People ask me all the time how I initially got into doing what I do.
So I just thought I’d give you my little back story…
I’ve always been really interested in psychology and how the mind works.
Throughout my life, any book, film or TV show that was about psychological stuff captivated me.
Like most people a few years ago, I was absolutely fascinated by the TV hypnotists Paul McKenna and Derren Brown.
I’d watched Derren Brown a couple of times on stage and was completely bamboozled and blown away by what he did.
I was so impressed after one of his shows; I bought his book – Tricks of the Mind.
Chapter 4 was all about hypnosis.
He demystified it and made it all sound so simple and straight-forward.
A seed of interest was well and truly planted in my mind.
The following year I was selling some old office furniture after a revamp at home.
The man who came to buy my furniture was a hypnotherapist!
I picked his brains (literally) about all things hypnosis – poor guy!
And from that moment on, my love affair began.
Later that year (2007) I trained to be a Clinical Hypnotherapist.
And I’ve been in love with hypnosis ever since.
Since 2007, I have literally clocked up hundreds and hundreds of clients and thousands and thousands of hours of hypnosis.
I’m still to this day, blown away by the results that can be achieved using it.
I never intended to do it professionally (it was just meant to be a party trick)!
But when I practised it on my friends and family (anybody who would let me basically) it got these amazing results.
Essentially hypnosis is just a tool – a means of bypassing your critical conscious mind and accessing your wonderful transformative subconscious mind.
And it works like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.
Hypnosis is subtle and not what people expect it to be.
So one of my biggest issues is always managing people’s expectations.
They expect to feel so different – unconscious or completely taken over, like a zombie.
They worry I’m going to make them cluck like a chicken.
If only I’d had a pound for every person that’s said that to me over the years!
Despite the subtlety of hypnosis, you must never underestimate its incredible power to create transformation.
It’s the most healing, transformative power there is (in my opinion).
And, as well as being incredibly powerful, it also feels absolutely wonderful.
It’s the most relaxed you’ll ever be awake.
No wonder I love it so much!
As well as being hypnotised by another person, we can also hypnotise ourselves.
We all go into very natural, normally-occurring trances all the time.
When we go into a daydream…
When we get lost in a great film or book…
When we get to a familiar destination and don’t remember doing the journey at all…
All these are completely safe, completely natural occurrences of hypnosis.
The mind is an incredible thing.
Most people don’t access the power of their mind anything like they could.
One of the things I was taught in the very early days, was how to go to my happy place in my mind, whenever I needed to.
Your happy place is anywhere you want it to be.
Literally.
Your happy place can be inside (the most beautiful room you can possibly imagine).
Or outside (a peaceful tropical beach or a magical old garden, for example).
It can be real – a place that you’ve actually been, or it can be imagined (your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference).
It can even be a bit of both.
A real place, but where your mind makes it even better.
It’s really worth spending a good amount of time conjuring up your ideal place.
Is there a place from your childhood that was extra special to you?
Or somewhere that you once went to in a dream, or a scene from a film?
You can have other people in your special place or it can be just for you.
It can be any season or time of the year.
Any kind of temperature.
You can have any kind of furniture or scenery you like.
Design it so it’s perfect for you.
Imagine any sights, sounds, smells, or even tastes that might go along with your scene.
Maybe you see it (visual).
Maybe you hear its sounds (auditory).
Maybe you can’t see it or hear it, you just get a sense of or a feel for it (kinaesthetic).
All of these are fine.
Just make it really magical for you.
Once you have your happy place established, you need to practice relaxing and going there in your imagination as much as possible.
The more relaxed you are, the easier this will be.
Do it at night when you’re falling asleep, or first thing in the morning when you’re just waking up.
Or you could go there whilst relaxing in your chair or on the sofa after work.
The more you practice this, the easier it will be to bring your happy place into your mind.
Once this is easy for you to do, you’re ready to go to your happy place whenever you need to.
Clearly you can’t go there when you have to be alert (at work, driving, looking after children, operating machinery etc).
You must be in a safe, secure place, where no-one else requires your attention.
Stay with your eyes closed in your happy place until you feel calm, relaxed, happy and refreshed.
Allow it to reset your mind.
Then get up and go about your day, or if appropriate, allow yourself to fall sleep.
This is ideal for people who struggle with meditation or find it hard to unwind.
If ever I feel a bit stressed over something, I close my eyes and go to my happy place.
If ever I have to have any kind of unpleasant medical test or procedure at the doctors or hospital, I close my eyes and go to my happy place.
If ever I have to have a scale and polish or any treatment at the dentist, I close my eyes and go to my happy place.
I utterly focus on my happy place in my mind and that shuts out any drilling/whizzing noises.
If ever I’m waiting for an appointment in a waiting room, I close my eyes and go to my happy place (I don’t care who’s watching).
I think this is much more relaxing than scrolling a load of old nonsense on my phone, which is what most other people seem to do nowadays.
I once did this while waiting for a blood pressure check at the doctors.
The nurse thought her machine was faulty because my blood pressure was so low.
Going to your happy place will often do this for you.
It will settle your blood pressure and de-stress you like nothing else.
Plus if you’re anxious or uncomfortable from any procedure you’re having done, it’s an excellent way to take yourself off in your mind to somewhere much nicer.
I can even shut off pain this way.
The more you practice this, the more vivid and powerful your happy place becomes.
Anything you can utilise to make life less stressful or painful has got to be a good thing.
If you’ve never given hypnosis a try, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Go on, have a go…
I use some form of hypnosis in most of my work with clients.
Why have the most powerful transformative tool in the world and not use it??
If you’re interested then book a call.
I’ll get out my pocket watch 🙂
Only joking…
Have a great week (in your happy place).
Much Love
Christina xx