Treatments
Quitting Smoking
I believe there’s a better way!
20 years ago, when I first qualified as a Hypnotherapist we were taught “The Way” to get your clients to Quit Smoking.
- Get them in for 1 single Session.
- Get them into Trance as quick as you can.
- Frighten the livin’ daylights out of them with talk of what they were doing to their health and what the outcome would, inevitably be.
- Throw a bucket-load of Aversion Therapy at them.
- That would cost them somewhere between €120.00 and €200.00 and they would go on their merry way.
And now?
Now I know that there’s a Better Way.
A better, Permanent way.
An easier way…….although I DO need you to know, and accept, that it’s no stroll in the park….. you have a fair bit of Commitment, Responsibility and Work to take on.
But, I promise that it’ll be WORTH IT!!
I’ve kept the better aspects of the “Old Way” but, after that, the essence of the New Package” makes allowance for the extreme difficulty (maybe, improbability?) of permanently banishing the addictions and habits of, often , decades of one’s life in one single session. And, often, we have to contend with several failed attempts to quit in the past.
Trouble Sleeping
When you look at all of the gifts (resources) that Nature has bestowed on us, Sleep is, without doubt, the most mis-understood….. under-utilised…. Abused…..sought after….talked about, of them all.
And, it is sooo vital for our very survival !
Shakespeare probably put it a little better:
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care ………. Macbeth.
Sleep that….
- Soothes away our worries and anxieties
- Puts each day to rest
- Revives the weary and heals the troubled mind
- Is the most nourishing course in Life’s rich feast
- Gives the body time to restore, revive and replenish all that the day has taken from us
……And then there’s the magical REM-State dreaming period of our sleep !
During our Sessions on Sleep, you’ll learn about:
- How to get the most from your sleep.
- How best to prepare for sleep.
- How to gently drift off to sleep.
- How to get back to sleep if you wake up during the night.
And you’ll learn about:
- Dreams and why we dream. Do dreams have a purpose and what is it?
- The connection between dreaming and learning.
- How worrying and ruminating means we need to dream for longer…which eats into our Restorative Sleep… which means we wake up next morning, still tired.
- Depressed people often talk about being always tired. Learn why.
- Why the lessons we learn while dreaming are NEVER portrayed in a literal way…..they are ALWAYS revealed to us in Metaphor and Story….and we all love a good story. And, subconsciously, we understand the lesson better.
- Learn how Hypnosis (Trance)….. Creativity and….. Dreaming are all inter-related. Very interesting First Cousins!
Improving the quality of your sleep is the BIGGEST single way to improve your quality of Life and Health, both Physical and Mental.
Dealing with Anxiety
You don’t have to live your life always “looking over your shoulder” or, worrying constantly about what MIGHT be coming down the track!
There’s a Better Way. A Better Way to manage and control your Anxiety.
Anxiety comes in a number of different guises:
- Panic Attack. There is nothing scarier than a full-on Panic Attack. It comes suddenly, un-announced ….and you literally think that you’re going to die !
- Anticipatory Anxiety. What’s going to happen? I have no control over what’s coming down the tracks….but it has to be a disaster! (Catastrophising). I have this job-interview/ doctor’s appointment/ presentation/whatever coming at me next week and I just know that I won’t be able for it!
- Or, it may be that, to outside observers, you seem to be pretty “normal” most of the time….but, they don’t know about the constant Low-Grade nervousness that tells you nothing you do is quite good enough. A kind of vague can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it type of fear that you can never fully shake off. You behave as normally as you can but, inwardly, it’s always a struggle.
What can we do?
There are 3 main ingredients that make up Anxiety :
- What’s happening PHYSICALLY and where/how this is manifested in your body/mind.
- The EMOTIONS you experience when Anxiety occurs. There is always an underlying feeling of Dread or Fear.
- Your THOUGHTS. What are you thinking in times of Anxiety?
You will learn about :
- The close relationship between Stress and Anxiety.
- The Freeze/Fight/Flight Response. How it was designed to Protect us and how it sometimes gets hijacked along the way….and what to do about that.
- All-or-Nothing thinking. Sometimes called Black & White thinking.
- Relaxation techniques to control the Physical reactions.
- Gain clarity of thinking and how to put things in perspective in a way that your subconscious understands so that you don’t get as many “false alarms”.
- We’ll talk a lot about the Quality of your Sleep.
- And the positive power of your Imagination. How it is used and how it is sometimes misused. Anxiety is almost always a misuse of the Imagination !
Our job is to Manage your Anxiety, not to Eliminate it. Nature put it there for a reason. It’s meant to Protect us. See Freeze/Fight/Flight above. Without a certain amount, we could find ourselves taking wild, reckless chances.
Learn how to Manage your Anxiety so that it can Protect you in the way that Nature intended!
Self-Esteem
We talked before about misuse of the Imagination.
So, we allow our Thoughts and Feelings to focus in on some past mistake(s?) or a time when we “dropped the ball”.
Pretty soon, the Imagination can have you rehearsing and starring in some full-on, HD horror movie with all the frightening sound and visual effects, where you screw up and fail miserably at……EVERYTHING !
So, we need to detach from that negatively-biased, distorted story of who you are (or who you have come to believe you are).
“I’m useless”…….”Good for nothing……”I’ll never amount to much”……”Can’t handle myself Socially, so I’ll stay here in the corner and they probably won’t even notice how awkward I really am.
…..And so it goes on…..until you start to actually believe it all!
Not a nice way to be. But, of course, there IS a Better Way.
And it doesn’t have to switch to the OTHER extreme. No need for a Utopian, Pollyanna, Idealised, Rose-Tinted view of who you are….or would like to be.
Over the course of our Hypnotic Self Esteem Sessions you’ll learn to :
- Challenge those Negative Beliefs and develop a much more realistic, accurate, balanced view of yourself and your capabilities.
- Be a lot more Compassionate and Understanding towards……YOU.
- Start to get in touch with your inner strengths and resources. Innate resources. They came with the package at birth. God-given or Nature-given…..suit yourself. Maybe some of them haven’t been used for a while. Dormant…..driven into hiding….lying low or whatever. Perhaps it’s time for some of them to get a bit of a run out?
- Be more comfortable in your own skin
- Get, even a glimpse or whiff, of just how capable you really can be.
And, so much more.
Does that sound like a Better Way?
Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is a way of “being”…..and it CAN be learned.
It’s a Habit….or a series of habits. Habits that you CAN acquire.
It’s not just something that, you woke up one day….and there it was. No, confidence is something that you DEVELOP over time through a build-up of positive experiences.
And, through our Guided Trance Sessions you will learn to Mentally Rehearse these positive experiences. In a sort of “fake it ‘till you make it” kind of way, you can mentally rehearse being “okay” in ANY given situation. So, you will learn to use the power of your imagination to chalk up all those positive experiences.
Essentially, confidence, or lack thereof, comes down to this central idea:
If you spend your time in search of certainty about what will happen or what’s “coming down the tracks”, you’re in for a big let-down. Because that kind of certainty is not on offer. And you’ll spend your lifetime on edge and worrying about how you’ll be and how you’ll cope in “this situation” or “that situation”.
But, if you turn all that on its head and adopt the attitude of “I’m Okay”, then you automatically take yourself out of your own way and you free yourself from the tyranny of me, me, me. If you foster the utter belief that “I’m okay”, then……………IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT COMES DOWN THE TRACKS…… you can deal with it. That’s all you need to know…..”I can deal with it”!
And yes you can. When you’ve “dealt with “ a few sticky situations you’ll start to believe it too. And you find yourself building up those positive experiences we spoke about earlier which, in turn, leads to more confidence and so it continues!
And, that’s it. You just need to TRUST that, no matter what happens, you can deal with it….and there’s no further need to even think about Confidence….you’ll have it in abundance. That’s a funny thing about confident people, they don’t have to spend their time craving Confidence!
And that can be YOU!
Fears & Phobias
Phobias have often been described as “fears on steroids”.
Someone might be scared/fearful of something but, usually, this passes fairly quickly and there’s very little “damage” done.
But, with a phobia !! Now, that’s a horse of a very different colour!!
A phobia switches on the body’s Emergency Response System, and we……Freeze….Fight…….or Flee. Leaving you there stuck to the spot. Unable to do anything. All the non-vital body systems shut down. Your palms are sweaty. Your heart is racing. Your breathing is rapid and gasping. The Adrenaline is pumping.
What do you do? Fight or Flight? And all this is triggered off by something as seemingly insignificant as a little mouse scurrying across the floor!……or a drop of blood….or water…..or heights….or whatever it is that trips “it” off!
Of course, there’s an Intelligent, Logical, Rational part that knows you’re safe. But, right now, there’s a part of you that KNOWS FOR CERTAIN that you’re in Mortal Danger! And that part of you is not about to sit around and debate the issue. So the “shut down” comes instantly into play ……. And it’s working on the assumption that you really ARE in grave danger !
Phobias come in all shapes and sizes and they wreak havoc with people’s lives……. Spiders, mice, water, heights, blood, enclosed spaces, open spaces, elevators….the list goes on and on. And any one of them can make life hell for the sufferer. Sometimes in ways that you might not think about. Imagine getting your dream job with a top Multinational company but you can’t attend a very important meeting in New York because “there’s no way I’m getting in to that aeroplane”!
But, of all the phobias that have ever been identified, the one that stands out above all the others is The Fear of Public Speaking”. In any reckoning of The Charts, Public Speaking will always be right up there. Ahead, even, of Fear of Death. Hard to believe !
Phobias respond exceptionally well to Guided Trance Therapy. You will learn to:
- Mentally rehearse yourself giving that Best Man’s speech…..or the eulogy for your favourite uncle….or the very important presentation at work knowing how much is depending on you delivering a great “pitch”.
- A breathing technique that ensures you remain calm and composed.
- Relaxation techniques to keep you in control.
- There’s no need to worry about Dry Mouth.
- We help you identify what’s at the root of your particular fear, and we treat that with an amazing tool….The Rewind Technique. And you don’t even have to know what the root cause was. This still works. A fantastic tool.
- Banish that doubting little voice that tries to tell you you’ll fail.
- Boost your confidence….and keep on boosting it.
Finding Your Vision
Do you have a Vision or are you just aimlessly drifting?
If you have no clear notion of where you’re going…how are you going to get there?
What’s the “why” that makes you jump enthusiastically out of the bed each morning?
Goals are an important part of it but a Vision is much more than just Goals.
Goals will come to be seen as important “stepping stones” on your way to manifesting your Vision……….. but they are hardly ever the Vision itself.
By definition, your vision is rarely going to be shared by many others. It is, after all, YOUR vision. This can set you apart from the pack. This can be a great place to be……out there in front leading them onward. But sometimes it can be a tough and lonely station. “They” don’t understand…. They just don’t get it….. this can be hard but you’re going to have to bring, at least some of them with you so, you must be rock-solid and unwavering in your vision of “how it’s going to be”.
So we’ll always, at an early stage of the process, start working on the Goals. You must be resolute and uncompromising in setting your goals and yet, goals are a living, breathing, evolving thing so you must build in a bit of flexibility…..there might need to be a few adjustments or fine-tuning along the way.
Again, Guided Trance is the vehicle we use to take us to where our imagination is revealing where our goals will take us. And, at this early point we kick out the two most often-used words in goalsetting…… they must be “Realistic” and “Achievable”. Heresy, I hear you cry. Don’t worry, they’ll be back in later when we get to working on the steps. But, right now, at the dreaming, imagining stage, we don’t want to be shackled by their limitations. Another thing we do differently is, we start at the end! Through Guided Trance we can “experience” what it will be like when we have actually achieved the goal and, from that point in the future, we look back and figure out the Steps needed to get us there….the obstacles we had to overcome/circumvent…. Who or what helped us along the way….what skills we needed….what did we need to learn….. how about finance. And so we continue, step by step until we arrive back to the very beginning. To the very first step we would have to take.
Some people dream about how they’d like it to be but they don’t put the steps in place so, without the solid foundation, the dream will just sink.
Some people will have a good “go” at the Goal….but, without the over-arching Vision. And, without the Vision, Life becomes meaningless. And we NEED something to give meaning to our lives. It’s a vital, basic human need. Every bit as important as the need for the security of a safe place to be, with a roof over your head and food in your belly.
So, if you dream the dream, set the goals, figure out the Steps needed and start right now on Step 1, continue with determination and perseverance, your Vision will be realised and you will bring into reality what your Imagination has dared to conjure up.
It’s an exciting journey!
Sport enhancement
Are you serious about your sport ? Are you content to just plod along or do you want to significantly improve your……..Time……Performance…..Skill……Mindset?
I can’t do much for you in the area of physical training, or strength & conditioning or nutrition, or putting in the long hours, or practice, practice, practice. You’re already doing all that. And you will need to continue to do so. That’s a GIVEN!
But, everyone else in the sport is already doing all that too !
So, what’s going to give YOU the edge?
Over the course of our Guided Trance sessions, you will learn and master a whole set of tools to enhance your mental attitude towards your sport and greatly improve your performance. Along The Way, you will learn about, master and habitualise:
- Imagination. Through Guided Trance you’ll master the proper, benificial way to use your imagination to drive you along to your best possible results.
- Mental toughness. The difference between the Good athlete and the GREAT athlete is…….Mental Attitude. It has always been thus! Developing Mental Toughness in Sport will keep you…..Focussed…..Determined …..and Strong. Not only in your sport…..you’ll feel the benefits of it in all aspects of your life.
- Process Vs Outcome. When you are Process-oriented, you are fully absorbed and engaged in the activity itself, with no thought of anything else. You are purely following the Process. And you KNOW the Process. You know it up and down… through and through… inside and out. You have mentally rehearsed it so many times. So, you stay with the Process to the exclusion of all else. But, when you are Outcome-oriented, you are constantly a slave to the intrusive thoughts of what the result of your action might be. All the negative “what if’s” come into play, with all their doubts and fears. You might stumble/fall off the horse/miss the penalty/end up in the rough etc. etc. It’s Captain’s Day down at the Golf Club. You’re 1 ahead as you line up your final putt on the 18th. Sink it and the Cup is yours. Can you stay focussed on the Process or will you surrender to thoughts of the Outcome?
- Getting in “the Zone”. You’ll learn to Mentally Rehearse getting in the Zone. A state of “flow” where all the training and skills and fine-tuning that you’ve practiced for so long, all come together… automatically…almost effortlessly. Your subconscious has kicked in and it’s almost as if you’re just there observing your own Mastery in action. Success is almost inevitable!
- Take it to the limit. Are you ready to take your sport performance to the next level? Through the Guided Trance rehearsal sessions you learn to let your Imagination help to take you forward in giant leaps and go all the way from Good to GREAT!
Clarity & Fulfilment
Hypnotherapy is not about looking back and analysing where things might have gone wrong. It is about helping you look forward, towards a more satisfying future. Many of the people I work with simply need finding a little clarity and direction in their life. Instead of just ‘existing’ or being in a fog, they want to prioritise a new direction for themselves or achieve something that has been in the back of their mind for many years.
During this process, I can help people to recognise and appreciate what they have already achieved, and how they can use this knowledge to takes the first steps on a new journey. I can help unlock the resources or tools you need to bring with you on this path, and set clear targets that are truly achievable and not just aspirational.
Hypnotherapy can help you be the person you want to be, and take full control of your life.
