In simple terms, hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness during which the critical, analytical part of your mind is quietened, allowing for you to connect more freely with your deep subconscious mind.

The word hypnosis originates from the Greek word ‘hypnos’, meaning sleep. This can mislead people into thinking they will be asleep in hypnosis, which is not the case.

Whilst hypnosis is often experienced with your eyes closed, this is simply done to aid relaxation, as you might do if you’re sitting down for a rest. To someone observing this process from the outside, it can look like the person is asleep, even when they are experiencing a special state of heightened awareness inside.

In scientific terms, entering a relaxed hypnotic state leads to physiological changes, lowering the frequency of our brainwaves. In a normal waking state, frequency is between 12-35hz (or beta band), appropriate for when you need to be highly alert and externally focussed, incidentally it’s in this range that we experience anxiousness. Hypnosis lowers brain frequency to between 12-4Hz known as the Alpha and Theta bands, promoting relaxation and inward connection with oneself.

People are often fascinated to know what hypnosis feels like, because it is fascinating. The truth is, everybody’s experience of hypnosis is unique to them. But most people experience therapeutic hypnosis as being a deeply pleasant and empowering experience.

I find a helpful comparison that everyone can relate to is how you feel when you’re drifting off to sleep or waking up from sleep, that in-between phase where you’re totally relaxed and maybe still on the edge of dreaming, but have the control to wake yourself should you needed to, if for example an alarm sounded. What’s more, if you’ve ever found yourself waking up with the answer to a problem you’d been trying consciously to solve, then you’ve already experienced the power of making subconscious connection.

Other useful comparisons to think about can be when watching a film, driving a car, playing a video game. During these times we become immersed in what we’re doing, and allow our conscious thoughts to drift as we enjoy and/or focus on what we’re doing.

Hypnotherapy is a form of talking therapy which uses hypnosis to connect people with their subconscious mind to make fast, deep and lasting changes.

The reason for doing this, is that much of our thoughts, feelings and behaviours operate below our conscious awareness in the part we refer to as the subconscious or unconscious mind. Because of this, people often find it difficult to make changes using conscious willpower alone, whether they want to stop smoking, lose weight, worry less, sleep better etc. – many find that the harder they try, the less it happens.

Key advantages of working at a subconscious level with hypnotherapy include:

Insights - We can understand any points of resistance that may be getting in the way of change. Through this understanding, we are better placed to release and overcome these obstacles.

Resources - We can make connection with the wealth of resources we all have within us to bring about change. Resources which can be kept from us when operating at a purely conscious level.

Communication - We can communicate our desired changes to the subconscious without the interference of the conscious mind, the part that can be prone to critical self-talk and over-questioning.

In these ways, hypnosis gives us the key to change.

NLP is a modern and highly powerful approach to therapy, created by modelling the work of some of the world’s most successful therapists. These included the world famous hypnotherapist Milton H Erickson (link) which means NLP integrates naturally and effectively with a Hypnotherapy approach.

Whilst NLP is a deep and fascinating field, a basic understanding is best provided by chunking down the acronym into its constituent parts.

Neuro – this refers to the neurological networks that send information around our brain and body. These information networks build over our lifetime based on our experiences, influencing how we think, feel and act, day-to-day. The more a network gets used, the more it will be used or we say, ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’ Donald Hebb, Neuropsychologist.

This can be extremely helpful for us, for example once you’ve learned to ride a bike, that network becomes established meaning you can hop on and ride without a second thought for how you’re doing it. Equally it can be problematic if that network is for example, a habit that you’d rather not have, an irrational fear you can’t control or a feeling of guilt left from a past trauma. All of which are situations that can be helped with NLP.

Linguistic – this refers to our use of language to communicate, not only with others but with ourselves too. This language can be made up of words but also extends to anything that we can perceive through our senses, be that sound, sight, touch, taste or smell. This combination of ‘languages’ is how we make sense of ourselves and the world around us. Indeed it is impossible to have a thought without it being made up of at least one or (more often) a mixture of these sensory languages. So you can see how essential linguistics are in allowing us to function. But they can also mislead us, causing us to believe that what we see, say, feel or hear is the full HD-level reality. It is more accurate to view them as a representation of what’s there. Or as we say in NLP, ‘the map (perception & language) is not the territory (reality)’.

Programming – this is the active ingredient of NLP. Using the above principles, we can understand peoples problems faster and more effectively, finding out the programming they already have in place which is leading them to think, feel or act the way they do – even though they no longer want to. Here you see the overlap with Hypnotherapy insofar that much of our programming exists at a subconscious level and can therefore be difficult to understand at a purely conscious level, harder still to change. Beyond giving people a greater understanding of why they think, feel and do the things they do, the real power of NLP is in its ability to reprogram these patterns, often with remarkable speed and ease.

Hypnosis is the ultimate learning state, by opening up communication with your subconscious mind, you can take onboard new information much more easily than at other times, helping to undo old habits or patterns of thinking, feeling or doing.

Hypnotherapy uses the power of your imagination to connect with your subconscious mind. Through this connection the subconscious mind can better take onboard any suggestions supporting the changes you want to make, imagine your new future before it’s arrived and offer back insights that help overcome any blocks.

The miracle of hypnotherapy is in being able to communicate with your holistic mind in this way. It is this characteristic that makes quick and lasting change more achievable than trying to do so at a purely conscious or cognitive level.

When absorbed in a good film your consciousness alters, part of you connects with the characters, scenes and action in the film, and whilst you ‘know’ it’s all a production, your subconscious or emotive mind ‘buys’ into the plot for you to enjoy it. To put it another way, it has accepted the suggestions of what you are seeing and hearing. And at emotional moments, it can feel very real indeed.

This is a form of hypnosis. Hypnotherapy utilises these same principles in a deliberate and highly effective way.

No, in fact quite the opposite.

Most of us first encounter hypnosis from watching TV stage shows, during which participants often end up doing ridiculous things in the name of entertainment. Things that for most of us would feel embarrassing at home, let alone in front of an audience.

This deliberately gives the impression that the participants have lost self-control and are being manipulated by the Hypnotist for the audience’s amusement. Hence, the question many want to ask is, will I end up ‘clucking like a chicken’! The short and easy answer is No.

People watch stage hypnosis for entertainment, and of those people, some of them will want to be part of the entertainment itself, bizarre as that may seem! What stage productions don’t reveal is that the participants have agreed to take part long before the show starts, and are willing to perform whatever ridiculous act is asked of them under hypnosis.

What you can be absolutely sure of is this. Working with me, you will be in full and total control at all times, if a suggestion is made under hypnosis that your subconscious mind considers to be at odds with your therapeutic goal, it will either ignore or reject it.

A helpful way to think about this is if you have ever heard your name across a crowded room, you can understand from this the way which your subconscious is constantly scanning and filtering out anything irrelevant to you, only registering those things that it considers may be important, useful and beneficial.

It is perfectly normal for someone to ask this question before experiencing hypnosis for the first time. Just as it can be reassuring to know hypnosis is an entirely natural process and therefore 100% safe.

Everyone can experience hypnosis. But it is true to say that some people experience it more easily than others. Those who take longer to enter hypnosis are typically ‘trying too hard’ or just unsure of what it will be like and therefore putting up conscious resistance.

If you answer yes to the below, you too can experience hypnosis…

• Have you ever been to sleep and woken up?

• Have you ever found yourself day dreaming?

• Can you imagine - like picturing an image in your mind?

Because hypnosis is a natural process, it helps to think about it like any other natural bodily process, be that breathing, digestion, heartbeat etc – all things that work best when we just let them happen, and don’t consciously try to ‘do them’.

As your hypnotherapist, my role is to answer your questions so that you can experience hypnosis comfortably and confidently. And once you are, I will guide you through a positive hypnotic experience. Better still, with hypnosis being ultimate learning state, you will quickly learn know how to enter hypnosis yourself, getting better at it each time you do.

The overall price of treatment is linked to the number of sessions required to address your needs. And this will be dependent on your individual circumstances, such as the problems you’re facing, how they came about and the type of change or changes you want to make.

After our first session we will discuss your treatment plan so that you can feel sure about the investment you are making.

For more information and to make a booking.

Its advisable to wear comfortable clothes and if you like, to bring a bottle of water. Most if not the full session will be spent sitting down, but being comfortable and hydrated will help you relax.

More importantly, your progress will benefit from bringing an open mind and a willingness to discuss your issues. My role is to help you make your changes, but the desire to change can only come from you.

Most people describe a sense of enhanced wellbeing following a session – leaving calmer and happier in themselves.

It is also not uncommon to experience a renewed sense of clarity over your situation and the goals you are working towards, this is all part of the process.

It is often the case that people sleep more soundly the night after a session and may experience more dream activity as the subconsious mind processes and installs the changes being made.

No more than you can get stuck in a daydream.

When using hypnosis in a session, part of the process involves me ensuring you are returned to a normal waking state of consciousness before you head home or back to work etc.