In many ways, this is just common sense. If you vividly imagine the last time you felt seriously embarrassed, you might find yourself blushing! A physical reaction is produced by a thought. The physical effects of emotional stress are also well known. People who suffer from eczema, asthma or migraines, for example, often find that things get worse if they’re under any sort of stress.

Our minds blot out pain and uncomfortable physical symptoms all of the time. Have you ever had the experience of finding a cut on your finger and had no idea how it got there? Or have you ever forced yourself to go out when you’ve got a cold, and only afterwards realised that you didn’t sneeze for the entire evening? Obviously the cold germs are still there, you’re just so focused on something else that you stop noticing them.

Hypnosis, then, works with something which is happening already. Kay Thompson, the great hypnotist, dentist and student of Milton Erickson, maintained that pain is a signal, something that’s there to warn you when something has gone wrong. If you burn your hand, pain tells you to move it out of harm’s way as quickly as possible! Therefore, when you’ve responded to the signal, then you shouldn’t need to have the pain any more. This is quite a radical view, because it means that chronic pain (pain which lingers on over time), is obsolete. It’s delivered its message, so there’s no need for it to carry on delivering it, just as there’s no need for your ‘phone to keep ringing after you’ve answered it.

This is the basis of most illness and pain hypnotherapy. It is, of course, very important to check that all the medical options have been explored and that all appropriate treatment has been received. Once this has been done, hypnosis can be used to help reduce, manage and even eliminate symptoms.

This is often done through imagery and visualisation. People can be quite descriptive about their illnesses, talking about “burning” or “stabbing” or “heavy” sensations. These can be modified in hypnosis, so that “burning” feelings become cool, or “heavy” feelings become light. Metaphorical suggestions for healing also work well. The psychologist M. Erik Wright, for instance, successfully treated migraines with hypnotic suggestions about diverting blood flow away from the head into the hands.

Effective illness and pain hypnotherapy will also involve looking at the wider picture. Fear, worry, poor sleep and trauma can all have a serious impact, and these are all areas in which hypnosis can help. Hypnosis may be a tool of the mind, but it’s just as effective in healing the body.

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So when we talk about confidence and motivation, what are we actually talking about? The word “confidence” comes from the Latin “confidere”, meaning “to trust”. When you’re confident in a situation, you trust yourself in that situation. You trust that you will behave and react appropriately, and you trust that you will be able to cope with whatever that situation brings. Motivation implies movement. If you’re motivated to do something, you feel a desire to move towards it. In many ways, this is a by-product of confidence. If you’re motivated, it means you’re confident that you can achieve whatever it is that you’re motivated to do.

Dictionary definitions can only take you so far, however. Confidence and motivation mean different things to different people. You will feel perfectly confident in many situations in which I would feel like a nervous wreck, and vice versa. So the first step in any hypnotic treatment for confidence and motivation issues is to find out exactly what those terms mean to you, personally. A good hypnotherapist will work with you to find out exactly when, where and with whom you would like to feel more confident and motivated. What will you see, hear, feel and do when you’ve reached that goal? Who else will notice, and what will they say?

Just as everybody feels less than confident at some point in their lives, it is equally true to say that everybody feels supremely confident and motivated at some point too. The problem is, you may not recognise this until somebody like a hypnotherapist points it out to you! For example, you may feel totally out of your depth at parties or other social occasions, but feel quite confident talking to your friends and family. Likewise, you may find it difficult to motivate yourself to go to the gym, but have no trouble motivating yourself to go to the pub. Everybody has positive experiences of confidence and motivation, no matter how small or fleeting. Hypnosis is used to apply the same feelings to other situations, where they would be most useful.

Having identified your goals and discovered some resources, hypnosis can be used to reinforce this in your unconscious mind. Mental rehearsal can be used to practice feeling more confident. The unconscious mind doesn’t differentiate between real and imagined events. So, if you have been having difficulty making presentations at work, hypnotically rehearse feeling enthusiastic, calm and in control. When the time comes for you to give your next presentation, the unconscious mind will recognise it as a time to feel fully at ease, so that you react accordingly.

Confidence and motivation are skills that can be learned, not character traits that are fixed at birth. Confidence and motivation hypnosis is all about making those skills easier to learn and apply.

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Hypnosis to stop smoking works on the “expectation fulfilment” theory of addiction.  All addictions, including smoking, work by hijacking the body’s natural expectation and reward mechanisms.  The unconscious mind forms the impression that the behaviour meets some emotional need or solves some emotional problem, and produces “feel good” hormones to keep that behaviour happening.  It continues to expect the behaviour to meet that need long after it becomes obvious that the habit is extremely unhelpful.

For example, most smokers begin smoking in their teens.  At this point in their life, smoking is a quick and relatively convenient way of fitting in with the crowd.  It can  help a teenager to feel more mature and adult, or even rebellious and cool.  Cigarettes can also become associated with relaxation and stress relief, or they might be used as a way of easing social encounters through the ritual of offering a cigarette, lighting up, and so on.

Logically and rationally, the smoker knows that they are no longer an insecure teenager, that nicotine stimulates the body instead of relaxing it, and that there are far better ways of dealing with social occasions.  However, it’s not the logical and rational part of the mind that’s keeping the habit in place.  Hypnosis deals directly with the part of the mind that is in charge of the habit, updating it with new information and helping it to see cigarettes in a more realistic light.  It can also be used to rehearse a future in which all of the benefits of non-smoking are fully realised, or to reinforce more helpful habits, such as using breathing exercises to relax.

So how successful is ‘stop smoking hypnotherapy’?  The major piece of research is a meta-study carried out by Chockalingam and Schmidt in 1992.  This reviewed 48 studies of smoking cessation treatment, with over 6000 participants, and discovered that hypnosis pretty much came out on top in all of them.  More recently, a study carried out in 2000 with a random selection of participants in group hypnotherapy programmes sponsored by the American Lung Association of Ohio, found that 22% hadn’t smoked up to 15 months after the session.  Again, this is statistically much higher than other forms of treatment.  Studies of more modern, personalised forms of  hypnotherapy produce even more impressive results.  The Practice Builders Study of 2000 showed that 95% of people who had received more advanced forms of hypnosis had successfully quit after just one session.

As always, hypnosis isn’t a panacea, and it will not work for all people all of the time.  People are individuals, and respond to the unique circumstances of their lives in individual ways.  This is impossible to predict in a hypnotherapy session.  Nevertheless, when you have the genuine desire to quit,’ stop smoking hypnotherapy’ has proved its superior effectiveness time and time again.

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Hypnosis is a perfectly natural state of mind. Every human being experiences it, virtually every day of their lives. The most useful definition is a highly focused state of attention. Every time you “lock onto” something, whether it is a computer game, a book, or even a passing thought, for all practical purposes, you’re in a hypnotic trance state. Research psychologists Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell have linked hypnosis to the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) state, usually experienced in dreaming sleep. This special function of the mind seems to have evolved to help us consolidate new learnings and patterns of behaviour. Hypnosis relies on these normal functions to create hypnotic trance states.

Clinically, hypnosis has many uses. Firstly, it’s a deeply relaxing experience. Just as dreaming during sleep allows us to discharge the pent-up emotions of the day; so, hypnotic trance allows the mind to do some housekeeping, just like defragging a computer. This frees the mind to function more clearly, boosting physical and mental energy, reducing stress and allowing the immune system to operate more efficiently. Another aspect of hypnosis is that it can be used as an anaesthetic. During the First and Second World wars surgeons used hypnosis for anaesthetic purposes. The added advantage being that the body recovers more quickly from surgery.

Clinical hypnosis also deals with the unhelpful habits and responses that lie behind so many problems. These habits and behaviours stem from the unconscious by definition – if people could consciously control their bad habits, they would do so. Addictions, anxiety, panic attacks and depression all respond well to hypnotic treatment, since it can be used to change the emotional reactions and thought processes behind those conditions.

On the positive side clinical hypnosis can be used to reinforce helpful behaviour. For example, a person who suffers from panic attacks in crowded places can use hypnosis to mentally ‘rehearse’ feeling calm and at ease in certain situations. Once a positive trigger is established, a person is far more likely to react in a calm way when they encounter a similar situation in real life.

Finally, clinical hypnosis can also be used to treat physical conditions. Mind and body are intimately linked (try thinking about your favourite food, and notice how soon you start to feel hungry!). Using this principle, hypnosis can be used to alleviate pain, speed up healing and reduce the frequency of symptoms. There are case study recordings in medical literature concerning successful hypnotic treatment for skin problems such as wart removal and clearing psoriasis.

It is a known fact that one of the most effective therapies for dealing with stress and tension is hypnotherapy and now more people are beginning to realise that it has other valuable uses proving it to be a powerful, effective and natural method of healing.

A good hypnotherapist will be able to identify the unhelpful patterns of behaviour around eating, and work with the client to find better ways of dealing with boredom, stress and so on. Hypnosis can then be used to teach the unconscious mind more helpful ways, often by rehearsing a preferred behaviour in the mind. This sets up a “template of success” that the unconscious mind can refer to in the future.

Sometimes people’s ‘weight loss’ goals are compromised by cravings for fatty, sugary foods. Again, the hypnotherapist will be able to find out why this is happening. Perhaps it’s an attempt to meet an emotional need, or perhaps the client’s lifestyle means they are letting their blood sugars crash at certain points during the day and they’re reaching for a quick fix. Hypnosis can be used to remove cravings quickly and permanently.

Another important aspect of weight loss is goal setting. Many people say they would like to lose weight without being clear what that actually means. Hypnotherapy is all about setting good clear goals, so that the client knows what they will see, hear, feel and do when they reach their goal. Hypnosis can be used to provide a powerful boost of motivation towards achieving that goal, once it’s been identified.

Good weight control combined with hypnotherapy will also involve practical tips and techniques. For example, people who struggle with weight control often say that they don’t know when they feel hungry. One way to control your eating is to use a ‘Hunger Scale’. Next time you get the urge to snack, ask yourself – how hungry do I actually feel? Give it a number between 1 and 10, with 10 being ravenously hungry and 1 being satisfyingly full. The trick with healthy, sustained weight control is not to allow yourself to become too hungry or too full, so only eat when you’re at an appropriate point – say 5 or 6. Keep monitoring yourself, and stop eating when you feel you’ve dropped to a 4. This takes practice, but over time, you’ll become familiar with your body’s needs

IBS affects a huge percentage of the UK population, and most sufferers are women. A number of treatments exist to help ease the symptoms, including high fibre diets, antacids medication, anti-depressants and sedatives. Unfortunately, these are only successful some of the time. Many sufferers simply have to live with it – but there are other choices, such as IBS hypnotherapy.

Unfortunately, the diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is just as complicated as its treatments. It’s important to visit a doctor who will rule out any underlying reasons for the symptoms, such as Crohn’s disease, infections, lactose intolerance, inflammatory bowel disease and others.

IBS hypnotherapy is a treatment that aims to reach the deeper levels of the condition, and get to the root causes. Physicians are now realising that clinical hypnosis can relieve symptoms and there is   the added advantage of clearing emotional blockages or misconceptions leading to stress and other anxieties. In fact specialists now recommend hypnosis as part of their treatment.

IBS treatment is based around hypnosis, working on the principle of understanding the subconscious mind and the areas of the brain that are responsible for controlling our metabolic functions. IBS hypnosis can help to reduce stress, allowing the body to work better. I also offer a personal eating plan to help avoid digestion problems.

In short, it can help you to gain control back into your life.

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That’s not to say that the IBS treatment, Gloucestershire-based hypnosis will work as a magic cure for the condition but the important point to remember is that patients are open to the possibilities, and remain motivated. IBS hypnotherapy consists of treatments that are both emotional and physical, this takes time but the difference will be life changing

More and more scientific research is being done, with various studies showing the importance of hypnosis. In particular, researchers include Olafur S. Palsson and William Gonsalkorale who have been looking into the effects of IBS hypnosis for over 20 years.

Studies included comparing 25 severe IBS patients who were treated with hypnosis, to those who were offered other methods. It was found that the group who used hypnosis visited the doctor less frequently, found their symptoms relieved, didn’t need to miss work as often, and found their quality of life improved as a result.

Other studies showed a 50% reduction in symptoms after hypnosis, also relief in other areas such as depression (often associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome). The longest study, based on the benefits of hypnotherapy, carried out to date, followed 204 IBS clients for as long as 6 years. 71% of the patients improved immediately,  81% of those still maintained those improvements years later.

IBS hypnotherapy is effective, the results are impressive. Gloucestershire based hypnosis is a way of dealing with this illness, with benefits to mental and physical health. A reduction in IBS symptoms, will allow the patient to lead a normal life, feel free to enjoy the simple pleasures of eating, have more energy and feel healthier.

Angela Lawrence runs a hypnotherapy, Gloucestershire-based centre Mind Over Matter, including a weight loss hypnosis program to help you meet your goal of achieving a healthy lifestyle. Why try such a treatment? It’s simple: the reason you want to exercise less and eat more is just a result of the way we’ve been programmed socially. From the minute you were born, you were used to being fed many times a day. Your body has simply adjusted to what you’ve become used to: eating at certain times throughout the day.

Some parents don’t always check up on the labels for what their baby needs. When a baby starts crying, they just assume it’s because it’s hungry, rather than checking for other discomforts. They feed you and your body starts to recognise the fact that discomfort can be satisfied by eating food.

When you get older and start school, you continue eating your meals at very fixed times each day. Even when you finish your education and start working, your body clock will set off certain emotions during the day. The times we recognise as times to eat are at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our weight loss programme doesn’t discourage you from eating: puts comfort eating in to perspective.

The main problem with our social programming is that you start to pick what’s convenient over what’s healthy for you. This is why so many people pick unhealthy, fast food. These foods are low in nutritional value and high in saturated fat, slowing down metabolism and causing people to feel tired. In turn, this means you don’t have the motivation you need to exercise. Your metabolism already slows down as you age, so you can’t burn off your food as quickly as you once used to.

The weight loss hypnotherapy, Gloucestershire-based, program by Angela Lawrence is designed to break this vicious cycle. The technique has been perfected over years of working with people to resolve their weight issues, getting to the root of the problem and training them to break bad food habits.

If you ever feel the urge to eat badly because you’re feeling down, or because you don’t have time to cook, then weight loss hypnosis can help to get you back in control. In fact, the program is so powerful that you’ll find you’re able to conveniently plan meals in advance and won’t feel the need to eat unhealthy foods. Subconsciously, you’ll cut down on the number of calories you take in each day, and you’ll find it far easier to work towards a better lifestyle.

Weight loss hypnosis isn’t a miracle cure, but it reinforces positive actions on a deep level to change the way you live. It is effective, and Angela Lawrence is well established in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, and has appeared on BBC, The One Show! She will help you to achieve your dreams of a happier and healthier you, ultimately improving your self esteem and showing you that you can achieve anything. No crash dieting needed!

Recently, I helped a teenager, who was taking her GCSEs, to become completely relaxed as soon as she entered the examination room. She was delighted to feel so calm and she noted that facts came readily to her mind during the exams.

Hypnotherapy can also ease problems created by low self-esteem, lack of confidence, motivation and poor study skills. It can ease interview or appraisal nerves and because the interviewee is so relaxed he or she can give a better impression.

I can offer ideas and study techniques to be used at home for work courses or important promotion exams.

Learning and remembering facts is an art, hypnosis can enhance these skills to allow a person to attain their full potential.

I’ve helped people who have been smokers for a very long time: twenty, thirty, even forty years. The time factor makes no difference.

Stopping will change your life. Not only will you feel better, i.e., healthier, have more energy, able to enjoy your food (actually taste it), have more money but your brain will function better too. Guys, too many cigs will play havoc with your sex life. When the body is young and virile everything is great but later when the veins and arteries start to clog up an erection can become a thing of the past.

Government health warnings don’t tell you that.
However, as soon as you stop the body starts to heal. Within just 24 hours blood pressure will be closer to normal, the pulse will drop and the circulation will improve. After a week your sense of taste and smell will improve, you will be taking deeper breaths. Three months later and you will notice you have more stamina and energy, think more clearly and look better too.

Worried about the cravings? I can help with that too.
So what are you waiting for?

You will have read this article for a reason, act now, before it’s too late.

Specialists are now referring their patients to hypnotherapists for complementary treatment of this chronic illness.

Medical Testimony

There have been well=documented medical studies of the benefits of hypnosis in IBS.

A study published in the Lancet in 1989, 33 IBS patients were offered four 40- minute sessions of hypnotherapy a week, for seven weeks and taught self-hypnosis for twice-daily use at home.

Result – 20 of the 33 had improved; 11 becoming almost symptom-free.

IBS is a psychosomatic illness, causes may be – anxiety; sensitivity; depression; stress and self-pressure.

Sufferers experience the swings between diarrhoea and constipation. Symptoms include bloating, cramps, flatulence and pain.

Treatment

Hypnotherapy usually includes relaxation control, pain relief, clearing of the emotional problems. I go one step further and provide the correct DIET.

The greatest problem of IBS is that no matter what a person eats the results are usually the same.

I can offer simple rules that will ensure a client maintains a far more balanced digestive system.
Why put up with the misery of IBS? Don’t suffer in silence. Do something now.