Dan’s Blog

Sleep, Alcohol and Caffeine – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Nov 20, 2023 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Sleep, Alcohol and Caffeine – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Interrupted and disturbed sleep can have a huge impact upon your well-being and ability to function in the daytime. A few poor nights sleep can grow into an ongoing pattern of struggling to get, or stay, asleep and then feeling tired, foggy and anxious during the day. It can detrimentally impact upon both your physical and mental health.

It may be that your anxiety has led to poor sleep as you overthink and worry at night and struggle to switch off. Or it may be that you have been battling with your sleep and that has led to feeling exhausted, stressed and anxious. You may now find yourself feeling anxious during the evening as bedtime approaches and fearful of not getting enough sleep.

No matter what you are currently struggling with, checking in on how you sleep is always important because of how it can exacerbate unwanted thoughts, feelings and behaviours. This can include your sleep quality and quantity and your habits and routines about switching off and unwinding before you go to bed.

You may have tried all sorts of things to try and get enough sleep, and if the usual sleep hygiene things aren’t cutting it then you can find yourself feeling pretty low and pretty desperate.

Many people turn to alcohol and having a drink or two in the evening to try and help them to mentally calm down and physically relax enough for sleep. And if your sleep is poor, you may also be relying on caffeine to keep you functioning and productive through the day.

The Importance of Coping Skills – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Nov 17, 2023 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

The Importance of Coping Skills – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

When someone comes to see me for help with something like anxiety, stress, panic attacks, overthinking or something else, one of the things I want to know is how they currently attempt to handle, deal and cope with their unwanted thoughts and feelings. I want to know what strategies they have put in place, deliberately or without realising, that may be helping or hindering them feeling better.

Often clients have been to see other therapists along the way, whether for similar issues or something different. I will always ask about what strategies, skills and techniques they were given to do outside of their sessions by that therapist. I want to explore what they may have tried before and what has, or hasn’t, worked well for them. There’s little benefit in me suggesting they do more of the same if they haven’t found that it helped at all. Yet along with building upon what works, sometimes adjustments and slight changes in other strategies can make them more effective and easier to apply to interrupt things like anxious thoughts.

However, more often than not their former therapist didn’t give them any techniques for outside the sessions to help them in managing their own thoughts and feelings. To be honest, this astounds me because the importance of having effective, workable coping strategies in your life cannot be underestimated.

Can Being Kind To Others Reduce Social Anxiety? Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

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

Can Being Kind To Others Reduce Social Anxiety? Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

I’ve written before about my own earlier struggles with social anxiety and how it plagued my life for many years before hypnotherapy helped me. It’s something that I often discuss with clients who are seeking help with social anxiety itself or related issues such as low self confidence and low self esteem. It certainly is very possible to end all that anxiety and worry and to feel more relaxed and comfortable in your own skin.

I can still clearly remember how I would initially get excited about an upcoming event when it was first mentioned. Yet then over time, that initial excitement and enthusiasm would get slowly eroded by feelings of worry and nervousness. I would start to think of all the things I could mess up, from what I might say and do, through even to what to wear and what others would think. Every little decision was a potential minefield that could lead to embarrassment, being judged or failing in some way in front of others (and usually others who I would then have to face again afterwards knowing they would know about whatever I’d messed up).

My social anxiety would drive my imagination into all sorts of worst cases and catastrophes. Sometimes I would feel sick beforehand. Many times I would contemplate cancelling plans or not going through with things. Many times I did actively avoid situations. And I would often be hot, sweaty, panicky and tense from the outset.

At work I would avoid presentations, endlessly overthink before meetings, minimise my interactions with senior staff, try and avoid speaking on the phone in front of others and seek to manage my work style to minimise all of these risks and threats. Sometimes out of frustration I would push myself to go outside my comfort zone in the hope that at some point all of the anxiety would vanish, yet it would be there throughout, leave me exhausted afterwards and I’d just end up starting my worry habit about the next hurdle I would be facing.

I proposed on stage in front of five hundred people, made myself join a running club, became a parish councillor and a district councillor so I’d have to speak and do stuff in front of others. Sometimes these steps went ok and I felt good for a while. Other times they were just an ordeal that I would negatively dwell upon afterwards. My own negative beliefs and social anxiety patterns of thoughts and feelings would just rumble onwards relentlessly no matter what I tried to do to overcome it (before hypnotherapy).

Dealing with Flight Anxiety – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Nov 9, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Dealing with Flight Anxiety – Hypnotherapy Ely and Newmarket

Flight anxiety can be made up of a whole load of anxious thoughts, feelings and behaviours. For some, their generalised flight anxiety can mean that even seeing a plane or hearing about someone else’s flight can stir up all that anxiety and fear. There will also likely be anticipatory flight anxiety where you can worry from the moment you buy a ticket right through the airport and getting into the cabin.

And there will certainly be the anxiety once the plane doors close and the crew start going through the safety regulations. It may be the take off that bothers you most or being way up in the air. You may feel anxious during landing, or maybe even more relaxed at the end of the flight because you know you are only minutes away from being back on the ground. And a combination of sounds, movements and turbulence can all contribute to your fearful anxiety and worry.

And as if the flight and flying itself wasn’t enough to already ramp up your anxiety about being on a plane, there can also be other things that contribute. You may worry about passing out or having a panic attack on the plane. You may feel anxious about whether you will even be able to get onto the plane or whether you will have to abandon your plans, let people down and head back home. And, naturally, your anxious imagination can conjure up all sorts of disaster scenarios and catastrophes that add to your uncomfortable feelings.

Logically you know that flying is the safest mode of transport and you may even be fed up with being told this repeatedly. Yet flight anxiety will always win over logic and reason and so the dread, avoidance and discomfort continue to run and run.

Searching For The Root Cause – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

by Dan Regan | Oct 24, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Searching For The Root Cause – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Perhaps one of the most enduring ideas and misconceptions about hypnotherapy is that it relies on seeking and finding some sort of originating root cause for your anxiety. There is often a sense that hypnotherapy always involves spending a long time trying to uncover things from way back in the past and into childhood.

Certainly it is an approach and model employed by some hypnotherapists who do wish to try and find the historic root cause for what led to your anxiety. They will often want to spend a great deal of time talking about your childhood experiences or encouraging you to revisit the past in some depth. They will describe how their approach helps you to discover the root cause for your issue as a way of overcoming your current anxiety. They are of the view that by discovering and uncovering this long forgotten root cause, your current emotions and unhelpful thinking patterns will be transformed.

Yet while it can be helpful to look back on significant events that have contributed to your current challenges, I’m not sure it logically follows that knowing why something started changes how it currently happens. All too often a client knows, or believes they know, what contributed to the development of their unhelpful anxious thoughts and feelings, yet the anxiety persists. If someone was fine in a plane or car and then has a traumatic experience travelling that causes anxiety and panic whenever in a car or plane, then it’s reasonable clear how the problem started and the root cause of it but the anxiety and panic in those situations remains all too real. And if someone doesn’t know what caused their anxiety, do we really want to spend session after session trawling through the past hoping and trying to find and discover ‘the thing’.

So do we actually need to spend some time searching for the root cause of a problem, or can we just get on with ending the anxiety pattern and having you feel better now and into the future?

Hypnotherapy in Ely Video Testimonial

by Dan Regan | Oct 24, 2023 | Hypnotherapy Hypnosis and NLP

Hypnotherapy in Ely Video Testimonial – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

I absolutely love it when someone who has been struggling with issues for years turns around after their hypnotherapy sessions and tells me that they almost can’t believe the positive results they have achieved.

You can struggle on and on with an issue for such a long time, trying all sorts of things to help along the way, yet starting to feel like nothing can ever work for you. It can start to seem like the problems that weigh you down are going to have to be carried through life forever more. Very often people tell me that hypnotherapy is their last chance to finally feel better. And in the case of my clients at least, very often they find that hypnotherapy is the solution that has eluded them for so long.

It’s my passion and purpose to help you to feel better and to overcome the issues and challenges that hold you back and stop you feeling at your best. I’m massively grateful to the three hundred and fifty plus people who have taken the time to share their positive results. By sharing positive results I hope more people find the courage to seek help and to join the growing list of people who now feel happier, more confident and more in control of their own thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions.

In this article I’m sharing my most recent hypnotherapy in Ely video testimonial. And let me assure you, even before you watch it, that it is both awesome and inspiring so do read on and take a look.

Two Stage Thinking Process – Anxiety Hypnotherapy

by Dan Regan | Oct 13, 2023 | Anxiety Stress and Panic Attacks

Two Stage Thinking Process – Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Anxious thoughts can easily start to take over your mind until it feels like there is just a constant, uncomfortable, noise throughout your head. Those thoughts of what could go wrong and worst case scenarios fill you with fear and dread and they just keep coming back again and again. Anxiety will always find something to attach to and for you to worry and worry about.

I’ve written many times before about the cycle of anxiety. Your anxious thinking process leads to anxious feelings which then leads to avoidance and increased discomfort. And those feelings and behaviours of worry and anxiety just add to even more anxious thinking. It’s a self perpetuating internal cycle. And on top of that you may start to have other negative thoughts towards yourself and about your own capability to handle, deal, cope with things or to successfully take the steps to achieve your goals. You may start to think of yourself as less adequate than everyone else as they seem to cope so well with the sort of things that ramp up your anxiety. Your confidence and self esteem suffer, you feel even lower and then the cycle of habitual, automatic worrysome thinking takes an even firmer hold.

Anxiety affects how you feel in yourself and what you feel capable of doing. You can feel out of control over your own thoughts and feelings. You may avoid things, neglect relationships, struggle to be productive at work and find yourself wide awake and worrying at night.

One thing I deliberately seek to highlight through the many anxiety articles on my website is that, no matter where you are right now with your own thoughts and feelings, it certainly is possible to take back control and to start feeling better in yourself. You can learn to be able to orchestrate and direct what goes on inside your own mind, your imagination and self-talk and the sort of things you give belief, time and space to inside your own thinking.

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.

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