Hypnotherapy
I am a fan of hypnotism, I really believe that it can help you to curb bad habits, including smoking. One of our senior consultants, Neil Smith, came to me when we launched Fit For Business to ask if there was any help available for him to quit smoking. After some research and evaluation we jointly decided that hypnotism was the answer. One session later and Neil’s 20-a-day habit is no more!
Amazed by the results we realised hypnosis could be a powerful tool for all our team members that want to change something, be it smoking, eating crisps, selling product or even getting up.
James Parker of Leicester’s Hypnotherapy Centre was charged with explaining how and why hypnosis works to my team. Here are all my notes from his fascinating session:
Knowing something consciously doesn’t mean that you will actually change it
We have amazing imaginations when we are young children, which we have a tendency to lose as we get older. Imagination is a powerful tool and a crucial part of how hypnosis works.
Try this simple mental exercise to give you an idea of how hypnosis session work
• Think about something you want to change
• 1st stage is to believe in it, picture the person you want to be
• Get a sense of the end result and feel it getting stronger
• Imagine you have a remote control and make that image brighter and lighter
• Alter the focus, make it clearer
• Turn the colours up to make them more powerful
• Make the image as big as you can
• Imagine every aspect of that image, see it, hear it, feel it.
When it comes to changing a habit, like stopping smoking, if that habit is the only one thing you change it will stand out like a sore thumb! You need to try and change some other aspects of your daily life as well, try driving a different way to work or changing your hair style or colour.
Nicotine is very addictive yet it is very quick to get rid of the physical addiction symptoms, usually about a week. It’s the habit which is harder to overcome, often a cigarette break means not working for 10 minutes so you come to associate smoking as a reward.
Hypnosis is about subconscious communication, talking to your subconscious when in a trance means you can train yourself. Hypnosis is a natural state, you are actually in a trance at least twice a day – just before you wake up and just before you fall asleep. Have you ever driven anywhere and forgotten how you got there? That’s because you were in a completely natural trance. It can happen when you get really involved in a book, film or listening to music.
People have several concerns about hypnosis, the most common being:
• I won’t be able to go into a trance – everyone can go into a trance, the time taken and methods used may vary but there is absolutely something that will work for everyone
• I don’t like the idea of the hypnotist being able to “control” me
My answer to this is that you will only let go as much as you are comfortable with. You know when you are just about to fall asleep (in a natural hypnosis) and you hear something? You wake up instantly and the same is true when you are hypnotised, if you don’t feel comfortable or don’t like what is being said you can bring yourself out of a trance in seconds.