Do you know someone who snores?

Are you kept awake with this snorting and noise? Are you having to shove that person over through the night? or, are you listening from a distance and wishing they would deal with it? Are you embarrassed about having visitors in the house, or going away on holiday with your snorer?

stop snoring info

Well, I have news for you. The new stop snoring audio is now available at my website through this QR code here or this link

It is in both mp3 and CD. You suggest your snorer needs help, you tell them it is simple. They listen in bed, when they are ready to go to sleep, straight from an ipod or listening device of some kind. All they have to do is put the headphones in and listen. At the end they discard the headphones, roll over and go to sleep. Simple!  They are in bed anyway so it’s easy. They have nothing to lose except the sound, and much to gain with a happy, rested, household. You will get your sleep.

Snoring is caused by fatty tissue slightly obstructing the passage of air through the throat. This pleasant hypnotic audio works to tighten the muscles around that area, and also brings awareness of when snoring starts so they can turn themselves over and sleep quietly on. Listening details are included.

We know that snoring is more common in those carrying extra weight or after a night out drinking. However, in some cases the fatty tissue is so pronounced that the air is blocked and every so often the breathing stops. This is called sleep apnea and should be discussed straight away with your Doctor.

Teachers and stress

In the run up to year end I have noticed an influx of teachers with accumulated stress conditions. There is just so much paperwork and planning and activities and pressure and responsibilities faced by teachers today, and despite the term breaks they are expected to attend meetings, and prepare for next term, during them. Some are even studying further as well.

Most of those I see love their job, but it is getting the better of them. They are plodding on, with a stiff upper lip, not wanting to take time off because it will impact their good attendance record. They see me in private preferring to keep it quiet.

So many teachers suffer tenseness in their shoulders, arms and hands, anxiety in their stomachs, and tight chests. Shallow breathing is a classic sign of tension.  At home signs of stress are irritability, complete tiredness, or lack of sleep, worries during the night, aches and pains, panic attacks, emotional outbursts, lack of sex drive. Many grind their teeth, many get IBS (a classic sign of stress), while others get irritable, and others are even depressed.  Stress needs to be addressed or it turns into nasties like long term chronic illnesses and cancers.

At school a stressed teacher will cover this up, after all they have a job, some teachers don’t. Health is not discussed in depth, they grit their teeth and carry on, as they always have. There is too much else to do and think about, and besides, you don’t admit defeat, blot your copy book, by admitting it is difficult to cope, by admitting that you are on medication, such as anti depressants.

School budgets now include provision for dealing with stress and sickness. Like all businesses, if someone is off sick the school has to use up precious money to pay them, as well as their replacement.  Double pay for one job.  It is in the schools best interests to nip stress in the bud, to look after their teachers. Yet, it is up to the teachers to admit that they need that help, that they are not superhuman. Many still do not.

I am on the school supply list, a supplier of stress relief to schools who wish to get their teachers back in the classroom as quickly as possible. Whether they come via their school, or by themselves, this work is very confidential, yet targeted. It has an empowering effect and teachers can relate to it well. They have amazing inner resources of durability and positivity and I work with these to get the change they need. It is a combined effort for their benefit.

It is quite likely others in similar professions can relate to this, nurses and healthcare workers, too. If this resonates with you come and deal with it, the sooner you look after yourself the better.

Do you worry?

Last month I talked about anxieties and how they can turn into panic attacks. This resonated with quite a number of people. At the other end of the anxiety scale is worrying.

People who are worriers worry about their school, their job, their kids, their parents, their past and their future. They think ‘what if this happens’ and ‘what if that happens’ and all sorts of other ‘what if’s’.  Often they lack confidence and decision making skills.

Recently a girl came who loves riding but since she’d had a fall she was worrying unnecessarily. What if she was riding and something frightened him, what if she was on her own, what if she had another fall. She was an experienced rider, she knew the horse had the loveliest temperament and had never bolted before. She knew that at the time it was just an unusual circumstance, but she couldn’t help it, she was worrying. She wasn’t happy riding anymore and was having to think of excuses why she wasn’t going out. Her passion for riding had been replaced with worry, fear and lack of confidence. She was thinking that she should sell her lovely horse.

Golfers worry too. They make a duff shot on a hole, miss the ball completely, or it goes somewhere it shouldn’t, and they feel acutely embarrassed and fed up with themselves. Next thing they start worrying whether they will do it again and sure enough they do!  It can become a self fulfilling prophesy. If it continues then over time they lose their confidence and their enjoyment of the game and consider giving it up.

Exam times are a classic worry time. What if I am late, what if I haven’t studied enough, what if I run out of time, what if I don’t pass, what if ….

Worry can spiral, it can seem irrational but unstoppable. Worriers know well enough that they shouldn’t be worrying but people telling them to relax just makes it worse. Some give in and say ‘I am a born worrier”

So, if this sounds like you, what do you do about it?  Well, its no point continuing to worry that’s for sure, or burying your head in the sand. It won’t get better that way.

Seek some objective help. Family and friends can try but don’t have the objectiveness, nor the skills. Find an experienced person who can work with you to bring things back into perspective, to help let the tenseness go, and not just a listener either. You want someone who you can talk to confidentially, learn from, and you want value for time and money. If you need such a person perhaps I can help. My first 20 minutes is free for you to decide if my way seems right. If it is then after the hour and a half you could leave feeling very relaxed and positive about your choice. It may not take very long to sort you out at all!

Some nice recent successes

I am delighted to see people coming in having made such delightful changes and periodically like to report on these. Maybe it will help someone else who is considering coming to see me.

Some people spend a lot of unnecessary time worrying. One such man came to see me because it was getting out of hand. He has been paranoid about his teenage son going out at night. So bad that the whole family is on edge. He couldn’t sleep and was even sitting in the car in the middle of the night just in case the boy rang and needed a lift home. He came into his third and last session with a big smile on his face. Not only is he more relaxed, rational, and trusting of the son but he had been in a work meeting that morning and comfortably put his point forward which he has never have done previously.

Just this week a man returned after a year. He’s a middle aged city businessman who had been consuming too much alcohol and had put on way too much weight. He had 2 sessions last April and I hadn’t heard back from him. He was looking really good having lost over a stone and a half. This was due to the cut back on the wine, and less pizzas. He was just coming back, as I often recommend, for a one session boost to keep him on track.

Teachers suffer lots of stress which can bring on IBS. Hypnotherapy is recognised as a good treatment for IBS. Since January, and over 5 sessions, I have been seeing a caring head teacher with little time to herself. Like all my clients she is getting a very personalised service and has recordings to listen to between sessions. I was delighted to hear this week that despite her increased work demands her stomach has settled down and she has had 2 weeks where she hasn’t been in pain or suffered the crippling IBS cramps she has had for years.  This is good news for us to build on.

Another lady this week was pleased to let me know her weight is leaving at long last. We have had about 3 sessions over 5 weeks.  She has stopped biting her nails and was thrilled to show me them growing. She has dropped off a pile of worrying about her grownup kids, and the scales are starting to show that what we are doing is all working. She was buzzing and it was so good to see.

And talking about buzzing I worked with EFT to help shift some tinnitus this week. It was quite bizarre the way it worked. While it was his very first session with me, and all new to him, I am hopeful we may be able to make more progress next time.

Everyone is different and so we fine tune it between us as we go.

Anxiety problems

Approximately 80% of people I see come with anxiety of one form or another. Anything from presentation anxiety to driving and flying anxieties, and then to deep rooted worries from maybe sexual abuse, bereavements, relationship issues or a myriad of others.

Sleeplessness, night time teeth grinding, tenseness, snappiness, or withdrawal can be a direct result of anxiety or worry.

If you have acute anxiety, it becomes a panic attack and you will know what I mean. You are in a certain situation and then all of a sudden your palms get sweaty, your heart starts pounding, your chest feels tight, maybe your breathing becomes shallow. You tense up, a knot develops in your stomach, or butterflies. Maybe you feel nauseous, have trouble thinking clearly or speaking legibly. Most sufferers just want to run and hide. This is not nice.

In most cases as one symptom is felt the next one is anticipated, and then the next. This self monitoring makes the symptoms develop more. The expectation is there, they will happen.  And the worst thing about this is that it happens more frequently and you have no control over it. This can be very frightening and certainly saps energy, and self confidence.

Many withdraw, avoid situations, so they don’t feel embarrassed in front of others.

Women can get this way, especially when they feel self conscious about their weight, and often weight issues go right back to old anxieties. And I know men can get anxious when it comes to work presentations and they often find they cannot progress in their jobs until they deal with it.

Children can get like this, too, at exam times, and often as a result of bullying or verbal abuse, or just pressure to meet their parents’ expectations.

The trick is to break the pattern in a safe and helpful way, and it can be done quite easily if one just asks for the right, objective help to do so. And the nicest thing is that when these old responses are released all of a sudden the world opens up and so many nice things happen.

A recent example was a lovely 16 year old boy whose mother brought for help to relieve his flying anxiety, prior to a school trip. It took three sessions to deal with his issues. He not only had a great trip but the anxiety he had experienced at exam time was also gone.  He is very happy with the outcome, more relaxed, more self confident, and his mother has commented on his new maturity. It has been a good result for the whole family.

Perhaps you know of someone who feels anxious in some way? Please suggest they seek help. Life is too short to waste in worry, fear and tightness. If anyone wants to know more do visit my website and check out the stress and anxiety page and then call for a chat. Maybe I can help.

Easier studying, better results

This is for those of you who are at school wanting to do better, those at college or uni, those preparing their dissertations, for those doing driving licences, and for those who care about them.

It doesn’t matter what age you are if you want to do better then it is possible. And, if there is some reason you are not doing well right now then it is high time it was addressed, giving you time to focus, do the research, take in the detail, and get a good understanding in time to get consistently good marks before year end.

You may think, ‘Well, I have always worked on my assignments the night before, just made the deadline, and I haven’t done too badly.’  Well, so be it, this may not be for you. But, I challenge you to think, ‘What if I had worked smarter, would I have done any better?’ How do you honestly know unless you try?

We all know how easy it is to put the study aside, be social, and to procrastinate here and there, so easy, but sooner or later the guilt sets in, and the worry, and even some stress.  People around you remind you what you should, and should not, be doing, it can become a bit invasive and everyone gets touchy. I have seen students a ball of nerves around exam time, cramming reading, and last minute assignments to get done in time, working around the clock, not sleeping, eating rubbish food and drink. This does not help your brain. This is not the way to do it!

So, how can you get better results? Well, perhaps it’s time to relax your brain and let the information flow in. Perhaps you can work smarter, not harder. Many people attempt to learn new information by writing notes and making lists, these are left brain activities. When you engage your right brain as well you use your brain’s full potential.  It’s a bit like a computer hard drive, when entered properly the information can be filed in the right areas for easy retrieval and recall.

Using wonderful forward-looking visualisation techniques you may have a similar experience to one of my clients who was procrastinating his MBA dissertation.  In hypnosis he was able to visualise the final work and his result.  Some months later he emailed that he had got within 2 marks of this and had been recommended for a distinction. Not only that, but he wrote that he now had an interview with a well known global business, just as he had imagined in his hypnotherapy session.

The special relaxing story telling techniques I use are great for teenagers, the results show not only in their schoolwork but also in their confidence. Family dynamics very often change for the better. This could make the difference between one school/uni/job and another, it is so worthwhile. As a past teacher I care, 2-3 sessions could be all that is needed.

Special rates for those still at school. Ring 07962 811907

And, teachers, I can help reduce your stress, too. Come and learn how.

Stopping smoking

This is for those of you who smoke and have talked about giving up.

In past articles I have talked about removing blocks that maybe holding you back, blocks that are stopping you putting your foot down and enjoying life. These blocks could be things like anxiety, emotional hang ups, all sorts of worries, weight, health and habit issues.

Now, whether you consider cigarettes and smoking fall into this category in your own life, it doesn’t really matter, but smoking has certainly settled inside you permanently. It has indeed become a habit and is constantly there reminding you that you need to light up at various times throughout the day. That you need to go out the door, need to hover in a corner from the rain, need to walk away from a good conversation, that you need to light up and take time out. I am sure I don’t need to tell you this.

If you think about it smoking has actually become a huge part of your life – your day revolves around where you can smoke and where you can’t, how many you have left, when you need a smoke, and why you need to smoke. You know you use it to calm down, to get away from difficult situations, to think, to clear the air, to relax, to accompany a drink, and so on.

You also know that if you haven’t talked about giving up at some stage then someone close to you probably keeps reminding you that you should. This, of course, makes you dig your toes in. No one likes being told they should do something.

I should point out here that nicotine is one of the most poisonous substances known to man. The nicotine extracted from one cigarette and injected directly into the vein will kill in seconds. It is enough to kill a horse. Yet, nicotine is just one of the many toxic substances, including arsenic, cynanide, carbon monoxide, and prussic acid, in a cigarette.

Believe it or not a smokers body is in constant stress. It is continually trying to fight off these substances and it is continually being fed them. It gets no time to relax. Nicotine is a vaso constrictor, arteries narrow and the heart has to work much harder to push the blood around, getting vital oxygen to every organ, while rubbish in the lungs reduces their capacity to produce the oxygen. Resistance to infections, viruses and cancers is impaired due to the immune system being otherwise occupied. Reproductive potency is detrimentally affected…. And so it goes on.

Every cigarette that you smoke will rob you of six minutes of life expectancy.  If you smoke 20 a day that’s 2 hours, 30 days a year, plus £2000 up in smoke!

The comforting thought is that you were born a non smoker and you have the blueprint within you somewhere that can be reactivated. There is hope. Certainly hypnotherapy has helped many I’ve seen.

What road will you travel in 2011?

Our life is like a road. Think of it as a motorway with lots of side roads. Sometimes everything is going well and we are moving fast.  Sometimes we get side tracked and end up on another motorway, other times it seems like we are way off course, have hit a bumpy road, or even a road block.

So, thinking of 2010, were you on a motorway? Was your journey planned or did it seem like a pretty aimless year?  For instance if you had plotted it into your Sat Nav are you now in a different place than the one you started at last January? Could it have been better?

Now is the time to make 2011 better. There will be many journeys to put into your sat nav for the year and wouldn’t it be great if each one was on a motorway taking you someplace exciting. Are you ready for some adventure?

And, thinking of yourself as that vehicle, are you a sleek racing car, or an older model with some rust, some dints, with very little power, and perhaps no spare in the boot?

It’s not much use expecting a great road ahead if the car hasn’t the power and resources to travel it!

While a car can easily be replaced, unfortunately your body can’t. You can, however, get it fixed.

Maybe you haven’t been firing on all cylinders, and need an energy tune up. That will make a huge difference immediately. Then, you can learn to recharge yourself with decent sleep. Things holding you back like, frustration, procrastination, stress, pain, anxiety, anger and depression can be cleared. Fear, insecurity and worries about the future, can be dealt with. Weight issues, lack of confidence, inability to find a partner can be conquered, if you wish.

Getting rid of the pot holes and obstacles in the way opens and smoothes the road ahead. It becomes clearer, far easier to travel. New resources appear along the way. Success is within us all.

So, if you want to make 2011 a far better year than 2010, perhaps a brilliant year, I invite you to start with a ‘tune up’, an MOT and some help to programme your sat nav. Get yourself on the right road, then put your foot down, enjoy the scenery and the wind through your hair.

Special offer: FREE with all January MOT bookings. Learn to sleep deeply, and recharge your batteries, every night with my special recording. Two tracks to choose from to ensure you sleep soundly, wherever you sleep.

Phone 07962 811907 and book in now.

Stress – do you suffer stress?

Mothers juggling a family often do, and couples with communication issues, either about work, the family, or their parents. Women with PMT tension do. Parents stress over their kids, kids stress over their parents, and other kids and exams. Workers, and non workers, stress over work, money pressures, deadlines. The list goes on.

Why do you think people smoke, or overdo alcohol and drugs? They think it’s to relax but it is most often stress, or worry, that causes it and then it all became a bad habit. Stress at home, stress at work, stress with in laws, kids, you name it stress is everywhere, even prior to weddings.

Do you think that swearing, shouting, slamming doors, smoking, or drinking, fixes stress?? No, of course not. People doing this just make those around them stressed, wanting to retaliate, or run off and hide. It is no wonder many people have depression at some stage in their life.

It’s more than likely stress is the biggest instigator of disease and unhappiness in this world. When you are stressed your stomach knots up, your chest and neck muscles tighten, your breathing catches, you get a headache. You know the feeling. Your body is actually demanding more oxygen and you are having trouble supplying it. All your organs and muscles are having to work harder and harder. There is tension and strain throughout.

The body cannot cope with continual tension, things happen like shoulder and back problems, panic attacks, hardened arteries, heart attacks, strokes, and cancers. It’s a bit like the results of continual smoking these nasties come up behind you and bite you in the bum, when you least expect it!

I don’t want this to happen to you, do you?

Women, you are at the core of your family. When you learn to deal with emotional issues that wind you up, and when you learn how to relax, what a difference you will see, hear and feel, from everyone around you.

If you are tense, recognise it, deal with it, reap the rewards. It is totally worth it!  Check out my website, ring and chat if you want, but do come  and deal with it now.

It is good to feel better!