miguel-henriques-RfiBK6Y_upQ-unsplash__1656941086_147.148.185.134

Hypnosis for performance

Hypnosis and hypnotherapy is widely used by sports men and women to help them reach their maximum capability and performance. But this is not just the domain of sports professionals. Perhaps you have a big presentation coming up, or a new job or a big sale that needs closing. Anyone who needs to perform at their highest level can use hypnotherapy techniques to achieve their goals and maximise their performance. As Harold Geneen (American Businessman) said, “It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises – but only performance is reality”. Great performance comes from having five main attributes – mental toughness, mental rehearsal, belief in yourself, resilience and zone thinking.

Mental toughness is an overused phrase but is generally used to refer to a set of positive attributes that helps a person to perform effectively under difficult circumstances such as adversity, stress or pressure. It allows you to keep confident, focused and clear headed while you face the challenges of a situation.

Many successful people use mental rehearsal and visualisation to enhance their performance and give themselves an edge. Mental rehearsal, as with any form of rehearsal, can highlight unanticipated challenges, refine your approach and help you to correct any unwanted habits or outcomes. It also helps to prepare you consciously and subconsciously for what you want to achieve. It’s similar to muscle memory in that you are preparing and training yourself and your brain for what is required.

In order to achieve anything you have to believe it’s possible and you can do it. The quickest way to ruin your performance is to tell yourself you aren’t good enough or that you can’t do it. When you face challenges and setback it’s understandable to think, ‘Perhaps I am not as good as I thought’ or ‘Maybe I can’t do this after all’. While these thought are natural, you have to think them and let them go and not take them to heart.

Despite all of your hard work and training, sometimes things go wrong. You can’t anticipate everything and don’t control everything. This is where resilience comes in. You need to rebound quickly, adapt to the new situation and continue to think and perform like a champion.  

What does it mean to be in the zone? Well it’s difficult to define, but it’s a state of relaxation and focus where you have no distracting thoughts. In part it’s about learning how to manage stress and relax to get in the zone. But truly being in the zone it not thinking about your performance – you don’t have to. Everything is intuitive and natural. Many performers (sportsmen, musicians, etc.) report that their best work comes when they don’t think about what they are doing. It all comes from an inner place guided by your subconscious.

We all have times when it’s important to perform and meet or exceed expectations. And hypnosis can help you prepare for these times. Hypnotherapy has a range of techniques to help with confidence, focus, resilience and visualisation. As Ralph Marston (former American football quarterback and inspirational writer) said, “Don’t lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality”.

I have compiled a group of case studies where hypnotherapy has helped sports professionals. If you think hypnotherapy can help you be the best you can be or help you with a challenging situation, then contact me. I have also made a short video about using Hypnotherapy for success in business.

jordan-whitt-b8rkmfxZjdU-unsplash__1656583674_81.146.42.239

Memory

To me memory is a fascinating aspect of the human experience. It’s the facility of the mind that allows information to be encoded, stored and retrieved when needed in the future. This ability underpins our ability to learn skills, language and communication as well as reasoning and logic.

Memory is the brain process that stores what we learnt, be it information, experiences or feelings, for future use.  Memory has three main processes – encoding, storing and retrieving. Encoding is getting the information into our memory. Storage is retention of the information and retrieval is getting information out of storage into our conscious mind through recall, recognition and relearning. As David Suzuki (Canadian Academic, Broadcaster, and Environmental Activist) put it, “The future doesn’t exist. The only thing that exists is now and our memory of what happened in the past. But because we invented the idea of a future, we’re the only animal that realized we can affect the future by what we do today”.

Our memory evolved to allow us to store information that would be useful to us in the future. And knowing this explains a few features of how our memories work. Firstly, the physical or emotional context is likely to trigger memories from the same context. So, if you return to a place your mind will recall other times you were there as this might be useful. Also, leaving a place (room or location) is likely to clear the short term memory as that information is no longer needed. The flip side of this is if you misplace something (keys, etc.) then retracing your steps will help you remember where you put them.

This context awareness also applies to emotional states. So if you are depressed you are likely to recall other depressing things. What’s more criticism or unhappy memories and experiences contain lessons to be learnt and so are more likely to be remembered than praise or rewards.

But memory is no perfect or infallible. We experience the world subjectively and so we remember subjective representations of our experience through the prism of bias, emotional state and other influences. Also, memories can degrade with the passing of time. This occurs in the storage stage of memory – after the information has been stored and before it’s retrieved.

Other factors than can effect memory are stress and a lack of sleep. Stress can have a significant effect on memory formation and thus learning. In response to stressful situations, the brain releases hormones and neurotransmitters which affect the memory encoding process. During sleep the neural connections in the brain are strengthened. Several studies have shown that sleep improves the retention of memory, as memories are enhanced by active consolidation while we sleep.

While short term memory and retention appears limited. It is thought that long term memory has a practically limitless capacity. So, you can recall anything you have experienced from any point in your life. It may take a technique such as Hypnotherapy’s Regression to retrieve it though.

If you need help to with insomnia, stress, improving your memory or think a regression session could help you then contact me.

1__1653916902_213.122.87.74

Beyond Quantum Healing

Beyond Quantum Healing (BQH) is part of a family of Hypnotherapy techniques that also include Introspective Hypnosis, Past Life Regression and Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique (QHHT). It is a form of hypnosis that is closely allied to Delores Cannon’s work on QHHT. The Beyond Quantum Healing (BQH) technique was created by Candace Craw Goldman. Candace worked with Delores and not long after her death in 2014 she developed her own methodology and released it in 2017.

With BQH hypnosis techniques are used so you reach a deep state of relaxation that allows you to connect with your Higher Self (subconscious, Spirit Self, etc.).  Doing this you can visit past lives, future lives, life between lives, as well as forgotten memories from your current life. Essentially, the Hypnotherapist asks your subconscious to reveal information that may be unknown to the conscious mind that will aid in healing and discovering the root cause of both mental and physical problems, illnesses and phobias.

I think John Polkinghorne (English Theoretical Physicist and Theologian) put it very well, “Quantum theory also tells us that the world is not simply objective; somehow it’s something more subtle than that. In some sense it is veiled from us, but it has a structure that we can understand”.

Practitioners of QHHT do not provide on line sessions and adhere to a tightly controlled scripts. While with BQH it can be done in person or on line and the Hypnotherapist is encouraged to let the session develop organically, going where the client’s subconscious leads. The idea of letting the session develop naturally rather than being prescriptive is key to the way this modality works. The Hypnotherapist acts as a facilitator to allow the client to communicate with your higher self. It also allows you to ask questions that have been prepared beforehand.

You can ask anything, be it guidance on an issue, about the future, life purpose, health, relationships, etc.  But I know from experience that while you can ask about anything, you may not get an answer. You might be told it’s not significant or important. Another common answer is that you planned for the thing you are worried about to happen before you started this life. While seeking knowledge is important, the healing aspect of BQH is equally appealing. It can help you heal all sorts of traumas and issues. Healing of the physical, mental and emotional can take place in these sessions.

Everyone’s experience is unique and different. Due to the nature of BQH there is no way to know how the session will go and what you will learn. And it can take a few hours, days, weeks, or even months to fully process and understand the information you receive. If this sounds like something that you might be interested in, then contact me for more information and a free initial consultation.

scott-graham-OQMZwNd3ThU-unsplash__1656499304_81.146.42.239

Dying to Know

It was Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789 who wrote, “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. Now I am not going to talk about an America constitutional crisis or taxes, but death. 

8 August is ‘Dying to Know’ Day (D2KD). It’s about encouraging useful, healthy and honest conversations about the one thing all humans have in common — dying.  Inspired by the quirky self-help book Dying to Know: Bringing Death to Life by Andrew Anastasios, an Australian organisation called the Groundswell Project decided to dedicate the day to destigmatise the topic and encourage people to plan for their death and those important to them.

Now you might say, I am young and basically plan to live forever. But, as Groucho Marx (American comedian and actor) said “I intend to live forever, or die trying”. You might have a fatal accident or allergic reaction. Even some snake and insect bites can be fatal. Does your family and friends know what you would want? So, take this day to give dying some thought, even if you think its decades away. And also think about the death of the loved ones around you. If you are fortunate to still you’re your parents or other older relatives, do you know what you would need to know to organise a funeral and honour their wishes.

Practical things you can do include writing a will and obituary, discussing end-of-life plans, planning a funeral (burial / cremation, religious / secular), what insurances or other financial arrangements need to be made, where important documents are kept. One other task you might want to consider is to write letter to loved one that would be opened after you pass. These can include a few words of love, appreciation and perhaps some advice or guidance.

A funeral is an important ceremony in life and it deserves some thought and planning. As Suleika Jaouad (American writer, advocate and motivational speaker.) put it, “We have birthdays and bar mitzvahs and funerals and weddings. And these ceremonies and rituals, I believe, really help us transition from one point to another”.

Approaching the topic of death with loved ones can be difficult. There remains a stigma and taboos around talking openly about death. So, be prepared for some reluctance or stilted response. But be determined. You might want to explain why you’re interested in having the conversation, reassure them that you just want the best for everyone.

Feelings of lose and grief are inevitable no matter how well prepared you are for the death of a loved one. And grief affects us all differently. If you are struggling with the death of a loved one or your own following a diagnosis then hypnotherapy can help in several ways. Contact me for more information.

sydney-sims-3zgllN5P7Mc-unsplash__1653916542_213.122.87.74

Toxic Relationships

I have recently been doing some work with someone who is in a toxic personal relationship. Now if there is violence in a relationship then this is an obvious sign that things are not right. But emotionally abusive relationships can be more difficult to spot and those in them may not always realise there is a problem.

So, what does a healthy relationship look like? Well, all relationships are different, but there are a few common features. In a healthy relationship both parties treat each with respect, are supportive, encouraging, trust each other and can be open about how they feel. Typically, they have interests and friends that they do not share with the other. But also do things together and have common interests.

Signs of an unhealthy relationship can include being threatened or coerced, being put down or humiliated, not being trusted and being controlled or monitored all the time. So, if you partner goes through your phone, web history or social media this is not a good sign.

Now you might think, well I would never start a relationship with someone who is like that. But often we are on our best behaviour when we meet someone new and it can take time for the real personality to fully immerge. And so, the relationship changes and evolve over time. As Harriet Beecher Stowe (American Author and Abolitionist) said, “Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline”.

Early signs of potential problems include your partner becoming more critical or intolerant of you, you think about what you say or do so as to not upset them and you don’t feel you can talk openly or honestly to them.

So it’s easy, any of these problems and you should leave? Well, it’s not always that straight forward. There may be children or other dependents involved. You may be frightened what will happen if you leave. You may be financially dependent on them. You may enjoy the good times and hope that you can change them or keep them calm to avoid problems. But as Tara Westover (American Essayist and Historian) put it, “When you abuse someone, you limit their perspective, and you trap them in your view of them or your view of the world”.

Remember it is unacceptable for anyone to abuse you, either physically or emotionally, regardless of the relationship you have with them. And in some cases it may even be a crime to do so.  You may be made to feel responsible or guilty for the abuse, but the problem is not with you it’s with the abuser.

If you have concerns over a relationship it is a good idea to confide in a trusted friend or family member. With them you can explore the issues and you can decide the next steps. If you feel you need expert help then search for local support agencies. In the UK, the charity Victim Support offers useful advice and information.