Hypnotherapy in the news - Stars use hypnotherapy to overcome stage fright

According to website nme.com, celebrities have recently been turning to hypnotherapy in a bid to help them cure stage fright. Some of the biggest names in music have discovered that hypnotherapy can help them beat their demons and perform at their best.

  

One such celeb is award-winning singer Adele who is rumoured to have seen a hypnotherapist in Los Angeles to help her prepare for big events. She sang the James Bond theme 'Skyfall' at this year's Oscars in what could be classed as one of the biggest performances of her career. The star was said to have been suffering from sleepless nights and panic attacks due to her nerves over performing at the Academy Awards. She has spoken out about her stage fright in the past, claiming to have been sick before big performances.

41-year-old Dido is another singer who has admitted using hypnotherapy before to combat her fears. She said: "I went to hypnotherapy for stage fright years ago and it completely worked. I always get nervous, but it was getting to the point where it would mess with my singing."

She went on to say that there was a difference between getting nervous and having a meltdown. The hypnotherapy appears to have allowed her to distinguish between the two and ensures she can give the best performance possible.

Performing on stage in front of millions might seems worlds away from the daily challenges experienced by the likes of us mere mortals, however in reality, giving a presentation in front of our work colleagues or standing up to give a wedding speech can be just as daunting. If you would like to find out how hynotherapy could help YOU achieve your full potential, please email: christy@christyhypnotherapy.com or call Christy on 01252 334377 for a free telephone consultation.

Personal reflections: "Red thoughts"

I've had a couple of fairly major injuries over the years from snowboarding (inlcuding a torn ACL and a dislocated elbow) and last week unfortunately I misjudged a jump in the board park, landing on my hand and damaging a ligament in my wrist. I am now 'proudly' sporting a plaster cast on my right arm and managing to see the lighter side of things, however I have to admit my thoughts were not so positive in the first 24 hours after it happened. I now want to take this opportunity to share some personal reflections and some of my own learnings of how to deal with injury or setback.

You would be forgiven for thinking that because I am well aware of the "theory" of psychology that I would have no trouble putting all the same things I help clients with, into practice myself. Unfortunately however it's not always as easy as that - this stuff takes practice! So there I was last week, being told that my arm would need to be put in a plaster cast and instantly my head was full of "red thoughts"...you may be familiar with how they go - "What an idiot I am to have fallen over! Now I've ruined the holiday" and "This will probably take ages to heal now, I'm so stupid".

What is the result of these "red thoughts"? Generally feelings of anger, frustration, muscle tension and hopelessness... none of which are helpful in any way! So why do we do this to ourselves? Moving beyond mistakes and recovering mentally is much more important than re-playing the mistake in your mind. It's like self punishment and some people believe if they feel bad enough they can somehow make up for the mistake. In reality, all this achieves is an increased focus on unhelpful images, which in turn makes you feel even worse.

So what is the alternative?! Something I'm now using more and more is a practice known as 'Mindfulness', which is essentially a tool to help build mental flexibility. Mindfulness has recently received increasing interest, especially in the world of sport and injury recovey and I've just finished reading a great book entitled "Mindfulness and Sports Psychology for Athletes" by Kristine Eiring and Colleen Hathaway which presents the "Three A's of The Mindfulness Solution - Aware, Accept and Action".

So what can you do when you find yourself beating yourself up or chastising yourself for a 'silly mistake'? Firstly be AWARE that this is happening. Be mindful of what you are saying to yourself, which can be done by taking a deep breath and observing your thoughts. The key here is don't fight them - this is unproductive! Next, ACCEPT that this is happening and not argue about it in your head. Accepting that you are having these thoughts helps to isolate them which is a key step to acceptance. Finally, take ACTION which involves stopping throwing your toys out of the pram and telling your mind an 'Action' step. Recognise you have a choice in changing your thoughts and reaslise that action gives you other options to feelings of hopelessness... Using this process you can move yourself from the unhelpful 'red thoughts' to more constructive 'green thoughts' which help you move forward.

So how did I pull myself out of my hole of self pity and punishment? I've now worked through my own process of awarenesss, acceptance and creating action to build up more helpful green thoughts... such as "I am moving forward with recovery, I feel strong and positive and now looking forward to getting back into my training". And as a result will snowboarding become a thing of the past? Of course not, I'm already looking forward to getting back on the slopes!  

If you have suffered an injury in your sport or any kind of setback and would like to find out more about the mindfulness process, please contact Christy on 01252 334377 or email: christy@christyhypnotherapy.com

Is Hypnotherapy for YOU?

Do you ever...

• Find yourself saying unhelpfully self-critical things to yourself?
• Have a tendency to focus on the negatives in your life?
• Wish you could learn to relax more easily and be less stressed?
• Wish you could be more confident in your work or social situations?
• Say to yourself… "If there was one thing I could change about my life, it would it be …."?
• Want to be able to overcome anxieties or phobias, such as public speaking or a fear of spiders, heights etc?
• Find yourself procrastinating and wish you could be more motivated?
• Wish you could stop smoking but feel you've tried everything?
• Wish you could be a more balanced and happier person?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then hypnotherapy could most definitely benefit you.

The purpose of hypnotherapy is to ultimately achieve relaxation and rejuvenate the body to reduce stress. Other benefits include helping to teach self-control and to replace unwanted habits with positive, more effective patterns of behaviour, whether that be to stop smoking or to behave in a more confident way. Hypnosis can also be used in conjunction with other techniques such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to quickly help people overcome specific fears and phobias or to refocus limiting beliefs and enable you to literally 'turn your life around'.

For a little more information about NLP please see here: http://www.christyhypnotherapy.com/hypnotherapy_questions.aspx#nlp

Hypnotherapy is a very natural experience and there is nothing whatsoever to be worried about or afraid of. No one apart from you has the power to change the way you think and feel - hypnotherapy can help you unleash your own ability to tap into the power of your own mind and make lasting positive changes to your life!

If you would like to find out how hypnotherapy might benefit you, please call Christy today for a free no-obligation chat on 01252 344377 or email christy@christyhypnotherapy.com.

How to do Self-Hypnosis

Many people have their first (or only) exposure to hypnosis through stage hypnotists or Hollywood productions and from this; they understandably form the impression that hypnosis is something bizarre or even dangerous. In these arenas, hypnosis is portrayed as a scary form of mind control where the 'victim' gives up control of their mind and is therefore vulnerable or worse, gullible. If this was correct in any way then I would have no interest in hypnosis at all... the majority of clients who come to me are wanting help to establish more control over their lives in some way... never have I been asked to help someone lose control of themselves!

A few years ago I discovered hypnotherapy as a result of wanting to learn how to do 'self-hypnosis' as a way to help myself overcome stress and improve my sporting performance. I see self-hypnosis as a tool available to everyone for making changes in your life. Most people who want hypnotherapy choose to see a professional hypnotherapist to be 'guided' through the process, however with a little practice, self-hypnosis can be something available to practically everyone... it is just a matter of finding the right technique for the individual. It could even be said that in fact all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis... even when working with a hypnotherapist who is guiding and developing the hypnotic state, you are always in control. It is YOUR hypnosis.

So, self-hypnosis is a skill which can be learned, just like riding a bike. It is a skill which nearly all of us can do naturally and with practice, can become a route to you making very specific, positive and lasting changes to your life. You'll wonder how you lived without it!

If you would like to find out whether self-hypnosis is something which might benefit you, please contact Christy at christy@christyhypnotherapy.com or call 01252 334377.

Christy Hypnotherapy is now pleased to offer a "Teach yourself hypnosis" course consisting of 4 training sessions (over a period of 4 weeks) plus a pre-recorded CD for just £275.

Falling down... do you have a 'Growth Mindset'?

The following blog has been based on the chapter entitled "The Talent Myth Revisited" in the book "Bounce" by Matthew Syed.

Remember the last time you attempted to do something and didn't manage to achieve it, or 'fell down' in the process... How did it make you feel? Did you 'get up' and try again or did you accept that this was something you could not do and had therefore 'failed'?

In 1978 a Professor of Psychology named Carol Dweck conducted some ground breaking experiments with students to show that having a 'growth mindset' (people who believe that ability can be transformed through effort) as opposed to a 'fixed mindset' (the belief that 'talent' is something you are born with and therefore set in genetic stone and pre-destined) can make a dramatic difference in how motivation is sustained through adversity. What Dweck wanted to know was just how corrosive is the belief that innate ability rather than practice is what ultimately determines whether we have it within us to achieve excellence....This would infer that it's not worth spending time and energy seeking to improve if success is only available to people with the right genes?!

What Dweck found was not only dramatic but extraordinary. Even though the two sets of students had exactly the same ability, in the group with the 'growth mindset', more than 80% either maintained or actually improved their performance in tests when faced with a challenge or something difficult. They actually taught themselves new and more sophisticated strategies during the difficult problems. In contrast, those with a fixed mindset very quickly berate their abilities and blame lack of intelligence for failures, saying "I've never been good at things like this" or "I guess I'm not very smart".

So what caused this gaping difference in performance between the students with the fixed and growth mindsets? The answer is their beliefs... those who held the belief that ability can be improved through effort believe that ability is not fixed by innate talent (which you are either born with or you are not). People with a growth mindset therefore believe that although everyone may differ in initial talents, aptitudes, interests and temperaments, everyone can change and grow through dedication, hard work and experience.

One final quick story which illustrates this beautifully... a young girl named Shizuka Arakawa apparently fell down more than 20,000 times on her journey from wannabe schoolgirl to Olympic figure-skating champion. You could ask yourself, "Why would anyone endure all that? Why would she keep striving in the teeth of constant failure? Why not give up and try something else?" The answer is this: it is because she did not interpret falling down as failure. She interpreted falling down not merely as a means of improving, but as evidence that she was improving. Failure was not something that sapped her energy and vitality but something that provided her with an opportunity to learn, adapt and develop.

This may seem odd but it is actually central to the belief system of most top performers. Michael Jordan once said "I've missed more than 9,000 shots, I've lost almost 300 games and 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed". In saying this he is illustrating here that in order to become the greatest basketball player of all time, you have to embrace failure...

If you would like to find out more about how hypnotherapy can help you to change your own beliefs and achieve your full potential, please email Christy at christy@christyhypnotherapy.com or call 01252 334377.

Hypnotherapy in the News: 'Hypnotherapy could help kick the food blues this winter'

This report was taken from an article which appeared in the newsletter of the National Hypnotherapy Society. For more information, see: http://www.nationalhypnotherapysociety.org

According to Professor Whorwell, who is professor of medicine and gastroenterology at the University Hospital of South Manchester, Hypnotherapy sessions could help provide a sense of relief to foodies experiencing food and drink intolerance's this winter. Professor Whorwell recently spoke to Lifestyle Magazine, femalefirst.co.uk about the links between food intolerances and mood. 

His comments come following research from Allergy UK that suggests the winter time could be an extremely testing time for those who suffer food intolerance but don't understand their links to their mood.

For example, allergyuk.org says that a 45 per cent of Britons suffer from a food or drink intolerance, and tests by institutions like YorkTest Laboratories have shown that diet can have a direct impact on the way someone is feeling.

These kinds of findings are backed by the fact that serotonin - the 'happy hormone' - is actually produced in the gut and not the brain, suggesting mental well-being is intrinsically linked to what goes into the stomach.

With IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) being one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders in the UK, experienced by around 10-20 per cent of the population according to the NHS, Professor Whorwell explained that hypnotherapy is one of the best treatments around.

"Of the relaxation therapies available, we find that hypnotherapy can be very helpful when it comes to treating IBS," he said. "The link between mood and gut symptoms is clear and hypnosis not only helps to reduce anxiety but also has a direct effect upon the gut, thereby reducing symptoms".

If you would like to find out more about hypnotherapy could help you with any food related issues, please contact Christy on 01252 334377 or email: Christy@christyhypnotherapy.com

What motivates you?

Have you ever taken the time to think about what motivates you? Sometimes it might be the desire to achieve something (like a reward, prize or praise)and other times it might be that you actually want to avoid something negative (such as fear of failure, or not wanting to come last place in sport). As we come to the end of another year, we might all be thinking about what we think we want to be motivated to achieve next year...

So what IS motivation? Well the dictionary definition is "the reason behind someone's actions or behaviour; desire or willingness to do something".

It seems relatively straightforward to define what it is, however what is more challenging is to define what determines or influences your motivation and why one person can be highly motivated whereas another person is not at all.

In sport, motivation to achieve one's best can make the difference between a good performance and a really great performance. Technical skill is obviously vital (you cannot become an elite athlete just by thinking positively!) however enthusiasm and determination really can make the difference that matters.

One of the most effective ways to build motivation is with goals. If we don't know what we want to achieve in life (or sport) then we will not be able to make a plan of how to achieve it. This is all very well but what happens if you feel your motivation is not going in the same direction as your goals?

There are 7 key principles of working with goals to ensure they motivate you in the right direction: 

1. Say what you want, not what you want to avoid

2. Make goals challenging, but realistic 

3. Make sure you can influence the result directly 

4. Measure your progress - check you are going in the right direction regularly 

5. Check your resources (do you have what you need to achieve your goal? If not, can you get it?) 

6. Count the cost - does the achievement of this goal mean something else does not happen? 

7. Reward yourself when you achieve your goal!

Hypnosis can also assist this process of obtaining motivation through goal setting by being able to "tap into" the emotional, right-brain functions which become more available and receptive in this state. Goals set in a state of hypnosis also tend to be far more personal, useful and motivating for an individual. In addition, hypnosis can aid the process of setting out 'memories of the future' of achieving these goals (also known as 'mental rehearsal') which acts as a powerful motivator by allowing someone to 'see' what it will be like once they have achieved their goals.

If you would like to find out more about hypnosis could help you achieve your goals in life, contact Christy today on 01252 334377 or email: christy@christyhypnotherapy.com