Easter is upon us and in our culture this time of year, the emergence of spring, represents new beginnings – rebirth and new life. There is no better time to kick start change. Maybe its time to really get to grips with those new year resolutions that perhaps are getting harder to maintain, or maybe it’s the moment to simply to decide that now is the time for your rebirth. Imagine waking up every day smiling and looking forward to what the day holds, feeling excited about what lies ahead, being able to enjoy your life and feel fulfilled.

We know that even by smiling the body releases endorphins so that the more you smile the happier you feel. Also the more you smile and the happier you are, the happier are those around you. Just as stress and anxiety can be contagious, happiness and optimism are contagious too.

One of my favourite quotes is by a Buddhist Monk, Thich Naht Hahn who wrote, “sometimes your joy is the source of smile but sometimes a smile is the source of our joy”. He knew what he was talking about as the mere act of smiling has a profound affect on how we feel and how those around us feel, both physically and emotionally.

Here are my top ten reasons for smiling today.

1. Smiling attracts people towards us: We are attracted to people who smile and make us feel good. A smile always draws people in, reassures them and makes them feel comfortable with you.
2. Smiling makes us feel happy: Try putting on a smile next time you feel a little down, it’s likely that you will feel happier straight way. Smiling can actually send signals to your brain that trick your brain into helping your mood change for the better.
3. Smiling relieves stress:If you close your eyes and imagine something that made you stressed, it will show in your face. Tension and stress in you body is reflected in your face even if you just imagine something that makes your anxious. ow imagine something that makes you smile,you may find yourself actually smiling your body relaxing and you feel less stressed in that moment.
4. Smiling boosts your immune system: Research shows that smiling helps the immune system to work better, probably because you are more relaxed. So kick that cold into touch with a great big smile!
5. Smiling lowers your blood pressure: Did you know that when you smile, there is a real reduction in your blood pressure.
6. Smiling releases natural drugs.Most of us are aware that studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. How wonderful that the human body is able to produce its own feel good drugs! Give it a go next time you nick your finger while doing the DIY.
7. Smiling gives you a natural facelift!: Yes I did say a natural facelift. Remarkably, the muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Try smiling your way through the day, you’ll look younger and feel better.
8. Smiling makes you seem successful: People that smile appear more confident, are more likely to be promoted, and more likely to be approached. Next time you have a meeting try smiling as much as possible, you’ll find that people warm to you better.
9. Smiling helps people remember who you are!: By the same token as above, people are more likely to remember you fondly, as by smiling you are accepting them and acknowledging them positively. Smiling is contagious, it makes others feel good in your presence and that naturally means that they will remember you.
10. Smiling helps you stay positive: Try this test: Smile. Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. It’s hard. When we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that “Life is Good!”
    

IBS and Hypnosis Grantham

Earlier this week there was a health story on IBS and hypnotherapy run by the BBC.  If you have IBS and saw the headline you were probably thinking how on earth can hypnosis help with IBS? In fact hypnosis is one of the most effective therapies in the management of IBS.  Some  GPs, once they have exhausted all avenues for finding the cause of bowel problems will diagnose IBS and perhaps prescribe amongst other things antidepressants.

This is because IBS can be exacerbated by stress or anxiety.  When working with people it’s not uncommon to become aware of the fact that they hold tension in their abdomen. Often the key to hypnosis is working with the client to identify the areas in their body where tension is held and to release that tension.   Discovering the root cause of stress or anxiety in an individual can unlock the potential for learning techniques that manage anxiety and increase confidence in those situations that may have made them anxious in the past.

Professor Whorwell at Whythenshawe hospital in Manchester has been at the forefront of  research into the treatment of IBS using hypnosis and he regularly uses it as part of his treatment.

His work shows that although it can be exacerbated by stress and anxiety that people who suffer from IBS, are shown to have more sensitive guts. So part of the therapy is focussed on desensitising the gut area and giving the client tools to manage this in in the long term.

The latest research shows that it can have a real and tangible effect with 50%  cases see significant improvement.  Whorwell’s research puts that figure closer to 65%.   The BMJ released an interesting podcast on the research which you can hear by clicking on bmj IBS

In my practice in Grantham I use a mix of hypnotherapy and practical self-hypnosis techniques which help the client manage the symptoms themselves.  I’ve seen astounding results and although the research says that it works best on women who have suffered from it over a fairly short period of time, I have seen people who have suffered from it for over 20 years, have their lives turned around.

People don’t understand how debilitating IBS is, and to be free of symptoms is extraordinarily liberating -  it allows people to get on with their lives and to do things that they never thought were possible while suffering from IBS.

The NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) lists hypnotherapy as one of the possible treatments for IBS,  yet despite this it is not freely available on the NHS.

If you are interested in treatment and live in Newark, Grantham or Stamford areas or are interested in reading more research contact me sophie@hypnurture.co.uk  or call me on 07983461073

Stop Smoking

Yes of course you can!  Hypnosis is one of the most effective ways to give up smoking.  Often people say, but I’ve got no will power, or motivation how can you help me?  Just stepping through my door shows me that you have all the motivation you need.

Can anyone honestly say that they have no motivation at all?  At sometime in your life you will have been motivated to do something, and all you need to do is harness that motivation again to stop smoking.

What bigger motivation is there than to give youself better quality of life, improve your life expectancy and the life of those around you?  Do you often hear smokers say “I’m dying for a cigarette”?  How true that is, because each time you have a cigarette you are playing Russian roulette and maybe you want to  ask yourself if that cigarette is worth dying for.

If you smoke you are 12 times more likely to die of smoking related illnesses.  In the UK 114,000 die of lung cancer every year.   Smoking damages your heart, your blood circulation, it can affect fertility and make conditions such as asthma worse.  It also causes premature ageing -  just one cigarette uses up the daily amount of vitamin D needed for skin regeneration.

So what is the good news?  Well,  if you choose to give up your body starts to heal itself immediately -  after just 24 hours your chances of having a heart attack have decreased, after one year of not smoking your risk of having a heart attack is halved and you will have saved £1750 if you smoke 20 a day.  Your skin will brighter, teeth whiter and the cilia in your lungs will have started to grow again.  See this link to find out about how much better you will be physically after giving up.

The other good news is that to celebrate national no smoking day,  I am dropping my price of  stopping smoking session to £99 if you book by Wednesday the 17th March.

So  pick up the phone or email us to become the healthy non smoker you know that you can be.

Research presented October 22, 2007 at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians found that hypnosis was more than twice as effective as quitting “cold turkey,” and over three times as effective as nicotine replacement therapy. The study compared four smoking cessation programs used by former hospital patients who were motivated to quit.

Lose weight in Grantham with Sophie Fletcher

So you want to lose weight? You’ve heard of Paul McKenna, you may even have seen him on television demonstrating different techniques that turn scrumptioius, delicious chocolate into something that repulses you; for example on Loose Women it was a hairy chocolate oyster. He said he was using Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) as it’s illegal to demonstrate hypnosis on television, but as a hypnotherapist I would beg to differ!

This technique is no secret, nor is it solely NLP, the use of these techniques while under hypnosis is extraordinary and can make profound changes to weight loss. The technique demonstrated by McKenna is an aversion technique, and I found it slightly contradictory of Paul to say “it’s about eating what you like in moderation”, then demonstrating a technique that stops you eating what you like. Mmmmm, sounds fishy to me. But the truth of it is that hypnosis for weight loss does work, and can have a profound impact.

Have you ever heard women say, I’m having a fat day, or I’m having a thin day? It’s true that sometimes you may feel bloated as a result of certain physical factors, but the truth of it is,  your weight will vary very little between those days. The fundamental difference is how you feel about yourself. If you say I’m having a thin day, you feel great, full of life and energised. But if you tell yourself you are having a fat day, you are more than likely to feel worse and reach for the biscuit tin or a bar of chocolate.

The beauty of hypnosis, one on one, is that it can really target those areas of your life that trigger compulsive eating, it can teach to value yourself, to recognise those parts of you that you love and to motivate yourself to change you habits around food so that you eat smaller portions. And best of all to have many more of those thin days.

You may even find that you  simply need motivation to exercise and there are all sorts of self-hypnosis techniques that you can learn to push yourself that little bit harder at the gym or when you are out for a run.

The first thing I tell clients to do is to chuck out the scales, and I measure how they feel about themselves, or how their clothes are fitting each week.  It’s amazing to see the difference in someone’s attitude when they are freed from the compulsion to weigh themselves everyday and it’s certainly the first step towards a lighter future, both emotionally and physically.

Why don’t you try Paul’s trick yourself?

Pop whatever it is that you eat compulsively in front of you. Cover it up. Now close your eyes and think of something that repulses you, perhaps dog poo, barbers hair, a snotty from a child’s nose, now imagine the food you chose mixed up with the thing that repulses you. Really focus on it until you perhaps feel a gagging reflex or a tightening in your stomach. Now open your eyes, look at the food you want to stop eating, close you eyes again and see that food with the things that repulses you again. See them all coming together and really make yourself aware of how strong that gag reflex is or the tightening in your stomach. You will notice how that desire to eat what’s in front of you has faded.

The more often you do this the stronger this reflex will get and the easier it is to stop eating that food compulsively.

You can't change the past but you can change your future.

So the beginning of a new decade. What better time to make positive changes in your life, to learn how to let the real you live a full and happy life. Janus the Roman God is often used to represent the New Year.  He was the God of doors, gateways, new beginnings and is depicted with two faces, one looking backwards into the past and one looking forward into the future.

What a gift he received from Saturn, to be able to look into the future and the past!

But in truth, we all have that gift. We have the ability to reflect on the past, to consider the events that have helped us  grow and become the people we are. Looking forward, we can choose to visualise a future where we have learned how to ski, we have written that novel, we have travelled round the world, passed our driving test, run a marathon – begin to imagine yourself successful in your goal, be in touch with those feelings and you are half way there!

My years resolution is to learn how to play the guitar, I’ve chosen not to tell anyone about it, because I know what I want to do and I’m single minded about it.  I don’t need anyone saying things like “Oh when are you going to practise?” or “Aren’t you a bit old to be learning an instrument” or “Don’t you have more important things to do”. These types of negative comments are unwanted and just sow doubt.  All that is important is that I know I am going to learn it and I will.  Which is why I will be secretly learning in time to bring it out for Christmas carols next year!

We can all learn to think positively and to decide for ourselves what we want to do in our lives. True, sometimes compromises do need to be made, but what is important is that you make choices that enable you to be happy, and to a live a fulfilling and rewarding life day to day.

So make one of your first acts of this new year to gift yourself some quiet time to reflect on your future, deciding what you want to succeed in this year and make it happen!

Happy and successful 2010 to you all.