Tell us about what you do.
If I were summing that up in one sentence I’d say, “I help people ‘achieve freedom’, freedom from what’s holding them back from achieving their dreams”.
I specialise in working with midlife women who are ready to make life magnificent. Ready to move on from the issues they’ve been ‘coping with’ for far too long. Whatever barriers they want to see gone forever. Fears, sadness, anxiety, phobias, habits or addictions that don’t serve them.
How does your method work?
Our thinking mind, our conscious awareness, knows what we want. Yet somehow we miss our life goals. This can be because our subconscious mind, our imaginative and emotional mind, isn’t on board with our plan. For example, if you wanted to lose 7lbs so you fit a favourite dress, your healthy eating regime is likely to be undermined if your cravings, which live in your subconscious, keep telling you to eat chocolate every time you have a bad day. My job is to help your conscious mind and the subconscious mind work together, so your subconscious is fully on board with what you want.
And you’re also a yoga teacher…
Yes! I love yoga. It’s an incredible tool for balancing the body and the mind. Some clients are so caught-up in their thoughts they’ve lost contact with the whole of themselves. The thoughts in our head can have a huge impact on the way we hold ourselves physically. Yoga helps unravel those tension pockets and soothe the nervous system. I offer therapy with yoga packages for clients who want a more holistic approach to being at their best.
What’s your therapies background?
I originally trained in Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) with Marisa Peer; it made such a profound difference to the way I felt about myself – and the way I treated myself – that I immediately set about training. I’m now a certified hypnotherapist at Advanced RTT Practitioner level.
I continue to develop my professional skills with Hypnotherapy Training International and Dr John Butler, who worked alongside the legendary Gil Boyne. I’m passionate about building and developing my talent as a therapist. Hypnotherapy helped me get back my confidence after I’d been through a particularly stressful period in my midlife. But it also freed me from a shadow which had haunted me when I was stressed or sad, for as long as I could remember – comfort eating.
“The thoughts in our head can have a huge impact on the way we hold ourselves physically.”
So, you’re no stranger to midlife issues then?
Oh my goodness, no! I had a very difficult time in a job where I was trying to deal with stress by working harder. I’d had a couple of ‘bumps’ along the road when I was younger, doing exactly what stopped me in my tracks – working 90 hour weeks in what felt like a thankless role. That kind of life isn’t sustainable, but add a couple of out-of-work issues and the wheels start to spin off their axis. We had a young man close to our family pass suddenly, and then our cat fell ill and died. It was just all too much.
I knew it was time to get my house in order. I just couldn’t stop crying. Or leave the house. I felt panicky if I even got on a bus.
What was the paradigm shift for my was hypnotherapy. I understood at a very feel, whole mind level that I was my own rescue. I felt connected to my self like never before and I took radical action. Long story short, I lost 28lbs (12.7kg) in nine months, without any conscious effort. My mindset changed. My attitude to food had changed. My habits changed. I quit the job that clearly wasn’t serving me. I moved to live by the sea. I trained in the skills that had freed me because my dearest wish is to see midlife women see this time as the catalyst for a magnificent future. We can be free of our past and we can live whole, amazing lives.
There are changes, we’re talking about menopause now, but our culture as a long way to go before it sees older women as the highly valuable wisdom powerhouses we undoubtedly are. We’re old enough to spot habits that aren’t serving us; NOW is the time!
Is hypnosis new?
Hypnosis is an ancient therapy tool, it was practiced by the Egyptians and in Ancient Greece.
My goal is to continue to develop as a compassionate hypnotherapist who gets fast, transformational results for clients.
I am also a British Wheel of Yoga accredited instructor and focus my yoga teaching on ‘letting go’ of whatever holds us back in life and freeing us of the tension that creates in the body and mind.
And I’m a reike master practitioner, which was a powerful stepping stone in my personal development journey I began when I was about to have a hip replacement operation, but I do provide this powerful healing technique to clients on request.
Have you always been a therapist?
I trained as a journalist, actually and then I worked in PR Communications, specialising in health and education. I still work in this area, but on a freelance basis now.
Do you have room for any hobbies?
Ha, just about! I love travelling and I’m a Radio4Extra fan and dedicated bookworm. I also love a good walk and watching birds; the Downs are an absolute joy. For the first time in my life I’m finding time for art – I started pottery classes when we moved here and I’ve discovered a whole side to expressing myself creatively that is deeply satisfying. Far more so than sitting on a sofa watching a screen.