Frontpage Article – Chester Hypnotherapist

Mindfulness Quotes To Inspire And Motivate You

My favourite mindfulness quotes from Jon Kabat Zinn who is the founder of the Center for Mindfulness at the university of Massachusetts School, where he and his colleagues developed the MBSR Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program.

Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing. …….Jon Kabat- Zinn

Wherever you go, there you are

There has to be an intention to pay attention to in the present moment
because it is the only moment

You can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf

Mindfulness Is Not About Getting Anywhere Else

Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into mindfulness

It’s not a matter of letting go- you would if you could.
Instead of “Let it go” we should probably say “Let it be”

May 6, 2017/0 Comments/by fiona burman hopkins

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Insomnia, Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy and Self Hypnosis

With the end of British summer time and the clocks having gone back an hour at the weekend perhaps you are one of the one in three who suffer with some form of insomnia in the UK. If so then now could be a good time to consider a new way of addressing your sleep difficulties.

Most help for insomnia focuses on how to get to sleep and gives various strategies for improving the chances of getting off to sleep, staying asleep and getting back to sleep if you wake during the night. Many of these suggestions encourage you to do “something” but this very act of trying to get to sleep is one of the things that will stop you. If you asked a person who sleeps well for most of their lives how they do it then they will tell you that they do not do anything, sleep just happens without any trying. One of the biggest problems with insomnia is that your body gets used to not sleeping and it becomes something of a habit. This is where hypnotherapy can help as your subconscious mind is accessed whilst you are relaxed and reprogrammed. The habit of not sleeping is replaced with a habit of falling asleep, staying asleep and waking feeling refreshed in the morning. Of course every one has some episodes of disturbed sleep at some time in their lives. This is normal and can occur if you are particularly stressed or worried at any time or have had some recent trauma or loss in your life. This type of insomnia usually resolves itself reasonably quickly and your usual sleeping habits return. Persistent chronic insomnia lasts for over three nights a week and for longer than three months. Many insomniacs feel that they are locked in a battle with sleep and this in itself creates more difficulties in sleeping as the harder you try to go to sleep the more elusive it becomes.

Learning to use both mindfulness and self hypnosis can be useful. Mindfulness can be used to simply accept the present moment instead of fighting with sleep, learning to observe and accept your feelings, thoughts and yourself. Focusing on your breathing and being aware of the process of breathing is calming. Understanding that you can observe your thoughts rather than chasing them takes the emotional impact out of the thought. Anxiety and persistent negative thoughts are reduced, leading to an increased sense of calm and ease.

For self hypnosis you could spend some time imaging you are at a special beach, daydream about lying in the sun or listening to the waves, or imagine a calming waterfall. Researchers at Oxford university found that by doing this insomniacs fell asleep 20 minute earlier. This may be because picturing an interesting and engaging scene takes up more brain space than simply counting sheep and is easier to stay with than some other techniques.

Recent research covering forty years of study by scientists at the University of Arizona suggests that chronic insomnia can kill you. It is linked to higher inflammation of the blood which is responsible for most chronic diseases. This study was published on line by The American Journal of Medicine. As insomnia appears to increase the risk of heart disease, dementia, diabetes and depression then it may well be a good time for you to try a different view and approach your insomnia from a new angle.

October 26, 2015/0 Comments/by fiona burman hopkins

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Weight loss Hypnotherapy Tip

Weight Loss Hypnotherapy

A Simple Technique For Everyone

Here one of the techniques I use to help you achieve and maintain weight loss.

The White Board – Allow 10 minutes for this exercise, try it out first thing in the morning before getting up or if you prefer last thing at night before you go to sleep. Focus on your breathing as you would in mindfulness meditation, or if you are not familiar with this then try a few slightly slower, deeper more intentional breaths in to relax yourself. Make sure you will not be disturbed and that you are sitting or lying comfortably. Focus inwardly. Now imagine in your minds eye a white board and mentally write a list or visualise a list if you can of all the foods that are causing you to gain weight. Chocolate, cakes, biscuits, crisps, snacks, sweets, fried food, fatty food, greasy food, sugar, cordials, juices, fizzy drinks, pies, pastries and any others that you eat which are causing you a problem. When you have completed your list imagine drawing a line through each one perhaps in a bright red pen and as you do so imagine it disappearing off the white board. Empty the board of all those foods that make you gain weight and each one you cross out generate as much feeling of disgust as you can for those foods. Saying to yourself as you eliminate each one ” I reject this food which makes me gain weight, I no longer want or need this food. I totally reject all fatty greasy sugary food, my body rejects this food, my mind rejects this food, my emotions reject this food”. When the board is completely empty fill it up with a list of all the foods you enjoy which are healthy and nutritious and which you wish to eat more of. Fruits, vegetable, lean meat, fish, salads, cool refreshing water. Make this list is clear and strong in your minds eye. Maybe use your favourite clour to write the list in or a colur which you associate health with. Imagine yourself eating these foods, biting into a crisp apple, tangy oranges, drinking icy cold refreshing water and feeling good all the time. As you write this healthy nutritious foods on your board you can mentally say to yourself ” I love looking after myself, I respect my body feeling healthy and positive all the time” Keep practising this technique at the inner level within your mind until it shows in the outer level and you autommatically begin to reject all fatty, greasy, sugary foods that make you gain the weight you no longer want or need.

August 5, 2015/0 Comments/by fiona burman hopkins

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Manage Food Cravings with Mindfulness

Using mindfulness to manage food cravings has proved very popular with my weight loss clients. Those coming for weight loss hypnosis have found that practising mindfulness has been particularly empowering and when combined with traditional hypnotherapy approaches for weight management has meant that cravings and snack eating has diminished significantly and in many cases stopped completely by the third session. Although there is now good evidence to support the use of mindfulness stretegies to manage food cravings it is not completely clear which aspect of mindfulness is responsible for the effect.

There are two techniques most commonly used to help people change the way they think, the first one is often used with CBT which identifies the thought as inaccurate and then replaces it with a more accurate one. For example ” I need crisps” vs ” I don’t need crisps, I want crisps but I can have something else instead….. a piece of fruit , a glass of water, or do something else instead go for a walk, talk to someone” etc. This actually requires quite a lot of effort on your part and the desire or thought often keeps popping back into your head.

More success is often found by the second one which simply helps people to better understand how they think accepting the thought ” I want Crisps” and recognising that this is just a thought and nothing else and simply observing it as such. Having learnt and been practising mindfulness meditations you are then better able to ride the wave of any craving that accompanies the thought.

It appears to me from working this way, that being able to aknowledge, accept then detaching yourself from your thoughts about food is the best way of managing and ultimately preventing cravings. Do not try to suppress the craving or ignore it or give yourself a critical running commentary on it….this will not help. Take a deeper slower more intentional breath in and remind yourself that this feeling of craving is being fuelled by just a thought that you can dispell quite easily, any uncomfortable feelings in your body will also begin to subside. The more you practice the easier it gets!

July 14, 2015/0 Comments/by fiona burman hopkins