Waterford Hypnosis Blog

Friday, 6 February 2015

Understanding your 'Subconscious Mind'

In this blog post I am going to give my perspective and understanding of an often discussed, but rarely understood subject - the 'Subconscious Mind'. In order to really understand how hypnosis works, I feel it is important to understand the Subconscious Mind, the Conscious Mind, and the differences. It is something that I always cover in my pre-talk with my clients to help them gain a full understanding on what we are going to achieve in the session.

I really like the 'Iceberg' metaphor when it comes to describing the difference between the Conscious and Subconscious Mind. That the Conscious Mind is the smaller part of the mind (just like the part of the iceberg that you can see), that we use to make decisions with. It is rational and logical and 'thinks' in sequence. For example you would have made a conscious decision this morning in what clothes to wear. The Subconscious Mind on the other hand is, as studies have shown, the much more powerful part of the mind (that bigger part of the iceberg you cannot see). It is the source of everything we do 'automatically' and without thinking about it. From the time we are born when we learn things at first consciously but with repetition and practice it becomes subconscious. Things, you now probably take for granted like walking, talking, reading and writing. There is an old saying 'you'll always remember how to cycle a bike' and that is so true, because it is a subconscious learning.

In my opinion, the Subconscious Mind is like a vast library that stores every memory and feeling that we have ever had, good and bad, each of which can be accessed at any time. This is why the quote on the left is true. The Subconscious Mind can multitask and is the source of our Imagination and Visualization skills, in fact according to 'the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory', it would be very much 'the right side of the brain' as it is best at expressive and creative tasks. The Conscious Mind is the source of your 'willpower', but sometimes this can impede us...have you ever noticed that sometimes 'the harder you try to do something the harder it gets'? Whereas the Subconscious Mind is more about going with the flow and letting your inner talents flow to the surface.

A great example of the difference between the conscious and subconscious is when it comes to learning how to drive a car. If you can drive a car, you might remember at the start, how difficult it may have seemed, how you had a step of steps to follow and remember. When I look back at my own experience, I recall there was a time, after about 5 weeks, that I thought I'd never learn how to drive, in fact that I was probably putting both my own and my instructors life at risk every time I got behind the wheel! But, after a few bumps along the way, the time did come where I was able to get into the car and drive it. It had become a subconscious learning and something I'll always know how to do. About a year and a half ago I decided to learn how to play the guitar. Knowing what i know about this, I knew it takes a little time and lots of practice for me to be able to play fluently (subconsciously). At the start I needed to force my fingers onto the right strings, to play the chords. But now, slowly but surely, I notice how my fingers are going from one chord to the another 'automatically'. This is because the 'muscle memory' has kicked in and I am doing it subconsciously. For me the Subconscious Mind' is more than just our brains, but it's our body, every cell of our body has a memory.

Hypnosis can help, because it, bypasses the Conscious Mind and directly communicates with the Subconscious Mind, where all of our behaviors and habits reside. Once i help my client 'quieten' their minds and guide then into that wonderful natural state of relaxation and focused concentration we call 'hypnosis'; they are open to make rearrangements subconsciously whether it be to accept my suggestions for change; or finding creative solutions to their problems. In many ways I am guiding them to find their REAL and TRUE selves within. We are all 'conditioned' in certain ways, basically wired at a very neurological level that result in our subconscious behaviors and habits. Hypnosis is a great way to 'reprogram' these behaviors and habits. If someone comes to see me to stop smoking for example, what I am really doing is helping to learn to subconsciously live as a non smoker. In fact it can fast track this process, but for some people this may take longer than others. However it is important to understand that you are re-programming your own mind, with the hypnotists help and guidance and that the hypnotist cannot 'make' someone do something they don't want to do in the first place. This is why I put a lot of focus on teaching all my clients the tools and techniques (mindfulness, self hypnosis, etc.) that they can use to keep programming their own minds, long after they leave my office.

One last thing to be aware of is that your Subconscious Mind never sleeps and in fact, as I tell my clients' will be processing the new information learned in my sessions, even as they sleep. You might have had the experience of not been able to remember something going to bed, but hey presto when you wake up in the morning, you have the answer? This is because as you were asleep your Subconscious Mind worked on it for you overnight. Your Subconscious Mind is always listening and takes everything literally, so keep this in mind the next time you put yourself down and are self critical. In many ways 'we are what we think and tell ourselves' and how we feel strong or weak is really dependent on how strong we are subconsciously and that's what hypnosis is all about = Empowering you from within and helping you help yourself.

So that is the basics of the subconscious, or at least my take on it and of course there is so much more I could go into, but haven't got time in this short blog. I hope you have found what I have had to say interesting and that is has given you some food for thought. Till next time...... take care all ....

Note: 'Unconscious Mind' is really just another word for 'Subconscious Mind', but I don't use it as, the last thing I want is my clients thinking they are going to be 'Unconscious' in my office, which of course is not the case....

My name if Trevor Eivers and I am based in Waterford, Ireland. I am a Certified Consulting Hypnotist (since 2010) with the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), which is the largest hypnosis body in the world with over 14,000 members in 83 different countries worldwide. I am also a Certified NLP practitioner. I love my job in which I help everyday people with everyday issues. Contact me at 086-8211677 or check me out online at waterford-hypnosis.com or Facebook at : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trevor-Eivers-Hypnosis/177881245578285

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

How Hypnosis Can Help with 'Anger' Issues

Hi Everyone and welcome to my latest blog.....................wow the weeks are flying by at a rapid rate!

I am happy to say that January has been a very busy month for me, with lots of people experiencing hypnotic success! I was thinking the last few weeks of another interesting area that I could blog about. I finally decided that 'Anger' is something I would like to talk about, both in terms of what it is and how hypnosis can help.

Anger is actually a normal human emotion and yes there are a lot of positive elements to anger. It sometimes can be an energizer and communication device. For example it has been and can be the trigger to push for social change that can result in a better world for us to live in. People can rightly get angry for 'wrongs' they see in the world, such as austerity against the poor and people being unfairly evicted from their homes and so on.

However, in some cases Anger can overflow to violence and destruction, which is not productive or positive. So how do we reduce the anger and continue to speak our message, i.e. preserving the positive aspects of anger?

Hypnosis helps because it can give a person the 'resources' to manage anger, and be more in tune with themselves so that they can note the warning signs that precede anger. I teach my clients very powerful tools like mindfulness that will help them be more in control of their thoughts and emotions and to be able to observe the symptoms of anger in their bodies. With hypnosis I help my clients to a very calm and resourceful state and then 'anchor' that state. Anchoring is a way to instantly bring back happy and positive feelings. It is a great way of controlling internal responses to external stimulus by just touching your thumb and finger together and repeating a key word, which will be a trigger to bring a sense of calm and relaxed and instantly remind the client of their ability to be successful. I also teach my clients to see anger in layers or levels rather than all or nothing, so that they have the know how to 'dissolve' anger themselves.

In summary, through hypnosis I can help promote well being and personal satisfaction and provide the platform for a person to let go of 'anger' and 'resentment'; and step into 'calm' and 'relaxed' and in some cases 'forgiveness', so that it restores happiness and joy to a persons life. I can also really help energize the mind and body, through using the techniques in hypnosis, teaching strategies that can help people replace feelings of 'crises' with feelings of 'calm and 'serenity'.

Friday, 2 January 2015

Research evidence on the effectiveness of Stop Smoking using hypnosis

Hi Everyone, A Very Happy New Year and Welcome to my first blog of 2015!!

One of my main specialties is helping people to stop smoking and this time of year I get a large amount of phone calls in relation to this. One of the questions I usually get asked is 'Does it work?' My answer is ''Yes, if you WANT it to work and commit to the process". However I also inform people that there is a large amount of research evidence on the effectiveness of Stop Smoking using hypnosis. In this blog post I would like to list that evidence.

(1) 90.6% Success Rate for Smoking Cessation Using Hypnosis

Details:
Of 43 consecutive patients undergoing this treatment protocol, 39 reported remaining abstinent from tobacco use at follow-up (6 months to 3 years post-treatment). This represents a 90.6% success rate using hypnosis.
Reference:
University of Washington School of Medicine, Depts. of Anesthesiology and Rehabilitation Medicine, Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2001 Jul;49(3):257-66. Barber J.

(2) 87% Reported Abstinence From Tobacco Use With Hypnosis

Details:
A field study of 93 male and 93 female CMHC outpatients examined the facilitation of smoking cessation by using hypnosis. At 3-month follow-up, 86% of the men and 87% of the women reported continued abstinence from the use of tobacco using hypnosis.
Reference:
Performance by gender in a stop-smoking program combining hypnosis and aversion. Johnson DL, Karkut RT. Adkar Associates, Inc., Bloomington, Indiana. Psychol Rep. 1994 Oct;75(2):851-7. PMID: 7862796 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

(3) 81% Reported They Had Stopped Smoking After Hypnosis

Details:
Thirty smokers enrolled in an HMO were referred by their primary physician for treatment. Twenty-one patients returned after an initial consultation and received hypnosis for smoking cessation. At the end of treatment, 81% of those patients reported that they had stopped smoking, and 48% reported abstinence at 12 months post-treatment.
Reference:
Texas A&M University, System Health Science Center, College of Medicine, College Station, TX USA. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2004 Jan;52(1):73-81. Clinical hypnosis for smoking cessation: preliminary results of a three-session intervention. Elkins GR, Rajab MH.

(4) Hypnosis Patients Twice As Likely To Remain Smoke-Free After Two Years

Details:

Study of 71 smokers showed that after a two-year follow up, patients that quit with hypnosis were twice as likely to remain smoke-free than those who quit on their own.
Reference:
Guided health imagery for smoking cessation and long-term abstinence. Wynd, CA. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 2005; 37:3, pages 245-250.

(5) Hypnosis More Effective Than Drug Interventions For Smoking Cessation

Details:
Group hypnosis sessions, evaluated at a less effective success rate (22% success) than individualized hypnosis sessions. However, group hypnosis sessions were still demonstrated here as being more effective than drug interventions.
Reference:
Ohio State University, College of Nursing, Columbus, OH 43210, USA Descriptive outcomes of the American Lung Association of Ohio hypnotherapy smoking cessation program. Ahijevych K, Yerardi R, Nedilsky N.

(6) Hypnosis Most Effective Says Largest Study Ever: 3 Times as Effective as Patch and 15 Times as Effective as Willpower.

Details:
Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking, according to the largest ever scientific comparison of ways of breaking the habit. A meta-analysis, statistically combining results of more than 600 studies of 72,000 people from America and Europe to compare various methods of quitting. On average, hypnosis was over three times as effective as nicotine replacement methods and 15 times as effective as trying to quit alone.
Reference:
University of Iowa, Journal of Applied Psychology, How One in Five Give Up Smoking. October 1992. (Also New Scientist, October 10, 1992.)

I hope you found this blog post informational. It is my intention to write more regular blogs this year, covering all aspects of hypnosis and how it can help you lead a better and happier life.

Citations:

1. Studies on the Effectiveness of Hypnosis for Smoking Cessation. (2009, April 8). Retrieved from http://johnmongiovi.com

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

E Cigarettes: Switching one habit for another

E cigarettes seem to be all the latest rage. They are really turning into big business with a new shop opening up in Waterford earlier this year. I remember late last year the first time I actually seen someone smoking an e-cigarette in a pub and I could not understand why the barman was allowing it. I even thought maybe the smoking ban was lifted! But alas, to my relief, a friend then informed me that it was only someone ‘blowing vapour’. However, I lost count of the amount of people that pulled out this plastic stick and started pulling out of it. So are ‘e-cigs’ a solution to all smokers problems? In this blog post I will be taking a look.

E-Cigarettes: One habit for another?

E-cigarettes are now been marketed as effective smoking cessation devices. But are they really? I have many concerns about them. The latest studies indicate e-cigs do cause damage to the lungs, as scientists from the University of Athens, Greece reported: “We found e-cigarettes can cause immediate harm after smoking the device. More research is needed to understand whether this harm also has lasting effects in the long-term”. Another study carried out in France, found that e-cigs contain carcinogenic chemicals that make some as harmful as normal tobacco. They reported that: “We detected a significant quantity of carcinogenic molecules in the vapour of these cigarettes. In three models out of ten the levels of the carcinogenic compound formaldehyde come close to those of a conventional cigarette. The highly toxic molecule ‘acrolein’ was also detected in the vapours of e-cigarettes, sometimes at levels even higher than in traditional cigarettes”.1

Health experts in Japan also discovered high levels of chemicals including formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the vapour produced by several types of e-cigarette liquid.2 As recently as August 2014 the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on governments to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, warning they pose a 'serious threat' to unborn babies and young people.3

Hypnosis will help you escape from smokeland

In my opinion, even if e-cigarettes are not as harmful as ‘regular’ cigarettes, at the end of the day, less of a bad thing just kills you slower and worse you’re still left with a habit. The difference with using hypnosis to stop smoking in comparison to other strategies is that all other strategies suggest that you ‘need’ something (i.e. e-cigs, gum, patches, etc.) ‘outside of yourself’ to stop smoking. In other words you can’t do it yourself. Hypnosis on the other hand, empowers you with the right thought process, belief and mind set to enable you to stop smoking easily.

There are many advantages to using Hypnotherapy to stop smoking Vs E-cigarettes:

1. You are not replacing one habit with another.
2. You learn to control your thoughts; emotions and feelings which will benefit many other aspects of your life, e.g. stress reduction.
3. It promotes health and well-being and is completely safe.
4. You will be equipped with the tools and mind set to stop smoking permanently.
5. It is much cheaper. E-cigarettes, while cheaper than regular cigarettes are still an ongoing expense.
6. Stopping smoking using hypnosis is much more rewarding and you will feel a much greater ‘sense of achievement’.
7. With hypnosis you can experience a reduction and/or elimination of cravings.
8. The ‘Success Rates’ are much higher for Hypnotherapy in comparison to all other methods of stopping smoking.4

Experience little or no cravings with hypnosis

In my two session stop smoking program, I teach strategies that help people accomplish their goals. I empower people to replace any feelings of ‘craving’; ‘crises’ and/or ‘stress’ with calm and serenity. For people that are coming into see me for stopping smoking, one of the actions I require of them, is to ‘not smoke for four hours before the session’. This means that usually people enter into my office with a huge ‘craving’, but within one minute of the session, an amazing ‘transformation moment’ happens when I help the client get rid of that feeling of the craving. Once you can control your thoughts, emotions and feelings, it is the easy to break the old habit and form a new habit of just ‘breathing fresh air’. You will be able to break those old connections to smoking by simply bringing yourself into a 'resources state' at any time you wish. Through hypnosis you can develop new neural pathways in your brain, and literally train yourself to be free from the habit. Say good riddance to bad rubbish NOW ..... without any gadgets! You can do it! I hope you enjoyed this blog, please pass onto any of your smoker friends who may benefit. Until next time, stay safe!

Citations:

1 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249784.php
2 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2851665/High-levels-toxin-e-cigarettes-cigarettes.html
3 http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/who-calls-for-ban-on-e-cigarettes-for-minors-1.19082464

4 Studies on the Effectiveness of Hypnosis for Smoking Cessation. (2009, April 8). Retrieved from http://johnmongiovi.com

My name is Trevor Eivers and I am based in Waterford, Ireland. I am a Certified Consulting Hypnotist (since 2010) with the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), which is the largest hypnosis body in the world with over 14,000 members in 83 different countries worldwide. I am also a Certified NLP practitioner. I love my job in which I help everyday people with everyday issues. Contact me at 086-8211677 or check me out online at waterford-hypnosis.com or Facebook at : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trevor-Eivers-Hypnosis/177881245578285

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Stress and Hypnosis Part 5 - Healing and Restoration

A very warm welcome to final and last installment of my series 'Stress and Hypnosis'. In the previous installments I have discussed the dangers of stress, especially 'chronic stress' and why it is commonly referred to as the 'silent killer'; the mind body connection, i.e. how thoughts, feelings and emotions automatically signal neurological reactions in the body; and lastly have discussed ways to take control over that process permanently, through the use of techniques such as 'self-hypnosis' and 'mindfulness'. In this final part I will pull it all together and show you how you can take steps to heal and restore your mental and physical health and walk into the future empowered.

Mind body medicine is an evidence based way of reducing stress. In other words your mind can influence and even heal your body, and using hypnosis can help with that process. Friedemann Schaub, M.D. Ph.D., wrote: "Our body is able to identify and eliminate effectively toxins, germs and even cancer cells on a daily basis. Our bodies can reconstitute damaged cells or repair impaired functions in powerful and creative ways, with no or minimal side effects. The discovery of neruotransmitters provide some insights into how the mind-body connection works. Neurotransmitters, small proteins, are released in response to thoughts, beliefs and feelings and directly impact and control the function of our cells. This mind-body healing can only function properly when all parts are in alignment with each other ('Homeostatic Balance'). However negative emotions, inner conflicts and and limiting beliefs are common factors, which prevent us from utilizing this enormous potential to heal and restore".

According to University of Michigan researchers, just thinking that a medicine will relieve pain is enough to prompt the brain to release it's own natural painkillers, and soothe painful sensations - Jon-Kar Zubieta

A large number of studies have demonstrated that our negative thoughts and emotions and the resulting stress, play a significant role in the development of heart diseases, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases and even cancer. On the other hand self empowered positive thinking, a self empowered attitude and optimistic beliefs stimulate and enhance the healing process. Hypnosis is a powerful way to remove these blocks and fast track accelerated and profound change, healing and self empowerment. Because hypnosis works with the subconscious mind, we can identify and address the deeper root causes of our problems and effect profound change on the mental, emotional and physical level.

However even though everything I say in the above paragraph is true, there is another vital step - learning skills like self hypnosis and mindfulness is so important to ensure change is permanent. If you can look at these techniques like the practice a music student does everyday to perfect their skill. When I hypnotize my clients I am teaching them a skill of an instrument within them. My clients learn the technique but must go home and practice every day. If the music student does not practice, they will return knowing little of what they learned in their first lesson. They know that in order to become good musicians, they must practice to build up that subconscious 'muscle memory'. This is the reason self hypnosis works. There is a great phrase that sums it up: "Give a person a fish and they eat for a day; but teach them to fish and they eat for life".

I hope you have enjoyed this five part series as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I will leave you with a nice exercise to practice in your spare time - just make sure to do it at a time when no one or nothing will distract you. Begin by taking a few deep breaths, closing your eyes and allowing your body relax and to fall into place. Meditate for a moment. Now visualize/think about a loved one. Picture in your minds eye this loved one, life sized, brightly lit, in full colour, etc., and notice how good that feels - it is automatically relaxing. Enjoy those few moments. Next bring your focus on your resting hands and say to yourself 'My hands are warm' (repeat x 5), while focusing on your hands and notice how without you even having to try your hands become warm. (This process is commonly referred to as 'Autogenic training', and I plan to go into it in more detail in a future blog). Enjoy this feeling for a few moments and then open your eyes. Kind of cool huh? This is just a small example of how we can use or minds and thoughts to create 'positive feelings' within ourselves. Isn't it empowering to know that in fact it's just as easy to be calm and peaceful as it is to be anxious and stressed? You have the POWER to heal and restore - use it.

Thursday, 9 October 2014

Stress and Hypnosis Part 4 - Self Hypnosis for Stress

Welcome to the fourth blog in my 'Stress and Hypnosis' series. In the last blog I talked about how you can use a technique called 'mindfulness' to help control your thoughts and emotions. In this blog I will be discussing another powerful technique - 'self-hypnosis' and how it can help you to manage stress. It has been stated many times that 'all hypnosis is self-hypnosis'. It is a great way to program your mind and body in so many helpful and beneficial ways. I am going to describe how you can literally hypnotize yourself and I will also be instructing you how to form your own suggestions and use as part of your own self-hypnosis routine. Read on, because self-hypnosis has proven to be a major stress remover.

So what is self-hypnosis? Self-hypnosis enables an individual to clear their minds, physically relax their body and enter into a creative state in which positive suggestions can be made to the subconscious mind. I teach self-hypnosis as part of all the programs that I offer. The reason for this is that, once a client leaves my office, they know how to continue the hypnotic work after the session. Self-hypnosis goes right back to the 1920s, when pharmacist Emile Coue, published his book 'Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion'. His technique was to have a person focus on the conscious task of moving the fingers along a piece of string with 20 knots in it, while repeating the suggestion: "Every day in every way I am getting better and better". Since then countless methods of self-hypnosis have been developed including the one described here.

Here is a simple version of the self-hypnosis that you can practice:

1. The first step is to develop the suggestion you want to say to yourself. An example of suggestions that might work for you are: "I deserve health and happiness" or "I am calm, I am relaxed, I am in Control". Whatever the suggestion, it must be written in a positive way, be simple, believable and stated in the present tense. It is very important that you really believe what you are saying to yourself.

2. The second step actually involves placing yourself into hypnosis. To do this, sit in a comfortable chair, with your hands on your lap and your feet flat on the floor. Just be sure that your legs are not crossed. Then take 3 nice deep breaths and exhale and allow yourself to relax. Pick a spot on the wall and gaze at that spot in a vague, dreamy way, for approx., 10 seconds. Then close your eyes and mentally count back from 10 down to 1. Each time you count, imagine the number been written on a blackboard and then wiped off or dissolving into the next lowest number, until you have reached the count of 1. Then say the suggestion (sometimes referred so as 'auto-suggestion') you have chosen three times. Imagine, pretend and visualize that you are accomplishing the suggestion. See yourself as you know you will be! Remember 'what the mind conceives, the body achieves'. Each time you say the suggestion, press your finger and thumb together. Finally, silently and mentally count upward from 1 to 3 and open your eyes and go about your business feeling refreshed and relaxed. This should only take a few minutes in total, it's that simple.

It is very important to make self hypnosis part of your life - like brushing your teeth. With persistent use, self-hypnosis will condition you to think and behave positively. The best times to give suggestions to yourself are when you mind is most relaxed, such as just before you go to bed at night, when you are daydreaming or even when you are engaging in your favourite activity. Those are the time when your subconscious mind is most open to receive the suggestions. If you use self-hypnosis each evening as you are falling asleep, you will be effectively clearing out any 'mind junk' that you have collected during the day. You will also be able to remove the junk from the previous days or even years. If you happen to fall asleep while saying the suggestions, that's okay as when you go to sleep at night, you open the door naturally to your subconscious mind. The next day you'll find yourself reacting very positively to the suggestions.

I would recommend making sure you are sitting in a comfortable chair (or lying on your bed) and will not be disturbed for the 5 minutes or so it takes to do the self-hypnosis. However feel free to give yourself the 'auto-suggestion' as often as you like throughout the day. Anytime something happens which is unexpected and temporarily throws you out of the 'homeostatic balance' described in part 2 of the series, take a deep breath, press your finger and thumb together, repeat your suggestion and be calm and tranquil, just like a lake without a ripple.

It can take up to three weeks for the suggestions to start working, so be patient with it and you will be amazed at the results. You will find that as your continue your self-hypnosis routine, you steadily improve in every way in which you want to improve. Using self-hypnosis will generate a state of mind that is most productive to good mental health and well being. In fact both mindfulness and self-hypnosis are two very powerful ways of managing our inbuilt 'flight or fight' stress response described in the first couple of blogs in this series. With persistent use, these techniques will help you to be more resourceful and able to cope with any situation or challenge that may arise.

I hope you enjoyed part 4 of this series on 'Stress and Hypnosis', and that you enjoy practicing the self-hypnosis method described within. Join me next time for the final part, where I will be giving loads of tips for stress reduction and summarizing the important points of the series.