A lot of people know little about hypnosis except from what they have read or seen on stage or in films or books. Though you have probably actually been in a hypnotic state many times without realising, such as when you been driving down roads you know well such as on the way home, this is when you have driven for several miles without apparently seeing anything or being aware of what you are doing. Yet you have driven perfectly safely stopping at traffic lights when necessary or junctions, changing gear, indicating etc. Or when reading a book or watching TV, when you did not notice having a conversation with someone else and afterwards did not remember it at all. At these times, when you were so absorbed or abstracted, you were actually in a spontaneous hypnotic state.
All hypnosis is like that, a state of abstraction from the outside world and absorption in your own thoughts and images, and like the experience you have had before, can come about only through you and you choosing to completely relax. I cannot hypnotise you nor can anyone else; only you can hypnotise yourself, and all I can do is to show you how to allow it to be done deliberately and use it to make the changes to your life that you wish to make. And so, Hypnosis is simply a natural state of deep relaxation that I will take you to, you will always be conscious and in control. If you do not like the suggestions, I make you can choose to ignore them or change them to what suits you, as you are in complete control. You will be able to move about for instance if you find yourself becoming uncomfortable, you can change position. You will be able to speak, although sometimes you may find it is just too much effort, and that is absolutely ok.
Going into hypnosis is something that must be learned, it is a knack, rather like learning to ride a bicycle or to swim, it requires practice, and it cannot be forced, so if you do not wish to be hypnotised you cannot be. If you choose to let yourself go along with the suggestion I make, you will soon learn how to get into that state easily and find out just how pleasant, as well as helpful it really is.
If you agree, we would try one or two of the many different ways there are of getting into trance, if the first does not suit you, we will try another until we find a way that suits you and you find congenial. You never need to worry about coming out of trance as this is the simplest thing for you to do at any time, all you need to do is choose to come back to everyday consciousness and you will be wide awake and back in the room, or you can choose to continue and await until I bring you back. Should there be an emergency you will always naturally come back to normal alertness immediately and without having to do anything special.
You may consciously remember every word I say, though some people do not remember consciously what has been said. Neither is right or wrong, it is you that chooses to remember consciously or not, but sub-consciously you will always remember.
Hypnotherapy works best by being guided by you and is individual to each person, some people need 3 or 4 appointments and others require more.
The amount of sessions will of course also depend on the work we are doing together, for example working with phobias or fears could potentially require fewer sessions than working with trauma or weight loss for example. I work with many other areas such as depression, anxiety, reducing or quiting smoking or alcohol, stress, obsessional compulsive disorder (OCD) to name a few as well as many others.
Similarly to Counselling I will be guided by you, but particularly when working with a fear, phobia or trauma we will look at the original cause of the difficulty potentially through regression to help you overcome the past, and then strengthen your core beliefs and confidence in the here and now.
What is the difference between counselling and hypnotherapy? Often it is about how long it takes to deal with the difficulty, through counselling because it is working solely with the conscious it can take longer as you will need to completely trust and relax with the therapist you are with. Where as although you still need to completely trust and relax, because we are working with the subconscious and putting you into such a relaxed state that work can be completed usually in fewer sessions. Of course there are elements of counselling within hypnotherapy as it is not just all about the hypnosis and working in a tranced stated, but also about communicating consciously with me your therapist.
Price on request, with some concessional rates for those on low income.