Showing posts with label hypnotherapy northamptonshire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hypnotherapy northamptonshire. Show all posts

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Boost Your Immune System

Well today in Northamptonshire the cold Autumnal weather has finally arrived, as I'm sure it has all around the Country too! I had a lovely facebook message from a dear Yoga friend in Finland saying it snowed yesturday. . . as beautiful as it is, I'm thankful we don't have any yet.

With seasonal change often comes challenges to our Immune System, the starts of coughs and colds are already floating around. So alongside our extra doses of Vitamin C, Zinc and Echinacea I thought I'd share my offering of an easy immune system tonic recipe which I've used for many years now, which is an old wives remedy health drink ~ Cider Vinegar, Honey & Water.

As easy as ~ 2 tblsp Apple Cider Vinegar + 2 tsp Honey (to taste) + 5 tblsp water (warm or room temp)

Simply mix the vinegar and honey first until dissolved, then add the water and drink! It's a bit like a sharp apple juice, so adjust the honey and water suit your tastes.
Recommended daily to help maintain health, or soothe throats, or help clear chest infections. Try it out to see how you might like it too!

And if this finds you already feeling under the weather (so to speak!) then please click on this link and you can download my FREE "Healing Garden" hypnosis track to help speed up the healing process and increase your sense of wellbeing.

http://www.mindbodywellbeing.co.uk/Hypnotherapy-Kettering-Downloads-23.php

Wishing you a happy and healthy Autumn!

Pass it on and share with others . . .

    

Monday, May 17, 2010

Whats Your Paunch Type Gentleman?

An excellent article in the Times Body and Soul supplement on Saturday the 15th of May 2010 by a Doctor John Briffas who insists you lose the paunch.He describes how fat on the outside ( the paunch) presents real health risks as it is what the fat is doing on the inside called visceral fat that presents the greater risk than looking out of shape! Visceral fat reaches round your internal organs which can lead to chronic health problems. Dr Briffas recommends a low carb diet to decrease the waist line increase energy and feelings of well being so which paunch type are you? The pod? The button buster? The when-are-you due? Or the blob? With hypnosis it makes the process of realigning your eating habits so much easier with some well defined goals and outcomes and a plan of action you could soon say goodbye to the paunch and hello to your toes!!

Check out the article at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Getting Results

Some may say that there are no hard and fast rules in making changes in your life,I would suggest that the single biggest factor which holds most folks back is fear- fear that a change may be worse than that which is being experienced at this moment in time.Mostly we fear change because of our parental social and cultural conditioning - conditioning which inhibits the natural and inner wisdom which we all posses and potentially stifle any change before it has a chance to take place. Big fears are usually made up of lots of little fears which over time accumulate and if not dealt with properly can prevent us from reaching our true potential.
Time line therapy is an excellent way of dealing with fears, replacing them with a much more useful strategy for life. The key is to take 100% responsibility for making that change now!
Best Wishes
Edd
:)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

National No Smoking Day 2010

National no smoking day 2010 has come and gone once again. Lots of help is available for those smokers out there who are thinking about change and wishing to lead a healthier and wealthier lifestyle by choosing not to smoke.
Contact your local GP or pharmacist to see what is on offer from help groups to nicotine patches. As an alternative why not book an appointment on our change your smoking habit programme , its chemical free, its wonderfully relaxing, and fully supports your lifestyle change. You could seriously affect your health and wealth why wait until national no smoking day day 2011 make a positive change now !!! A 20 a day habit can cost £42.00 per week;in real terms a smoker has to earn £61.00 per week before tax to be able to afford a 20 a day habit or a staggering £3726 per year!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Uptight,Feeling Stressed & Anxious?

A lot has been written in the press of late about the negative effects of feeling stressed and anxious both on the mental body and the physical, manifesting itself in many different and often unpleasant ways (see the Times Mind Body & Soul March 2.) Here are 5 simple tips that any one can do to help reduce those feelings

1.Take 4 or 5 deep breaths with the full capacity of your lungs using the diaphragm just like a baby breathes!

2.Tense all the muscles in the body....... hold that tension for a 2nd or two.... and then relax repeat the process 4 or 5 times

3.Sitting upright in a chair focusing the eyes straight in front imagine the points on a clock face, starting at 12 oclock move the eyes only round clockwise to 1 oclock, 2 oclock, 3oclock, till 12 oclock is reached then reverse the process anti clock wise breathing steadily all of the time repeat this process 4 or 5 times.

4. Go for a short walk,walking steadily and rhythmically again taking notice of the breath.

5.Place a pen or pencil width ways in the mouth gripping gently in the teeth then making an eeeeeh sound..... smile and hold that for a few 2nds... then repeat again 4 or 5 times (this is best done in private in front of a mirror for obvious reasons!!)

You may want to try just one of these techniques or any of them in combination. Hypnosis and Timeline therapy are excellant interventions for helping to "get to the bottom" of what is the underlying reason for feeling this way.
Best Wishes
Edd

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Quit Smoking For Good!

It's only the middle of January and already more than 20 people have told me they want to quit smoking. That it was their New Year resolution but already they are struggling. If they are not back on the tobacco already, they are eating more junk food or sweet stuff than ever before - literally replacing one undesirable habit with another!



I can totally understand why they'd want to give up. After all smoking is said to account for 90% of lung cancer deaths. What's more, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) states that tobacco smoking can also cause cancers of the following sites: upper aero-digestive tract (oral cavity, nasal cavity, nasal sinuses, pharynx, larynx and oesophagus), pancreas, stomach, liver, bladder, kidney, cervix, bowel, ovary (mucinous) and myeloid leukaemia.

It's also pretty anti-social these days, now it's banned in public places. And it's a jolly expensive habit to boot. So quitting (or rather stopping) would seem to make good sense, whether you're a seasoned smoker or a part-time puffer.

You wouldn't be alone in your quest to stop either. In a survey carried out last year for the Office of National Statistics, 66% of smokers said that they wanted to give up. Health concerns were the most commonly mentioned reasons for quitting, with 86% of people who wanted to give up mentioning at least one health reason. After health, the next most common reasons were costs (27%), family pressure (20%) and the effect on their children (15%). A similar picture to this year, I imagine.

So just how do you stop smoking, and not get addicted to something else?
Well, it's easier than you may think. At Sahasrara we deliver a highly effective programme around stopping smoking for our clients to achieve success. We help them explore the emotional reasons why they smoke and resolve these at cause. The programme teaches them how to overcome cravings and change habits for better more supportive ones for them. We use the power of suggestion to undo the desire to smoke and replace it with a desire to do something far healthier for them. And it's a really pleasant experience. In a trance state you get to relax in a way that you probably haven't done for a very long time. Plus you are more likely to enjoy a good night's sleep that evening too.

We also follow up on our clients, to make sure they have really kicked the habit once and for all. To our delight, over 90% of people tell us that they have and because the programme includes a follow-up session the rest conquer it then. The feedback we get is that they've not even had any craving to do so - quite the opposite in fact. And it doesn't matter whether they're immersed in a room with other smokers or not.

Now considering the cost of a stopping smoking programme of Hypnotherapy (often less than heavy smokers spend on cigarettes in one month), that is a good reason alone to try it?

So, if you'd like to quit smoking for good, just give us a call.
Or if you've a question you'd like to ask about the programme, just post a comment below.

Best Wishes
Edd

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

2010 a new decade for change & setting new goals

How do you feel as we come to the end of yet another decade in the 21st century?
Have you achieved what you set out to do, are you where & who you want to be?

A New Year for me is always a time for reflection, to look back on my successes & analyse what I have not quite achieved . . . yet . . . & then look forwards to the year of possiblities ahead.

There is a saying in NLP which is "There is no Failure . . . only Feedback!"

Just imagine what it would be like to apply that focus to everything we do in life, how we could just step back & look at what we could learn from a situation . . . which by learning it means we could see the opportunities & endless possibilities to create positive change towards achieving our goals.
So what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail . . . ?

When you think about your year ahead & the direction you'd like it to take . . . what if you had no plans? You would have no direction!
We all need a balance with goals, ones that support us in all areas of life ~ personal development; work & career; relationships & family; Health & Fitness. After all it's no good being successful in Business if you work all hours under the sun & have poor health & relationships.
At Sahasrara we specialise in helping you actualise your goals, check they are in balance & help you break through any limiting beliefs that may have stopped you before in the past. Hypnotherapy, NLP & TimeLine Therapy can help you create & maintain the changes you seek.
So whether your goals are around health & fitness ~ stopping smoking or losing weight; work ~ a new career or promotion; relationships & family ~ finding love & happiness; then start 2010 as you mean to go on.
It's all about taking action . . . we can talk about doing things for years . . . but actually achieving successes is all in the doing, the action.
So what would you like to take control of & change?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Exercise? a fat lot of good if you want to lose weight

At our practice in Northamptonshire nr kettering I am sat reading an article in the Times by Helen Rumbelow www.timeslonline.co.uk regarding new research that has discovered that exercise is not the universal panacea to losing weight. That's not to say that exercise isn't good for you as it has been well researched that exercise can reduce depression, heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, increase muscle mass, increase bone density to mention a few benefits of a healthy exercise regime.
Its the "thorny" question of weight loss. In 1932 Russell Wilder a leading obesity expert lectured the American college of Physicians saying that his patients lost more weight on bed rest than on an exercise regime. The article describes several studies in America which have found that it is obesity that is leading to inactivity not the other way round. It has been found that diet (not dieting) is the key to effective weight loss. Interestingly on BBC3 yesterday evening a programme featured the amount of hidden sugar in our food; the recommended daily intake being around 60gs of sugar for an adult which was exceeded just by eating a Big Mac. Statistical evidence has demonstrated that supermarkets promote "junk food" more often and more aggressively than healthy foods and inferred that the responsibility is on the purchaser of the food to read labels and understand the amount of hidden sugar in it. I agree to a point, we do need to be individually more responsible for our diet and exercise, however I do think that supermarkets have to play their part considering that they are responsible for supplying over 70% of the food that we consume and consumers will literally eat what is put in front of them. We have found that using a blend of hypnosis and other techniques has been hugely successful in allowing our clients to gain control of their diets,enabling them to lose weight safely and in their own time without resorting to "giving anything up" by increasing their motivation to change their lifestyles and supporting the emotional issues that many have over eating. As well as seeing clients individually regarding weight issues we are about to offer a new service which you can book onto now, called Slim Quest it will offer a group environment for a 6 week programme of motivation and support without dieting or weekly weigh ins

Monday, October 12, 2009

How We Talk To Ourselves

Walking around our garden at our premises in Northamptonshire where we practice as Hypnotherapists using hypnosis to help others create change in their lives.
I was talking away to myself inside my head and making a list of gardening jobs which needed my attention and being a little cross with myself because something I had planned had not worked properly.Noticing that internal conversation and taking note of the tone of voice I was using, then noticing how I felt, then taking a moment or two to reflect on those thoughts.It occurred to me do we listen often enough to how we talk to ourselves? How can the tone and quality of what we say to ourselves (in other words our internal dialogue) impact on our lives in both a positive and negative sense?
Consider this statement
THE WAY WE TALK, IS THE WAY WE THINK, IS THE WAY WE FEEL,
by considering that statement and listening honestly to your own inner voice how do you talk to you? How does what you say to yourself impact on the way you think and others think of you? How do you feel, and how do others feel about you?
At Sahasrara in Northamptonshire we use Hypnosis,and Hypnotherpeutic interventions to help create change, enabling our clients use their internal voice to have a positive and motivated effect on themselves and others.Change is an option available to everyone! In the words of the Jedi you do or do not - their is no try -just do it contact Sahasrara today and boook your hypnosis session.
Edd

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Magic, Snowballs, & Hypnosis

Hypnosis, Hypnotists,Hypnotherapy, Hypnotherapeutic interventions what are they and I am often asked "just how does hypnosis work"? my answer is, its "magic" or in many cases it can be just like a "snowball effect". Lets look at the two effects separately.
The magical effect is when a client has an hypnosis session and its as if a magic wand has been waved over them and their presenting issue has gone instantly- fantastic! - as if by "magic"!
The snowball effect is experienced by a number of hypnosis sessions each session reinforcing the previous session thus creating a "snowball effect" - or in other words a momentum or gathering together of new behaviour over a period of time.
Both effects have created real change permanently,reinforcement ensures that change lasts.
At Sahasarara in Northamptonshire in the midalnds all our clients are given a personalised CD or MP3 download to help the process along.
Hypnosis, hypnotherapy, is a truly amazing method to rapidly change responses and behaviours.
All behaviour and responses are learned, hypnosis rapidly allows the process of unlearning and relearning so that new behaviours and responses are automatic.
Rapid learning is allowed by bypassing the conscious critical factor of the mind/brain,(the critical factor is thought to be a relic of evolution in that it slows down the process of learning for survival purposes),hypnosis does this quickly effectively painlessly and safely.
Sometimes learning something new can take a little time, remember learning to ride a bicycle, drive a car, swim or read and write. Generally speaking you were shown the basics and the methodology then with practice this was reinforced until it became automatic.
In conclusion; hypnosis enables rapid and permanent change, learning anything new requires practice or reinforcing so hypnosis can be both "magic" or "snowball gathering snow" Begin your practice at Sahasrara consultancy for hypnosis, hypnotherapy,NLP,TFT,And Timeline Therapy
Edd
:)

Monday, September 14, 2009

Heart Attacks Plummet after Smoking Ban

Sat in my office in Northamptonshire in the midlands where we practice as Hypnotherapists I am reflecting on a conversation with a client who has recently stopped smoking having had a hypnotic intervention.A recent article in the Times newspaper (wwww.timesonline.co.uk/news) reported a larger and sharper fall in the incident of heart attacks since the smoking ban was introduced in England in 2007. Causing rates of heart attacks to fall by about 10%, the percentage gain is even higher in Scotland which introduced the ban a year earlier. There, rates of heart attack have fallen by about 14%. According to the Times this is one of the most significant gains to public health that Britain has ever seen! Although less is known of cigarette smokes ability to to trigger heart heart attacks than its role in lung cancer its contribution to its effects are beginning to be better understood, Ellen Mason a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation said "Exposure to cigarette smoke induces rapid changes in blood chemistry ,making it prone to clotting.In someone who has narrowed or damaged coronary arteries, smoke exposure can cause a heart attack."
At Sahasrara consultancy in Northamptonshire in the Midlands we have had great success helping individuals overcome their cigarette habit using Hypnosis Hypnotherapy, and Hypnotherpeutic techniques without our clients feeling that they are giving anything up, only gaining a healthier and wealthier future!
Edd

Friday, September 4, 2009

Back To Study?

Back to study after the summer holidays? Sat in my office in Northamptonshire in the Midlands I read many studies on Hypnosis,Hypnotherapy, Hypnotic techniques and trance states of hypnosis.
Have you experienced the moment when you have read something and then thought "what on earth have I just read"? This sometimes is the minds way of escaping from physical or mental overload resulting from intense mental concentration over too long a period of time, when this happens its possible to experience a hypnotic trance. Its commonly known that we experience trance as an everyday experience like when you are driving and arriving somewhere without knowing how you got there, or putting your keys down at not being able to find them only for someone to find them "right under your nose" where they have been all the time.
Its important to have a strategy for success and to eliminate unproductive study time. Research has proven that after 40 or 50 minutes our minds begin to wander our concentration begins to wane and we find it difficult to retain information.This has nothing to do with intelligence but is the minds way of signaling take a break , to do something different. A good tactic would be to build in a rest or something different every 40-50 minutes to maintain concentration and aid integration of information .A great way of doing this would be take a short walk or go and have a cup of tea or if your feeling particularly energetic a light stretching session.Use the alarm function on your mobile phone to divide your study time up into manageable chunks.
Not enough attention is paid to diet when studying, its important to maintain a steady blood sugar level by eating sensibly, and maybe having a bowl of fresh fruit on hand to snack on, as an alternative to crisps, chocolates and sweets. This will help prevent hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia which is to little or to much sugar in the blood stream and also making sure that by drinking enough fluid dehydration is avoided another obstacle to effective study.
Some may find it helpful with their studys to book one or two sessions on focus and motivation to really sharpen up their study skills or pehaps look at coaching over a longer period of time to really "add the edge" especially when studying. Hypnosis NLP and timeline therapy are really useful tools to helping with a postive outcome around study. At our therapy room in Northamptonshire in the Midlands we are able to help many focus and relieve the stress of study using hypnosis, hypnotherpay, hypnotic, and hypnotherpuetic techniques and suggestion.
Edd

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Hypnosis and relaxation

Sitting in my office in Northamptonshire in the Midlands having completed a hypnosis session with a client who calls me her hypnotist not hypnotherapist,some clients still insist in calling us hypnotists rather than hypnotherapists in the profession of hypnosis there is a very distinct difference
A recent article brought to my attention in the independent newspaper www.independant.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families Advising that relaxation is key to good health and well being advice which has been known by practitioners of yoga and meditation alike for thousands of years
Its only recently that science has been able to provide "hard" evidence that relaxation methods used by long term practitioners of yoga and meditation have indeed increased disease fighting genes, those who practised no form of relaxation at all were found to have very few of these beneficial genes at all.
Professor Herbert Benson who lead the research at the Harvard medical school reported "we found that a range of disease-fighting genes were active in the relaxation practitioners that were not active in the control group" they describe the protective genes that control disorders such as pain,infertility,high blood pressure,and even rheumatoid arthritis as "switched on" or "induced" by what was described as the relaxation effect.
Hypnosis is seen as a particularly effective method of deeply relaxing. By deeply relaxing we are able to reduce the negative effects of the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol, which raise the heart rate and blood pressure, weaken the immune system and can lower fertility, by deeply relaxing we are able to counter stress which is linked to the sympathetic nervous system or the "flight or fight syndrome" and instead introduce higher levels of feel good chemicals hormones such as serotonin and growth hormone which promote the repair of cells and tissues. When we are in a state of "flight or fight" or stress, muscles which are useful to be used for danger tighten and contract and processes which are deemed as non essential like the immune system and digestion are ignored.
One can use hypnosis as a very effective technique to switch on the parasympathetic nervous system which operates when we are relaxed to promote health and well being . To gain full benefit from relaxation techniques including hypnosis it is important to practice them regularly on a daily basis for a minimum of 15 minutes.As part of our service to our clients we are on request able to teach them self hypnosis to enable them to fully benefit from our hypnotherapeutic sessions, and continue to practice hypnotic states as part of their strategy to help them relax.
Best Wishes
Edd

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Creativity

Can we all learn to be more creative? Using Hypnosis, hypnotherapy,and hypnotic techniques. Why is it important to be creative? Does creativity deserve to be cherished ?
The answer is of course yes we can all learn to be more creative, it is a skill like all other skills which requires regular practice. Why is creativity important?
It is important on both a personal level and commercial level because being creative is a usual human process and in many ways is a healthy part of our natural personal development, being creative fulfills a basic human requirement of existence and of feeling happy and healthy.
Mention the word creativity to some people and it can be a very negative word for them, the past possibly conjures up an experience where creativity has been dealt a blow by an inappropriate comment at school,or "put down" in a meeting at work resulting sometimes in a feeling of inadequacy, or feeling unfulfilled or undervalued . Does creativity deserve to be cherished ? I think so, in a world that is presented to us in a format that could be considered to be almost totally "prepackaged" being creative and being flexible in thought is a premium asset to have. From the ability to think at a strategic level in business to perhaps what could be considered the more mundane skill of being creative with a weeks shopping budget, from writing a score for an orchestra to writing a song for your own amusement, cooking in a Michelin star restaurant or baking a cake for your child's birthday. Creativity does have real value, the techniques both I and my wife use in our business are very successful with individuals and groups at enabling and developing this skill. We are able to work from our office in Northamptonshire in the Midlands Remember the old adage "give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish feed him for a life time" Food for thought!
Best Wishes
Edd
:]

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

At our therapy room in Northamptonshire in the Midlands where we practice as hypnotherapists, using hypnotherapeutic techniques, and hypnosis we often see clients who suffer from IBS. Research has shown that 18-20% of women and 10-12% of men suffer in the UK from irritable bowel syndrome this figure could be a lot higher as many sufferers (mainly men) do not report this to a Doctor through fear of embarrassment or Doctors diagnosing in many different ways.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)which is an independent organisation, dedicated to promoting good health and preventing and treating ill health in 2008 identified how hypnosis, hypnotherapy and hypnotherapeutic techniques can play an important part in reducing the symptoms of IBS. This was a met analysis of research carried out in the UK and the USA from studies taken over a 4 year period. In one study it was reported that the overall improvement of symptoms and welling scored weekly on a scale of 0-3 (where 0 is no improvement and 3 is maximum improvement)showed that patients in the study receiving hypnotherapy increased from baseline 0 (no improvement) to a mean weekly value of 2.95 which is statistically significant or in other words hypnosis nearly achieved maximum improvement. Similar success was replicated in reducing the symptoms of bloating the benefit being that overall quality of life was improved . Although in some quarters hypnosis remains a controversial intervention a body of evidence would suggest and indeed support, that along with a sensible lifestyle programme, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, hypnothepeutic techniques can be very effective indeed in reducing the symptoms of IBS.
Edd
:)

Friday, July 24, 2009

consciousness

I have just finished reading a really interesting article by the philosopher Roger Scruton published in the Sunday Times magazine on the 5th of July regarding how we view neroscience and the subject of consciousness. Beginning the article with his understanding of the smallest word in the language which is "I" and what does "I" mean, am "I" seperate from my body or a part of it and how that reflects on our understanding of the self has the "I" been reduced to a function within the brain. He describes the advances in medical science which can capture the activity of the brain on an MRI scan and show which part of the brain is responsible for moving an arm and the belief that amongst some neurosurgeons and pyschologists that the self is "located" in the "mirror neurons" which fire when people instinctivley imitate the expressions and gestures that they observe . The neurons responsible for intentional activity trigger before we are conscious of "making up our minds" therfore there is no free will. He goes onto discuss that it assocciates ideas with parts of the brain but says nothing about the self about free will,about spiruality or the magnificence of the world around us, it just tells a story of neurons!Brain imaging or neuroscience will not help to understand the emotion surrounding a beautiful piece of music or a tragic event in our lives, it will do nothing to lead to a better understanding of personal accountability and the ability to change our behaviour, it will never give us what it means to be truly motivated which is why I am so curious how altered states of consciousness,through hypnosis and timleline therapy can have such a positive effect on our lives.If you are reading and would like an appointment to see us our practice is based near Kettering Northamptonshire.
Edd
:)

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Stress

At our practice in Northamptonshire, Northants using hypnosis, hypnotic techniques,usually called hypnotherapy We have been working with great success on clients recently who have been stressed out and anxious. Timeline Therapy and TFT ( thought field therapy) in combination with hypnosis hypnotherapy and hypnotic techniques have been really successful .We have had some great outcomes for our clients both physiological and psychological reducing blood pressure considerably in some cases and creating enabling strategies for stressful situations.
Best Wishes
Edd

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Shamanic Journeying Weekend

Many believe that hypnosis or hypnotic trance is unusual in our therapy room in Northamptonshire, Northants, we work with hypnosis or hypnotherapy,to enable people to make positive changes to enhance the quality of their lives.I had a very different experience recently when I attended a shamanic journeying weekend in London. Altered states of consciousness or non ordinary states of consciousness can be accessed in many different ways hypnosis being one method, Shamanic journeying is another way and also lots of fun!A shamanic journey is accessed by way of a drum beat or rattle which has an amazing trance effect
I am going to be experimenting with rhythm and sound as a method of accelerating and deepening the effect of hypnosis at our hypnotherapy practice in Northanptonshire, Northants
Best Wishes
Edd

Monday, February 9, 2009

Holotropic breath seminar

As part of my studies towards an MSc in Transpersonal Psychology and also of my continuous personal development I attended a workshop recently on holotropic breathwork. Both Lori and I believe that it is important both develop as therapists using hypnosis as our main therapeutic tool but also intergtaing new learnings as well so that we can offer a special experience at our hypnotherpay practice in Northamptonshire sometimes known as Northants.What is holotropic breath I can hear you ask? Holotropic breathwork is a pyschotherapeutic process developed by Stanislov Groff MD Phd and his wife Christina which gives access to non ordinary states of consciousness. It is a technique which allows for self exploration and healing involving intensified breathing during which evocative rhythmical music is played really loud and you experience body work and expressive drawing. It was a most intense and at the same time enjoyable experience for me. Groff believes that "during this process you activate the inner radar which automatically brings into consciousness the contents from the unconscious that have the strongest emotional charge, are most pyschodynamically relevant at the time and most readily available for conscious processing" . What was most interesting for me was the concept of what Groff calls the "systems of condensed experience" or COEX systems. The theory is that each system comprises of emotionally charged memories from different periods of our lives that resemble each other in the type of emotion and or physical feeling that they evoke and are common to each other. Each COEX can have a basic theme which goes through all its layers and has a common denominator. Each layer has the potential to have variations on a theme that can occur in an individuals life. Therefore many COEX can exist and the number and themes vary from individual to individual. Its possible for a COEX to retain all the humiliating and degrading experiences which have damaged self esteem or in another system to have all the experiences which can lead to uncontrollable anger and frustration.
The idea of this in a therapeutic sense I found very interesting to compare and contrast with a technique we use at Sahasrara therapy's which is Timeline Therapy. Timeline also takes the notion that we store memories around powerful emotional events in our lives,and these also can have many links and and layers to them as well, now these can be both negative and positive emotions. Our minds just go ahead and store these, not paying any particular attention to whether an event is positive or negative or if the event is identical just so long as it evokes a similar emotional response or is an S.E.E. or significant emotional event . In a positive sense an S.E.E. is fantastic, as you experience the positive event plus all the associated events which makes it powerful and very memorable. The downside to this of course is that you experience negative emotional events in exactly the same way, which can for some people be a source of constant pain. Using Timeline as a therapy is a quick effective technique to overcome negative emotions in your past whilst at the same time engineering your future to be even more positive and fulfilling!

Friday, January 30, 2009

What do you dream about?

The ancient Egyptians certainly knew the value of dreams, they were credited with creating "dream rooms" performing what we now know as hypnosis. At Sahasrara at our therapy room in Norhamptonshire we believe that hypnosis is a very valuable "tool" in allowing you to realise your dreams or using hypnosis to rid yourself of nightmares for good!
Hypnosis as a therapy which can be used in many situations from improving your golf swing to learning how to relax effectively. Hypnotherapy at Sahasrara in Northants is a relaxing stress free experiance!
Edd & Lori