A Powerful combination of Hypnosis & Psychotherapy to set you free for good

March 10^th 2010 is National Stop Smoking day so if you’ve been thinking about quitting for a while now, this might be a good opportunity to put a plan into action. Your chances of success will be greatly improved by good preparation and planning and this guide will help you do that.

 If you are already a non-smoker, pass this message on – you could be saving a life!

Here are some self-help tips to get you started.

Step 1:  Building Motivation

Before deciding on your approach to becoming a non-smoker, it is important to understand that you have a far greater chance of success if you take responsibility for the process. The only person who will stop you from smoking is you. No amount of endless cold turkey deprivation will succeed if you are resisting the idea, or are not determined and committed.  You will spend every day in a feeling of struggle, hoping that you can last the course but eventually the struggle will wear you down. 

 The best chance of success comes from being well motivated.  The more you identify with your reasons to stop, the more likely it is that you will experience pleasure at the thought of being a non-smoker, rather than fear or resentment. 

 Make a list of reasons why you are looking forward to being a non-smoker – e.g. health, finances, family etc.   You can build a supportive state of mind by giving thorough and detailed thought to each motive.

Take each reason one at a time and explore it in great detail so that you get a real sense of what you will be gaining – what you are giving yourself.  This is a powerful weapon against the deprivation attitude and fear that often accompanies attempts to stop addictive behaviour. 

Why do I want it?  What will I gain?

What will I feel like when I have succeeded? 

What will be the best thing about being healthier? 

What will the healthier me be doing, that the smoking me cannot?

What will I enjoy about that? 

Who will be the most surprised that I have successfully quit smoking? 

Who will be the most pleased?

How will my appearance change? 

How will my behaviour change?

How will success affect my self-esteem?

When I am free from the financial burden of smoking, how will I use that money?

Visualise yourself six months on, when it is difficult to imagine that you were ever a smoker.

You get the idea?  Really paint a picture of success and let these thoughts overpower the doubts or fears.  The negative thoughts are just the addiction fighting for survival.

 Choose your words carefully.  Avoid expressing it as ‘giving up’ because that confirms a deprivation mindset. “I’ve decided to quit” or “I have stopped” are stronger statements to support your decision.

 “I must say despite my doubts you have cemented this philosophy of NON-SMOKER firmly into my conscious/subconscious/internalized mind and I thankyou for that gift. I felt completely comfortable and with you and knew instantly you were someone I could trust. I have handed out your card to several of my friends and I think you may get a few calls when they are ready. Once again thankyou and that’s from my daughter aswell”
D.B. Brighton

Step 2: Set a date

Choose a date to begin, avoiding potentially difficult or stressful times.  If you have a friend or colleague who is thinking about quitting, consider teaming up for mutual support.

Step 3:  Know Your Triggers & Routines

As much as is possible, you should aim to change your routines so that there are fewer triggered reminders about smoking.  So, if you used to make a cup of tea and then stand by the window to smoke while drinking it, change the routine. Make the tea and go to another room. If you can’t change the routine, it helps to have a substitute behaviour. So, if you used to smoke in the car on the way to work, have a bottle of water with you and substitute sipping for puffing.

Hi Mary, Just to let you know my session worked perfectly and since I have been on a few big nights out without the want or need to light up and I (with your help) have quit the annoying habit for good. I am very pleased so thank you. LG, Madrid

Step 4:  Fill the void

Each cigarette uses up about 10 minutes of your time, so when you stop smoking you will find that you have time on your hands.  If you don’t have a plan, you will feel restless and at a loose end and you may mistake these feelings for cravings. 

Take more exercise, do those DIY jobs, take up a creative activity, learn a musical instrument, get more involved with what the kids are doing, read, write, do yoga or be more experimental with you cooking. Make a list of the things that will help you.

Step 5: Understand Cravings

When you have stopped smoking, a craving is the way that your body lets you know that your toxins levels are falling and nicotine is leaving your body. Your body is simply alerting you to the changes.

Nicotine is addictive and cravings can be uncomfortable.  But just how strong are those cravings? There’s no physical pain in nicotine withdrawal.  It’s a restless emptiness, a feeling of something missing. It’s interesting to note that most smokers are able to sleep through 8 hours without a nicotine craving waking them every hour for a cigarette.  People often tell me that when they know they are going somewhere where they will not be allowed to smoke, like the cinema, or visiting non-smokers, or long haul plane journeys, they are able to be quite comfortable with not smoking.

If you can think of a similar situation that applies to you, then ask yourself “how do I that?” How do I not smoke?  Just take a moment now to think about the times when you have been able to not smoke. 

A craving is just a feeling that has a very short life span. It has a beginning, a middle and an end and on average last for about 10 seconds.  When you are determined to stop smoking, ten seconds is quite do-able. If you experience a craving, what you really need to do is fully distract yourself for that time and any noticeable feeling will subside.  The more you are able to do this, the less the feeling will occur.

“My friends can’t believe it! They said that if you can stop me smoking, you can stop anyone!”
J.T. Brighton

Step 5:  Challenge Limiting Beliefs

Listen to your own limiting beliefs about smoking.  Here are a few typical examples:

“It relieves boredom”.  How?  We know smoking is not interesting.

“It helps my concentration”.  In reality, smoking is a distraction behaviour.

It gives me something to do with my hands”  ok, but what else could you do? Is that cigarette really worth risking your life just so you have something to do with your hands?

“It’s a treat and gives me time for me”.  Well, we all need to treat ourselves but how else could you achieve the same result without playing Russian roulette with your health?

“It relieves stress”.  No it doesn’t. Smoking adds to the stress.

“It helps me to relax”.    When a person smokes a cigarette, they breathe deeply when they inhale which means that there is an increase in the amount of oxygen being breathed deep down into the lungs. (50% of what you inhale is oxygen, 50% is toxic).  The oxygen assists a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction. When the smoker exhales, they tend to make an extended out-breath.  The long exhale is connected to the parasympathetic nervous system and signals to the brain to release a feeling of calm.  So, it’s got nothing to do with the smoking, it’s the breathing pattern of the smoker that creates relaxation.

7/11 Breathing

Use this 7/11 breathing technique as a way of helping you through the first few days or weeks of successful non-smoking.

Begin by emptying your lungs with a long slow exhale.  Then, when the lungs begin to breathe in, keep the breath slow and steady and count to 7.  Then breathe out, slowly counting to 11.  As you breathe out, imagine you have a candle in front of you and that your breath will flicker the flame but not blow it out.  Repeat 10 times and try to do it five times a day – or when you might be thinking about cigarettes.

It takes practice so persevere.  You can practice this from time to time, whenever you think of it.  On the bus, while doing the washing up – any time, anywhere.

 Another thing that you can do when you are practising this breathing technique is to really imagine yourself as a happy non-smoker. Visualise success at every opportunity and this will help you to manage any doubting thoughts.

Decide How

If you don’t want to try the cold turkey approach, there are a number of other methods available, such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (patches & sprays) Anti-smoking pills (Zyban & Chantix). According to NHS published quarterly reports on effectiveness of these treatments, figures show that after 4 weeks 38% of smokers have successfully quit. This figure drops to 18% beyond the 3 month period.  It’s also worth considering that these methods do nothing to shift the addictive mindset and do not minimise the risk of substitute behaviours such as over-eating.

 Counselling therapies such as CBT and have a good success rate as they help you to challenge the smoker’s mindset.

Hypnotherapy is your best chance

In the largest study ever of its kind, results from the University of Iowa (Oct 1992 issue of The Journal of Applied Psychology) revealed that hypnosis was the most effective way of quitting smoking.  It is three times more effective than patches and sprays and 15 times more effective than willpower.  These findings came from statistics combining 600 studies of over 72,000 people from America and Europe.

 The use of Solution Focused Psychotherapy and Hypnotherapy is a powerful combination that, on average has around 65% success rate.  This approach not only helps you to change the way you have been thinking about smoking but also helps to bypass self-doubt and limiting beliefs for future success  This approach really strengthens your resolve.

Make an appointment

Call me to arrange an appointment.  See my Stop Smoking page for further information and testimonials.

Stay Stopped

Aside from all of the things mentioned above, when you quit smoking it is really important to make sure that you are getting your basic needs met.

10% discount on Stop Smoking sessions until 31/03/10 to any client who brings a printout of this page to their session.

 

At this time of year most of us tend to think about changes that we would like to experience over the coming year.  Often our New Year resolutions are driven by dissatisfaction with weight, health or lifestyle so we set about making ‘deprivation’ intentions for ourselves and hope we get through it.

In a recent study, psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman found that only a quarter of us ever achieve our New Year goals.  Significantly, those who succeed are the ones who made a plan.

A goal without a plan is a wish.

Step 1.  Specifics

Decide what you would like to achieve this year. This is quite different from deciding what you want to ‘give up’. It’s about an attitude of giving something to yourself, rather than taking something away.  If you end up with a whole list of things, ask yourself “which will make the greatest difference to me” and then choose one.

As much as is possible, try to make your goal something that you want to do, rather than something you should do.

Step 2. Motivation

If you don’t lock in to a real motivation, it will be harder to achieve the goal. When exploring motivation, avoid telling yourself what you don’t want and emphasise what you do want.  E.g. “I don’t want to be fat”, or “I don’t want to die young” could be more helpfully expressed by “I want to be slim” or “I want to be healthy”. 

Why do you want it? How will you benefit? What will be the best thing about it? Who else will benefit from you achieving it?  Who will be surprised when you achieve it?

Get a piece of paper and write a list of 10 reasons why you are really looking forward to achieving your goal.  Each reason should be written as:

I am looking forward to (goal) because……………………..

When you have the list, put it somewhere prominent so that you have a daily reminder of what you are looking forward to achieving.

Step 3. Plan

Once you have your goal, think about it in more detail. How achievable is this goal? Does it need to be broken down into manageable steps to give it a better chance?  If so, what are the steps? Are you realistic with your target?  Be clear in your mind about how long it will take to fully achieve your goal.

E.g. – If you decide to get more exercise, it would be unrealistic to set a target of running 20K a day from Jan 1.  It may be that you could tell yourself  ‘by this time next year, I will be able to run 20K a day’.  Look at your current level of fitness, be realistic about fitting a daily run  into your schedule, and decide on what is achievable in the short term. As that fitness improves, you can modify the plan.

Step 4.  Resources

What do you need in order to achieve your goal?

If you are going to get fit, do you need any equipment?

If you are going to lose weight, have you got an eating and exercise plan?

If you are going to get your finances under control, where will you get advice?

If you’ve decided to watch less TV, what will you be doing instead?

If you’ve always associated smoking with being able to relax, how else will you relax when you don’t smoke?

Don’t forget that other people are a wonderful resource because they can support and encourage you.  Enlist the support of helpful friends or family.

Step 5.  Obstacles

Consider the possible obstacles that may thwart success and spend some time planning how you will avoid or overcome those obstacles.

Step 6.  Measuring

Some goals take longer to achieve than others and this can make it harder to stay focussed.  If you have decided to lose 2 stone by the summer, set up some shorter- term, monthly or weekly goals that will help you to measure and appreciate your success.

Whatever your goal, keep a clear thought about how you measure your success and appreciate the benefits of your efforts. Focus on what you are getting out of it rather than on what you are doing without.

Keep referring back to your 10 reasons why you are doing this.

Step 7.  Flexibility

One of the most common reasons why people stop trying to achieve their resolutions, is that they have a day or two of failing and then figure they’ve blown it so may as well stop.  When making your plan, include a realistic flexibility that allows for the odd day when you can’t or don’t feel like it.

Step 8.  Acknowledgement

Remember to congratulate yourself for your efforts, no matter how small they may be. If things get a little difficult sometimes, focus on what you have achieved rather than what you haven’t.

It’s all about a state of mind. 

If you would like some help with making changes this year, call me to discuss how Solution Focused Coaching and Hypnosis can help you.

 Have a wonderful 2010.

In my practice I treat many highly anxious or traumatised clients using a wonderfully simple and effective treatment, known as The Rewind Technique.

This relatively recent breakthrough in psychotherapy treatment is a fast, safe and painless method of helping people to overcome high anxiety conditions such as Phobias, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  The treatment was originally developed by Richard Bandler, a founding father of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and was known as The VK Technique. The Rewind Technique is the version that is recommended by The European Therapy Studies Institute (ETSI) as it has been refined to emphasise the elements that are now known to be essential in making it a highly effective treatment.

So, how does it work?  Well, when we encounter an event or stimulus that we perceive as threatening, our attention becomes locked onto the source of the threat to the exclusion of everything else.  At this point the survival mechanism of fight and flight is activated, the emotions become highly aroused prompting the body to instantly gear itself for survival action.  In the normal course of events this physical and emotional energy will be used up and the body will restore itself to normal.  The brain is then able to process what has happened by separating the emotional response from the physical experience, filing both away in separate parts of the brain, enabling the person to make calm, rational sense of the event.

Occasionally, this separation doesn’t happen and the entire event gets trapped in the emotional centres of the brain, resulting in phobia or trauma.

The Rewind Technique works very simply to unhook the emotional experience from the actual event, enabling the brain to recode the information, freeing the sufferer from the debilitation of high anxiety.

For a free consultation to discuss how you will benefit from this treatment, call

01273 500136 or visit my website.

Phobias

To locate a skilfully trained Rewind Practitioner in your area, see the links below:-

Human Givens Therapists

Uncommon Knowledge Therapists

One of the most influential factors in maintaining a healthy immune system is relaxation, particularly if you are the sort of person that runs on high stress or anxiety.

Being able to manage stress is an important factor in keeping your immune system functioning well. 

It is often beyond our control to influence the factors that contribute to stress (work, finances, redundancy etc) but what we can do, is manage ourselves well, to reduce the impact.

It has been known for a long time that stress affects the immune system and our ability to fend off invading infections such as the Swine Flu bug.

Psychological stress such as anxiety has been shown to increase susceptibility to viral infection. Subjects exposed to stress showed increases in infection rates from 74% to 90%, and clinical colds rose from 27% to 47%. (McEwen & Stellar, 1993)

Relaxation techniques are known to be immune-enhancers and one of the most effective of these is a deep hypnotic relaxation, particularly when geared specifically to strengthening the individual’s immune function. The use of hypnosis not only teaches the body to relax and restore, but also contributes to a positive mental attitude and an optimistic outlook. These factors make a big difference in how the body fights disease. 

At certain times of year, seasonal changes often bring an increased vulnerability to infections and illness, so as summer draws into autumn, I am making a special offer of a one off session to boost your immunity and increase your ability to regularly relax.  This session will be geared to your specific needs.  You will come away with a personal CD recording that you can use as often as you want to, at no extra cost. Call me to arrange an appointment to suit you.

 Here are some other tips that will help you to stay healthy.

• Make sure that you eat well, by including natural whole-foods in your diet, particularly lots of dark green vegetables and brightly coloured fruits & veg. These will give your body the nutrition and antioxidants needed for optimal health. Also include grains, pulses, seeds, nuts and the essential omega fats that are found in fish oil or flax oil.
• Take pro-biotic supplements and eat foods that encourage good gut flora, such as live yogurt, miso, sauerkraut.  Approximately 70% of your immune function relies on having healthy levels of good bacteria in your gut. 
• Make sure that you are drinking enough water, particularly in the hotter weather.  If you want your body to be fighting fit, it needs to be hydrated.  Water is also excellent for helping the body to rid itself of toxins.
• Reduce or eliminate alcohol, caffeine and refined sugars
• Make sure you get enough good quality sleep.  If this is a difficult issue for you, hypnotherapy can help you to get restful nights sleep.
• Get regular exercise
• Do something nice for yourself on a regular basis.

Stay healthy this winter – take time to relax.

Two weeks ago, I noticed that one of my many amalgam fillings had a crack the size of the San Andreas Fault so, supported by my smug awareness that ‘I can do the dentist’, I headed off for the emergency dental appointment. With all my phobia management techniques firmly in place, I sat in the chair taking deep, relaxing breaths while the dentist selected his sharpest (it seemed to me) instrument to assess the depth of the crack. Once he’d established that the fissure was not actually causing me any physical discomfort, he told me that it was not an emergency so I should make another appointment and come back.

So now, here’s a mixture of relief and concern, as I recalled a colleague once telling me of the dangers of amalgam fillings and potential mercury poisoning. My dentist seemed unconcerned, though I couldn’t get the thought from my mind.

When I got home, I booted up the google engine and did some checking. What I found is that, as always with the internet, there is a whole raft of information and misinformation out there. However, my attention was caught by this:

I guess that until there is a unified position from all the so-called health watchdogs, it’s up to us to make our own minds up based on how we feel. In my personal case, I’d become aware of a general malaise that’d been around me for a couple of weeks and it seemed plausible that I could be becoming toxic. I was getting headaches and nausea and I also felt as though my eyesight was weaker. Eventually, after much searching, I found a dentist who would safely remove the offending filling and replace it with a clean, safe alternative. Since the treatment, my headaches have stopped. The nausea has lessened and is continuing to do so. The amalgam replacement cost me £200 and, despite being a national health dental patient, I want to tell you that it’s just about the best £200 I’ve ever spent.

If dental amalgam is of concern to you, find out as much as you can about it and search for a dentist that can safely remove it. I was prepared to travel to Portsmouth to Cathedral Dental Practice as they came highly recommended.

I also found this to be very interesting http://www.klinghardtacademy.com/images/stories/neurotoxin/NeurotoxinProtocol_Jan06.pdf