Derren Brown – Hero at 30,000ft

Over the weekend I managed to catch Derren Brown’s latest TV show Hero at 30,000 feet (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown-the-specials/4od#3120303). I absolutely loved the programme and want to highlight the way in which his work in this programme is pretty much the same as my work as a hypnotherapist (only I’m yet to help anyone land an aeroplane!)

If you didn’t see the programme try and watch it using the above link as it is really good viewing. To cut a long story short Derren started with a man who was pretty weak in character. He was stuck in a rut, a dead end job still living at home with his parents and generally not doing what he wanted in life. Over the period of a month Derren worked with the man to help him transform his life. Only the man didn’t know this was happening.

Derren started by giving the man certain challenges. The first was to put him right in the middle of an armed robbery. As a hypnotherapist I know that when in shock or confused the brain goes into a state where it is more able to accept suggestions. The ‘robber’ (who was of course an actor) said to the man as he was leaving the scene “you’ve done nothing with your life”. This had a big impact on the man so much so that he mentioned it to the ‘shopkeeper’ (also an actor) later on.

A couple of times throughout the month Derren woke the man from his sleep, having fitted discrete speakers in his bedroom. He called the man down to the garden and spoke to him. Again I know that hypnosis is the stage before sleep. If you look at brainwaves, when one is in a normal, alert awake state they are in beta, alpha is a relaxed state, maybe taking a walk in the garden. Theta is a daydream like state, theta is also the hypnotic state. Have you ever arrived at a destination after having driven a route you drive often and realised that you can’t remember driving the last five miles?! This is you in a hypnotic state and also your brainwaves in theta. Lastly delta, this is the sleep state. I have just explained to you here that hypnosis is the state just before sleep and the state in which we can be awake but forget what we have been doing. This explains how Derren was able to wake his subject from sleep, ask him to get dressed and walk downstairs out into the garden, speak to him and then have him forget it in the morning. It should be noted that Derren also mentioned that the man was highly suggestible – a plus for any hypnotist! Derren spoke to the man about what he should be doing with his life, said some things that would make him think about life in general (what a miracle it is and how we should make the most of every opportunity etc) and got him to touch a crocodile on the back!

The final challenge (there were others) was to have the man lay on a train track in a straight jacket with a train hurtling towards him. Now I am sure there was some camera trickery here and the man did not manage to jump up with the train only one inch away from him but even if the train was a mile away from me I would be shitting it – excuse the language here but I most definitely would! All of these challenges helped the man to learn how to take risks and also to appreciate life a little more.

The final challenge showed the man offering to land an aeroplane that he thought was crashing. I am sure there are people confused about the fact that Derren managed to keep a man in a hypnotic state or maybe asleep for long enough to land the plane, get him to a simulator and begin the experience but remember what I have told you. The man is highly suggestible, he was in shock (he thought his plane was going to crash) and he had experienced this feeling a few times already over the previous few weeks – he was the hypnotist’s dream subject. Of course the man did it; he landed the plane safely although he was told exactly what to do step by step – perhaps, in reality, not as difficult as it sounds.

Over the month what Derren did was helped the man to see things from a different perspective. He helped the man to find the resources within himself to make the changes in his life. He helped him to see that risk isn’t always so bad and that things he may have feared in the past were not so scary. He helped him to have experiences that gave him good feelings (for example organising a street party), things like this would have made him want to go on and do more of the same to get the same good feelings. The hypnosis was just an add on, a bit of a helping hand if you like. Hypnotherapy is all about you finding the strength within yourself to make the changes you so desire.

All hypnosis is self hypnosis, you cannot be hypnotised if you do not want to be, I cannot make you do anything you do not want to do – however if it is something you want to do and you allow yourself to be hypnotised your brain will be ready and willing to accept those suggestions that are thrown at you. You too can start to make some amazing changes in your life, just like Matt from Derren’s show.

Size 14 trapped in a size 12 body ©

Sometimes when I tell people my clothes size – not that I do this often I must add, maybe just if they are buying me a top, or I’m ordering a t-shirt for a run perhaps – I tell them I’m a size 12 and immediately feel the devil on my left shoulder cackling “hahahaha you aren’t a size 12, you’re a size 14 really. You just want them to THINK you’re a size 12”. I feel like people are looking at me thinking is she mad – surely she is bigger than a size 12.

I, am a size 14 trapped in a size 12 body.

My brain tells me I’m a size 14 but my body shows otherwise. Since finding this revelation I have started to use it as metaphor in my work. Just yesterday I was speaking with a client. As a child she had a very poor standard of living. She was often hungry and didn’t have particularly nice clothes. Today she always looks beautiful; however she is that poor dishevelled child in the body of a lovely, bubbly beautifully dressed woman. If we live with something for too long, when we become what we want to be we can sometimes forget to leave behind the thoughts and feelings that came with what we were.

We feel what we are but others see what we are. Therefore, even though we may still feel how we used to look others are seeing what we are today. A little tip to leave you with – fake it; If you don’t feel the way you look pretend you do, other people won’t guess you are not quite as confident. It will make you feel better as you radiate confidence and happiness and reap the rewards that come with this. If this doesn’t help come and see me ;-)

©Copyright Juliet Hollingsworth 2010

A Favela Story

Rocinha Favela is one of the largest favelas in South America. According to Zezinho, the resident who kindly showed us around it has around 300,000 habitants. Yesterday we spent eleven hours ‘hanging out’ with Zezinho, in the favela.
In the morning we met Zezinho by the beach and he took us in a minibus to the bottom of the favela. We then got mototaxis (moped taxis) to near the top of the hill where there was the most amazing view. At the top of the hill we bumped into a young Brazilian couple that live in Gavea, apparently a rich district in Rio. The guy was saying how he wanted to rent a house in Rocinha near to where we were standing. He said how much he loves Rocinha. Why does everyone who visits love Rocinha is what I wanted to know!
Within about 10 minutes of beginning our walk back down the hill a lady started shouting at us from her rooftop. Zezinho said to us that she was inviting us on to her roof. Of course we went up. When we reached the roof of the two story building the lady, Maria, told us how she was building another floor onto the roof that would have three rooms, on the veranda of the below floor she was going to have a swimming pool. We later learnt that she had paid £30,000 for the house as it was, just two small rooms, it’s certainly not just shacks in the favela!
We ended up spending over three hours at Maria’s house. This is where we learnt the most about the people of the favela. I can however only speak for the people we met, the favela we went to and their side of the story. When we walked into the house there was a little boy sat in a tub full of water in the bathroom. As we sat down Maria’s daughter got him out of the tub and got him dressed. The first thing that struck me was how clean it was inside the house. It was either cleaning day or she cleaned daily. It would only later occur to me that if I was going to have around twenty guests a day I would probably be permanently cleaning too! It smelt lovely, a freshly cleaned house. The daughter who looked about fifteen but we later learnt was actually eighteen brought the little boy in and sat down with us all. Everyone was speaking in Portuguese and shamefully we did not understand a word but Zezinho translated for us. There was another woman there who was the cousin of Maria. Zezinho asked whether the little boy was Maria’s son or her grandson. It turned out he was her grandson, the son of the young looking girl. There is apparently a problem of teen pregnancies in the favela as there is in certain areas of the UK. When Zezinho asked the girl how old she was when she had her son (fifteen) she looked extremely embarrassed. The mother said she had been very naughty doing what she did but we laughed with her as she giggled in embarrassment, shamefully covering her face. We then got into a discussion about how the daughter is still in school and the mother looks after the son. We started talking about the life of people outside the favela and the life in the favela. It is this that I found really important and wish that everyone from our western society could come and in see these people like I did.
During the time we were at Maria’s house five different people came in to visit. Not being able to fully understand the language I wasn’t quite sure who everyone was and why they were there but I pretty much got the jist that they were all family in some form, cousins/daughters etc and they were just there to say hi. Coincidently I am reading Gilda O’Neill’s book Our Street at the moment which is all about the East End Community during the Second World War. My Nan, having grown up just off Brick Lane often talks to me about these times and how every house was an open house and how families always lived minutes walk away from each other if not in the same house. I got the impression that living in the favela is just like this. The lady told us that her grandson may not grow up with the luxuries of life that we in the western world do but he would grow up with a lot of love. Every single visitor that entered the house went and gave Victor Hugo a big hug before they did anything. Now we were only in the house for three hours. Goodness knows how many other visitors would turn up in the time we weren’t there but I imagine it is like this every day for families in the favela. Victor Hugo would grow up with a huge amount of love. If he had a problem there would always be someone there to listen. It wouldn’t be a case of “Later I have to finish this piece of work” as is often the case in the Western World. Now Victor Hugo may not grow up with the opportunities many of us have but I expect he will grow up with far less ‘issues’ than you and I. Victor Hugo at three years old already knew how to use a computer. He would go down to the local internet cafe and msn his friends. He certainly wasn’t suffering in intelligence without the opportunities of the western world!
A big thing that was spoken about was how the people living in the favela work hard but they also play hard. There was huge emphasis on enjoying life. Big parties, spilling into the street every Thursday to Sunday. I really try to encourage many of my clients to think about the work life balance. It is something very important that we seem to have lost in our society today. When I sit with my clients and really make them think, many of them are unhappy with the balance of their life. This does not mean that they work too much, sometimes it has been too little. It is often the case however that the aspects of their life are not balanced correctly.
In the favela everyone was smiling. They were not moaning about their lack of this and that like many of us do in England. Everything they had they wanted for, things they didn’t have they didn’t miss. There was no judging, they didn’t look at someone else and think his house isn’t as big as mine, I am better than him. In western society judging is everywhere. This gets people down. I have clients that come and see me who cannot look at themselves in the mirror. It is not unusual for me to hand a client a mirror, ask them to look into it and find that they can’t. Sometimes it even makes them cry. These people were not born disliking themselves. Sometimes the judging in western societies can create this. There was something I noticed while I was in Maria’s house. My boyfriend and I were sat on the sofa in a position that meant we were the first people anyone walking into the house would see. Two ‘gringos’ sat in the house. If I was sat in a strangers house at home and someone I didn’t know that belonged in the house was to walk in I would instantly feel the need to explain who I was and what I was doing there. Not here, people would just walk through the front door see us and smile. They didn’t know where we came from, why we were there or who we were but they smiled at us as if we should be there. As if we had the right to be there as much as they did. How in this environment could you ever begin to dislike yourself getting so much love from everyone that came near you? At one point later on in the day we walked down a beco (alleyway). There was a family group sat on the step by their house having a drink. They wanted us to sit and drink with them, just because we walked past them. I knew that anyone who walked past would have been invited to sit and share the drink. We had to get on so didn’t but that is the way it was in the favela. Every person we met said “Rocinha welcomes people with open arms” and it really was true. (Maria had also tried to get us to stay and eat with them, we would have loved to but would have been there all day & not seen any more of the favela. We told her we had a meeting so as not to be rude).
Although I appreciate that the favela has its problems. There are the drugs, the violence when the police invade, the struggle that the people face (many favela people do work in normal jobs but minimum wage is around £50 a week) and the problems that a lack of money can cause, for example thieving outside of the favela and careers in the drug trade. If we in the western society can take something from these people it would be the community spirit, the happiness of everyone. No moaning, no negativity. The love that everyone has for one another and the warmth that is felt just walking through groups of people. Unfortunately in our society it is not so easy for our children to be with their parents or close family 24/7 but goodness when I think about the amount of cuddles and kisses that Victor Hugo will receive spending every minute of every day with a close relative or family friend, in fact lots of close relatives or friends showering him with love every second I really wish we could all live in a close nit community like the generation of the early 1900s in our country did and the children of the favela do.
Unfortunately we seem to have got stuck into this society of stress where everything is about getting as many possessions as we can, to have the biggest and the best. We forget that we cannot take these things with us. We forget how the stress of this lifestyle can affect us medically. We get down and depressed. Really we just need to appreciate what we have, running water and electricity all day every day. Most of all we need to start appreciating each other again. We need to stop worrying about the next car or computer that we can buy, take some time out and spend it with our children, our friend’s children, the children of our family etc. We need to spend more time with our friends and our partners just enjoying life and appreciating what we have. Maybe then everyone will be happier, have less worries, less stress and greater health. We need to realise that just because we work x many more hours than our friend or earn y more pounds or have a bigger house than Jim or a bigger car than John it doesn’t make us a better person.
As we were leaving we met a man sat behind the till in a shop. He was reading an English language study book. He told us, in English, that he worked at the Sheraton Hotel as a bar tender. When we left the shop Zezinho told us that the man and his wife own the shop. This man may live in a shack, at the very best he lives in a favela house but he goes off every day to the Sheraton Hotel. When he is not at the hotel he must work in the shop he owns. All the while trying to learn English so that he can speak to the ignorant people like myself who make no effort to understand their language. He probably earns in a year what I earn in a month (maybe a slight exaggeration but you get the point!) instantly judging like a typical westerner I knew that he was the better person! He didn’t think so, to him we were equal. I now understand why so many people who visit love Rocinha and its people.

Me and the very cute, very intelligent three year old Victor Hugo

I have many more stories to tell about our visit to Rocinha, if you are interested please ask me. I also don’t want to try and create a picture perfect image. There are problems with the favelas and they are far from perfect. The people are not happy with the conditions but they love the community all the same. There were boys with machine guns checking everybody that entered and exited the favela. The minibus we got in is funded by the drug lords. Inside the favela or in the districts close by the drug lords will not accept any violence, theft, abuse etc however there is no punishment for people who thieve from a district further away. But it is the community way and the attitude of the people that I am interested in and think that we can all learn from.

Suggestion for Self Hypnosis: NEWSLETTER ISSUE 3, ARTICLE 3

Suggestion for Self Hypnosis
Following on from last month’s article on self hypnosis, for those that have been practising here is a short guide to taking the self hypnosis work a step further. Continuing the self hypnosis as last month from steps one to five but this time imagine that you are walking down the steps into a large bath of water. See the water beginning at step five and as you continue slowly down the last five steps feel yourself stepping into the warm, pure water. See the water as cleansing and beautiful. Feel the water as it tickles your feet, ankles and eventually your calves.
Slowly lower yourself into the water. If you are confident in water see the water come up to your shoulders. You can stand but also float or swim if you wish. If you do not feel confident in water see the water the same depth as a bath. You can float nicely and feel calm and content.
You may have already decided what it is you want to work on. If you haven’t just allow your subconscious mind to go wherever it needs to go. See three boxes under the water. Depending on the depth of the water you can either swim to the boxes or gently reach down and collect them. Open the boxes slowly, one at a time. Narrate to yourself what is happening as you open the box.
Avoid using statements that are negative, make sure everything you say is positive. “As I open the box I feel a calming blue light engulfing me, this light is becoming a part of me enabling me to have a peaceful night’s sleep every night. Every morning I will wake feeling refreshed, happy and positive about my day”. “As I open the box a big invisible bubble surrounds me, this bubble is going to bring me confidence so that I can feel strong in any situation I want to”. “As I open the box a little yellow ball jumps out, this little yellow ball will flash before my eyes every time I go to eat something that is not good for my body, the more I see the yellow ball the quicker I am to reaching my target weight”. “As I open the box an image of me at my ideal weight, looking exactly the way I want to look pops out. I stare at the image; I watch that part of me, knowing that I can look the way I want to look. I step into the reflection of me and we become one. Every day in every way I am getting closer and closer to this reflection of myself”.
Repeat your statement to yourself as many times as you wish. Two to three times should be enough. If you are visualising something such as a reflection of yourself looking the way you want to look really look at what is around you. Study yourself. Are you smiling or frowning? Is the sun shining or is it raining? What can you smell? What can you taste? Are there any noises? What or who is in the background? Spend a few minutes really looking around at everything. Sometimes we only see what it is we are looking for, it is important to notice everything else also.
When you have finished opening your boxes and you are ready to continue your day bring yourself out of self hypnosis as instructed in last month’s newsletter.

Twitter and its place in 2010: NEWSLETTER ISSUE 3, ARTICLE 2

Twitter and its place in 2010
Ten years ago if I’d have said I was going out for the evening to meet people that I had “met” in a Yahoo chat room the majority of people would look at me as if I was absolutely mad. However today I can proudly say that on the 25 March I am going to a Twestival. I know that most reading this probably will be thinking right now,
ok she is a F R E A K
but let me explain further.
A Twestival (or Twitter Festival) is a global series of events organised by volunteers around the world under short timescales which bring people offline for a great cause. Twestival began in September 2008 when a group of London Twitter users hosted an event called Harvest Twestival to raise money and collect food for a local charity known as The Connection. The event was intended for 30 – 40 people but on the day there was a waiting list and 250 attendees. On 8 January 2009 the first Twestival Global tweet went out and a month later 202 cities around the world hosted events to raise money for charity water projects.
Twestival 2010 will be held on 25 March. This year all of the money raised will go to Concern Worldwide. So now it’s a little more interesting but still I hear you thinking
but it’s still an event at which you are going to meet a load of people from the internet and more to the point what are you doing on Twitter anyway?!
Over the past few months I have enjoyed using Twitter for business and social purposes. I have to be completely honest and say that I first found Twitter because of the race between Ashton Kutcher and CNN to get one million followers. I was nosy, so I signed up! I soon started to realise that there are a lot of entrepreneurs tweeting. Duncan Bannatyne is a big tweeter as are Peter Jones and James Caan. A lot of celebrities tweet, Jonathan Ross, Chris Evans, Matthew Horne, the list goes on. What I realised is that all of these people are simply promoting themselves. We watch these people as they answer questions on GMTV or The One Show and sometimes forget that they are not doing this for the benefit of the show or us. I knew if I wanted to move with the times I needed to start promoting myself on Twitter.
First step, get some local people following me. If I have local people following me; when they need a Hypnotherapist they will come and see me, if a friend mentions they want to lose weight or quit smoking they may say “I know a hypnotherapist who can help with that”. So this is what I did. As I started to get involved in the Twitter conversations between local people I was pleasantly surprised at what a huge networking tool Twitter is. I soon found out about a Surrey Tweet Up, which was conveniently held in my local Slug and Lettuce. Again I can see you all thinking...
The freak is back!
I wasn’t totally sure but the fact it was being held in a Slug and Lettuce seemed to make it that little bit less geeky! The event was hosted by a local PR Agency @thebluedoor , their bio: “thebluedoor is a specialist external communications agency, with a passion for PR done well. “ And sponsored by @ranjerj aka Julian Ranger, his bio reads “Career 2 as an Angel Investor and serial entrepreneur”. For them this was just another way to promote themselves. For me it meant a good night out, meeting new people, promoting myself and free drinks. Whoever thought that when I left the ‘great big City job’ I would still get free nights out?! There was a slight structure to the evening, Julian as a plus point of sponsoring the evening got to speak for a little while – his chosen topic was along the lines of social media and how our information is lost soon after we write it (along with a new Twitter app that he has invested in which will help with this problem), very apt! Then chat and get merry!
I met some great people at the Tweet Up, some who were also there to promote their businesses others who just use Twitter for fun but it really was an interesting and entertaining evening.
Now I am looking forward to another great evening at the Surrey Twestival. It is being held in Farnham Castle, sponsored by Mars Drinks (which means we certainly won’t be short of chocolate on the night) along with ibundle (Julian Ranger’s company, investing in ideas) and raffle.it – definitely worth a look at for those who like winning (http://raffle.it/). Of course the participant list is online so I have been able to see who is attending; there are some very interesting people who I look forward to meeting and telling all about my work and some others who I have already met that I know promote me to others. I will enjoy having a drink or three with those I already know and a sensible conversation with those I don’t. It’s going to be a good night for business and pleasure. They say the two don’t mix but according to the rules of Twitter Etiquette, on Twitter they have to as you sell your business and yourself with your interesting tweets (which cannot all be work related)!
It seems to me that social media is becoming more and more popular. There are many businesses using Twitter and more recently Facebook Fan Pages to promote their work. We all know that things change as time moves on and technology is certainly advancing faster than ever before. However ‘sad’ or ‘unchic’ it seems it’s only those moving with the times that are going to advance at the same pace. In the words of Mike Elgan:
“The fact is that Twitter can be a breaking news resource, a celebrity gossip site, a business workgroup communication tool, a personal diary, a way to track packages or thousands of other things. It's whatever you want it to be.”
If you are already on Twitter please follow me @jhhypnotherapy. If not some interesting people to follow are @dragonjones, @duncanbannatyne, @timlovejoy, @wossy, @achrisevans. Last but definitely not least – yes I have got some clients through Twitter!

The HypnoGastricBand: NEWSLETTER ISSUE 3, ARTICLE 1

The HypnoGastricBand
Sometimes when I am at networking events I mention my HypnoGastricBand process and people laugh. However the silence prevails as they realise the seriousness of the issue when I tell people that one of my most recent clients had actually been referred, by her doctor for a real Gastric Band. In England today about 46% of men and 32% of women are overweight whilst an additional 17% of men and 21% of women are obese. These statistics are increasing dramatically. The percentage of adults that are obese has roughly doubled since the mid 1980s. The Government have even gone so far as to encourage fish and chip shops to make fatter chips as they contain less calories and fat than the thinner version!
A Gastric Band operation is performed laparoscopically and can involve complications, as with all surgery. Between 5 – 10% of patients will require a second operation. The cost is astronomical – as much as £5000 at some clinics and it doesn’t always work! The purpose of the gastric band is to make one feel full more quickly. The stomach is restricted by the band so that less needs to be eaten to fill the stomach. Now please excuse me if I am wrong here but I do not think obese people are overweight because they are hungrier than anyone else. It’s because they think about food in the wrong way. Many of us do not stop eating when we are full, we continue because we are enjoying the food or to mask another feeling. We eat sweets, chocolate, crisps or biscuits as snacks. Again, not because we are hungry but because we are bored, fed up or something similar. So to simply create something that just makes a person feel full quicker than normal seems to be lacking somewhat. Please don’t get me wrong I am sure in a lot of cases it works wonders but what I mean is that these people need more than to just feel full. The whole relationship with food needs to be changed; they need to address the real feelings so that they can recognise when they are eating because they are hungry and when they are eating to mask a feeling. Once this has been recognised the feelings can be dealt with as they should and they can begin to eat for the right reasons.
Being overweight can affect us physically and psychologically. I always ask my weight loss clients “what is the biggest problem being overweight causes”. The answer is never anything to do with health but always something along the lines of not being able to go into a clothes shop and buy anything they want. This explains part of the problem with overeating. Many people that are overweight get so depressed with the way they look, they eat to make themselves feel better. This immediately creates that vicious circle that is so common with many problems.
My HypnoGastricBand process involves a lot of work to remove any psychological attachments to food. We also do a lot of work to help people to love themselves again. The HypnoGastricBand process is a five session program. The first two sessions involve regression work. This is where the qualified hypnotherapist uses a process known as Hypno Analysis to try and find the reasons for the overeating. It may be something as simple as when a child we were given food to stop us from crying. Immediately in this situation the brain begins to form a relationship between the feeling of resolve and food. As adults we will subconsciously head for the fridge when feeling sad/angry/lonely or whatever it was we were feeling all of those years ago when crying. Or it could be a lot more complex.
The third session in the process is the ‘consultation at the clinic’. In hypnosis the hypnotherapist will take you through this scene. Here your subconscious mind will begin to believe that you will be having the gastric band fitted on the agreed date. This is what would happen if you were really having a gastric band fitted so we make sure the process ties in nicely with this. At the fourth session the hypnotherapist will take the client, in hypnosis, through the ‘gastric band operation’. The hypnosis script was written exactly as a gastric band operation is performed. We have real theatre (surgical) noises playing in the background and the client is encouraged to really focus on the sights, sounds, smells etc that would really be there if the operation was happening for real. Parts of the script are personalised to the individual client but the operation specifics stay the same.
The final session is an open session. This is there for the client to use as they wish. If the eating has changed and they are doing really well they could have a session to ‘remove the gastric band’. If the client feels they need a top up we could have a session that involves ‘tightening the gastric band’. If neither of these is necessary then the client can just come for an hour of relaxation or to address any other issues that they may feel are preventing them from moving forward.
Each client gets a MP3 player with personalised weight loss suggestions on to listen to at home and also a session with a nutritionist is included in the price of the process. The reason for the MP3 player is because sometimes clients feel that they will benefit further by having a regular top up session. It’s much more economical to do this via a recording that they can listen to whenever it’s convenient than having to book another appointment with their hypnotherapist. The session with the nutritionist is very important. Although I can advise my clients on better eating habits I am not qualified to do so. I also know that every person is different and there is a diet that is suitable for some of us but not others. This is something the nutritionist can advise on.
The best thing about this process is that it really does work. The HypnoGastricBand was born when I wrote the script for a client almost a year ago. Since then my colleague Sue and I have developed that into the process I have just described. We now have twelve practitioners across the country using our program and seeing results just like we are. If you feel that you are over eating and your weight is becoming something that affects you health wise or maybe you just want to be able to go back into your favourite clothes shop and buy all of the clothes you love please see my HypnoGastricBand website for further information. If you know someone who may be affected in this way simply forward them this newsletter!

SELF HYPNOSIS: NEWSLETTER ISSUE 2, ARTICLE 3

Self hypnosis is something that is a really useful tool. I hope that my newsletters are starting to teach people why relaxation is so important. Just a short burst of self hypnosis can help you with many aspects of your life. Follow these simple instructions and start noticing the benefits today!

1. Take yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. You could lie down on your bed, your sofa or if you fear you may fall asleep sit somewhere snug. Make sure you are not going to be disturbed, turn off your phone and ask others not to disturb you.
2. Close your eyes and try to rid your mind of any feelings of fear, anxiety or stress. If thoughts pop into your mind just allow them to stay for as long as they need then slowly let them disappear.
3. Begin to focus on your breathing making sure you are taking deep breaths in and then exhaling fully. You could try 7 – 11 breathing. Breathing in for a count of 7 and out for a count of 11. Begin to visualise breathing out tension and anxiety and breathing in calm and relaxation.
4. Start recognising the tension in your body. Start with either your head or toes. See the tension in the area. Allow it to float away with the next out breath. See the area calm, relaxed, lighter and lighter. If you are a visual person you may like to imagine a healing light around you that you suck into your body, see it swirling around calming each area it travels through but remember to see that tension leaving with every out breath. Move on to the next part of your body once the area you are focusing on has relaxed. From your head down or your toes up. With each breath feel yourself sinking deeper and deeper into the surface beneath you.
5. Once you have relaxed your entire body see yourself at the top of a 10 step staircase. Slowly walk down the stairs in your mind, relaxing more and more deeply as you step down each stair. Really see each step and feel more and more relaxed as you go further down. Counting down from 10 – 1 as you go.
6. Once you have reached the bottom allow the visualisation of the stairs to simply drift away. See yourself in your favourite place. This could be lying in the middle of a football pitch or relaxing on a beach. Just allow yourself to remain in that place for as long as feels comfortable.
7. When you are ready and you feel that it is the right time to continue the rest of your day simply get the image of the staircase back in your mind. Slowly and steadily walk back up the stairs in your mind, feeling more and more awake with each step that you take. Count up the stairs from 1 – 10. When you reach 8 say to yourself at the count of 10 you are going to open your eyes feeling fully refreshed and invigorated. On the count of 10 open your eyes. Take some time to appreciate the feeling, when you are ready get up and continue with your day.

For those that want to use this practise it regularly and next month I will add in some work that you can do for specific problems. It is important to practise though as self hypnosis is a learnt skill.