When people dismiss blushing as insignificant, it makes the blusher feel “silly” and “stupid”. I have never worked with a blusher who thought it was insignificant. However, what I do hear is “I know it’s stupid but….” or “I feel silly saying this but….”

Blushing is something we see a lot of and is very confusing and uncomfortable for the client. It is often accompanied with feeling hot, sweating, embarrassment and fear. But what is it? Why does it happen?

Blushing is used by the subconscious to remove the blusher from a situation that the subconscious believes is dangerous (normally danger of embarrassment). By making the person blush it generates the desire/need to leave the situation.

It usually occurs because of a severe fear of criticism. This can often be set up in childhood by critical parents, bullying or ridicule from teachers at school.

Let us consider a young girl whose father is always critical of her. Nothing is good enough, perhaps he calls her “silly” or “stupid” and makes comments like “What do you know, you have no idea”. However, he may also call her “pretty” and “beautiful”. This continues into her teens and often even when she leaves the home and has her family of her own.

Her desire to please her father increases with the level of criticism and often creates a need for perfectionism, which all leads to vile negative beliefs about herself and her abilities. But in contrast, her beliefs about her body and looks will probably be quite good and healthy.

As this girl grows she will start to avoid situations where she might be judged (critically with regard to intellect). However, she may be quite at home entering a beauty competition, providing they didn’t need to talk in public. Talking in public is liable to be the top things on her list to avoid.

If she starts to blush at sometime in her childhood this will just heighten her anxiety and add lots more situations for her to avoid, as now her anxiety is obvious and on display to the world.

To treat this form of social phobia the underlying belief that she is “not good enough” will have to be addressed in the first instance and once that has been achieved the fear of the fear will need to be addressed.

The fear of the fear, i.e. the fear of blushing in public, will need to be tackled by generating situations in her mind where she used to blush and have her complete these situations in a calm and relaxed way. This would all be done whilst she was in hypnosis.

Typically, if this treatment is done by an anxiety specialist, it should be achievable in 3 to 4 sessions (depending on the client and their circumstances).

If blushing effects you, do not despair, there is a way out of it. Hypnotherapy is a very effective way of getting your subconscious mind to change the beliefs that support the behaviour.

Source:Heatworld.com

We always thought of Simon Cowell as one of the most determined men in the music industry. The pop media mogul’s strict and determined attitude sometimes makes us a little scared that he’s trying to conquer the world! However, there seems to be one habit the X Factor boss is finding a little hard to control, smoking.

Simon has reportedly started to undergo hypnosis to kick the habit, as it has been claimed that the star’s friends and family want him to try and quit. The X Factor USA judge has been smoking for almost 44 years despite his family’s history of health complications, and he admitted that his New Year’s resolution was to try and give up his 15-a-day. A source says,

“His grandfather Robert was a heavy smoker who died of lung cancer…His father suffered a heart attack…It made Simon think long and hard about his own health now.”

Simon is reportedly attending a top medical centre in London in an attempt to quit the habit. Well, it’s a good time to start! We’ve still got to honour our resolution and shift all of this pesky Christmas weight, *sigh*.

Source: Heatworld.com

BBC news states:-
People with psoriasis have nearly three times the normal risk of stroke and abnormal heart rhythm, according to scientists in Denmark.

A study of 4.5 million people, published in the European Heart Journal, showed the highest risk was in young patients with severe psoriasis.

Researchers believe this may be because the skin and blood vessels may share similar sources of inflammation.

So what they are really saying is that is you have severe psoriasis there is an increased risk. Well thats really going to help the stress levels for someone with Psoriasis. In my work using hypnotherapy for psoriasis the main bulk of what I have to do is to de-stress the client. This sort of sensationalism about psoriasis does not help that work.

This type of conditioning, if it continues for a significant period of time, generates a belief that “I’m not good enough”. This belief we see in clients that have a fear of criticism, fear of failure and/or a fear of judgement, lead on to various types of social phobia including blushing, presentation nerves, exam freeze, nail biting, and ultimately panic attacks, anxiety and can even be a factor in depression. These beliefs have a significant effect on self-esteem and self-confidence.

We often blame ourselves but are we really to blame? This sort of conditioning is generally way out of our control. As a child it can come from parents, bullies, teachers or even siblings. Worst of all, if it continues for a substantial period of time, we become used to it. It becomes comfortable and eventually becomes the norm. So much so, in fact, that as we go into our adult lives we actually seek out similar people to be around. Often people seek out what they are used too. For example, if they have had a critical parent they may well get involved with a partner that exhibits the same type of behaviour, and so the cycle of criticism continues. Then what happens when offspring come along? Do you think the criticism will stop? Of course not. It is perpetuated down the generations. So where does it end?

Sometimes when the self-esteem and self-worth is low enough, or the person has reached the end of their tether, they will do something about it. This is the type of client we see at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy all the time. By using hypnotherapy we are to change the core belief that “I’m not good enough”. Although not simple to do, it is essential to achieve so to facilitate change in the client, not only now but for generations to come. Getting rid of these vile, negative beliefs that they have about themselves allows them to believe in themselves and allow the thought that just perhaps others can believe in them too. It also allows them to re-evaluate their relationships with others and to decide which relationships are worth holding on to, and which ones that it would be better to let go. After all, if friends, partners and loved ones are continually negative and critical about you and the things you do, are they really being helpful or do they just put you down so they can feel better about themselves? Sometimes they need a wake up call and as you become more confident about yourself and your actions, you start to repel and rebuff their put downs and sometimes it can help them to realise that these types of behaviour aren’t helpful. At the very least you stop taking these put-downs to heart and start to enjoy your life with a completely new outlook. One that is full of promise rather than vile negative thoughts.

Clients are always asking for more self-confidence they say “I need more confidence”, but what is confidence? In the main what they are really saying is that I am less confident than I used to be, confidence starts to grow as children as long as we are nurtured, loved and live in safe surroundings. But for a large number of people this is not true. For a large number of the population they are fed on a diet of denigration, belittling, scorn and negative comments not to mention shouting, screaming and constant arguments. If a child is constantly denigrated they tend to believe it eventually and this perpetuates a lack of self belief. This is what we know as lack of self-confidence; i.e. no confidence. This is where hypnotherapy for confidence can really make a difference.

Now when a client comes to us with this belief they tend to perceive themselves in a very unenthusiastic way. They tend to believe that they will be unsuccessful at everything they try. It could be making friends, trying something new, business, sport or just life in general. These despicable and pessimistic beliefs that they believe about themselves are then projected outwards and they deem that others are thinking the same things about them that they do. They believe that others are judging them as harshly as they do themselves. If you have this sort of belief it makes things like presentations, speech-making, meetings, parties or any situation where they are in front of any kind of audience, be it one or two friends or a presentation in front of hundreds, extremely difficult. This can lead to excessive levels of anxiety, blushing, worry, insomnia and even depression. This is how low self-confidence is created and where hypnotherapy can help.

When you have low self-confidence it’s easy to generate unconstructive inner self-talk. For instance, ‘I always get it wrong’, ‘He/she always does it better than me’, ‘Everybody else seems so much more superior to me’, ‘He/she’ll never even notice me so why try?’. These statements are taken in by the subconscious and the beliefs are then created. These beliefs then become something to live up to and can often lead to feelings of anxiety and stress and can also create insomnia which just makes everything worse. The first step is to become conscious of these beliefs and then we use hypnotherapy to produce new and more normal patterns of thought and behaviour. Eventually these new patterns of behaviour will become automatic so you won’t even have to think about them.

Having confidence improves every aspect of life. Confident people are inspiring, fun to be with, they’re less demanding emotionally and ooze independence and a passion for life which often rubs off on everyone around them.

Lack of self-confidence instils a fear of failure and worry over change or unfamiliar situations. This fear can severely restrict lives, offering less variety, happiness and activities. Many people could benefit significantly from increasing their self-confidence, yet very few people know how effectively and simply they can improve their confidence levels.

Acquiring and developing confidence underlies all our lives. It’s the secret to happiness, satisfaction and success.

Think for a second of the people you know who are successful and have a great life… are they any more intelligent or talented than others that are not doing so well? The answer in the main is no! This is simply because it’s not intellect or gifts that breed’s success. It is visualization, ambition, motivation, determination and the readiness to take risks. All these attributes are simply by-products of confidence. However, confidence can be a fragile thing and can be crushed by a few careless words from a significant person in your life; for example, your partner, teachers, parents, siblings or peers.

Where did my confidence go?

You are born full of confidence, it oozes out of every cell. There is absolutely nothing you can’t do (or so you believe) and you try everything, even physically impossible things. However, as you grow you are subject to conditioning from parents, events and the individuals around you. If these events are distressing or the significant people around you are unenthusiastic, critical or unloving then that delicate confidence that you were born with can be pushed down and repressed. So you don’t actually lose your confidence, you just mislay it. Your confidence is replaced by a belief that you cannot do things or that it would be dangerous/embarrassing if you try.

How can I regain my confidence?

Hypnotherapy for confidence is very potent tool in releasing your confidence from the inside. We can revisit situations in your past that have knocked your self-confidence and allow your subconscious to re-evaluate the event using the power of your adult mind which is far superior than that of the child. Because you are now an adult, you are likely to come to far more sensible conclusions about the experience than you did as a child (things are much less frightening when we see them clearly using our adult mind). This allows the subconscious to reassess the belief and therefore modify the behaviour. This can be done in many different situations which is why hypnotherapy is so successful at restoring confidence.
We can then tackle all the current situations where you exhibit low self-confidence and create new patterns of behaviour in all those situations. Hypnotherapy for confidence is a powerful tool in creating a happy and confident future.

Paul Howard is a clinical hypnotherapist and trainer with over 10,000 client hours under his belt. With over 10 years experience he says he is still learning everyday with every client. He specialises in anxiety and psoriasis. He works as a full-time hypnotherapist and trainer with the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy. They run weekend and intensive hypnotherapy training courses based in Wallington, Surrey. Their courses are accredited by the National Council for Hypnotherapy, N.C.F.E and the open university.

If you are thinking of becoming a hypnotherapist you need to think about the type of training you are going to go for. Distance learning can seem very attractive on the face of it with regards to price and convenience. However learning the skills required to be an hypnotherapist by distance learning is like trying to learn how to ride a bike by using phone tuition. It simply does not work. I have never met a successful hypnotherapist who learnt by distance learning, although we have dealt with their failures. However, if that’s what you’re after there are hundreds of distance learning and cheap hypnotherapy training courses out there for you to choose. It does not really matter which type of distance learning training you go for as the clients will soon discover your lack of commitment to them and yourself and they won’t come back and you will have zero income.

But if you have a real passion for the work; i.e. you really want to help the people out there with real issues like anxiety, IBS, low self confidence, social phobia, etc, etc, then you need to think carefully about the type of hypnotherapy training that you choose. So lets have a look at the different types.

Types of Hypnotherapy Training

Distance Learning

Pros: Cheap, convenient and easy
Cons: Low standards, no interaction, no guidance and no examples

Personally I think you might as well buy a book or two, read them, and start trading as a hypnotherapist. Learning to be a hypnotherapist by distance learning just does not stand up. If we just look at the hypnosis part to start with; how can you train someone in the vocal aspects of hypnosis unless you are in the room with them?  The tempo, tonality, volume and speed to name just a few are all critical to achieving a good hypnotic voice. When I train new hypnotherapists they invariably speak to quickly, but by working together with a tutor they can be coached to take their time.  If a tutor is not present they cannot be taught properly.   When it comes to dealing with particular issues, without any interaction with the tutor and the rest of the class the learning is by definition sub-standard. Many of the good points and ideas we get come from discussions in the class, and this is something that just cannot happen at a distance. My advice would be to keep distance learning at a distance. It is simply not worth any amount of money, even a fiver.

Hypnotherapy training by DVD

Pros:Is visual and can give examples
Cons: Very rigid, no interaction and quality level varies

This type of hypnotherapy training course tends to cover very little material in any depth. The lack of interaction with the tutor does not make for a very good learning experience.  In fact I do not know of a single person that has taken this type of course that has qualified as an accredited hypnotherapist. It is very difficult to see how this type of course can teach you to treat clients affectively. Quite frankly this type of course in my experience doesnt train you up to hypnotherapy diploma level. They are normally just light weight courses with very little content.

Hypnotherapy diploma – 1 Year monthly weekend course

Pros:Plenty of time to absorb the knowledge needed, good structure
Cons:Extended period of time, Somethings continuity difficult to maintain for some students

Generally if the hypnotherapy training is accredited by someone like the National Council for Hypnotherapy then this type of hypnotherapy training is to be recommended with a few points that you should clarify:-

1. Make Sure the trainers should be practising therapists. Often training courses are run by people that have just qualified and/or see very few, if any clients. I came across a case just yesterday where the training course website claimed that the trainer was a very experienced hypnotherapist, followed by a list of her qualifications and the various areas where she was a “self proclaimed expert”. With very little research I discovered that this lady had only been qualified since May 2009, a mere 2 years. Now with the best will in the world I fail to see how you can claim to be “very experienced” with just two years in the profession. I then discovered that she was not supervised and that in fact she did not see clients! Draw your own conclusions.
2. Make sure the course has a high practical content. Students learn best when they are actually doing, rather than just reading about. For example, in our courses we demonstrate techniques which the students then go out and practise. We work with real clients in front of the class with little or no prior knowledge of the client. The students work with real clients during the course under close supervision.
3. Make sure the course is run in an appropriate environment. Many courses are run from a hotel where all the students practise in the same room which makes for confusion and chaos during the practical. It’s important for the student to hone their delivery including timing, tone, timbre and volume of their hypnotic voice. It is very difficult for the lecturer to assist the student to do that when there is a lot of background noise. Furthermore, how can the student experience it the way a client would in that sort of environment? So ideally the course should be run where the students have use of breakout rooms where they can develop their skills effectively.

Hypnotherapy diploma – Intensive course

Pros:Fast, high knowledge absorption, confidence building
Cons:can interrupt work and home life

To my mind this has to be the best way to learn. The knowledge comes at you hard and fast. However, because all your knowledge is recent when something previously learned is referred to it’s normally fresh in your mind. Of course, all the above proviso’s that I talked about in the weekend course still apply. However, if you have the time to do an intensive course (normally run Mon-Fri) then you can complete your training inside 8 weeks.  This means you can start practicing while your passion for the work is still on a high. The sooner you start the sooner you start to build your skills.

Hypnotherapy training – Your choice

Basically you need to choose the hypnotherapy training that meets your needs and circumstances. But it is important that the training you choose gives you the skills you need to practise in a commercial world. Private practise is not easy but it is rewarding as you get to help hundreds of clients make changes that make a real impact on their life.

Paul Howard is a clinical hypnotherapist and trainer with over 10,000 client hours under his belt. With over 10 years experience he says he is still learning everyday with every client. He specialises in anxiety and psoriasis. He works as a full-time hypnotherapist and trainer with the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy. They run weekend and intensive hypnotherapy training courses based in Wallington, Surrey. Their courses are accredited by the National Council for Hypnotherapy, N.C.F.E and the open university.

Don’t you think it’s strange what some people say when they get embarrassed and blush. Things like “I thought I would die” or “I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me”. These type of expressions, when you analyse them, seem a bit extreme. However, when you work with clients that come to see you for a blushing problem you start to get an understanding for why these type of expressions are common place.

Blushing is more than just being embarrassed. Blushing is a physical reaction that occurs in certain situations. Blushing is usually triggered by some external event or situation. Usually when there is a perception that the “blusher” will be the center of attention. Things like when they say something interesting in a group of friends and everyone in the group turns to them to listen to what they have to say. The “blusher” may be quite confident about the subject, however, the mere fact that they are now the center of attention can trigger off a blushing response, even amongst friends.

Put that same person in front of an audience, say a meeting, presentation or even a wedding breakfast and the problem gets magnified tenfold. Even just doing a quick round robin in a meeting saying your name and what you do can fill a “blusher” with dread especially if they have to wait a few minutes while other people in the group do their bit. They will sit there predicting how they are going to go red. Often the blushing will actually start before they even have to speak.

What is blushing?

Blushing is just a form of social phobia. In general it effects people with a low self-esteem and a profound fear of criticism. This leads to beliefs that “I’m Not Good Enough” (see previous article). The physical act of blushing is generated when adrenalin makes veins expand, allowing more blood to flow and leaving the sufferer red-faced. However, if you’re embarrassed blushing is appropriate. The problem for many people is when they blush in situations that don’t warrant it.

Blushing is as bad as dying!

The reason people use these extreme statements when they get embarrassed is that when you have low self-esteem the danger of embarrassment is often almost as strong as mortal danger. It’s this perception of danger that the subconscious responds to with the fight-or-flight response which is when the body floods with adrenalin and voila they blush.

Using hypnotherapy for blushing

At the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy we use various hypnotic techniques to:-

1. Reduce the anxiety response in the situation they normally blush.
2. Improve self esteem.
3. Remove feelings of “I’m Not Good Enough”.
4. Increase feelings of relaxation.
5. Stop prediction of failure.

These are the key things that need to be tackled in the “blusher”. There can often be other factors that need to be taken in to account which is why each client that we see needs a unique treatment plan that fits them. For more information go to Hypnotherapy for Blushing.

Paul Howard is an anxiety specialist and has been helping clients with anxiety for over ten years. He has trained many hypnotherapists around the country to treat,  in particular, agoraphobia and social phobia effectively. He works at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy in Wallington, Surrey, UK. He can be contacted via the website at www.sich.co.uk. He is also a director of The National Council for Hypnotherapy.

Finally, blushing is treatable so don’t let it control your life.

Today the Royal Society of Medicine announced that the NHS should be using more Hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is already practiced by thousands of hypnotherapists across the country helping millions of people a year. Dr Peter Naish, president of the RSM’s hypnosis section stated on BBC news today that there is more and more evidence showing Hypnotherapy to be far more effective than placebo and being very useful in treating depression, IBS, pain and anxiety.

If you have experienced anxiety in your life you know how debilitating it can be and perhaps how the drugs just didn’t help. With Hypnotherapy evidence shows that you can free yourself forever from these debilitating feelings and get back to the real you. The real you that could do anything without fear or pain.

At The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy we have been using Hypnotherapy to help clients regain control and get them back to living the life that they want to live.

by Paul Howard

In a recent interview with Bryony Gordon from The Telegraph, Jack Dee discusses how he uses hypnotherapy on a casual but regular basis to, as he puts it, “reset the brain”.

He says “I was on various anti-depressants, but not for long – I didn’t function very well on them. I felt sort of flattened out. Plus I found another way…” He trails off. And that was? “Hypnotherapy.”

Hang on. Airy-fairy hypnotherapy? “It’s very good. I mean it’s only really talking.  I always think of it as being a bit like a brain massage.  It just sort of resets you.  Sometimes you have to switch the computer on and turn it back off again. I try and do it once a month and no more, because you can end up depending on things. I don’t want to come off stage and think I did a good gig just because I was wearing red socks.  Life would become intolerable.” For the full article, which contains some interesting insights and at the very least is a good read, use the link above.

The concept of using hypnotherapy to maintain a healthy mental attitude is nothing new.  Top athletes have been using it for years. You will often find that the top golfers, footballers, olympians, etc, rely on hypnotheraputic methods to maintain, not only a level of mental stability, but also a way of achieving and maintaining peak performance.  At the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy we have an after-care service where we see clients every so often, sometimes only every 3 or 6 months, where we give clients a top-up just to ensure that they stay on track.  This is particularly useful with clients that we see for anxiety, depression, weight and alcohol where external factors can exert enormous pressure on the client. In the after-care package the client is able to ward off, release or even just let go of some of these external pressures.

We find that by putting this after-care package in place our clients remain in control permanently.  The clients generally say that they feel much more confident knowing that their appointment is coming up soon and they can almost put away those external pressures until the appointment as they know they will deal with it then.

Today I was up early for a day at my local nature reserve to unwind after a rather stressful period involving a disciplinary at work. Little did I know that today was to be the beginning of an unpleasant chapter of my life…one that would last for the next twelve years. I had arrived early and had made my way along the footpath towards the lake as I had done many times before. Today however, I failed to reach the lake as within a few minutes I became the latest victim of what was later to be diagnosed as IBS. With great haste I made my way back to the reception praying that it was now open and that I could access the toilets. Thank goodness, it was open, panic over….at least for now, as at the time I was unaware that this was to be the first incident of years of IBS problems.

The following twelve years involved numerous diet changes, GP appointments and specialist consultations, culminating in internal examinations of my stomach and bowel at hospital.

Surprisingly, throughout my entire period of IBS symptoms I had been a Bus driver. For years I had been unable to access toilet facilities as I was often miles away en-route. This, over the years had made me very anxious and uncomfortable as IBS would prey heavy on my mind.

At weekends I would enjoy long walks in the countryside but rarely without having to hide behind a bush to relieve myself. I felt completely out of control.

Having suffered for so long and failing to find the cause of my symptoms I felt it was now time to approach the problem from a different angle. In October 2010 while browsing various websites I came upon the “IBS Centre (UK)” and was swiftly put in touch with Lyta Humphris from Hypnotherapy Devon. Following a chat over the phone to explain the treatment process, I soon attended my first session. Though I had some doubt as to whether this would be effective, I relaxed and actually enjoyed the experience of hypnotherapy. To my surprise within days of my first session I could once again enjoy a lengthy walk in the countryside at the weekend without the need for a toilet or a bush!! After a couple more sessions with Lyta I found that I was less anxious while working and this has improved week after week until now, six sessions later and five months on, I feel that I have reached my goal. No longer do I fear the lengthy journey or long walk and have more time for others as I am not focused solely on my IBS.

So suffice to say, hypnotherapy is not all “Hocus Pocus” and pocket watches but an effective and safe treatment. As Lyta will tell you, it’s not a “quick fix” as it will take time, but time is something Lyta is very generous with and you certainly will not be disappointed with the time spent with her.

I am so very grateful to Lyta for all her help. With a little effort from yourself, you too could be feeling so much better like myself very soon.

Best of luck

Mr K (Devon)

Lyta has been practising hypnotherapy for 15 years, she is a member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy, and a member of the General Hypnotherapy Register with a senior qualification. Her main approach is hypnotherapy, however she also also uses counselling psychotherapy and NLP techniques. One of the primary goals in a hypnotherapy session is to help you understand the problem and treat it. After the session you will leave with a CD to re-enforce what you have done, and a host of skills and resources to use. Hypnotherapy is intended to be relaxing and enjoyable as we work towards your goal. Her sessions are longer than usual because she likes to give you time to talk.

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