Anxiety effects millions of people in our modern world. Before you know it, what was once the white noise of constant stress has turned into full-blown anxiety. You experience a dry mouth, the racing heart, the tightening of the belly, the sleeplessness, perhaps feelings of being unsafe or overloaded. Things that didn't used to bother you, now do. You can't handle the extra work pressure, the niggly boss, the small space, the call centre or the traffic.
Anxiety is basically being stuck in fight or flight mode. The adrenaline and cortisol is dumped into your system as your body becomes primed to 'run' from that wild beast! You can become anxious about getting anxiety, creating a feed-back loop that feels impossible to escape from.
Hypnotherapy can work wonders with anxiety as you are dealing with the unconscious and the unconscious is where your triggers will be. It can help retrain you into remembering and switching on relaxation, taking your body into the parasympathetic. Once you are truly relaxed your body can function properly, supporting the immune system.
I like to combine hypnotherapy with mindfulness techniques and self-help tools, and Somatic Energy Work. Somatic Energy Work is great for identifying where you are holding the tension or anxiety in your body - is it like a tight, spinning wheel just below your chest or do you hold the tensions as a 'tight' belly, perhaps even feeling nausea. Anxiety and IBS can be tightly linked. Once we bring awareness into this area and let go of the tension and bring true release, it can feel as if you have let go of a huge weight. What was once feeling as if it was tightly coiled like a spring and compacted suddenly feels light and free. I will then teach you techniques for monitoring that area, so you can take back control and run your body the way you want it!
When people ring their first question is often, "What is Hypnosis?" Hypnosis by-passes the rational mind, working with your unconscious to bring about change. Your rational mind knows there is nothing to be anxious about, but your unconscious is likely to be the one that's amping up your anxiety levels. Your unconscious doesn't know what is true or false, so you may have all sorts of false scripts driving you. We talk to these scripts and re-write them. You are put into a trance state in which you are still able to hear the sounds in the room and answer questions. The trance puts your brain into a theta state, similar to what a meditation would do, which means you are more open to change and suggestion. By talking to your unconscious, reminding it of the value in change, we can bring about profound change. Sometimes it's useful to identify if there is someone in you that doesn't want to stop being anxious. Perhaps part of you believes you will fail in your job if you are not hyper-alert all the time. Hypnotherapy has techniques to work with a conflicted self and bring about change.
Call if you wish to discuss whether hypnotherapy could help you.
Diana Joy
Balmain Hypnotherapy
0414486707
diana@dianajoy.com.au