What can hypnotherapy do for you?

•  Stress – worry, anxiety, phobias, irritability, anger, mood swings, panic attacks
  
•  Habits – eg nail-biting
  
•  Addictions – smoking, alcohol, food
  
•  Weight management – binge-eating, emotional eating, night-eating
  
•  Sleep problems – insomnia, nightmares
  
•  Depression
  
•  Conditions where stress plays a part in aggravation eg irritable bowel syndrome, skin conditions, high blood pressure
  
•  Unresolved guilt, shame, traumatic memories
  
•  Exam nerves

What else is it used for?

• Joy and aliveness
  
• Mental and physical balance
  
• Relaxation
  
• Motivation
  
• Performance – eg sport, public speaking
  
• Self-esteem
  
• Confidence

Weight Management

In my experience, hypnotherapy is most effective where the excess weight is related to specific behaviours eg

1. Emotional eating (depression, boredom, loneliness, worry etc)
2. Binge eating
3. Night eating

It is also very useful for enhancing self-esteem, motivation and to realize that it is actually possible to lose weight.

As you wake up to new possibilities you become motivated to better manage yourself.

It is also essential to be working towards something... how your life will be when you are slimmer. When you are no longer keeping your energy and power tied up in obsessing about food and weight, you will have plenty of space to live more fully.

Once you have managed the emotional triggers, improved food intake, managed the cravings and got moving, you’ll realize that you have innate body wisdom and that food does not need to be a big deal at all! Something I’ve learned from all my dieters is that dieting is boring, but not as boring as the constant chatter in the head about should and shouldn’t, good and bad.

A course of hypnotherapy for weight loss is 5 sessions.

Session 1- Body fat %, analysis of food habits, emotional triggers, exercise habits, mind dialogue about failure, always and never thoughts, help with cravings.

Session 2 – 1st hypno session

Session 3 – 2nd hypno session. You will be given a CD to use at home.

Session 4 – 3rd hypno session. Learn self-hypnosis and mini-hypnosis

Session 5 – 4th hypno session. Re-inforce and strengthen new habits.

After that, I suggest a monthly tune- up until the goal is reached and a check-in at 1 year.

What really matters is that a healthy weight is maintained for life.

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Binge Eating

I have treated numerous binge-eaters with a powerful technique, resulting in complete extinguishing of the bingeing behaviour.

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Addictions

Smoking

Personal motivation is recognized as the most important factor in a smoker’s likelihood of success in quitting. We all know people who have been heavy smokers and one day simply decide to quit. However most have 3 or 4 unsuccessful attempts before they finally succeed.

With hypnotherapy, you can strengthen the motivation, believe it is possible for you to succeed, leave behind feelings of powerlessness and failure and be the authority in your life. No one wants an addiction to have the power over them.

You will be assessed using a tobacco dependence questionnaire and options for treatment discussed. Four sessions over 3 weeks is usually sufficient to quit. The actual chemical withdrawal is normally complete within the first 2 weeks.

Follow-up is strongly recommended at 6 weeks and 3 months.

ALCOHOL and FOOD ADDICTIONS

These are similar to smoking.

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Stress

What is it? Stress is our reaction to a perceived threat. It is not a vague thing. We all know when we feel 'under stress', 'stressed out', 'stressed to the max', 'burnt out'. Cartoonists know how to depict it and we recognize it in others and in ourselves. It is measurable in our bodies through tension, heart rate, blood pressure, heart rate variability, DHEA and Cortisol levels. We are constantly adapting to changes in our accelerating world. Faster and faster we are confronted by not getting what we want and expect, and getting what we definitely don’t want or expect. The adrenalin surge in the fight or flight reaction is triggered more and more as we perceive threats or tigers in our everyday. We can become restless, driven, needing lots of holidays, we self-medicate with food, alcohol, coffee, and cigarettes. Then we hit survival mode where we are living on adrenaline, irritable, inefficient, complaining, having trouble with sleep, mental organization and repeated ailments of one sort and another.

If you had a choice, would you keep doing this?

The good news is that you can control stress by re-wiring yourself to feel great and in control of your reactions. You can strengthen your resilience, feel confident in your own resources, and live from a feeling of being much bigger than your problems.

4 Sessions of hypnotherapy and learning the skills of self-hypnosis is enough to get back on track.

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Depression

So much has been written about depression. It's causes and treatments.
All agree that medication is usually necessary for major depression and bipolar disorder to adjust the chemical imbalance.

In less severe forms of depression, either long-lasting (dysthymic disorder) or more acute (adjustment disorder with depressed mood) medication sometimes helps. Many do best with a combination of psychological treatment and medication. However, psychological treatments alone are very often effective for mild to moderate depression.

Of course, there are many ways to deal with it-spiritual, herbal medicine, Chinese medicine, Qi gong, exercise, help with problem solving, and time, because nothing lasts forever. It's worth noting that 96% of depressed people also have anxiety symptoms- see 'stress'.

Depressed people tend to concentrate on the problem, thoughts spiralling down into hopelessness, unable to see any possibility of improvement. Some people experience 'learned helplessness', as if, in their life, no matter what they do, it won't make any difference. If they also have a pessimistic thinking style and then encounter a real problem, they can quickly collapse under pressure. This style of thinking is associated with 'always' and 'never' statements, and the idea that bad things are permanent e.g. "dieting never works".

There can also be a tendency to catastrophise, whenever one thing goes wrong then "everything I do is wrong". The negativity becomes universal.
I'll never forget the relief, years ago, when I read Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman. To realise that the way I felt was simply a faulty thought pattern that could be identified and changed was tremendously freeing.

The good news is that resilience can be learned. Ruminations on the past can be stopped. New patterns of thought can be created. A sense of control over one's own life can be gained. A new sense of possibility can be opened.

What is required?
A decision, a willingness to change, knowledge and a way through.

Hypnotherapy targeted at specific beliefs, recurrent thought patterns and replays of old hurts can be very effective. All hypnotherapists use positive suggestions to improve self-esteem, confidence, sleep, health, energy, relaxation and happiness. As well as this, I use a simple form of anchoring good feelings, which can then be drawn on at any time. You can change your state of mind quickly by accessing the subconscious, which is quite open to the possibility that you are happy, confident and that you expect things to go well for you. You will wake up feeling that anything is possible for you again and that you have the power to change whatever you need to.

Psychologist Carol Rothwell recently created a happiness formula. Happy people are resilient, adaptable, feel a sense that they are driving their life rather than fate, they have their basic needs met in health, finances, safety, freedom of choice, access to knowledge, a sense of community or belonging, have the support of close people, they are focussed on what they are doing, meeting their expectations, have a sense of purpose and know who they are and what they're about.

Fortunately most of these things are under our control, (they're our minds). Some things aren't, and that is where patience and resilience come in and the knowledge that all things are impermanent. "This too shall pass".

I manage my own tendency to negativity with mindfulness, meditation, self-hypnosis, walking, stretching, action that will change something, and chinese medicine when my energy is low.

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Heart Disease Prevention

We all have information on prevention of heart disease, the diet, lifestyle and various treatments. Everyone knows that it's best not to eat too much animal fat or junk food, that we should exercise regularly, and it would be better if we felt less stressed.. The choices we make each day- in terms of our diet, exercise, attitude and behaviour toward others are much more powerful determinants of our health than anything a doctor can provide.

BUT what makes anyone start and maintain healthy habits?
Our minds have to change first.

From our own experience, we see that our daily habits are influenced by our thoughts ("just one" "who cares" "I will if I want" etc) and feelings. People who are sad, depressed or angry are more likely to overeat, smoke, drink etc. One study showed that angry people are likely to eat 600 cal more per day than average. Hostility is also a strong determinant of coronary heart disease in itself.

So, to start a healthy program and stick with it we need our thoughts and feelings in alignment and some discipline. Some recent, fascinating research found that people who were enrolled in lifestyle modification programs, even though they did make the necessary changes, did not get the same health protection as the people who decided to make the changes themselves.

THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EDUCATION AND COACHING TO CHANGE AND THE MIND SHIFT REQUIRED TO DECIDE ON GOOD HEALTH.

" I WANT TO, I CAN AND I WILL".
We need to believe in our ability to change and that we can generate the physical and emotional resources required to power the change. We have to be the authority in our own lives.

Fortunately, we notice that if we eat 'clean' food, move regularly and have a reason to live, that we do feel better. This reinforces the change.
With hypnotherapy, you will feel your ability to influence your life and have more sense of control . These factors are known to be associated with better heart health.
There are many studies now on psychological and social factors in heart disease.
What has been proven to work ?
Feeling 'connected'. This can be with the primary relationship, family, community, God, friends or pets. A sense of connection is what works, whether that is through meditation, prayer, talking or touch.
Altruism, compassion and service also protect the heart. We all need to feel of value.
Appreciation or love of others and self is strongly correlated with happiness and health.

With hypnotherapy, you can regain your sense of connection, compassion and appreciation , and through self-hypnosis, be able to access those feelings whenever you feel isolated and cut-off or hostile.

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