Dan’s Blog

Dress To Impress! How Your Clothes Influence Thoughts and Feelings

by Dan Regan | Oct 13, 2023 | Confidence and Self Esteem

Dress To Impress! How Your Clothes Influence Thoughts and Feelings – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘dress to impress’ where it is suggested that you dress impressively to look good to others and to potentially influence their reaction towards you. Yet could it be that the clothes you wear have more influence over your own thoughts and feelings?

Could it be that your clothes influence thoughts and feelings so that you feel confident and feel good in yourself in ways that certainly could influence how you are perceived by others, as well as boosting your own self-esteem and positive self image.

Even as I write this I’m reminded of power dressing in the 1980s, a fashion style that suggested wearing certain clothes as a form of establishing authority in professional environments. Whilst designer labels were seen as a thing by both sexes at the time, power dressing was the fashion style that was associated with women standing up in environments traditionally dominated by men. And whilst I’m no fashion expert (obviously!), certain clothes and styles of clothes have always been associated with certain values, views and social groups and to either fit in or to stand out from others.

And recently I was reminded of the use of clothes to influence how you feel by a client who told me that wearing certain accessories and clothing styles helped her to feel more confident when public speaking.

Of course, if you subjectively perceive that what you wear affects your thoughts and feelings then it most likely will and that could either be helpful and positive or negative and a hindrance. And, there is evidence to support that what we wear influences how we think, feel and act.

Ely Marathon Result – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Oct 11, 2023 | Sports Improvement

Ely Marathon Result – Running Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Phew! It was a scorching hot day on Sunday but I’m glad to report that I managed to somehow drag myself around the course and complete the Ely Marathon (part of the Ely Runfest organised by Ely Tri Club). You might think in October that it is going to be a reasonably cool day, yet the weather gods had other ideas!

My time wasn’t the best yet after so many years since my last marathon, I’m just super happy to have crossed the finish line and collected my medal. I’ll also be pretty happy when my legs stop aching as I’d forgotten about the challenges of stairs in the days after running a marathon (I’m glad my office is on the ground floor!!).

I wrote a little about my training and running psychology in this recent article: Marathon Training and Mindset where I also include links to many other articles that can help you with your running mindset to boost performance.

Break Down Anxiety and Worry

by Dan Regan | Oct 6, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Break Down Anxiety and Worry – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Anxiety and worry are unpleasant and uncomfortable and can become all-consuming and debilitating.

You may struggle with all of the anxious thoughts that race through your mind. You find yourself imagining all sorts of worst case scenarios and catastrophes that could occur and that would be disastrous for you in some way. One worrying thought can just spiral into another and another, taking up all of your brain space and focus and wearing you out. And you may have found that the more you imagine these anxiety provoking thoughts, the more and more you think them. It can get harder to stem the tide of anxious thoughts and if you think them enough, after a while it starts to seem habitual and automatic. Your mind is filled with the anticipation and expectation of disaster, failure, distress and suffering.

And those anxious thoughts lead to the uncomfortable physical feelings and sensations that you struggle with. And because you feel anxious, you find even more thoughts race through your mind and fixate your thinking. And the feelings just linger and persist. It can easily become and exhausting and unpleasant internal roller coaster where you may feel your are thrown from negative thought to negative thought and from anxious feeling to anxious feeling.

In amongst all of those anxious feelings will be a mix of heart racing, tension, restlessness, rapid breathing, sweating, shaking and an inability to focus and concentrate. Your anxious thoughts lead to your body doing what it’s meant to do when faced with a threat (albeit here it is a perceived threat in your own thinking). Those uncomfortable feelings then add to a sense of dread, disaster and doom and your mind starts to seek out the source of the threat leading to even more unwanted thoughts. In this way, the anxious cycle can keep itself running and running and the whole while you feel more tired, frustrated, despairing and out of control.

Talking about things like ‘anxiety’ and ‘worry’ and using those words/terms to describe things can also come with its own difficulties.

Suppressing Negative Thoughts To Improve Mental Health

by Dan Regan | Oct 2, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Suppressing Negative Thoughts To Improve Mental Health – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

One of the most challenging things about negative thoughts, particularly when they are linked to anxiety, worry and low self esteem, is how they can start to become more habitual, enduring and seemingly automatic. You can start to find yourself being more and more negative about anything and everything.

If you are used to thinking the worst, catastrophising, dwelling and being self critical, then very soon you can find that you just do it without even always realising. You start to focus on the negative and what could go wrong. You put yourself down and start to feel worse in yourself. Even though you know it;’s unhelpful and makes you feel bad, you may feel out of control of your own thinking and of what goes on inside your own head.

And the more you focus on the negative thoughts, and the more you invest in them, let them run and invest belief in them, the more you can feel low, bad, down and anxious. And those negative emotions and feelings just drive even more negative thoughts into your mind. Our brain filters things through how we feel and will unhelpfully remind you of previous mistakes and regrets and future worst case scenarios and catastrophies just waiting to happen to you.

Very soon it becomes ongoing, self supporting cycle of negative thinking and negative feelings. It can impact upon how you feel in yourself and your self esteem. And it can affect relationships, work, study, friendships and other areas of your life. You may dread things and avoid things. And even when you crack on with things you may carry with you a sense of doom and gloom.

Hypnotherapy for Sleep and Sleep Disturbance

by Dan Regan | Sep 29, 2023 | Insomnia and Sleep Disorders

Hypnotherapy for Sleep and Sleep Disturbance – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

There can be few more frustrating, debilitating and exhausting challenges than long term sleep issues and ongoing sleep disturbance.

You can start to dread your bedtime routine, feel anxious just thinking about whether you will be able to sleep or not and then lie awake stressed for hours through the night. You start to wonder how you’ll cope through the day and your ongoing stress, frustration and inability to sleep makes you feel physically and mentally drained and worn out. You’ve probably tried all the things you can think of to break the pattern and improve your sleep, only to find that nothing really helps.

Some people I have helped had just grown resigned to living with sleep disturbance and just expected to have to lie there at night, spending hours thinking, worrying or just looking at their phone. Others dread and feel anxious about sleep and then feel worse and worse as the evening draws closer.

Sleep problems can start to become habitual and enduring. It causes anxiety, stress and frustration. And, it can lead to all sorts of negative thoughts and feelings that can spread into each and every aspect of what you do.

Sleep disturbance can negatively affect your physical and psychological health, however, hypnotherapy can be very effective for helping you with improving your sleep.

Weight Loss Through Hypnotherapy – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Sep 26, 2023 | Weight Loss

Weight Loss Through Hypnotherapy – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Perhaps one of the most satisfying aspects of being a hypnotherapist is when I help someone finally take control over their eating habits. After what may have been a lifetime of struggle, frustration and inconsistency, my weight loss clients learn to calmly and consistently make healthier food choices and decisions.

For some, their unhealthy relationship with food started as a child and just continues to be an ongoing issue from them on. Others found that once they had the freedom to make their own eating decisions then snacking, sugar and overeating started. And most clients already know what they should be eating, yet their mindset, experiences and habits continue to thwart them. Positive results may come for a time and then they find themselves drifting back to what they were doing before and any weight they have lost comes back on. It can seem like a form of self sabotage where you eat in ways that you know are not good for you.

Sometimes you will have tried lots of different diets and plans over the years, maybe getting some weight loss results for a while but then struggling to maintain it if your motivation wavers or you try to eat normally. You may eat emotionally when stressed, anxious, happy, sad or worried and find it hard not to fall back into this long used method of managing your emotions. Or it may be that you’ve just developed some unhealthy habits and behaviours around food that mean you are eating more than you need, struggling to resist temptation or just plodding along doing the same old things with no clear focus.

Whether you want to be healthier and happier, to look good and feel good or you want to be fitter and in better shape, hypnotherapy can help you to make positive, sustainable changes that will allow you to make progress towards being the size, shape and weight you desire.

Marathon Training and Mindset – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Sep 20, 2023 | Sports Improvement

Marathon Training and Mindset – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

It’s official, after what seems like an age since my last attempt, I will soon be running a marathon. Now, my days of trying to get personal bests are a bit behind me yet I’m still excited to take part in an official events and to put my semi-structured marathon training into practice.

After several attempts in previous years that have usually ended in some part or other of me breaking, I’ve slowed things down and, perhaps unsurprisingly, am now enjoying those long runs a whole lot more. The other day I ran twenty three miles at a steady pace and it’s nice to have the time to see the scenery, to say a few words to a passer by and to be comfortably alone in my own thoughts.

I’ve written many times about running hypnosis and psychology and I’ve included some links below. And if you are in marathon training, or doing running of any kind, then I have some awesome hypnosis downloads that you may want to listen to alongside your actual running to support your running endeavours.

It’s very noticeable how important your mindset and inner dialogue can be when it comes to running. You want to avoid talking yourself out of putting your trainers on and getting out running. You need to be able to deal with that inner chimp when out running and you want to be as calm and confident as you can be when taking part in an event with all the sights, sounds and people that entails.

According to Facebook memories it’s been at least seven years since I last completed a marathon (but that’s not necessarily accurate!) so I’m hoping to stay healthy, get to the start line, jog around and then stay in one piece to collect the medal. And, like all runners, I’ve already got my eye on the race that comes after that one (a solid 50k ultra marathon).

Cambridge Independent SME Awards 2023 – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Sep 18, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Cambridge Independent SME Awards 2023 – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

As I write this there are under two weeks to go until the final of the Cambridge Independent SME Awards 2023.

I’m super excited to be representing hypnotherapy in Ely at these awards, that cover the whole of Cambridgeshire. There are lots and lots of amazing businesses shortlisted for the final so it’s a huge honour just to be up for contention and on that finals list.

Whilst I wanted to share my excitement with you in this article, I also wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has sent me positive wishes and good luck messages for the awards night. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. And I want to also say a massive thank you

Putting Anxious Thoughts on Trial – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Sep 15, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Putting Anxious Thoughts on Trial – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

If you struggle with anxiety, then all of those anxious thoughts that go around and around your mind can seem like an endless, frustrating, fearful cycle of dread and worry. Your anxious thoughts drive your anxious feelings and then, feeling worse, your mind fills with even more worst case scenarios and catastrophic outcomes.

The more anxious you feel, the more those fearful thoughts seem to spin faster and become more habitual and entrenched. And the more you think those anxious thoughts, the more you feel all the physical symptoms of anxiety. You’re filled with worry, fear and dread and you stop doing things and try to avoid any things that are linked to your anxiety.

And all the while, that cycle of thoughts, feelings and behaviours becomes seemingly more automatic and habitual. You feel less and less in control of your own thoughts and feelings and you can struggle to find any respite from anxiety within your own head.

Even though you know that most of your anxious thoughts aren’t logical or rational, they keep spinning and racing around your thinking. Maybe you can distract yourself from them for a while, yet they just keep coming back again and again. Now, of course you know they you are thinking those anxious thoughts and they are happening inside your own imagination and focus. So rather than responding to them or engaging with them, it’s time to start challenging your own thoughts and putting your own anxious thoughts on trial.

Fear of Spiders – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Aug 31, 2023 | Phobias and Fears

Fear of Spiders – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Spider season is now well and truly upon us here in the UK. Barely a day goes past at the moment where I’m not called upon to trap a spider in our house and then release it back out into the garden. And as well as the little house spiders, there have been some whoppers recently with dark, chunky bodies and long, thick legs.

If you have a fear of spiders then this can be one of the most challenging times of the year. During spider season, you’re more likely to encounter the little critters and they may well seem to be more active (I’m told it’s spider mating season so those male spiders are out and about looking for a mate). Sometimes they are just sitting there on the floor or ceiling, and other times you notice that bit of movement out of the corner of your eye and then turn and see one scuttling across the floor towards a dark space.

I’ve worked with many people to help them overcome their fear of spiders. Rather than feeling anxious, having to check everywhere you go, and struggling with panic when you encounter one, you can learn how to calmly and confidently handle, deal and cope with any spiders should you come across one.

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