So what IS hypnotherapy?

I suppose because I've been a hypnotherapist for over 14 years, using hypnotherapy to help thousands of people, I understand what hypnotherapy is and how it feels and what it can do.

I forget that even though I have loads of clients out there talking to their friends, colleagues and relatives who I could help, many people still only recognise hypnotherapy as something weird and magic - or maybe just weird and scary!

So what is hypnosis - what does it feel like? Hypnosis is like that feeling you go through just as you're falling asleep.  You're very relaxed.  You can still hear.  You could still move if you wanted to - but you don't want to.  You are totally in control.  You are very relaxed.  Not asleep but not awake.  Drifting and drowsy.

When you're in this very relaxed state we can communicate with your unconscious, or subconscious mind.   It's where your memories are kept, and your habits.  In this relaxed state you are very open to suggestion but importantly you cannot be influenced to do anything that you don't want to do. So hypnotherapy is therapy whilst you're in that relaxed state we call hypnosis. 


I spoke to a client yesterday who stopped smoking with me in 2008 and he was telling me that he talks about me and what I did for him with friends and they say they too want to stop smoking or lose weight or whatever.  They find what he tells them interesting - and yet they never contact me.

He is as flumoxed as I am (just love that word flumoxed!).

So what is happening?

Have you heard the saying "I'll believe it when I see it"?  Well seeing it - success - for someone else just maybe isn't enough.  We have to see success for ourselves.  But why should anyone try something they don't understand?

Particularly with stopping smoking everyone has been conditioned to fail.  Years ago people stopped smoking with pure willpower, maybe started again, stopped again, many times.  If you're over 50 like me you'll remember relatives and friends doing this - you may have done it yourself.   Then the pharmaceutical industry got involved.  "We'll help you stop smoking" they said "stick this patch on your arm/back/bottom!".   And some people stopped.  And some people didn't.  And some that stopped started again.  And then some tried the patches again.  And they failed again.  The patches failed but the smoker then saw themselves as the failure.  So the pharmaceutical industry invented nicotine gum.  Then a mouth spray.  Then the drug Zyban.  Then Champix.  And people tried to stop and some stopped. And some started again.  And felt like a failure. Again.  But it wasn't them that failed it was the patches and gum and spray and drugs.

The best success rate of any of the "aids" I've mentioned is 25%.  So no more than 25% of people who tried ever stopped.

And of course I could talk about failing at diets in the same way couldn't I?

But now you are conditioned to fail.  You need to see it to believe it if someone offers you an alternative way to stop smoking (or lose weight).

Hypnotherapy is, of course, a very alternative way!

It's not weird and it's not (I'm sorry to say) magic!

If you'd like to learn more about how your unconscious mind works - and how we can use hypnosis and hypnotherapy (therapy in hypnosis) to change your habits then give me a call.  I've got a really good CD for you to listen to so you can experience hypnosis at home.

Then you can decide you want to stop smoking or lose weight or get rid of a phobia or build your confidence.  Let me help you understand how hypnotherapy can work for you.  If you want it to.

Are you avoiding getting help?

Have you got a problem that really needs fixing?  Are you at the end of a painful dry January - or losing the will to live on your new year diet?

Maybe you're standing outside in the driving rain because a cigarette took control and said you just had to go!

You may be reading this because you found something about me that said - "hey! I can help you!"

Or did a friend send you a link?

So yes, you know you need help!  But are you avoiding getting help?

23% of the adult population in Leeds are smokers - that's about 3% above the national average.  So we know you're out there!

I've lost track of the latest figures about obesity, or pre-diabetes, or diabetes, or anxiety, or stress.....

So why are you avoiding getting help?

Do you think it'll be too hard to do without your cigarette/glass of wine/chocolate bar?  Are you still convincing yourself that you are addicted and it will be too painful to stop? Maybe you've already tried and failed - and can't face failure again.  Maybe you've even tried hypnotherapy before and failed.

Of course I know that you can stop smoking in one session with no pain at all!  No cravings! No withdrawal!

I know that you can cut down on your drinking or change your eating habits easily - no pain, no cravings...

I know because this is what I do, day in, day out.  I help people just like you to change. To get better.

And I will spend as long as it takes on the phone or in the office to explain all this to you.  That's my promise.

Maybe you're worried about spending money on something that won't work?

I often speak to people who think "it's too expensive" to get professional help.  But compared to what?  Your health? Your happiness?  Your family? Your longevity?  How can we put a price on those things?

Here's a question for you.  If you could meet your goal (stop smoking, reach your ideal weight, remove panic attacks or whatever your goal) tomorrow - how much would you pay?

You can work out how much you will save with things like stopping smoking, cutting alcohol or sugary foods.  Work it out over, say, a year.  How much?

You can try and put a price on your health or longevity.  How much?  How much do you already spend every year on looking and feeling good - haircuts, nail extensions (ladies!), gym membership, new hats!!!!

I would like to bet that all of the figures you calculate - or guess at - will be more than what professional help will cost.

So if it's time to stop making excuses.  If you're ready to get help.  Make the call.  Make the appointment.
Ask me the questions you really want answering. Call 0113 834 5424.

Menopausal moments

If you're a woman in your 40s, 50s or 60s you're either worrying about the menopause, suffering from the menopause or getting over the menopause!

First of all let me say - ME TOO!  So I know a little bit about how you're feeling, how it's affecting your life.

Of course we're all different - I'm told that some people breeze through these years of their lives without any issues at all - and yet others suffer every day.

Hot flushes, problems with sleeping, stress and anxiety, weight gain.  The list goes on.

And at the same time we've got the usual problems of getting older.  We worry about our looks and our general health.  Our jobs get harder.  Our kids leave home - or come back!  Our parents need our help more.  Our parents pass away.

There are hundreds of books and websites about how to cope with the menopause.  The Daily Mail are currently running a daily series on how to cope.  They talk about anti-depressants and other drugs too often for my liking.

Some of us may just need a bit more support from our friends and families.

Some of us may need to review our jobs and working lives.

Some of us may need to change our eating habits, our drinking habits, lose a bit of weight, learn to manage stress.

Here are my four steps to feeling better:

1. Call me and get a copy of my Stress Relief CD.  It will help you relax, feel better and sleep better.
2. Call me and let me tell you how I can help you cut down on your drinking or change your eating habits.
3. Call me and let me tell you how I can help you reduce stress and anxiety.
4. Call me for a chat.  Sometimes we all just need someone to talk to!

Back to www.breakthehabit.co.uk

smoke free or e-cigs?

I was just watching TV and the smoke free advert came on. It showed a man smoking a cigarette and the "dirty blood" going through his veins into his lungs, heart and brain. The voice-over was something like "if you knew what it did to you, you'd stop". But you still keep smoking. You turned the advert over didn't you? Flicked channels?

Today the newspapers are saying that e-cigs will be banned for under 18s. Some are saying why bother? Under 18s aren't taking up e-cigs in big numbers.  But they are still taking up smoking.

So if you knew you could stop, stop putting something in your mouth for comfort, stress relief or whatever else you do it for would you?

Well the good news is you can stop. You can stop smoking. Maybe you have conditioned yourself to fail. Maybe you've tried dozens of times to stop. Maybe you've been "trying" too hard. Maybe now is the time to stop "trying" and to just do it.

It is possible. You don't need a comforter. You just need to know how to become smoke free and e-cig free. Free. In control of your own life.

Call me!

Back to www.breakthehabit.co.uk

So where does an 11 year old get the money for cigarettes?

New research says that the number of 11 to 16 year olds taking up smoking rose in 2011 to 207,000 from 157,000 in 2010.

When I put this on my facebook page the first comment I got was from a mum of 4. "Where does an 11 year old get the money for cigarettes? The answer I suppose is they pinched them from parents or older siblings or they pinched the money to buy some. Of it was their lunch money. (most of us did that, didn’t you?)

So isn't it illegal to sell cigarettes to under 18's? Yes it is - but still they get them!

But the question for me is why do kids still want to smoke knowing the damage it does? We all know someone who's suffering with the side effects of being a smoker - every child has seen someone with lung disease or cancer - if not someone they know, then someone on TV.

The answer is the same as it’s always been. It’s the answer that 95% of my stop smoking clients give. Peer pressure. Or as some people write on the questionnaire I give them "pier pressure" which conjures up a weird picture!

So what is peer pressure? It's our automatic response. The automatic response of human beings. We like to be liked. We like people who are like us. We like to join clubs. So whatever our age, when someone says "join us, we're having a good time" we join! OK not all of us – but a high percentage. And we’re more likely to join when we’re in our teens.

Most of my clients started smoking in their teens at school, at university or starting their first job. They did it because “everyone else was doing it”. Then they’re stuck. Even when “Everyone else” stops they carry on!

Teenagers have always seen “grown ups” smoking. So if you’re 14 how do you think you can look 16 or 18? Yes, do something that you have to be 16 (or now it’s 18) to do – smoke! Isn’t it the same with drinking?

Our parents do it, TV and pop stars do it – and we want to be like them!

I believe that the only way we will stop children smoking is to stop adults smoking. When TV “celebs” and pop stars take responsibility to say NO. To show youngsters that it isn’t “cool” to smoke (and drink to excess). Then we will see less young people starting to smoke.

When the government and NHS realise that they need to help people to stop smoking – not threaten them with ugly photos or blank packages. When everyone realises that they only failed to stop because they were trying methods that DON’T WORK. Then young people won’t want to smoke. There will be no point. If no-one else is doing it, if it’s not cool and doesn’t help stress (no, it really doesn’t) then there will be no point.

Until then I will be in a job. I will be helping people stop smoking. I fear that long after I am gone there will still be a need for someone to help people to stop smoking. Someone to help the 11 year olds of today when they are in their 40’s with the first signs of COPD, heart disease and cancer. How very sad.

Back to www.breakthehabit.co.uk

The problem or the side effect? which is worse?

What's worse? The problem or the side effects of the drugs used to treat the problem?


I often see clients for stress, anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Most of them are already on a drug. But they're still suffering! A pain-killer will kill the pain but an anti-depressant won't kill the depression. It may cover it up; make it a bit easier to live with. But it won't cure it. You still have to find the "cure".

The listed side effects of many drugs may add to the feelings of depression – effects such as insomnia and weight gain, headaches and nausea.

So if you’re starting to get stressed or anxious - or if something has happened to you – or around you – that is affecting your wellbeing get help fast. First try relaxation CDs, yoga or if you enjoy it, go to the gym. Talk to a friend or trusted family members. Then look for a therapist. PAY. It will be worth it. Talk to your doctor about therapy – but go for the drugs last.

I can’t promise you anything – but hypnotherapy and NLP techniques are fast and effective. My clients will tell you their stories.
www.breakthehabitstress.breakthehabit.co.uk