OK, so over the past few months I’ve talked alot about positive thinking and confidence, but I thought this week I’d actually tell you about what I actually do, which, in essence, is a form of hypnotherapy.
I’m actually little apprehensive about using the term ‘hypnotherapy’ as it tends to conjure up all kinds of weird things in peoples’ minds. It’s not surprising really as hypnotherapy was initially make famous by people who did claim to be sort of magicians and purported to mind control and all kinds of other scary stuff.
My aim today is to give you a more realistic view of today’s hypnotherapists and what they can and cannot achieve.
Although I’m trained in hypnotherapy, it is not the only tool in my toolbox. Being closely linked to NLP and counselling, these skills also feature in my repertoire and are commonly used in conjunction with hypnotherapy to give a more focused and personalised service to clients.
I have been hugely influenced by Cognitive Hypnotherapy, coined by Trevor Silvester. This ‘style’ of hypnotherapy uses many different tools and techniques a gives an overarching structure to the course of therapy, focusing not only on the problem and how the problem feels, but also, some might say more importantly, on how your life would be without your problem.
By taking the time to establish this, we can work with our toolbox of techniques and interrupt the negative cycle which is causing a problem for you. By interrupting the cycle, or alternatively, stopping it before it starts, prevents the cycle perpetuating and turning vicious.
Working in a relaxed state, where you remain in control but more able to access the archive of memories stored in your subconscious, can have a profound and speedy effect on how you feel.
Personally, whilst interested in psychology and how hypnotherapy might work, I was sceptical when I walked in to my first class in Manchester, UK, however, it wasn’t long before I’d proved the effects to myself. I’d stopped my friend biting her nails in one session and given another client confidence in herself that she never dreamed possible – her whole life turned around within a few short weeks.
I couldn’t exactly explain why it worked at that point, but I knew it did, and liked what I was seeing!
Now I know plenty of people who have seen hypnotherapists and it hasn’t ‘worked’. I want to explain something about this now. Hypnotherapy works. Consistently. However, the trick is getting it right, both on the part of the client, and the therapist.
The mind is a very clever thing. If it thinks it’s being tricked or isn’t ready to change for whatever reason, it will find a way to make sure it doesn’t have to. The skill then is working together to make therapy personal and the skill of the hypnotherapist to work their words in such a way that the mind accepts what is being suggested.
If you’re not ready and willing to change on a deep level, you won’t. Simple as that. It’s not mind control. I can’t make you do something you don’t want to do.
There’s millions of pages on the web about hypnotherapy, and probably almost as many people purporting to be hypnotherapists. In the UK at least, it’s not regulated, so people don’t actually have to have undergone training to call themselves hypnotherapists. If you’re looking into therapy, find someone you feel comfortable with, and take the time to ask about their training and ensure it’s more than a distance course and that they have plenty of practical training.
Hypnotherapy is a fantastic and underused tool, mainly because people misunderstand what it can and can’t do. If you’re interested in finding out more, get in contact and ‘ll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.