What does Hypnotherapy feel like?

What does Hypnotherapy feel like? This is a question I get asked a lot. The world of hypnosis is becoming more recognised now, with the NHS even recommending hypnotherapy to treat certain conditions such as IBS, Anxiety, Insomnia ect. But what can you expect to feel when you come for a hypnotherapy treatment?


The feeling of a hypnotic trance is something we experience every day. It is the feeling when you become absorbed in one thing, lost in thoughts, daydreaming, driving your car and zoning out, driving on auto pilot, going for a walk, or perhaps simply through meditation. There are so many different ways that we enter into this completely natural trance-like state every day.

Being in a hypnotic trance is a similar feeling to just before you fall asleep, where you are still aware of things but are beginning to drift off. You are able to hear and sense things around you but at the same time your muscles become relaxed and your mind begins to release the stresses from the day. There is a sense of distance from where you are as the passage of time gets distorted and often you feel the pleasure of deep relaxation allowing both your body and mind to relax completely.

Everyone’s experience of hypnosis will be personal and slightly different and you may find that you feel different every time you get hypnotised depending on the level of relaxation you reach. As you begin to feel more comfortable with the hypnotherapist and the more you work together, you begin to allow yourself to relax further entering a deeper state of trance. Although you don’t need to experience a deep trance state to be able to have life a changing experience, it can be enjoyable to experience a deep trance and allow yourself the pleasure of letting go completely and being guided through suggestions.

As you enter hypnosis, your awareness is withdrawn from the normal alert state that we walk around in and goes inward. The power of hypnosis is your ability to harness the full potential of your mind without the normal restrictions of the critical mind. This is when a hypnotherapist can help you make dramatic changes in your life, with the suggestions you listen to and how much you embrace these new ideas.

Hypnosis feels very relaxing, the big difference is in what you are guided to experience during this relaxation. A hypnotic trance is simply a naturally relaxed state of mind, which almost everyone can achieve at some level. You are still you, with your own thoughts and beliefs. You remain in full control the whole time, being able to bring yourself out of the trance at any point.


To find out the kind of things Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help with please click here. Take the first step today to understanding the power of your mind and how you can help yourself to achieve your goals in a positive and focused way.

© EKTherapies

Public Speaking

For many of us the idea of public speaking brings us out in a cold sweat as butterflies start to race around our stomachs. But how come something that we do every day so easily like speaking all of a sudden becomes terrifying? Many of us would like to avoid public speaking entirely but this is not always possible. Making presentations, giving talks, a bestman's speech at a wedding, business meetings, the list of when we may have to confront our fears of public speaking is endless.

There are many reasons why public speaking starts to turn us to jelly. Here are just a few common reasons:

• Self-consciousness – this could be because of accent, grammar, voice, image, the way we stand, how we perceive ourselves
• Lack of confidence – often stems from a feeling that others are better speakers than ourselves or that they know more about the topic in question
• Unfamiliar situation – unless public speaking is something you do regularly the formality of speaking to an audience can cause apprehension
• Fear of looking foolish – we worry that we might forget what we want to say or stumble over words, even say the wrong thing
• When you start to panic over public speaking your body goes into fight or flight mode, releasing adrenaline to help you cope with the situation

Public speaking is a perceived threat and although that perception feels all too real to those who suffer from it, the act of public speaking can do us no harm. Public speaking doesn’t have to be stressful, it can even be enjoyable. If you correctly understand the hidden causes of public speaking stress and if you learn a few tricks to calm your body and mind, it will soon become an invigorating and satisfying experience. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to conquer any public speaking anxieties you have by building up your confidence, helping you to remain relaxed and calm. You can learn your body’s unique reactions to stress and anxiety and develop a healthy and positive way of thinking and feeling. You wouldn’t walk into a meeting having not prepared what you want to say, in the same way you need to prepare both body and mind for how you are going to say it, so you walk into the room ready to speak clearly and confidently.

Imagine, instead of public speaking filling you with dread, you can learn to enjoy it, even to look forward to writing and giving a presentation. Take the first step today to conquering your public speaking fears, relaxing in the weeks leading up to it and even enjoying giving the speech as your new found confidence fills the room.

Can a Good Night’s Sleep Make us Look Younger and Slimmer?

We all know that sleep is a vital part of our bodies' health but can a lack of a good nights uninterrupted sleep have a bigger effect on our health then we realise?

This year's Mental Health Awareness Week focussed on sleep as being vital to our ability to stay mentally healthy. Up to one third of us may suffer from insomnia. This can affect mood, energy, concentration levels, our relationships and our ability to function during the day. Sleeping poorly increases the risk of having poor mental health.

“While energetic twenty-somethings might not show any ill-effects of repeated late nights, as we age insufficient rest has a dramatic effect on our looks, too.

Brad Pitt recently admitted that six children means virtually no sleep - and it’s clear from his exhausted appearance that he wasn’t joking. But the ever-glowing J-Lo (below) claims to get at least eight hours a night, which may explain why she appears ten years younger than her real age.

Dr Shahrad Taheri, a consultant endocrinologist at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital has done a series of studies looking at weight and sleep, and studying the metabolic rate. He says: ‘We discovered that people who sleep for significantly less than seven hours a night often end up being obese.’

It also seems that people who sleep for fewer than four hours a night are 73 per cent more likely to gain excess weight, while restricting sleep can lead to cravings for up to 900 extra calories a day.

Recent research discovered that sleep deprivation has a similar hormonal effect to the aging process and may even increase the likelihood of age-related diseases. Eve Van Cauter, the scientist who led the study, says: ‘We suspect sleep loss may not only hasten the onset, but could also increase the severity of ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and memory loss.’

Other studies have shown that sleep deprivation produces a stress reaction in the body, raising levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, and glucose, which can indicate a higher risk of heart disease and strokes. Interrupted sleep can also affect blood pressure (which usually falls during the night) and leave us vulnerable to colds and flu.

During deep sleep, new skin cells are produced. The reason so many of us feel and look ten years younger after a holiday is because, for once, we’ve had enough sleep.

‘One of the major functions of sleep is to allow the brain to repair itself,’ says professor Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University.

‘During deep sleep, the cortex [the largest part of the brain, governing higher function such as thought and action] goes into recovery mode. Without that period of rest, you may wake up irritable, moody, forgetful and unable to focus on tasks.’ ” Click here for full article.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to understand your stressors and find out why you are struggling to sleep. You will leave the sessions with the tools you need to have a good night’s sleep, waking up feeling refreshed and ready for the day. Our bodies and minds are amazing resourceful things that can put up with a lot of the pressure we put on them, but they need support from us to maintain their health, allowing us to feel full of energy, younger and fitter ready for what life has to offer us.

The Duchess of Cambridge - Confident, Elegant a Role Model

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate (Catherine) Middleton. What springs to mind when you hear her name?

For me, the first think I think of is a confident, elegant woman and someone who always has a smile on her face.

Kate is becoming a style icon, a role model for not only young girls, but also for the older generations too. She carries herself with such confidence and composition, understanding her role and fulfilling it perfectly. Kate’s confidence comes across in how she holds herself and how she dresses, wearing clothes that suit her own style - including high-street brands as well as the top-end designer clothes too. She feels accessible to us, wearing clothes we recognise or may even own ourselves.

Whilst I am sure behind closed doors she has her moments of uncertainty as we all do, in the public eye she always comes across as very confident and sure of herself but in a gentle, inoffensive way.

So how did Kate become so confident? Is this something she was born with, a gift? Or is this something we can all learn to develop in ourselves?

It is easy to put people like Kate onto a pedestal and think that you will never be able to be as confident as them but as with us all her confidence is always growing and developing. She remains in her comfort zone but probably still pushes the boundaries. You can see this on her first tour as the newly-married Duchess to Canada. Kate was not pushed to do any public speaking; she is still learning the ropes and didn’t push herself to do more than she felt comfortable with. I am sure that as she gets used to her new role and develops her confidence she will begin to push her boundaries more and publicly speak to people, inspiring them on the way.

Of course Kate has access to the best advice money can buy but she still needs to take all of this on board and continue to grow, becoming the person the public admire and look up to.

I can’t claim to know what methods Kate uses to deal with the pressure of becoming one of the most photographed women in the world. I do know from seeing my clients develop and achieve things they could have only dreamt of, that Hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP can help to teach you what your strengths are. Giving you the tools you need to become a more confident person, believing in yourself and your abilities; from the way you carry yourself to the way you dress. All these little signs we give off reveal how we feel. You can learn how to challenge your negative beliefs and achieve the goals you never thought possible. Kate gives us all a chance to see that if you focus on your strengths and build on them, having the confidence to believe in yourself you can achieve incredible things.