If you are avoiding flying because the idea of getting into a plane is just too terrifying, then perhaps now is a good time to uncover the causes and bring your apprehension down to a more manageable level. We know that the fear response, when working properly, is an amazing function that fires us up and gets us in a position to either fight or to run like hell. It gets us out of scary places when we need to get out, and when the danger is over the system returns to normal and all is well. The problem comes in when, for some reason, we rev too high with the fear, or we rev to an appropriate level but then forget to turn off the response when the danger is past.

Fear of flying is an excessive response to a situation that should more appropriately cause something like mild apprehension or, well, no discernable reaction at all. Once you’re in the plane there’s nothing much you can do about what happens, so you might as well relax and enjoy the flight. But if you can’t do so, then something is happening that is triggering the fight or flight response. Perhaps you had a bad experience on a flight once, or perhaps you suffer from claustrophobia or from the fear of losing control. Whatever the cause, we can find it using hypnosis and then “reset” the body and mind so that a more appropriate reaction is given.

Treatment using hypnosis will involve discovering whatever causes might be at work, and it will also involve mental rehearsal of pleasant flight experiences to create new neural pathways associating flight with excitement, adventure, or other positive effects. Immediate relief can be expected from the very first session, but it’s best to factor in at least three to five sessions to really get those new, fearless, habits anchored in your body and mind.

Smoking is largely a deeply embedded habit triggered by some known or unknown patterns or situations that are so strong that willpower and discipline alone are often not enough to change. This is where hypnosis comes in – to understand and change these habits in your subconscious.

My sessions are highly personalized and you need to allocate at least two sessions (1.5 hours each). Please note that Mindfree Stop Smoking is a mini-programme that will require your effort and commitment to make the change that you desire. If you decide to book an appointment, I will forward you a list of easy-to-perform tasks that you should begin straight away so that you can get the most out of the hypnosis session.

So if you are ready to stop smoking for good, let’s make an appointment and get you started on the road to greatly improved health and wellbeing.

Frequently asked questions:

• Why does it take two sessions – why can’t you just quickly hypnotize me to make cigarettes taste like manure?

I could certainly hypnotize you to make cigarettes taste horrible, but the effect would probably be cosmetic and after a few days you might find yourself enjoying the taste again. We need to take a bit more time to undo all the triggers and the emotional hooks that prop up your habit.

• Will your programme really work?

Yes, if you follow the instructions and go through the process, you will find that you no longer care to smoke at all. You will be excited about your new identity as a non-smoker and you will feel a sense of achievement each time you don’t have a cigarette in those situations that previously would have caused you to light up.

• Is it difficult?

No. The tasks to be performed before the first session are things like noting each cigarette you have and paying attention to the ‘smoke signals’ that cause you to reach for a cigarette. The hypnosis session itself is an enjoyable experience, and though it involves some work on your part, it does not feel like work at all. You will walk out feeling deeply relaxed and very positive.

• Will I put on weight if I give up smoking?

No. The Mindfree Stop Smoking programme includes methods that prevent you replacing cigarettes with food. You might even lose weight as you begin to feel better about yourself and start enjoying exercise more.

• Can I afford it?

You are already affording it. A person who currently smokes 20 cigarettes a day will spend about as much money supporting their habit over a month and a half as they will pay to do the Mindfree Stop Smoking programme. Just think how much money you will save by quitting!

Have you had enough of diets and forced exercise routines and the disappointment of one more weight-loss failure?

The simple truth is that most of our well-meaning efforts based on will-power and short-lived bouts of enthusiasm are not going to bring about the lasting change we desire. Will-power is not enough to create meaningful change – you need to harness the power of your imagination as well.

The Mindfree Weight Loss Programme is designed to help you discover the real reasons behind your eating habits and to put you in touch with a more positive self-image that will enable you to naturally adopt more healthy eating habits.

You need to be motivated by what you do want, rather than what you don’t want, and that’s why diets often just don’t work – they focus your attention on what you’re not getting, on loss, and eventually a part of you rebels against the forced privation and goes on a binge.

The Mindfree Weight Loss Programme isn’t going to boost your self-discipline and your willpower so you’ll be able to cut out all the yummy good stuff, instead it’s going to go deeper to put you in touch with that part of yourself that knows what is really good for it and that can relax and enjoy every mealtime, knowing that you’re eating just the right amount of food for you.

Frequently asked questions:

• How many sessions will it take?

I like to recommend at least three or four sessions. That gives us time to discover all the issues regarding food and weight and to begin to address them.

• Why will hypnotherapy work for me when diets didn’t?

Because diets don’t deal with the cause of the issue, they simply try to cover up the effects. It’s like putting a band aid on a cancer – it’s just not going to do anything. With hypnosis, however, we can get to the cause of the food issues and resolve them at their source.

• Why do you say that the Mindfree Weight Loss Programme doesn’t require willpower?

Because we use imagination rather than willpower, and imagination beats willpower in any contest. That’s just how the mind works – it will follow an inspired thought rather than a solid fact any time you put the two up against one another. Conscious willpower without the backing of the subconscious and imagination will be perceived by the body as an imposition, as a burden.

You can carry a burden for a while, but sooner or later you’ll drop it. That’s why the body rejects a diet no matter how hard you try to stick to it. In this programme we’re going to go beyond diets – we’re going to get you inspired about yourself and about your relationship with food. The weight loss will follow as a natural and easy consequence.

I like to think of physical disease not as a sign of weakness or as some sort of punishment for wrong living but as a compassionate indicator of a misunderstanding or misperception of one’s true nature. I say compassionate because there is much deep learning to be experienced in illness, and it is often the loss of health that brings us to a point in ourselves where we are finally ready to give up what we think we know and begin to look beyond ourselves to something new and unexpected.

It is not for nothing that we have the archetype of the wounded healer, for it is from our greatest wounding that our compassion and our ability to heal is born. Perhaps you are being called right now to step into something new, to discover the revelation that is waiting for you.

If you are suffering from some chronic or sudden health issue, I invite you to begin a journey of compassionate investigation into its meaning and significance. I can help you discover what the symptoms are trying to tell you so that the affliction is free to leave you. We will use hypnosis and visualization for this, as well as the Quantum Healing technique of deep awareness developed by Dr Ashok Jain of the US. I am also a qualified Reconnection Healing Practitioner, and will use this simple yet profound technique where requested or where appropriate.

Read here for more on Dr Jain’s Quantum Healing.
Read here for more on The Reconnection.

The inability to find a work in which one can invest one’s passion and enthusiasm is one of the greatest causes of unhappiness in the world today. So many of us go through our lives in a state of low-level despair because we have to get up every day and go to a job we don’t care for, just so that we can survive.

Some people know exactly what they’d do with their lives if only they had the money to do so, while others simply don’t know what they’d love to do – all they know is that what they’re doing right now isn’t it. If you’re one of these, welcome to the club! I have spent a good part of my life in just such a place and it has become my passion to help people get the hell out of there and into something that gives them happiness and fulfilment.

It’s not always an easy path, following your passion – or even finding your passion, but I believe it is one of life’s greatest tasks. So many times we look at other successful people and wish we could be like them – somehow they seem to know just what to do with their lives, and the money just seems to roll in for them. But if you look closely, you’ll often see that they have just the same issues with work and life path as you do.

I used to envy doctors and lawyers because it seemed they had ‘proper jobs’ until I realised that it could be pretty darn boring being a doctor and seeing the same old complaints over and over all day. There must be many doctors and lawyers out there wondering how on earth they got themselves into the work they’re doing and wondering what more there is for them.

If you are one of those who wishes they could find their passion in life or find a way of breaking out and living their dream, perhaps it’s time to do some more work on the issue. I can help you uncover those dreams that you’ve smothered under tons of stone because you think they’re impractical or impossible or just too insignificant to even mention, and I can help you gain the courage and the perseverance and vision to turn them into reality. It might not always be an easy path, but we need to get going with that first little step.

Frequently asked questions:

• How many sessions will it take?

You should consider at least three sessions, but you might find that it takes a few more. Coaching can be an ongoing relationship, at least while you’re still finding your feet in your new perceptions.

• What does it involve?

I will use coaching techniques and processes to guide you to a resourceful state of being in which wise and visionary choices can be made. Through well-aimed questions and objective feedback I will help you ground your perceptions and discover real and practical ways in which you can begin manifesting your desires. If necessary we can bring in some hypnotherapy to really get the imagination and subconscious aligned with your new direction.

• What if I really don’t have a passion?

Nonsense – everyone has, it’s just that we bury our passions deep down because we think they’re silly/impractical/frivolous/indulgent/
insignificant/mad/crazy/hopeless/impossible, etcetera and etcetera. You’re here for a reason, and your life task is to find out what that is. It’s a sacred journey, so let’s begin it now!