Introduction to Hypnotherapy & Coaching

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Even before I was born, my arrival into the world was shaped by hypnotherapy. During the last three months of pregnancy, my mother decided that she wanted a pain-free home birth and went to see a Harley Street hypotherapist for sessions. I was successfully delivered at home with the help of a midwife, and my mother tells me that the pain was no more than a mild stomach ache.

In my early childhood years I was surrounded by my father’s therapy clients and the “encounter” groups that he ran. From age ten I was avidly reading psychology, philosophy and literature from his extensive library on a range of topics from the Occult, Zen, psychoanalysis, existentialism and Greek mythology, to relationships and sexuality, anthropology and psychedelically altered states of consciousness. I was particularly fascinated by the superconscious mind, and daydreamed constantly because what I was reading did not seem to help me (an only child) to fit in with my peers. It has taken me many years fto value the unique start I had in life, and to learn how to use it to my advantage. 

Disaffected with my degree studies in Developmental Psychology, I took up Buddhist meditation and went on some lengthy retreats before undertaking a six month training in psychotherapy with the Karuna Institute at 22. As I continued to work in social care and education, other trainings followed that included a Certificate in Group Work Skills, an ITEC Massage Diploma, a Social Education Degree that included modules on Early Years and Systemic Practice in Denmark, and A Diploma in Working with Adolescents from the Westminster Pastoral Foundation.  I have also taken numerous short counselling/mediation/motivational interviewing trainings related to working with numerous voluntary organisations and charities: Sussex Aids Helpline, Release Drugs Helpline, Haringey Victim Support Scheme, Camden Mediation and the National Deaf Children’s Society. 

For creative fulfilment, I completed a Screenwriting Masters at Royal Holloway (2010-12), wrote ten feature screenplays, was hired to write of them by producers, and had representation by a literary agent for several years. I own a film company, Red Rug Productions, and have worked on film projects and music videos, winning two film festival awards. 

Having been a client of therapists trained in various modalities at significant transitions in my own life, I concluded that in most cases, hypnotherapy is far more effective than conventional talking therapy: it goes straight to the root of the problem and intervenes at the crucial unconscious level. Hypnotherapy avoids the stress of the client growing dependent on the therapist by the swiftness of intervention, often resolving a particular fear, phobia or unwanted behaviour in 1-6 sessions. Also the transformation unveils a new paradigm: hypnosis naturally bridges the transition from re-framing early life trauma to support coaching techniques that design and mentally programme a successful future.

 It has been exciting to complete an eclectic career in counselling, mentoring and training in education and social sector to find that I could add all of this prior experience into my toolkit as a hypnotherapist, offering the most precise, fast and effective help a client could need.  

When I worked with Sussex Aids Helpline,I was inspired by the work on bereavement by Elizabeth Kubler Ross, Stephen Levine and Ram Dass as applied to counselling people with terminal illness. Currently I am closely following Joe Dispenza’s work on brain and heart coherence, scientifically measured in case studies of spontaneous remission and healing. I am fascinated by research on visual motor rehearsal, and have experienced the magic of taking this a step further using the flexibility of EMDR, not only to treat Post Traumatic Stress, but also to run new and wished for peak experiences through all of the client’s sensory processing systems.

By comparing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with David Hawkin’s Hierarchy of Consciousness for modelling how the Law of Attraction works, I feel I’ve gained insight into how human nature evolves beyond self-actualisation (and the end point of ego) into the sphere of the transpersonal. Amit Goswami’s work on Quantum Physics explores the domain of potentiality in therapeutic relationships and manifesting creativity. I have studied Kabbalah and Buddhism, the Vedic Chakra system, and considered how these spiritual systems can seemingly contradict (duality vs non-duality) and complement each other.  It is vital to consider how alternative and traditional medicine can work together effectively, because in reality, doctors usually lead on a patient’s course of treatment. 

I have followed the work of and attended workshops by numerous motivational speakers and performance coaches to continue my own professional development: during the Coronavirus lockdown period alone, I have graduated from two Mindvalley programmes including a 12 week Wildfit Programme focusing on Nutrition & Health, and a 7 week Lifebook programme on life visioning, as well as some advanced Superconsciousness training within a closed study group.

Cross pollinating my love of screenwriting with psychology, I utilise storytelling techniques (such as the Hero’s Journey, and John Truby’s Anatomy of Story) as highly relevant in mapping human drives and finding meaning in the trials and phases of human life. When humans invented stories, they summoned gods, heroes, villains, and magic. The roots of psychology, of teaching, of religion, of cultural and societal bonding, are all within stories. Storytelling unites the conscious with the unconscious mind and stimulates the same alpha brain frequencies as hypnotic suggestion: when used together, they are phenomenally powerful.