Whether you want to enjoy driving, flying, looking forward to your holiday, or interacting confidently with animals, hypnotherapy is here to help.

I first got in to hypnotherapy when a colleague of mine complained of not being able to fly. By coincidence someone had just taught me a phobia-curing technique, so I offered to try it. It worked a treat, and that's how I became a hypnotherapist!

Having initially stated that she "didn't fly" this person became full of confidence and on her next journey was helping other passengers onto the plane. It was quite amazing. But most excitingly, it made her wonder what else in her life she could achieve that she hadn't considered yet.

What is a fear and what's a phobia?

Fears and phobias are a little different although both take energy and get in the way of people achieving what they want. Both are essentially a survival response, designed to help us avoid danger.

Phobias are often defined as a fear response having significant symptoms which interrupt life on a daily basis. A phobic response can be quite extreme and really unpleasant, with significant consequences.

A phobia can be general e.g. social phobias or agoraphobia, which can apply in lots of different places or situations. Emetophobia can be felt in relation to different aspects of being sick, or other people being sick. Some phobias can be more specific, like a fear of flying, or of dogs, although even these can have very particular different aspects for different people. A flying phobia is sometimes about control, but sometimes about enclosed spaces. Some people are extremely specific with their fears, which is quite clever really! A fear of perfectly round objects is as ingenious as it is unhelpful.

Some people get really good at it, because it's a learning process! Which is good news, because all types of fear can be effectively unlearned, provided people are willing to open their minds and look forward to life without the fear. Hypnotherapy really helps with this.

"I had a terrible fear of spiders, and now handle them calmly and with compassion, whenever I need to."

What are the symptoms of a phobia?

A phobia can be defined as extreme aversion to something which interferes with daily life and persists for a long time. Symptoms can include:

• Extreme panic

• Avoidance

• Nervousness and anxiety in anticipation of events or encounters

• Nausea and sickness

Unhelpfully, emetophobia seems to quite often lead to the sufferer feeling sick. Some phobias are surprisingly common. 1 in 6 people have an animal phobia. 1 in 7 have a fear of flying. I'm working on it! These people often say (or their partners might), "It's silly" or "It's ridiculous!" - that doesn't help. Hypnotherapy does.

"I achieved my goal of travelling on a succession of buses and planes, with no sickness, nothing!"

How can hypnotherapy help with phobias?

A life that's free from inappropriate fear is achievable, and providing general stress levels can be brought under control, it doesn't need to take very long. Hypnotherapy can help with spiders, dogs, needles, health anxieties, seaweed ... The list is endless, but so are the possibilities, once the fear is gone.

Specific phobias can be effectively and permanently addressed, usually in four sessions. Done properly, it can be a permanent and very positive change. It's not unusual to hear people say:

"I wish I'd done this earlier. It's amazing. Freedom!!"

Confident communication can be a joy.

Communicating is such a valuable thing to do and can be so satisfying, even for people who aren't natural speakers. I love helping people to speak, whether on the podium, the shop floor or at networking events.

​Here's what Laura Whyte, Managing Director of Accountancy firm Whyfield has posted about her journey. You can see the post on linkedin. 

"Adam has changed my life. I've learned why my body went into flight mode and we’ve ‘reprogrammed’ how my brain thinks about public speaking."

What issues do people have with public speaking?

For some people speaking in front of people can raise quite primal fears. That's natural enough, given that we have evolved to be aware of ourselves and other people. But there are much bigger and more sensible parts of our brains that know how valuable (and enjoyable) it can be.

​Unchecked, the more primitive, emotional parts might cause the following symptoms:

• Imagining things going wrong

• Feeling hot and sweaty

• Cloudy thinking

• Avoidance

• Anxiety leading up to events

Fortunately there is only one thing that causes the perception of risk in our minds, and it's not out there in the audience or in anyone else's head...

How can hypnotherapy help with public speaking?

Hypnotherapy helps us to regain control of our thoughts and our emotions. When we do this, it feels good, and it gets easier and easier. You might even find yourself enjoying it. With the Solution Focused approach, we don't need to understand what's going wrong. We can focus on what it's like when it's amazing.

"​I have had 2 great occasions where I’ve been invited to speak over the last week and I almost don’t recognise myself! I may even go as far as to say I’ve enjoyed it!"

When we are calm, we are in control and can naturally make good choices.

Hypnotherapy can help people to make positive choices without effort. Using will-power is like negotiating with a toddler - once you've got to tantrum stage, it's too late. Willpower can be really hard, and it doesn't always work. It often makes things worse. 

Most people know what choices are good for them, and it is so much easier to make good choices once any stress responses have been calmed down. Hypnotherapy is really good for this.

"Before I saw Adam I felt as if my life was out of control, wasting time on negative habits instead of using it for the more important and pleasurable things in life."

What sort of habits can hypnotherapy help with?

The most well-known habit hypnotherapy helps with used to be smoking. These days there are far fewer smokers in the world, which proves really how easy it can be to quit! But there are lots of habits left. Hypnotherapy can be really helpful for:

• Drinking

• Drug misuse

• Eating

• Exercising

• Nail-biting, skin-picking

• Trichotillomania (hair-pulling)

• Negative thinking

Can hypnotherapy help with addictions?

Addictions are just really well-developed habits, reinforced sometimes by chemical, physical, psychological and social factors. All of these can change, if people really want them to. The three most important factors in helping with addictions are:

1. Does the person really want to stop

2. Are the person's stress levels under control

3. Can they be sober and clean during the period of our work together

​Once the answer to these is yes, then there's a good chance hypnotherapy can help.

How does hypnotherapy work for habits and addictions?

Part of the hypnotherapy process involves understanding the brain science and neuro-chemistry behind habits and behaviours. This is knowledge that will stay with you forever, and be really helpful. This alone can change people's perspectives in very helpful ways.

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is also a really enjoyable process, helping people to focus on positive forces for change, and the things they really enjoy. When we are positive and relaxed, our brains make the good, healthy choices we know we are all capable of. There is hope.

"If you need help in sorting out your priorities and knocking destructive habits on the head. Go and see Adam. I cannot recommend him highly enough."

Hypnotherapy is now one of the best-researched treatments for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and is recommended by NHS guidelines.

There are often several contributing factors with IBS, which makes it hard sometimes to figure out what to do about it. However stress is often a major factor, and reducing stress does seem to help in a lot of cases, sometimes dramatically so.

"I can't believe what a difference it's made, and in such a short time."

What is Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, involves symptoms including abdominal pain, bloating and unpredictable bowel movements. It is quite common, but many people suffer in silence. Women are diagnosed slightly more than men. It can cause a lot of pain and distress and can have a significant negative impact on people's lives, confidence and routines.

However it is now very well researched and most people with IBS can fully recover or at least learn to manage it better and experience much less pain and inconvenience.

"I can now leave the house with confidence."

Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Symptoms can be really unpleasant and inconvenient, including:

• Confidence getting out and about

• Lifestyle impacts e.g. constantly planning / worrying where the nearest loo might be

• Bouts of severe abdominal pain

• Diarrhoea and constipation

• Bloating

• Tiredness and depression

• Embarrassment

How can hypnotherapy help with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

Reducing stress can have a major impact on IBS symptoms and this is a major part of the treatment, with lots of other spin-off benefits like improved sleep and confidence. Where appropriate we can also use specific techniques known as "Gut-directed Hypnotherapy" which can address some of the issues more directly. Most often we will use a combination of the two.

And the good news is, most people (70%) respond well to hypnotherapy. Response rates are even higher for women and children. In the majority of cases people see improvements across all of their symptoms, including the anxiety and lifestyle impacts as well as the physical symptoms.

​"I haven't felt this comfortable for a very long time.”

A tune-up for your mind.

Take care of your mind like you take care of your car

Life can feel like a race sometimes, and just as your car needs regular check-ups to stay on the road, so your mind deserves the same care and attention. A Mind MOT is a simple, powerful way to check in with yourself, to reset, and refocus.

This isn’t about fixing something that’s broken - it’s about:

• Building on what's working

• Tuning and aligning

• Removing areas of clutter or stress

• Strengthening emotional resilience​

• Building tools to help you feel calmer, clearer, and more in control

If you could increase your performance easily by 10, 20, 30%, how much more could you achieve?

Who Is It For?

• Successful people facing opportunities which demand the best of them

• Managing stress or juggling priorities

• Professionals who want to be more present at home

• People wanting a clearer sense of direction

"I can't believe what a difference it's made, and in such a short time."

What Does It Involve?

A typical MOT involves a series of four hypnotherapy sessions, but your Mental MOT is tailored to you. We can start by scheduling a free 20 minute chat.

​Here’s what you can expect in your MOT:
1. A guided exploration of your thoughts, emotions, and habits
2. Simple tools, knowledge and techniques to boost your mental clarity and wellbeing
3. Hypnosis and self-hypnosis to deeply relax and reprogramme the unconscious parts of your mind and body.

Ready to book your Mind MOT?

BOOK NOW

How does hypnotherapy work?

Hypnotherapy helps by calming down the natural stress responses that lead to anxiety. We do this partly by talking - we generally start off by talking about the brain, how it does anxiety and what we can do about it. Conversations then move on to positive things, like things you enjoy, times when the anxiety wasn't there, and imagining what it will be like in the future, when it's gone.

Then we have Hypnosis, which is also enormously helpful. Hypnosis helps us to relax our stress responses and to activate instead our natural states of calm relaxation. These are also known as 'rest and digest' and 'tend and befriend'. We all know how to do these. There are a number of techniques we can use, but generally it's more natural and straightforward than people might imagine. Overall it's a really easy and enjoyable process.

For intrusive thoughts or routines, or unhelpful fears - hypnotherapy can help.

Hypnotherapy for OCD​ (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

Hypnotherapy can be very helpful for people living with OCD. It helps to change thoughts and manage behaviours in more positive ways. It's important to speak to a doctor too as there may be other treatments, and early diagnosis really helps, particularly with young people.

What is OCD?

OCD is a condition where obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behaviours interfere with someone's daily life. The unwanted thoughts and behaviours are driven by the survival parts of the brain and usually feel right and feel important. Hypnotherapy works by calming down these parts and allowing people to explore options.

What are the symptoms of OCD?

People experience different types of OCD including:

• Worrying about death and dying, either themselves, or others. Referred to as "Pure O".

• Repetitive, intrusive and unwanted thoughts

• Rechecking things (e.g. doors, windows, switches, cookers).

• Repetitive habits e.g. hand-washing, arranging, counting, cleaning

• Avoidance of items or places for fear of contamination

How does hypnotherapy help with OCD?

Hypnotherapy helps to relax the unconscious, protective parts of our minds and make it easier to explore and accept new ways of thinking and behaving. It is not usually a case of getting rid of the OCD, but of learning to manage it better.

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Hypnotherapy is good for relationships.

Hypnotherapy can be really helpful for improving behaviours, attitudes and communication within a relationship. We all have patterns and triggers which can get in the way of good communication, and naturally in our close relationships these can come to the surface, and sometimes get in the way.

Hypnotherapy gives us access to more flexible, open and compassionate states of being, where we can see different perspectives and options. Relationships are a prime example of how problems can get really complex, but fortunately the solutions don't need to be. When we soften and relax our stress responses, new avenues open up and solutions become possible. 

"I can't believe what a difference it's made."

What sort of relationship issues can hypnotherapy help with?

Communication, kindness, honesty, intimacy - all of our natural qualities can come to the fore when we are relaxed. When we are stressed ... not so much. Many people experience how stress gets right in the way of their most important relationships, experiencing symptoms such as:

• Dishonesty or lack of communication

• Jealousy

• Rage, anger, grouchiness, grumpiness

• Depression

• Lack of intimacy, loss of libido

• Sexual dysfunction

How can hypnotherapy help with relationship issues?

Relationship issues do not make anyone a bad person. Solution Focused Hypnotherapy helps to calm things down and get back to what's good and what's really important. It's amazing how much better people feel when they relax, and remember that relationships, intimacy and human contact are really good for us.

"My wife is so happy to have her husband back."

Hypnotherapy has a strong and growing track record in helping with performance, in sports, music, the arts and in the workplace.

Many top performers have a hypnotherapist on their team, and I'm fortunate enough to be on the team for several of them, at adult and also youth level.

​​It's estimated that a high percentage of success is down to the mental game. At elite level this can be as high as 95%. Working with hypnosis and applying powerful tools to the mental game can lead to success in competition and at work.

"95% of performance is the mental game."

Is Hypnotherapy like Sports Psychology?

The field of Sports Psychology, as with Executive Coaching, has produced some really good research, and really good results. It has taught us a lot, and there are are several things in common between hypnosis and sports psychology. Both draw on the power of visualisation, positive thinking. flow states and other positive psychology techniques.

​One major difference is that hypnosis works at a subconscious level, and often works indirectly - we might talk about things other than sports. Indirect methods can have a powerful effect - sometimes even more so than direct methods. Together, they can be a really powerful combination.

"My instructor said 'What has happened to you - it's like someone else is riding your horse!'"

What are the common issues in Sports Performance?

The human mind is a marvellous thing, but under pressure it can have a tendency to get in its own way. When performing at a high level, how we manage these tendencies really matters! It's now recognised that a large part of sports performance is "the mental game'.

In individual games like tennis, horse-riding and surfing, where there are fine margins, technicalities, uncertainties, points or waves which can go both ways, and plenty of time in between to think about things, it's estimated that up to 95% of performance is the mental game. This makes it an essential area for attention, although most players do not spend 95% of their time working on it.

How does hypnotherapy work for Sports Performance?

It's when we are most relaxed that we are most effective. Peak performances, flow states, and easy execution of technique can all happen when we are calm and focused.

​Hypnosis is the practice of getting into and making good use of these states. It's a natural thing to do - we all go into trance in different ways throughout the  day and night, sometimes positive trances, sometimes less so. It's a skill we all have, and one we can all improve.

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