Dan’s Blog

Reducing Anxiety and Take Control Over Your Thoughts and Feelings

by Dan Regan | May 13, 2021 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Reducing Anxiety and Take Control Over Your Thoughts and Feelings

There’s no doubt that the pandemic has had a massive impact upon many people’s mental health and well-being. There has been stress, worry and anxiety through the many stages of restrictions, lockdowns and opening up that have taken place over the months.

You can find many articles about the mental health impact of the pandemic on this website, and I’ve written about anxiety, fear, sleep problems and alcohol consumption, among other things. Covid 19 related anxiety, stress and worry has become a serious psychological issue.

If your mental health has been impacted upon by the pandemic then you may well be experiencing elevated levels of anxiety, stress or health anxiety. And I’ve certainly been helping people who are finding the removal of restrictions and the opening up of more aspects of our ‘normal’ lives to be causing problematic anxiety. Covid 19 anxiety syndrome can lead to avoidance, checking and heightened levels of worry and distress.

Covid 19 anxiety syndrome can involve issues such as avoiding public places (such a shops) due to the fear of contracting coronavirus, checking yourself (and others) for symptoms of Covid-19, becoming absorbed in news about the virus at the cost of getting on with other things, and imagining what could happen to family members if they contracted coronavirus (Nikčević and Spada, 2020). In essence, this anxiety syndrome, whilst pertaining specifically to Covid-19, involves the usual elements of anxiety, with avoidance, excessive worry, a heightened awareness of potential threat and all the accompanying unwanted thoughts and feelings.

Many of these anxiety issues may well continue to affect you even after the pandemic has passed, as anxiety certainly has a tendency to filter and generalise onto other aspects of what you think, feel and do. The good news, however, is that it is definitely possible to reduce your anxiety, interrupt unwanted thought processes and feelings, and to take back control over your thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions in ways that mean that you feel calm, confident and in control.

Runners Therapy in Ely And Newmarket: Using Your Mind To Boost Your Confidence and Self-Esteem

by Dan Regan | May 10, 2021 | Confidence and Self Esteem, Sports Improvement

Runners’ Therapy in Ely And Newmarket: Using Your Mind To Boost Your Confidence and Self-Esteem

It’s been twenty or so years since I took up running properly. Before that I’d done a bit of jogging and running but in a much more haphazard and inconsistent way. Over the last two decade, except for time out with injuries, I’ve pretty much kept on donning my trainers and heading out of the door.

To my mind, running reflects so many aspects of life. There are the good times, and the not so good: the smooth times when you feel on top of the world, and those where you have to draw upon every ounce of persistence and determination to overcome challenges. Both inside and outside of running, you can have all sorts of inner dialogue, thoughts, feelings, expectations and beliefs.

When I suffered with anxiety, low confidence and low self-esteem, running was my crutch for everything. I would run after a good day and also to try and cope and deal with the less good days. I would run to try and feel better in myself, often succeeding for a while, yet the anxiety and mental health challenges in the rest of my life remained.

If I missed a run I would feel irritable, tense, frustrated and down. I could even go so far to say that in those days when my mental health struggles were the strongest, I felt like I absolutely needed to run and I had to run just to keep afloat in my life. Unless you’ve struggled with your mental health and experienced the highs that running can bring, you may struggle to understand the intensity of feeling and the need and desperation that comes from finding a way to demonstrate your own worth to yourself (and others), to find relief from the suffering and the need to run in order to cope.

There are many, many mental health benefits that come from exercise, yet running doesn’t always allow for full mental health recovery and relief, and those same old unwanted thoughts and feelings can continue to hold you back in other aspects of your life.

Mental Health Awareness Week – Mental Health and Nature

by Dan Regan | May 10, 2021 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Mental Health Awareness Week – Mental Health and Nature

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the focus is all about noticing nature and making a habit of connecting to nature every day. Of course, every day of every year should be about helping and supporting everyone to promote their good mental health and well-being (along with their good physical health too), yet an awareness week helps to remind us all of the importance of self-care and looking after ourselves better.

Spending time in nature has a lot of research to support its benefits for your mental health. It can help you to reduce your anxiety and stress levels, and can help boost your mental health and well-being. I certainly find that running and walking in nature helps me to feel calmer, more positive and boosts my own sense of well-being (and exercise, such as walking or running, helps with mental health too).

In my opinion, few things beat finding a nice quiet place to enjoy and explore nature on a nice day. Getting away from the usual daily load at home and work, and switching off from screens, means you can just focus on the sights, smells and sounds of what is going on around you.

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!

Anxiety Triggers and The Covid Vaccine

by Dan Regan | Apr 26, 2021 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Anxiety Triggers and The Covid Vaccine

The other Saturday I went and queued in line to have my Covid vaccine jab. It was a beautiful sunny day so I walked there and joined the line of about thirty people, all calmly waiting our turn to get the jab.

I felt good that day. I’d been for a lovely ten mile run along the river and was pleased with how strongly I ran. I walked the five mile round trip to get my vaccine. I came home feeling fine and then later I felt quite tired but nothing else.

By the early hours I was shivering, burning up, moaning, unsettled, uncomfortable and feeling like I’d been hit by a truck! I know some people had no reactions to their Covid jab, but I was knocked for six. For someone who had run ten miles the day before, I struggled to sit up in bed to have a drink! And it’s no secret in our house (just ask my wife) that I’m a very bad patient indeed! My kids did me more than proud though while I was out of action (and my wife had a reaction to the jab too) and did things together nicely, fetched and carried and were all around pleasant and helpful (apart from the sniggering because they’ve never seen me so ill and incapable before!).

The jab itself is a doddle. Answer a few questions about medical type things (most of which I’d never even heard of) and within a painless second it’s all over and they give you the ‘I’ve had my Covid vaccination’ sticker and send you on your way. If you do struggle with things like needles and injections though, get in touch because I can help you with that.

However, vaccinations and needles aside, there was one thing during my appointment that reminded me of an old anxiety trigger that really used to get to me and send my anxiety soaring.

Achieve Your Running Goal – Running Therapy & Psychology

by Dan Regan | Apr 20, 2021 | Sports Improvement

Achieve Your Running Goal – Running Therapy & Psychology

As runners, we know the importance of setting goals from training and racing and of then consistently and persistently following training plans and schedules that get us there. Whether it’s a goal about speed, distance, racing or some other aspects of running, having a goal keeps you focused, motivated and moving.

Recently, I’ve been gradually building up my long weekend runs towards an autumn ultra, and last Saturday headed out for a sixteen mile long run along the riverside here in Ely (on a beautiful sunny morning). In the past my goals have been for other races and distances and from 5k up to marathon and ultra marathon.

I’ve worked with many runners over the years and goals can vary from getting motivated enough to get out of the door, having the confidence to complete a first race or to run a whole 10k, getting over a psychological setback or injury, and having the mental strength to complete, to long distance racing (or running as part of an Ironman). And, of course, I’ve helped many runners with other issues, such as anxiety, stress, worry and depression, that have impacted upon their running and which, once resolved, mean they can enjoy running again.

And I think we know that, without a running goal of some kind, it’s easy to just plod along run after run with no specific aim from each run, from each training period and with nothing in particular to aim for. I’ve found in the past that without a running goal, my running can plateau a bit, the temptation to cut short a challenging run gets greater, training levels become more constant, and the fire and determination from having a race to aim for just isn’t present.

When you have a goal, you also want to build your confidence, motivation and self-belief that you can complete it successfully. You want to be able to dispel any negative inner dialogue or anxiety and you want to enjoy the process so that you can perform to your running best on the day. By using your mindset, you can build upon your training and hard work so that you can perform to the best of your ability and achieve your running goals.

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.

Clearing Out The Mental Trash To Reduce Anxiety, Stress and Worry

by Dan Regan | Apr 15, 2021 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Clearing Out The Mental Trash To Reduce Anxiety, Stress and Worry

With so much information coming our way each day, and so many sources of information, opinion, commentary and fact that we encounter, it’s no wonder that sometimes it just seems too much. We can feel bombarded with negativity, argument, speculation, opinion and more. Sometimes we deliberately think and talk about some of these things, yet other times things just seem to get inside our heads and go around and around, often gathering momentum as they do so.

So many people that I work with for overthinking, anxiety, stress and worry describe how their mind seems full, how it never seems able to switch off, and how they find their heads filled with all sorts of thoughts. And on top of this, when there is emotion attached (as with anxiety, stress and worry), it can really exacerbate things.

It could be someone else’s opinion that gets into your head and leaves you doubting yourself and questioning things. It could be some world event that you find yourself thinking about. And you may well find your mind is full of things outside of your control, things form the past, imaginings about the future, little things that seem like big things, small things you even know you don’t need to be thinking about. And there can be a whole range of other negative, limiting, depressing, anxious thoughts that dominate and occupy your thinking.

All these things can get inside your mind and become part of your thinking processes and can influence how you feel in unwanted ways. That means we all need effective ways to ‘de-clutter’ our minds, to interrupt unhelpful thought patterns and to take out the mental trash that contributes to your anxiety, stress and worry.

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?

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