About Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a state of mind, enhanced by mental and physical relaxation in which our subconscious mind is able to communicate with our conscious mind. Whilst in this state, the therapist can assist the client in finding meaningful alternatives to present unsatisfactory, un-resourceful ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Therapy also tends to help clients become more accepting both of themselves and others and can be most useful in promoting personal development and unlocking inner potential.

It is generally considered helpful if the client is personally motivated to change (rather than relying solely on the therapists efforts). A client should expect to feel comfortable and at ease with their therapist. Unlike many other psychological therapies, hypnotherapy is generally considered to be a fairly short term approach in which beneficial changes if they are to occur, should become apparent within a relatively few sessions.

How can Hypnosis help?

Hypnosis can help us to make the desired changes we want in our lives that consciously, we seem unable to achieve. The reason being is that our subconscious mind is more open to suggestion than our conscious mind. Once a desired outcome has been agreed by the client, the therapist can facilitate change by first assisting the client to reach a deeply relaxed hypnotic state. By using a combination of the clients own language patterns and hypnotic language that the subconscious mind recognises, the therapist will help the client to release old unwanted negative thought patterns and behaviours and unlock the clients true potential.

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?

There are many interpretations of NLP, but in a nutshell - NLP is about your experience of life how you know and understand the world and everyone else in it, how you do what you do and how you create your own reality. NLP is short for:-

• Neurology - the mind and how we think
• Linguistics - how we use language and the affect is has on us
• Programming - How we sequence our actions to achieve our goals

Our beliefs, our senses, and past experiences give us our very own map of the world from which we operate and base our future upon. But a map can never be 100% accurate, and just as a ship navigates its way through a treacherous ocean, and the map shows the main hazards we navigate our lives in the same way. As long as we can see the main hazards, we too will be okay. When maps are faulty and unreliable then, we like ships, are in danger of running aground. NLP is the art of changing these internal maps to enable us to have greater freedom of action. We are all unique and act and think differently, we are also all unique in the way that we store our memories and experiences.

We take in our experiences of the world by our senses; sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. The experience then gets stored into our memory. Have you ever been driving to work and heard a song on the radio that automatically triggers a happy memory? Maybe you will recall who you were with, what you were doing and those good feelings flood through your body. Or have you ever walked past a bakers shop and smelled fresh bread in the ovens? Maybe that will take you back to a happy memory from childhood.

How can NLP help?

NLP is an excellent tool to bring about change. Firstly though, you have to be clear about the outcome you want to achieve and determined and committed to succeed. You also have to totally believe in what you are doing, what you want to achieve and make sure that it fits into your life without having any detrimental effects on yourself and others. NLP exercises have been created to help you change "your map of the world" in an appropriate way, freeing you from limiting thoughts, beliefs and behaviours and helping you to use your inner resources in positive, helpful ways. NLP can help you recognise the different emotional states you experience at various times in your life and help you to recall positive experiences to bring about positive, more resourceful states to help you achieve your goals. Every single thought you have, affects every single cell you have in your body.

By using various NLP techniques we can help you to change the way you think and feel about certain experiences and help you to look forward to your future in a new, more positive way!