We live in a stressful world where conditions such as hypertension, obesity and depression are commonplace. Often we don’t help ourselves by pushing too hard, and not feeling able to loosen the reins. This can lead to people anesthetising by overeating, drinking too much, having difficulty in personal relationships and in well documented long-term health deterioration. More and more people are now turning to Cognitive Hypnotherapy to combat these stresses to enable them to live healthier lives.

Many people exhaust themselves trying to keep all aspects of their lives working efficiently. This can lead to long-term stress and anxiety conditions which in turn have a knock on effect in other areas of their life. Cognitive Hypnotherapy works on a two pronged approach, shifting the underlying beliefs that drive those behaviours that create stress, and by teaching tools to change the mind’s response to those everyday situations.

Many people find that by letting go of those stresses in their lives, it follows that they then begin to look after themselves better. Weight loss, and a reduction in alcohol consumption are just some of the things that clients report to be the most significant physical benefits. People also report an improvement in personal relationships and a better quality of sleep.

Cognitive Hypnotherapy, as taught by Trevor Silvester at the Quest Institute, embraces techniques from hypnotherapy, NLP and positive psychology as well as some of the latest thinking around neuro-plasticity – how the brain can change it’s structure as we develop new habits. As well as the one-to-one work with the therapist, clients are given an MP3 to listen to which teaches them to relax more easily and to let go of the stresses that aren’t useful in their life. In only a few sessions clients often report significant changes in how they are thinking and feeling – more positively and more relaxed.

The great thing about Cognitive Hypnotherapy is that change can be possible in a relatively short period of time. Many people see the benefits they want in between 3 – 5 sessions and some even fewer. It really is possible for clients to let go of those unconscious patterns of behaviours and often so much easier than they might think.

Just imagine how much better life might be if you were able to chose a more relaxed, positive outlook to the things that happen around you. Most people find that they become more productive, more friendly and more fun. Doesn’t that sound good?

Call me on 07768 418 359 for a free telephone consultation when we can discuss how you may be able to be helped with Cognitive Hypnotherapy.

As a Cognitive Hypnotherapist, I strongly work towards my steering my clients towards being able to see their future how they would like it to be. The theory being that we can’t get to where we want to be unless we know where it is. Also that our minds are pre-determined to keep us away from what we find unsafe, scary or problematic, and to carry is towards things that it thinks are safe, fun, fulfilling and generally lovely.

Have a bit of a dream about what you are capable of achieving. Really push your vision to the limits. Spend some time really enjoying the possibilities and allowing your mind to focus on all the positive aspects of achieving that goal.

See yourself as you would be, watch how you are acting and interacting with others positively. Imagine being in the body of that you having achieved your dream. How does it feel?  What are you thinking and experiencing differently? If that you in the future could give the you now some advice that would make it easier to get there, what would they say?

Dare to dream. Take a step a day towards this goal. You might be literally astounded at what you can achieve.

To be able to stand on the strong, sturdy platform of our mistakes is such a great thing to be able to do and makes them all so worthwhile. Don’t be afraid to build your very own viewing platform, you’ll be so much closer to the stars.

We now have a membership of 11 fabulous women, all of whom have very different business but face similar common issues – such as client generation, wading our way through the the minefield that is social media, developing our marketing, PR etc. Some of us have even hooked up to run joint enterprises. Amongst other projects, myself and Sam Perkins of Happy Eaters now run The Weight Escape a successful local weight loss group for people who are fed up of faddy diets that don’t work, and Katy Made Cakes who teamed up recently with the lovely Lou at GlamGiving.com to provide the most beautiful cupcakes for a Kiehls charity fashion event – you can see more at http://www.katymadecakes.co.uk/index.php/498/). Many of us are also using the services of Ros at http://www.mytaxuk.com/ to take the stress out of our finances. We all work alone at what we do, but now we’ve established this group we’ve got company and really feel we’re on to a winning, and very sociable formula for taking our one-man-band businesses to a new level.

The even better thing about it is that we are backed up by research (validating our coffee drinking and chatting together even further). Studies show that people are far more likely to be successful at whatever we are working towards if they enlist the support of others. Whether it is telling someone else about a personal goal that we are working towards, or brainstorming for business ideas amongst colleagues, a collective effort is always more successful than if we approach things entirely by ourselves.

Part of this is about accountability. By working with others our goals often become much more set in stone than if we make a half-hearted promise to ourselves. The mere action of having to report back on how we are doing ultimately means that we will be taking more action to accomplish it.

As you think about it now, how could you create a success group whatever your aim might be. If your goal is losing weight or another health or exercise goal, why not tell someone what you hope to achieve, how much you will achieve and by when you will achieve it. If it is to do with an interest or something work related, try to find some like-minded people who are doing a similar thing. We often find in our WIBS business group that we have inspiring ideas for each other as well as for ourselves. Look around you and see what you could create. You might just be surprised where that support could come from.

I’d be really interested to hear how you get one or if you have other experiences of creating support networks? Do drop me a line to tell me all about it.

It might sounds like a frivolous concept for the UN to be reporting on when nations are worn torn or collapsing under financial debt. However to the individual experiencing unhappiness, feeling happy, or not, is an incredibly important and defining thing.

As the As Nic Marks states in his Health and Wellbeing column in today’s Guardian Newspaper Online “It is a serious issue for our communities – unhappiness is a breeding ground for social discontent with a resultant vicious cycle of crime, conflict and insecurity.

And it is a serious issue for businesses – unhappy workplaces are less productive, have higher levels of sickness absence, are less innovative as well as less fun. Ultimately they are at risk of not being able to adapt in a fast changing world.”

If you were able to measure your levels of happiness how would you score? Do you have a sense that low levels of happiness might be affecting your achievement or relationships?

Using Cognitive Hypnotherapy I often help clients to boost their happiness measure. Often it can be as simple as guiding your unconscious mind towards focussing on the opportunities around you, or reducing stress levels that in turn leave more energy for enjoying life. For others letting go of issues such as insomnia or a fear or phobia can shift perspective leading to a significant increase in happiness levels.

As a start, think of three things that you could do today to boost your feelings of wellbeing. This could be kindness to yourself, or to others, enjoying being completely in the moment with someone or something you love, or perhaps taking some exercise for no other reason than to enjoy the endorphin rush that it brings.

If you’re reading this on the UN International Day of Happiness, or on another day, why not give happiness a go and let me know how you get on.

If you think it might be less than supportive why not do something about it. You could be amazed at the difference it could make to how you feel, how much you can achieve and even your relationships. Imagine how it would be to have someone cheering for you 24 hours a day, telling you how amazing you are, how much you can achieve, giving you ideas for what is possible to achieve.

Cognitive Hypnotherapy can really make a difference with this. In a short time it is possible to experience having someone being kind to you, in a significant way – lots. Would that be nice?

You can see Trevor talking about it in the film here:

Or order your copy from Amazon

 If you would like your relationship work better, or or would like to change something about yourself that you feel is getting in the way of your interactions with your partner, do get in contact. We can discuss how you would like things to be different and how I can help you – with Cognitive Hypnotherapy either in my Harley Street office, or in North London.

The fabulous Trevor and Rebecca Silvester, founders of The Quest Institute, have launched a new Cognitive Hypnotherapy E-zine called Perception.

Published quarterly, it contains lots of the latest information from the world of Cognitive Hypnotherapy and what it can help you to achieve, both personally and professionally.

Subscribe now by clicking on the link here. You might just see something from someone you know (i.e. me) in the next issue!

If you are interested in having hypnotherapy in North London or in my clinic in Harley Street, Central London do get in contact to discuss how I can help.

This evening the lovely nutritionist Sam Perkins (of http://happyeaters.co.uk ) and I ran the first of a 6 week weight loss course.

The Weight Escape is designed allow people to achieve a new relationship with food and themselves, to break away from the diet industry and faddy short-term ways to lose weight and to achieve sensible long-term solutions.

Sam and I both see lots of people with weight and food difficulties in our private practices and we wanted to do something that was accessible to many people and would really make a difference.

For so many, the diet industry has held such a grip over their food choices that they’ve become confused as to the best way to eat. Is it all about protein? Are carbs bad? How can I know all the calories in everything? And for others extreme diets every now and again have become the norm – only to put it all back on and more when they start eating ‘normally’ again.

To find out that there is something that can be done about the emotional aspects to being overweight, for some can be life changing. It isn’t all about food, otherwise there wouldn’t be a diet industry. Everyone would just eat what they need to to fuel their bodies and that would be that. Most people who have food and weight issues are experts in the field of weight loss – just not applying it due to emotional or unconscious reasons.

Interestingly, next door to our course was a famous weight-losing group, absolutely packed to the rafters, but which most participants on The Weight Escape had tried and either ‘failed’ (note: heavy inverted commas, as you are really not failing at something that as an industry requires you to ‘fail’ as its modus operandi!).

Well, they say that through good intentions come good results, and what a gorgeous bunch of people came along to The Weight Escape this evening. We really look forward to guiding them and following them on their journey to find a new relationship to food, to themselves and to life.

If you would like to find out more about this new approach to weight loss do get in contact. We offer group sessions and one-to-one appointments in Central London and in Crouch End, North London.