EKTherapies - Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP

Live Life!

2012-02-27T09:00:00.002Z

The Guardian published a fascinating article in February about the top five regrets of the dying, written from the findings from a palliative nurse. I found it an interesting read, thought-provoking and well worth sharing.

“ Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again."

Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed, deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. How many times have you thought: “I wish someone had told me that before?" So often people do advise or warn us but we carry on regardless. It is important that we learn from our own mistakes but we can also learn from the wisdom of others – if so many people realise retrospectively that they should have changed their perspective on what is important in life, maybe we should listen more. "

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to change your perspective on life and see where you need to focus your energy. It can help you to realise your goals, release any anxiety, fears or old expectations, allowing you to be the person you want to be. This gives you time to focus on the wonderful life you have created, with all its wonderful twists and turns.

Could Laughter be the Key to Happiness?

2012-02-20T09:00:00.000Z

Laughter is infectious; we all know the amazing feeling of losing yourself in the energy of laughter. But could laughter be the key to happiness? People have started to harness this and create laughter workshops, where you go to laugh, even if it starts out as a forced laugh, the endorphins and benefits still affect your body and mood.

Research has shown the health benefits of laughter are far-reaching, studies have shown that laughter can help pain relief through the releasing of endorphins, increase the immune system, decrease stress, change the “negative” chemicals in the mind, ease conflict, lighten burdens, inspire hope, connect you to others and generally just make you feel better, more energetic and happier, bringing your body and mind back into balance.

“Your sense of humour is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.” Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D.

This may all seem a bit far-fetched, can laughing really help you to feel better ? We know the benefits of exercise and how that helps us to reduce stress hormones. It helps our bodies to feel more energetic, it clears our minds and allows us to have clear focus again. So can laughter do the same thing? If we build laughter into our day just as we do with exercise we can increase our happiness. Laughter is an incredibly strong medicine for mind and body – it is free, convenient and beneficial in so many ways.

So how do you get more laughter in your life?

We can find laughter in so many ways, maybe for you it is laughing at films or the TV, laughing with friends, comedy clubs, funny clips on line, joining a laughter workshop, the list is endless. Or if all else fails you could just fake it. Just smile and start to laugh – as with listening to a song and how it change your mood, so can laughter. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can also help. This combination can help you to look at the world with a different perspective, to see the funny side in life. It is too easy to allow life to feel like a weight on our shoulders, but you can learn the tools to see life in a different way. To allow yourself the freedom to let go and just laugh and enjoy the world for what it is.

Try it now - smile, laugh or giggle and feel better about your day.

Happy Valentine’s Day

2012-02-13T09:00:00.003Z

Tomorrow is Valentine ’s Day and whilst for a lot of people it is a day to stop and tell their loved ones just how much they mean to them for many of us it can also be a time of sadness; a reminder that we don’t have that special someone in our lives.

Valentine’s Day, whilst it has its place, is a man-made holiday. We don’t need this one day to tell our loved ones how special they are, it should be part of our day or week to stop and tell them just how wonderful they are. Rather than seeing it as only a day for people to stop and shower their loved ones with gifts it can be the day that you just stop and say thank you for your life. Maybe you don’t have that special someone to go out for dinner with but I am sure that you have a lot of wonderful things in your life. Take this moment to stop and appreciate the wonderful world that you have created.

It is far too easy to focus on the small percentage of our lives that isn’t right. But it is far more beneficial and rewarding if you can learn to focus on the larger percentage that is right and see the remainder that isn’t quite there yet as an exciting challenge. We need these challenges in life to help us grow. Admittedly sometimes they can feel like they are all coming at once or that life “has it in for us”, but if you work with the positive and focus on the positive you will be surprised at just how much lighter life can feel.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to learn the techniques to focus on the positive, to turn around the negative cogs and realise that we can put the energy where we want to and if we put it toward working with the positive we will feel so much happier even though nothing may have physically changed.

Whether you are sitting at a candle-lit dinner tomorrow or just enjoying your own company, have a wonderful day, stop and take in the world that you have created. Smile and allow the happiness of love for yourself and your life to flow.

New Job, New You

2012-02-06T09:00:00.001Z

It is that time of year when many of us get restless and we start to look around for our next job. Just as important as ensuring you have edited and polished your CV before applying for the job you’re after, is making sure you are full of confidence and energy and ready to sell yourself to prospective employers.

Many of us have mixed emotions when it comes to the idea of starting a new job. Even if it is something that we have been dreaming of or a career stepping stone that we know is the right one, it is perfectly natural to feel nervous or anxious about the process of applying for a job and being interviewed. We feel the excitement as we begin to imagine what it would be like to be in our new role, but we also feel fear as we begin to think about the possibility of rejection. We begin to consider whether or not we have what it takes to be successful. The fear of failure begins to creep in and we worry about not succeeding, so our confidence can get knocked before we have even started.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to overcome any anxieties you have. It can help you with public speaking fears, confidence and anything else you feel you need to build on. You can learn how to walk into the interview room feeling calm and confident, ready to “sell” yourself to the company without being overly confident or arrogant. We all need to build on our skills, even if we are good at our current job, we need to learn how to adapt to a new company.

During a session of Hypnotherapy with CBT & NLP we can look at dealing with the weight of expectation you may be carrying and help you to challenge any negative beliefs, building on your strengths and understanding your weaknesses. We will then aim to turn any weaknesses into positives, putting you in a place to grow and develop from.

Even if the job you are going for is an internal promotion, you may still need help to combat old beliefs. We tend to feel that we need to know everything; to admit we have weaknesses can be seen as a negative but that’s not always the case. Often it is actually the opposite – the greatest things can be achieved if we let go of the fear of failure and accept that with a bit of help we can continue to grow.

Technology - How has it Changed us?

2012-01-30T09:06:00.003Z

The world around us is changing quicker than we ever could have imagined.Whilst there is no doubt that the growth of technology is a wonderful thing, I can’t help asking how much it has affected our day to day living.

The Queen is having her Diamond Jubilee this year and the event will be watched by the world, but when she had her coronation in 1952 only a privileged few had TVs in their houses. People crowded round little black and white screens to watch the Queen take her place on the throne. That was only 60 years ago, which in the grand scheme of things isn't a long time.

A telephone was the thing in your house that you had to sit down to talk into because the chord would only stretch so far, forcing you to pay more attention to the conversation you were having.

For a lot of us we still remember the advent of the internet and we had previously felt privileged to use one of the few old BBC computers the school had. We also remember the mobile phone arriving with its cumbersome battery pack.

Nowadays the phones are so small that the manufacturers have had to introduce bigger versions for the elderly who may otherwise struggle with the little buttons and keys. Even our phones are in full HD colour and now of course we can send and receive emails on them and even surf the web. All of a sudden the office is no longer confined to work and we can work truly anywhere.

Amazing stuff, but...

Whilst the advancement in technology has had a wonderful effect on our life. We haven’t kept up with the pace of adapting our lives to it.

We no longer de-stress through conversation in the same way as before. We will send a quick text to someone rather than talking to them and some people are even suggesting that the younger generation are losing the ability to conduct smalltalk and communicate with people. We don’t feel the need to keep in touch through verbal conversation as much because we can follow so much on social networks, feeling like we have spoken to the person when we have merely kept tabs on them through a status update. We know what is going on in people’s lives, even if we haven’t taken the time to let them know that, other than a small “like” on their post or a quick comment.

We take the dog for a walk and whilst before this would have been precious time to unwind it is now a good opportunity to make that call or send that email.

We can be hundreds of miles away sitting on a deserted beach and our phone buzzes; all of a sudden we are back in the office and all the stress floods back.

We need to learn how to live in this world of technology. We need to discipline ourselves not to look at work emails when we get home. We have created an expectancy that we will reply to emails within half an hour, no matter what time of day it is. We are no longer working just at the office but everywhere else too.

You can manage your stress levels. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to challenge your beliefs and work in a calmer more productive way, allowing yourself to have that precious down time you need. Then you can recharge your batteries ready for the next working day.

Sometimes we can feel so lonely; even though we are the most connected society there has ever been we are also the most lonely generation. I am not for a second saying that technology shouldn’t continue to grow and get better, quite the opposite. Technology has allowed me to do my job well, being able to work from the different clinics I am in each day. But we need to learn how to work with technology, rather than becoming a slave to it.

Teeth Grinding

2012-01-23T09:00:00.003Z

Teeth grinding or Bruxism to give it its medical name, is a completely natural occurrence in the body. It happens when the bite is not right, if there is an imbalance - a missing tooth for example or when children’s teeth develop. It is something we do subconsciously and a lot of people will teeth-grind during their sleep. It is the body’s natural way of making your teeth fit your mouth.

So if it is natural, why is it such a problem? If you are teeth grinding because your bite is not right then working with the dentist you can correct this and the teeth grinding will stop. However, it is also increasingly common that teeth grinding is linked to stress/anxiety.

In most instances you don’t even realise you are doing it. You may wake up with a sore, aching jaw or even a headache. Anyone who has slept next to someone who grinds their teeth will know that the noise can be unbearable.

It is important to tell the dentist if you are teeth grinding so that they can monitor the wear and tare of your teeth and make sure you are not doing any lasting damage. You can get gum-shields from the dentist to help to keep your teeth apart but this doesn’t deal with the reason you are doing it.

Is it time to look at your stress levels? Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to understand your stressors and learn a new way to manage your life so that the stress levels rarely bubble over. Stress is a part of life and we need both the ups and downs to learn and help us grow. However, we don't have to let it affect our health.

You don’t have to expect teeth grinding to be part of your life. To find out how you can take the steps today to helping your jaw stay relaxed and allowing the rest of your body time to destress, freeing time to enjoy the life that you have created, please contact Erika.

Blue Monday

2012-01-16T09:00:00.005Z

Apparently today 16th January is Blue Monday. It is considered the most depressing day of the year.

How can one predict the most depressing day of the year? Who knows what is going to happen on this day and the next and the one after that?

Tomorrow will be here sooner than we think, and it can be a better day. We are too good at focusing on what is missing or wrong in our life, but we can change and look at what we do have. We can start to focus on the 70% (or more) that is right in our life rather than the small amount that needs improving.

It is good to have stuff to strive for; we need goals, dreams, targets and aspirations. But it is also important to stop and appreciate where we have got to and enjoy the life that we have created for ourselves.

The world continues turning and life goes on day by day.It is up to us to make our own lives as good as we can. You can learn to work with the positive and to see what we do have in life – a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session can help you to have this outlook.

Today can be whatever you want it to be. Yes it may be cold outside, the evenings may be dark, but we have passed the shortest day of the year. Summer is on the way. We can either get there with a smile on our faces or allow ourselves to be dragged down into a negative spiral.

Take control of how you feel today. You can learn a different way of dealing with stress and let go of the anxiety in your life. Today can be the best day of your year as it is the start of working with the power of your mind, focusing on the positive and realising that we choose where we put the energy. You can choose to put it towards positive thinking; you will be amazed at how you can change your perspective and realise that life is quite an amazing thing to be involved in.

Help you, Help Yourself

2012-01-09T09:00:00.004Z

How can we start to take the steps to look after our body and mind?

Here are some simple changes that you can make that will have a huge impact on how you feel. Life is a wonderful roller-coaster and we need the ups and downs in order to feel pushed and strive for the next step. But sometimes it can all get on top of us. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to learn techniques to deal with stress and give you tools to cope with and enjoy life in the future.

Try out some of these today and start to take control of how you feel.

Talk about your feelings: talking isn’t a sign of weakness; it is part of looking after your mental health. So often, when we talk to friends or loved ones, we realise that we are not as alone as we felt. So many people are going through the same thing but are scared to talk about it too. By you opening up you suddenly realise that your world is full of people who care for you.

Eat healthy: it has been proven that there are links between what we eat and how we feel. Foods like caffeine and sugar can have an immediate effect on us, but food can also have a long-lasting effect on our mental health. It can affect the nutrition our mind is getting. Think of your body like a machine that needs looking after, what we put in needs to be able to nourish it.

Keep in touch: just as talking isn't a sign of weakens, keeping in touch with friends and family can make you feel included and cared for. Often people have different views from you and they can help you to look at things from a different perspective. With the world growing and technology progressing we are more connected then we have ever been yet we feel more lonely and isolated than ever. Pick up the phone and talk to people, you will be amazed how much better you feel.

Take a break: take regular breaks, as little as 5 minutes. Get up, change the scene (break the state), walk around, take three deep breaths. By the time you come back you will feel calmer; it is a chance for your mind to unwind.

Accept who you are: you are you and that is a wonderful thing. You are a unique person, even if you are one of a pair of identical twins, you are still you. Good at different things. Accept that, for example, maths may not be your strong point. But where you thrive others struggle and vice versa. Understand your strengths and build on them.

Keep active: exercise is so important for our body and mind. It helps to release chemicals in your mind that eat up the stress hormone and make you feel good. Exercise boosts self-esteem and can help you concentrate, sleep well and look and feel better, helping you have a clear outlook on life. Exercise doesn’t have to be a session in the gym, it can be built into your day, like walking up the escalator or getting off the bus one stop earlier and walking briskly to and from work.

Listen to music: if you are feeling low put an upbeat song on and if possible sing along. Allow the rhythm of the music to flow through you. By the end of the song I am sure you will feel better than when it began. You are breaking the state and changing the rhythm within your body.

Sometimes in life we need a little extra help to let go of stresses and situations that we can’t seem to get past. Ask yourself, how much time do I spend de-stressing in the day? Life is good at putting the stress in, now it is time to learn how to take it out again. To see how Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you do this, please contact Erika.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T09:00:00.020Z

Welcome to 2012, it is going to be a year full of excitement and opportunities. 2012 is the year the London is hosting the Olympics; it is a fresh start and can be filled with whatever you choose to fill it with.

This is the time of year when New Year’s resolutions are made. A lot of people will kick the smoking habit in January. This can be easier to do then you think. Quitting smoking should not be difficult or unpleasant; there is no need for nicotine patches or gum, all you need is your commitment to become smoke free and a one-off Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session.

While nicotine is a difficult substance to go without when giving up smoking, the nicotine from your last cigarette will be out of your system within 48 hours. It is that straight forward - a tricky few days and then a lifetime of freedom. So why hasn't it been that easy when you’ve tried to quit before? Simple - you dealt with the nicotine addiction but didn't deal with the psychological addiction of smoking. In fact, you probably put cigarettes up on some kind of pedestal. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP are ideal for this, the fantastic combination of these therapies deal with the emotional and psychological aspects of giving up smoking, giving you all tools you will need to become a non-smoker.

You are 10 times more likely to remain a non-smoker if you give up using Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP; this is because during the session we will look at all your smoking triggers and make sure you have the coping mechanisms, motivation and determination to become a non-smoker. You can stop smoking in an easy and positive way.

Whilst by the end of the month a lot of New Year’s resolutions have slipped away, this year that doesn’t have to be the case. With a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session you can learn to start working with the power of your mind and help yourself to achieve your goals. You can learn how to manage your stress levels and start to turn around the negative self-talk and realise that you can achieve anything you put your mind to, whilst enjoying the life you have created.

Focus on the positive - 2012 can be your year.

Happy Boxing Day!

2011-12-26T09:00:00.016Z

This is my 49th blog of the year. I started on the 13th January 2011 and have managed to write a post a week, publishing every Monday at 9am. Writing the blog has made me look more deeply into the wonderful world of hypnosis, looking at how it is portrayed in the news, how people’s perception of it is changing, celebrities that have used hypnosis, different areas where hypnosis can be used, and approaching people with new ideas.

On a personal level it has also made me realise that I can write. Having dyslexia, I never felt that writing was my strong point, but I let go of the fear of failure and started to write.

I feel extremely lucky to do my job. I love the challenges I come across and find myself humbled by the people I meet and the strength they manage to find as they work with me to help themselves. I have worked with wonderful people this year, helping them to see that they can change the way they think and approach a situation to turn their life around. Many times I have walked out of the clinic with the biggest smile on my face, feeling very lucky to have been able to help someone help themselves.

I am looking forward to the clients I will work with in 2012 and to continuing on this wonderful journey.

Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the Christmas break and have a brilliant new year. Make 2012 the year that you start working with the most powerful tool you will ever be given, the power of your mind.

“Erika has helped me more than you can imagine possible. I came to her in the middle of a nervous breakdown suffering from deep grief and traumatised by my loss. She helped me work through all the pain, the complex issues, build on all the positives in my life with a calm gentle manner that has within months enabled me to look forward to Christmas with a smile on my face and genuine happiness. But more than this she has left me not needing her anymore!! – That’s what I call a good therapist!” M, London

"Erika has helped me to regain my positive outlook on life! I've gone from being stressed and confused a month ago to now feeling more focused and confident. With Erika's help I've become decisive enough to make some big changes that have set up an exciting future for me. The results of our sessions have been better than I could've expected!" A, London

“I haven't touched a cigarette!! Today is my 16th day as a non-smoker - I'm so proud of myself but don't want to get complacent. The first few days were really tough, but since then it has got easier and I think about it less and less. I've even been out with people at work or pub and have just stood with them whilst they smoked and it’s actually been fine. I'm starting to feel better in myself, have a bit more energy and plan to start jogging next week. So thank you very much! I'm still taking it one day at a time but those days are getting easier.” L, London

"I just wanted to say thank you for all your help and excellent advice. I’m certainly feeling a lot better generally and couldn’thave done it without you. Thank you!" G, London

Stress: Can We Look at it in a Different Way?

2011-12-19T09:00:00.008Z

The more I work with clients the more I realise that so much of how we feel is down to our perspective. We can be sat in a room and nothing can change and yet we can make ourselves feel stressed as we allow our minds to worry about all the things we have to do. With Christmas round the corner a lot of people feel under an extreme amount of pressure and stress, but if we change the way we view things could we feel less stressed? Christmas is meant to be a time to spend with loved ones and have a few well-earned days off.

I came across this description of how to deal with stress and I thought it was worth sharing.

"A young lady confidently walked around the room, explaining stress management to an audience. She raised a glass of water, and everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, 'half empty or half full?'. ...She fooled them all... "How heavy is this glass of water?" she enquired with a smile.
Answers called out ranged from 8 oz.to 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "And that's the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden - holding stress longer and better each time practiced.
"So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night. Pick them up tomorrow.

"Whatever burdens you're carrying now, put them down for a moment. Relax, pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it, and conquer that stress!"

The power of the mind means that we can create stress from either a perceived threat or a real threat. If we never put down that glass of stress and allow our minds to be free to enjoy the moment we are in, we are never giving our body or mind the chance to unwind. The more we put down the glass of stress and allow our minds to unwind, the lighter the glass will become as it starts to empty, releasing the stress from the day.

It sounds so simple and it can be. I have worked with MDs of companies who seem to be carrying the world on their shoulders and no doubt have stressful jobs; even after one session they begin to see there is a different way, they can feel differently, they can feel calm and enjoy the success of their carriers. You can start helping yourself to manage your stress levels today - with a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session with Erika, you can learn the tools to manage your stress and bring back the feeling of relaxation and happiness in your life. With 2011 nearly at a close it is time to enjoy the festive period and start to put into practice how you want to begin 2012. You don’t have to have a life full of stress and anxiety.

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing over the Christmas period, have a wonderful Christmas.

40% of Cancers are Due to Lifestyle According to British Journal of Cancer

2011-12-12T09:00:00.001Z

The BBC reported last Wednesday that over 40% of cancers are due to our lifestyle. As you read this don’t feel down hearted, but realise that you can take control of your life and help yourself to have a healthy future. Even changing a few things can help you to feel fitter and healthier and to give your body the best chance of remaining healthy.

Michelle Roberts, the health reporter for the BBC, wrote a fascinating article. To read it in full please click here.

“Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year -over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.

Tobacco is the biggest culprit, causing 23% of cases in men and 15.6% in women, says the Cancer Research UK report.

Next comes a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in men's diets,while for women it is being overweight.

The report is published in The British Journal of Cancer.

Its authors claim it is the most comprehensive analysis to date on the subject.
Lead author Prof Max Parkin said: "Many people believe cancer is down to fate or 'in the genes' and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it."
"Looking at all the evidence, it's clear that around 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change."
For men, the best advice appears to be: stop smoking, eat more fruit and veg and cut down on how much alcohol you drink.

For women, again, the reviews says the best advice is to stop smoking, but also watch your weight.

Prof Parkin said: "We didn't expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. And among women we didn't expect being overweight to be more of a risk factor than alcohol."

In total, 14 lifestyle and environmental factors, such as where you live and the job you do, combine to cause 134,000 cancers in the UK each year.

About 100,000 (34%) of the cancers are linked to smoking, diet, alcohol and excess weight.

One in 25 of cancers is linked to a person's job, such as being exposed to chemicals or asbestos.
Some risk factors are well established, such as smoking's link with lung cancer.

But others are less recognised.

For example, for breast cancer, nearly a 10th of the risk comes from being overweight or obese, far out weighing the impact of whether or not the woman breastfeeds or drinks alcohol.

And for oesophageal or gullet cancer, half of the risk comes from eating too little fruit and veg, while only a fifth of the risk is from alcohol, the report shows.
For stomach cancer, a fifth of the risk comes from having too much salt in the diet, data suggests.

Some cancers, like mouth and throat cancer, are caused almost entirely by lifestyle choices.
But others, like gall bladder cancer, are largely unrelated to lifestyle.

The researchers base their calculations on predicted numbers of cases for 18 different types of cancer in 2010, using UK incidence figures for the 15-year period from 1993 to 2007.

Dr Rachel Thompson, of the World Cancer Research Fund, said the report added to the "now overwhelmingly strong evidence that our cancer risk is affected by our lifestyles".
Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said leading a healthy lifestyle did not guarantee a person would not get cancer but the study showed "we can significantly stack the odds in our favour".

"If there are things we can do to reduce our risk of cancer we should do as much as we possibly can," he said.

Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: "We all know that around 23,000 cases of lung cancer could be stopped each year in England if people didn't smoke.

By making small changes we can cut our risk of serious health problems - give up smoking, watch what you drink, get more exercise and keep an eye on your weight."

Whilst not all cancers or any illness are completely preventable some cancers are. Start making the changes today to help your body and mind be as healthy as they can be - book a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session with Erika and begin to take charge of your health.

Looking for an Unusual Christmas Gift?

2011-12-05T09:00:00.006Z

Do you know someone who has always been curious to know more about hypnotherapy? Is there someone who would benefit from having some new tools in their toolbox to help them take the step to achieving their goals?

If you are looking for a different gift idea why not give someone a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP consultation. The session is an hour long and it will give them a chance to learn a bit more about hypnotherapy and to see how hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help them to achieve their goals.

Even after just one session they will feel empowered and confident that they are starting to head in the right direction, taking steps to achieve their goals. There is no obligation for them to have more sessions.

Don’t take my word for it, here are a testimonials from people who have started to work with the power of their mind.

"Erika kindly explained to me the benefits of hypnosis and I subsequently had three sessions in order to tackle issues with confidence. Immediately after the first session I noticed a difference and this continued throughout the course. Every session Erika gave me techniques to ensure I could manage my confidence levels outside of the sessions, which was extremely useful. Erika exudes positivity and professionalism which puts you at ease with the process and I was confident that she was able to help me. I am very glad I attended the sessions, as it has completely changed my life and I would recommend it to anyone to enhance their life." Liz, London

"Erika has helped me to regain my positive outlook on life! I've gone from being stressed and confused a month ago to now feeling more focused and confident. With Erika's help I've become decisive enough to make some big changes that have set up an exciting future for me. The results of our sessions have been better than I could've expected!" Andy, London

Click here to see the kind of things that can be treated.

Please contact Erika to arrange a personalised gift voucher today. This Christmas, give someone the gift of working with the most powerful tool they will ever have: themselves.

"The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitude of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives." William James

What is Fight or Flight Response?

2011-11-28T09:00:00.001Z

Fight or flight is a natural healthy response within our body to a perceived threat or danger. Thousands of years ago we led very different lives, much more physically challenging and dangerous lives. We didn’t have sharp claws or teeth to protect us from the world around us, and we had to be able to react very quickly to threats around us. In those days there were two simple choices, we could either fight or we could run (flight).

The fight or flight response is one of the most important parts of our make-up and a highly efficient survival response for dangerous times. When we are in fight or flight mode hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released; these speed up the heart rate, slow down digestion, and shift the blood flow to major muscle groups, giving the body a burst of energy and strength so we can react to the situation at hand. In the times of cavemen the threats were simple and straight forward - a wild animal or a member from an enemy tribe for example - these were very serious and dangerous threats requiring a quick reaction.

Nowadays we still have our fight or flight response; the dangerous situations have changed, but the biggest difference is that we now don’t always release that pent up stress.

Our bodies are built to deal with short times of heightened awareness and stress, it is a vital part of our survival, but the problem comes when we continue to keep our bodies in the heightened state, the stress state.

Our body/mind can’t differentiate between a real threat and a perceived threat. You can get the same chemical reactions just by thinking about a stressful situation, for example, a bill needing to be paid, going over a situation you experienced – reliving it in your mind, or worrying about an upcoming situation; then when it happens it was so much better/easier than you thought, but all that energy you spent worrying about it has had a harmful effect on your body.

Our body tries to re balance but the hormones are still flying around; gradually they begin to have a permanent effect on our health, long-term health problems start to develop.

The wonderful thing is that you can control this; you can learn what your stressors are and how you can de-stress yourself. A hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session can help you by working out a range of mechanisms with Erika which will equip you to deal with stress better for the rest of your life.

Surgeons told to Hypnotise your patient

2011-11-21T09:00:00.003Z

Came across this article by Amelia Hill written for The Observer in June 2009 and had to share it.

“Doctors should be taught to hypnotise patients not to feel pain instead of using general anaesthetics during some operations, the Royal Society of Medicine will be told today.

In what he has described as a "clarion call to the British medical profession", Professor David Spiegel, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University in the US, will also call on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) to add hypnotherapy to its list of approved therapeutic techniques for the treatment of conditions ranging from allergies and high blood pressure to the pain associated with bone marrow transplantation, cancer treatment and anaesthesia for liver biopsy. Nice has already approved the technique for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.

"It is time for hypnosis to work its way into the mainstream of British medicine," Spiegel will say at the joint conference of the Royal Society of Medicine, the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis and the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis.
"There is solid science behind what sounds like mysticism and we need to get that message across to the bodies that influence this area. Hypnosis has no negative side-effects. It makes operations quicker, as the patient is able to talk to the surgeon as the operation proceeds, and it is cheaper than conventional pain relief. Since it does not interfere with the workings of the body, the patient recovers faster, too.

"It is also extremely powerful as a means of pain relief. Hypnosis has been accepted and rejected because people are nervous of it. They think it's either too powerful or not powerful enough, but, although the public are sceptical, the hardest part of the procedure is getting other doctors to accept it."

Professor Marie-Elisabeth Faymonville, head of the Pain Clinic at Liege University Hospital in Belgium, who has operated on more than 6,000 patients using hypnosis combined with alight local anaesthetic, said: "The local anaesthetic is used only to deaden the surface of the skin while a scalpel slices through it. It has no effect inside the body.

"The patient is conscious throughout the operation and this helps the doctor and patient work together.The patient may have to move during an operation and it's simple to get them to do so if they remain conscious. We've even done a hysterectomy using the procedure."

The theory behind medical hypnosis is that the body's brain and nervous system can't always distinguish an imagined situation from a real occurrence. This means the brain can act on any image or verbal suggestion as if it were reality. Hypnosis puts patients into a state of deep relaxation that is very susceptible to imagery. The more vivid this imagery, the greater the effect on the body.

Dr Martin Wall, president of the Section Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine, said hypnosis fundamentally alters a subject's state of mind. Hypnosis is not, he said, simply a matter of suggestibility and relaxation.
Nice said it would welcome submissions for hypnotherapy to be considered as an approved therapeutic technique on the NHS if it could be cost-effective, and consistent delivery could be guaranteed.

But Professor Steve Field, who chairs the Royal College of General Practitioners, said he was sceptical as to whether hypnotherapy could meet these standards.
"It is a useful tool used by some GPs and patients for relaxation, but I don't think it is something that we should support being rolled out to all medical students and all doctors," he said.

"We can't call on the NHS to support it without there being a firm medical and economic basis, and I'm not convinced those have been proved to exist."

It is brilliant to see hypnotherapy becoming more and more recognized for the amazing therapy it is. Although there is still a long way to go and there needs to be guidelines put in place for governing bodies etc, it is a great step in the right direction.

To find out what other things hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP can help with please click here.

Does Hypnotherapy Really Work?

2011-11-14T09:00:00.005Z

When I tell people I’m a hypnotherapist, they often ask “does hypnotherapy actually work ?”

For years within science, there were debates as to whether hypnosis existed or worked and sceptics often claimed that people in hypnosis were play-acting. But that has now all changed. In February 2002 the first conclusive scientific proof that hypnosis produces clear changes in the mind was presented by Professor David Spiegel of Stanford University School of Medicine in California at the America Association for the Advancement of Science conference.

Eight subjects were hypnotised and monitored using special scanning techniques called PET (Positron Emission Tomography) which measures blood flow to the brain.

Professor Spiegel said: “When people believe there is colour in the picture, their brains process the colour even if it isn’t there. They are not just telling you what you want to hear; the way their brains respond to the information is actually being changed. Under hypnosis, believing is seeing.”

Spiegel’s findings demonstrate that hypnosis has biological as well as psychological effects, disproving the cynics and supporting the application of hypnosis in a medical setting.

Spiegel said: “There has been a whole school of argument that hypnosis is nothing more than an exaggerated form of social compliance. This is evidence that they are not just telling you what they think you want to hear. They are actually perceiving things differently.”

For many of us, having scientific proof will help us to believe in hypnotherapy but there will be people who ask: “Is it all just a placebo?” With any therapy or drug there is always a placebo element to it – you believe that by taking this pill or receiving that therapy you will get better. By telling this to your mind it begins to happen. Hypnotherapy in that aspect is no different from any other treatment but it is also highly effective at changing the patterns we get into so that we can look at things in a new way and achieve our goals. Even the NHS has now recognised the benefits of hypnotherapy.

Look at other aspects in life where we are driven by our subconscious and the messages around us, such as in the media where the subliminal messages we pick up around us can influence our choices.

Marketers use branding to tap into our subconscious – take McDonalds for example. Their colours are red and yellow/golden, that’s because, according to the colour theory, these colours are known to subconsciously trigger hunger and/or induce excitement. These colours encourage guests to spend more and leave quickly, which is exactly what fast food restaurants want you to do. McDondalds has now started making the stores green, which is a colour we associate with health and the environment. As the world is becoming more conscious about the effects that certain foods have on our health and the damage we are doing to the planet, McDonalds is moving with the times making their fast food restaurants remain appealing.

Personally I have experienced many clients changing the way they look at a situation, their perception and becoming much happier people. I find my work so rewarding, seeing someone transform from the very first session full of anxiety to now enjoying life far more.
It is time to start working with your mind, take the first steps today to achieving your goals.

Click here to see what kind of things can be treated using Hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP.

Are We Scared to Fail?

2011-11-07T09:00:00.002Z

Are we scared to fail? Do we stop ourselves from trying something just in case we fail? Do we project failure, seeing ourselves fail at something before we have even tried it?

No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your efforts, neutralize your endeavours and make success impossible. Baudjuin

The more I work with different clients the more I see a growing pattern of fear. Society is teaching us from a young age that to fail is wrong. Our school days carry the fear of the big F being put on our papers for all to see, F for FAILURE. But is failure a necessary step for learning to occur? Are we stopping ourselves from achieving things due to the small chance that we may fail? If we never fail at something does it mean that we never learnt anything from it?

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. Henry Ford

Some of the biggest discoveries were born from mistakes/failure. One of the most famous ones in medicine is the discovery of penicillin. In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming made a chance discovery from a discarded, contaminated Petri dish. The mould that had contaminated the experiment turned out to contain a powerful antibiotic, penicillin.

Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement. Henry Ford

One of the biggest lessons we can learn in life is it is ok to fail at something, to let go of the fear of failure. You may not learn the lesson the first time or even the second and third time, but each time we fail at something we learn something. We learn a different way to succeed, maybe even discover a new path altogether. Everything we learn we can use later in life for the next task we tackle.

No-one starts off by being the best at something, all the greats did it through hard work and being brave enough to try something and fail. Even ourselves; we came into this world being able to do nothing for ourselves. Slowly we learnt how to walk and talk and eventually we became fully independent people. If we had the same fear of trying new things as a baby that we do as adults we would still be in nappies.

So many of the great names today could have given up at the many hurdles they faced but instead they kept trying and failing until the found the right way.

Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the age of 62. He later wrote, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never,Never give up."

Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to his office and kept on writing.

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was"sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.
Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.

Michael Jordan and Bob Cousy were each cut from their high school basketball teams. Jordan once observed,"I've failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.

The Beatles. Decca Records turned down a recording contract with the Beatles with the unprophetic evaluation, "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on their way out." After Decca rejected the Beatles, Columbia records followed suit.

Elvis Presley. In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back todrivin' a truck."

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do. Henry Ford

Let go of the fear of failure and trust in your abilities. Calculate the risk sand make wise decisions, but take the plunge. Whilst we may end up on a different road than we expected, if we never try then we will never succeed. Yes we may need to “fail” once or twice to discover the right path but far better to try, and fail, than spend your whole life wondering "what if."

To find out how hypnotherapy, CBT& NLP can help you to let go of your fears and achieve your goals please give Erika a call for a no obligation chat.

How to Choose the Right Therapist for You

2011-10-31T09:00:00.004Z

The benefits of hypnosis are becoming more and more recognized, with the NHS using hypnosis as the main treatment for certain conditions and a supporting therapy for many more.

But how do you find the right hypnotherapist for you? With the knowledge of the internet at the click of the button, the amount of information we can access can be overwhelming, and which person to see can become a hard decision to answer. Just because someone has a flash website or is at the top of the search engines doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best therapist for you.

When I am asked by my clients how do I find the right therapist for me? I always say the best option is to have someone recommended to you, but this is not always possible. Even if you have someone recommended it is always very important to talk with the therapist and make sure you can see yourself working with them, that you like their working style and approach.

Any therapist should be happy to have a phone conversation with you. Talk with the therapist and see if you like how they sound. It is important that you feel comfortable with the person, that they fill you with trust in their abilities and also that you trust them to keep your sessions confidential.

Lots of therapists including myself offer a discount for the 1st session. I offer the first session at half price. The reason I do this is so that people can come and meet me, find out more about what hypnosis is and my working style and how we can work together.The first session normally contains a short hypnosis so that you can feel what hypnosis is; you leave the first session with a new excitement, empowered that you can achieve your goal.

To find out more about how I work please give me a call for a non-obligation chat and see how Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to take the steps to achieving your goals.

Hypnosis Becoming More Recognised

2011-10-24T09:00:00.004+01:00

The world of hypnosis is changing. Not so long ago the only version of hypnosis people knew was from stage shows, but hypnotherapy is becoming more recognised and accepted for the amazing changes it can make.

Hypnotherapy is now more widely available on the NHS, with the NHS even recommending it as the main option for certain treatments.

This report from the BBC in June 2010 states that “Hypnosis should become a standard technique on the NHS to treat a range of conditions. The hypnosis and psychosomatic medicine section of the Royal Society of Medicine says the technique can be used to relieve pain and treat stress-related conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.” Full article and video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13664587

Whilst hypnosis is currently an unregulated practice, unlike acupuncture, the industry is taking the steps to have a government recognised qualification. I did a 1 year training course with a qualification awarded by NCFE - the HPD is the first national accredited diploma in hypnotherapy. I also belong The GHR who are taking the steps to make hypnosis become a governed therapy. When this happens the GHR will be one of the bodies that complies with government standards.

We have already seen this change take place in massage, with massage now being widely accepted for its amazing healing qualities.

We are becoming more and more aware that we can take control of our thoughts and feelings and change the ways that we approach a situation, affecting its outcome.
To find out how Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to achieve your goals please contact Erika for a non-obligation chat.

Click here to find out what kind of things can be treated.

Smoking Ages You

2011-10-17T09:00:00.002+01:00

We all know smoking is bad for our health; there is no hiding from the fact any more with cigarette packets carrying shocking images and smoking being banned from advertising. But the fact that smoking ages you will be a lurking demon in many people’s minds.The beauty industry is worth billions of pounds, but the most effective product available to help your skin remain youthful is stopping smoking.

“For smokers, middle age starts in the early 30′s as the tell tale wrinkles around the mouth and eyes begin to appear. Young female smokers are likely to be wasting their money on anti-ageing face creams if they continue to smoke,” says Amanda Sandford from Action on Smoking Health.

Smoking ages women more than men, a fact supported by many years of research by reputable medical bodies. The ageing effects of smoking on the skin are worse for women, who are much more likely to develop“smoker’s face” than male smokers. For women smoking and ageing are inextricably linked. Smoking is also linked to early onset of menopause.

Remember, when you look at your skin some of the damage caused by smoking won’t appear until ten to twenty years after you began to smoke. So if you haven’t been smoking that long and you don’t see much damage yet – don’t assume it won’t happen.

“Smoking exerts such a noticeable effect on the skin that it’s often possible to detect whether or not a person is a smoker simply by looking at his or her face. Smokers have more wrinkles and their skin tends to have a greyish pallor compared to non-smokers,”says Professor Young, Head of Dermatology at Guy’s School of Medicine, London.

So just how does smoking affect the skin in both men and women?

Smoking restricts blood flow through the capillaries (tiny veins near the skin’ssurface) preventing oxygen and nutrients getting to the skin
Smoking increases production of an enzyme which breaks down the supply of collagen to the skin’sstructure. Collagen supply is vital to the skin’s elasticity; it decreases with age but smoking cigarettes accelerates this process
Smoking reduces the body’s store of vitamin A which provides protection from skin damage
Smoking gets in the way of absorption of vitamin C – a vital antioxidant for skin protection and health
Smokers’continual puckering from drawing on a cigarette and squinting in reaction to the cigarette smoke results in deeply wrinkled skin around the eyes and mouth –classic signs of ‘smoker’s face’

Smoking statistics will clearly tell you the risk of death and disease from your smoking habit. This is frightening enough but the fact that it ages us too is something we should be aware of.

This is what you might expect your skin to look like if you continue to smoke:

Dull appearance to the skin – loss of skin glow and vitality
Discolored skin (an ashy look on white skins)
Deeper wrinkles around the mouth and eyes
Loss of tone and elasticity above and beyond the normal ageing process

The damage done from smoking cannot be completely reversed, but the sooner you stop and begin to look after your skin and diet then you can begin to get back your youthful skin and body.

Take the first steps today to becoming a non-smoker in a positive and focused way. Your commitment and a one-off Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session is all it takes. Hypnosis makes it 10 times more likely that you will quit smoking for good. During the session we will look at all your smoking triggers and make sure you have the coping mechanisms, motivation and determination to become and remain a non-smoker. Why wait until the damage of smoking is showing on your skin and in your body. Take control today, call Erika see how you can take the first steps to becoming smoke-free today.

“I haven't touched a cigarette!! Today is my 16th day as a non-smoker - I'm so proud of myself but don't want to get complacent. The first few days were really tough, but since then it has got easier and I think about it less andless. I've even been out with people at work or pub and have just stood with them whilst they smoke and it’s actually been fine . I'm starting to feel better in myself, have a bit more energy and plan to start jogging next week. So thank you very much! I'm still taking it one day at a time but those days are getting easier.” Lisa, London who had a one-off Stop Smoking treatment with Erika at EKTherapies.

Stress is the Main Cause of Sickness Absence

2011-10-10T09:00:00.005+01:00

According to The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) stress is now the number one cause of sickness absence at work; it affects even more people then acute illnesses like cancer.

"Tougher workloads, having a“bad” boss and the fear of being made redundant are among the top factors piling the pressure on UK employees.

An increased strain on family life and relationships, largely due to money worries in the current economic climate, is adding to a “vicious circle” of workers’ woes,experts warned.

According to the survey by CIPD and Simplyhealth, two-fifths of employers said stress-related sick days had gone up over the past year.

Half of public sector organisations reported an increase in absence due to stress compared to just a third of manufacturers, with state employers blaming the volume of job cuts, pension changes and pay freezes.

Jill Miller, CIPD adviser,said: “Stress is for the first time the number one cause of long-term sickness absence, highlighting the heightened pressure many people feel under in the workplace as a result of the prolonged economic downturn. Stress is a particular challenge in the public sector where the sheer amount of major change and restructuring would appear to be the root cause.” ( Full article at The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/8806473/Stress-overtakes-cancer-as-main-cause-of-sickness-absence.html )

Stress is a word that has been around a long time and seems to be growing in potency as we hear threats of a double dip recession. The world has always been a stressful place, but with the growth of technology and less time spent with family, friends, nature and just enjoying “down time”, stress is growing and growing. One of the first questions I ask my clients is how much time do you spend de-stressing during the day? This is normally met with a little laugh and a blank expression. Society and ourselves are the best at putting stress into our lives but we can also work to eliminate the stress that we can control.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to have the tools to manage your stress. You can learn what your stressors are and see if there is a different way that you could manage life and allow your body and mind some time to de-stress. We often say to ourselves we don’t have time for “down time”, but in the same breath if a friend or loved one rang you and needed 10 minutes of your time you would give it to them.

Make time for “downtime”. Understand your stressors and find time in the day for you, which will in the long run make you better at everything you do.

How to work with the Power of the Mind

2011-10-03T09:00:00.003+01:00

Our thoughts, what we say and what we hear all have a powerful effect on our everyday experiences and beliefs.

Henry Ford said it perfectly:

Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right.

Changing our internal dialogue to positive statements makes our life better and assists us in moving forward, giving us the confidence to achieve our goals. Instead of thinking “I am not good enough”, think “I can do this”; or instead of saying “I will never be able to do that so why try”, say “I know that if I trust in myself and prepare properly I can achieve anything”. Not only will you achieve your goals but you will feel happier and healthier. Positive self-talk gives you a permanent cheerleader in your corner, one that carries positive messages to all areas of your life and helps you to move forward. Once you have this positivity nobody can take it away from you, as it comes from within you, from your own thought processes.

Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. This can be hard at first but start by talking positively. When you have a negative thought, or catch yourself about to say something negative, stop yourself and see if you can spin it on its head by turning it into a positive one. Challenge that negative thought and question whether you are right to think that way. Soon this will become second nature and you will find yourself thinking more positively from the outset.

Begin working with these simple tools in mind:

Expect positive results. When you set a goal expect that not only will you achieve it but you will be better than you thought.
Actually visualize the success you want. Picture it in your mind, picture what you DO want, rather than having a list of what you DON’T want. Have an image of what you DO want, and see yourself achieving your goal.
Surround yourself with people who have the same positive view as you. When you are with a negative person then allow their views to wash over you and focus on why you want to achieve your goal.

Think of it like:

Suggestions/Words/Thoughts

Feelings

Beliefs

Behaviour

Success or Failure

These are just a few simple steps you can begin to work with to understand the power of your mind and to start working with it rather than against it. To understand more and learn more techniques come for a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session and see how you can achieve your goals in a positive and focused way.

What does Hypnotherapy feel like?

2011-09-26T09:00:00.002+01:00

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.

Public Speaking

2011-09-19T09:00:00.006+01:00

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?

2011-09-12T09:00:00.004+01:00

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

2011-09-05T09:00:00.005+01:00

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.

Inspiring – Walking with the Wounded

2011-08-29T09:00:00.014+01:00

I have often asked myself: what is the difference between someone who takes life on and someone who accepts their fate?

My wonderful Grandmother was a survivor of Auschwitz ( German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp 1940–1945, her story is told in her book, From Thessaloniki to Auschwitz and Back ). Her whole family managed to survive. She was on the first train out of Thessaloniki Greece and could speak both German and Greek. The family ended up being translators for the Germans and through a combination of a lot of luck and strength of mind, she and her immediate family (father, mother and brother) all survived. Unfortunately not all of her extended family and friends had the same fate. She only passed away last December and managed to lead the most fantastic life; full of love and laughter. Undoubtedly Auschwitz left her with her demons, haunting her throughout her life, but nevertheless she was the most positive person I have ever met. She had an amazing strength inside of her, understanding anyone’s problems and helping them to find their own inner strength to succeed, whilst still having the courage to challenge situations that she felt weren’t right. She also had an amazing ability to forgive, even hosting the German ambassador for dinner in her later years. What was always clear to me though, was that she survived and succeeded because of how mentally strong she was.

And in life today there are countless examples of mental strength. Lord Alan Sugar for one; starting life in a council house and without a lot prospects, he is now a household name, having become a multi-millionaire along the way and at the age of 64, shows no signs of stopping. I look at the amazing troops to come out of war having suffered life-changing injuries both physically and psychologically, now taking on incredible challenges like Walking with the Wounded and I find myself asking again “what makes them stronger, more focused than others?"

We all know the people who seem to always find misery, they seem to never be happy despite the amazing house, car, husband, job, children etc. What makes them so different? Could it all be perspective?

How is it that some people give up and accept that they will never walk again whilst others fight until they can walk, defying the laws of medicine? Like Sergeant Steve Young from the programme, Walking with the Wounded on BBC , he was told he would never walk again after having suffered a broken back whilst serving in Afghanistan. He defied the medics and four months after his injury was walking again. Sergeant Young then undertook the challenge of a lifetime; along with his teammates they became the first team of unsupported war-wounded amputees to reach the Geographical North Pole, in only 13 days they managed to combat the most torturous conditions.

I watched the 1st episode of the programme in awe and felt humbled to see these men taking on a challenge that most able-bodied people would find near impossible. Although they all had times where they battled with their inner-demons, having to come to terms with their injuries and adapting to their new life, they all managed to remain upbeat and focused, remaining a team, helping each other along the way.

I have been very blessed with my life, I have had my fair share of challenges which I hope has made me a better therapist but I have always found the inner strength to overcome what life has challenged me with.

The more I work with people and the more I learn, the more amazed I am by the power of the mind. We live in a world of technology, a world where we are becoming less and less aware of the little things in life, of our body’s natural rhythm. We take for granted so much of what we have, only stopping to look at something when we no longer have it. We strive for goals, reach them and then strive for the next one. Rarely stopping to enjoy the wonderful life we have created.

When I look at people like my Grandmother, Lord Sugar and the soldiers, the only answer I can come up with is that they have mastered the biggest tool we all have available to us. They have managed to work with their minds in a positive way. If we understand what drives us, if we work with our minds and bodies rather than against them, we can achieve amazing things, things we never thought possible. The mind is the most powerful tool you can ever have, more powerful than any computer. It has the ability to make you believe you can achieve anything.

Look how powerful it can be if we start on a negative spiral for example. We can imagine things so vividly even though the chance of them happening are less than 00.1%, but we still feel the physical and physiological responses as if it had already happened. Or there are the psycho-somatic cases when you tell your brain you are ill and it starts to give you the symptoms as if you really were.

Of course although our bodies are amazing machines, there are times when you must accept that your amazing machine is not going to recover to the extent that you want it to. You may never be the person you were before, but a fantastic thing to learn is that if you work positively with your own mind, you can see that the person you are now is as brilliant and in some ways better than the person you were before. If we all worked in a positive way the world would be an even more inspiring place - all that aggression that people have could be funneled properly to achieve something good.

I am not meaning to sound too idealistic; we all have our down days, but the trick is to make those fewer and more far between.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP are amazing tools in helping you understand what drives you, helping you to become a more positive person. So many of my clients turn their lives around even though nothing has physically changed; they still have the same car, job, house etc, but simply their perspective has changed. Rather than allowing themselves to focus on the few tiny things in life that aren’t quite right they start to focus on all the things that are right, giving them the strength to challenge themselves and take on tasks they never thought possible.

To find out more about Walking with the Wounded and the amazing work they do please take a look at their website http://www.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk/

How Does Stress Affect Your Body?

2011-08-22T09:00:00.006+01:00

Stress is a word that is commonly used today but how much do we really know about how it affects our body and our moods?

One simple description of stress is as a state when a person has insufficient resources to meet his or her demands.

Too many demands + too few resources = stress, distress
Too few demands + too many resources = boredom, apathy
Demands match resources (or match resources at a stretch) = coping, interest

Each person deals with stress differently, depending on the resources available to them and the way they approach the situation. You can put two people in the same situation and they can produce different reactions. One may cope well with the situation where the other might struggle or even collapse emotionally.

A certain level of stress or challenging yourself is needed in life to keep you on your toes. Think how actors get butterflies before they go on stage, the adrenaline in their body begins to pump and they get the buzz for doing their job. This adrenaline helps to keep their performance fresh and exciting. Once the performance has finished the adrenaline levels go back to normal in their body as they relax after the show. This is a normal/healthy level of stress, keeping you driven and motivated to do the task at hand.

The effects on your body can be :

Pupils dilate
Mouth goes dry
Neck and should muscles tense
Heart pumps faster
Chest pains
Palpitations
Sweating
Leg and arm muscles tense for action
Breathing faster and shallow
Hyperventilation

It also has hidden effects too:

Brain gets body ready for action
Adrenalin released for flight or flight
Blood pressure rises
Liver releases glucose to produce energy for muscles
Digestion slows or ceases completely
Sphincters closes or relaxes to empty bowls
Cortisol released, this depresses the immune system

These effects are all part of the fight or flight mode. They are helpful in daily life, helping us to be ready to deal with situations. Like when you’re in the car and you hear the screams of an ambulance siren warning you to get out of the way. You start to look for a way to move your car and you realize you are bumper to bumper. You enter the stress zone, inside your body the alert goes out. “Attention all parasympathetic forces, urgent! Adrenalin is beginning to pump through your body, the chemical cortisol has just been released mobilising all internal defences.

Your body is full of adrenaline ready to tackle any situation that comes your way, your senses are heightened, you're“running on adrenaline”. This is the stage that people get in when they perform “superhuman” acts of strength, like a mother lifting a car off of her child.

When the danger finally passes or the perceived threat is over, your brain starts a reverse course of action attempting to bring your body and mind back into balance. This is when you tend to feel your heart pumping and you feel "wow that was an adrenaline rush".

Our bodies are built to deal with this level of stress, it is a vital part of our survival.

The problem comes when we continue to keep our bodies in the heightened state, stress state. Our body/mind can’t differentiate between a real threat and a perceived threat. You can get the same chemical reactions just by thinking about a stressful situation, for example, a bill needing to be paid, going over a situation you experienced – reliving it in your mind or worrying about an upcoming situation; then when it happens it was so much better/easier than you thought, but all that energy you spent worrying about it has had a harmful effect on your body. Our body tries to rebalance but the hormones are still flying around, gradually they begin to have a permanent effect on our health, long term health problems start to develop.

The wonderful thing to read is that you can control this; you can learn what your stressors are and how you can de-stress yourself. A hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session can help you by working out a range of mechanisms with Erika which will equip you to deal with stress better for the rest of your life.

Here are a few ways you can start to do this:

Write down your personal strengths and support network· Things you are good at and people respect you for; your areas of good experience, etc
Family, friends, networks; powerful contacts; resources you can draw on – assets, your standing etc
Next, list your personal weaknesses and limitations in your life· Areas where you’re aware that you are not strong, or things that people fairly criticise you for;
Lack of resources – where others at your level have access to these resources, or where the absence of resources impacts on your situation
Bad situations – where you experience problems with your job or relationships, or where you have a poor living or working environment

Then brainstorm the opportunities available to you:

Work through strengths you’ve identified. Ask yourself how you can draw on them to manage stress
Work through the weaknesses you’ve identified. These are opportunities for positive change and for development of new skills

Finally, consider real-world practical opportunities open to you if you took advantage of those opportunities, to improve your stress management

Look at managing your time and your expectations for the day - are they realistic?
For threats, consider consequences of leaving your weaknesses uncovered· Consider damage to relationships, career and happiness that would come from failing to manage stress
Use this consideration of the downside as a spur to ensure that you take stress management seriously

These are just a few things you can start doing today. To find out more about how you can manage your stress levels further, finding time in your day and coping mechanisms that you never knew you had, contact Erika and find out how Hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP can help you to take the steps to a more relaxed happy you.

Stop Smoking on Your Terms

2011-08-15T09:00:00.005+01:00

It wasn’t that long ago that you could smoke anywhere. Many of us remember the days when smoking was an accepted thing, even being advertised on TV with cigarette brands being proud sponsors of the Grand Prix or Snooker tournaments. But with the introduction of the UK smoking ban in 2007 stopping you being able to smoke indoors in public places, it has now become less and less socially acceptable to smoke. Cigarette packets now carry shocking images on them to convince smokers to give up and as a further deterrent the government has also increased taxes on tobacco which has in turn raised the price of a packet of cigarettes. The question still remains though that if smoking is so bad for you then why do the government allow cigarettes to be sold at all?

Councils in the UK are now talking about making it illegal to smoke in certain parks and even in cars containing children. This move has already taken place in New York, which earlier on this year became a no smoking zone, with a $50 fine if you were caught smoking.

The UK is slowly becoming less and less tolerant of smokers.

Why wait until the government tells you that you have to stop smoking? Make the decision for yourself, take the plunge today and find out how you could become smoke-free in a positive and focused way. There is no need for nicotine patches or gum, the nicotine from your last cigarette will be out of your system within 48 hours: all you need is your commitment and a one off Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session. You are 10 times more likely to remain a non-smoker if you give up using Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP, this is because during the session we will look at all your smoking triggers and make sure you have the coping mechanisms, motivation and determination to become and remain a non-smoker.

“Having been a smoker for over 14 years I am very pleased to say that after my hypnotherapy session with EKTherapies, six months on I am still not smoking. It has been extremely easy (most of the time) and I now very rarely think about it. I am very happy that I am now a full non-smoker! So thank you so much, everyone is amazed at how easy I have found it.” Kate, London

“I haven't touched a cigarette!! Today is my 16th day as a non-smoker - I'm so proud of myself but don't want to get complacent. The first few days were really tough, but since then it has got easier and I think about it less and less. I've even been out with people at work or pub and have just stood with them whilst they smoke and it’s actually been fine . I'm starting to feel better in myself, have a bit more energy and plan to start jogging next week. So thank you very much! I'm still taking it one day at a time but those days are getting easier.” Lisa, London

I am not saying I agree with the notion of banning things; I believe that we need to educate people and then leave them to their own freewill. I understand that with smoking, people do have issues with second-hand smoke or with littering caused by cigarette butts being left on the ground. But by banning smoking it becomes an underground and exciting thing to do. I am not supporting it either; being a non-smoker I don’t personally enjoy walking through a cloud of someone else’s smoke but I accept that as part of city life. I am sure there are things that I do that not everyone likes either.

To find out more how you can become smoke free in a positive and focused way on your terms before the government forces us to do so, please contact Erika for a no-obligation chat.

Drinking: Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you take control

2011-08-08T09:00:00.007+01:00

According to official figures alcoholic liver diseases in under 30s has risen by half in the last ten years. Whilst there is nothing wrong with having a drink or two, it is important to make sure alcohol doesn’t have a hold on you; you can have just as much fun on a night out without drinking.

With doctors warning of the growing impact of alcohol on young people’s health, after findings have shown a quarter of the population drink too much, I thought I would share an article with you from The Sunday Times by Minette Marrin. Full artcle at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/minette_marrin/article3177713.ece

“As a scientific materialist, I have always been sceptical about alternative therapies. There may just be something in black boxes or Rolfing or homeopathy, but there just isn’t enough evidence - or in some cases any evidence - that they work. There certainly isn’t enough scientific evidence about any of them to justify chancing National Health Service money on them. All the same, hypnotism seems to have done something remarkable for me.It began when my GP, who is a friend and knows I love medical talk, was discussing treatments of fashionable obsessive compulsive and eating disorders: he remarked that hypnotherapy seemed to work surprisingly well for some people. “Does it work for drinking?” I found myself asking. He replied that it was worth trying and recommended someone nearby.

If I had expected someone alternative looking with a beard I would have been disappointed. I was met at the door by a middle-aged man in a suit, who led me through an elegant house full of books, and spoke of an earlier career in business in the Far East. His manner was that of an Oxbridge don, though gentler. He told me he might be able to help me, and that it would quickly be obvious whether he could or not. In any case, I would need two sessions at the most. He would give me a CD and he would teach me the beginnings of self-hypnosis as well. This inspired confidence – my experience of alterative therapists, and I have trawled round many for journalistic reasons, is that they are not usually inclined to say that it will quickly be obvious if they cannot do anything – rather the reverse.

My hypnotist’s process seemed simple. We were to prearrange a suggestion for myself – I decided mine should be to refuse all drinks, except one or, at most, two glasses of wine once a week to overcome writer’s block, if necessary, when writing this column. Then he would make this suggestion to me while I was under hypnosis.

All I can say is that it worked. I am sorry to say that I haven’t used the CD or the self-hypnosis technique. Even so, through the Christmas parties, the trials of Christmas itself, the dark days of the end of December, I did not drink, except for a glass of wine a week. I still haven’t. I have sipped fizzy water. I have wanted to say no. The only exceptions – which revealed something surprising to me – were on my birthday, a week before Christmas, and on New Year’s Eve.

I feel extremely well, I have hugely more energy, my memory is better and although I haven’t lost any weight, I’m told I look much better. Best of all, I have proved to myself that I can stop drinking if I mean to. As to whether it is hypnosis that stopped me, I shall probably never know. Perhaps the sessions were just a rite of decision-making, a formal recognition that I had made up my mind. Perhaps on the other hand, hypnosis does work, at least for some of the people some of the time.”

If you feel, like Minette, that it is time to take control of your drinking and know your own limits then give Erika a call and see how hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you. Remember, like Minette, you can decided whether or not you want to give up alcohol completely or just have a more control over it.

James Cracknell

2011-08-01T09:00:00.003+01:00

I am not one to normally preach about things or tell people what to do, but I had to blog about this amazing video by James Cracknell.

I am sure many of you have heard about James Cracknell but just in case, he was born 5 May 1972 and has an OBE, he is a British rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist. Last year he was undertaking one of his many challenging adventures when he had a life-threatening accident. James was taking part in Race Across America, a grueling 3000 miles of cycling and running across 12 states and climb over 170,000 vertical feet in a maximum of 12 days.

Here is his story...

“Today (20th July) is the anniversary of the accident I suffered whilst cycling in America. I was hit on the back of the head by a fuel truck travelling at 75mph along the Arizona desert plains (I know - that sort of stuff only normally happens in Road Runner cartoons). Bev and my parents were called to the hospital whilst I was unconscious. Despite a massive crack down the back of my head (25 staples took care of that) and significant bleeding to the frontal lobes of my brain, I am here to tell the tale. There is only one reason for that: my cycle helmet. It saved my life.I’ve put together a short film encouraging people to wear cycle helmets. Everyone gave their time, skills and facilities free of charge. Cycling is good for the planet and it’s good for us; leaving your head (or your children’s) vulnerable to a pavement, lamp-post, car or wing-mirror is not.

Shockingly the last survey revealed that only about 18% of British children and 35% of adults wear helmets, yet it is such a simple thing to do.I have no commercial relationship with a helmet manufacturer or retailer; no reason to bang on about this other than a desire to stop any other cyclist – and their loved ones – experiencing a year like mine.Please, please watch this video and to show your support by passing the link to your friends as well as followers on Twitter and Facebook. There is no agenda. I want wearing a bike helmet to become as normal as clunk-clicking your seat-belt on.

With Thanks, James Cracknell” form James Cracknell’s blog

I had to pass on his message. James Cracknell has an amazing amount of focus and mental determination to fulfil his goals. I have watched him undertake his various challenges and both the physical and mental strength he shows is incredible and inspiring. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to train your mind and find your motivation so that you can improve your focus and determination. James has this not only from learned behaviour but also has a natural ability to be extremely driven.

Have confidence in your ideas like Tom Pellereau, winner of The Apprentice

2011-07-25T09:00:00.003+01:00

Tom Pellereau has won The Apprentice and I am sure anyone who has been following the series was closely watching the final episode trying to second guess where Lord Sugar’s finger would point next and who would come out triumphant.

I, like many people, was sure that Helen Milligan was going to continue on her amazing almost perfect record and win no problem, but Helen didn’t follow her gut instinct; she did what she thought Lord Sugar would want and not what she was passionate about and good at.

Whilst most of us have to answer to someone and have to curb our ideas to fit the role we are trying to fill, it is still important to have the confidence in your own beliefs and ideas. I’m sure Helen Milligan is an amazing employee and any company would be very lucky to have her. She is very hard-working (almost too much as she puts work before her own life), but if Helen had stuck to what she knew best and presented Lord Sugar with a baking concept I am sure she would have been stiff competition for Tom. Unfortunately, at the last hurdle she decided to go with what she thought would make Lord Sugar happy and designed an invisible concept. Even Lord Sugar himself was shocked at her choice of business plan.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to have the confidence in your abilities and to have the strength to carry on with an idea. It is important to be able to recognise when you are going down the wrong road and be able to listen to other people’s ideas and advice but it is as important to be able to recognise when you have seen something maybe one of you colleagues hasn’t and have the confidence in yourself to explain your approach clearly.

I think it is brilliant that Tom has won The Apprentice and I believe that with the support of Lord Sugar he will continue to be an amazing inventor. It is a good reminder that you don’t need to be an intimidating bully to make it in the business world, you just need the confidence to put your ideas forward and not allow people’s negative opinions to affect you and make you change your core beliefs and values.

Can Stress Affect Fertility?

2011-07-18T09:00:00.008+01:00

We spend most our life taking steps to not get pregnant but when the day comes that we want to become parents how much do we really prepare our bodies both mentally and physically?

According to the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ) an estimated 1 in 7 couples are having some sort of fertility problem – approximately 1,750,000 across the UK.

There are a number of factors that can affect fertility in couple’s attempts to have a successful pregnancy. If all health factors have been successfully been ruled out, stress can be the main contributor to an inability to conceive and have a successful birth.

GP and hypnotherapist Dr Leslie Brann says: "Women are putting their careers first and delaying pregnancy, and fertility does decline as you get older. I get a lot of women who have mental blocks to getting pregnant or who have convinced themselves they cannot conceive. They often tell me under hypnosis that they don't see any eggs in their ovaries or that their tubes are too small for the egg to go through. I then try to get them to overcome this 'block'.

"Mary Coates, a hypnotherapist who treats both women undergoing IVF and childless women who have no medical reason not to conceive, believes women in their thirties are particularly prone to "mental blocks" towards pregnancy."

"They feel the clock is against them, so panic sets in, which affects their fertility. It's a vicious circle. Almost every woman who comes to me is in that bracket. If you think that stress can stop your periods, just think what else it can do.”

There is no medical proof that hypnotherapy can cure infertility, which now affects one couple in six. However, it does lower stress and anxiety, which can affect hormone levels and create a mental block to conception. Tests have shown that hypnotherapy can lower a woman's levels of a hormone called prolactin which suppresses ovulation.

For more information, read the full article at The Independent, “Hypnosis can help you get pregnant” by Sophie Goodchild: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/hypnosis-can-help-you-get-pregnant-1173568.html

Stress is caused by a situation that a person either consciously or unconsciously perceives as threatening; this creates the fight or flight response. Whilst the body is under stress it releases a number of hormones, including Cortisol, which can affect the delicate hormonal balance needed for ovulation, fertilization, implantation and even the health of the fetus. Stress can not only affect the woman’s fertility but also the man’s sperm count and mobility.

Hypnosis can help you to prepare your body for pregnancy, helping you to remove any mental blocks that you have towards becoming pregnant and stay calm throught the pregnancy, giving your body the best chance to conceive and produce a healthy baby.

Hypnotherapy for Sports Performance

2011-07-11T09:00:00.014+01:00

Novak Djokovic has won Wimbledon. I am sure anyone who is a tennis fan was glued to the TV last weekend to watch the 24 year-old Serb become the champion of SW19 and replace Rafa Nadal as world number one. But it is not just skill that got him there; he also had to have the ability to focus on the game and blank out the crowd, where he was and what he was playing for.

One of the key attributes of any top athlete is the ability to focus and perform at a top level of skill in every situation. Milton Erickson was a pioneer in the use of hypnotherapy methods in sports to improve focus. He worked with a number of top athletes, including the US Olympic Rifle squad and the shot-putter Donald Lawrence. In one story relating to a tournament golfer (Rossi 1988) Erickson was asked to assist in improving the golfer's consistency across all holes throughout a round. The golfer seemed to always play the first hole perfectly, and then deteriorate. The question for Erickson was: If you can play the first hole perfectly, then can you do as well on the next? He put the golfer in a trance and told him "You will play only the first hole, that is all you will remember, and you will be alone on the golf course". The golfer, needless to say, played an excellent round in his next tournament.

By taking the pressure out of the game the golfer, Rossi, was able to perform to the best of his ability throughout the whole tournament.

Similarly, anyone who has watched Jonny Wilkinson prepare for a kick will have noticed that he uses the same visual and physical ritual every time.

“He places the ball carefully, the same way that he has so many times before. Shutting out the cheers and jeers of the crowd, he stands up, and walks just the right amount of paces backwards. Then takes a single sidestep. But he is not yet ready. Standing with his feet a shoulder width apart, he clasps his hands in front of himself, staring at them for what seems like an age. Finally looking towards the posts, tilting slightly upwards, he pulls his head back just a little, as if the target somehow magnifies in his vision. He focuses, and there he sees her, sitting right in the middle, in the crowd, between the posts. Then he feels it; he knows that he is ready. And the rest is history". (Vile and Biggs - in Press)

For Jonny to reach this level of control he has practiced not only the physical preparation but also the mental too. "The key to cognitive motor learning lies in elucidating the way in which learned skills are represented in memory". (Annett 1995)

Often it is the mental processes that makes the difference between two athletes; the ones that let the pressure or their own doubts creep in will struggle to be as successful as the athletes who stay “in the zone” (focused).

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can teach you the techniques to stay focused and to achieve your goals, either within sports or in life, helping you to realize your potential and to focus on where you want to be.

Hypnosis 'could save NHS millions'

2011-07-04T09:00:00.002+01:00

I have to share this very exciting article with you from the Press Association, published on the 6th June 2011.

Hypnosis treatments could be used on a range of medical conditions to save the NHS millions of pounds, according to a group of medical experts.

The Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine Section of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) believe the therapies help relieve pain and stress.

But it warned patients need to be protected from rogue practitioners, who cause harm and end up costing the NHS more.

Jacky Owens, the president of the RSM's Hypnosis Section, said: "Conditions such as depression, pain and irritable bowel syndrome affect millions of people in the UK and a great cost to the NHS. But hypnosis can often work where other treatments have been unsuccessful."

Ms Owens, a qualified nurse who uses hypnosis in her work with cancer patients added: "If doctors were able to refer patients to properly trained hypnotherapists, it would save a cash-strapped NHS a great deal of money."

She said making hypnosis a standard part of the "NHS toolbox" would lead to the public becoming better informed about the procedure and mean that vulnerable patients would be less likely to turn to "hypno-cowboys".

The group fear non-medically trained hypnotists frequently lack the understanding of the diseases their patients have, so can cause real harm. It said many of the quack operators use damaging techniques to treat people with psychological conditions, like inducing "false memories" as they believe current problems stem from past traumas so terrible that the memory of them has been suppressed.

Dr Peter Naish, the president-elect of the section, said: "There's very little evidence, either from laboratory research or real life, that we can suppress traumatic memories - people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder would love to be able to do so."

Ms Owens added: "That's a small step but we're confident that with more research, hypnosis will be recognised as an extremely useful tool to be used alongside mainstream medicine. What we need are doctors, dentists, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists, radiotherapists - the whole gamut of people who treat patients - trained in using hypnosis as another tool in their treatment programme."

She called on the Government to review the issue.

It is so exciting to see that hypnosis is getting more and more recognised for the amazing therapy that it is. Currently hypnosis is ungoverned, as a qualified therapist who worked hard for my diploma, I am hoping that the government will make this profession a governed one like acupuncture is. For now we can only choose to belong to the best governing bodies. I belong the GHR (General Hypnotherapy Register) which is one of the bodies who would qualify under the government legislation when they come into practice.

What is the Difference between Stage Hypnosis and Clinic Hypnotherapy?

2011-06-27T09:00:00.004+01:00

For many people when you speak about hypnosis their first image is of the stage. Watching people cluck like chickens etc, whilst the audience laugh away marvelling at the “control” the stage hypnotist has over the person. Stage hypnosis has helped clinical hypnosis become more recognised; it allows people to see the fun side as well as the therapeutic side.

So how does stage hypnosis differ from hypnosis that is used for therapeutic reasons? The trance you enter when under hypnosis is the same for both the stage and the therapy room. The difference is the goal, the objective. When you are on stage you are entering into this trance with a view to having fun with your subconscious, playing games and entertaining the audience. You are in that frame of mind. Just like all hypnosis, stage hypnosis is self-hypnosis, you have to want to go up on stage and prance around.

Very often when you go to a stage performance the performer will get a group of people on stage, usually made up of people who have volunteered. The performer then does suggestibility tests with this small group and gets it down to the most suggestible person, the one that they can work with best on that day.

Derren Brown is someone who I really admire; he has understood the human mind and how it works to an amazing degree. He tends to get people on stage by throwing a Frisbee into the audience; he will say something like if you don’t want to come up then pass it to the person next to you. This way he gets a willing participant up on the stage.

Similarly with clinical hypnosis, you have to be willing; you have to want to make that change. For example if you want to stop smoking, you don’t necessarily need to know how you are going to do it, but you have to want to become smoke free. If you are only coming for hypnotherapy because you have been nagged into it then even though you will still enter into the trance state, the hypnosis won’t have the amazing long lasting affect that it could have if supported by your own willpower.

No stage hypnotist would choose me, as I would be a “difficult” subject to work with. They would choose someone who was eager to “act the fool” and entertain the crowd. Great fun to watch! However, put me in a room where a hypnotherapist is working together with me to help me, and I enter into a trance state very easily.

Whilst as a hypnotherapist I do have the skills needed to perform stage hypnosis, I personally choose not to mix the two. I have chosen to get into the wonderful world of hypnosis to help people challenge their negative beliefs and become the person they want to be. I find my work extremely rewarding as I watch people beginning to make changes and take control of their world. Personally I wouldn’t feel comfortable mixing that professionalism and trust with the tricks of the stage.

How can Hypnotherapy help with Cancer?

2011-06-20T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hypnotherapy is well established as a supportive therapy for people with cancer, with organisations such as Macmillan, Cancer Research UK, NHS and Paul’s Cancer Support Centre offering it to people. Some hospitals even have in-house hypnotherapists.

Although hypnosis isn’t a cure it helps people to be able to deal with the physical and psychological symptoms. There have even been cases of people using the power of visualization to reduce the size of the tumor.

The power of the mind is unquestionable; we all know how powerful we can be if we focus our minds. When we choose to focus on the negatives all of a sudden we can be in a downward spiral of negativity, but when we focus on the positives the world becomes a better place and good things start happing.

This idea is the same basis for how hypnosis can help people to deal with the side effects of cancer, giving clients a chance to come out of their treatment plan still being themselves, and not allowing the cancer to become all-controlling, so they can still enjoy life.

It can also help the people’s families to be able to release their stress and tensions, allowing them to be supportive without ending up becoming ill themselves with stress and worry.

Hypnosis should be a core therapy in the treatment of cancer, according to leading psychologist Phyllis Alden. Phyllis Alden, consultant psychologist in the department of clinical oncology at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, believes hypnosis can not only help ease the anxiety of being treated for cancer, but can reduce its symptoms. "Psychology is becoming a key part of cancer services," she said in an interview with the BBC.

She added that research was increasingly showing that hypnosis could improve cancer results. Full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/325928.stm

Hypnotherapy can help people to feel more comfortable and in control, able to cope better with symptoms and treatments, helping them to remain positive. It can help people with sickness and pain, releasing anxiety and stress that can be harmful to their recovery.

Studies into how hypnotherapy can help are ongoing. One organization conducting studies is CAMEOL, a joint project between the Research Council for Complementary Medicine (RCCM), University of Westminster and University of Plymouth. One CAMEOL study looked at hypnotherapy to deal with feeling or being sick from chemotherapy. Overall the study showed that hypnotherapy might be able to help with chemotherapy sickness, although more research needs to be done.

You can look at both the studies on the CAMEOL website; click on the link and then search hypnotherapy to get to the list of studies.

Another study in 2007 in America gave hypnotherapy to a group of women before breast surgery. The researchers found that hypnotherapy lowered the amount of pain, sickness, tiredness and upset that the women had after surgery. Yet another American study in 2006 found that hypnotherapy helped to lower anxiety and pain during a biopsy for suspected breast cancer.

Hypnotherapy helps you have the tools to remain in control of your feelings, allowing yourself the ability to look at the cancer and the treatment in a different way.

Hypnotherapy is safe to be used alongside conventional treatments.

Negative self-talk: how it affects us

2011-06-13T08:48:00.000+01:00

What is self-talk? Self-talk is the internal dialog we all have ongoing through our minds every day. This internal dialog can take two forms, positive and negative.

Are you a positive thinker or a negative thinker? Do you tell yourself: Yes I can do this. I can reach my goal. Or do you tell yourself: I will never get that job so there is no point going for the interview. I am fat. I am stupid.

We all have moments of self-doubt where we question whether we can achieve something, but the difference between a constant negative thought pattern and a positive one is the difference between a person who never feels good enough and a person who feels content with life, happily challenged.

We all know those people who seem to have it all. They are always so happy. But when you stop and look at their life next to yours they have nothing more than you - sometimes they even have less than you. The difference is their internal dialog is set to positive; they look for the positive and they appreciate the things they have got.

Negative self-talk affects us in many ways. It can lead to stagnation, self-pity, depression and many more negative influences. When we repeat a negative statement over and over again we begin to believe it. “I am not good enough” may prevent us from taking the steps to achieve a promotion that we are easily qualified for. It gives us a lack of confidence that isn’t based on anything real, but reinforced by the internal negative dialog. Eventually these thoughts become all consuming and you find that you approach every aspect of your life with this negativity, beginning to feel stressed easily, depressed and having a lack of confidence and motivation.

Changing the internal dialog to positive statements makes our life better and assists us in moving forward, giving us the confidence to achieve our goals. If instead of saying “I am not good enough”, say “I can do this”. Not only will you achieve your goals but you will happier and healthier. Positive self-talk gives you a permanent cheerleader in your corner, one that carries positive messages to all areas of your life and helps you to move forward. Once you have this positivity no one can take it away from you, as it comes from within you, from your own though process.

Very often the nature of our self-talk originates from a very early age. It may be a teacher that said you weren’t good enough, or a parent that always made you believe anything is possible.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to challenge the source of the negative thoughts and change them to positive ones. Eventually you will surround yourself with positive thoughts and that will create an environment that will allow you to live your best possible life.

Here a few easy steps to start to become positive:

· Smile more.

· Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. This can be hard at first. Start by talking positively. When you have a negative thought or catch yourself about to say something negative, stop yourself and see if you can spin it on its head and turn it into a positive one. Soon this will become second nature and you will find yourself thinking in the positive first.

· Expect positive results. When you set a goal expect that not only will you achieve it but you will be better than you thought.

· Actually visualize the success you want. Picture it in your mind, picture what you DO want, rather than having a list of what you DON’T want. Have an image of what you DO want, and see yourself achieving your goal.

We all have the ability to retrain our minds, we do it every day. Give it a go. What do you have to lose? Nothing. What could you gain? Everything.

What is in a Cigarette?

2011-06-06T09:00:00.016+01:00

We no longer live in a world where we don’t know that cigarettes are bad for us. 30 years ago the effects of cigarettes were unknown but these days we know they damage our body, but what is inside them?

There are over 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke; at least 50 of them are known carcinogens (cancer causing). If you were to inject the nicotine in one cigarette directly into your vein it would kill you instantly, there is enough poisonous nicotine in one cigarette to kill a horse.

Here are just a few of the chemicals found in each cigarette:

Benzene (petrol additive) – colourless cyclic hydrocarbon obtained from coal and petroleum, used as a solvent in fuel and in chemical manufacture, it is a known carcinogen associated with leukemia.

Formaldehyde (embalming fluid)- colourless liquid, highly poisonous, used to preserve dead bodies, it is a known cause of cancer, respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal problems.

Ammonia (toilet cleaner) - used as a flavouring, frees nicotine from tobacco turning it into a gas, often found in dry cleaning fluids

Acetone (nail polish remover) – fragrant volatile liquid ketone, used as a solvent, for example, nail polish remover

Tar - Particulate matter drawn into lungs when you inhale on a lighted cigarette. Once inhaled, smoke condenses and about 70 per cent of the tar in the smoke is deposited in the smoker's lungs.

Nicotine (insecticide/addictive drug) - one of the most addictive substances known to man, a powerful and fast-acting medical and non-medical poison. This is the chemical which causes addiction. The great news is it is out of your system within 48 hours of stopping smoking

Carbon Monoxide (CO), (car exhaust fumes) - odourless, tasteless and poisonous gas, rapidly fatal in large amounts, the same gas that comes out of car exhausts

Arsenic (rat poison)

Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison)

The wonderful thing to find out is that our body is amazing at repairing itself. Your body starts to repair itself the second you stop smoking, even in between each cigarette. It is up to you whether you continue the damage with the next cigarette or if you become smoke free. Your body can only repair the damage so many times before cigarettes start to have a permanent damaging effect on your body.

With the smoking ban getting tighter (in New York, you can now no longer smoke outside unless you are in a designated smoking area), there has never been a better time to become smoke free, to stop yourself being a slave to cigarettes. All you need to give up smoking in a positive way is your determination and a one off Stop Smoking session with Erika. Using the powerful combination of Hypnosis, CBT & NLP and your commitment you will leave the session smoke free with the tools to remain a non-smoker. You are 10 times more likely to remain smoke free if you use hypnosis.

CBT - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

2011-05-30T09:00:00.007+01:00

What is CBT?

CBT looks at how our thoughts affect our feelings and subsequently our behaviour. Our thoughts have an extremely powerful effect on how we feel. If we approach a siltation with a positive mindset we are more likely to succeed than if we concentrate on the negative and everything that could go wrong.

As we grow and develop, our external influences model the way we feel and approach situations. We continue approaching life with the same mindset but often desire a different outcome. It is only when you start to challenge these entrenched thought patterns that you can change the way you feel about a situation.

Look at The Wright Brothers. Everyone thought that flight was impossible; the external influence upon their thinking was that it couldn’t be done. The Wright Brothers challenged this and saw a different way; it was only through changing their mindset and focusing on the positive that they were able to challenge the laws of physics.

Henry Ford said it perfectly: “Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.”

As did Albert Einstein: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The thoughts that go through our minds on a regular basis, the ones that are second nature, contribute to how we feel about ourselves and situations. CBT works by understanding these thought patterns and breaking through them to challenge them and give you a different approach, allowing you to develop techniques to have a more positive and constructive way of thinking that dramatically improves your self-esteem and confidence.

I work using CBT in conjunction with Hypnotherapy and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) to help each person to get the best tools to understand how they feel and to challenge and change their behaviour.

See what kind of things can be treated using this powerful combination.

Hypnotherapy on the BBC

2011-05-23T09:00:00.008+01:00

The benefits of hypnotherapy are gaining more recognition every day. The latest news, as reported in BBC News 19th May 2011, is a study into hypnobirthing. For full BBC article and video click link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13451637

‘Expectant mothers at a hospital in Greater Manchester will be able to try hypnobirthing, as part of an NHS trial.

Studies have found self-hypnosis, which started in the United States, allows many women to give birth without pain, and without gas and air. Women are not distracted from the pain but learn how to stay calm so their muscles relax.

Dr Soo Downe, a midwifery expert at the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan), said: "The mind and body are actually linked.

"There is an effect in the way people think and feel in what happens in their body.

"The reason we are looking at this - apart from the fact women have asked us to look at it - is because it appears if you can reduce anxiety in women through the use of hypnosis we can then reduce pain because pain and anxiety are connected."

Mother-to-be Sophie Kreitzmann, who is due to give birth in August, is trying the new technique.

She said there were so many horror stories surrounding labour and wanted to feel calm when she meets her first child.

Hypnobirthing practitioner Katy Redford, 37, is running the sessions at Tameside.

She said: "Hypnosis is really misunderstood.

"Before I'd experienced it I thought it was all about being in a trance and someone having to wake you from it.

"But it's not like that at all and the women who do this are all able to take themselves into deep relaxation/hypnosis and are very aware and in control throughout. It's very empowering."

Midwife Jackie Brocklehurst added: "I've delivered three babies to mums who were under hypnosis and it is amazing to see. It means as midwives, we have to change the way we work because this is a totally new concept.

"But if you go into it with an open mind, it really is unbelievable to see these women requiring no pain relief."’

This is not the first time the BBC has spoken about the benefits of hypnobirthing. Have a look at this article from 20 July 2002:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2136691.stm

It is so exciting to see this industry getting more recognition; the power of our thoughts is amazing. The more we learn how we can help ourselves through positive thinking and behaviour the happier we will all be.

To see how hypnotherapy can help you to release anxiety and stress, sleep better, stop smoking and so much more please contact Erika for a non-obligation chat.

How to be Happy

2011-05-16T09:14:00.002+01:00

Do you know how to be happy or are you waiting for happiness to find you? Would you recognise if you were happy or would you focus on the next goal? To be happy isn’t something that happens to you without intervention, it is something that you can make happen to you; it is a state of mind. So what are you waiting for? Start discovering today how to be happy, to enjoy life and to appreciate what you have.

Be realistic

Nobody is happy all the time. Life is a wonderful roller-coaster and we need the highs and the lows to feel challenged, to learn and to appreciate the good times. If we didn’t embrace life’s challenges we would never have learned to walk, we would have just given up and crawled our whole life. Be kind on yourself, when you are having a ‘bad’ or hard day then learn from it and strive to make the next day a happier one. Forgive yourself for having an ‘off’ day rather than berating yourself.

Be in the moment

Stop, breathe and enjoy! Be in the moment, don’t think about what happened yesterday or what is about to happen or what needs to be done. Just be! When you walk somewhere look around at where you are, try and see a different thing every day. Spend time every day just living life for today, having an idea of where you are heading but enjoying now.

Realise your achievements

We are so good at striving for our goals; we work towards certain things, dreaming of how life will be when we reach our goal. Then we achieve it and rather than basking in our wonderful achievement we move onto the next goal. Appreciate what you have; appreciate what you have achieved. Be grateful for what you have in your life, try not to take what you have for granted. Stop and ask yourself, if someone told me I would be here last year how would I feel. The chances are that you have made some amazing steps in the year. So appreciate them every day. The more you focus on the good you have the happier you will become.

These three steps will help you to be happier. Life is ever changing and adapting and we seem to have forgotten how to just be and enjoy being. Being positive, letting go of stress, managing your time and being a happy person is something we can all learn. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can teach you these tools, teaching you techniques to let go of any fears or stresses and be a happier, more carefree person enjoying life.

To find out more about how Hypnotherapy, NLP & CBT can help you to realise your potential please contact Erika for a no-obligation chat.

Summer Time!

2011-05-09T09:00:00.004+01:00

Well, summer is nearly here and we have already had some amazing weather. With the summer wardrobe out and beach holidays booked, a lot of people start to feel the pressure to tone up and look good. Summer has that way of making us want that perfect beach body, but exercise is important all year round, not just for the health of your body but also your mental health. Exercise releases endorphins and expels the stress hormones.

When we think of exercise we tend to imagine a gym. A lot of people love the convenience of the gym, but you don’t have to go to the gym to get your daily exercise. Now that the weather is on our side it is even easier to incorporate exercise into our daily routine. The longer nights make it safe to enjoy walking home from work, allowing the stress of the day to leave you so you walk through your front door feeling refreshed and free from work. If you don’t live near enough to walk from work then try getting off the bus one stop earlier, or taking a longer route home, or even going for a walk at lunch time to soak up some of those precious rays of sun and get some vitamin D into your body. One of the main reasons why we feel better in the summer is that we are out and about more, taking exercise naturally, getting fresh air into our lungs. Get yourself into the habit now, while the weather is nice, of exercise being part of your daily routine so that when the winter comes you crave the exercise and continue getting out to enjoy the winter sun too. With this week being Walk to Work Week there couldn’t be a more perfect time to start enjoying the outdoors.

The sun also has an amazing way of making most of us feel good, although some people will prefer other seasons more. The effect the sun has on our mind shows us how powerful our minds are. How can something so simple - the weather - change how we feel? We still have the same jobs and lives but somehow in the sun it all seems brighter. There are many reasons why people feel better in the summer: the heat, longer days, windows open allowing fresh air in, taking exercise naturally, looking at things differently. Changing the way you look at things and approach situations can help you to find that inner calm and happiness in life - often life is better than you think it is, just we forget to appreciate the things we have and our achievements; things that we once craved for so much that we now take for granted.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you challenge your negative beliefs and get that summer feeling more often, throughout the year. It can help you to be in the moment and enjoy the good things in life, while feeling motivated by the challenges life through at you. Summer is such a good time to deal with the winter demons.

To find out how Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to feel happier, more content, less stressed and find the enjoyment in life and your achievements please call Erika for a no obligation chat.

Training Alliance Group to offer Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma (HPD)

2011-05-02T09:00:00.003+01:00

I am very proud to be a founder and teacher at the Training Alliance Group (TAG), offering both corporate and personal development training courses in Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP. The Training Alliance Group is very excited to announce that they now offer a Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma (HPD) as part of their course.

For full details about training with TAG please visit the website http://www.trainingalliancegroup.co.uk/

Wedding Bells, Bouquets, Bridezilla and the Best Day of Your Life

2011-04-25T09:00:00.003+01:00

The royal wedding certainly divides opinion. Personally I think it is going to be a wonderful British event and I am looking forward to seeing London sparkling away with all the pomp and ceremony; and it is not only royal weddings that bring up conflicting feelings!

For many, a wedding day is a day they have dreamt of since they were a little girl, playing dress up with their friends and dreaming of their Prince Charming and the day he sweeps them off their feet. Yet, for many different reasons, some people end up arriving at their wedding day in a stressed heap, focusing on all the little details and what could go wrong.

They forget to focus on their Prince Charming and the reason for the day, to become husband and wife! Ask most girls who have planned a wedding or watched someone close to them planning and they will understand where I am coming from, the word Bridezilla didn’t come from thin air.

We spend so much time planning everything, the colour of the table clothes and centre pieces; oh and make sure they match the chair covers. We make sure we are the fittest we have ever been, looking stunning on the day in our amazing dress but inside we are tired and stressed and on tenterhooks fearing the next possible disaster. Your day should be about you and your husband, not about the family politics or who is sitting where. Yes you need to plan for all this but on the day it is your time to relax and enjoy taking in the wonderful memories as you start on your new path as Mr & Mrs.

I have had grooms saying they don’t recognise the woman who is standing in front of them. They have unleashed this wedding monster, help! What happened to the woman who I asked to marry, will she return? Oh the wedding, I leave that all up to her, I’ll just turn up on the day, that is her project.

So how can EKTherapies help you with your wedding? Using the powerful combination of Hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP we can work together to understand your stressors and help you to focus on not only the day but your life ahead, helping you to enjoy the day as one that is jam packed full of wonderful memories; helping you to arrive at your wedding day full of anticipation and excitement, feeling confident and ready to be a centre of attention for a day, free from all the little stresses, enjoying the day in the moment as you take your first steps as husband and wife. We can also work on freeing yourself from the anti-climax that can come after a wedding, and in preparing for the wedding, allowing the man in your life to be involved, as most men really do want to be, just maybe not in the same level of detail as you!

From practical help with the public speaking for him so the speech isn’t a black cloud hanging over the day to allowing the day to be the happiest moment in each other’s lives, EKTherapies can help with every detail you can imagine. Give me a call today to find out more.

Breathe London Ethos

2011-04-18T09:00:00.001+01:00

One of my clinics is Breathe London; this is part of the Colombo Centre, a community centre on the Southbank. The clinic entrance is accessed through a gym and although once you get upstairs to the therapy rooms it is a peaceful haven the building itself isn’t the prettiest London has to offer. So why do I choose to work here? The Colombo Centre is a not for profit organization managed by a Charitable Trust, The Jubilee Hall Trust and is overseen by a voluntary board of trustees from Coin St Community Builders.

At Breathe London we are part of the community, with every pound spent by the gym members, tennis players, footballers and the thousands of other users of the centre is either invested back into the centre or supports local community programs. These include childhood obesity programs, youth development and many activities for the elderly in Lambeth and Southwark. All of the rental income from Breathe London is ploughed back into the centre and directly supports their wonderful programs. We are proud to play our part in drawing people to a unique wellbeing facility in Central London and helping to support such wonderful charities.

To many people Breathe London is known as a problem solving sports injury clinic and acupuncture centre. However at Breathe London we recognise that healthy bodies and minds go hand in hand and therefore we also have a team of other wellbeing consultants. I work at Breathe London offering Hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP to help people achieve their goals and realise their inner potential. I am proud to work somewhere where I can give back to the local community, helping London charities to support people who need them.

Stress

2011-04-11T09:00:00.005+01:00

Stress seems to be the buzz word at the moment but what is stress?

Stress is when you have insufficient resources to meet your demands.

Stress and anxiety are normal, even healthy, human feelings that can be useful to help you achieve your goals. The chemicals that are released when we are under stress or feeling anxiety can help you to meet deadlines, keep presentations fresh, help actors to make every performance have that spark, even help athletes win their gold medal and give us the energy to do amazing things in times of crises. Stress and anxiety only become a problem to our health when they go on for too long and we don’t expel the chemicals put into our body that are generated by it. Eventually these chemicals can become an illness affecting your mental and physical health.

We, and the world around us, are very good at putting stress and anxiety into our lives but you should ask yourself how long do you spend each day de-stressing yourself?

With the advance in technology making us more contactable and bringing the office into our home life, it has never been so important to make sure you de-stress yourself, being in the moment and enjoying life for what it is, allowing time for ‘you’.

Some signs that you may not be de-stressing yourself enough:

MIND

Do you feel tired or lacking in energy all of the time?
Do you have episodes of panic?
Do you feel worried all of the time?
Are you unable to concentrate on a task for as long as you used to be able to do?
Do you feel unusually irritable, with tasks or people, or get angry quickly?
Are you finding getting to sleep difficult, or are you waking earlier than usual?
Do you wake up feeling tired even though you have slept enough for your body?
Do you feel there is never enough time in the day?
Do you walk quickly everywhere, thinking about certain tasks rather than enjoying the walk/moment?
Do you feel you have so much to do that you can’t focus on one thing and try and spread yourself and your time too thinly, not giving your full attention to anything?

BODY

Do you ever experience a strong or rapid heartbeat? (Sometimes known as “palpitations”)
Do you grind your teeth, either in your sleep or when you are awake?
Do you have regular or constant pain or tension in your muscles?
Do you find that you are often contracting/holding onto your muscles (e.g. shoulders up)?
Do you find that you breathe shallow breaths?
Do you find yourself breathing quickly or more heavily at times of anxiety?
Are you experiencing indigestion or diarrhea?

If we understand how stress and anxiety affect our body and mind, then we can learn how to use this to our advantage, allowing ourselves to relax and de-stress at the end of the day and enjoy the ‘free’ time we have. We will then be more productive and focused at work and at home, feeling calmer and in control. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to understand stress and how it affects your body. Teaching you relaxation techniques and giving you the tools you need to help you enjoy life with a healthy level, for you of stress and anxiety.

Tips for Beating Blushing

2011-04-04T09:00:00.001+01:00

It is not surprising that in today's "got to look good" society, facial blushing can cause people a lot of stress and worry. At its extremes, the embarrassment from blushing can become so acute that the sufferer avoids social contact as a last resort to avoid the problem.

So what can you and Hypnotherapy do to help yourself to control your blushing?

Acceptance
The first thing to understand is that blushing is a perfectly natural human response. Everybody blushes, of course some people blush more than others but it is a reassuring fact that blushing is a matter of degree, not whether you do or don’t blush. It is a natural occurrence. When you blush, the blood vessels in your face widen allowing more blood to pass through to the skin. The tiny muscles in your blood vessels usually keep the vessels slightly squeezed, but during a blushing episode, nerves in your body send signals to relax these muscles. Because this action is an automatic response, it is nearly impossible to stop once the action has begun. In fact, the harder you try to stop blushing, the redder you will usually get. Acceptance is the first step to controlling your blushing.

Relax
Blushing tends to increase as people start to get embarrassed about their embarrassment, creating a sort of vicious circle. The tenser you get as you start to blush, the more the blood is forced to the face. One trick is, when you feel it coming on is to deliberately drop your shoulders and relax your body. Breathe through your stomach, pushing it out as you breathe deeply and calmly, focusing on calmness or what is happening around you rather than not blushing. This can take a bit of practice to become second nature, so practice deep breathing and focusing on other things on a daily basis. You can learn all of this and more with a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session with Erika.

Accept it, don't Fight it
You need to shift your relationship to the blushing. At the moment you are trying to hide it because you are embarrassed about it. If you can work on relaxing about it, it will get better. This will be helped by you accepting it as a current part of yourself. You can try saying to yourself "At the moment, I am a blusher". It sounds strange, but if you can bring yourself to like that part of you more, it is more likely to go away.

Hypnotherapy can introduce you to some techniques that you can employ and keep working with on your own in the future.

Other peoples' opinions
Part of the embarrassment about blushing is caused by the thought that others will see you as weak or silly. However, everyone has had the experience of being embarrassed, it shows in people in different ways. Even people who appear as very confident have their moments of self-consciousness. Remember too that often it can seem a lot worse to you then it appears to be. People are so self-absorbed that they probably haven’t noticed you blushing; in fact it is often only your own change in behaviour that draws attention to it. Does this sound like your experience?

People tease you
If people tease you and point out your blushing they tend to do this because of your reaction to them. If when they tease you, you are able to smile with them, it will usually lessen the impact of their joke and make it less likely that they will push that button in the future. This can be done in a healthy way that does not internalise your anguish, but instead shares it!

Retrain your mind
Hypnotherapy can help greatly as you can train your mind and body to relax as you feel the blushing coming on, or have the thought that you might blush. Hypnotherapy can help you to feel more confident and at ease with the situations that make tend to make you blush.

Your Standards
Remember, you are an unique individual. Like everyone else you have different factors that contribute to make you the person you are. Accept yourself for all that you are, blushing is just one of those things that make you you. The more you accept it the more you won’t mind if it happens. The more you don’t mind the less it will happen as you refind that inner confidence in you.

Ring Erika for a no obligation chat and see how along with your commitment hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP can help you achieve your goals.

Happiness Improves Health and Lengthens Life

2011-03-28T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to look at the world in a different way, focusing more on the positive and helping you to live in the moment and enjoy every moment for what it is. Of course it is important to have goals and dreams, to know what direction you are heading in but it is as important to enjoy the journey along the way.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 1, 2011) — A review of more than 160 studies of human and animal subjects has found "clear and compelling evidence" that -- all else being equal -- happy people tend to live longer and experience better health than their unhappy peers. Full article at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110301122156.htm

It’s no surprise really to hear that being happy improves not only the quality of your life but even lengthens it. Smiling and laughing is the best way to lift your mood.

Studies have shown that laughter boosts the immune system in variety of ways. Laughter increases the amount of T cells, which attack viruses, foreign cells and cancer cells. The amount of stress hormones are also reduced by laughing, some of which are hormones that suppress the immune system. When you feel better after laughing, you really are happier and healthier.

Here is something to make you smile, laughing is also a full body workout. Laughing exercises the cardiovascular system by lowering blood pressure and increasing heart rate, which any aerobic exercise will do. It improves coordination of brain functions, which increases alertness and memory, and helps clear the respiratory tract from coughing. Some researchers estimate that proper stomach hugging laughter for 20 seconds works the heart as hard as three minutes of hard rowing.

So how can we do it?

What makes people laugh varies from person to person but there are ways you can lift your mood, making it easier for you to laugh easily.

Pop on a song that you like! We all know that feeling when one of our favourite songs come on the radio, we sing along and all of a sudden the world seems like a better place. Then the next song is a ballad and all of a sudden we are back feeling low and have a lack of energy and motivation. Music is an amazingly powerful way to change our moods; it can make us full of energy or calm us down after a busy day.
Play around with music and see how it can change your mood. Find that song that lifts you up and try it. Next time you are feeling low pop on your song and sing away, I am sure that after those 3 minutes you will feel in a different space.

It is easy to get stuck in a negative rut and the busy world that we live in today can help to keep that negative spiral turning.

Taking the first steps to becoming a happier, more positive and focused person is only a phone call away, even a single session tailored to your own needs can help you on your way!

Overcoming a Fear of Flying

2011-03-21T09:00:00.006Z

Do you dream of visiting Australia but settle for Bournemouth? If so you are not alone, fear of flying is a surprisingly common phobia that can limit your horizons both in business and pleasure. Using the powerful combination of Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP you can understand the fear of flying psychology. In a positive, quick and easy way you can overcome your fear and plan your dream holiday instead of talking yourself out of taking it.

Fear of flying is also known as aerophobia or aviphobia, it is caused by the unconscious part of your mind warning you that it is dangerous to get on a plane. This is an important part of our brain that helps to keep us safe and out of harm’s way. This part of your brain is developing all the time form the day you are born and on. Remember when you were growing up and an adult tells you “HOT” to stop you touching the stove. Your unconscious brain learns that when you're told “HOT” that you should be careful. However in the case of flying phobia that protection mechanism has become over sensitive, often from misinformation and is now a casing you to associate flying with danger.

Some people who are afraid of flying they have never even stepped foot on a plane yet they still have this fear. This fear would be appropriate if the plane was missing a wing or was obviously not in a condition to fly, but statistics show that flying is in fact one of the safest things you can do. Air travel remains statistically safer than crossing the road and flying has been proven to be twenty five times safer than driving your own car.

21,000 people (on average) die on the road in the USA in a 6-month period. This is approximately the same amount of all commercial air travel fatalities worldwide in 40 years
More than 3million people fly every day
A Boeing aircraft takes off or lands every 2 seconds somewhere in the world – all day, every day
1 plane in 5 million crashes. Even then people still survive plane crashes, going on to fly again

Hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP will help you to understand why you have this fear, where it comes from and help you to feel relaxed and safe when flying. In your tailor made session you will learn relaxation skills that can become automatic when practiced and perfected. Hypnotherapy can help you to learn a new pattern of behaviour, helping you to simply relax and start to enjoy the freedom of flying and all the wonderful places you can visit.

Remember that during a session you remain in complete control, learning the skills you need to take them out of the session and put them into practice. You will leave the session feeling positive, motivated, confident and in control. All you need to do is bring you commitment and determination to become someone who can fly without fear.

Some High Profile Stars Who Have Quit Smoking With Hypnotherapy! Last day to get 10% off your one-off Stop smoking treatment (quote blog)*

2011-03-14T09:00:00.003Z

Today is the last day you can take advantage of 10% off your one-off stop smoking session.* I thought I would find a few well known celebrities who have used hypnotherapy to help them take control of the power cigarettes had over them.

Samuel Jackson, Ellen Degeneres, Brad Pitt, Ewan McGregor, Drew Barrymore, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon all stopped smoking with hypnosis, while Fergie quit biting her nails, and stopped a drug addiction with the help of hypnosis.

Have a look at this video Matt Damon and other celebrities used hypnotherapy to help them become smoke free (video clip from Access Hollywood Story).

Ben Affleck tells Oprah he used hypnotherapy to stop smoking:
"I finally decided to quit smoking when I found out I was going to have a child. That was the thing that sort of put it over the top for me. I decided to go to a hypnotist. You sit in a chair and the hypnotist sips water and just talks to you for an hour, and explains how nicotine is poison."
"All of a sudden, I thought, 'This is asinine that I've been doing this to myself for all these years.' My last cigarette was on November 10th, 2005, and I feel a huge difference in my health now that I don't smoke. I feel like I'm in better shape than I was five years ago."

(Article snippet from Exposay January 24, 2008. View original article at http://www.exposay.com/a-hypnotist-helped-ben-affleck-quit-smoking/v/16921/
http://www.showbizspy.com/2008/01/23/ben-affleck-tells-oprah-how-he-quit-smoking/)

Ellen Degeneres had famous hypnotherapist Paul McKenna on her show and he helped her quit smoking using hypnosis and NLP techniques.
"I feel so good. I feel healthier! It seems ridiculous but my skin looks better, I just feel like, I feel healthy. I feel really good."

(See full article at http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/hypnotist-helps-ellen-kick-smoking_1011060)

Fox News tells how Winona Ryder used hypnotherapy to quit smoking: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2015,00.html

It is great to see that hypnotherapy is getting the recognition it deserves. Hypnotherapy is as a great way to help you to achieve your goals. It is such a powerful tool that along with your determination and motivation will help you to become the person you want to be. To see other things that can be treated using the powerful combination of hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP please click here.

*book by 14th March 2011 to receive 10%

Wednesday 9th March is National No Smoking day. To help you become smoke free get 10% off One-Off Stop Smoking Treatment (quote blog) *

2011-03-07T08:52:00.001Z

Smokers are being encouraged to kick the habit on No Smoking Day. No Smoking day was established as a national event on Ash Wednesday in 1984, and it has grown in status for the past 25 years, helping people to find the motivation to become a non-smoker.

So what is the trick to giving up smoking?

The biggest thing is your own commitment and feeling that you want to become a non-smoker. Have you reached that point of being tired of being a slave to a cigarette and all the restrictions it brings with it? If yes then you are ready to become a non-smoker. You don’t have to know how you are going to do it, just simply that you want to do it. It is important to remind yourself that you are giving up nothing of value to you but gaining so much. Think of all the reasons to become smoke free, as you know there are plenty; health, smelling good, seeing your children or nieces & nephews get married, meeting your grandchildren, being around to a ripe old age with lungs that aren’t full of Emphysema. The list of the benefits you would get from being a non-smoker is endless and also personal to you and your motivation to succeed.

How can Hypnotherapy help you become smoke free?

This is the bit of great news! Using Hypnotherapy you are 10 times more likely to remain a non-smoker. Although Hypnotherapy isn’t a magic wand and still requires your commitment, it is a very powerful tool that makes sure that you have the inner focus and determination to become a non-smoker in a positive way. There is no need for Nicotine patches or gum all you need is a one-off Hypnotherapy session along with your commitment and motivation to want to become a non-smoker.

“Thanks for the session, it has really helped and I haven’t smoked since!” Jehan, London

How about if you have tried to stop before?

There are many reasons why stopping smoking may not have worked for you before. The main reason I tend to find with the clients who come to see me is because they weren’t truly motivated to give up and didn’t really want to stop. Maybe their partner was pushing them to do it or it wasn’t the right time for them to give up. Perhaps their motivation was weak in certain situations or associations. For whatever reason they didn’t have the drive that they wanted to start looking after their future health, being able to breathe easier, taste food, not be out of breath when they climbed the stairs.

“It has been a month since I saw you and smoking hasn’t even crossed my mind, which is amazing. Thank you!” Ben, Surrey

Feeling motivated to take control of you and make that change?

The next step is completely in your hands. When you are ready to take control of the power cigarettes have over you, then give me a call 07952 619939 and we can talk further about helping you have the tools to become a non-smoker and remain one. Remember if you book your one-off session before Monday 14th 2011 you receive a 10% discount (quote blog). I look forward to speaking to you soon and helping you take the first exciting steps to becoming a non-smoker in a positive and focused way.

*book by 14th March 2011 to receive 10% discount

Hypnosis is the new way to give birth painlessly by Dr Christian Jessen - London Eveining Standard

2011-02-28T10:00:00.013Z

"In the middle of huge cutbacks and extensive NHS reform any newly emerging techniques that promise to save money will be welcomed with open arms.

One such proposal seems sound enough: hypnobirthing. An 18-month NHS trial study aims to teach expectant mums how to hypnotise themselves before giving birth as an alternative to painkillers. This will involve learning how to attain a trance-like state during labour in the hope that they will not need costly treatments such as epidurals. First started in the US, it uses self-hypnosis, relaxation, visualisation and breathing techniques to prepare for birth.

Currently as many as 60 per cent of mothers have epidurals and many more use other forms of pain relief, the safety of which has often been questioned. Many mothers enter the delivery suite intending to have a "natural" birth, then understandably demand drugs when the true might of their contractions kicks in.

Hypnosis is successfully used in many other areas of healthcare, including dentistry, well known for its association with pain and fear, and fear here seems to be the key. Most mums experience anxiety and fear about the impending birth, in part due to our society's highly medicocentric approach to birthing, implying that it is a dangerous, painful and scary experience.

Hypnotherapists believe that a lot of the pain of childbirth comes from fear acting on the body to cause tension and muscle constriction. If women can relax and release muscle tension, this causes less pain, more effective contractions and often a shorter labour. It certainly sounds plausible, and the feedback from women who have used it has been consistently positive.

It's even been backed up by several relatively large-scale studies, one of which found that self-hypnosis during childbirth eased some of the pain of labour, lowered the risk of medical complications and reduced the need for surgery. Another study found that hypnotherapy shortened the first and second stages of labour. For women having their first babies, the first stage was reduced from an average of 9.3 hours to 6.4 hours, and the second stage from 50 minutes to 37 minutes on average. The differences for women having their second or later children were less dramatic, and it is here the financial benefits may be seen.

I can certainly see the downsides; this technique will not work for all women. I also worry that medical staff may attend less often seemingly self-sufficient labouring women, so putting them more at risk of complications going unnoticed.

But in general it's harmless, proven in studies, and empowers women to have more control over the birthing process, unlike other ill-thought-out proposals the NHS comes up with."

Article from London Evening Standard 16th Feb 2011. View origainl article at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/health/article-23923758-hypnosis-is-the-new-way-to-give-birth-painlessly.do

It is great to see that hypnotherapy is starting to get the recognition it deserves. It is an amazing therapy that allows you to gain control of your own thought process and take the steps to achieving your goals. If you want to find out more please visit my site or contact me to see how hypnotherapy can help you.

Quiet London by Siobhan Wall - I am very excited to announce that Waterloo Body Station, the lovely little clinic in Waterloo that I work out of, has appeared in this book

2011-02-21T09:50:00.004Z

I love living and working in London; the hustle and bustle of London is wonderful, but like a lot of you I am sure, sometimes I just want to relax and unwind and escape the madness. This wonderful little book is full of London’s gems, from cafés to therapy rooms. There are so many hidden places of peace and tranquillity where you can escape the hectic pace of London to recharge your batteries.

“London has become a very noisy city. This book will become 'the bible' for those thousands of people who are seeking some escape from the noise." John Stewart, chair of the UK Noise Association.

"This book seeks out areas of quiet, from parks to bookshops, cafes and restaurants - places that are worth visiting in themselves. Beautifully produced and illustrated, it is also a very practical book, ideal for anyone thinking of coming to
London." Nigel Rodgers, Chair of Pipedown.

I am so excited and proud that Waterloo Body Station, one of the clinics I practice Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP from, is listed in the book, one of only ten therapy rooms that are featured. The clinic is part of a shop that is up for Best Green Business with Lambeth Business Awards. All the products for the shop are sourced from the finest products in the UK that are truly natural and organic. They are free from petrochemicals, synthetic fragrances and other undesirables, so you don’t have to worry about finding any hidden nasties. Only lovely, healthy, safe ingredients.

Don’t just take my word for it, come and have a look around the shop for yourself and have a treatment as you enjoy this little oasis of peace and relaxation in London.

Hypnodieting Feature in March edition of Natural Health Magazine

2011-02-15T14:32:00.004Z

The Training Alliance Group is proud to be the trainers for the Hypnotherapy section of the Hypnodieting course to become a consultant. I am one of the founders of The Training Alliance Group and a Hypnodieting consultant, it is great to see that Hypnodieting is getting the recognition it deserves.

How does Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP work together

2011-02-14T11:20:00.004Z

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP are powerful therapies in themselves but used together they give you the chance to look at your challenge from lots of different angles, giving you the best chance to have the tools you need to become the person you want to be.

To understand how these therapies can work together, I think it is good to have a general understanding of them as individual therapies first. There are many descriptions for what Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP are and some of them are very technical in depth. Rather than setting out a long technical explanation I am going to explain them in nice easy terms.

What is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is a way of quieting the conscious mind so that you can talk to the subconscious mind. Sometimes even though consciously we want to do something if we don’t have the subconscious mind thinking the same thing then the outcome will always be the same even though consciously we want something different. By talking to someone’s subconscious you can help the internal thought process to be working towards what they want and not still on the old auto pilot. Allowing our subconscious to take over (on autopilot) is something that we do on a daily basis, like when you "zone out" for a while. There are lots of different ways to get a person into trance (a relaxed state of mind where you can speak to the subconscious), it depends on individual characters and expectations, but rest assured almost everyone can be put into a trance.

What is NLP?

NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), the fundamental dynamics between your mind, language (internal and external) and how the programing of them affects our body and behaviour.

Neuro – the neurological system regulates how our bodies function

Linguistic – language, the words we choose to use to communicate with others and ourselves

Programming – the models/links of the world we create (learned behaviour)

Once you understand the mental programming then you can use the power of words and imagery to help someone change their neurological path and therefore produce different behaviour.

What is CBT?

CBT (Cognitive behavioural Therapy) focuses on the ‘here and now’ to help you feel better. Through talking you challenge negative thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Instead of focussing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, it looks for ways to improve your state of mind now.
With all of these therapies the client remains in control with the therapist helping the client to make the change they are looking to make. You will leave the session with the tools to continue the work started in the sessions and develop into the person you want to be.

Hopefully you now have an outline about these three therapies. As I said they work very well by themselves and often I end up using only one with a client as that is what they respond to best. The great thing about being able to use all three is that I can give my clients the best chance to achieve their goals because if one therapy doesn’t work so well for them then I can use another.

I tend to use a combination of all three therapies, using CBT to ask clients questions that challenge them to see a different way, NLP to help integrate the mind with their new thought pattern and Hypnotherapy to tie the three together and help make sure the subconscious is working in the same direction and not still on the old track.

To find out what kind of things can be treated with this powerful combination click here.

Common misconceptions about Hypnotherapy

2011-02-07T16:06:00.003Z

There are lots of misconceptions people have when they think about Hypnotherapy. Here are just a few that I have come across whilst working with Hypnotherapy.

You lose control under hypnosis and say things you don’t want to say

Most people know about hypnotherapy through stage hypnosis and are nervous that if they went to see a hypnotherapist they would end up clucking like a chicken every time someone said potato. It is important to remember that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis and you remain in complete control the whole time. Take stage hypnosis, the stage hypnotherapist always chooses a willing participant from the audience. The participant goes onto stage expecting to act like a fool so when the hypnotherapist puts them into a trance and tells them to cluck like a chicken every time they say potato they react accordingly. However, if the hypnotherapist tried to tell them to stop smoking for example they would probably turn around and say no, as this was not what they were expecting to have to do on stage.

In the same way when you go and see a Hypnotherapist you are expecting to deal with certain things. By booking the appointment you are subconsciously and consciously agreeing to let the therapist speak to your subconscious about the thing you have come to see them about. If for example the therapist then asked you a question you weren’t willing to give the answer to you just wouldn’t.

Hypnotherapy is a magic wand

Lots of people think that hypnotherapy is a magic wand that can change the way their mind thinks without any effort from them at all. Whilst hypnotherapy is a very powerful tool as it speaks to your subconscious mind, it still requires strength and determination from the person to want to change. Just as under hypnosis the therapist can’t make you do something you don’t want to do, if for example you don’t want to give up smoking but your partner wants you to and sends you to a hypnotist the chances are that it won’t work long term as you didn’t want to make the change in the first place. If on the other hand you want to but just don’t know how, then hypnotherapy is the simple yet powerful tool you are looking for.

Only highly suggestible people can be hypnotised

Whilst people who find it easy to trust may find it easier to go into a deep hypnotic trance it is not a fact that only they can be hypnotised. Anyone can be hypnotised, the hypnotherapist will just use a different technique for a highly suggestible person than they would for a very analytical person. It may surprise you to know that we all enter a trance like state on a daily basis, when watching TV, waking, singing, etc. Take driving, when you do a journey you do every day it is common to “zone out”. You are still safe it is just that your subconscious brain has taken over the controls; the journey is so second nature to you that you just drive, sometimes arriving at your destination with no recollection of the journey. You know you were safe as you are still happily sitting in your car. If during that journey when you were on autopilot someone had stepped out in front of you that would be the time that you shocked yourself into action. This is all hypnotherapy is in its simplest form, quieting down the conscious mind so that the subconscious mind is listening.

As you can see Hypnotherapy is not something to be scared of, you remain in complete control the whole time. It is important to trust the Hypnotherapist just as it is important that you trust your doctor or your dentist’s professional capability. Recommendations are a good way to find a trustworthy Hypnotherapist, and when you have found them ring them up and ask them questions until you are happy. Listen to your gut reaction about them and you will find a therapist that can help you overcome most things, helping you to become the person you want to be.

Understand Sleep Mechanics

2011-01-14T15:27:00.004Z

If we have a better understanding of things we have a better chance of succeeding in them. Understanding how sleep mechanics work can help you to wake up feeling refreshed. The principles of how sleep works are quite simple.

Sleep occurs in cycles of around 90-110 minutes, most people normally go through 5 cycles during the night (7.5-8.5 hours).

Each cycle includes 5 different stages occurring in a particular order.

1. Stage 1 – Drowsy sleep. This is the transition period from fully awake to sleep, where you drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. Your eye movements are slow as is your muscle activity. You are starting to loose conscious awareness of your external environment. This is the stage when you occasionally may experience sudden twitches or the sensation of falling, these are all normal to feel in this stage.

2. Stage 2 – Light sleep. This is the stage your body is relaxed and prepares to enter into deep sleep, this state usually lasts longer than the other stages – you spend 45-50% of your night in stage 2.

3. Stage 3 and 4 – Deep sleep. Deep sleep is characterized by maximum brain and muscle relaxation, with stage 4 being a deeper version of stage 3. Stage 3 is when you may experience night terror, sleepwalking and sleep-talking. People who awaken during stage 3 and 4 often feel groggy and disorientated for several minutes. In stage 4, there is no eye movement or muscle activity. You usually go less deep each cycle throughout the night, so your deepest sleep (stage 4) occurs in the first half of the night.

4. Stage 5 – REM sleep. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement; this stage is very different from all the other stages because in REM sleep brain wave activity is similar to an awakened state. In REM state your heart rate and blood pressure increases, your eyelids flutter. This is the result of intense dreaming; which occurs mostly during REM sleep. The end of the REM stage is the ideal time to wake up.

5. Stages go in the following order to form a cycle: 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-REM. The duration of each stage varies from 5 to 15 minutes. REM stage lasts for around 10 minutes in the first cycle, with each recurring REM stage increasing in duration, with the final one lasting an hour. Total cycle time ends up taking round 90-110 minutes, with the first cycle usually being the shortest, closer to 90 minutes.

Another thing to take into consideration

Drugs such as alcohol and sleeping pills can suppress certain stages of sleep. Even though you sleep longer, the sleep may not fulfil its physiological functions completely, making you feel unrested when you awaken.

What to do with all this information to help you sleep better

The best time to wake up is at the end of the cycle. Pay attention to your state when you wake up and try to identify what stage you are awaking from.
If the alarm wakes you up interrupting your dreams it is very likely that you are in a REM stage or stage 1 which is a good time to wake up.
If you feel extremely disoriented when you wake up then your waking up from stage 3 or 4, this is not the ideal time to wake up. If possible take another 30 minutes of sleep to help you wake up feeling refreshed.
Write down how long you sleep each night and how you feel when you wake up. Try and adjust your sleep duration so you wake up at the end of the cycle.

Experiment slowly – you can’t change your sleeping patterns in one day, but you can do it easily over time with small steps.

Understand your body and its sleep patterns will help you to have a good night’s sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

Contact Erika to take the first steps to achieving a good night’s sleep.

Achieve your goals in 2011

2011-01-13T17:07:00.003Z

2011 is here and January is well underway, so now is the time to carry out those New Year resolutions and achieve the goals you’ve set yourself.

With EKTherapies, achieving your goal can be easier than you may think. All we need is your commitment and the powerful combination of Hypnotherapy, CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). It is that simple.

Contact Erika for a no obligation chat and take the first steps to becoming a happier you.