I understand these questions.  If you’d told me 20 years ago that I would change career and retrain as a hypnotherapist, I would have thought you were out of your mind.  I shared the concerns and misunderstandings that some Christians, and indeed non-Christians, sometimes have.

Is hypnosis about emptying your mind?

Sometimes Christians worry that in hypnosis, you somehow empty your mind and leave it open to evil influences.  This is not what happens in clinical hypnosis practised by a professionally-trained therapist.  In fact, for hypnosis to be effective, you have to focus your mind on thoughts, ideas and images that will be helpful in achieving the outcome you want.  Of course, anything can be used unethically, but in my experience, the vast majority of hypnotherapists are caring people, who want to help others have a more fulfilling life.

Is hypnosis a form of mind control?

Another concern is that hypnosis could be used as a form of brainwashing or mind control.  Again, this is not what happens in clinical hypnosis practised by a professionally-trained therapist.  In fact, hypnotherapy is about empowering the client and enabling them to gain a greater control of their mind.  As one famous hypnotherapist said: ‘All hypnosis is self-hypnosis’.  The hypnotherapist’s role is to guide the client into hypnosis and help them to use their mind in a positive way to bring about the changes to their thinking and behaviour that they want.

All hypnosis is self-hypnosis

The truth is that hypnosis is a state of mind that we all experience on a daily basis.  It’s the state of mind that you go into when you daydream.  It’s the state of mind you go into when you’re absorbed in looking at something on your phone, or on TV, or captivated by something you’re reading.  You’re so wrapped up in your thoughts and the images you’re looking at that you’re not fully aware of what’s going on around you.

We talk about being ‘tranced or zoned out’.  That’s hypnosis.  If you’ve ever had the experience of driving a very familiar route, arriving at your destination and having no recollection of the detail of the journey, you’ve been in a hypnotic state.  I would also say that, when you’re really caught up and focused in worship or prayer, that too is the same state of mind as hypnosis.

Be careful how you focus your mind

We’re all suggestible and can be open to influence – after all, that’s how advertising works.  You certainly do need to guard your mind and be careful what you focus on and think about.  God has created our minds with amazing complexity and processes.  Hypnosis is part of those processes and taps into the same mental facility as the placebo effect.  The placebo effect is so powerful that, if you give someone a pill, which they believe contains medicine to cure them, the body will produce the necessary healing effect, even though the pill has no medicinal content whatsoever.   In hypnosis, when you help people to focus on how they can think, feel and behave differently, it can have a very powerful effect on bringing those positive changes into reality.

How hypnosis and faith can work together

When I’m working with a Christian client, our shared faith and spiritual beliefs are central.  I will ask God for any words, insights or Bible verses to feed in to sessions.  Biblical images and stories are rich sources to include in the hypnosis part of the session.  Hypnosis is a wonderful way to reinforce our head knowledge of what the Bible says and transfer it to a deeper, heart knowledge and belief.  It is a way to truly meditate on the word of God and to ‘be transformed by the renewing of your mind’, as Romans 12:2 encourages us to do.

How could hypnosis help you?

To find out more about how hypnotherapy could help you, click here to contact me and book a free 30-minute phone consultation.

(Image credit: Mentatdgt, Pexels)

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The link between insomnia and obesity and diabetes

A BBC1 programme, ‘The Truth about Sleep’ , which aired a couple of years ago, demonstrated why it’s so important to get help for sleep problems.  Research has shown that 50% of people who sleep less than 5 hours a night are obese, and that there’s a link between insomnia and diabetes.  Researchers concluded that this was because of the effect of insomnia on the hormones that control hunger and appetite.  If you’re getting less than an average of 7 to 8 hours’ sleep a night, the effect on those hunger and appetite hormones means that you’re more likely to feel hungry and less likely to feel full when you eat.  Another effect is that you get more sugar cravings, have higher glucose levels and consequently have a higher risk of diabetes.  One person featured on the programme said that he ate 10 custard creams for breakfast!

How insomnia affects your gut bacteria

Another feature of insomnia highlighted by the research was how insomnia had a  bad effect on your gut bacteria.  There are millions of good bacteria in your gut that help you absorb nutrients from food and protect you against infections.  These good bacteria are badly affected if you sleep badly.  When you don’t get enough sleep, the bacteria take more energy from your food, leading to more weight gain.

To make this worse, sleep deprivation causes stress on the body, leading to the release of the stress hormone cortisol.  Cortisol encourages the body to store fat, making it difficult to lose weight.

What can you do to help insomnia and sleep problems?

‘The Truth about Sleep’ programme gave some important advice about what can help you sleep better.  Of course, it included what most people know – avoiding caffeine several hours before going to bed.  Other advice was:

1. Switch off all screens – phones, laptops, TV etc at least 1 hour before bedtime.  The blue light from screens has been found to disrupt the body clock.
2. Your bedroom temperature should be cool– around 17°C.
3. Avoid alcohol.  Alcohol interferes with your sleep during the night, even if it helps you get to sleep.
4. Include fibre in your evening meal.  Programme presenter, Michael Mosley, reckoned that he slept better when he took dietary fibre as a prebiotic.  He also recommended eating more foods such as lentils, chick peas, lima & butter beans and hummus to increase intake of dietary fibre. Another recommendation from the programme was to eat two kiwi fruit one hour before bed.  This got a 7/10 rating for improving sleep.

Other recommendations for getting a good night’s sleep

Before seeing the programme, I hadn’t come across the recommendation of kiwi fruit before bed as an aid to sleep.  I always give my clients recommendations of a range of practical things that they can do to get a better night’s sleep, as well as showing them different techniques they can use to help them go to sleep more easily and get back to sleep if they wake in the night.

Here are just a couple that work really well:

1. Relaxation exercises – Relaxation is very effective in getting the body and mind in the right state to go off to sleep easily.  The best relaxation exercises to use before bed are breathing and muscle relaxation exercises, listening to relaxing sounds or music without words and visualisations of peaceful scenes.  As part of my ‘Sleep Better’ programme, I give my clients relaxation audio recordings to listen to.
2. Mindfulness– If an active mind keeps you awake, mindfulness exercises are very helpful in slowing down thoughts and calming a busy mind, so you can drift off to sleep more easily.  Mindfulness audio recordings are included in my ‘Sleep Better’ programme.

The Christian Therapy ‘Sleep Better’ programme

If you would like to know more about what else can help you to get a refreshing night’s sleep, please do contact me for information about the Christian Therapy ‘Sleep Better’ programme.

Book a free 30-minute consultation on how to get better sleep – click here to see how to contact me.

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