Dan’s Blog

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?

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.

Running Hypnosis: Getting Over A Perceived Running Failure

by Dan Regan | Mar 24, 2021 | Sports Improvement

Running Hypnosis: Getting Over A Perceived Running Failure

If you’ve been running for any length of time then the chances are that you’ve had those training runs or races where everything seems to just come together and you set a personal best, you perform well, you tackle a difficult course, you’ve felt accomplished or where you’ve enjoyed running successfully in some way. Who doesn’t love that positive, good feeling that comes at the end of a good run?

As I think back upon my running history, I can recall times where I’ve set a PB and felt good for it, times when I’ve made progress and felt accomplished and snapshots from other running events and races where I’ve performed to my best and where I’ve felt good as a result. As we run and train more we learn more about the best preparation, training and strategies that work for us. We can refine, amend and improve what we do and how we do it.

But, of course, there are also those runs that we have all encountered where there are setbacks and challenges along the way. You fail to finish, you run badly, you don’t meet your own goals and expectations. I think I’ve had my share of these, such as not finishing an ultra, struggling through a marathon, not pushing on in a 10km, feeling unwell, niggling something or where a run or race just hasn’t gone to plan for some other reason.

When we encounter these setbacks and perceived failures it can be disappointing and demoralising. Often, after a time, we can shrug them off and get back on with it, hopefully with improved wisdom and learning to apply it in our running. Yet sometimes that perceived failure can rankle and stay with you. It can damage your belief in your capability and your confidence in your running. It can lead to doubt, anxiety, and worry about a repeat or about whether you can do it. When negative thoughts and feelings creep in based upon a previous running performance, you want to be able to learn from it and move on from it in constructive and beneficial ways.

Running Psychology: Strategies In The Hour Before Running

by Dan Regan | Mar 23, 2021 | Sports Improvement

Running Psychology: Strategies In The Hour Before Running

I remember when I first started entering a few local, mainly 10km races. I had little idea of what to expect and used to just mill around somewhere near the start and copy some of the warm up routines and strategies from other runners who looked like they knew what they were doing. My training consisted of about three runs a week, totaling ten miles, and I was happy just to jog along in a race, get my medal at the end and enjoy that post-race glow from the satisfaction of finishing. I can still even just about remember doing the ‘Run The World’ 10km in Cardiff way back in the Band Aid days!

Over the years, my pre-run routine, and especially my pre-race routine, has become a bit more refined. To my mind, getting ready to perform to your best involves not only being physically ready but also mentally in the zone. My days of listening to the Rocky theme tune on repeat before a run are long gone, mainly because it used to get me so pumped in the car on a way to a race that by the time I got there I was already tired!

Because I run in the morning these days, my pre-run strategy for a training run involves getting up, moving about and generally getting awake and moving a bit (along with coffee) before warming up and moving out of the door. For a race, I aim to get ready, travel there and then it’s about getting the right level of intensity and focus to race, along with staying relaxed enough to perform as best as I can on the day. It’s all about getting mentally and physically ready so that at the start line, I’m in the zone cognitively and emotionally (I’ve left out the trips to the loo, checking my watch for the time and making sure it has a GPS signal, trying to get my race number on comfortably and tying and retying my laces a few times!).

Of course, all runners have their own routines and strategies in the lead up hour to a run. At any race you can see runners getting ready, some pacing about and others still and composed, some seek company and others prefer solitude, some look lost in thought and others are busy doing warm up exercises. So what sort of strategies do runners employ before training and competition?

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