse. Likewise if we are distracted by something, the pain tends to decrease. If we EXPECT an injection is going to be painful, we will become axious and hyper-focussed and so, of course, we experience far more pain than normal.
Medical staff have a habit of contitioning our minds to EXPECT pain. Just before an injection they utter the famous words “…sharp scratch coming up…”. Unsurprisingly our minds instantly focus and prepare for pain. If medics said “…here we go, you’ll hardly notice it…” the number of needle phobics would reduce dramatically.
I CAN PLEASE THE BRAIN*
Placebo treatments induce real responses in the brain. Just believing that a treatment will work can trigger neurotransmitter release, hormone production, and an immune response, easing symptoms of pain, inflammatory diseases, and mood disorders.
Some aspects of hypnotherapy could be regarded as a very powerful, incredibly specific and lasting placebo. Your unconscious simple needs the permission to make the changes.
*Placebo comes from the Latin, “I will please”
TODAY IS WORLD HYPNOTISM DAY (4th January)
For those that don’t know, I have 2 diplomas in hypnotherapy and I am a certified CBT practitioner.
World Hypnotism Day is celebrated on January 4. While it may be a complex subject, there’s no denying that hypnosis by a certified hypnotist can be beneficial in many ways. This day serves to dispel the common misconceptions and fears surrounding hypnosis. So if anyone has any questions about hypnosis or hypnotherapy – now is your chance to ask me….
2023
Traditionally, New Year is a time of resolution and new beginnings. Hypnotherapy is used to make deep, lasting changes at an unconscious level. Make 2023 the year of change in your life.
Happy New Year everyone.
IT’S CHRISTMAS
Wishing peace, love and happiness to all my clients, followers and fellow therapists. Merry Christmas.
GIFT
The best Christmas present is to breatheChristmas can be incredibly stressful. Buying gifts, facing financial pressure and coping with family disagreements can result in anxiety and stress.
Engaging in breathing exercises is a simple but effective way to combat stress. Changing the rhythm of your breath can signal relaxation which will result in the slowing of your heart rate and stimulation of the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain stem to the abdomen, and is part of the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the system that is responsible for our rest and digest responses. Triggering your parasympathetic nervous system helps you start to calm down. You feel better. And your ability to think rationally returns. Try this very simple exercise…
Relax your neck and shoulders.
Keeping your mouth closed, inhale slowly through your nose for 4 counts.
Pucker or purse your lips as though you were going to whistle.
Exhale slowly by blowing air through your pursed lips for a count of 8.
Try it for 2 minutes
WARNING: THIS POST HAS NO CONTENT…AND YET…
In order to resolve habits and behavioural issues it is necessary that the hypnotherapist seeks out the root cause of the problem. This can normally be found somewhere in the client’s past.
It is not uncommon that the issue in question is the result of trauma. It is often the case that re-visiting the past trauma could be incredibly upsetting for the client and do more damage than good. The question is; how then does the therapist deal with the trauma when it is too unpleasant to recall.
The solution is to use a ‘content free’ protocol. The change therapy is delivered in such a way that the therapist can point the unconscious mind towards the trauma without referring to it specifically. The therapist can negotiate behavioural changes with the part of the unconscious that is associated with the trauma. The therapist uses neutral statements and metaphors to deliver suggestion and direction to the unconscious. This allows change to take place without the client having to consciously recall or re-live any of the past experience.
This is called Content Free Hypnosis
YOU SUFFER FROM CHRONIC PAIN, RIGHT?
Okay, that was just a guess but if you said “yes”, read on…
The British Pain Society 2016:
“Chronic pain affects more than two fifths of the UK population, meaning that around 28 million adults are living with pain that has lasted for three months or longer.
The authors discovered that 43% of the population experience chronic pain, with up to 14.3% living with chronic pain that is either moderately or severely disabling.”
Hypnosis has a phenominal track record for removing chronic pain and that’s all I need to say on the matter.
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT ME...
…It’s about the client. Some clients have their issues resolved in a single session. Other clients require several sessions. Their jouney might be long and hard and often emotional. And that’s fine.
I had a client recently, a young man. After coming out of trance he was absolutely ecstatic, he felt ready to take on the world. His energy and positivity was infectious. I laughed as he beamed at me from the computer screen ( the session was carried out over Zoom).
He reminded me why I do what I do. It’s not about me, but I freakin’ love my job.
A LITTLE BIT OF FESTIVE FUN…
Enjoy
IGNORE THE THERAPIST, TALK TO THE CHAIR
The empty chair technique is a talk therapy exercise commonly used in Gestalt Therapy. It’s also used in Hypnotherapy and is designed to allow you to express your thoughts and feelings as if you were talking to a specific person, but in a safe, neutral environment. This can be any person, including you when you were younger, or eve a deceased friend or relative. Even though that person is not present, you direct your words and gestures at an empty chair or chairs and imagine that person sitting in it while you talk. This type of treatment is extremely useful to obtain ‘closure’.
TIME TRAVEL – IS IT POSSIBLE?
Time is a construct. Created by humans to make sense of what is now and what are memories. Hypnotherapists make use of this phenomenon to change the way we percieve events from our past. Under hypnosis a therapist can allow a client to visit their younger self at a time of trauma, comfort that younger self and change that younger self’s perception of what is happening. This can have a profound effect on someone who has carried years of guilt and shame or behavioural issues resulting from the past experience.
Hypnotic time-travel.
WHAT IS THE SUBCONSCIOUS?
It can be helpful to compare the mind to an iceberg. Everything above the water represents conscious awareness while everything below the water represents the unconscious.
Can you imagine how an iceberg would look if you could see it in its entirety. Only a small part of the iceberg is visible above the water. What you cannot see from the surface is the huge amount of ice that makes up the bulk of the iceberg, hidden deep below in the water.
The things that represent our conscious awareness are simply “the tip of the iceberg.” The rest of the information that is outside of conscious awareness lies below the surface. While this information might not be accessible consciously, it still exerts an influence over current behavior. Hypnotherapists use hypnosis to enage with the unconscious part of the mind and alter it’s behaviour.
IBS
IBS is a terrible condition that dominats people’s lives. Everything they do, everywhere they go centres around the ability to access a toilet at short notice. The condtion crippling and debilitating.
Doctors will recommend diet and medication in an attempt to control the symptoms. The good news is that more and more research tells the same story; Hypnotherapy is THE most effective treatment for IBS with an 80 – 100% success rate in either drastically reducing symptoms or eliminating them altogether.
“TAKE CARE”
“Look after yourself”
We often finish a conversation with one of these phrases or something similar but how many of us actually act on them. How many of us put others first and ourselves last. How many of us don’t indulge in a little self-care. How many of us actually dislike ourselves or see ourselves as worthless.
In hypnotherapy the issue presented by the client is rarely the issue. More often than not there is an underlying problem. Frequently, and commonly with intimacy related concerns, the issue of self-worth lies at the root of the problem. Maybe it is something that was drummed into us by a parent, or a partner or someone in authority.
Is this you? Hypnotherapy can help.
COVID
The COVID outbreak back in 2019 has changed our lives in so many different ways. One significant change has been the way we work. At the peak of lockdown in 2020 the numbers of people that worked from home rose by 40%. Many people have change their lifestyle and continue work this way. As a Hypnotherapist I have seen a dramatic increase in relationship issues because the stay at home partner finds it difficult to switch off from work.
Our mind often chenges it’s state in accordance with a change of environment. The time taken to travel to and from work gave our minds the opportunity to recalibrate from the work mindset to home mindset. Many people who work from home have difficulty doing this as there is nothing to trigger the mind to recalibrate. The result is a lot of stress and tension within the family that wasn’t there before. Thankfully simple psychological strategies can help with the recalibration.
How has COVID negitively affected your lifestyle?
OOPS! – DON’T LAUGH…
I recently posted about ‘Pain’ and that it’s only a perception. Last night I ended up in the minor injuries unit. Having sliced my hand on a broken drinking glass. The medic told me I needed 3 stitches. She was going to numb the area around the cut (which was quite deep). I told her not to bother and that I would manage the pain without anaesthesia. I simply told myself that I was about to feel sensation in my hand but that sensation wasn’t pain. I sat and watched and the nurse practitioner stitched my wound pain-free. She commented that it was weird that I didn’t even wince during the proceedure. We chatted briefly about hypnosis which she found fascinating.
Once you understand that pain is all in the mind, that it soesn’t actually exist then you can control it. Not always easy but entirly possible.
CLIENT SESSION
I’m just out of a client session. The client had been putting off coming to see me for some time because she had a fear that she might get stuck in trance as the session was carried out over Zoom.