Hypnotherapy
What is Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is the practice of using clinical hypnosis for therapeutic change and personal growth. Involving deep relaxation, visualisation and imagery, it can work simply and quickly to resolve a range of physical and emotional problems. An evidence based therapy, it enables lasting subconscious change to deeply held unwanted thoughts, feelings, phobias, behaviours and habits.
Hypnotherapy is also applied to preparation for childbirth - see Hypnobirthing for more information.
How does Hypnotherapy work?
Simply stated, hypnotherapy creates a very natural but altered change in our state of consciousness. When you are deeply relaxed in this way, the conscious mind, which when fully awake, is always alert, processing information logically and rationally, now becomes quietened and starts to close down a little, just as when we begin to drift off to sleep, or daydream. With the conscious mind slightly ‘by passed’, the subconscious mind to come into play a little, again as in day dreaming.
It is the unconscious mind that really runs things for us, it controls all the automatic responses in our bodies, as well as our mind, our emotions, creativity, imagination; our instinctive as well as learned behaviours, both good and bad, and our memories.
So it is our unconscious mind that can really change things for us too. When we are relaxed so deeply in this way it, a total focus of concentration on our problems is able to happen at a deep subconscious level, giving us the opportunity to question and create change, making the subconscious open to suggestions for change
In our day to day lives subconsciously held beliefs can quite often negatively influence our thoughts and feelings; unwanted habits can occur that can affect how we live our lives, inhibiting the natural functioning of our bodies. Fear and anxiety that belongs to a past trauma can sometimes continue to intrude inappropriately into everyday life, causing symptoms such as hyperventilating and emotional stress and panic or other unwanted behaviour.
Changing long held habits and behaviours and creating new and positive ways of being can be really hard. So often, when we want to change something about ourselves that is held fast in our subconscious, our conscious response is not enough. No matter how many times we make the decision to change, no matter how much logic we apply or how much will power we call on, it doesn't work, the problem is still there. In hypnotherapy we aim to rewrite the subconscious 'programming' and so bring about change in the conscious 'operating system'.
What will happen in the session?
Every person is unique and will experience hypnosis in their own way. But in general during the session, following informal exploratory discussion, you are invited to relax in a comfortable chair and are then guided by the therapist into a state of deep physical and mental relaxation. While in this hypnotic state, you are generally still aware of your surrounding and can choose to come out of the hypnosis at any time, you therefore remain in control throughout. The process of hypnosis is in itself very therapeutic, as the body responds with a slight reduction in the heart rate and lowering of blood pressure and often reduction in the release of stress hormones. So the expectation is therefore that every client will experience hypnotherapy as really enjoyable and calming way to achieve their desired goal for lasting change.