Alison Munro

‘TNT’ is the abbreviation for dynamite and I believe this way of working is just that! I have found that we can really begin to blow apart the limitations we have placed on ourselves over the years, through other people’s opinions, through our responses to events, through the emotional issues we experience and the physical traumas we have dealt with. All of these combine to form the person we are today, emotionally, physically and spiritually and its within this paradigm that I aim to work.

I believe that when people come to work with me for individual sessions to make personal and emotional changes, it is no mistake or coincidence that we’re working together - we are supposed to meet and should be prepared for change to happen.

With that in mind, do take a look at the different issues and conditions I work with, but know that most of my work is actually done on an emotional level and whilst you may not find ‘your issue’ neatly labelled and headed as a symptom, it doesn’t mean that we can’t work together. If you have something that you would like to resolve, just email or call me and we can talk it through. You are under no obligation to book a session - contact me, see if you like the sound of me and if you think I can help you (and I’ll always be honest about that too!), book in a time and we’ll begin to make changes together. Nothing happens on its own or without support, so in working with me and me supporting you, we can start to change the way you think and feel and even resonate at a cellular level!!

I treat addiction frequently in my practice and have to say it’s one of the most rewarding aspects of my work. Whether the addiction is to drugs, alcohol, shopping, gambling or sex, I work with it.

The basis of all addiction work is dealing with the underlying, unresolved emotional conflicts from the past. Most people are using their addiction as a way to tranquilise unresolved emotional content. It is often easier to do that than to look at the thing that really upsets us.

I don’t believe anyone chooses to use something addictively, to make them feel better, if they have a better choice available. It is the quick fix and the high of the substance or stimulus that quells the uncomfortable feelings for a while. When the feelings come flooding back, they need more and more of ‘X’ and so the vicious circle begins.

With EFT there is help available and the person can use the tapping whenever they need to. EFT has provided the ‘missing piece’ to the addiction treatment programmes that are currently available and can be highly successful if the person really wants to make the change.

Working with both male and female sexual complaints, I frequently see people presenting with sex issues and have found EFT – emotional freedom technique to be the most effective intervention. Using this simple tapping technique to release unresolved emotional conflict or trauma, has enabled me to work through such conditions as anorgasmia, low libido, impotence, and premature ejaculation more successfully than using hypnosis alone.

There is sometimes an element of embarrassment involved initially, but this is something that is easily overcome as I am as comfortable talking about sexual issues as I am talking about smoking.

Due to the intimate nature of such issues, please contact me via email or phone for further discussion.

Dealing with panic and anxiety is one of the things I do most. Panic attacks are being seen more and more and often the GP is only able to prescribe beta blockers and similar drugs. Increasingly, people do not want to take drugs but do not want to live with panic either.

Hypnosis can help as the most important thing to achieve in any panic situation is relaxation. I use hypnosis to create the relaxation and to make positive, beneficial suggestions, relating to the anxiety. I also use EFT - emotional freedom technique, to deal with the root causes of the panic. EFT is a simple tapping technique, working with the bodies’ energy system and is based on the idea that we store emotional angst in our bodies. We can relieve this stored emotion by tapping the energy system with our finger tips.

Panic is always felt in the body, so working directly with that feeling, we tap the energy points until the feeling subsides. We also look at the emotions behind the panic, so if the client feels tired/stupid/useless/out of control, because of the panic attacks they are suffering, we work with that too.

Panic attacks can be successfully dealt with using this combination therapy and is a highly effective tool.

This is usually just a habit and can be successfully treated with hypnosis. The client must genuinely want the change and unless there is an unconscious reason to continue nail biting, the change is usually made. It is often just a childhood habit that never stopped and is usually unconscious, in that most people don’t even know they are doing it.

Sometimes, the nail biting can be more than a habit. The person may be using nail biting as a stress response, but this is often evident by the condition of the fingernails and cuticles; they would normally be badly bitten and chewed, bleeding and very sore.

If there is no response to the initial hypnosis session, and the nail biting etc continues, it is likely that there is a deeper reason for the nail biting. In this case I would use EFT to delve deeper into the emotions behind the symptom to relieve the unwanted response.

For 95% of people though, nail biting is merely a habit and therefore effectively treated using hypnosis.

This condition is presenting increasingly in GP’s surgeries now, as our lives get busier and more stressful. Insomnia affects men and women and apart from sleeping pills, there is not much available that the GP can do for you. Hypnosis and EFT on the other hand, can help immensely.

Insomnia is not always taken as seriously as it should be - having difficulty sleeping on the odd occasion is tiring, but to never really get a good nights’ sleep is shattering and that’s what insomnia is. Night after night, for years, disturbed, uncomfortable sleep and dealing with day to day activities can be exhausting if the mind and body have not rested the night before. Some people are perfectly able to function on 4 hours sleep a night, but most of us are not.

Difficulty getting off to sleep and staying asleep are actually more common than we realise. Imagine how much time an insomniac has on his hands…imagine the things they can ponder on…and think about…and worry about…it’s exhausting mentally, emotionally and physically.

Whether the problem lies with quality or quantity of sleep, hypnosis and EFT can help. Combining the relaxation that is inherent in hypnosis with this simple tapping technique -EFT- can have remarkable results.

Often, there is an underlying reason as to why a person cannot sleep, and uncovering that reason is usually the key to the alleviation of the problem. EFT also provides the insomniac with something constructive to do during those hours when they can’t sleep and that in itself can be a relief!

EFT is able to rebalance the disturbances in the energy system, so that the mind and body can relax and therefore drift off into peaceful sleep. The hypnosis part is also readily accepted by the insomniac’s unconscious mind, as it’s been missing out on sleep for years! It jumps at the chance to just let go and really relax .

The combination of these two techniques really does enable many people to change the quality of their lives and there’s no need to lay awake all night unless there’s something very exciting going on!

I will teach my clients self hypnosis if this of interest to them, but I now learn more heavily on EFT as homework because it’s so simple and doesn’t take lots of practice to get good at it! Also, EFT is so portable, you always have your fingers with you so you can pretty much tap anywhere and everywhere. (I do teach discreet ways to tap!) That’s light relief to anyone suffering from any form of fear or panic that could come on at any time.

For those that want to see me just to learn how to do self hypnosis, I’m happy to see them for one or two sessions and then keep email contact for any issues that arise with it. Learning self hypnosis is like learning any other skill, when we begin we may not feel completely comfortable and think it's 'not working', but I promise you it is and as you practise so you'll become more competent and achieve deeper levels of trance.

Once you have developed this skill through working with a trained professional, you will be able to use the process for anything else in your life that may require attention. Even if you only gain peace and quiet for 15 minutes or so, a few times a week, it must be worth that! We can generally gain a lot more than that though and I think it's an invaluable technique for anyone.

You will find other sites on the web that talk you through different routines for self hypnosis and many of them are very good. I have not included a self hypnosis guide on this page as I prefer to teach a client face to face, but there are countless ways to achieve this level of relaxation, concentration and heightened awareness and the best one is the one that you respond to the most! There are no rights or wrongs. You can adjust and adapt techniques however you like so long as you enjoy the result! That is the most important thing and the benefits will surely follow.

You may have just clicked onto this page purely out of intrigue or you may have a belief in past lives and reincarnation. The best thing about choosing to experience and explore past life therapy is that it really doesn't matter what your beliefs or reasons are. The therapy can be overwhelmingly accurate and appropriate, regardless of your belief system.
Some therapists choose to specialize in Past Life therapy alone and I can understand why - I've found it to be of immense healing value and very profound. Others choose not to use it at all, for various, personal reasons and that's fine too.

I choose to use Past Life therapy as well as all the other therapeutic treatments on this site as I feel it could be unhelpful to a client's healing process if I was not happy to conduct this kind of therapy, when requested. However, that is a personal opinion only and I accept that this therapy may not be everyone's choice.

However, I am always amazed every time I do this technique with the enormous healing that takes place in this lifetime as a result of going back to a past life time. There is much theorising as to how and why this therapy works but I feel it is accepted by most to say that revealing the root cause of a condition often alleviates the symptom and this can occur across time. Just as in this lifetime we can reveal a root cause for a condition originating in the past, so we can find a root cause originating in a past existence and often go on to relieve the condition.

When conducting present life regressive work, the unconscious mind has an unfathomable ability to record everything we ever experienced and takes us back to the exact time the problem began. With Past Life therapy, so the unconscious mind can take us back to the precise moment in our history, to a previous life time, to uncover the true cause of a condition or concern.

Much has been written and discussed on this amazing subject and if you are interested you can go to www.pastliferegression.co.uk. Also, read Brian Weiss' Past Life Regression books (which I highly recommend), for further insight but knowledge or understanding is not relevant to obtain huge benefit from Past Life therapy.

I am an advocate of this healing therapy and am very happy to conduct it both from a therapeutic position as well as from a more holistic, spiritual perspective.

This is the branch of medicine that deals with childbirth and the treatment of women before and after birth. It is becoming increasing popular for women to turn to hypnosis during pregnancy, as relaxation is a huge plus during delivery and naturally forms the basis of any hypnotherapeutic programme.

Learning relaxation techniques and using them in trance ie. self hypnosis, really is invaluable throughout pregnancy as well as enjoyable and beneficial!

The use of hypnotherapy can take what is ultimately described as a horrifically painful, difficult time here in the West (and it often is!) and bring it into alignment with other cultures around the world. In other parts of the world women give birth far more simply and easily despite the lack of medical attention and involvement.

However, it's not surprising that childbirth is so horrendous for many women as we are conditioned from an early age to believe just that:

Labour = Pain - that's the general equation in the West.

Within the therapeutic framework, we'll discuss the mother's expectations of pregnancy and her objectives. We’ll address any fears or concerns and neutralise them with EFT. We’ll also look at how she wishes to deliver her baby. We'll talk about how she expects things to go – if she expects horrific pain, she'll suggest that to herself and she'll get it! We'll do the opposite in hypnosis.
I'll suggest, "deep pressure and discomfort that will soon pass, and with every moment of pressure so you move closer to the arrival of your beloved baby.”

I'll use visual imagery in trance so that the mother can see herself giving birth in a relaxed state, knowing it'll be hard work, but without the piercing screams of labour that we tend to imagine and expect. Once again, addressing any fears that arise with EFT.

I'll also employ pain management and time distortion techniques, which are primarily used during the birth and these can be very effective. If we can distort time, so that every minute between contractions seems like an hour, great! I think most expectant mothers would at least want to try that! Tapping is a wonderful anecdote to pain and the mother can get her birthing partner to tap on her when she needs it. You don’t have to do everything yourself!

We'll create a positive state of mind for the mother throughout her pregnancy, labour and delivery, as well as the after care of the child. We'll aim to remove any associated fears that the mother may have regarding all of the pregnancy and we'll educate her as much as possible concerning the stages of pregnancy and the birthing process. When we know what is happening and what to expect, we are more able to deal with it.

Giving birth is no mean feat, and I do not intend create that impression, but at the same time, it can be made far more ‘do-able' with hypnosis and EFT!

As with any other medical condition the client must have first consulted a medical practitioner for a formal diagnosis, before any treatment can happen . (I obviously recommend using complimentary therapies to relieve aliments and conditions but in conjunction with traditional medicine, not in place of.)

Hypnosis and EFT are highly effective in the treatment of skin disorders, whether it be Eczema or Psoriasis (both very painful and obvious conditions) as well as Acne and Warts (less painful but still very obvious conditions). Although there are other contributing factors in the development and exacerbation of skin conditions (allergens, climate, hormones, genetic and environmental factors) it is commonly agreed by doctors and dermatologists alike, that skin disorders are predominantly caused through stress. Therefore it is no wonder that hypnosis can have great results with such conditions seeing as the basis of hypnotherapy is teaching and allowing a person to truly relax.

Very often, I find it important for a sufferer to understand a little bit about the skin before embarking on therapy. Often sufferers have knowledge of their skin condition, seeing as they will have seen their GP before coming to hypnotherapy, but they often won’t have as much understanding of the skin itself. I think the most important factor here for a sufferer to know, is that the skin shares the same neurological development as the central nervous system during embryonic development. Therefore it is not surprising that the skin mirrors the emotions of the inner self. Our emotions can show on our skin if we are predisposed to skin disorders.

When a client comes to therapy with a skin condition it is usually a last resort to alleviate the condition. However it is not just the condition itself that we need to treat - skin problems are very obvious to everyone. A person can become so self -conscious of their appearance that they may limit their social activities and even if they do still enjoy social occasions, they may experience anxiety when doing so because of their appearance. Therefore, in therapy we need to take time to boost the self-esteem of the individual so that they feel better about themselves generally and this is the basis of any hypnosis session plan.

When dealing with any kind of skin condition, it is important to include all aspects of a person’s life, as anyone suffering with a skin complaint will also be having an emotional reaction to it, and that can often be a good place to start in therapy.

I will use suggestion therapy to instruct the unconscious mind on relieving and healing the physical aspects of the condition and use EFT – emotional freedom technique – to deal with the underlying, unresolved emotional content that may well be contributing to, if not causing the condition. We need to look at the person’s underlying beliefs about themselves and their condition and work with those using this simple tapping technique.

As with most conditions in therapy, finding the root cause of the condition often leads to the extinction of the problem and EFT seems to be key to effectively bringing the root issue to the surface. Then it can be easily tapped away.

We’ll look at all the ways the condition affects you and deal with them. Perhaps there are things that you use or things that you do, that you do gain relief from - we’ll utilise those too in trance. The therapy will be very individual to you.

Seeing as skin conditions are so often stress related, I will place a large emphasis on strengthening the ego of the client and fundamentally raising self-esteem. We’ll use a lot of visualisation work whilst relaxed in trance and this can be incorporated in the client’s own tapping and trance work in their own time. Most people are happy to find a technique as simple as EFT that they can start using on themselves as soon as they leave the session, as it brings back a sense of control to the client and they begin to feel that they really can live without the condition, possibly for the first time, and that is an empowering moment.

Hypnotherapy is increasingly becoming a choice for people that wish to improve their game in any sport or activity, it's not just for top athletes anymore!
Usually, people are seeking to improve the skill level they already have and realise that they need more than physical practise alone. One of the most important factor's in achieving sporting excellence is belief and hypnotherapy can profoundly increase inner beliefs.

It's long been known by sport's psychologists and champion players alike, that the vital ingredient to sporting success is in the mind, not the physical playing and that's where hypnotherapists become involved!

Within the hypnotherapeutic framework, we'll assess clearly where your level of skill is at and then build a detailed picture of where you would LIKE it to be. We'll look at any and all of the pitfalls along the way. Ouch! Honesty IS the best policy here!

Once we've established the goals and got the game plan, we can begin the exciting part - the hypnosis with mental rehearsal and visual imagery.

Top players and athletes readily accept that their mental rehearsal is equally as important as their physical practise. Mary Lou Retton, the gymnast, mentally rehearsed and saw herself performing her routine perfectly the night before she won her Olympic gold medal in 1984. She used all of her senses and felt her grip on the bars, saw her body perfecting the moves and heard the cheers of the crowd. Likewise, today's Tiger Woods, never hits a tree because there are no trees in his visual imagery routine! Simple!

Often we make the mistakes that we suggest to ourselves we will make. Therefore, belief and a positive mental attitude are essential. Before knowing EFT, hypnosis alone made big improvements in ability and performance, but now with EFT, we are really able to clear the blocking beliefs held in the mind and played out through the body. A golfer knows when he’s hit the ball wrong and will be the first to admit that with that goes a very negative episode or damning self talk! Plus, it’s much easier to do a quick round of tapping on the golf course, to improve the next shot than it is to drop into trance!

I always employ ego-strengthening and self-esteem suggestions, no matter what the presenting symptom or treatment plan, which itself enhances the way we feel about ourselves at a core, fundamental level. Having the belief that you CAN do something is a huge motivating factor in enhancing sports performance.

As with all therapy, I personally feel that one of the main reasons hypnotherapy is so quickly effective is because we directly address the issue and talk about it fully and openly plus we truly allow ourselves to relax and this we rarely do. When you think about it, the more you miss a shot or hurdle, the more annoyed and irritated you become and the more negative your self talk will be. We can reverse all that in trance and you'll learn the mental rehearsal techniques for your own practise in self hypnosis. We'll do that over 3-5 sessions and I bet very soon, you'll be amazed at what you've achieved but at the same time, your belief in yourself will have changed.

Nobody ever thought anyone would run a four minute mile, until someone did it, but look how many have run it since? It's all about belief, believe me!

Have you ever truly thought about what you want? What you would like to achieve? What you would like to have or not have? We all dream and day dream and the answers to these questions are what dreams are made of.

Have you ever truly thought about what you want? What you would like to achieve? What you would like to have or not have? We all dream and day dream and the answers to these questions are what dreams are made of.

Are you limited by what you think or believe? Do you think you can't/won't/shouldn't have something? A lot of us do. We seem to spend a lot of time programming ourselves that we can't do something, or that ‘X' won't work out, when all of the time we are writing our own story. You are what you think - if you say you can't, you're right and if you say you can, you're right again. So which do you spend most of your time doing?

It is these kinds of mental blocks that actually impede our personal development and progress. While we are busy programming ourselves with these negative statements and beliefs, we are unwittingly fulfilling our own prophecy. EFT – emotional freedom technique is the tapping technique to remove and clear these mental blocks that form energy blockages in the system. Once the limiting beliefs have been cleared, we’re free to dream.

EFT and hypnosis can help anyone to develop the tools they need to achieve their goals and to realise their dreams. If you have a goal you need motivation, attitude and confidence to achieve it and the basis of all these qualities are rooted in self-esteem. Enhancing self-esteem is what we'll be working on in the sessions, is a vital part of any therapeutic plan and something I will do when working with any condition. It is of prime importance here though, as believing that you can attain a goal and deserve to, is very important.

During trance I'll use suggestion therapy as well as visualisation techniques and future pacing work. You'll see yourself doing, or having, whatever it is you want in trance and that is powerful stuff! If you see it and imagine it, the unconscious mind thinks it's real! It'll move you towards it. Act as if you already have the goal, in trance. The sense of satisfaction and pride you'll get from that alone is immense and if you feel good about yourself, you'll be encouraged and motivated to achieve that something, whatever it is. Maybe it's a job promotion or a career change. Maybe you want a particular car or house, or a certain income. Maybe you want to be better than the rest and feel good about it! I don't mind what you want, we'll do our best to achieve it.

Before any treatment can begin when working with pain conditions, the client MUST have consulted a medical practitioner for a complete diagnosis. Once that has been confirmed, so by the second session, we can proceed with the therapeutic plan built out of a detailed case history from the initial, consulting session.

When we experience pain, regardless of its’ source, our goal is to reduce or eliminate that pain, as quickly as possible. Pain is the number one reason people seek medical attention and the pain killer is the most frequently prescribed drug! All of us have experienced physical pain, but to live with ongoing, debilitating, constant pain is a real concern for many people.

However, pain is a signal - it's there for a reason and is trying to alert us to something. It's the body's way of communicating to us that something needs attention. I think most of us reach for the pill bottle because we simply don't know that there are natural, safe, relaxing methods that we can use ourselves, to alter, change and eliminate pain. The treatment of pain using EFT and hypnosis has taken the concept of pain and how to work with it to new, dizzy heights!

I have seen pain that has been present for years, seemingly untreatable pain, vanish in minutes using EFT. Some physical pains may have deep emotional roots and it’s the addressing of these roots that allows us to alleviate the pain. The pain is there to tell us something is wrong, and when it is addressed, it has no need to remain.

When working with pain, I begin with EFT – emotional freedom technique. This is a simple tapping technique that works with the body’s energy system and is primarily involved in rebalancing the flow of energy throughout the meridian channels. When there is a blockage of energy in the system, there is a resultant negative feeling or emotion. That could be a pain of some sort. In my experience, pain will always be accompanied with emotional content and it is resolving that emotional content that is often the key to releasing the pain.

Once the pain has changed, diminished or vanished I would induce a deep relaxing trance state to suggest to the unconscious mind that the body is free now to enjoy anything it chooses, always taking care of itself, fully responsible and in control.

Irritable bowel Syndrome (IBS), also known as spastic colon, colitis, spastic colitis or nervous stomach, affects 10% of the population and is characterised by abdominal cramping, constipation, diarrhoea - or a combination of both - abdominal pain and bloating.

More and more people are now being diagnosed as suffering from this stomach condition and recent research has shown relaxation (hypnosis) and relieving stress and tension (EFT) is one of the most highly effective combination treatments available.

IBS is a very debilitating condition often exacerbated by stress. Before any treatment is undertaken, all clients must have consulted their GP and have been officially diagnosed as an IBS sufferer. This is very important as symptoms can be similar to more life-threatening conditions. As much as IBS is not life-threatening, it is far more than just a nuisance and there is help out there – especially combining EFT and hypnosis.

Some of the results I have seen in my practice have been truly amazing and there is no reason why this cannot be the case for you too. Often people come to a session when all other avenues and interventions have failed and they are desperate to overcome their condition. I think one of the reasons my sessions are so effective in treating IBS is because the client talks openly, in a empathetic environment, perhaps for the first time about their condition and their feelings attached to it. Just being able to talk openly about IBS and have someone truly listen can be the first step on the road to recovery. No matter how far advanced we might like to think we are as a society, it has to be said that there is still embarrassment concerning ‘toilet troubles' and we avoid talking about it. We still attach a stigma to the condition, particularly if you are the sufferer yourself. They are usually the ones that refuse to talk about it. Therefore it is often hard to get them to go along to the GP, let alone into therapy, so I always fully respect anyone that presents for treatment.

Upon initial consultation it is vital to take a detailed case history, looking at all the aspects of your life and determining any factors that alleviate your symptoms or exacerbate them. We'll look at the things that IBS stops you from doing and see where you wish to make changes.

There are varying degrees of severity and symptoms apparent in IBS but most can be dealt with using hypnosis and EFT – emotional freedom technique. It has been discovered that IBS is often a stress reaction that is being played out in the gut. One of the reasons for this is that there are many stress receptors lining the gut, and so when we talk about a gut feeling, we are literally feeling that feeling in our gut and it feels uncomfortable or uneasy. We are sensing a form of discord in our gut. Dealing with the cause of that discomfort in the gut is us often the key to unlocking this condition.

It seems to be important to relieve the stress in the gut on a deeper emotional level for complete, sustained relief of the condition. Therefore, I will look at what is it that bothers or upsets you in your life. What specific events from the past would you wish to resolve? What issues or situations cause you emotional discomfort today? All of these questions evoke reactions and it’s those reactions we can begin to work with using EFT, a simple tapping technique, to address the unresolved emotional conflicts and alleviate the condition.

The combination of the relaxation, which is the hypnosis and the releasing of the negative emotion surrounding the condition, integral to EFT, seems to be the main reason for the effectiveness of the treatment. Straight after the first session, the client is able to begin tapping the meridian system themselves to gain relief from stomach pain and emotional upset. If you begin to feel as though you are helping yourself and taking back control over your condition, you will be amazed at the results.

If IBS is something from which you suffer, I hope you will be encouraged to seek alternative help, alongside any medical interventions you may already have in place, so that you may begin to live life as freely as possible, without the restrictions of IBS.

Terrified of flying? Scared of spiders? Afraid of the dentist’s chair? Sick of the thought of speaking in public? Whatever your fear is, help is available and success is usually high.

Sometimes a fear is a useful, natural part of life, but it’s when a fear begins to impede so much on our lives, that we actually begin to avoid the situation or object that causes the anxiety, then a fear has become a phobia. Usually the thoughts associated with the fear are irrational and illogical and the sufferer is often aware of that, but the feelings are so overwhelming they feel helpless and unable to control their feelings.

Phobias may seem so rigidly held that nothing can change them, but the techniques I use, most certainly can.

During the first session I’ll spend quite some time just getting you to think about situations and memories and indeed getting you thinking and talking about your phobia. Clients often do this for the first time in the initial session, as the very nature of a phobia means you avoid talking or even thinking about the feared object or situation. As the phobic feelings arise, so we work with them and I never let you experience anything like the over whelming feelings you’ve felt before.

I will use a combination of hypnosis, for the relaxation part of the process (something usually missing in any phobic situation) and EFT – emotional freedom technique. This simple tapping technique is usually the key to releasing the anxiety related to the stimulus. I particularly like the EFT part of the treatment as it is something clients can use themselves as soon as they leave the session. This often enhances treatment and brings back a sense of control.

During trance, we can then create a positive response to a stimulus that used to evoke fear. Releasing a fear can often be a quick procedure but deeper seated fears may a few sessions.

There is no need to live in fear of snakes, heights, needles or anything anymore and the sense of satisfaction you’ll feel when you overcome your fear will make all your effort even more worthwhile. Be brave, be bold, stop avoiding and make that call.

Tried every diet going? Grapefruit diets? Liquid diets? Protein diets? Blood-group type diets? Not eating after 8pm diets? The list just goes on and on.

Unless you're enrolled on and dedicated to a proper weight loss programme, where healthy eating and exercise are combined and you share in the support of the group, you've probably experienced the yo-yo effect of dieting.

Before we look at anything else, lets look at the word itself - DIET. I don't know about you, but any word that begins DIE is a sure sign for me to avoid it!

Usually, when we diet, we begin with such enthusiasm until we reach a point where we become obsessed with thoughts of what we're not eating! We feel deprived, starved, restricted and usually for good reason!

'A little bit of what you fancy won't hurt you'. How many times have you heard that? But usually we've been on a diet, done really well and lost weight, so we treat ourselves to something 'naughty' to eat (i.e. calorific!), but it doesn't stop there. We tend to find that before we've even realised it, we've eaten all the calories we consumed in the whole of last week, in one hour! Before we know it, we've gained all of the weight we lost, feel angry and depressed and continue in our old habits that just make us feel worse.

Sound familiar? You're not alone. It's probably one of the stories I hear the most from weight loss clients. The other frequent one is, 'I eat healthy most of the time, I just need to stop snacking - you know, crisps/chocolate/cheese/biscuits etc' These people tend to have a little weight to lose, and benefit from just a couple of hypnosis sessions really focusing on not eating those naughty foods that they know they shouldn’t and then half hour booster sessions over time. This can work really well for keeping people on track.

In a session we'll look at your food history in detail. We'll build as big a picture as we can concerning your personal relationship with food - you'll probably see things in your own eating pattern that you've never seen before. And I'll make sure it's fun, the last thing we want is to depress you even more so that you go home and eat the whole fridge!

I do believe that we are conditioned to eat excessively in our society. As kids, if we do something good at school, we are given a chocolate bar; if we bravely go to the dentist we're given a sweet (I never worked the irony in that one out!); as teenagers if we go out on a date to the movies it involves popcorn or a pizza afterwards; as adults, we celebrate good news by going out to dinner and so the conditioning goes on. Something good happens, we eat, likewise something bad happens, we console ourselves with a favourite meal. All this is so automatic to us that when we come to change it, we feel resistant and fight against it. No wonder!

However, changing the way we eat is achievable using hypnosis and EFT. During trance I'll use suggestion therapy with positive imagery and visualisation techniques. I'll also use future pacing work so that we encourage the unconscious mind to move almost effortlessly towards our slimmer, healthier, more vibrant self.

I'll also incorporate self-esteem boosting suggestions, which penetrate deep into the unconscious mind. When dieting, we rarely focus on the good aspects of ourselves and of life generally, as we are too preoccupied with our food intake. Hypnosis allows us to do that.

For people that have a fair amount of weight to lose, the focus is always 2 pronged. We look at those ‘demon’ foods, as I like to call them, but we also need to look at the bigger picture and delve into the reasons behind the feeding, and that is usually emotional. Fat is rarely about food and usually about feelings. Often we eat because we feel something we don’t want to feel, so we stuff those feelings down with food. Sometimes we feed ourselves food, to gain comfort or satiety, when what we really need is love, attention, support, praise etc. I use EFT – emotional freedom technique, to deal with these underlying emotional issues at the core level. It’s often unresolved emotional content that’s crying out for something to fill the hole, and it’s almost conditioned in this society that a cake will happily do that!

Sometimes people with unwanted weight on their bodies are aware that they are feeding themselves food instead of dealing with deeper, more difficult issues. Sometimes people are completely unaware of that. I find increasingly that to maintain successful weight loss people need to look at their whole life when deciding to lose weight, not just at the contents of their fridge, and EFT allows us to safely do that.

So, if you're ready to leave those fad diets behind and prepared to take a realistic look at your eating habits, then hypnosis can help and EFT can successfully deal with any underlying, unresolved, emotional issues. You'll soon find the benefits infiltrating into other areas of your life too - sound like a good choice?

It is... or you could always choose to go heat up that cabbage soup you've been saving yourself for..!

As well as treating expectant mothers with hypnosis and EFT for greater comfort during pregnancy and delivery, so we can help to get women pregnant in the first place! That feels like a strange thing to say, being a woman (!) but by using these combined treatments we can achieve this!

This kind of infertility has no organic basis and is psychological in nature. If there seems to be no apparent reason for the infertility, both prospective parents will have been medically examined for any physical abnormalities, given the all clear, but still no conception occurs.

Often the couple are told to relax and keep practising and let nature takes its course, however, that is usually the last thing the couple can do and they can find that they become obsessive about having a baby. This is often an extremely stressful and upsetting time for the couple involved. Usually, after years of trying and exhausting all other avenues, a couple may migrate towards alternative treatments in a last, desperate bid to have a child.

Often this can be intense work for all involved, therapist and clients alike. It may result that one or both of the couple is harbouring a reason, usually unconsciously, (they are not directly aware of it) as to why they can't or won't or shouldn't have a baby. This will usually involve seeing both of the people involved as both of the partners need to address the problem. Some couples wish to do that together and some apart. We'll take a thorough case history as well as detailed information about the relationship, which is a highly important, relevant factor here.

I will use EFT to attempt to uncover the root cause of the infertility, as tapping on fears and concerns often gives rise to the underlying, core factor impeding pregnancy. During trance I’ll use suggestion therapy and future pacing work so that the couple see themselves pregnant and later with their child. All of this scenario building will be very positive and personal to the couple and aims to create an image for the couple and a belief in their right to have a child and their ability to be good parents.

There are no time limits to this kind of therapy, conception can happen very quickly or take longer, but it is definitely one of the most fulfilling uses of hypnosis and EFT for all involved.

This is probably the most well known of all the hypnotics treatments and giving up smoking with hypnosis is usually easy for most people.

To be successful using hypnosis, the most important factor is desire. You must want to stop, even if you think you can't. So long as the true desire to make this change is firmly in place, then hypnosis can help.

Therefore, before I agree to go ahead and treat somebody for smoking, the first thing I need to assess is motivation for quitting.

Why now?
How does the client really feel about quitting?

If someone feels anxious about it, or particularly worried, I might suggest that now is not the right time to stop. When someone feels that it’s what they really want and they are happy and looking forward to making that change, then I will agree to treat.

Very often, people come to hypnotherapy to stop smoking having tried every other method going - gum, patches, will power and have been unsuccessful. Perhaps these methods have helped in the past but you've always returned to the habit eventually. Very often, these unsuccessful attempts reinforce the idea that giving up smoking is very hard to do AND there are side effects too - perhaps feeling more stressed with over whelming desires for a cigarette. There may be concerns about weight gain and the fear that your whole life will be turned upside down because your friends and social circle still smoke, so you'll have to avoid all the situations and activities in which you used to smoke etc, etc.

These are often the concerns of someone who wants to stop smoking but hypnosis really can help, if you have the desire and it won't affect your lifestyle detrimentally, only positively, I promise!
Most people are successful in giving up smoking through hypnosis, and I certainly was, however there are factors involved in being successful:

1. You must absolutely want the change you are asking for.

2. You are comfortable about using the process of hypnosis to make that change. You may not have been hypnotised before, so feeling apprehensive is normal, feeling scared is not!

3. You are not resistant to trance. Now we won’t really know that until we get going, but most people will know whether it is something they are happy to try or not.

4. There is no psychological reason behind the smoking ie. it is more than a habit. I tend to pick this up from prospective clients when I talk to them though, as it will be evident in the way they talk about cigarettes.

When you decide to use hypnosis to stop smoking we'll spend time just talking about your smoking habit - probably something you've never done. We'll find out all the times, places and reasons for your smoking - known as triggers. We'll build up a picture completely personal to you. It's your time to really think about your smoking habit - no holds barred.

Once we've really assessed your smoking habit, we'll do the trance work, the hypnosis. I'll use a combination of suggestion therapy, visualisation techniques and future pacing work, where you'll see yourself NOT smoking in all of the situations in which you used to smoke. You'll be relaxed and focused, as is the nature of hypnosis and you'll find that you really enjoy the experience with your positive goal becoming a reality - YOU ARE A NON-SMOKER.

With hypnosis we'll change the way you think about cigarettes at the unconscious level and that's where the change needs to take place. The conscious mind needs to have the desire - the unconscious mind needs the re-education. It no longer needs to respond to the old triggers that led you to smoke. It'll have new choices, which ultimately lead to a healthier, more satisfying way of living.

For most people, smoking is just a habit they would rather stop, and if all of the above is in place, and they genuinely want to stop, they tend to be very successful with hypnosis.

Stopping smoking is a two session treatment plan and the cost is £200.