Dealing with stress

Published on 21 July 2015 at 4:42pm by José Penrose

I am focusing on stress treatments at the moment and cannot emphasise enough the importance of monitoring your own stress levels and taking steps to reduce prolonged stress.

It’s so easy to ignore physical symptoms – tiredness, headaches, digestive upsets and racing heart – and also the impact on our mental health – compulsive worrying, inability to concentrate, ‘no room in our heads’ for interaction with others.

So do please set aside time to take stock of how you’re feeling and to make plans to take care of yourself. Identify what you personally need to help you relax, be it exercise, settling down with a book, turning off phones and tablets so you have the evening or weekend to yourself.

If you find it hard to relax by yourself, maybe you would benefit from a massage or other physical treatment or a session of calming hypnotherapy to help you zone out once in a while.

Remember the maxim, ‘Self-care is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.’

A walk on the wild side can be beneficial for your mental wellbeing.

Published on 6 July 2015 at 5:59pm by José Penrose

A recent study by Stanford University has shown that taking a walk in the countryside can help reduce anxiety and depression. Previous studies have indicated that living in an urban environment can increase rumination, or the compulsive need to dwell on feelings of distress, worry and negative emotions, whilst walking in the fresh air can help to focus the mind on finding solutions.

There are many wonderful places to walk even very close to London and other big cities. You can find your own way (or go out and about with friends) choosing your own pace and distance with the help of Fancy Free Walks – www.fancyfreewalks.org – very clear directions for a variety of different lengths of walk.

Or you may prefer to walk in the company or others, being guided in a small group for a day, a weekend or overseas. In this case check out www.country-walks.com, a small company run by a delightful couple, June and Aubrey Zaft, who include interesting snippets of information on geology and history as well as the odd atmospheric poem as you enjoy the health benefits of walking in the fresh air.

Unhelpful behaviours and limiting beliefs

Published on 2 July 2015 at 3:58pm by José Penrose

Sometimes we are held back by our past – trapped by unhelpful behaviours, intrusive memories: experiences buried deep in our physical bodies as well as our unconscious minds – limiting beliefs about ourselves, which prevent us living fulfilling and enjoyable lives today.

We may know exactly what these are or we may just have a small sense of unease or recurring symptoms such as extreme nervousness or anxiety, panic attacks, overeating, insomnia, compulsive behaviours – the list is long.

The deep relaxation of even just one hypnotherapy session can help to alleviate these symptoms and eventually banish them once and for all.

So if you would like to feel calm and relaxed and live life to the full, then do get in touch with an experienced hypnotherapist near you.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Published on 20 May 2015 at 11:33am by José Penrose

Today I’d like to talk about PTSD.

This is something that can affect many different people, not just soldiers, policemen and those in the front line of violence.

I have seen a client recently who suffered a serious sexual assault some 20 years ago from which she thought she had recovered but which has suddenly come back to haunt her.

The unwanted and intrusive memories are causing her to resort to hard drugs and involve herself in a highly charged sexual affair which is putting her happy marriage and family life at risk.

There is a simple technique – the Rewind technique or Fast Phobia Cure, also used in the treatment of phobias – which can quickly and simply reprocess these unwanted and intrusive memories and move them safely to the back of the brain where they can be referred to but no longer intrude on and cause problems in day to day life. Quite often just one session of Rewind can bring about a change.

Please contact me if you’d like to know more.

Trichotillomania

Published on 21 April 2015 at 3:11pm by José Penrose

You may be interested to hear about a client I saw recently. She came because she suffers from  Trichotillomania, or hair pulling. This young woman could spend up to 6 hours pulling out individual hairs. Apart from the huge waste of time, she had developed a stiff neck and bad back because she leant forward to allow her hair to hang so that she could pull it.

This is the second client I have successfully treated for this problem and both told me that they firstly identified ‘different’ hairs which needed pulling. The individual hair might be thicker or a bit corkscrewed – whatever it’s different characteristics, it needed to be pulled. Of course, ultimately this results in bald or thin patches or a very sore scalp.

In both cases the problem was cured with just two sessions of hypnotherapy – a very effective treatment for any type of habit disorder – nail biting, scratching or even unconscious tics or tremors.

Maybe you know someone with a similar problem. If so, I have the skills and experience to help.. I work face to face with clients in the peaceful, relaxed atmosphere of my therapy room or via Skype.

Active listening – the presenting issue is not always the problem.

Published on 24 February 2015 at 5:18pm by José Penrose

When seeing clients it’s important for me to remember that the presenting issue is not always the real problem.

Clients come along with a wide variety of different issues, from wanting to lose weight to insomnia, digestive problems or other physical symptoms such as headaches, back ache, tics and tremors.

Very often these are symptoms of something else – deep rooted stress or anxiety which causes us to emotionally eat, worry unnecessarily about things that may never happen or to become so tense that our adrenalin levels remain constantly high and our physical bodies rebel.

Of course, any physical symptoms need to be checked out with a medical practitioner but, as is often the case, no physical cause can be found then 2 or 3 sessions of relaxing hypnotherapy often solve the problem.

The great thing about hypnotherapy is that clients don’t have to voice or even sometimes be aware of the underlying issues.  The gentle deep relaxation of a hypnotherapy session can set them on the road to recovery and start a chain reaction of beneficial changes in their lives.

Phobia of heights / high buildings

Published on 16 January 2015 at 11:57am by José Penrose

In November a client came to see me with a fear of heights and also of being amongst high buildings.  He had managed to avoid this situation for quite some time but now had a new role which would require him to regularly visit Broadgate Tower in London, his initial visit to take place early in January.  We had four sessions together, using solution focused hypnotherapy and he contacted me last week with the following news:

‘So to fill you in on how last week went….success!

I was booked in for a training session at the Broadgate Tower.  I think I was quite anxious about going there – I was struggling to get a sound night’s sleep – although I may also have been a little anxious about the first week back to work after having a two week break.

My colleagues already knew about my therapy and one of my colleagues met me at Liverpool Street Station.  On the way up on the train I took my mind off the fear by working on my presentation. I also tried to calm my mind and use the techniques you taught me (tapping, finger squeezing) to keep returning to my safe place in my mind.  As I neared London I could see all of the tall buildings clearly (blue sky day), including the Shard, Canary Wharf, the Gerkin and Broadgate Tower.  On seeing them, a little anxiety returned, but again I tried not to think about it too much.

The colleague who met me at the station knew the best way to get to the Tower, which meant I stayed under the roof of the station until the last minute when I crossed the road to the plaza where Broadgate tower stands. I reminded myself not to look up but just to look down/straight ahead.

Thankfully the buildings have closed internal lifts and we went straight up to the 22nd floor.  I stayed in the middle section of the office at first, but with floor to ceiling windows most of the way round, it was impossible not to admire the amazing views.  As the day went on, my initial wobbly starts waned – I still had moments, if I wandered too close to the edge or stared out of the window too much, but as long as I kept my mind occupied and tried not to think about it, I was remarkably calm and able to cope with the whole experience.  I’d even go as far as to say I enjoyed the view.

I returned later in the week, as planned, and less anxious.  The second visit was not without wobbly moments, but on the whole, it was more of a breeze.

So, I appear to be sufficiently “cured”, or more specifically, able to cope with going to the Broadgate Tower to take the experience in my stride.  A few months ago, I would never have gotten near the front door of the building at ground level.  Thank you so much, José.’

Hypnotherapy is so very effective with many different phobias from spiders and birds to less tangible fears. It is gentle and painless – it does not require you to approach or handle the object of your fear or stand on the edge of a precipice.  You don’t need to know the origin of your phobia – this client didn’t – for the treatment was still very effective.

A Happy New Year!

Published on 8 January 2015 at 3:14pm by José Penrose

It’s that time of year again.  We’re battling the holiday season bulge, working enthusiastically on our new personal projects and business goals….

Or are our resolutions already beginning to fade, the first flush of enthusiasm waning.  Are we not getting to the gym quite so often, giving up on the diet, motivation waning, settling back into that comfortable old pre-Christmas routine?

If that’s your problem and you really need a boost, then just one session of solution focused hypnotherapy can help to get you back on track and stay on track for the rest of the year.

It’s important to clear out all the old rubbish left behind by the past, both emotional and cognitive, so that you are ready to move forward. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of what is holding us back and with the deeply relaxing experience of a hypnotherapy session, you don’t have to consciously know or voice the problems.  The limiting blocks and barriers in your psyche can be easily and permanently lifted away.

Now’s the time to stride confidently forward in 2015 – solution focused hypnotherapy can set you off on the right foot and keep you on track throughout the year!

Studying to become an Accredited Supervisor with the National Council for Hypnotherapy

Published on 26 November 2014 at 7:28am by José Penrose

I spent an interesting and stimulating weekend with other like minded people at Regents College – all qualified hypnotherapists – on the first step to becoming an Accredited Supervisor with the National Council for Hypnotherapy. I am now offering 2 or 3 sample half hour sessions of solution focused supervision to newly qualified and experienced hypnotherapists to meet the practice requirements of my submission for the NCFE. Please contact me at jose@mindtochange.co.uk if you would like supervision face to face or via Skype.

Finger sucking – a distressing habit.

Published on 12 November 2014 at 2:06pm by José Penrose

I saw a young woman last week who had been sucking 2 or 3 fingers of one hand since she was a small baby.  She sucked her fingers to get off to sleep, whenever she felt anxious or when she was simply relaxing watching TV or reading.  They seemed to find their way into her mouth as if they had a will of their own.  She found the habit shameful and distressing and did not want her own children or her husband to find out about it.  She had tried many ways to stop, including painting her fingers with foul tasting products and taping them together but nothing had stopped her habit. After one session of hypnotherapy she was delighted to report:

I am writing you to inform you about my progress after my therapy with you.  It is going better than I thought.  So far it is fantastic. I haven’t done my “habit” since I came from the therapy.  It is so strange – in a good way.  Few times I had sudden feeling of missing/wanting it but my fingers did not go to the mouth. Before therapy fingers would be automatically in my mouth.

If it carries on like that then I have won the battle with my habit. I am so relieved.  I still can’t believe it and I can’t get my head around how hypnotherapy achieved it.

Hypnotherapy is so helpful in solving habit problems – thumb sucking, nail biting, smoking, to name but a few.   And the habit can almost always be eliminated in one hypnotherapy session.