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Hypnotherapy Articles
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Pain Control
The first account of painless surgery using hypnosis was in 1838. Dr. Elliotson capitalized on the times by giving public demonstrations of hypnosis (which was at that time still referred to as mesmerism, a name given by Franz Anton Mesmer) at the London University College Hospital. Later in 1845 James Esdaile performed over 2000 operations including amputations in which patients were hypnotised. The patients reported feeling no pain throughout their operations.
In 1955 The British Medical Association approved hypnosis after it had been used successfully throughout the 2nd world war to treat post traumatic stress and to perform operations in on soldiers who had limited medical supplies whilst fighting.
Unfortunately no one can really say how hypnosis for pain control works, however,
research seems to suggest that it is based upon a disassociation model, as seen in
patients with Multiple Personality Disorder.
Dissociation can eliminate pain by placing it in a sort of psychological storage
area, away from the consciousness of the patient. There are many accounts in
history of hypnosis being used in place of anaesthetics.
This model of dissociation is commonly referred to as the "hidden observer"
model of cognition.
NLP can also be a helpful tool in alleviating pain. If a person can elicit the submodalities of their pain (the coding the mind has labelled to the experience) the submodalities can be changed, by adjusting them to see what impact they have on the pain levels. More specifically, the submodalities of an area of the body which are not experiencing pain can be elicited (or the submodalities can be elicited when the body is not in a painful state to give contrast) then the submodalities of “pain” can be adjusted to the same as the submodalities of “no pain.” For example if one of the things a person says about their pain is that it is like a red throbbing ball, try changing it to a pink wobbly blob and see if it continues to be as troublesome.
Remember that pain is your body’s way of letting you know that something is wrong, so before using these techniques to override your pain, you must get the approval of your doctor.
Past Life Regression
For those who believe in the possibility of past lives, Past Life Regression can be particularly interesting. It works on the basis that a persons’ soul has lived in another body, experiencing a life before the life they are experiencing now. Some people believe they have had many past lives, some as men and some as women and occasionally some people believe they were animals in their previous lives.
Whilst there is very little evidence to verify the validity of the past lives people claim to have had, there are occasions when the regression has provided a great deal of detail about the past life, and facts have later been established as holding some truth.
Past life regression has become particularly popular in the world of hypnosis due to the ease at which information can be withdrawn from the unconscious. It is believed that the memories of past lives are not usually accessible to the conscious mind and any recollection is stored in the unconscious. Because hypnosis relaxes the conscious mind the unconscious is able to come to the fore and memories can then be shared usually with the client answering questions directed by the therapist. The therapist can keep a note of the responses given, as on occasions the client will not be fully aware of the responses they have provided.
Whether the past lives that people believe they have had are “real” of not, there is still a degree of therapeutic benefit that can be had from performing a regression. There have been times when a person has tried every conceivable method to rid themselves of a specific problem or ailment without success, then have later experienced a past life regression and found out not only the cause of the problem but also the means to resolve it. In one session of PLR I performed, a gentleman had had several sessions of hypnosis for anxiety but had not yet experienced any significant shifts in his discomfort. One day we were using some routine hypnosis when he slipped into a past life and began describing a scene in which he was a king in France, standing on a balcony looking down on his troops and preparing to take them to war. He felt that it was at this time he had first experienced his anxiety, and as a result of visiting this time and looking at it from this new perspective he was able to release the anxiety he suffered from in his present life. Whether this past life was real or true or not is of interest but at the same time not really relevant. It could have been that his imagination simply created this scene as a representation to help him release his negative emotions or there could have been some truth in it. Either way his problem was solved and it is in solving problems that PLR has its greatest value.
Nail Biting
Nail biting is usually caused by a persistent bad habit, or as a symptom of anxiety or stress. It is a behaviour that sometime occurs unconsciously, so that the patient is not even fully aware of the times when they put their fingers into their mouth and bite their nails. Others are aware of what they are doing, but feel compelled to continue, using snags or tears in the nail as an excuse to bite them.
All behaviours and habits are maintained at an unconscious level. Therefore it is in this region that the changes need to be made. Hypnosis is a useful tool in making changes to the unconscious mind and to unconscious activity. This is because during hypnosis, the conscious mind (which we use for thinking during our normal conscious and awakened state) is not as alert. This means that suggestions can be given and they are more readily accepted as the conscious mind will not filter or analyse the suggestions as much as it would during normal awakened consciousness.
Some people continue to bite their nails way past the nail bed, causing the fingers to become sore and bleed. But even those who do not have such an extreme habit could be doing themselves some harm by biting their nails. Many bacteria are found under nails, especially on unwashed hand, in some cases a bacteria called Staphylococcus can be found. This causes illnesses such as impetigo and toxic shock.
Nail biting can also cause damage to teeth, despite nails being made of keratin, the same substance that hair is made of, teeth can become damaged when they bang together quickly and with the force it takes to bite through a nail.
The most effective treatment I have used previously to help a patient stop nail biting, is hypnotherapy with suggestions for feeling nauseous each time the fingers enter the mouth. This offers not only a preventative measure for those who bite their nails, but also a sure way of bringing the behaviour into the patients conscious awareness. This gives the patient the opportunity to have choice about whether to continue with the behaviour or not.
It is also important to offer the client some alternatives to alleviate stress or tension if this is a contributing factor in the behaviour. Teaching self hypnosis or hakalau, can offer an alternative behaviour that induces a deep state of relaxation.
By Gemma Bailey
www.gemmabailey.co.uk
Nausea and travel sickness
Motion sickness, or travel sickness as it is better known, occurs when the brain is confused about the motion that the body is experiencing. The eyes are seeing stillness in the environment but an organ in the inner ear, the labyrinth, which an important part of our vestibular (balance) system is experiencing motion. This mismatch in the brain’s equilibrium causes it to experience moving and not moving at the same. The brain then concludes that this must be happening because it has been poisoned, and to overcome the poisoning it attempts to empty the contents of the stomach.
In all cases of nausea, hypnosis can be beneficial to help the brain disassociate from any anchors that may have been created. For example, the smell of the car may trigger the nausea before it has even started moving. Or if someone is feeling nauseous because of a particular situation or environment, such as when making a presentation to their boss, then these negative anchors can be collapsed. Positive anchors can be created to associate with the situations that cause the nausea. For example the zesty fresh smell of lemons can help to settle the stomach, as can fresh air and sips of cool water.
Diverting attention at an early stage can also help nausea and sickness to subside. When in a moving vehicle, it can be helpful to watch the scenery moving past (quite often if a person tries to read when in a moving car- fixing their gaze on the stillness whilst experiencing motion- this will accelerate the nausea.) Using hypnosis to visualise the journey before hand, can help the brain to practice experiencing the journey whilst feeling well. It can also be helpful to feel in control of the movements taking place- quite often travel sickness sufferers are fine when they are driving. For those who experience nausea due to anxiety or sickness, it can be helpful for them to feel that they also have control over the situation, but in a more emotional sense. It is important to have a feeling of control and confidence to overcome nausea which is related to anxiety or nervousness.
By Gemma Bailey
www.gemmabailey.co.uk
Recalling forgotten memories using regression
We’ve all had the experience of racking our brains to try and remember where we left our keys, or the name of someone or that extra item that you needed to buy in the super market. We’ve all felt that frustration and annoyance at knowing we know it and yet not being able to find the information.
It is thought that the conscious mind (the domain of the short term memory) is but a fraction of what constitutes the human mind, and that the rest if made up of subconscious mind and longer term memories. For example, if I asked you to memorise a number, such as a phone number, the information would be buzzing around in your conscious mind until you had learnt it. Once you have learnt it, it is passed into your unconscious mind so that you do not have to consciously repeat it to yourself but can call upon it as and when you need to. Quite often, people experience memory problems when they are seeking to access the information they have passed over to their subconscious mind and have consciously forgotten about. The information is there in the subconscious but finding it can be a little like looking for a book in a great library with the lights off and only a torch to help you.
Usually the information shows up again sometime later when you are least expecting it. This is a good thing to know, because it tells us that getting stressed and continuing to try to find the information when we cannot, doesn’t help. You are much more likely to get the information back if you relax and think about something else. It’s a little like when you are late for an appointment and driving somewhere unfamiliar. As soon as you begin to feel stressed you will go into foveal vision and miss all of the clues that are there to get you to your destination. When you are relaxed you can see more in the periphery and notice the clues that will send you in the right direction.
However when the information required is really lodged away from the conscious mind, hypnosis can be a useful aid to retrieve it. Many people now have heard of using hypnosis for past life regression, but we can also use hypnosis to regress to previous times in our current life. This can be useful for those who want to go back in time and find lost information- this could be a set of lost keys, or something related to a deeper psychological problem.
As with any hypnosis work, the practitioner must have in place the boundaries within which they feel comfortable working. For example, I will work with someone who wants to resolve an issue from a memory of the past but I will not conduct a memory recall for someone who suspects, but does not know (and wants to find out) if they have been abused in their past. This is because if someone does not know if they were abused, there may be a good reason why the unconscious mind is keeping this information from them- perhaps they are emotionally not strong enough to deal with this information. If they did then recall a memory of abuse, how would they know that it was true and not imagined? This could be very detrimental to a person’s relationships if they incorrectly begin to believe that they were abused.
Insomnia
I once read a great story about clinical Hypnotherapist, Milton Erickson who had a patient visit him because he was not sleeping well. The advice he gave his patient was to get himself back out of bed if he had been laying there trying to get to sleep for more that half an hour. Then the patient had to spend the whole night polishing his kitchen floor, and then go to work as normal the following day. I think this only happened once or twice before the patient was sufficiently re programmed to get into bed and go straight off to sleep in order to avoid having no sleep at all and cleaning the floor all night.
For those who suffer from insomnia, the symptoms can vary. For some, there are problems getting to sleep in the first place, or they go off to sleep but wake to early and are unable to get back into sleep again. Others sleep a lot, but continue to feel tired, even though they may have had an adequate number of hours in the land of nod.
There are some practical points to consider when working with someone who has problems with sleeping.
Firstly, is the patient exercising their body enough? If the body is too energised, or full of adrenaline then regular exercise is a healthy way of using up any excess.
Adrenaline can also be created from stress, so what is stressing the patient, something at work or perhaps a problem relationship? They could be worrying about money or their health. If they are worried about not sleeping, then that worry is also going to cause further problems with the sleep pattern.
Is there a routine at bedtime? I know that idea might seem better suited to children, but your body likes to have the repetition of going to bed and getting up at similar times each day. If you’ve ever had jet lag, you’ll know how much your body and sleep routine suffer as a result of the change in time zones.
Are there any chemical factors- for example, is there any medication being taken, or is the patient drinking alcohol or any stimulant products such as coffee?
To overcome insomnia, there are many subtle and self explanatory changes that can address the problematic examples above. In addition, relaxation can be a useful skills to learn (many people have no idea about how to do it!) because it encourages both the mind and body to release tension. Quite often when a person is stressed, their mind will be racing with thoughts, and the muscles in the body will be very tense. When this is the case, sleep is unlikely to happen, or be very broken. Learning hypnosis or a meditation technique is a quick and simple way to get both the mind and body into a deeply relaxed state. It is also possible to give suggestions for relaxing deeply, easily and quickly when a person is in a hypnotised state and these suggestions will be more readily accepted by the subconscious mind than they would be when in a normal awakened state.
Headaches and Migraines
I started having migraines when I was about 7 years old and found them a very scary experience. There is something quite frightening about experiencing that degree of pain in the part of the body where the brain is stored!
Luckily, my migraines would disappear after I had vomited, and gone to sleep- pain killers wouldn't touch them it all. I was also fortunate to not experience the distorted vision (sometimes called a warning aura) or prolonged nausea or the kind of migraines that last for several days.
I recently experienced a headache after visiting a friend who lives around 45 miles from my home. On the way back, the oncoming headlights of the cars began to irritate me, and I sensed that my headache was going to develop into a migraine. I knew that if I allowed that to happen I would certainly be stuck a long way from home, so I made the decision to stop at a service station, park up my car and lay in a hypnotic trance on the back seat for about 20 minutes. Hey presto, 20 minutes later I was fit to continue my journey.
The reason why migraines occur is largely to do with chemicals within the body. Your body is like a laboratory, and the chemical within it have an impact on your physical body. When a person has a migraine, there is a change in the serotonin levels in the body (it drops) and this causes the blood vessels to swell. It is the swelling that causes the pain.
People experience migraines for different reasons, emotional stress, or tiredness are often factors, some foods may also be a trigger, or in my example above bright lights were a factor and loud noises can be too. Going without food can cause a migraine. to start, menstruation or even changes in the weather!
Hypnosis is a wonderful way to escape from the pain of migraine for several reasons. Firstly the trance can be laced with suggestions for controlling and lowering the level of pain experienced. The simple relaxation is also hugely beneficial- if the migraine. was not caused by stress, you can expect that after the onset of the pain there is definitely going to be some stress and relieving that can only be a good thing. For reoccurring migraines, suggestions can be given to help the patient become more aware of the subtle warning signs that a headache or migraine. is on the way. Then self hypnosis or relaxation can be used to prevent the symptoms from increasing.
Dental phobias
Are you someone who is so scared of going to the dentist that you will absolutely avoid going, even to the detriment of your own dental hygiene?
If the answer is yes, the chances are you have a dental phobia. A phobia is more severe and intense than a fear which happens when the body senses danger and activates the fight or flight responses caused by a surge in adrenalin.
The fear or phobia may occur as a reaction to the dentist, the treatments or in more serious cases, anything dental related (such as toothpaste adverts). Fears and phobias usually occur because they have been learned from someone significant in our lives, or because there has been a significant negative usually directly related to a dentist experience.
If hypnosis has not already been explored, it could prove to be a useful skill in both managing the phobic response and alleviating any pain or discomfort. Unfortunately no one can really say how hypnosis works; however, research seems to suggest that it is based upon a disassociation model, as seen in patients with MPD.
Dissociation can eliminate pain by placing it in a sort of psychological storage area, away from the consciousness of the patient. There are many accounts in history of hypnosis being used in place of anaesthetics.
Hypnosis is also a deeply relaxing state. This can be beneficial during the dental treatment, to keep the patient calm and relaxed and to have them focus in their minds, on a more pleasant experience whilst the dental work takes place. Remaining calm has other benefits as well as helping the patient to feel better. For instance, there may be less bleeding (if the dental work lends itself to the possibility of this occurring) and healing may occur more readily.
Hypnosis can also be used as a way of making unconscious changes. The unconscious is the greater part of our minds which is responsible for maintaining habits and behaviours, and using will power alone is not usually the easiest way of creating changes to this part of the mind. However, during hypnosis, it has been found that habits and behaviours can be changed easily. This means that suggestions for feeling calm and at ease or generally reacting in a more positive way to the dental experience can be given. Therefore, hypnosis can be used prior to the dental work and during the dental work.
The benefits of overcoming a dental phobia expand beyond better dental care and hygiene. It is thought that around 20% of those in the western world who have dental fears and phobias, also suffer from fears and anxieties in other areas of their lives. When success has been achieved in one area, it is likely to have a positive impact on other areas of life where the patient once had challenges, and even of this does not occur, it will demonstrate that it is likely that the patient can achieve success using this method of therapeutic intervention. For those who are parents and suffering from a dental phobia, there is also an increased likelihood that your children will also develop some level of fear of going to the dentist, particularly if they have witnessed you becoming anxious about going to the dentist.
Hypnosis For Child Birth
Hypnosis for child birth is used as a technique as much throughout the pregnancy as it is used during the labour itself. The benefits include a sense of calm and relaxation- and of course the calmer mum can be, the calmer the baby will be during the normally quite stressful experience of being born. This can later influence the ease at which they feed and sleep as a result of a less traumatic birthing experience.
During the pregnancy, hypnotherapy can be used as a means of mentally preparing the mother for the forthcoming events, offering her suggestions of a calm pain-free experience to come, and a reassurance that she will be able to manage her own levels of pain. The hypnotic experience can help to maintain blood pressure at a safe level during the gestation periods and induce positive beliefs and feelings about the imminent experience as well as offering positive suggestions for things like diet and lifestyle throughout the pregnancy.
During the labour, the trance experience may be used, though not in a deep sleep kind of a way. Instead, the mother will be able to experience the event fully and fell in control during the process. The pain control method reduces the need for medication throughout the experience and ensure that any physical “healing” needs to take place after the labour happens quickly.
In short, anxiety creates tension which can create more pain. Hypnotherapy is able to break this cycle with the injection of relation and positive thoughts and attitude. It is well documented that childbirth is a very different experience in other cultures because the expectation of pain does not exist.
Building Immunity and Healing
It is well documented that stress has an impact on health and the ability to heal one’s self when in a state of illness. How many stressed people do you know that also suffer from headaches and pains in their bodies, or reoccurring colds? My own personal story is that I used to work in a very stressful and pressured environment. I worked through my lunch breaks and at the weekend. If I got sick, I still went to work. I worked when I had tonsillitis and sickness bugs. I covered other people’s shifts when they were off sick, but I was sick myself! Everyone kept telling me to take a break or else I’d get really ill. And I’d reply “Yeah I’d have to be half dead in order to stop me working!” So guess what happened? I got appendicitis! I had to have my appendix removed and was signed off work and unable to do practically anything for a month! It was as if my unconscious was telling me “If you really belief that you need to be half dead in order to stop, then that’s exactly what you’re going to get!”
When we are in a good state of mind it inevitably has a positive impact on our body. We know for example that laughing and exercise cause the body to release endorphins, which are not only the body’s natural painkillers, but also alleviate stress, therefore impacting on the health and immunity of the body.
Yes laughter really is the best medicine! But your jokes do not have others rolling around on the floor laughing, then Hypnotherapy could be a beneficial alternative.
We know already that there is a loop that is created between stress/ illness or stress/ pain. For example, when you are stressed you may start getting headaches. The headache then becomes a fuel for stress in itself. Causing the patient to anticipate the onset of a headache and stress further about any aches or pains they start to get in their head. Then they create more stress and anxiety once they have actually managed to get the headache because it prevent them from doing the work they should be doing, or it prevents them from doing work that they do not really want to be doing.
By throwing Hypnosis into the equation, we stimulate the hypothalamus which is responsible for creating moods and emotions. This can be used to induce suggestions of feeling happiness, relaxation, carefree, and fun. In fact simply by vividly remembering times in the past when these emotions have been experienced can onset the emotion itself. The release of the endorphin chemical can also be directed to reduce any pain that the patient is experiencing in that moment to begin to alleviate it.
Thus the cycle is broken. The endorphins aid the relaxation and pain relief and the stress reduces.
Break Your Bad Habits
Having just looked at a list of bad habits posted on the internet, I can honestly say that whilst they are habitual repetitive behaviours, many of them are also disgusting! One site listed nail biting, throat clearing, lying, interrupting, chewing the end of a pen, smoking and swearing in its top 20 list of bad habits. And that’s not to mention knuckle cracking and thumb sucking.
Habits are formed when a behaviour is consistently repeated. Eventually, it becomes an unconscious behaviour, that is, that you can do it without thinking about it. In just the way your unconscious controls you blinking, breathing and walking without you having to remember to make it happen, it also takes over responsibility for activating the habit.
In a sense, the levels of competency goes some way to explaining how this unconscious activity is created:
Unconscious Incompetence- Not knowing about it and not doing it. (Ignorant)
Conscious Incompetence- Knowing what needs to be done but unable to do it, lack of skill required.
Conscious Competence- Knowing what needs to be done and have to think about how to do it, in order to do it.
Unconscious Competence- Knowing what you need to do, and being able to do it without consciously thinking about how it is done.
We can see by looking at the levels of competency process, how a positive behaviour such as learning to drive for example, is taken through the above stages so that it shifts from a conscious activity, into an unconscious one. The problem with this process is that the unconscious mind will not distinguish between a good habit, and a bad one. When learning to drive, this is generally a beneficial habit to master, and biting your nails for example is not. However the unconscious simply responds to the programming it is given. It does make a distinction about whether it is right for you or not. The more times you repeat the behaviour, the more hard wired the behaviour becomes, good or bad.
This means that in order to break a bad habit, the automatic function of it, needs to be bought back into the awareness of the conscious mind, in order to give the conscious a choice about whether to continue with the action. This could be enough for some to break their pattern, yet for other, even though when they are conscious of the habit, may continue to pursue it. For example, many people who smoke and know that they should give up, are aware of the cigarettes they light up and inhale. Worse than that, they are even conscious of what they are doing to their depleting immune system as they do it- and still they continue- why?!
The answer is that they get some sort of a pay off. An opportunity to be destructive and release some tension by biting your nails, or a moment to drift off and take a break from the busyness of work when having a fag. In the great scheme of things it’s important to note that these payoffs are of course only temporary. They only alleviate pressures for a short amount of time and usually come with a down side, such as ultimately damaging your health, the way you look, the way you feel, or the way people respond to you.
NLP techniques are great for helping to get “leverage” for applying pain to the unwanted problem and pleasure to the solution. Anchoring techniques can provide an instant desired state to relieve tension for example, so that it is no longer achieved from performing the habit. A Hypnotherapist can be consulted to re program the unconscious part of the mind, linking unsavoury feelings to the unwanted behaviour (for example feeling sick if you go to put your fingers in your mouth to bite your nails) and forming new habits to deal with stressful/ boredom situations in a new empowering way.
By Gemma Bailey
www.gemmabailey.co.uk
Hypnotherapy for Asthma
Being a former asthma sufferer myself, I can completely empathise with those who live in dread the suffocating symptoms of an asthma attack.
My asthma was induced by dust and aggravated by intense exercise, however for others, the causes are less easy to avoid. Pollen, pollution, stress, colds, and cigarette smoke are just some of the factors that can aggravate asthma. Although there are many pharmaceutical treatments for asthma, the very young and very old can be particularly debilitated by the symptoms of asthma.
When an attack is on its way, it's important to keep calm, but when you feel physically unable to get sufficient oxygen into your body (this is because the airways are constricting), calm is generally the last thing you are feeling, and no matter how many times you consciously remind yourself to keep calm, will power alone is not enough.
The good news is that most asthma suffers have some idea of when they are going to have an asthma attack, there may not be a lot of prior warning, but there will be some.
Using hypnosis, an asthma sufferer can be given suggestions such as remaining calm when they suspect that an attack is going to happen, visualising the tubes of their airways as being relaxed and wide, becoming disassociated from one's self so that they are able to look at themselves and how they look at this time just before the attack comes on. Or notice how a simple change in their own physiology can release discomfort or what it is that they are focusing on at that time… are they focusing on how tight and uncomfortable they feel, or how their socks feel on their feet? Wherever your attention is, you can expect to notice more intensely.
Imagining the lungs in a healthy normal state can encourage them to return to normal function, in fact as well visualising the self and how actual changes can be made to the body and it's parts, more covert techniques can be employed. A rubber band letting go offers suggestions of something taut becoming loose and limp (such as the airway), a stiff door that is oiled to that it can swing open easily can also make similar positive suggestions, or a slide window that allows a breeze to blow through. Simply the auditory suggestion of a slowing metronome can encourage a panicked racing heartbeat to slow down.
Hypnosis is one of the most effective ways to achieve a natural relaxed state. In this state the mind is more open to suggestion and the state of relaxation alone can ease the anxiety and stress that can cause an attack. This means that using auto suggestion, it may be possible for a person to abort the asthma attack before it begins.
Kick That Habit Once And For All
In this article I am going to list ten ways in which hypnotherapy can be an effective means for empowering people to stop smoking in a natural way. If you are considering hypnotherapy to stop smoking or weighing up the pros and cons of other methods, then this article may provide you with more information to help you choose the method that has the best chance of working for you. I am a hypnotherapist, and regularly provide smoking cessation session at my hypnotherapy practice, to help people kick the habit once and for all.
1) Hypnotherapy targets the unconscious mind, this is the part that stores all your memories, emotions and creates and maintains habits. This means that the memories you have of smoking, emotional attachment to smoking and the smoking habit pattern is dealt with by hypnotherapy.
2) Having hypnotherapy to give up smoking means that you do not have to rely on willpower alone. This is good news, since trying to use willpower alone is a conscious act. The conscious mind is the logical part that can only hold information in the short-term. Habits are stored at an unconscious level. Therefore it seems obvious that you are likely to be less successful using willpower alone, as you are not working with your unconscious mind.
3) Hypnotherapy is a wonderfully relaxing process, in which your unconscious mind is packed full of positive suggestions. In this way, Hypnotherapy can eliminate or reduce anxiety associated with stopping smoking so that you feel calm and ready to stop.
4) Whilst hypnotherapy cannot make you stop if you really do not want to, it can help you identify and build your motivations for stopping. During a hypnotherapy smoking cessation session, your hypnotherapist, should spend time helping you identify your reasons for stopping smoking and the beliefs that have kept you smoking in the past.
5) Hypnotherapy can help install positive coping mechanisms, so that you will know what to do, to remain a non-smoker once the session has ended.
6) Hypnotherapy can help you to re-evaluate your unconscious beliefs related to smoking. During smoking cessation consultations at my hypnotherapy practice, people regularly present with distorted beliefs that they have developed and held onto, to give themselves excuses for smoking.
7) Hypnotherapy can install positive beliefs. Whatever method you use to stop smoking, when you have that last cigarette it can be challenging to believe that you really are a non-smoker at first. This lack of belief in yourself as a non-smoker can make you feel vulnerable to smoking again. Your hypnotherapist, can work with you to install new beliefs that will help you feel like a non-smoker.
8) Hypnotherapy can help you develop new feelings, emotions and associations using processes such as visualisation, metaphors , suggestions and mental rehearsal. Hypnotherapy can also help you break old negative associations such as that a cigarette goes hand in hand with your morning coffee or during your drive to work.
9) Hypnotherapy can be used to create other positive changes at the same time as stopping smoking, such as suggestions that you will not snack or increase eating once quitting, ensuring that weight gain is not inevitable.
10) Most hypnotherapist's help people stop smoking in one session. This is the way smoking cessation support is provided at by hypnotherapist's at hypnotherapy. This is because hypnotherapy covers all the aspects related to your smoking habit discussed in this article. Once these are dealt with, you no longer feel the urge to smoke.
Hypnotherapy To Improve Confidence
Confidence can be hard to pin down at times! Most people have had the experience of observing someone they know at a party or in a work situation, communicating with ease and naturally, without a hint of self-consciousness and have thought, “Why cant that be me?”
People look to hypnotherapy, for all types of confidence problems. It may be that you lack confidence within specific relationships or situations, you may want to be more assertive or to become a better public speaker. Perhaps you want to be able to share some of the knowledge and ideas that you hold back because of lack of confidence, or you find it difficult to speak up in front of groups of people. Some people feel they lack confidence in all areas of their lives. All these experiences are common and can be helped by hypnotherapy, Herts.
Of course, in life there will always be natural differences among people. Some people just seem to be more introverted, whilst others seem to enjoy the limelight and draw others towards them with ease. Whether confidence is a problem is self-defined by the individual. If it impacts on your life in subtle or more obvious ways and you feel frustrated or held back by lack of confidence, then hypnotherapy may benefit you.
Hypnotherapist's use hypnosis to bring about positive therapeutic changes in order to help people solve problems, such as lack of confidence. Hypnosis is an experience characterised by deep relaxation, a concentrated focus and increased sensory alertness. This state of mind occurs spontaneously and people slip in and out of this state, known as ‘trance', all the time, in everyday life. Examples of trance states include fantasising about someone you are attracted to, becoming deeply immersed in a book, being anxious about an event causing you to re-live what could go wrong over and over in your head and daydreaming. As you may see from the examples given, trance states can be positive or negative, depending on what is being focused on.
Hypnotherapist's induce deeply relaxing trance states because when a person is deeply relaxed, access to the unconscious mind is enabled. The hypnotic process is wonderfully pleasant and relaxing, which in itself is beneficial for people who lack confidence and experience stress and worry on a regular basis. Being free of stress and worry, during the hypnotic process, allows the therapists to pack your unconscious mind with positive suggestions of confidence. Whilst in this state you also get to practice situations in which you will act with confidence and conviction, through a process known as visualisation.
Hypnotherapy can also be effective in removing negative associations that you have developed between situations and feeling unconfident and it can also be used to remove and free you from negative emotions from the past. Sometimes self-esteem can be related to childhood experiences and these can be dealt with through in Hypnotherapy.
During your hypnotherapy treatment, the hypnotherapist will also work with you to achieve confidence through a technique called anchoring, which involves learning to develop an association between an external trigger, and a emotional response. Anchors develop all the time in everyday life as the human mind attempts to understand your environment by looking for patterns between things. Not all anchors are positive. People learn to make negative associations between things, such as feeling anxious or worried when they are required to give a presentation to colleagues. Your hypnotherapist can work with you to remove negative anchors.
If you are fed up with being held back or not being able to do what you dream of doing because of lack of confidence, book your appointment with a hypnotherapist now!
Hypnotherapy for Changing Habits
Hypnotherapist's utilise hypnosis to help people solve personal problems. Hypnosis is a state of mind, typified by deep relaxation, a narrowed focus and heightened sensory awareness. This state of mind occurs naturally and people slide in and out of this state, known as ‘trance', all the time, in everyday life.
Examples of trance states include fantasising about someone you are attracted to, becoming deeply absorbed in reading a book, being anxious about an event causing you to re-live what could go wrong over and over in your head and daydreaming. As you may see from the examples given, trance states can be positive or negative, depending on what is being focused on.
Hypnotherapy is based on the philosophy, that trance states can be helpful and utilised to bring about positive change. This is because, when a person is deeply relaxed, as they are during trance, access to the unconscious mind is enabled. Hypnotherapist's believe that learning, behaviour and change, occur at an unconscious level.
Categorising the mind into unconscious and conscious is just a conceptual model, a way of describing different aspects of the mind. The concept of unconscious and conscious mind is generally accepted in the western world. These different aspects of the mind are believed to have different functions. For example, the conscious mind is logical, rational, and sequential in thinking. It is also analytical, it uses words and numbers and stores short-term memories. The unconscious mind is intuitive, non-sequential in thinking, more creative, uses symbols and feelings and stores long-term memories.
If you imagine your mind as operating on a sliding scale, at one end, you have highly alert states, towards the other end, you have more relaxed states such as daydreaming and further towards the this end still, deep trance and finally sleep.
Often when people present with problems at Hypnotherapy, they have attempted to solve their problem through conscious effort and have struggled with this. For example, the insomniac, who finds that trying to consciously fall off to sleep, just seems to make things worse. At hypnotherapy, the hypnotherapist will use hypnotherapy to gain access to the unconscious mind. This type of therapy can be very useful for treating habits. For example, there are often unconscious issues associated with smoking that are best dealt with through hypnotherapy. Most people do not consciously decide to continue poisoning and damaging themselves through smoking on a day to day basis.
The conscious mind, although strong at logical thinking and the other functions mentioned, tends to be much more rigid in thinking. The unconscious mind is much more flexible and as it stores all your life's learning's, it is in the unconscious mind where habits are created and maintained. Through hypnotherapy, the hypnotherapist is able to make habit changes much easier and more naturally, by working with the unconscious mind.
Hypnotherapy To Stop Smoking
In this article I am going to share with you some of the specific ways Hypnotherapy can help you to stop smoking, for good. With the smoking ban fast approaching in the UK (July 1st 2007), many people are beginning to feel the social pressures to stop smoking. The benefits of stopping smoking are immeasurable. Without question you will be much healthier and perhaps more importantly free from the control you should have felt by being at the mercy of a horrible, smelly and expensive habit. At Hypnotherapy, you are supported to give up smoking with ease and also quickly. What this means is there won't be months of relying on expensive nicotine patches and other replacement therapies, which in my opinion, just keep the physical addiction going, longer then necessary.
When you make the decision to seek support from Hypnotherapy to help you stop smoking, we take steps to ensure that you are given the best possible chance of quitting. One of the ways in which Hypnotherapy, does this is by assessing your motivation to stop. From experience, it is clear to us that you must want to stop smoking now and you must also want to do this for yourself. The therapist will help you identify whether this is the case. Clients who are not considered motivated enough will be advised to come back, when the time is right. That way you are not wasting money and we are not wasting out time!
At Hypnotherapy we use various different hypnotherapy techniques to assist our clients so that they are able to stop smoking. The techniques used depend on the unique needs of the client. Some of the techniques include:
Identifying and consolidating your reasons to stop smoking- At Hypnotherapy, we have many facts and information about the negative effects of smoking on the mind and body. The hypnotherapist spends time with you, supporting you in applying this information to yourself and your life. The result is that perhaps for the first time, you can appreciate that harm from smoking, is not something that happens to other people. At this stage in the session you will begin to will feel the strong desire to move away from smoking forever.
Identifying the benefits and positive rewards of stopping smoking – its not all doom and gloom! It is also very important to begin focusing on what you will gain by stopping smoking and how your life will improve massively for the better. The therapist will also spend time with you, discussing and exploring the positive impact quitting smoking and remaining a non-smoker will have on your life. You will also be guided to set goals for the future. These will focus on things you wouldn't have been able to do as a non-smoker. You will be amazed at the new options you have for relaxing, becoming more healthy, going to new places and of course spending all that extra money you will save by stopping smoking.
Hypnosis with positive suggestion. Of course, part of your stopping smoking treatment at Hypnotherapy will involve you getting to sit back and relax whilst your unconscious mind does the learning! During this process you will be guided to a deep state of relaxation, whilst the therapist also directs your unconscious mind with suggestions and metaphors to stop smoking. You will also be supported to develop positive coping strategies. Acknowledge that your smoking habit has served a purpose in the past, in that it has likely been a method for coping. Hypnotherapy and NLP techniques (neuro linguistic programming) will enable you to develop positive coping strategies that serve you in the present and future. One of the new positive coping strategies could be learning to use an anchor. If the therapist feels that you would benefit from having an anchor created, this will also be part of the stop smoking treatment session at Hypnotherapy. An anchor, is basically a positive resource of emotions that you can fire off, when you need extra emotional strength to cope.
There are also several formal change techniques, which are effective for helping you to stop smoking. The most appropriate technique will depend on your unique problem. At Hypnotherapy, these techniques are used if required. Examples include: The Swish Technique which can be used if you wish to replace a highly contextualised problem behaviour with a more positive behaviour. It works to eliminate behaviours that occur in specific situations after specific triggers. 2) Parts Integration is very useful at uncovering the positive intention of your smoking habit and dealing with incongruent behaviour and feelings. 3) Like To Dislike – This technique is based on information about how we code memories in our brain. We tend to code things we like in a different way to things we don't like. So, its possible to re code your memory of smoking into something that you find disgusting.
Hypnotherapy provides a free consultation to those who make the decision to use Hypnotherapy to stop smoking. In addition, free support for the next six months is provided. This means that at any time within six months you should you start smoking again, we will work for free to get you to quit smoking again. Hypnotherapy, works on the basis that it is possible to have you stop smoking in one session. This is because we deal with all that aspects of your habit in this session, so that you leave a non-smoker and are done with that old habit.
Hypnotherapy for Insomnia
Having trouble sleeping can be really distressing and frustrating. You go to bed, wishing for a good nights sleep and then lay awake for hours, tossing and turning, becoming more and more anxious about getting to sleep. Or perhaps you drop off to sleep quite easily, and then awake at some unsociable hour and can't get back to sleep. Either way, the result is that you may feel tired, emotional, irrational and not able to function in a way that you would like to in daily life.
Most people have had problems getting to sleep at some time or another and often this is due to specific worries or concerns, such as having a speech to give, an interview to face or being in new or unfamiliar surroundings. If you suffer from a sleep problem that affects your everyday life, it is advisable to first seek advice from your G. P to rule out any underlying physical cause.
As a Hypnotherapist, I am constantly developing the tools and knowledge that I have to help people manage and overcome insomnia. On a more personal level, I myself have experienced sleep problems in the past, so this is an area, which is close to my heart. In this article I share ways in which hypnotherapy, can help people that cant sleep due to over thinking.
What I often notice about client's, who present with sleep problems, is that they are thinkers. If I could identify, one cause in their inability to sleep well, it would be over-thinking. This may be thinking about problems from daily life that need solving or even thinking about sleeping!
Hypnotherapy, can be useful in overcoming sleep problems in several ways. One way, it that hypnotherapy, can be used is to break the pattern of over-thinking at bed-time. This is important because falling off to sleep naturally and easily, is not a conscious act. Our unconscious mind is responsible for knowing how to sleep. In fact, it will have stored memories for how to sleep well and also how to sleep badly. We can't think ourselves to sleep, in the same way that we can think our way through other problems. During hypnosis, Hypnotherapist's, can help you recall times of good quality, restful sleep and make suggestions for you to experience high quality sleep again. Strategies are also taught which can help you to reduce over-thinking.
In addition, hypnotherapy can also help you to relax and let go off distracting thoughts. Learning how to let go in this way, can enable most people having sleep troubles, to sleep well again. Through hypnosis, clients are supported in planning for a good nights sleep, and cues for sleep are given and associated with activities that you usually do in order to prepare for bed. Suggestions are given in an open and permissive manner, in a way that avoids any resistance from the unconscious mind. For some people, being given suggestions to try to stay awake is the key to overcoming resistance and can break the pattern of consciously trying to sleep.
If you are having sleep problems, hypnotherapy can help you sleep naturally again. Until you have booked your session, why not try the technique below. I have personally found this technique very useful for getting off to sleep when I am kept awake by a busy mind.
Try the following: anytime a sentence begins to form in your mind, stop it in its tracks and separate and deal with each word individually. I like to imagine an invisible conveyor belt, delivering my thoughts that I can stop when I want. Take each word, and examine them one by one. You may want to ask yourself whether the word is anxiety provoking, if you are feeling anxious (once you break down the sentence into words, you can usually find that any emotional associations go) and then let the word float away, or be filed away, whatever works for you. You can then move onto the next word. This technique works by slowing down racing and repetitive thoughts and reducing the emotions they can cause. This help to induce a relaxed state, allowing sleep to happen. You may want to couple this technique with a relaxed breathing process. I find it useful to concentrate on the sound made from breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. By focusing on the sounds only, it is possible to quiet your mind.
Self-hypnosis for stress relief
Most of us experience stress at times in our lives and often this is a perfectly healthy reaction to external factors such as having a new job or moving house. Sometimes, there are no major events going on in your life, you are just very busy and have begun to notice that you feel anxious more often or there have been some changes in bodily sensations such as an increased heart rate or shoulder tension.
I am a hypnotherapist, and when clients present at my hypnotherapy practice, stressed out, one of the first things we do is to take a look at their routine. Usually we find that the client has little or no time built into their routine to relax. Commonly clients that are feeling stressed, will report that even when they try to sit down and relax they find this incredibly difficult and only feel comfortable when doing something. Often the time set aside to chill out, gets pushed aside and housework or some other chore takes over. When you are used to rushing around it can be really hard to switch off and change pace. This is where hypnotherapy, can help you ensure you experience a specific period of regular ring-fenced time out. In this article, I will provide tips for self-hypnosis, a valuable relaxation tool.
Self-hypnosis is easy to learn and can really make a difference to your quality of life. The benefits of a good hypnosis relaxation session roll over into your everyday life and you could find yourself feeling much calmer generally. Here's how you do it:
1. Find somewhere comfortable to relax and sit or lay down, ensuring that your arms and legs are uncrossed and relaxed.
2. Begin to focus on your breathing, taking relaxing deep breaths in and slowly releasing. As you are breathing in, imagine to yourself that you are drawing in positive resources and as you breath out you are releasing any tension and worries. Sometimes, if you tune in to the sound of your breath in and breath out, this can help you to get relaxed.
3. You may want to close your eyes now or before this, either way is fine. The next step is to get your body to relax. This is important as we know that you cant have a relaxed body and an anxious mind at the same time. There are various body relaxation techniques to try. One that I like, is to imagine a small ball of warm light (perhaps it's the sun) hovering just in front of your forehead. You can then guide this warm light, around your body from your head to the tips of your toes, imagine how it massages, soothes and releases tension in each body part, down to every tiny cell as it moves. The more specific you are the more relaxed you will become. For example, imagine how even your finger nails become more relaxed. If you find that any worries pop into your mind during throughout your relaxation time, just acknowledge them and then let them float away.
4. Next you can imagine yourself at the top of ten steps. You may already have planned what will greet you at the bottom of the steps. Make sure its somewhere lovely that you will become so relaxed just by being there. Take your time to move down each step in your imagination. For each step, say a positive statement to yourself, such as I am becoming so deeply relaxed now. Use your imagination to make this experience as vivid as possible. Fully engage your five senses.
5. Once you reach the bottom step, you can spend time just relaxing in your chosen place in your imagination. Perhaps it may be a lovely garden, a forest or a beautiful beach. Again use your senses to fully appreciate the sounds, feelings, smells and sights unique to your chosen place.
6.Finally, once your have relaxed for your chosen period of time, or you feel good and want to go about your day, reverse the process, imagine yourself walking back up each step, becoming more alert and awake, with each step, telling yourself you will be ready to open your eyes and go on with your day, feeling great, when you reach the top step.
That is how simple self-hypnosis is and with practice you can really let your imagination run wild, and try different relaxation methods to see what works for you. Sometimes it can be useful to visit a hypnotherapist for a few sessions first to developing an understanding of what the hypnotic experience feels like and to discuss how you can begin to develop your self-hypnosis skills.
Stop Smoking with Hypnotherapy
As an ex smoker, I can completely relate to the challenges involved in giving up smoking and to the feelings of guilt, frustration and embarrassment of being a smoker, when you would really rather not be. It's just not socially acceptable now days and as a women, the fear of developing the classic smokers face, puckered lines, gray complexion and dark circles was enough to enable me to find my motivation!
Fortunately, if you haven't yet found the support you need to stop smoking forever, hypnotherapy can be an effective solution. In this article you can discover 5 of the ways in which Hypnotherapy can help you stop smoking with ease and quickly.
1. A Free Consultation – Hypnotherapist's provide a free consultation to those who make the decision to use Hypnotherapy to stop smoking. During this initial consultation motivation is assessed. This is a very important step in your commitment to stop smoking. A good therapist will not work with a person who is not really that motivated to make the change. If they do, they are wasting your time and money. Hypnotherapy would help you to identify whether you feel things ‘must change now'.
2. Informal Change Techniques: Leverage
At Hypnotherapy, a range of techniques are used to move ensure that you will be completely ready to stop smoking for good. One of the ways that this is done is via a process called getting leverage. This basically means helping the client to recognise and experience the impact of the problem behaviour, such as smoking, on themselves and those around them. It involves bombarding you with information about the impact of your smoking behaviour on your body and mind and the dangers of smoking will feel very real to you after this process. It will help you find your motivation and will identify those who are not motivated.
3. Informal Change Techniques: Setting Well-Formed Goals
NLP takes goals setting seriously and has developed criteria for goal setting that results in the goals being achievable and likely to be reached. Setting these types of goals involves you acting as if you have already achieved your goals to give up smoking. You will get to really visualise and begin to experience in your mind your life as a person who does not smoke. You will want to move towards this life after this process.
4. Formal Change Techniques – There are several formal change techniques, which are effective for helping you to stop smoking. The most appropriate technique will depend on your unique problem. Here are a few: 1) The Swish Technique can be used if you wish to replace a highly contextualised problem behaviour with a more positive behaviour. It works to eliminate behaviours that occur in specific situations after specific triggers. 2) Parts Integration is very useful at uncovering the positive intention of your smoking habit and dealing with incongruent behaviour and feelings. 3) Like To Dislike – This technique is based on information about how we code memories in our brain. We tend to code things we like in a different way to things we don't like. So, its possible to re code your memory of smoking into something that you cant stand.
5. Hypnosis with positive suggestion. Of course, part of your stopping smoking treatment at Hypnotherapy will involve you getting to sit back and relax whilst your unconscious mind does the learning! During this process you will be guided to a deep state of relaxation, whilst the therapist also directs your unconscious mind with suggestions and metaphors to stop smoking. You will also be supported to develop positive coping strategies. Acknowledge that your smoking habit has served a purpose in the past, in that it has likely been a method for coping. Hypnotherapy and NLP techniques (neuro linguistic programming) will enable you to develop positive coping strategies that serve you in the present and future.
Hypnotherapy helps people to stop smoking in one session. In that one session you become a non-smoker and do not want to go back to being one. Free support is also offered for the following 6 months, so that you return for free support if you feel you need it. If you do return to smoking a free top of session is available. These are rarely required.
Karen Hastings is an NHS experienced occupational therapist and Master NLP practitioner. Karen provides NLP, OT, CBT and Hypnotherapy services. Karen is registered with the Health Professions Council. Karen uses NLP and Hypnotherapy to support people in stopping smoking.
NLP and Hypnotherapy:Unscrambling The Link
NLP and Hypnotherapy are very closely related and could be considered to come from the same ‘family' of therapeutic approaches.In fact, if you are considering having hypnotherapy and are currently searching for a therapist, you will probably find that many hypnotherapist's now-days, practice NLP to some level and conversely that most NLP practitioners who have completed certified training courses, will also be familiar with using hypnotic techniques during therapy sessions.
How are these therapies similar?
Hypnotherapy utilises hypnotic techniques in order to bring about therapeutic change .Hypnotherapy enables a person to solve personal problems by bringing about a deeply relaxing state of mind.When the person is deeply relaxed this allows the unconscious part of the mind to use its resources to find solutions. It also allows the person to focus their attention completely on the therapists voice in order to follow the positive suggestions and guidance the therapist is making.In hypnotherapy this relaxed state is called trance.All people experience trance states on a daily basis. Trance simply refers to the experience of being really relaxed.It also involves focusing your attention so that it is highly selective. Reading a really good book and being completely absorbed in it, is an example.
Have you had the experience of being totally immersed in the characters of the book, being able to vividly imagine what they are like, whilst at the same time being able to ignore other noises and distractions going on around you?If so, you have experienced trance. Using your imagination and day-dreaming are other examples.Any time that you ‘go inside' your own head you are in a light trance.If you've ever had the experience of having a problem that is constantly with you, so that it feels like all you have or all you are, is this problem, then you will know what it is like to experience a bad trance.
Richard Bandler (a computer scientist) and John Grinder (an associate professor in linguistics) developed NLP in the 1970's. NLP was created after they spent time studying and modelling therapists who were considered to be extremely effective at getting good results.One of these therapist's, was the Psychiatrist Milton Erickson.He was also an extremely talented hypnotherapist .Eriksson's style of indirect hypnotic suggestion and skilled use of ambiguous and vague language patterns, has become known as Ericksonian hypnosis.ince NLP was developed after modelling Erickson, many NLP techniques involve Ericksonian hypnotic approaches.Like more traditional hypnotherapy, NLP works with the unconscious part of the mind in order to find solutions to problems.NLP therapists are also trained in using Milton Model language patterns in order to induce light trance states in clients. This is very useful at getting a problem moving when a person is stuck in a bad trance. Other hypnotic techniques that are common to NLP include metaphorical story telling and utilising the client's imagination in order to bring about a highly focused state of attention during change techniques – a trance state.
How do NLP and Hypnotherapy Differ
You will find that they are more similar then they are different. During hypnotherapy you are much more likely to be seated in a comfy chair, perhaps reclining with your eyes closed!During NLP you often get more involved with the techniques on a practical level, so you may be standing, or be required to do or say certain things related to overcoming your problem.You may still get to close you eyes and you will certainly get to use your imagination.NLP techniques utilise hypnotic elements but usually in a more subtle way, the NLP therapist will empower you to draw on resources you already have in order to bring about new options in thinking.
When you see an NLP therapist you will find they often use more traditional hypnotherapy techniques as well.At the end of your NLP session, after all the hard work, you will often get to recline back in your chair and experience relaxation so that you leave the therapists office feeling positive and ready to go on with your day.
Hypnotherapy Training Courses In Hertfordshire
Train to be a successful fully Qualified Hypnotherapist in just 3 weeks with People Building.
Our training programmes are simple, fast and great fun.
The unique structure of our Hypnotherapy courses in Hertfordshire makes a flexible and practically based training programme in Hypnosis and its ethical application.
Practical sessions are an essential part of People Building's training courses. The hypnosis techniques taught will be demonstrated on members of the class, then delegates will be required to practice on each other throughout the course.
This is to give you experience and confidence of working with both receptive and resistant subjects.
Theoretical information is presented in a modern and easily assimilated format, making our hypnosis course both stimulating and highly informative.
Using the powerful tools and advanced hypnotherapy techniques we teach, you too can soon be treating members of the public desperately seeking help with or relief from many psychosomatic and emotional conditions.
However, if you are just thinking about hypnotherapy as a career, wish to add hypnosis to your current skills or for your own personal interest and you don't want to invest time and money in a year long diploma at this stage, then you might want to consider to train with People Building in Hertfordshire.
Theoretical information is presented in a modern and easily assimilated format, making our hypnosis course both stimulating and highly informative.
Since our hypnotherapy course and hypnosis courses in Hertfordshire have developed we have gone from strength to strength.
Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep. It does involve the induction of a trance-like condition, but when in it, the patient is actually in an enhanced state of awareness, concentrating entirely on the hypnotist's voice. In this state, the conscious mind is suppressed and the subconscious mind is revealed.
The therapist is able to suggest ideas, concepts and lifestyle adaptations to the patient, the seeds of which become firmly planted. The practice of promoting healing or positive development in any way is known as hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy aims to re-programme patterns of behaviour within the mind, enabling irrational fears, phobias, negative thoughts and suppressed emotions to be overcome. The aim of People Building is to train would be hypnotherapy practitioners to deal professionally, safely, confidently and effectively with the enormous variety of psychosomatic, psychological and emotional conditions clients may come to see you for different reasons. Everyone is different, so we treat you differently, so if you want to be as good as can be and as good as we want you to be, then our courses in Hertfordshire teaches small groups with one expert teacher and coaches to give you the opportunity for you to learn our methods effectively, fast, enjoyable and great fun. Each course has a structure, a structure based around your needs, you will learn to be flexible, expert and confident, able to deal with all events. Our training at People Building Hertfordshire brings out the best in you. Hypnosis relies not only on knowledge or experience but on creative talent and imagination. You have this in abundance. By helping you to exhibit your talents and creative imagination you will progress and develop a style in a professional manner. And of Course…, we will always be accessible to answer questions and give you support.
Choosing your NLP and Hypnotherapy Training Course
Thinking about taking part in NLP training? – if so, it can be overwhelming trying to decide which course and trainer will be most suitable for you .Having recently, trained in NLP practitioner in Hearts, I thought it might be helpful for you, if I shared my experience and advice for finding a decent trainer.
The first step is to look into the background of potential trainers – who did they train with? Are they qualified to teach NLP, is their expertise in therapy or business?
Have a look at their website – is it simple, clear and easy to follow? Do you like it? Is the information informative? In my experience you will find out something about the trainers style from their website .Unorganised, chaotic and gimmicky website's could potentially mean a similar training!
Do you know anyone else who has trained with them – try to get information from other people who have first hand experience of their teaching style and course.It's important to find out whether previous students feel competent at the end of training and what they have gone onto do with the training.
Find out about the course content, out of course study and examination method.Good trainings will require you to take part in a set amount of study time and classroom sessions, in order to meet requirements for being able to certify with relevant bodies.
Talk to the trainer and try to meet them beforehand if possible.This is very important.Some companies run free taster events.It's important that you feel that you are able to connect with your trainer and that you find them genuine and interesting to listen too. There are plenty of cheesy personal development gurus out there waiting to take your money!
I completed my NLP practitioner, in Hearts, with a company called People Building. People building provide NLP practitioner and master practitioner trainings in Hert.sI found this training to be of a really good quality.The trainer, Gemma Bailey, is down to earth, and has a charismatic presenting style.The course content was comprehensive and she knew her stuff .I now coach at trainings for People Building .I would happily recommend NLP practitioner training, Hearts with People Building.Good luck in finding a good trainer.
Improving Confidence Using Hypnotherapy
Why is it that some people seem to be naturally more extroverted than others? Those who seem to relish the lime light and speak out with confidence and ease, tend to appear more comfortable with themselves, and radiate towards other much more easily. Some might say that it takes all sorts, that it's important to have a variety of personality types, that the quiet introverts have their place. And whilst that's true, if you're an introvert who has been struggling with your low level of confidence, hypnotherapy may be able to help.
Whether you need to have the confidence to be more assertive at work, or the confidence to speak up and say the one thing that you should have said a long time ago, hypnotherapy could be the way forward for you. You may wish for more confidence in one specific area, or in all areas of your life.
Hypnotherapy is an application of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. Anyone can be hypnotized if they are able to concentrate, use their imagination and have the will and want to do it. It's a very simple and relaxing process. When you are in a trance state you focus so much on the hypnotherapist's voice, that your mind can delete (if it wants to) all other sounds or distractions that are normally within your awareness.
Using hypnotherapy to improve confidence is especially effective as it allows the changes to be made whilst in a deep state of relaxation, something which those suffering from stress and worry, have little chance of achieving! Whilst you are in this wonderfully relaxed daydream, your hypnotherapist will fill your subconscious mind with positive messages of confidence, visualisation of scenarios in which you will act with confidence and certainty and powerful anchors to a confident state. This means that your hypnotherapist will ask you to remember a time in the past when you were feeling confident, and as you remember that time your hypnotherapist will instruct you to squeeze your right hand into a fist, or some other simple physical gesture. This act of remembering a confident time from the past whilst making the physical gesture will be repeated several times, until the simple act of squeezing your hand into a fist evokes the confident feeling. This means that you can set off your powerful feeling of confidence at any time you require them.
Hypnotherapy is also extremely effective at remove unwanted negative emotions from the past, which could be the one thing standing between you and your new found confidence.
Using hypnotherapy to improve your levels of confidence could have a very positive impact on your life. If you take a moment now to consider all of the things you could achieve if you were more confident what would your life be like? Perhaps having more confidence would have made you apply for that promotion at work. If you were more confident would you still work for someone else or look at setting up your own business? Maybe you'd travel to the places you've never been but always dreamed of going to, or perhaps you'd have the confidence to join a dating agency and meet your perfect partner. Now just consider this for a moment, do you really want to get to the end of your days and wish you'd achieved so much more? Take the time now to invest in yourself and create the changes in your confidence with hypnotherapy, and change your life.
Misunderstandings About Hypnosis
Hypnosis refers to being in a trance like state, the kind of states that people experience naturally all the time in daily life.If you have ever been driving somewhere and have suddenly realised you have reached your destination, whilst being absorbed in thoughts about other things, if you have ever been so engrossed in a good book or movie, that you have been unaware of time or distractions, if you have ever daydreamed, then you have experienced trance.
Hypnotherapist's use hypnotic techniques in order to induce a trance like state in the individual. Whilst the individual is in trance, the therapist makes suggestions towards the client's goal. Hypnotherapy is based on the belief that when a person is in a trance state, conscious criticism and analysis is switched off, allowing therapy to be directed at the unconscious mind.It is also understood that the unconscious mind has access to areas of yourself that your conscious mind doesn't.For example, people have used self-hypnosis to control pain, control physiological functions such as heart rate and solve problems, which they are unable to do consciously.
As an Occupational Therapist, therapist who often uses hypnotic techniques, at my NLP and Hypnotherapy practice, Hearts for therapeutic benefits, I am aware that many people have inaccurate beliefs about hypnosis.For example, a friend asked me if I could work with her husband to make him give up smoking and pick up his socks!Two activities which he had no intention of stopping! In fact hypnotherapist's cannot make people do anything they do not want to do and this will be explained along with other common misconceptions.
1. Hypnotherapist's can make you do things against your will – This is not the case .During hypnosis you will be in a relaxed state and choose to follow the therapists voice and listen to the suggestions.The session relies on 100% commitment from the client, as all the work is carried out by the client in their imagination.The therapist can guide but cannot control what goes on inside your head .Therefore, if the therapist ever made any suggestions, which did not fit with your values or which you did not agree with, then you would immediately come out of your relaxed trance state.ince the success of hypnotherapy relies so much on the motivation and commitment of the client, a hypnotherapist cannot get rid of a ‘problem' that your not that bothered about solving.
2. Hypnosis is like being in a deep sleep – Unlike sleep, during hypnosis you will actually be highly aware of your surroundings and your senses will be switched on as you concentrate and focus on the therapists voice.
3. Some people can't be hypnotised – Most people can go into relaxed trance states, as it's a normal experience that we have in life .A person who is particularly nervous about hypnotherapy, perhaps due to misconceptions about it, could resist going into trance if they really didn't want too. A good hypnotherapist is able to guide a nervous client into relaxation, this can be done at the clients own pace over a few sessions.
4. Hypnosis is therapy – There is a big difference between a stage hypnotist and an experienced hypnotherapist .Hypnosis is a technique. Hypnotherapy is the therapy that is carried out during trance. A hypnotherapist must have a good understanding of clinical conditions and disorders in order to assess and treat appropriately.For this reason it's important to ascertain what experience your hypnotherapist has.
5.I've had hypnotherapy and I didn't go under! – The first time I had hypnotherapy, I had the experience of being unsure of whether I had been ‘successfully' hypnotised.The reason is that some people expect hypnosis to feel unique in some way, when it is a familiar feeling of being relaxed and highly focused, like during day-dreaming. It's not like being anaesthetised!
Becoming A Non-Smoker
In this article we are going to discover some of the ways in which Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire can help you to stop smoking. The benefits of stopping smoking are endless.
You will of course be generally much healthier, and of course much more empowered when you are no longer at the mercy of a little white stick. Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire is a hypnotherapy practice based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. We are dedicated to ensure that you give up smoking with ease and speed. This is why we offer two choices to our clients who are interested in quitting smoking and a free consultation.
When you make the decision to use Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire to help you quit smoking, we initially want to make sure that you are completely motivated to do so and that you want to give up smoking for all the right reasons. For example, one of our clients said that he really enjoyed smoking but that his wife hated it and that he wanted to stop smoking for her.
Fortunately, the hypnotherapist identified this mans lack of motivation to achieve the goal for himself. If they'd have carried out the hypnotherapy there is little chance that it would have been successful due to the fact that the client didn't have the desire to want to quit smoking.
At Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire, we use a range of different hypnotherapy techniques to assist our clients so that they are able to stop smoking. Here are some example of how we do it:
Away from techniques- At Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire we have many facts about the negative impact smoking has on the mind and body. When our hypnotherapist bombards you with this information you will feel compelled to move away from smoking forever.
Moving towards techniques- We also have lots of information about the positive impact quitting smoking and remaining a non smoker has. At Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire we are keen to set goals for the future that wouldn't have been attainable whilst you were a smoker. Now that you are a non smoker you can explore new ways to relax, to exercise and to spend your money.
Metaphors- at Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire, we believe that if you can lay back and enjoy the experience of quitting smoking, then you should! That's why we use tailor made metaphors, which give very specific instructions to you subconscious mind and suggestions to give up smoking. However, consciously, you don't even need to listen, you can just lay back and relax.
Empowering alternatives- Wouldn't it be fantastic to know that you can, not only give up smoking, but that you can also look forward to doing something really and truly meaningful to do instead, such as spending time with your family, which, no doubt, if you didn't quit smoking, you wouldn't have had that time to do.
Anchoring- At Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire, our hypnotherapist's are all also qualified in NLP. This means that throughout your intervention there is a strong chance that the hypnotherapist will also use some NLP techniques. One such NLP techniques is called anchoring. This allows the hypnotherapist to create for you, a really powerful positive resource that you can fire off at will, should you find yourself tempted by cigarettes.
Now I know that I mentioned before that Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire offers two choices to clients who want to stop smoking, and here they are. Once you have made the decision to quit smoking, you can choose if you would like our free support for the next 6 months or for the rest of your entire life. This means that at any time within those time frames, should you start smoking again, we will work for free to get you to quit smoking again. And, in both of these circumstances, we will have you quit smoking in just one session. That's it, just once. Then you are a non smoker and you do not need to return. And yes, the consultation is free too.
3 Reasons Why Hypnotherapy Should be Available on the NHS
It amazes me that even today, knowing the connection between the mind and body that we continue as a nation to feed ourselves with medicines and other such pills whenever our bodies send us the message that something is wrong. I feel that more time and money should be invested in addressing the real causes of ailments, rather than continually treating the symptoms. I am a member of the NHS Directory for Complimentary and Alternative practitioners. This is something that I have to pay for whist using the very carefully worded phrasing above. My details are on an NHS list somewhere and I have never received one referral as a result of being on it. I have even hypnotised a doctor's receptionist in from on several doctors at a primary care trust meeting.
Below, I explore some of the reasons why I believe hypnotherapy and other such practices should be given much more credibility by the medical establishments.
1. Relaxation
Lets face it, the only time most people relax these days in when they go to bed- and then they can't even do that properly, the get busy brains right at the point where what they actually need most, is to go to sleep. Relaxation is so important and should be integral of your every day routine. Without it, there is often no way of releasing the build ups of stress that accumulate in the every day working lives that we have. This can lead to aggravated states within the body, such as headaches, IBS, muscular aches and pains and lack of energy.
2. Motivation
Quite simply we don't get very far without it. Motivation keeps us going and keeps us growing, and everybody has to grow in order to feel fulfilled in life. We have 2 kinds of motivation in life, things we are motivated to achieve and things we are motivated to get away from. Strangely the latter contains the most power due to the fact that it is most like a survival instinct. In short, motivation is essential in life and you really won't get very far without it.
3. Life Changes
This is probably the broadest of the 3. People want their lives changed in many different ways. For some, changing their life might be about changing their lifestyle- taking up more exercise or giving up smoking for example. For others, changing their life might mean leaving behind years of emotional baggage from abusive relationships. Either way, one small change always tends to snowball and have positive knock on effects in many other areas of life also.
Hypnotherapy has been used as a therapeutic tool for many years and has been recognised by the British Medical Association since 1955. Yet still it is brushed off as invalid and jiggery pokery. If as a nation we invested as much money into alternative practices as we have into pharmaceuticals, we would have invested wisely. People would be in a better position to take responsibility for the impact their lifestyles have on their bodies, getting better would be more empowering, potentially less money from the health services would be spent on treating symptoms and would be more geared towards finding and solving the causes. Let's hope for the future that our potential as human beings can be taken more seriously than our belief in manufactured drugs.
Gemma Bailey is qualified hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner, registered with the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR), American Board of Hypnotherapy (ABH), British Board of NLP (BBNLP) and American Board of NLP (ABNLP) as well as being a member of the NHS Directory of Complimentary and Alternative Practitioners.
She is based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire and has helped many clients and patients throughout South East England.
Her vast areas of expertise include helping with weight loss, quitting smoking, stress, bad habits, phobias, confidence building, performance anxiety, regression, Life Coaching and much more. She also offers an exclusive 6 hour, one off session in which a person can overcome all of their emotional problems or anxieties that are holding them back. This is called Turning Point, and details of these sessions can be found on her website.
Gemma is also a qualified trainer of NLP and runs a training company called People Building which provides NLP Practitioner and NLP Master Practitioner Training. Details of these trainings can be found at www.peoplebuilding.co.uk
Quit Smoking
Are you thinking about using hypnotherapy to quit smoking? If so, you may want to consider what it is you're going to be missing out on, after all, using hypnotherapy to quit smoking will probably mean that you never touch a cigarette ever again; the thought of doing so will completely disgust you!
Are you certain you want to quit smoking? What about that precious relaxation you enjoy with a cigarette- when you draw the thousands of chemicals and poisons into your lungs, increasing your heart rate, releasing adrenaline, raising your blood pressure and soaking the poisons into the tissues within your body. If you quit smoking using hypnotherapy you will learn to relax in a way you have never experienced with a cigarette. It will usually involve taking in clean fresh air and becoming more confident, happy and energised than you have been in a very long time.
Perhaps you're just a social smoker, happy to share the arsenic, cyanide and carbon monoxide sticks of death with the people you love and care about. If you use hypnotherapy to quit smoking, you may feel compelled to get fit, to spend you time socialising in the gym instead. If you consider that within just 20 minutes of quitting smoking your blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature return to normal, safe levels. After 8 hours, you can look forward to having a normal amount of oxygen in your body.
Incidentally, did you know that starving the body of oxygen can cause tissue damage that can lead to gangrene which might mean that limbs have to be amputated from your body. Starving the brain of oxygen can cause brain damage. Are you absolutely certain you want to use hypnotherapy to quit smoking? Your unconscious mind has a very important function of maintaining your body. Therefore any damaged you may have caused stands a good change of repairing itself. The longer you will remain a non smoker, the more the body repairs and the better your prospects become.
Perhaps you believe that you are a considerate smoker. You're children and family don't know, or you only smoke outside so that you avoid polluting your home and anyone else who happens to be in it. Good for you. Those who love and care about you will be most grateful for your act of kindness once you are gone, I'm sure!
When you use hypnotherapy to quit smoking, you no longer have to worry about the guilt of the secret cigarettes you've smoked, the damage you're causing to your body, the bad example you set to your children or the polluted air you have created and forced others to inhale. Instead, when you use hypnotherapy to quit smoking, you can look forward to a healthier future, a better smelling home and a new lease of life. The sooner you use hypnotherapy to quit smoking, the better!
Stop Smoking
Judging the success rate of a Hypnotherapist's quit smoking session is not as easy as you might expect. As a Hypnotherapist working in the Watford area, it is one of the most commonly asked questions. However, a recent report into the subject, suggested that the only real way of getting 100% evidence of success from a client, would be to take a blood sample from them, and then test it for nicotine. Since this sounds a little farfetched to me, let me explain to you a little about how I measure my success for Quitting Smoking using Hypnotherapy in Watford.
Firstly let me point out, that I offer a free consultation. The purpose of this from the clients point of view is that it allows them to build rapport with me and ask any questions they may have, before paying for any therapy. From my perspective, it allows me to ensure that the client is genuinely motivated to stop smoking. If they are not motivated to give up smoking, then I will not do the therapy with them. There are a few reasons why, one is that often, if a person isn't motivated to stop, it's because they like smoking and someone else wants them to quit. If I worked with this person, it is unlikely that they would be successful which is bad publicity for my therapy practice in Watford, and would also decrease their faith in hypnotherapy, making them less likely to use this method for giving up smoking in the future.
Secondly, the therapy is done in one session. After that session, if at anytime in the future you should happen to start smoking again, you can comeback for free (providing you have paid for lifetime support.)
So the way I measure my success, is by noting that in all of the quit smoking sessions I have done, only 2 have returned for a further session. This means that the others were either successful, or were not successful but decided that they wanted to remain as smokers, and waste their money, which is up to them, silly billies!
If you live in the Watford area and are looking for a Hypnotherapist to help you quit smoking, then please take a look at the testimonials on my website.