At it’s best anxiety is irritating and unpleasant. At its worst, debilitating and dictates what you can and cannot do. You deserve to live an awesome life and you deserve to be emotionally happy, however anxiety can block the path to both.
How does anxiety begin?
Your thoughts can trigger the vicious anxiety cycle. Thoughts such as:
- “What if…”
- “I can’t…”
- “I just know it’ll go horribly wrong…”
- “There will be a problem…”
- “Remember what happened last time…”
These types of thoughts are precisely what can trigger and set off excessive, and often, persistent worry. More often than not, these thoughts are about an upcoming event – usually imminent but not always. Thoughts about all the things that could, perhaps, maybe, probably, will all go wrong. Sounding familiar?
Where do anxious thoughts come from?
These anxious thoughts originate in the cortex and each compounds the one before it. I see it as these thoughts mount up and it’s as though they marinate and take on more and more power. How many times have you tried to stop them? And how many times have you failed?
Instantaneously, your amazing brain fires off a message to your amygdala which interprets it as you being in imminent danger. It then sends adrenalin and other hormones coursing through your body so that you can either flee the danger or fight the perceived attack. Of course, there is no danger. You are not under attack. However, the adrenalin has nowhere to escape. Therefore, your body may now bring on various physical symptoms some of which can range from mild:
- maybe slight nausea
- butterflies in your tummy
- headache
or these feelings can become severe:
- breathing quickens
- increasingly difficult to breathe
- vision may become impaired as you enter a full blown panic attack
The result is exceptionally debilitating and may last for some time. Unfortunately, this experience gives you something else to worry about the very next time some negative thoughts spring to mind. So, the anxiety cycle therefore becomes a habit. Anxiety creates a pattern of behaviour which is incredibly difficult to break.
What can you do to stop the cycle?
There are many techniques that can help. The aim of them all is to distract your conscious mind – easier said than done. I’m sure you’ve tried many things and maybe you’ve had some success?
The first thing is always to focus on your breathing.
- Breathe in as you count to 4 and then exhale as you count to 7.
- Visualise breathing in calm, fresh air and imagine breathing out tension.
- Imagine the air you are breathing in is your favourite colour. Visualise the air you breathe out being your least favourite colour.
- Imagine your muscles easing and growing limp and heavy as your start to relax.
Remember, relaxation is a skill and will only develop if you practice!
Why hypnotherapy is so effective
You know only too well – because you’re aware of the thoughts that go over and over in your conscious mind – that the anxiety cycle is difficult to break. That’s because it has become automated and has been stored in your phenomenal unconscious mind as a pattern of behaviour. It’s now routine and we all know how difficult unwanted habits can be to shift. The problem, for many people, is trying to access their unconscious mind.
What happens during hypnosis?
During hypnosis, the conscious mind is distracted by presenting suggestions of lovely images and visualisation so it becomes very relaxed. This allows the unconscious mind to become open in order to determine what’s behind the thoughts and how they can be changed.
Fortunately, you can lay comfortably back and enjoy the experience, although there is some work for you at certain points, but you’re so very comfortable, it really doesn’t feel like work at all. Maybe think of it like a coaching session. You cannot be made to do anything you do not want to do and you will never accept anything that isn’t right for you, so there is no need to worry on that front.
There is absolutely nothing to fear from hypnotherapy (see my FAQ page) for reassurance.
Hypnotherapy is a gentle and enjoyable technique that has proved immensely effective for so many of my clients. A great number of them have experienced improvements after just one session. What they’ve discovered, is that once they realise they can be free from their anxiety, they want a few more sessions to tweak and fine tune the new behaviours they want to adopt.
Find out if anxiety hypnotherapy can help you
I always have a complimentary, no pressure call with every one of my clients before any decisions are made. This allows them to ask what they need to in order to determine if this is the right therapy and I am the best therapist for them. So, what are you waiting for? Drop me a message and allow yourself the joy of hypnotherapy whilst transforming your life.
