Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

The Hypnotic Mindset and Hypnosis

by Dan Regan | May 18, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

The Hypnotic Mindset and Hypnosis

The other day, during a hypnotherapy consultation at my office here in Ely, a client asked about hypnosis and mentioned how they had read online about the subconscious mind and so on. Sadly, the way that hypnosis is talked about and portrayed in many quarters (including by some hypnotherapists) with a sense of mind control, mysticism, magic and mystery, means that it is no wonder that people are uncertain about what hypnosis is and what it entails.

Whilst we often joke about it, many people do expect me to pull out a swinging watch or to zap them somehow, in a way that leads to magical improvement (and where they will have no idea how it happened). There are many hypnotherapists and others who continue to advocate that hypnosis is a passive process for a client and that some form of unseen, unknown change occurs at the unconscious level. Even more sadly, these myths and misconceptions (and downright inaccuracies) put many people off seeking a form of therapy that could really help them (and that has scientific research and evidence to support its application).

Far from being a therapy where you are controlled by a hypnotist and unaware of what is going on, hypnosis allows you to take control over the kind of things going on inside your mind. Rather than being passive, you get to be active and engaged in your own progress and improvement, which stands you in good stead for the future because you know how to orchestrate your thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions. Hypnosis is a process that you actively participate in rather than being a passive that you respond mechanically to resulting in hypnosis.

Whilst we do things non-conconsciously and sometimes habitually and seemingly automatically, our minds work on pattern and repetition. In most cases, you will find yourselves thinking, feeling and doing things in a way that you did in a previous, similar situation or experience. By working out how your mind is doing this pattern, and how it continues to do it, you can interrupt that pattern and create a new way of thinking, feeling and doing things that serves you better in that situation. You get to take control and choose what goes on inside your own mind (how awesome is that!).

Successful hypnosis involves you participating in the process of your own improvement. You adopt a positive mindset, build upon your motivation to change, grow your confidence in their ability to make changes, and create optimistic about the process, expecting to experience the things you are seeking from the hypnotherapy. Whatever your issue or starting point, you become better and better at orchestrating your mindset, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions.

Hypnosis Downloads – New Audios Now Available!

by Dan Regan | May 6, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Hypnosis Downloads – New Audios Now Available!

After quite some wait, due to the pandemic, I was really pleased to finally be able to get back into the recording studio and create some brand new hypnosis downloads for you.

There are several new titles now available that cover help to reduce anxiety, increasing your confidence, gaining a more positive mindset and outlook, and reducing unwanted thoughts and feelings. I’m really happy to be able to share them and I can’t wait to hear your feedback too!

From Night Owl To Early Bird: How I Became A Morning Person

by Dan Regan | Apr 20, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

From Night Owl To Early Bird: How I Became A Morning Person

The other day my wife suggested to me that I operate on a different time zone to everyone else. And that’s pretty true in our household where, whether it’s a week day, holiday, weekend or any other day, I will invariably be up and active while the rest of them are still in sleepsville.

Now, I don’t know how other people do things and what time they get up and go to bed, but whereas a few years ago the thought of getting up early was a complete non-starter, now I can think of nothing worse than missing the best part of the day. There was a time when I went to bed late-ish and struggled to get up in the morning, with it seemingly taking me a good couple of hours and many coffees before my brain kick started.

If I had to get up early in those days it meant an evening of stressing about trying to get enough sleep, a few hours lying in bed thinking how tired I would be the next day and then a long, long day with a foggy head and an ongoing urge to yawn.

Recently I was talking to a client who wanted to move from staying up late to getting up early and being more of a morning person. He wanted to get up while it was quiet and have some time where he could read, study, meditate, exercise or whatever other positive thing he wanted to do before all the challenges, distractions, interruptions and noise of the day took over. And so we talked about how I managed to make the transition to becoming a morning person after years of insisting it wasn’t even humanly possible for me to that.

Being A Confident Hypnotherapist – Hypnotherapy Supervision, Help & Support

by Dan Regan | Apr 19, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Being A Confident Hypnotherapist – Hypnotherapy Supervision, Help & Support

I’ve worked with many hypnotherapists and coaches over the years and, just like everyone else, hypnotherapists can be affected by unwanted thoughts and feelings that impact upon your enjoyment of your work.

There may be things from other aspects of life, life’s problems and challenges that impact upon how you feel and the kind of thoughts you have. These can then ripple into your work and drain away the positive, leaving you filled with anxiety, dread and worry. Despite the fact we help people with mental health issues day in and day out, hypnotherapists aren’t immune to stresses, strains and worries in one form or another.

I’ve also worked with those therapists who are lacking in confidence and self-esteem, who feel anxious and filled with dread before sessions and who may then be harsh towards themselves afterwards. What might have seemed straight forward enough in the training room with a bunch of like minded people can be very different from sitting opposite a paying client and having to respond to their problems and goals. It can often be a lonely business being a self-employed hypnotherapist with only yourself to push you forward, lift yourself and reason with whatever comes your way (including the things inside your own head). And whatever your level of experience, there is much to be said for having effective supervision, help and support to keep you positive and enjoying helping people.

Walk And Talk Therapy – Where Nature, Exercise and Mental Health Combine

by Dan Regan | Apr 8, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Walk And Talk Therapy – Where Nature, Exercise and Mental Health Combine

As I write this, Spring is upon us and out of my window the sky is blue and the sun is shining brightly (although the frost on the car was so thick this morning that it took ages to defrost and made me late for bootcamp!).

With a few extra layers on (for those out-of-the sun moments), it’s a lovely time of year to get out and go for a walk. I love running at this time of year when the sun is out and it isn’t yet the crazy heat of summer. And now the mornings are lighter, the sun also shines on us at bootcamp (even if it was totally freezing cold this morning).

It was so nice that yesterday we all went for a walk around Ely and had a bit of fun playing tag in the grounds of Ely Cathedral, although the photos made me realise just how long my lockdown hair had become (but by the time you read this normal hair order will have been restored!).

I’ve written a lot in previous articles about the benefits of exercise, and of getting out in nature, for your mental health and well-being. It makes a massive difference to be active and get out, especially after all the restrictions from lockdown that curtailed a lot of these activities. And recently the idea of walk and talk therapy seems to have grown, especially as it has allowed people to access therapeutic help that keeps social distancing and avoids too much close contact. Naturally not all mental health therapy approaches are well suited to walk and talk therapy, which is perhaps why it has mainly up until now been something mostly popular with counsellors. But the key question, with any type of therapeutic intervention, is all about whether it can actually help you to feel better.

So what does the evidence tell us?

The Eye-Fixation Induction in Hypnosis

by Dan Regan | Apr 8, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

The Eye-Fixation Induction in Hypnosis

If you have been a client of mine, or used my hypnosis downloads, then you’ll know that the process of hypnosis involves engaging your thoughts and mindset towards achieving your specific goals, such as overcoming anxiety. You engage your focus, imagination and concentration as part of entering hypnosis.

As I’ve covered before, hypnosis involves using and engaging your mindset, cognitions, imagination, motivation, belief and expectations in particular ways that help you to achieve beneficial therapeutic changes. It is not something that is done to you (as anything on TV would have you believe) but rather something you are actively engaged in. Hypnosis helps you to take control over your thoughts, feelings and behaviours, rather than feeling like you are controlled by them. You move from feeling stuck in a certain pattern, to being in control of a new, more helpful, way of doing things.

There are many, many ways to induce hypnosis, including the eye fixation process I am talking about here. The hypnotic induction becomes your cue, or signal, to adopt a positive mindset, to engage in the process and to be mentally engaged in what you are doing towards achieving your goal. Hypnosis is a process that you actively participate in rather than being a passive process that you respond to mechanically resulting in hypnosis (which of course is great, because you are learning to take control over the things that go on inside of your mind rather than just trying to deal with them or needing a hypnotherapist to be there).

Hypnosis Changes The Way Your Brain Processes Information

by Dan Regan | Mar 29, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Hypnosis Changes The Way Your Brain Processes Information

Today I’m covering some new research about what happens in your brain during hypnosis. Whilst most sections of the media tend to portray hypnosis in a nonsensical way, our understanding of its benefits and effectiveness continues to grow. More and more research shows how hypnosis can help you with issues such as depression and anxiety, as well as how it enhances the results you will get from cognitive behavioural therapy.

Sadly much of the misinformation seems to come from hypnotherapists who don’t keep updated or read the research (as well as from other branches in the mental health field). There is a continually growing wealth of evidence and support that suggests that, if you are struggling with your mental health right now, then hypnosis can help you to make the changes in your thoughts, feeling and actions that will help you to feel better.

Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket: Update on Restarting Face-to-Face Sessions

by Dan Regan | Mar 24, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket: Update on Restarting Face-to-Face Sessions

With the pandemic having lasted over a year now, and lockdown three itself having entered its third month, it’s great that things are finally looking more positive as we move through the year. My daughters are both back at school and doing well, bootcamp has restarted, we can now meet members of another household outdoors and finally (FINALLY!) the return of face to face sessions in Ely and Newmarket is on the near horizon.

It’s been a busy period for online hypnotherapy sessions and I’ve been busy helping people with issues such as anxiety, panic attacks, self-esteem, phobias, weight loss, confidence and much more. Hypnotherapy sessions by Zoom have continued to work effectively and my clients have enjoyed some outstanding results (for more on online hypnotherapy sessions read this previous article: The Effectiveness of Online Hypnotherapy: Skype and Zoom Hypnotherapy Sessions). Zoom hypnotherapy sessions continue to be an option if you live too far to travel to my office or if you just prefer it now that we’ve all got used to do much more online.

In accordance with the Government’s lockdown easing roadmap, face to face sessions can resume in Ely and Newmarket from 12th April 2021. I’ll be contacting anyone who carried over sessions from before the lockdown to arrange a new time to resume appointments. And if you are seeking successful face to face hypnotherapy sessions in Ely or Newmarket then get in touch and ask to arrange your free initial consultation so we can have a chat about working together to help you overcome your issues and feel better.

How To Live A Fulfilling Life Free of Regret

by Dan Regan | Mar 11, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

How To Live A Fulfilling Life Free of Regret

As Frank Sinatra sang, ‘Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention…” Just like Frank, we can all have some regrets in life. We can think back on different decisions and choices we could have made and wonder how things could have been different.

Although, of course, we have to remember that we can all be a little guilty of romanticising things turning out better and of colouring our imagined past with more positivity than might be realistic. Yes, we can all have some regrets, things we put up with for too long, the path we didn’t take, the courage we lacked, or the other choices along the path of our lives. There can also be many, many positives throughout our lives and things we are glad about or pleased in how we’ve lived and what we’ve stood for up to now.

If I find myself regretting some past thing (“if only I….”), I deliberately remind myself that I did the best I could at that time, and that I made the choices and decisions that seemed best or right based on who I was then (or I wouldn’t have made them). I remind myself that I’m thinking back in a distorted way and that there is no benefit in second guessing myself or living in the past, and that I know more now with hindsight than I did back then. And then I remind myself of all the good things that may not have happened or that I might have missed had I travelled a different path up to now.

Even if we forgive ourselves and accept what has happened, that doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from pausing and taking stock of our lives for the future. All too often we get stuck on the busy treadmill of life, moving from one task to another, forgetting the bigger picture and longer term within the mass of responsibilities, tasks and distractions. Rather than waiting until many years from now, when it may be too late to do anything but regret, you want to know that you’ve lived a life that’s full, that you’ve travelled each and every highway to live a fulfilling life and much more than that, that you did it your way (yes, I’ve ripped a bit off Frank in that last sentence).

Hypnosis Enhances Results Of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Updated Science and Evidence

by Dan Regan | Mar 2, 2021 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Hypnosis Enhances Results Of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Updated Science and Evidence

It’s always a pretty exiting day when you discover that some hot-off-the-press hypnosis research has just been published (at least it is a good day in my world!!). As the world of therapy and psychology continues to grow, develop and advance, I believe that it’s important that, as far as we are able to, we draw upon scientific knowledge, research and evidence to inform what I do and how I strive to help you.

It always saddens me when I read hypnotherapy forums and look at hypnotherapist websites, how little knowledge there is of the research and evidence for hypnosis among many therapists. In a world where we are all very aware of fake news and false science (during this Covid-19 pandemic), it’s disappointing to find so many therapists who never follow the science or ever read a research paper. But enough of this for now or I may never get around to covering the main point of this article, which is about what happens when you add hypnosis to cognitive behavioural therapy.

The hypnotherapy field (and broader psychological field) has an ever growing amount of scientific research to support it. Hypnosis can help you with issues such as anxiety, depression, fear, pain and stress (amongst many other things!). We now also have even more evidence that supports adding hypnosis to cognitive behavioural therapy to improve the results you get.

As I cover here, cognitive behavioural therapy with hypnosis leads to better, and more enduring, positive results, than just using cognitive behavioural therapy on it’s own.

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