Hypnotherapy

HYPNOSIS IS LIKE WATER

A curious young fish asked a wise frog, "What is water?" He had heard about this mysterious element, but only half believed in it. The wise frog replied, "It is all around you, but you must learn before you will be able to see and feel it."

Hypnosis has come a long way from the Victorian days of ‘you are feeling sleepy’, to modern, indirect, Ericksonian ‘conversational’ hypnosis.

Hypnosis works subtly but directly with the unconscious mind. Suggestions and commands are embedded in conversation and stories. Hypnosis creates post-hypnotic suggestion or instructions.

The prime directive of your unconscious mind is to protect you. Sometimes the method that it chooses inadvertently causes problems. Our job is to work with your unconscious mind to find a better solution to its problem, one that promotes your well being.

Hypnosis, like water to a fish, really is all around you. Our job is to harness it to resolve your problem.

In this way, hypnotherapy is a powerful way of helping you get more of what you do want and help stop you doing those things that you no longer want to do*. 

Hypnotherapy can take many forms, it can be active and alert or it can be very relaxing. The choice of method depends on your problem and the best way to resolve it. Whichever route, it is a safe process that most clients find enjoyable. 

It involves being placed into a trance that allows us to work with your unconscious mind to create and suggest new outcomes for you e.g. being more confident, letting go of a phobia etc.

Whether you have active alert hypnosis or are in a more relaxed trance, you hear everything during a trance and are always in control.

Your unconscious mind is the part of your mind where automatic habits  behaviours are located.  The list of these automatic programmes are almost limitless. Initially, most things that we do are done very consciously, like learning to drive with all the pedals, mirrors, steering wheel and controls to contend with in the right order. But then, we learn how to do it subconsciously and we can do all of that and hold a conversation at the same time.

Many of our subconscious processes were learned in this way.

Most of what we do is automatic. Can you imagine the chaos if we had to do everything consciously. I doubt we’d even finish getting dress or out of the house. It would be exhausting!

Your unconscious mind is where you store your memories, values and beliefs.

The unconscious aims to keep us safe.  Issues like anxiety or a phobia (as examples) happen as a result of an experience or an event which takes place and our behaviour e.g. scared of wanting to go on a plane, is directly at odds with what we want i.e. going on a holiday.  That’s why Hypnotherapy can be so powerful; because it is possible to learn new skills giving to provide you with behaviours e.g. being calm, not anxious*.

Most of us find consciously changing our behaviour, very hard.  You cannot consciously control your unconscious mind.  Conscious effort is just that, conscious. Unconscious behaviours are like your best employee, they are always working. They never take a break and they work 24/7 without holidays or sickness. Think of someone wanting not to be anxious before a presentation.  Often times, they will focus on ‘not being anxious’, which makes them think of being anxious and the whole cycle of anxiety begins. Hypnotherapy can help you stop that by working directly with you consciously and most importantly, unconsciously*. 

There are two kind of Hypnotherapy:

1. Conversational hypnotherapy – This is where change take place with a using hypnotic language, which doesn’t require formal trance

2. Trance based hypnotherapy – This is where clients experience a light / medium / deep trance. Different trances are used for different treatments

Both are used to communicate directly with your unconscious mind in order to help you get the outcome you want.  Active alert trance is, well, active and alert. Relaxation based trance is very relaxing & feels like the stage between being awake and falling asleep*.

EXAMPLE ISSUES RESOLVED:

• Sea sickness – single session resolved

• Fear of knee dislocations preventing keeping up with rehab after surgery when the surgery had actually prevented dislocations – single session enabled the person to get back on track

• Issue with runner who had issues following multiple car shunts.  The physical issues had resolved but fears prevented pain free running.  One session led to massive improvement in speed and comfort

• Migraines – a very regular issue and using pretty strong prescribed medication.  Single session and now rarely uses medication.

• Fear of riding her horse following a nasty fall.  Single session enabled her to ride again

• Fear of swimming in deep water and in the dark.  Single session.  Subsequently did a night swim and a channel relay.

10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HYPNOSIS

1. You stay completely awake during hypnosis. Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is a natural state of mind. It's not a form of sleep. You’ll be able to hear, comprehend and later remember (unless it’s helpful to have a suggestion to forget certain aspects).

2. The average person experiences hypnosis at least twice a day. Common examples include arriving at your destination without memory of driving there; zoning out while reading a page of a book; or becoming so engrossed in the TV that time just evaporates

3. Hypnosis has been recognised since the 18th century. Franz Mesmer is credited with bringing hypnosis to the attention of the public sometime around 1770.

4. Hypnosis can be used as an anaesthetic. Hypnosis can be used for pain management. This can be done by removing the emotional experience of pain whilst still allowing the sensory sensation. Many women use this during childbirth.

5. Stage hypnosis and clinical hypnosis are very different and not everyone is a candidate for stage hypnosis.

6. Hypnosis has a wide range of applications. These include getting over fears and phobias, weight loss, negative memories, insomnia, and quitting smoking to name a few.

7. Hypnosis only brings about memory loss if that is an intended goal. Hypnosis is all about suggestion. If the purpose of undergoing hypnotherapy is to forget negative memories, that can be achieved. Forgetting memories is only likely to happen if that’s the goal, and even those memories can be brought back with further suggestion.

8. Your brain works differently while in a hypnotised state. Hypnosis allows the brain to bypass the conscious part of the mind. It ‘turns off’ the desire to ask questions or take note of surroundings. Instead, the brain gains hyperawareness, a state of being in control of your surroundings without consciously thinking about it.

9. Hypnosis feels different to different people. People who have undergone hypnosis report different feelings whilst “under”. Some describe their experience like falling asleep with the TV on, while others report feeling heavy. Others use words like “light” or “floating”. Since we all internalise experiences differently, it makes sense that the feeling of hypnosis is different for each person.

10. You can hypnotise yourself. Ultimately all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. For example, if I were to tell you to close your eyes, it’s not actually me that closes your eyes, it is you. You choose to follow the suggestions. Take that a little further, if you learn the key elements of a successful hypnosis session then you can create your own session. This is something that I teach as part of the Sports Performance Hypnosis package. You’ll no longer be limited to relying on paying a hypnotist, the world opens up to you with self-hypnosis.

WHY USE HYPNOTHERAPY?

Hypnotherapy can help you across a number of different areas in your life.  It can be rapid and is very safe. There are different areas of your life that you may want some help with:

Values – Values are unconscious & provide your motivation. We have values in our career, relationships, family & health.   For example being free and happy are values.  Values are things you can feel and not hold.  Some clients need help in realigning values.

Beliefs – Beliefs are informed by your values.  Some clients may have a belief stemming from their values which leads to them believing that they need to be ‘x’ or ‘y’ to achieve that value.   Some beliefs can be negative and stop you getting what you want in life e.g. ‘I am not good enough’ or ‘part of me wants this, part of me wants that’. Hypnotherapy can resolve limiting beliefs and realign those parts of your that seem to work against each other. *

Skills & capabilities – Some clients want to know how to be different in certain situations e.g. be more confident in social situations, in sport, or at work.

Behaviours – Whether it’s a bad habit such as biting your nails or procrastination, we can ensure you unconsciously learn to do something entirely different

Paddlefish Panda & Me will work out the level that we need to work out. For example, it would be pointless teaching technically how to do the best presentation if you either don’t believe that you are good at it, or don’t value the ability to do them well. You wouldn’t be able to put the training to good use. We work at the highest level required to fix the problem ensuring that all related issues fall away when the root cause is addressed.

Finding the root cause is the difference between good and less effective therapy*.

As well as Hypnotherapy, we use a number of other tools and techniques such as NLP and TimeLine Therapy when working with clients. 

Please be aware that whilst we give you 100% effort and skill, we can’t guarantee a success.  I’d be very sceptical of any therapist who believes they can offer such guarantees.

If you have a question you’d like us to answer and would like to know more about how we can help you, we offer a free 20 minute complimentary consultation. Call us on 07702 814690, or book an appointment online.

AUDIO RECORDINGS

We also offer a range of audio downloads. Why not have a look and see if there is one that is of interest.