hypnosis

Hypnosis: the ultimate natural painkiller

Deana Morris Uncategorized , , ,
Hypnosis: the ultimate natural painkiller

Did you know learning the art of self hypnosis can help you reduce chronic pain?

I wish I had known this when I was was struggling with arthritis in my left hip.

Frustrated by my reliance on prescription pain-reducing drugs which really only offset the discomfort, I was still experiencing pain in all waking hours.

The operation changed my life and living pain-free lifted a cloud of physical and mental tension and oppression I hadn’t realised was so pervasive until it was gone.

So when I knew Dr John Butler at Hypnotherapy Training International offered a Medical Hypnotherapy course, based on Gil Boyne and David Elman’s teaching and expertise, I couldn’t wait to learn these skills. And they’ve never disappointed.

Empowering clients to develop the skills that allow them to turn down their experience of pain is deeply satisfying for both of us. Because we are our own rescue in life. Therapists light the way, but it is the client that has the ‘a-ha’ moments that enable them to see and feel differently, emotionally and, where appropriate, physically.

Below is Georgie’s story. We worked together via Zoom (like Skype) – face-to-face, in-person isn’t necessary. She tells the story better than I can do, so if you’re interested in how hypnotherapy techniques can help you control chronic pain… read on.

‘I was fortunate enough to meet Deana over Christmas and that one meeting changed the way I am now able to live my life. I’m almost entirely pain free, have lost the reliance on painkillers and best of all I’m in control. My health has improved, I’m sleeping through every night and generally much more positive and happier. I would recommend hypnotherapy to anyone who lives with pain and battles on thinking there isn’t another option. There most definitely is! 


‘Deana and I met for work and I happened to mention that I suffered with chronic pain in my knee. After having a knee replacement at the age of 14, 30 years later, 2 children, lots of sport (running and skiing) had meant the wear and tear on my knee had really taken its toll. I suffered daily with pain and managed this with multiple painkillers. The pain was always worse in winter and the cold really did increase levels of suffering. I’d tried physio, acupuncture, reflexology, but nothing offered much more than a temporary respite.


‘I have always enjoyed exercise but latterly tended to opt for more low impact classes like pilates and yoga. I know that in the long-term I need another operation, but simply don’t have the time currently for recovery. Two young children who need ferrying here there and everywhere and no family support mean that I’m too heavily relied upon to take time out.

‘Deana said that as well as being a magazine editor and yoga teacher that she is also a hypnotherapist and could treat me and help me find a way to ease the pain without painkillers. I was intrigued. I had a lot of friends who swore by hypnobirthing and while I flicked through a few books while pregnant never committed.

‘Almost a month ago I undertook my first hypnosis session with Deana. We did it via Zoom video conferencing. I was initially sceptical, but her soothing voice and clear instructions took me to a different place where I was able to ‘turn off the pain’. The whole process took around 20 minutes and after an initial feeling of calm, felt invigorated and energised, but more crucially had minimal pain in my knee. Yes, it was still there, but the effects were the same as taking pain relieving medication. Interestingly I got on with my day and it wasn’t until the evening that I realised that I hadn’t even thought about pain relief. This was the turning point for me and I realised that I had with Deana achieved something remarkable and if I could control the pain I was experiencing then I could live differently, be more active and less miserable and grumpy (something my family most definitely are thanking her for).

‘Deana sent me through a recording to take me through the process when I was alone. This initially I found hard. Trying to get uninterrupted quiet time with two bouncy boys and a puppy was challenging. I found my mind wondering and getting distracted. I persevered and by the end of the first week had cracked it. I was able to turn off the pain to almost nothing. I was sleeping well and no stomach issues through overuse of codeine. I haven’t felt so well and up-beat for years. My family and friends began noticing a difference and people were really interested in the process and how it had worked. 

‘I’m now a month in and not only have I been able to run short distances but have just completed a fitness weekend doing 14 classes including squats, weight-bearing exercises, jumping – utterly unimaginable only 4 weeks ago.

‘While I know hypnosis isn’t a cure it has transformed the quality of my life. I have even had success with a hangover headache, the control we have over the pain we feel is something I still struggle to fully comprehend, but it works. I’m not totally sure how, but I love the fact it’s natural and wherever I am in the world I can get instant relief without panicking there is no chemist nearby. Thank you Deana the impact you have had on my life is immense. I feel as if anything is achievable and without the constant pain feel liberated, optimistic and focused on the future.

‘I cannot recommend Deana highly enough. She has a wealth of experience and will help guide you through every step. Above all you will be amazed as to how quickly you start to see results and that will give you the impetus to prioritise the sessions and stick with them for a longer-term gain.’

Georgina Darby, 
Windsor Berkshire

Honouring the Greats: Rules of the Mind – Part One

Deana Morris Uncategorized , , ,
Honouring the Greats: Rules of the Mind – Part One

Why do we think the way we do? Why do we behave in ways that undermine our deepest desires?

Frustrating isn’t it? Our thinking mind knows what we want, but somehow we sabotage that goal. We tell ourselves we’re aiming too high, or we can start tomorrow, or we respond from a place of deep emotion and past memories – ‘I don’t deserve… I’m not good enough…’

The mind is really very logical – when you know the rules. Master hypnotherapist Gil Boyne’s Rules of the Mind, reveal eight great insights – here are the first four.

We may be puzzled by why we can’t speak with confidence in public, let go of extra pounds with ease, give up smoking, drinking too much or free ourselves from irrational fears.

The job of the hypnotherapist is to help the client achieve their goals; get their emotional mind working for them, rather than against them.

And when the whole mind is invested in achieving desired change, lives change.

Rule Number One
Every thought or idea causes a physical reaction
Your thoughts can impact on all the functions of the body. You’ll have heard about ‘being broken hearted,’ having a ‘nervous stomach’ and how a ‘gut reaction’ kicks in when we sense all is not what it seems. Ideas that have a strong emotional content invariably impact on the emotional mind; the subconscious mind and can impact on the body with the same physical reaction, over and over again.

Rule Number Two
What is expected tends to be realised
Focus on what you want, pursue what you want, pour all your energy into taking massive action towards what you want and guess what… You’ll be in the right place at the right time with the right mental attitude to achieve your goal. The key: keep going. But if you decide not to compete in case you ‘fail’, tell yourself everyone else is better than you, look in the mirror each morning and dismiss yourself… don’t be surprised when colleagues you know don’t have an ounce of your talent get promoted. If you want to win the race, being on the starting line is an imperative.

Rule Number Three
Imagination is more powerful than logic
Your subconscious mind, your feeling mind, is powerfully driven by emotion. Last Saturday I spent 10 minutes clearing a bathroom of eight spiders (apparently a whole family of leggy arachnids had moved in) while grown women quaked in the kitchen talking about how spiders make them ‘physically sick’. These spiders were completely harmless. We ‘know’ spiders can’t hurt us and yet… Phobias are frequently irrational but the imaginative mind needs to be brought on board. We think we’re superior to an over-active imagination, but how many crimes are driven by moments of anger or jealousy? How many more confidence tricksters would be laughed at if imaginations weren’t fired?

Rule Number Four
Opposing ideas can’t be held at the same time
If you believe: ‘my best friend is chocolate,’ letting go over extra pounds is going to be difficult whenever you feel lonely. The words we say have a powerful impact on our subconscious and it does not get irony or sarcasm so even if you think you’re being funny, you’re just underlining a negative emotion solution for your subconscious.  

Gil Boyne
Master hypnotherapist and hypnosis trainer, Gil Boyne, made great and powerful contributions to the world of mental health understanding and mindset training during his lifetime. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Gil Boyne was hailed as a pioneer of modern hypnotherapy, along with Milton Erickson and Dave Elman.

He was also Co-Founder of the British Council of Hypnotist Examiners and Executive Director of American Council of Hypnotist Examiners. Today his Transforming Therapy is taught around the world. His work is reflected in the professional practises of therapists the world over – whether they were trained by him or one of his students at the Hypnotism Training Institute of Los Angeles.

Myth-busting hypnosis

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Myth-busting hypnosis

‘You use hypnosis not as a cure, but as a favourable climate in which to learn,’ Milton Erikson

When I talk to people who want to come for hypnotherapy there are questions that come up. Frequently. 

That’s natural. Whenever we’re trying something new, we may hesitate. It’s easy to get caught up in the ‘what ifs’ and forget about our aims – to move forward towards our goals, free from what’s been holding us back.

So here are a few questions I’ve heard and here are the answers. If you have more questions, you are very welcome to contact me. And do your own research; hypnotism has been researched for a long time. There’s lots out there.

Once I’m hypnotised, will I be instantly transformed?

Hypnosis is a tool, not a magic wand. In hypnosis we work within the world of the subconscious mind, where emotions and feelings are more easily accessed. This is why clients engage at a level that’s not available through the conscious mind alone. More of the mind is working towards your specified goal.

Will I surrender all control?

I hear this frequently, and I’m not surprised, given the dramatisation of hypnosis we see on TV and in the theatre.  Stage hypnotists are of a different ilk. And they get confused with hypnotherapists. All that ‘you are in my power…’ nonsense (cue therapist eye-roll moment). It’s a show. Stage hypnotists are looking for highly extroverted people who, on a subconscious level, want to be part of the fun. And that’s all stage hypnotism is – fun.

Consider this… if stage hypnotists and hypnotherapists could make you do anything against your will, why are we not all living on tropical islands, living lavish lifestyles because you’ve given us all your money? That’s not the situation, is it. We live ordinary lives because we’re ordinary people. Yup, because YOU are in control.

Will I tell you things I don’t want to?

Again, you are in control. If there’s something you don’t want to say, you won’t say it. Hypnotherapists cannot ‘make’ you do or tell us anything you don’t want to.

I’ve heard hypnosis is ‘unnatural’ or ‘dangerous’

You naturally go in and out of hypnotic states all the time, often without even realising. Have you ever arrived somewhere and realised there are stages of the journey you don’t remember? That’s one type of trance state. And very common.

Hypnosis is an ancient therapeutic tool that can be dated back to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Modern hypnotherapy is based on research by famous twentieth century psychologists such as Carl Jung and Milton Erikson.

What if I can’t be hypnotised?

If you’ve ever fallen asleep or woken up, you’ve been in a hypnotic state. That moment before you slip off to sleep or are stirring into wakefulness; they are both hypnotic states.

Being in hypnosis is somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, in many ways. It’s a sleep of the nervous system that allows us greater access to what’s going on in our subconscious. What drives our emotions and feelings is rooted in there. The subconscious mind knows where your issues are rooted?

What if you make me believe things I don’t want to?

Your hypnotherapist is your guide, working in partnership with you. You can accept or reject suggestions in hypnosis and that is absolutely right. It’s my job to adapt to your needs and discover what is meaningful for you in that moment. Everyone responds in their own way; it’s not a test, it’s a journey we take together.

Will I just need one session?

Anyone who tells you they can get consistent, instant results in one session, isn’t being realistic. Each client comes with different issues, we all respond differently to hypnotherapy and we are all living in different environments which may challenge us in different ways that may not have been explored in that hypnotherapy session. It is possible to achieve long-lasting instant results, but it is not the norm.

You are a unique individual dealing with a unique circumstance, based on your unique experiences. Be compassionate with yourself. Your hypnotherapist will be too.

Can’t I just listen to suggestion recordings?

Positive suggestion recordings are great and they’ll make you feel good, but experiencing lasting change for you is unlikely. If your subconscious is like a pool and the water is murky from unresolved past experiences that are holding you back in the present, going swimming in that water unhindered is unlikely. Better to get clarity and clear up the pool before you go swimming. 

If you have more questions about hypnotherapy, contact me at dmtherapies@gmail.com. I offer a 20-minute free discovery conversation for you to explore whether hypnosis is right for you.

Not having your cake and eating it too

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Not having your cake and eating it too

‘Pour some sugar on me, in the name of love,’
Def Leppard

Doughnuts… ice-cream… black forest gateaux… cookies… Belgian triple chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate…

If your mouth is watering just reading those words then you’ll have a thing for sugar. I mean who doesn’t, right?

But for some of us, sugar-lust can get out of control – and never more so when we’re feeling low.

Emotional eating is rarely triggered by having a great day. It’s triggered by feelings that bring us down. Like feeling judged, feeling sad, feeling lonely, feeling less than in balance…

Sometimes the strangest things can throw us – and before we know it we’re stood in the kitchen, fridge door open and scanning for the foods that satisfy our personal craving needs.

Of course, a Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) session will help you identify what happened in your past that created these associations. 

Reframing these associations in hypnosis can be incredibly powerful because the subconscious is then on board with what you want. It stops the ‘go on, eat the cake, cake makes you happy’ mantra because the whole of the mind – conscious and subconscious – understands that it was never really about the cake. 

The mind’s job is to move you away from pain towards pleasure. Once the mind understands that the craving is triggered by a memory, the need for the cake evaporates.

Let me give you an example. On my 18th birthday my mum took me to London. A big treat. We had lunch in a pizzeria in the Brompton Arcade and in the afternoon mum bought me a glass necklace in Harvey Nichols as my present. There, we went to the cafe for a drink. 

While I found us a table she bought us three slices of cake each, plus fizzy drinks. I remember remarking on the amount of cake she’d bought, but I also felt duty bound to eat it all with her. You never left anything on a plate in our house. My parent were World War II children, food had been rationed in the UK and going hungry was not unusual. Food was not to be ‘wasted’. Besides, leaving any would have made me ungrateful and I didn’t want to spoil the day.

Children look to their parents constantly for cues on how to behave. ‘Food as a reward’, ‘over-eating as a privilege’ are both powerful messages.

Did this one incident turn me into a cakeoholic? Not entirely, but it was key and it was reinforced with lots of ‘cake = rewards’ messaging over the years beforehand and so my ‘sugar = reward’ thinking was a sealed fate.

Now I understand that these scenes are really about love. The cake is merely the messenger. Connecting to the memory of love is just as powerful. And my subconscious understands that now too.

The need to binge can be complex, but it is invariably about recreating an emotion or sometimes pushing one away.

Understanding is power, but understanding in hypnosis is a phenomenal power because the whole mind is engaged in your desire to change.

I now hear myself say ‘No thank you, I don’t really like cake.’ Because really it’s just a mush of sugar and fat that makes me feel a bit giddy and then slightly sick.

If you want this kind of change for you, contact me for a free first consultation.

Which of the six are you?

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Which of the six are you?

Has dieting become a way of life. After Christmas you diet. For the holiday, you diet. For that wedding, you diet…

You go round and round, trying on different food fads like they’re fashion accessories, without much thought to the lasting impact of the powders, pills and potions currently jostling for attention at our local high street chemists.

If you’re past getting excited about eating like celebrities and adopting short-term skirmish tactics to what has been a long-running battle, then read on… Your end game could be in sight.

Let’s not beat about the bush; in all probability, if you’re overweight then you have some overeating habits going on.

Mine stemmed from childhood. Those were ingrained habits. I didn’t even realise I ticked some of these boxes until I recognised the symptoms.

There are actually six different types of over eater. And only one of the six categories relates to people who stand a cat in hell’s chance of keeping weight off in the long term, using dieting alone.

Pretty long odds. All right, you might quite fancy one in six odds, but the vast majority of people sit in more than one of the over-eating types. And some of us sit in several categories. That stacks the odds much further against dieting as a strategy.

And this is why more than 90% of people who go on a diet fail to keep the weight off in the long term.

Now if you like dieting, walk on by. But if you’re sick to the back teeth with whirring round on the merry-go-round of fads and regimes, then read on.

You see, you can eat like Madonna or Beyonce until the cows come home, but if you’re using food for anything else other than food, you’re setting yourself up for long-term trouble.

In her book You Can Be Thin, internationally renown hypnotherapist, Marisa Peer, identifies the six types of over-eater.

DeanaMorrisTherapiesTAFB

Let’s see which of these categories resonate with you.

Emotional Eater

Do you eat when you’re sad? Do you eat when you’re bored or when you’re lonely or feeling stressed?
Do you stand in the supermarket aisle agonising over which biscuits to buy your colleagues/friends/family?
Do you believe certain comfort foods make you feel better?
Do you eat differently when you’re with other people than when you’re on your own?

Addictive Eater

Do you crave sugar and go on sweet-stuff binges? Like not so much one biscuit, but a packet?
Or are you a crispoholic who can cheerfully demolish a large bag of crisps.
Do you eat sensibly all day and then lose control in the evenings?
Do you eat foods like crisps or chocolate so fast you realise you’ve eaten far more than you meant to and you don’t even remember enjoying it?

DeanaMorrisTherapiesTh

Habitual Eater

Are you a member of the clean plate club – you just can’t leave food even if you’re full.
Do you find it hard to throw food away?
Have you lost touch with being able to recognise when you’re full and when you’re hungry?
Do you eat what’s in front of you whether or not you’re really hungry?

Misinformed Eater

Do you think a glass of orange juice, granola and milk is a healthy breakfast choice?
Do you count potatoes as one of your five-plus fruit and veg portions?
Do you think low-fat foods and diet drinks help you lose weight?
Would you class dairy, bread and cereals as good foods?

Destructive Eater

Do you get close to your ideal weight and then sabotage your best efforts?
Do you feel anxious and uncomfortable when you’re slimmer?
Do you feel uneasy when your body is on show and prefer to layer up?
Do you like bigger clothes and prefer winter clothes to summer?

Angry Eater

Do you prefer crunchy, chewy food – crisps and French bread, nachos and toffees?
Do you chew gum morning, noon and night?
Will you go eat after you’ve been arguing because it shifts your state of mind?
Do you get irritated when you have to wait for your food – for example, when you’re on an aeroplane?

Worked out which of the six apply to you?

Now if you hadn’t guessed, it’s the misinformed eaters who stand a good chance of getting long-term results with dieting alone, because they just need to change their food choices.

For those of us who understand it’s our emotions or habits, frequently stemming from our childhood, ways of eating that can have been ingrained over decades, then we have a different job on our hands.

LoseWeightwithDeanaTeeth

You see, your mind’s job is to move you away from pain and so it will do whatever it takes to keep those feel-good chemicals whirring about in your brain. If it thinks cakes make your happy, when you’ve had a bad day, you’ll find yourself thinking about cakes – because your mind wants you to cheer up. Maybe you think about a particular cake that you associate with good friends or fond memories… sound familiar?

Once you know what’s pushing your buttons then the task is to rewrite your habits. Hypnosis helps you work with your subconscious, where all these past behaviours originate.

Through hypnosis you can get the whole of the mind on board with what you want, so you’re not relying on willpower alone. You rewrite your habits and repeat your new thoughts until they because second nature habits.

It is possible to see food as just food. It really is. And I have to say, knowing that and feeling that tastes pretty good.

 

 

Fairy tales and facts: why hypnosis gets results

Deana Morris Uncategorized , , , , , , , ,
Iceberg Rory Hennessey

Thanks to TV and stage magicians, hypnosis has a reputation it could well do without. We’ve all seen people on stage with a hypnotist, seemingly under a spell. The reality is no one leaps about a stage like a monkey unless they want to – hypnosis doesn’t take away your will. Hypnosis is simply a way in, to accessing that 90 per cent of the mind that lies below the surface; the subconscious mind.

You see, your mind is very like an iceberg and within what lies below the water’s surface are all the key events, the memories that influence our behaviours. Like why we crave chocolate, or self-sabotage when we’re trying to lose weight.

I practice RTT, which is a stand-alone therapy using hypnosis as a way to communicate with the subconscious, so we get your whole mind on board with the changes you want to make.

Here’s a list of Frequently Asked Questions about hypnosis and RTT. If your question isn’t answered here, bob your query in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer it.

What is RTT?

Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) has been developed by internationally renowned celebrity therapist Marisa Peer. Having trained in hypnosis and hypnotherapy, during her 30-year career Marisa has developed her own approach which does what is says on the tin – it gets results, fast.

Why is RTT different?

RTT uses a powerful blend of hypnosis and hypnotherapy techniques with clients seeking freedom from one or more of a wide range of issues or conditions.

In RTT we aim to deliver positive, permanent change in a single 90-minute session, although issues can require around three sessions in total.

What issues can you use RTT for?

There are a whole host of issues and conditions for which RTT gets amazing results. They include:

  • Addictions
  • Alcoholism
  • Anger
  • Anxiety
  • Confidence
  • Depression
  • Exam nerves
  • Fears
  • IBS
  • Insomnia
  • Phobias
  • Public Speaking
  • Stress

 

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is simply a tool we use to work with the subconscious mind. Imagine the mind is like an ice berg, the conscious mind is above the water line but the subconscious, the emotional mind, lies beneath the waterline, deep and unfathomable from the surface. Because the subconscious is the deep-seated, more instinctive and much larger part of the mind it over-rides the conscious mind all the time.

Will I be powerless under hypnosis?

Absolutely not. You are in complete control under hypnosis. If you want change, change will come but no one can make you do anything you don’t want to do in hypnosis.

Will I be asleep?

No, you will be awake and aware of what is happening.

What does hypnosis feel like?

We go in and out of trance states every day. Have you ever driven your car along a very familiar route and arrived home with little recollection of the journey? Hypnosis feels a lot like that. You are completely in control but your subconscious is awake while your conscious mind rests.

Who is Deana Morris?

Deana is an Advanced RTT Practitioner based in Eastbourne who came to RTT after discovering its seemingly miraculous results for herself. Of course, RTT isn’t a miracle, but it gets results fast because it gets to the roots of the issue and untangles you from their grasp.