Cognitive Hypnotherapy & Coaching

Hypnosis is a powerful and effective tool for change and is a completely safe and natural trance state.

When you read, listen to music or daydream you are often in trance; your attention narrows to focus on one thing. For example, if you are focused on reading, you may be unaware of other sounds or activities in the room. When you are asleep the brain waves are very different to being  hypnotised where you show a enhanced level of concentration.  You are alert, awake, and able to respond.

You will be lead into hypnosis, listening to words that focus on the feelings of deep relaxation. You will remain conscious of what is going on around you, with full mental control and will not do anything or say anything that you do not want. At any time you can simply open your eyes and stop therapy.

We believe that trance states are part of the pattern of a problem, but also a powerful part of the solution. By using your natural trance state to uncover the feelings, thoughts and memory patterns that lead to and maintain your problem we can begin to understand and find a solution.

I will speak to your unconscious mind, using visualisations and suggestions to help reframe unhelpful ways of feeling, thinking or behaving so  you can leave these behind. Simply being in the state of hypnosis will create physiological changes that reduce stress and any negative effect on health and well-being.

The more intelligent and self-controlled you are, the easier it is to be hypnotised. Although there are difference in how you respond to hypnosis.  It has been found that around 30% of people are fairly resistant to hypnotherapy.

No one can be hypnotised against their will.  However you tend to reduce your inhibition under hypnosis and will then be more read to take on any suggestions.

Hypnotic trance is all about concentrating, so it is not suitable for people with mental health problems, those with low IQ may also find it difficult.

Coaching helps you to take more responsibility for your own destiny and helps you to become really clear about what you want from your life.

You will discover the behaviour and actions needed to meet your objectives so you are fully engaged with any new goals. This could be in relation to your aspirations, career goals or general life purpose.

It can also help to identify any blocks or mental barriers which may be stopping you achieving your goals, help overcome any emotional challenges, and enhance your self-awareness.

NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming, has a central place in Cognitive Hypnotherapy. The techniques are based on the relationship between our patterns of thought (neurology), how we communicate these thoughts through body language and words (linguistics) and how we respond to these in our behaviour and emotions (programming).

NLP techniques help you to understand your own behaviour and reactions to events that occur in your life. With that knowledge and the self help tools you can change negative thought patterns and limiting beliefs that may be causing you difficulties.  You can then replace them with positive ones, which, once taught can be used throughout your life.

NLP is often utilised for performance improvement in areas such as sport, academic performance, sales as well as personal development. NLP on its own can provide an excellent tool for change and I generally use some nlp tools in all of my sessions.

Time Line Reprocessing is a powerful process that has evolved from hypnosis and NLP.  Helping to change the impact of painful emotions linked to events or memories in the past. Then looking at what you could learn from those events that could be a useful resource for the future.

It is a useful tool to enable individuals to clear beliefs which may not be true or which no longer serve a purpose and help the client move towards new goals and beliefs for the future.

Three common limiting beliefs are: “I don’t deserve it”, "I'm a failure" and “I'm not good enough”.

Positive psychology is the science of the positive aspects of human life. It includes things such as happiness, well-being and flourishing. Its founder, Martin Seligman, described it as the “scientific study of optimal human functioning that aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive".

Psychology often emphasises the shortcomings of individuals not their potential. However, this approach focuses on reaching your potential.

It is not a way to fix issues, but is focused on researching things that could make your life worth more positive and worth living.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, CBT, is based in the premise that we have the ability to control our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.

Cognitive refers to the process of learning and understanding through our experience, what we take in through our five senses, and what we think about all of it. This happens consciously, meaning we are aware of it, and unconsciously, meaning these thought and feelings happen automatically, without our awareness.

Behaviour is the way we respond this can happen intentionally when we are aware of our cognitive processes, or reactively when we respond unconsciously to a situation.

Instead of focusing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, CBT helps you overcome negative, destructive thinking so you begin to look for ways to improve your state of mind in a more logical way.