What is Hypnosis and how can it help you?

Hypnosis is a natural state of trance that we all experience in some form every day. Similar to being so absorbed in a good book, movie or music that you don’t notice when someone speaks to you, when you daydream or get ‘lost in thought’. Hypnosis involves a narrowed focus of attention with absorption in the inner experience. You will find yourself detached from your immediate surroundings but you remain awake, aware and in control. 

During a hypnotherapy session, you are guided to relax down beneath the flow of habitual patterns of thinking, to a narrowed focus of attention on the particular issues and goals you bring to therapy. Although your body is generally very relaxed, your mind will be very attentive. Hypnosis allows a receptive, open state where suggestions can be accepted and embedded, without the critical analysis we so commonly engage in. 

Mindfulness based hypnosis is about learning to relax with and accept your present experience and from a place of feeling calm and relaxed, you find that troublesome thoughts and feelings begin to lose their power over you. When you can accept an unpleasant memory, or a feeling of anxiety or self-doubt, that once would have really troubled you and instead you can feel calmly indifferent to that thought, then you're free from it and you no longer need to run from your own mind. From a place of calm relaxation it becomes much easier to feel more determined in terms of the choices that you make, to overcome problem habits, and to feel more confident in yourself.

Hypnosis is not a magic wand, it’s not always an instant fix for every issue. Usually it requires practice and persistence and can be a powerful force in bringing about change. My aim is for clients to feel self-empowered so they can learn to enjoy the peaceful calm of mindfulness as well as utilising the powerful potential of self-hypnosis in bringing about change.

What will happen in a session?

I am a solution-focused therapist, more interested in finding ways to move forward than delving into the past. I will ask you about yourself and what your goals are from therapy. I will also ask about your strengths and resources so that together we can work out a plan of action and how we can most usefully use hypnosis for your benefit.

We’ll then work together to identify how you can stop struggling with your thoughts and feelings, to become the person you want to be, and take action towards leading the life that you want to live.