What Three Things

If someone asked you what three things would change if you were gifted an extra hour in each day, what would you say?

I have been doing some research into this and asking people what would make the best difference to their lives. The top answers that I got were:

• I would pay more attention to how I nourish my body - less take outs, fast food and sugar. I would take more time to cook a bit and ensure I give my body healthier food

• I would stop rushing around so much and take a few moments throughout the day to relax, stop overthinking/stressing and calm my mind

• I would take some time to get physically fitter so my body feels stronger

I am offering three hypnotherapy sessions to cover all of these areas so you can feel your best mentally, physically and emotionally.

Restore Harmony in Your Life

Beautiful colours and patterns spiral out from the centre of this dahlia to the tips of the petals. It is a perfect example of the harmony of nature.

Many people are now re-evaluating how to bring happiness and harmony to their lives.

Ask yourself “What does the life I want look like? How does it feel? What do I need to do to make this happen?”

These are the things that hypnotherapy can help with - whether you want to become physically fitter and healthier, increase your confidence or open up more to the joy and positivity in life. In hypnotherapy we look at you as a whole person and work on you feeling the best you can, whatever that means for you.

STOPTOBER

Stoptober is here again. Now is a great time to quit smoking. Covid-19 has meant that people are taking more time to look after their health and well-being, including losing weight, exercising and stopping smoking. Email or call to stop smoking for good. 01772 977899.

Emotional Turmoil

Have you noticed that you feel more irritable recently? A lot of people at the moment are finding that they have less patience and their mood is less stable than normal. As a result of coronavirus and lockdown people have heightened worries about their families, their jobs and their health.  On top of this their routines and regular outlets for managing stress and anxiety are not as accessible. This can lead to people experiencing wildly fluctuating emotions.

The goal of hypnotherapy is not to suppress the emotions, but to work with you to achieve a more balanced and calm state of being where you notice your emotions and choose how to react to them. This helps you achieve better emotional regulation so you can express feelings in ways which are productive, instead of lashing out in fear or anger, freeing up time and energy for more positive emotions and experiences.

I am still working online.  To book an appointment, message me or give me a ring. There is still help and support for you, even in lockdown - you are not on your own. 

New Year, New You

Welcome to a new decade. This will be a decade when we see significant changes in the way we live, both as human beings and also as a part of our precious planet.

We have been increasingly moving into a time when there is more emphasis placed on our well-being both physical and emotional. In the news we see articles about eating well and being a healthy weight to help us stay fit and well in our later lives. More research than ever is going into how to prevent illness and poor health so that we can enjoy not just living longer, but really feeling good while we’re doing it!

People often ask you what you want out of life. This question implies that as long as you have the right skills you can take whatever you want to help you feel good. However, having a happy fulfilled life doesn’t come from pulling external things inwards, but from generating them within yourself and letting them flourish. It is how you feel internally about life events, food, other peoples’ judgement etc that makes a difference, rather than life, food and people in themselves.

Hypnotherapy stimulates and nurtures a strong internal shift so no matter where you are ,who you are with or what is happening in life, your subconscious automatically makes adjustments to help you feel the best you can physically, mentally and emotionally.

The hypnotherapy that I offer is centred around your personal needs and goals and will be tailor-made specifically for you. 2020 sounds like a good year to make a positive difference to your life!

On Top of the World

When we feel out of sync mentally or physically we often use phrases like feeling low, or being down in the dumps and under the weather. When we feel good we use opposite phrases such as being on a high or on cloud nine and being on top of the world.

To feel the best you can it is important to maintain a healthy body (within any limitations you have) and a calm and positive mind. The mind and body are inextricably linked and if you want to feel as good as you can in life, it is important that these work together in harmony.

How many times have you gone to bed and your body is exhausted but your mind is active and racing, long after your body needed to sleep? Or you go out with friends to have a drink or relax and laugh but your body begins to stress beforehand and you feel sick with a racing heart?

Christmas can be an amazing time but it also puts additional stress on us physically and emotionally. We are encouraged to eat more - and not just healthy foods, but more chocolate, cakes and snacks even when we are full to bursting! Alcohol also flows freely through December and most people drink much more alcohol than they do at any other time of year.

There is often emotional pressure at Christmas when families come together as there can be friction and unrealistic expectations. Many couples experience difficulties in their relationship in December and this is the month most break-ups happen.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way! Don’t wait until January to pick up the pieces and get your mind and body back on track. Take advantage of the Christmas hypnotherapy package - two sessions between now and Christmas. One focusing on your physical health and one on your mental and emotional well-being for a discounted price of £99 (saving £19).

Give yourself the best ever Christmas present so that you can enjoy the festive season and hit the New Year supercharged!

Neuroplasticity - Change Your Brain and Change Your Life

The adult brain is not “hard-wired”. as we used to think. It has the ability to change continuously through all of our lives. There is now significant research and evidence in neuroscience to show that the brain can be reorganised. This is called neuroplasticity and it can be seen taking place in the brain on an MRI scan.

The way we view and react to the world, people, situations and even ourselves is all based on patterns that have been created in our brains throughout our lives. If you change these patterns, you change your life. With all of the research, we know that this is not just wishful thinking or “mind over matter” but is a physical change in the electrical connections in the brain which we can manipulate to create a new way of being.

This rewiring is much easier and quicker than we thought because “neurons that fire together wire together” (Donald Hebb, Neuropsychologist). Hypnotherapy initiates and strengthens this rewiring, bringing specific measurable change to our thinking patterns. It helps you to create and repeat behaviours, habits and thoughts that are healthy for you and break behaviours, habits and thoughts that are not.

When we think about behaviour and habits, it is not just things like stopping smoking or eating healthier, but also includes removing negative thinking patterns, allowing life to feel easier and more fun, breaking the anxious thought patterns, feeling more self-confident etc.

Here is a great TED talk on the subject: After Watching This Your Brain Will Not Be The Same

Spring is Here!

Spring has sprung at last and we can feel some warm sunshine and some longer days.

Spring is a very forward looking season associated with new growth, regeneration and energy. It is a good time to focus on yourself - looking at how things are now and assessing what you would like to change to bring you back in line with your values, your aims and even your dreams in life.

It is time to wake up your mind. We can’t always change what is going on in life around us. It is like watching a film play out in front of us sometimes, but we can change the way we experience the film. We can change the way we experience life. It is your mind rather than events that determines the quality of your life. Your mind is the basis of everything you experience. Once you truly realise this, it is liberating.

It is this aspect of the human mind that hypnosis targets. Think about how you would like to change the way you think about things. Maybe you want to feel that life is a bit easier, take the emotion out of food, let go of anxiety or remind yourself of the fun and the joy in life.

You can do this. With help, your mind can automatically make these changes for you. How do you want to think about yourself, think about life? What do you want to wake up inside of you? Whatever it is, hypnosis can make these changes blossom surprisingly quickly and at a very deep subconscious level. Time to give your mind a Spring clean!

Happy New Year!

Start 2019 by setting realistic goals, to help make this a great year. Maybe you want to feel more confident, lose weight, reduce alcohol or simply feel more positive about life. Whatever you want to achieve this year, hypnotherapy can help you plan, get motivated and keep you on track. With help and support it’s much easier to reach your goals quickly and with lasting results. Give hypnotherapy a go in 2019!

Stoptober is Back

Stoptober is a campaign run by Public Health England in partnership with local authorities and the NHS. The campaign lasts 28 days because the evidence says if you can stop smoking for 28 days you are five times more likely to give up for good.

The Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) is a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care. All practitioners registered with CNHC have demonstrated they meet UK-wide standards.

According to the Royal Society for Public Health and the government-backed Professional Standards Authority (PSA), practitioners on Accredited Registers such as CNHC’s have a key role in supporting public health initiatives such as giving up smoking.

Commenting on the accredited registers workforce, PSA Chief Executive Harry Cayton said: “It is a vital network through which we can support behaviour change and ultimately improve the public’s health: whether it is signposting people to smoking cessation services or offering brief lifestyle advice on healthy eating, accredited registers practitioners are undoubtedly an unsung and instrumental part of the wider public health workforce.”

As a CNHC registrant my credentials have been checked so you can have confidence in my qualifications and experience. I am also an Accredited Practitioner on the Central Register of Stop Smoking Therapists (CRSST) and a qualified UK Academy Smoking Cessation Specialist.

Science Shows That Walking Keeps the Brain Developing Right Into Old Age

Basically, the message is that walking keeps you young! How does this happen? Is it just research done by Nike to get us to buy more trainers? Well, no it isn't.  It turns out there is some solid research behind this.

International neuroscience expert Professor Anthony Hannan from Melbourne's Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health says:

"The brain is the only organ in the body that never stops developing and, although it sounds extraordinary, an ordinary activity such as walking helps to keep it developing."

We have the same genome as our hunter-gatherer ancestors who were active and had to roam the savanna looking for food. It is only recently that humans have started to use cars and sit at desks.  We have not adapted to this inactivity that our modern lifestyle promotes. Really, our bodies still want to be active and moving around - perhaps not hunter-gathering though!

Physical activity generates chemicals in the brain which help to create new neurons and nerve pathways.  These changes are visible on MRI scans. This boost to the brain improves learning and memory and basically keep the brain young and agile. 

This year a study by the universities of Cambridge,  Ulster and Limerick analysed over 50,000 walkers and showed walking was associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. 

Walking at a normal pace was associated with a risk reduction of 20% and walking at a brisk pace was associated with a risk reduction of 24%.

As you can see, just walking more at a normal pace has significant benefits both on physical health and also keeps the brain responsive and dynamic.

Hippocrates described walking as "man's best medicine".  So, let hypnotherapy help you pick up your pace a little to help gently improve your health and well-being, step by step.

Menopause

The average age of menopause in the UK is 51, although 10% of women experience it before age 40. Menopause causes all sorts of symptoms including:

• hot flushes 
• night sweats
• trouble sleeping
• mood changes
• weight gain
• loss of libido

Symptoms can be both physically uncomfortable and emotionally disruptive. Hot flushes and night sweats affect three quarters of menopausal women and can disrupt sleep to a considerable degree. The effects of menopause can be so severe that they lead to women leaving their jobs because of the upheaval of the symptoms.

Hypnotherapy can help you to manage the symptoms and take back some control in your life. Clinical hypnotherapy has been shown to be effective in reducing hot flushes. Randomised, controlled trials of clinical hypnosis demonstrated the approach was significantly better than a “structured attention” therapy approach in postmenopausal women with frequent hot flushes and more effective than acupuncture, herbal supplements and yoga.

I work with many women to help relieve the physical and emotional menopausal symptoms which can disrupt your work life and your personal life. If you would like to make an appointment or would like more information email or give me a ring on 01772 977899.

STOPTOBER 2017

Stoptober kicks off on 1st October.  Over 1 million people have taken part in the campaign since its launch.

Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable deaths in England and nearly 80,000 people die of it every year.  1.5 million people have a smoking related disease (NHS).

In reality, statistics like this don't really have a huge impact on smokers.  In my hypnotherapy practice the issues that drive clients to stop are usually quoted as:

• my health is actually being affected - I am out of breath, less fit and coughing
• the cost is getting difficult to manage 
• my teeth are becoming discoloured
• it smells
• it is making me look older than I am
• it's no longer doing anything for me - its just a habit now that I don't really enjoy

If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day and you stop smoking on 16th October, by Christmas you will have saved £700! 

If you feel ready to quit, try hypnotherapy.  It is easy, pleasant and effective.  Two things are required:  1 - you need to want to stop (I'm not bothered if you think it will be difficult or you are not sure if you can - I will deal with those in the session). 2 - you still need a bit of will -power.  I can't take away that last little bit of free will but I will get as close as I possibly can!

I am a Certified Smoking Cessation Specialist (Cert SCS).  I am a Senior Qualified Specialist on the Central Register of Stop Smoking and the Fylde therapist for National Stop Smoking Centres.

Try hypnotherapy and make a huge change to your life and your health.  Give me a ring on 01772 977899 or email me at lauren@fyldehypnotherapy.co.uk for more information or to make an appointment.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety has almost certainly been part of our human existence for ever. The Greeks and Romans began to identify phobia and anxiety and these "afflictions" as they were called, are documented by Hippocrates and Cicero.

Everyone feels anxious at certain times in their life such as during exams, in an interview or in difficult work situations.  Anxiety at these times is normal and the shot of adrenaline that you feel can actually boost your performance. This type of anxiety is short-lived and passes once the event is resolved.

However, some people can feel anxious most days and often for no identifiable reason.  If these feelings go on for months, then you could have Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The symptoms of GAD are:

• restlessness
• a sense of dread
• feeling constantly "on edge"
• difficulty concentrating
• irritability
• dizziness
• tiredness
• trembling
• feeling sick
• palpitations
• dry mouth
• muscle aches
• pins and needles
• shortness of breath

If you have these symptoms you should consult a GP who will talk to you and find out if you have GAD.  They may then offer counselling and possibly antidepressants.

GAD can be very difficult to live with and also hard to explain to others, who often give advice to "stop worrying because everything will be alright" which consciously you might know but subconsciously can seem like such a huge hurdle to overcome. Each day can be filled with "what if...?" and chronic uncontrolled worrying which interferes with everyday life.

Hypnotherapy can be effective in GAD by helping you to relax mentally and emotionally and helping your brain process information about the world around you in a different way.  This leads to greater feelings of calmness, well-being and positivity. 

Get Fit and Healthy in 2017

Public Health England warned yesterday that fast food, desk jobs and the daily grind are all taking their toll on our health.

According to PHE:

"Eight in every 10 people aged 40 to 60 in England are overweight, drink too much or get too little exercise."

They want people to turn over a new leaf in 2017 and make a pledge to get fit.  Although we are living longer than ever, we are in worse health due to the lifestyle that we lead, especially in middle age.

Hypnotherapy can help you eat healthily - not diet - but change your eating habits so that you eat a variety of food in the right amounts, stopping when you are full and, importantly, eating only when you are hungry.  Modern life is extremely demanding and difficult for most people and hypnotherapy for weight control also looks at ways to help you deal with stress, low self-esteem and the general feeling of being overwhelmed or out of control.  

Some people also want to reduce their alcohol intake or stop it altogether and perhaps begin an exercise regime or do some regular walking.  It is never too late to start and it is a lot easier to make these changes with help and support.

Let 2017 be a fresh start for you - give hypnotherapy a go to help you get back on track and turn over that new leaf.

Sleep Deprivation

Monsters under the bed when you are little, become monsters in your head as an adult when you just can't sleep for yet another night.

Sleep is something that we all take for granted, that is, until we don't get enough of it. Then something that once seemed so natural and easy becomes a torment that can overshadow our day.

We all need different amounts of sleep, but the optimum sleep cycle needed to keep us healthy is apparently between six and eight hours.  The effects of too little sleep are wide ranging and, according to the NHS, include obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. 

According to research from Rand Europe, sleep deprivation also costs the UK economy £40bn a year as tired employees are less productive and sometimes absent from work altogether.

Weight - two hormones are involved in sleep and eating, ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin tells you when to eat and the less you sleep the more is produced, so you eat more.  Leptin tells you to stop eating and the less you sleep the less you produce, so you don't stop eating.  Also when you are tired your metabolism slows down, you are more likely to reach for a sugary snack to give you energy, you are less likely to exercise and often too tired to cook a healthy meal.

Heart Disease - sleep deprivation leads to increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and higher chemicals related to inflammation which can put extra strain on your heart.

Diabetes - people who sleep less than five hours a night have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes because of a change in the way the body processes glucose.

Mental Well-Being - sleep deprivation can make you grumpy and irritable but it can also contribute to anxiety and depression.

Fertility - regular sleep disruptions in both men and women can cause difficulty in conceiving by reducing the amount of reproductive hormones.

The only answer to a lack of sleep is to get more sleep.  Hypnotherapy works by gently changing the sleep cycle into one that allows you to get a regular, restful night's sleep so that you wake up feeling refreshed with plenty of energy to face your day, whatever it may bring.

Mind Over Matter

I recently had an operation and the first 24 hours were just a fog of anaesthetic and morphine, but once I got through that I started to assess myself and how I felt.  I began to concentrate on other parts of my body that felt more comfortable, I imagined a gentle heat on the discomfort and imagined the pain shrinking and getting smaller and smaller.  Then I began to imagine myself feeling well, moving around and laughing.  It was difficult to transport myself in my mind from my pain and my hospital bed to this much better self but it was certainly a nicer place to be!

Recovery has been an up and down process but I have continued to use hypnosis and I am recovering well, have a lot of energy and feel very positive.

Hypnosis and self-hypnosis are very useful for managing pain and have been used for this purpose for hundreds of years.

James Esdaile was a Scottish surgeon in the early 1800's who pioneered a hypnosis technique (then called mesmerism) to use on his patients before surgery. He performed over 300 operations using this technique when working in India. The hypnosis provided analgesia for his patients and greatly increased the success rate of the surgery and the patients' comfort.

In recognition of his skills a mesmeric hospital was opened to continue his work and he was appointed to the position of Presidency Surgeon.

Hypnotherapy continues to be used in a medical setting today for things such as dental work, pain, IBS, anxiety and the treatment of burns.

I see many people who want help - either to manage short term pain such as for a surgical procedure or to help them manage long term diagnosed pain.

There are many techniques in hypnotherapy that are used to help people reduce or eliminate their pain and regain control, making life much more comfortable again.  I will work with you, personalising the hypnotherapy to get the very best results that we can.

Help Your Brain Fight Back - the war against dementia starts early

At the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Centre in Chicago there has been a study of dementia that has lasted 25 years and which has involved 3,200 older adults.  The results of these studies have shown that to some extent genetics play a part in dementia and some people have higher risk genes.  However, the study also identified many key lifestyle factors that shape our brain’s health into old age. The good news is that these are all things you can do now and it's just like using your brain as a bank - the more you put in now, the more protected you will be from dementia later in life.  

Diagnoses of Alzheimer's are set to triple by 2050 but simple things that are within your control can help to protect your brain and hold off the effects of any damage.  

Neurologists have found that people in the bottom 10% of physical activity and those who mostly stay at home are more than twice as likely to get diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  The good news is that physical activity includes things like cooking, shopping and playing cards and getting out of the house includes going to the other side of town!

The best things that you can do to help are:

1. Engage in regular cognitive and physical activity - learn a language or an instrument, join a book club, exercise - even if just a little
2. Strengthen and maintain social ties, not just on-line and on Facebook - get out and meet your friends and make new connections!
3.  Get out and explore new things - increase your life-space, leave your bedroom, your house, your town and expand your physical space
4. Chillax and be happy - don't worry about things you can't change and remember to notice the positives as well as negatives in life
5. Avoid people who are downers, especially close family members!
6. Be conscientious and diligent - this involves organisation, self-discipline, your drive to achieve goals
7. Spend time engaged in activities that are meaningful and goal-directed - have a purpose in life with clear intentions and goals
8. Eat a healthy brain diet, with fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. 

Hypnotherapy can't help improve your genes, but it is excellent at increasing motivation to:

• engage in physical activity
• eat healthily
• overcome social anxiety
• stretch yourself to reach new or existing goals

Changing these things now encourages better physical and mental health and you are most likely reducing your risk of Alzheimer's disease in the future, too.

The 80/20 Rule

Yes, you've heard of it - the 80/20 rule. It's everywhere.  What is it and can it work for you?

Its real name is the Pareto principle. A management consultant called Joseph Juran named it after an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto who, in 1896, showed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population and, weirdly, that 20% of the pea-pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas!

It is now commonly used in business to compare sales income to the number of clients. Another useful application is in weight management.  Spend 80% of your time eating just the right amount of nutritious healthy foods and 20%  of the time being a bit more relaxed about what you eat to achieve a healthy weight.  Socially, of all of your friends and people you know, you see 20% of them 80% of the time and 80% of them 20% of the time.  

What about stress, anxiety and problems in your life?  Can the 80/20 rule help with these? A lot of the time 80% of our stress and anxiety comes from 20% of the things going on in our life and we spend 80% of our time worrying about things and only 20% working out the solution.

Imagine turning these things around.  Getting to the bottom of what is causing the stress,anxiety and negative thinking etc.  Letting go of those things outside of your control, putting in place a solution for those things you can influence and feeling 80% of that weight lift from your shoulders.  A life lived with a much greater sense of contented well-being, seeing the positive in people and situations and getting back a sense of freedom and control.  

Hypnotherapy can help to reset the way you approach life, leaving behind anxiety and negative ways of thinking and allowing you to live in a more positive and productive way.

Children, Teenagers and Teachers Under Pressure

Over the many years that I have been a hypnotherapist, I have seen a steady increase in the number of children who need support around anxiety, worry, school, exams and sleeping issues amongst others. The stresses on children's lives has multiplied and many children and students find it hard to cope. I regularly see young people especially in the 11-18 age group to help them deal with these things and lead a more positive life.

Equally, I have seen an increase in teachers that I see and in a recent study, teaching came out as the profession with the highest number of workers seeking help for work related stress. Hypnotherapy helps by increasing focus on what is most important, realising you may not be able to do everything in life 100% and getting back that satisfaction in your job that made you want to become a teacher in the first place.

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