The fight between the conscious and unconscious mind

New Blog added 18th Feb 2019.

Why in overcoming addictions and persistent habits its important to understand the powerful part our unconscious mind plays and how to use that power to break the chain of addiction with mind based cognitive therapies that work at the unconscious level.

#Hypnotherapy #BWRT ® #Dreamscaping #Mindmediation #Time #Cornwall #Devon. Nationally and internationally via #Skype #Zoom. #Whatsapp

#Addiction #Anxiety #Drink #Debt #Gambling #Habits #Smoking #Tobacco.

I see people from all walks of life in my Therapy Room with many diverse presenting issues and most understand that where they are right now, in that moment of now, took them a fairly long journey in their life to be where they arrive... at a point in life where they seek professional help simply because they have reached an impasse in their lives where they are struggling to do it on their own and there is a driving need to find a different perspective on helping themselves to find inner change. And that is a good thing because it shows they haven't given up on themselves.

At the outset I invest a lot of time to help clients understand why they are where they are and this involves a talk about the difference between the conscious and unconscious mind and the balance of power between the two and I explain exactly why the unconscious mind is more powerful than our conscious mind because it underpins everything we do and how its primary purpose is to keep us safe and protect us and run deep seated behaviours, habits, routines and reactions.

A very important part of the conversation is to explain that the subconscious will always do its best for us in its primary directive of protection even if on a conscious level the "thing" that it is doing, like gambling, drinking, addiction etc is not at all what we consciously want.
Therein lays the dilemma of conflict with the driven urge to do something we can't appear to control because of the power of the subconscious mind.
There is an interesting thing about the unconscious mind, it isn't capable of thinking for itself and it’s hard wired to flight, fight or freeze and outside of its basic programmes from keeping us safe, it is blindly obedient and can be reprogrammed. Now what do me mean?
It would for example be very difficult to hypnotise someone to do something that could put them in harm’s way or do something that would be against their moral compass. The subconscious will have a very strong reaction and programme to overturn an event such as that.

No one needs to tell the drinker they are drinking their life away drowning their sorrows. They already know how that feels but there is a way out.

From this one can see the unconscious can be quite resistant, however, here is an important factor, the unconscious mind will always deliver that which we truly want!
Now in a state of inner conflict that is going to take some negotiating because the unconscious mind is effectively stuck in a locked loop and this is why when we are going to work with clients on helping them free themselves from the weeds of habit and addiction it is very important that the client understands that Hypnotherapy although very powerful is not a magic pill that will suddenly free them from their issues until the reprogramming process is complete and accepted by the unconscious mind. The reason is that the energy for change needs to be built up in the psyche and the old craving and drive needs to be destroyed and the unconscious in the early part of therapy will do its very best to have its way and resist but you have to start somewhere.

The addicted gambler is always betting on an outcome that is never guaranteed, but one thing is. The odds are always stacked against them

Now that resistance can manifest in statements such as "its not working" , I'm still drinking, gambling etc or it can manifest in actions such as the client bailing out within a session or so without giving the process the time it needs to work for them.
Often negotiation takes time and particularly where one party holds strong emotions and views and the unconscious is very much doing the same thing until we get to yes and there is mutual consent that the addiction is harmful and needs to stop.

The hardened smoker will always think it will never happen to me until that last cigarette is the one that triggers cancer.Then what?

One can liken the addiction, habit etc to a virus on a p.c. A lot of virus's are complex, working on many levels and are, firstly potentially dangerous or even catastrophic. Secondly, they are very deeply implanted and often deeply resistant at first to break down and root out. But they can and do.

Every addict feels like they ere just burning money away and whilst some may say they are in Control, its the addiction that is controlling them which is why some addicts dislike control because deep down inside they know they are being controlled by the programme running deep inside the unconscious mind. Taking back control is the very thing that is needed.

To my mind, I see a correlation between our minds and computers and the way both work after all the computer is born of the human mind.
Hypnotherapy can work given time. Sometimes though the unconscious resistance can be so high that some clients fail to work through the resistance even with all the explanations and support and they may bail out and end up two, three years down the line still stuck still on the path to possible self destruction.

There is a way out. Hard ? Yes.. impossible ? No....Turn Impossible into I'm possible. Take back control and say I can and I did.

To create change you often have to go through some hard things first but they lay firm foundations.
I find that the clients who understand and embrace the message that a journey of a thousand miles start with just one step tend to be the clients who find that freedom peace and success that they are looking for.
Trevor Wales Hypnotherapy Solutions.

Turn your cant into a can with mind based cognitive therapy

Eating disorders resolved with BWRT. Lachanophobia and Fructophobia are a fear of eating fruit and veg.

New blog added 15th August 2018

#BWRT #Cornwall #BWRTDEVON #BWRTWESTCOUNTRY #BWRTCORNWALL #TherapyinCornwall #Cornwallbwrt
#Cornwall BWRT #Anxiety #Gaggingreflex #lachanophobia
#fructophobia

A nice little piece of text testimonial feedback I have been granted permission to use has been sent to me this morning.

"Hi Trevor. Yes I did get your voicemail, apologies I heard it, got caught up with work and forgot to respond. Things are going well thanks. I've tried a few foods that I never have before and now feel a lot more confident with it. To begin with I thought I might need a few sessions but now, after pushing myself I feel in a good place to carry on pushing myself "

The details of the clients treatment are below.

Last week I was working with a thirtysomething male client who has had a lifelong aversion to eating any salad vegetables or fruit. If they did so unknowingly the results were not at all pleasant.
Very recently before coming to see me for therapy they were caught short in a local hostelry when served a burger for lunch for which they had specifically asked for the lettuce and any salad to be removed. It was overlooked with the result that they found themselves being very sick and with a spoiled meal.

The typical response at the initial therapy session when I was asking my client to think hard about the worst part of that memory and also entertaining the idea of eating fruit or salad or any other vegetable or food that they could not eat for gagging was an instant draining of colour to the face where they went almost grey in the face with the thought and emotional stimulus running high.

This is the unconscious fight, flight, freeze centre, the reptilian complex that part of us charged with keeping us safe, firing up the automatic response, in this case, to something that happened a long long time ago that really presents no threat, no harm, yet the template still exists and the unconscious does its best to oblige in keeping us safe by firing off long before we are actually aware of it doing so.

For most of us we probably would find this very hard to comprehend but the roots go back to early childhood to a memory of when they were three years old to be precise and also in part to learned behaviour. Within a single BWRT session a huge breakthrough for my client was made where at the conclusion of the appointment they said the actually felt so much more confident and could actually imagine eating some of those foods they had called to mind which they previously had been able to for many years. Below is the message which I have permission to share.

#Fructophobia (from fructus, Latin for "fruit") is the fear of fruits. People fear fruits often due to the same reasons why people fear vegetables (#lachanophobia), imagined issues like eating seeds that may germinate inside one's body may be typical but irrational fears which are often linked to early childhood memories.

Need help? Call me on 077040 190261 or 01726 69703

Do you think your stuck and feel hopeless? There is good news.

#Anxiety #Confidence #panic #Fears #phobias #PTSD.

#Hypnotherapy #BWRT #DREAMSCAPING #EFT #GOSH #NLP #STEPS.

#Cornwall #Devon Nationally and internationally via#Skype and #Zoom

Inner change is possible.

Sometimes when we are stuck in a dark horrible place inside of ourselves things can seem bleak and awful and we may feel many emotions, we may feel wretched, sad, angry, not good enough. We may find ourselves in situations where we stop being able to do the things that we normally do, those things we take for granted,like going out, socialising, driving, and other things.
We may feel as if life is simply out to get us and not in our control. Most likely, we also may not understand why what we are going through is happening to us and we may well ask "Why Me and when will things change or simply get back to normal? "

That dark place can sometimes seem lonely, isolating and unending. We may carry intrusive thoughts through into every waking moment of our lives, but as a therapist of over fourteen years im here to tell you that no matter how things feel now if you happen to be going through some of the things I mentioned above, change is possible. It might feel impossible now, but please take hope because it most certainly is possible. The journey may be tough at times and may take months in some cases but it can and does happen for many of my clients I work with.

Since the early part of the year I have been working with several clients with long term complex issues of various types from self identity crisis, emotional abuse, confidence, motivation, procrastination, fears and phobias.
Some of the issues were affecting those clients on a personal level whilst for some it was affecting their business lives and hurting their cash flow and business.

Over the time we have been working together all of these clients have been sending me regular updates between appointments to say how the therapies I have worked with has improved their lives.

Working at the subconscious level is so much more effective and efficient than at the conscious level and it is a highly specialised skill that requires regular training investment in understanding the human brain, how it works and the human condition.
Yesterday I received three messages from clients booking in their follow-up appointments that all said how much better they feel as a result of the investment in themselves choosing Hypnotherapy and BWRT and the other very significant therapies I use such as dreamscaping, gosh and steps.

The most stand out comment was from a client who started working with me in February and who has some very deep issues that have one by one being resolved. Some of this persons issues were relationship based where infidelity had totally damaged them causing a significant loss of personal confidence.
The message received yesterday was to say how much better they feel and how they sleep better too as a result of being able to put their previous heartbreak behind them.

Please note, the feedback given to me is always checked with my clients for permission to share their journey and it is always anonymised so as to preserve client confidentiality.

If you need to talk please feel free to contact me for further details on 01726 69703 or 07740 190261 for a no obligation free consultation of up to thirty minutes.Trevor Wales Hypnotherapy Solutions.

New Blog added 08/08/2018

What is Hypnotherapy?

New Blog added 13th Feb 2018

So what exactly is hypnotherapy and what's it all about?

When I meet people at meetings or give a card to people when I’m out and about, the reaction is as one would expect quite varied. Most people are highly curious and ask if it can help them.. Some laugh and ask If I might make them do something daft ... I usually reply ..."only if you want to. What would you like to do?" :-)

Typically people worry if they will lose control or if they might be made to run around clucking like a chicken. You can.......Though only if you want to but why?

Hypnotherapy can be used to help with the following and more

Most people just want to know what hypnotherapy is and what it can do and that is a very relevant question because it is a phenomenon that occurs naturally and one that can be induced to enable a conversation with the unconscious mind where change can be negotiated to help a person break through a challenge, problem or issues.

The unconscious mind is understood to be the repository of all of our human experiences and is considered to be that part of us that keeps us safe......The fight flight, freeze centre. This part of the mind is tasked with keeping us safe and from harm. (In scientific terms it is the reptilian complex which all living beings have. It comprises of the Amygdala, hypothalamus and hippocampus and is a part of the limbic system.The limbic system comprises of :- The Amygdala. ...The Hippocampus. ...The Thalamus and Hypothalamus. ...The Cingulate Gyrus. ...The Basal Ganglia. All the components of the limbic system work together to regulate some of the brain's most important processes.)

The Triune brain idea was formulated in the 1960's by American physician and neuroscientist Dr Paul.D. MacLean. It has proven to be a reliable model which has stood the test of time and explains how our brain evolved and how parts of it work. The Reptilian brain highlighted above in RED is the oldest part of our brain which scientists believe evolved 650 million years ago. This part of brain is thought to be responsible for fight, flight and freeze and is the survival engine one could say likely to be associated with instincts, dominance, aggression and ritual display. The paleomammalian complex ( The Limbic system ) thought to be 23 million years old is involved in motivation, emotion, parental and reproductive behaviour learning, and memory. It is the seat of anxiety when instincts /required drives are not able to met .The neomammalian complex is approximately 2.5 million years old is considered to be the conscious reasoning part of the mind. Logical thinking, Critical thinking, Will power, Abstraction, Language, learning, Planning and Perception originate in this area

The unconscious mind is also understood to be very malleable and open to suggestion which is why stage hypnotists are able to engage with a willing subject and that statement is KEY so please take note. For a change of state to happen the subject needs to be willing.

As a species most human beings are very suggestible and suggestions that are open and suggestions that are concealed are being made to us every minute of every waking day and we are acting on them, sometimes with awareness and sometimes not. Science and psychology has proven that we are very open to suggestion which bodes very well for hypnosis and hypnotherapy

In our human experience sometimes our subconscious in its best efforts to keep us safe receives mixed messages and gets things wrong and which it applies to future events and this is how fears, phobias, neurosis and anxiety are formed.

These promote negative unpleasant reactions in our psyche and give rise to things like limiting beliefs or adverse reactions to certain things like a fear of something or a phobic response.

The brain and the subconscious mind is essentially just a template matching device, so if a bad experience happened to us once and we had a strong reaction of for example fear, pain or anxiety to that event, if a similar situation arises that looks like a possible match to the processing centre of the brain, then, as far as the brain is concerned a match is found and the brain then finds the appropriate emotional response which happened before, so we might experience frequent pain, anxiety, fears, phobic responses and so on.

So here is an example:-

Suppose a person is very shy and has to give a speech to a room full of people and they freeze and make a mess of it. At least that’s how it seemed to them even though the audience may not have cared about the odd freeze or nervousness.
Now in the future, that person unless they find a way of dealing with that issue may always feel low in confidence perhaps, anxious, nervous and may do anything they can to avoid public speaking which could be a problem if their job depended on it for example.

Hypnotherapy can help overcome this as it has done for of my clients who consulted me on this very issue and found that what was once a problem is suddenly gone!

Now onto the question of what exactly is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is made up of two parts, Hypnosis and Therapy. Hypnosis is a naturally occurring stateone that we enter into involuntarily many times each day and one that can be induced quite easily.
Hypnotherapy is the process of the use of solution based therapy using the naturally occurring state of hypnosis, where a skilled hypnotherapist immerses a client into a state of hypnotic trance where the therapist can work with the client in a safe ethical and supportive way to help the client get better or achieve their goals.

Getting a person into hypnosis is a relatively easy skill to learn but it is what takes place whilst a person is in trance that really matters.

There are various types of therapy routes which can be used to help a client to resolve their issues, such as regression work, hypnoanalysis, suggestion work, Solution and timeline therapy but an explanation of these different approaches is not relevant in this article. This article seeks to give a brief overview. There are many presenting issues which can be worked with in hypnotherapy but it must always be for the highest ethical good and must never be used as a means of punishment or revenge. In fact, any ethical hypnotherapist would point blank refuse to work in that area but many many good life enhancing things are possible.

There are various ways a person enters the trance state. We do it naturally every day and we can enter hypnosis through skilled guidance and also self induced hypnosis.The art of getting someone into hypnosis can be learned quite quickly, one only has to look at you tube to see the thousands of videos showing how easy it is to hypnotise someone. However in the wrong hands it is fraught with risk and serious consequences.The therapeutic work that takes place in hypnosis is life changing and highly skilled and should be left to professional therapists properly trained in hypnotherapy who have had effective proper long term training and undertake regular supervision and assessments.
After all, if you own a Bentley or Ferrari you would not entrust its maintenance to a person without the appropriate training and skill level. In inexperienced hands with little understanding or experience a lack of skill and knowledge can cause things to go horribly wrong.

As regards the hypnotic trance state and a person entering into it, what is not generally understood however is that when we experience a traumatic event or something shocking, the fight flight freeze response is automatically engaged and we go into trance spontaneously.

From the above it is possible to see that a person can be shocked into hypnosis. However, although this is fast way to drop a person into hypnotic trance it is very often not a pleasant experience and not at all the ideal way to get a client into hypnosis because of the methods used which can cause extreme abreaction and distress in a client.
All competent skilled ethical therapists should work in the clients best interests building rapport and trust and in my view, avoid the use of shock inductions because of those risks above which can have unexpected effects that are counterproductive to the whole therapeutic process. Once trust and confidence is broached all is lost as far as the client is concerned.

When I work with a client I use Ericksonian hypnosis approaches, which guides the client gently, comfortably and safely down into a deep relaxing slowing brain wave activity state.
From this first stage I use a deepening process before going into the therapy parts. Why?

Because Milton Erickson the world’s most respected therapist demonstrated time and again that for effective therapy work the ‘Critical Conscious Faculty’ (CCF) needed to be bypassed otherwise the conscious mind with all of its judgments, doubts, self criticism and limiting beliefs which stem from the unconscious mind would get in the way of the therapist being able to work with the unconscious.
(We need a clean route to the unconscious mind. It is effectively like running an antivirus on a pc with lots of windows open and other tasks running, it slows things down quite a lot)

Once a client is in a comfortable hypnotic trance, command triggers can be safely installed to facilitate a safe rapid hypnotic trance state on return visits dropping the client quickly into hypnosis. A rapid induction can work perfectly well for successful hypnotherapy once a client has been primed in the initial stage.
When working with rapid hypnotic induction, it is important that we as therapists ensure that the rapid induction can work as intended, to place the client in an effective useful hypnotic trance state.

We will look for clear observable signs. We look for things like rapid eye movement through closed eyelids for example. There are other things such as the temporary arm lock or hand lock to check that the suggestion for rapid induction is working.
(Things that might slow rapid trance induction down can be stress, if a client has had a bad journey getting to the appointment for example or something along those lines.
Trance ratification is very important here Trance ratification should always be tested and all competent therapists will do so)

Hypnotherapy is a natural and efficient way of creating positive long term changes in thinking, feeling and behavioural patterns in a person that can be used in a constructive supportive way to help create the type of life you want to live. In short it is a way of breaking through limiting beliefs and barriers in the mind. It is a natural way to open the mind to access the inner resources which each person has inside of them, often those inner resources lay untapped, unrealised and underutilised, just out of reach, but they are not out of reach, they are there waiting for you to use them.
Hypnosis helps to tap into them to create lasting positive change.

Trevor Wales Dip Hyp. LP. GQHP. BWRT Level 1 & 2 GHR. CRSST. CNHC. MIBWRT
February 2018

How BWRT helped a client of mine to overcome a twenty year fear of flying

New blog added 02 nd Oct 2017

A testimonial received on 18th Sept after my client returned from their holiday in the states. This is from my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/cornwallbwrt/

A lovely testimonial from a client just in today!

This is from a client I worked with using BWRT® to help conquer a fear of flying. Thats three succesful treatments just for fear of flying this year!

I am delighted that BWRT® was able to help my client succeed but not all all surprised as many of my clients I have worked with using BWRT ® find a permanent and succesful resolution to their issues.

Please note that the following testimonial has been used with permission and slightly altered to preserve confidentiality.

Hi Trevor,
Thank you for your text this morning. I have been meaning to contact you to let you know how it all went.

Prior to the flight I was feeling a bit anxious - but not as much as I have done in the past. I used your relaxation recordings in the days prior to travelling and I had a good night’s sleep the night before. Our flight from Gatwick to Los Angeles was really good and I felt calm when I got to the airport and calm for the duration of the flight – including take-off! I was able to chat and feel calm and at no point felt any sense of ‘panic’ as I previously have experienced. I felt completely able to do it, and my husband of 20 years said he has never seen me so relaxed on a plane before.

As you know it was a long flight ( over 10 hours) and I have never done that before largely because of my ‘fear’. I am happy to say that I got off that plane in Los Angeles and said I am no longer afraid of flying! This is truly a life-changing experience for me.

The flight home was also a positive experience. It was a night flight, so I used your sleep ending relaxation recording to try to get off to sleep. Unfortunately there was too much going on for me to get any sleep, but that wasn’t particularly a problem. There were periods of turbulence which I felt only mild nervousness about ( previously I would have been terrified).

As I said this has been life-changing and I now feel that the world has opened up to me. We don’t have any more plans to travel as yet but I feel capable to flying anywhere now. My mind-set has entirely changed

Thank you so much for your help. I am happy to recommend you to others for support around flying and to write a review that you can use in promotional materials.

With kind regards

If you would like to overcome a fear of flying or anything else for that matter then please contact me to have an informal chat. You can contact me on 01726 69703 or 07740 190261

Heres to your Success!

A treatment with Brain Working Recursive Therapy for Misophonia

New Blog added 02/10/17

A testimonial from a client suffering with a condition of acute Misophonia.

What is Misophonia? [Taken from Wikipedia]

Misophonia is literally "hatred of sound" and was proposed in 2000 as a condition in which negative emotions, thoughts, and physical reactions are triggered by specific sounds. It is also called "select sound sensitivity syndrome" and "sound-rage".[1][2] Misophonia has no classification as an auditory, neurological, or psychiatric condition, there are no standard diagnostic criteria, it is not recognized in the DSM-IV or the ICD-10, and there is little research on how common it is or the treatment. Proponents suggest Misophonia can adversely affect ability to achieve life goals and to enjoy social situations. Treatment consists of developing coping strategies such as cognitive behavioural therapy and exposure therapy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

Very recently I successfully worked with a client using Brain Working Recursive Therapy (BWRT®) who has suffered many years with this often troublesome and frustrating condition that caused anger and anxiety and was a constant intrusion into their life. In one session of BWRT® my client experienced release and resolution and after a week later when I called them everything was still absolutely fine.

BWRT ®is a truly remarkable therapy that has enabled me to help a wide cross section of clients suffering from various conditions often in just a few sessions and the changes when monitored sometimes six months to a year later seem to be permanent.

In fact, in Cape Town, South Africa, where BWRT® has since its introduction in 2014 become very widely used with both the public and medical profession, one of the development partners of BWRT® Rafiq Lockhat, Clinical Psychologist, in a recent follow up with his data base of clients has established that the therapy of BWRT® in a very high number of cases, statistics show the treatment to have an extremely high incidence of permanence.

Here is a testimonial from my client after a week later since the client had their BWRT session with me at my therapy clinic in Duke St, St Austell:-

After suffering with Misophonia for longer than I can remember I can honestly say that BWRT has worked for me. It has really helped me with the condition. I've actually thought a few times to myself whilst sitting with people and hearing them eat just how much it's helped.

I've had no problems and if I were you, I would advertise it. It's quite a problem that people don't want to disclose.

I always used to dread sitting down at meal times with loved ones due to this condition. The sound of lips smacking and people eating with mouths open would churn my stomach and make me angry. The noise would resonate through me at very high volumes.

Since BWRT I've easily managed to sit down with family and enjoy meals. To be honest I actually don't give it any thought.

BWRT can help with a very wide range of conditions There is no other therapy in the world that is the same as BWRT®. Certified BWRT® Practitioners receive thorough training in this modern methodology and are completely conversant with the techniques needed to work effectively with a great number of human problems and difficulties, including:

• Weight management

• Habits and Addictions

• Relationship problems

• Stress and Anxiety

• Personal Confidence

• Social Phobia

• Fears

• Generalised Anxiety Disorder (G.A.D.)

• PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

• Depression

And much more

For further information please visit www.bwrt.org where you will find me listed as a practitioner for Cornwall, Devon and the West Country.

Alternatively please call me on 07740 190261 or 01726 69703

BWRT in the UK National News

New blog added 23rd August 2017

New way to wipe out lifelong phobias - in just one session: How brain therapy that targets flight or fight response helped conquer Alisa's fear of birds.

What is a fear of birds called ? Ornophobia is a fear of birds

Is there anything that can help to resolve this phobia,quickly and easily?

Yes there is. Its a therapy that has been gaining popularity with therapists and clients alike since 2014. Its a very private therapy working with memories and the client simply knowing how they want to feel. Its content free, often very quick and permanent.

See how a lifelong sufferer of phobia of birds overcame the issue that had blighted her life with just one session of BWRT. This amazing therapy was featured in an editorial in yesterdays Daily Mail.

Alisa Youngman, 26, from Beverley, Yorkshire, suffered from a phobia of birds. It was so intense that she would be on the look-out when leaving the house, yet recently she has even fed the pigeons in St Mark’s Square in Venice — having undergone a new treatment called brain working recursive therapy (BWRT)

Click on either image to go to the Full Daily Mail article

Trevor Wales has been a fully registered BWRT practitioner since its inception in 2014 and is now an advanced practitioner covering level 1 & 2 therapy

For further information please visit www.BWRT.org

Trevor is listed under practitioners covering Cornwall, Devon and the West Country.

Choose with confidence

Understanding fear and resistance to change

New blog added 15/06/17

#Hypn

Fear = False evidence appearing real. Or is it?

Fear however is not the illusion or the false evidence, because in the mind of the experiencer fear seems very real indeed. First there is the illusion we imagine and then there is the emotion created as a reactive element to the illusion.
Our minds can create fear in anticipation of imagining a potential outcome to a situation often untested. This is a reaction to believing false evidence.

Our minds are highly imaginative and our minds are also really not very good a distinguishing the difference between the real and imagined. This is why fear and anxiety are so powerful. There is a good deal of scientific analysis to support the idea that our minds are not very good at telling the difference between real and imagined..

Sometimes hypnotherapy clients will experience resistance and it is the therapist’s role to guide and help the client to identify what the source of the resistance is and then work with it so that the resistance can be overturned in order for change work to succeed.

In my experience of working with people in therapy, from my perspective it doesn't really make a lot of difference whether you (a) either discuss resistance issues or (b) give the client a written document to refer to right at the outset at the consultation pre talk or indeed in further therapy sessions.

Inevitably that information gets forgotten when resistance crops up because most clients come to hypnotherapy with an expectation of hope which is both good and necessary, but for a lot of clients, they also come with an expectation of magical transformation in an instant and even explaining that may not happen doesn’t always make much difference. This may be because of what has been seen on the TV and stage hypnotist shows, or indeed it may also be borne out of exaggerated claims that some practitioners may give the impression of on their marketing.

Yes there are some people out there who claim to fix you in just a single session no matter what and it is indeed unfortunate because we can never really know until we work with a client

Now, the important thing here is those claims to fix you in a single session may well be made in good faith and yes, it’s true that also on stage shows and TV we can see rapid change as subjects seem to become stuck to chairs or forget how to count. However, stage hypnotism and TV demonstrations are usually geared around entertainment with the most carefully selected "suggestible” subjects and the effect will quickly wear off. When we are dealing with rather more complex issues of the psyche in therapy though, then things are somewhat different.

In a lot of therapy situations it is true to say that rapid and permanent change can often take place in one or two sessions, but in a lot of cases because there are numerous layers to the client’s issue, we have to work through those layers in order to help the client.

This can be frustrating for the client who is short on time or money but it is what it is and I have always worked on the principle of discussing all eventualities with my clients so that they know what to expect.

Now, yesterday I was working with a client in therapy for weight management who I have been working with for, several sessions spaced around a month apart, each hypnotherapy session recorded onto CD for use between appointments. To start with, the first few hypnosis sessions we worked with, around issues of stress management, self esteem and learning to let go and like themselves were a very positive success.

My client takes the investment in themselves very seriously and listens daily before bedtime. However, when it came to the weight management hypnosis sessions it has been apparent that there has been some internal resistance happening. There have been successes, my client no longer feels any desire to drink a can of diet coke with each meal, preferring now to drink only water instead and they acknowledge that their portion control is a lot better with smaller servings on their plate. However there complaint is that they are not losing weight. They are staying the same weight.

My client has a medical condition which means that the medications they take will make weight loss slower and this is something we discussed at the beginning. They also have a busy lifestyle as a carer which means that they are on the go with little time for exercise but as I pointed out, to take effective exercise, it takes ten minutes a few times a day. There are challenges here but if progress is to be made those challenges can and must be overcome and it is clear that the resistance is part of the problem

I had identified this in the pre talk just before the last hypnosis session back in early May and so we had discussed it prior to hypnosis and I worked some positive suggestions of overcoming resistance into that session with the hope that something would start to resolve before yesterday’s session. In the interim from May to June I have kept in contact and so before the session yesterday I knew that resistance was still an issue which needed to be dealt with if we were to make positive progress.

That resistance was indeed still rearing its ugly head and with this in mind earlier this week I created a hypnosis script to deal with resistance and emotional eating, but yesterday instead of the planned hypnosis session, having considered the issue very carefully I decided a different approach to dig down deeper and so I just got my client to talk and I listened and I asked questions, knowing as I do all of the elements of their challenges in their life right now.

As a result of the resistance they are experiencing, I already knew deep down inside what the problem for my client was, but I had to get them to that place where they could identify what it was keeping them stuck and then get them to challenge themselves rather than I point out these things to them which would not have created such a strong impact.

That Ah ha moment for them was very important because it was the spark of realisation for them, the inner knowledge that had been suppressed, but once they knew what is was for themselves then they could begin to do something about it for themself

I knew that the client has various resources open to them for exercise as we had talked about it before and they said that they have a cross trainer in the shed.

Can you get it out of the shed and in a place where you can use it?

The reply was centred around a superficial excuse as to the reasons why not, but I knew it wasn't superficial, that there was another deeper driver responsible for that answer.

Undeterred I asked some more positive probing questions about how they could create opportunity for exercise and they were all skirted around.

That resistance was doing its best to protect the client from taking action and at the root of it when I persisted with exploratory questions and asked “why is that?” to all of those questions, “what's keeping you from exercise? “

My client went quiet for a moment and understood that it was fear. They said I’m frightened.... Yes, plain and simple fear.

When they disclosed that fear yesterday, it was something which we had already discussed in detail right at the outset in their medical disclosure and we had talked about them seeking professional guidance from their GP about the importance of exercise and what they could do as their GP was already telling them that need to lose weight. But they hadn’t done that for various reasons some of which are understandable and some because of the subconscious preserving the status quo

Their fear was that in having had a heart bypass several years ago that they may end up having a heart attack and dying through overdoing things.

The reality which we discussed is that the likelihood of an increased chance of heart attack to happen is because of NOT TAKING any appropriate exercise and with this in mind my advice and request to my client is to go and book an appointment with their GP who I am certain will reassure them as I did that in fact taking no action to exercise far more likely to be a problem.

Now that my client has established it is their fear keeping them stuck and understands the nature of that fear and has also agreed that it may well not have any basis in rationality because of one simple fact... they have never been advised not to exercise; there is a very good chance that their resistance can be broken down and indeed that process now has definitely started now the client understands their "WHY"

Conscious mind versus the unconscious mind. What has the greatest influence?

New blog added 01 May 2017

Psychologists agree that the Subconscious mind has the greater influence over our thoughts, actions and behaviours than the logical, analytical conscious part of our mind. This is because the Subconscious part of our mind is far more powerful and tasked with those important protective areas of fight, flight or freeze responses and its primary task is in with keeping us safe from harm and that part of our brain/mind development goes back many millions of years.

As far as development of the human brain is concerned in our evolutionary stages, the subconscious mind is many millions of years older than the conscious part of our minds. There are a number of studies which put the most ancient Reptilian Complex part of brain at 65 million years and the Paleomammalian Complex part of our brain at 23 million years and these areas of human behaviour are those parts which likely deal with aggression, territorial and ritual displays, anxiety and instinctive behaviour, emotion, feeding, reproductive and parental behaviour.

The logical conscious part of our minds is the relative youngster in the scheme of things, developing somewhere around 2.5 million years ago and termed the Neomammalian Complex. It is thought likely to be the only part of the brain/mind with awareness of self and conscious thought with all the parts of consciousness which go hand in hand with what it means. I.e. Logic and reasoning, communication, abstract ideas and concepts, planning, etc.

The subconscious deals with all of our life experiences and is the repository for everything that has ever happened to us. The Subconscious it is thought is likely to be responsible for working with amongst other things, life experiences storing beliefs, emotions, long term memory and is the part of our mind that deals with creativity. The subconscious since it is not conscious and incapable of reasoning is therefore non judgemental and is very flexible and one could think of it as the hard drive of the brain constantly being programmed with life’s data. Because it is non judgemental it is one of the key reasons why people respond under hypnosis and are seen to be able to change their perceptions of reality as directed by a hypnotist with directed suggestion who temporarily changes the programme for entertainment. However, hypnosis is far more powerful than this. It is capable of creating long lasting permanent change.

Looking at the model of the iceberg in the illustration below and seeing how large that influence is on our behaviours, beliefs, habits and thoughts there is a very convincing argument that working directly with the subconscious part of the mind in hypnosis that faster more permanent results are achievable in helping people create a major shift in their beliefs thoughts and actions than at the conscious level where the subconscious would always win because of how it is and because of its larger power and influence over that part of “Me’-I” and what that reasoning part of wants; which is all tied up in our belief structure and which is driven by the subconscious part of our mind.

However, changing things at the subconscious level is a real game changer because faster change can be achieved. This is something Hypnotherapists have understood for decades. Using the intervention of hypnosis and therapy combined to become hypnotherapy puts you back in control in a safe protective way where you can under direction from a skilled therapist access your own inner resources to harness the phenomenal power of your mind and create the change you want in your life.