| Can Hypnotherapy Really Change Your Life? | |||||
| Maria Walker meets clinical hypnotherapist Jack Weller to find out
The word ‘Hypnotherapy’, to many people will conjure up an image of a TV or stage show where a hypnotist encourages a member of the audience to humiliate themselves in the name of entertainment. However, what many people don’t realise is that clinical hypnotherapy can be used as a safe and effective form of treatment for many psychological and physical conditions. Contrary to popular belief, whilst hypnotized you are not in a trance nor are you asleep, and the practitioner is not able to control you or make you do things against your will. You are aware of everything going on around you, all that is said to you and you can snap yourself out of it at any time. The hypnotist will use a variety of methods to calm and gently guide you into a deep relaxation. It is in this state of relaxation that the professional practitioner can bypass the conscious part of the mind and contact the unconscious – the most dominant part of the mind, where gentle and positive changes to learnt behavior can take place. For example, a smoker may have the unconscious belief pattern that they need to smoke or can’t give up. Very simply put, the hypnotherapist will assist the patient to change deepset beliefs, and encourage them to make positive choices. You as the client will just lay, relaxed, and follow the gently guiding voice of the practitioner. Although you do not need any experience or knowledge to benefit from hypnotherapy, the most successful clients are often those who believe that hypnotherapy can support and strengthen their decision to make life changes, rather than make the changes for them. Jack Weller has 20 years experience treating all ages from young children to the most elderly. When I first visited him, I had never been hypnotized before, and I was a little wary of what may happen. My concerns vanished within minutes, due to his calm and professional manner. After an initial chat about what I expected and what I thought hypnotism was, Jack explained that it would feel somewhere between awake and asleep, but that I would never lose control. He asked me a few questions, through which he established how easy or difficult I found it to visualize certain objects, and the descriptions within my answers enabled him to ascertain which of my senses was most dominant, in order to shape the session to be most personally beneficial. He then began to count me down, until I reached a state of relaxation whereby I could hear everything going on around me, but I couldn’t be bothered to move if I had wanted to. I could hear his voice gently guiding me through some positive suggestions for change within my life, and when the time came for him to count me back to a more ‘awake’ state, I opened my eyes easily. The lasting feeling I can only describe as blissful! Even without a specific condition to ‘cure’ I would strongly recommend the experience simply for the deep contentment felt afterwards. The list of conditions which can be aided by hypnotherapy is vast, but a few suggestions are: • Stress & Tension, Sleep The number of sessions needed varies between one and four. Something like stopping smoking could be achieved in one session, where as preparation for childbirth or weight control could take up to four. Jack Weller is a member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy, the National Council of Psychotherapists, National Register of Practitioners in Smoking Cessation and a graduate of the Hypnotism Training Institute of Los Angeles with diplomas in Master Hypnotism, Hypnotherapy, Pain Control and Healing. As well as his new practice at Studio G14 in Chiswick where new clients are most welcome, he has long established practices at: For more information or to book an appointment please visit www.jackweller.co.uk or call 01494 723813 or 07710 861096 Maria Walker
March 6, 2010 |