Dan’s Blog

How Nature Helps With Anxiety, Stress and Depression – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 10, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

How Nature Helps With Anxiety, Stress and Depression – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

I don’t know about you and your family, but we quite like to watch Richard Osman’s House of Games on TV together. I really like some of the rounds and the way they are put together, and it’s one of those shows that, no matter what your age, you can join in with and play along at home. Only no shouting out the answer please because that just leads to arguments!

The other day, after a particularly engaging play along at home episode, a show came on the TV which was all about groups of strangers getting together and hiking in areas around the country. In the show, five walkers compete against each other with their favourite walks to win a voucher or something at the end of the week. It’s like a strange hiking based reality competition show.

As the show aired, we were shown some absolutely fabulous areas of nature in Yorkshire, and we became particularly interested when they walked in and around Robin Hood’s Bay, a place we’ve visited on many occasions and which we always enjoy going to when we are in that part of the world. They showed some areas nearby that we’ve never explored, or even been aware of, on our previous visits.

Now the reason I mention this is not because I now work for the Yorkshire tourist board, but more because of some of the comments made by the walkers about their love of hiking and what got them into it, along with what they continue to get from their endeavours.

Several of the hikers mentioned how walking, and particularly walking in nature, had helped them with their mental health. From overcoming fears to anxiety and lowness, they had found a method and a passion that helped them. Part of this may have been having a sense of purpose and part of it may have been from being in an environment where it can be a bit easier to discuss mental health issues safely. Yet certainly a large aspect of the mental health boost they talked about came from getting out and spending time in nature.

Now, if you are an avid follower of my articles here on my website then this perhaps wasn’t really news to you. Research upon research has shown that spending time in nature and walking in nature can have immensely positive impacts upon anxiety, stress, depression and your mental health and well-being.

Weight Loss – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 6, 2023 | Weight Loss

Weight Loss – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

If you have been struggling to make successful progress towards your weight loss goals, then it is likely that there are psychological, behavioural and emotional factors that keep hindering you.

Whenever I help someone with weight loss, they will tell me about how they use food to manage their emotions, such as stress, sadness, boredom, happiness and for a perceived sense of comfort from food. There will be unhelpful behaviours involving unhealthy food choices, such as overeating or snacking in front of the TV. And there can be a host of other thoughts, patterns and habits that keep the unhealthy eating patterns going and that make it hard to just take back control over your eating habits without help.

You probably have a reasonably good idea of what constitutes a healthy or unhealthy food, and about what you should be eating if you want to feel healthier and happier. Yet the habits, emotions and associations that have built up over time mean that making good decisions is easier in theory than in practice. Yet, whether you learnt your behaviours around food at an early age, or they just crept in at some point along the way, it is certainly very possible to take back control over your eating habits, to enjoy eating just the right amount for you and to build the focus, motivation and determination you need to achieve your weight loss goals.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Anxiety Disorders – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 5, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Anxiety Disorders – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

The level of anxiety disorders that are recognised and diagnosed seems to continue to rise and rise. More and more people are sadly struggling with anxiety, and within the plethora of possible treatments and ways forward, it can be tough to be sure that you are making the best decision that you can. Luckily, we have an increasing body of scientific research and evidence that can point you in the direction of the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders.

Rather than having to endure all of those never ending anxious thoughts that race through your mind, and having to struggle with all of those uncomfortable anxious feelings, it is possible to learn how to take back control over your thoughts, feelings, action and reactions. In fact, you can come out of the other side of your treatment even better equipped with tools, strategies and the self-belief you need to handle, deal and cope with any future challenges you may face too.

Cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnosis grew out of a shared therapeutic background so it is unsurprising if I call upon aspects of each when helping people with their anxiety. By drawing up the most helpful approaches that are tailored to your own needs, you can move forwards past anxiety and start feeling better again.

As I describe below, hypnotherapy has strong evidence to support its effectiveness as a treatment for anxiety, and adding hypnosis to your cognitive behavioural therapy has been demonstrated to increase positive outcomes.

And here I’m taking a quick look at research into the long term effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety related disorders.

Hypnosis During Pregnancy and Childbirth – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 5, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Hypnosis During Pregnancy and Childbirth – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

With my eldest just turning fifteen and with both of my kids now at college, the pregnancy and childbirth for both of them should feel like a long time ago (they grow up so fast as we like to say!). Yet, I can still remember the entire experience of pregnancy and childbirth like it was just a few days ago.

There was the worry, anxiety, stress and hope that all would be ok and that they would be born healthy and well (especially as we had sadly suffered a miscarriage along our journey to parenthood). There was the whole birthing process and the tiredness and anticipation of waiting for the little one to come along. And then the turmoil as you try and work out what to do with a new baby in the house and how to try and stay on top of everything as you build new routines and try to cope with interrupted sleep, feeding and nappies whilst also managing work and life at the same time.

I often work with women during pregnancy and through childbirth and throughout the adjustment to parenthood stages. They may be struggling with anxiety and a sense of overwhelm. There may be anxiety about health, about being in hospital and coping with the birthing process, and about how well they think they will cope with having the responsibility of a new born to look after. There is no doubt that there are a lot of demands, challenges and things to learn through pregnancy and into parenthood (as well as a lot of love, happiness and joy, of course!!). And, of course, the change in roles and routines can equally have an impact upon fathers too as they also need to adjust through the pregnancy process and into being a new father.

Being Self-Critical – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 3, 2023 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Being Self-Critical – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Do you have a tendency to be self-critical in your thinking?

Whether it’s a component and linked to anxiety, low confidence, low self esteem, depression or just struggling to cope with things, being self-critical is often there contributing and exacerbating how bad you feel. You may generally be negative towards yourself, who you and what you do. Or you may find that when faced with an adversity or challenge, you go back to putting yourself down, blaming yourself and believing that you are at the cause of all of your struggles.

Being self critical can contribute to all sorts of mental health problems, as well as being a generally uncomfortable and unpleasant way to go around living inside of your own head. You can put yourself down, be harsh towards yourself, blame yourself and talk yourself out of doing things that you want to do.

Yet you may find that your thinking and mindset is very different towards those you are close to. It may be that you encourage and believe in loved ones, considering them to be capable and wanting the best for them.

And if a stranger walked up to that loved one and starting putting them down, telling them they weren’t good enough and they were a waste of space, would you just idly stand by and let that happen? Or would you tell them to do one and then reassure your close other that those things were nonsense? And if you wouldn’t let a stranger be critical towards a loved one, why on earth would you put up with being that negative and critical to yourself in your own head all of the time?

Is Impostor Syndrome Holding You Back? Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Jan 3, 2023 | Confidence and Self Esteem

Is Imposter Syndrome Holding You Back? Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Many years ago, I can remember being in my then manager’s office just causally chatting about some work related things, when all of a sudden they turned towards me, with a look of fear upon their face, and they said ‘I hope I don’t get found out as a fraud.’ This was my first real exposure to imposter syndrome and how it can affect anyone, even those you least suspect.

This manager had always seemed competent and confident at work. Apart from the usual little grumbles that most staff have towards their boss, I’d not heard anything except positive things and respect from other people in the office. Yet on the inside, this person was struggling with that fear of being exposed as incompetent, of being shown to be a fraud and not up to the job. Underneath their outer facade of confidence, they were anxious, fearful and vulnerable like so many others.

In fact, imposter syndrome, and the lack of confidence and fear of exposure that goes with it, is surprisingly common. That inner anxiety and fear affects and limits many, many people, even those whom you may least suspect. It might even be something that holds you back and troubles you in your daily life, leading to self-doubt, catastrophising, fear, regret and anxiety. You lack confidence in yourself, worry about being found out and being exposed, and you belittle your achievements, skills and capabilities.

If you get positive feedback or compliments then you’ll struggle to just accept them and enjoy them, and if you get negative feedback you may feel angry, threatened and useless.

More and more people have come to me for help with overcoming imposter syndrome and the unhelpful thoughts and feelings that come with it because they are tired and fed up of the constant sense of inner struggle and negative mind chatter. And because it is something that is all about your own internal thoughts, feelings and beliefs, it is something that you certainly take positive action to overcome.

New Year’s Resolutions and Achieving Goals – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Dec 31, 2022 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

New Year’s Resolutions and Achieving Goals – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Happy New Year! I hope that you had a lovely festive period and that you are feeling refreshed, refocused and ready to have an amazing year ahead!

I recently wrote about how to improve the likelihood of your New Year’s resolutions being successful (check out that article here: Successful New Year’s Resolutions) and many of the same principles apply to setting and achieve goals effectively no matter when you set them.

So many people set massive personal goals and then struggle to make, and maintain, progress. They seek to revolutionise their life overnight when, in reality, keeping the same big, motivating goals and evolving towards them can reap more consistent and enduring rewards.

That’s something I talk about more in this brief video:

Using A Christmas Carol To Boost Your Mental Health and Well-Being – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Dec 29, 2022 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Using A Christmas Carol To Boost Your Mental Health and Well-Being – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

I hope that you’ve had a great festive period and have enjoyed lots of positive moments. Our household succumbed to the flu type bug that is going around which threw all of our well planned plans up in the air!

Now I don’t know about you but every Christmas I love to watch and read A Christmas Carol. I love everything about the story, structure, period and message of the story. I’m sure I don’t need to revisit the well known story in any detail as we all know that Scrooge was visited by three spirits who help him reflect, review and change his life (although in case it comes up in a quiz remember he was actually visited by four ghosts in total!).

And it’s the sort of structure, that of reflecting upon the past, reviewing the present and planning for the future, that you can use to benefit you own mental health and well-being.

Successful New Year’s Resolutions – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Dec 23, 2022 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Successful New Year’s Resolutions – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Do you set New Year’s resolutions? The start of a new year somehow often feels like the right time for setting fresh goals. As one year ends, the new one, filled with the possibility and opportunity of the forthcoming twelve months, seems like a good time to start.

As well as that, if you have some time off over the festive period, then you may have more time to think and plan about what you’d like to achieve or change in your life. And if you have been overindulging through the Christmas and New Year period, then making some health changes may be top of your New Year’s resolutions list. In practice, most resolutions involve making health changes, such as quitting smoking, losing weight, cutting down drinking or changing eating habits.

Yet all too often your good intentions for improving your health fall by the wayside. You find yourself back where you started with your usual eating, drinking and exercise habits and routines, and your usual wishes to be thinner, healthier and happier.

So what can you do to improve your likelihood of not only making a New Year’s resolution, but also sticking to it and consistently changing how you do things for the better?

Motivation and Achieving Goals – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Dec 23, 2022 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Motivation and Achieving Goals – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Do you find yourself setting goals and then never really getting going with them? Or maybe you start off all motivated and firing on all cylinders yet along the way you lose focus and motivation and your good work gets abandoned?

It’s an all too familiar story where people set goals with the best intentions and knowing it will benefit them, yet they find themselves ending up back where they started.

There can be any number of reasons for this, yet there are certainly some things that, when put in place effectively, can help you to make progress and to keep it going.

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