I really like the insight from EFT (emotional freedom techniques) that all symptoms – either emotional or physical – are the result of disruptions in our energy fields. In our essence we are whole and complete, but various traumas and negative experiences from the moment we are born (and even before) create blockages in our energy fields. We feel these blockages as repeated negative patterns, thoughts or emotions. Read More
I’ve just experienced a powerful new therapy that corrects imbalances in the way the brain functions. It’s called neurofeedback, or brain training. While hypnosis changes the 'software' of the brain, neurofeedback changes the actual hardware.
Read MoreMany of us spend a lot of time trying to get rid of our bad habits such as smoking, overeating, or drinking. But no matter how hard we try, we just seem to fall back into our old ways as soon as we relax our willpower a bit. It’s like the part that runs the habit is just waiting for a gap, and when it finds one it returns with a vengeance.
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A mindfulness-based approach to coping with fear, anger, grief and other difficult emotions
Most of us have some trigger issues that send us into a tailspin of uncomfortable emotions such as fear, anger and sadness. No matter how much we work with these issues, we still seem to get caught out and become overwhelmed by negativity.
When this happens, we need to take a leap into a different dimension of healing – the field of awareness. When there is something that we simply cannot solve – when our lives are literally stopped and no amount of therapy will get things right – it’s time to consider that perhaps we are not being called upon to cure our affliction but to transcend it.
Transcendence is the ultimate acceptance of whatever it is that we are trying to get rid of. If you think about it, trying to fix something implies a duality – a split between a part that perceives itself as the good and another that is perceived as unwanted or bad. The actual symptom or behaviour might be causing us pain, but the belief that the pain is ‘not us’ and should not be part of us leads to mental suffering. Read More
Men are supposed to be strong, brave, and always at the ready – not so? Well that’s the message that society gives us, but the reality is often quite different. Sometimes we simply don’t want to perform, or we feel we just can’t. What should be viewed as just a temporary or minor physical weakness gets blown up into something that threatens our very sense of being. Even the word ‘impotence’ implies a loss of power, that we have somehow become useless.
It’s understandable that men who suffer from impotence – let’s rather call it erectile dysfunction (ED) – don’t want to talk about it, yet actually having ED should be no more embarrassing than having a sore back or some other common complaint. Essentially, most symptoms – whether ED or any other – will have some kind of emotional event that caused them. This event can be as simple as someone making a badly timed and unkind comment, or it can be more complex and involve an ongoing inner conflict. Read More
There are 7 common psychological issues that give rise to medical symptoms or negative habits. Hypnotherapy provides a way of identifying and resolving these issues.
Read MoreWhat if diets were part of the problem, not the solution?
Celebrity hypnotist Paul McKenna, in his book I Can Make You Thin, points out that dieting causes several unintended reactions in the body and mind:
- By going on a diet you indicate to your body that a period of famine is ahead, and your body reacts by slowing your metabolism and storing every bit of fat it can find.
- A slow metabolism leads to feelings of inertia, lethargy, sleepiness and general glumness – no wonder you find it difficult to exercise!
- By skipping meals you tell your body that food is scarce and that it should prepare for the worst by creating cravings that force you to eat fat-rich foods.
- By skipping meals you tell your body that you are no longer listening to its signals of hunger, so you lose the ability to tell the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger.
Magical beliefs are the hidden formulations we use to try and ‘magically’ change our reality in order to create a desired feeling. Like all good spells, they describe something we have to do in order to have something that will make us feel happy.
Without knowing it we live by these magical beliefs and constantly try to make our spells work, despite overwhelming evidence that nothing is happening and we’re just feeling more and more miserable. I thought I was immune from such thinking until I discovered a very powerful belief that went like this: ‘When I find something of value to offer in the world, people will approve of me and I will be happy’. Read More
Do you have to give up thoughts to live in the Now?
It’s often said that to be in the Now you need to give up thinking. However, it is the nature of mind to generate thoughts, and even trying not to think is just one more thought. The real problem is not the thoughts themselves, but rather our interest in those thoughts.
Next time any stressful thinking occurs, don’t try to stop it. Just observe the thoughts. Become interested in observation, and remove interest and investment in what the thoughts are saying. You will find that thoughts happen and observing happens. When there is no investment in the thoughts and you don’t give them any belief and you don’t follow them, they are just thoughts arising, and they cause no harm. Read More
Fear of driving is often related to a particular event in the past that is causing the person more anxiety than they realise. An effective way of treating driving phobia is to use hypnosis to identify the incident and to resolve any emotional charge around it.
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