Our state of wellbeing is made up of a complex combination of our physical, mental, emotional and social health, which contribute to our level of happiness and satisfaction with our lives. There are numerous practices that we can adopt to influence our wellbeing in a positive way such as regular exercise, socialising with friends, getting enough sleep and meditation. But what if we told you that hypnotherapy can also be used as a long-term wellbeing strategy? To find out we asked qualified Hypnotherapist and founder of Simply Well Hypnotherapy, Mandy Merrifield to uncover everything there is to know on the practice of hypnotherapy and the benefits it can have on our wellbeing.
What is hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is an ancient healing modality and a mind-body intervention that dates back to the 18th century. It’s become one of the most sought-after natural therapies today. It instils deep change within individuals by creating an ongoing cycle of self-improvement and transformation, working with our unconscious mind, the part of the brain that beats our heart and allows us to breath when we sleep, lets us drive to familiar destinations without using navigation every single time and moves all the muscles in your feet and legs when we walk. This extremely powerful part of our minds is said to be responsible for up to 95% of our brain power, and for the most part we do not use it consciously. Gaining access to this part of the brain can deliver some powerful results.
Myths and misconceptions of hypnotherapy.
There are a lot of myths around hypnotherapy that can put people off exploring this practice as an option for their wellbeing. These include:
- Making people do things they don’t want to do, such as quacking like a duck or flapping their arms like a chicken
- A session not having any effect on a person if they fall asleep
- Losing their memory of the experience
- Not being able to ‘come out’ of a trance state
- Thinking hypnotherapists like herself are ‘wacky’ magicians
Despite these misconceptions, hypnotherapy can be used to positively impact our lives and wellbeing. For starters, it can give us a quick boost of energy and motivation to get our to-do list knocked out of the park. It can also unblock procrastination, fear of failure, assist with time management, fear of success and self-sabotage which can have a huge effect in how we function in our personal space as well as in the corporate world. Another benefit it can help us with is to reprogram negative voices into motivation, success and positivity to help us achieve our goals.
Benefits of hypnotherapy.
Fear can become one of the biggest debilitating consistent response patterns and is a powerful demotivator, which can hold us back, contribute to poor decisions, make us withdraw from situation and relationships as well as ruin our careers. Hypnotherapy can help us manage fear by addressing the underlying trauma and the limiting beliefs or decisions that have set this fear in our subconscious, to reprogram our response pattern to become calmer and more confident, as well as make good decisions and appropriate responses.
Finally, it can help tackle other issues such as addiction, weight loss, apathy, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, self-esteem and confidence. It can also teach us to relax, release stress and regulate our emotions as well as help us channel positive attributes such as creativity and abundance and wealth creation.
All of these uses of hypnotherapy can have powerful positive effects and greatly impact our lives from the following long-term benefits on our wellbeing:
- Improved quality of life
- Pain management
- Relaxation
- Calmness
- Improved quality of sleep
- Managing and reducing anxiety
- Eliminating bad habits and addictions
- Losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle with more energy and vitality
- Achieving goals and success – in personal life and career
So there you have it, hypnotherapy is more than just the misconception of being ‘put under a spell.’ With a multitude of uses, it can spark some really powerful results and contribute long-term benefits that positively impact our lives and wellbeing. It is easy to see why it has been around for centuries and is today one of the most sought-after natural therapy practices for people’s wellbeing.
This guest article was written by Mandy Merrifield. You can learn more about hypnotherapy through Mandy and her practice Simply Well Hypnotherapy here.