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Becoming drinkaware
Has your alcohol consumption increased in Lockdown? Perhaps you’re finding the stress of returning to work has increased your need to have a drink when you get home to help you unwind. If you are working from home perhaps there is the temptation of a gin and tonic or glass of wine at the end of the day.
Whilst our trips to the pub have been limited and now we have to leave the pubs at 10.00 this often means that people are drinking more at home. It is cheaper and we pour ourselves bigger measures. We don’t have to drive anywhere so the temptation is to have just one more drink or finish the bottle before bedtime.
Here at my Leatherhead clinic I have had a number of clients who feel they have lost control of their drinking. They can’t resist the temptation to pour another drink.
One of the best ways of taking back control is to dedicate two or three nights each week as alcohol free. Arrange another treat on those nights perhaps take some exercise or watch a movie. Write those days on the calendar so that they are a commitment to your wellbeing.
Stoptober is here again perhaps you feel going dry for a whole month will break the routine or pattern that you have got into. Often we take a drink almost as a habit because it’s what we do at the end of the day or when we are stressed.
Reducing the amount of alcohol we drink we also help to lose weight, another very important factor at these times. We need to take responsibility for our health and wellbeing. Often we are not aware of just how much we are drinking when we drink at home. Check out safe drinking guidelines and stick to them. Changing your drinking habits and taking back control will help your health and even your wealth.
Contact me today to find out how hypnotherapy can help you build new better habits.
Covid secure treatment
Lockdown is coming to an end and we are returning to a new normal. Life has changed for almost everyone in some form or another. The newspaper headlines can still be frightening and many people are not sure quite what to do now.
Many of my clients have put on weight during lockdown and have realised that their eating habits need to change if they are going to lose weight and keep it off. Other clients have decided that now is the time to stop smoking and want to do it before they return to work.
Anxiety is still causing problems for many. Health anxiety is on the increase and a number of people have found that their general anxiety levels have increased.
All of these problems and others including fears and phobias can be helped with hypnotherapy.
Whether we have returned to work or we are still working from home life is different and will be different for a long time. This doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy life. During lockdown we began to enjoy the simple pleasures of a walk in the park or the local woods. We should still make time for this and not allow any return to work to completely stop these new pleasures. Taking time out to relax, meditate or just stand and stare helps reduce anxiety levels.
We managed to get off the treadmill for a few weeks. Let’s make sure we at least slow it down or step off occasionally and enjoy our new normal.
Please get in touch for a chat and find out how hypnotherapy can help you.
Leaving lockdown
Is your anxiety rising now we are coming out of lockdown?
It is a very worrying time now that we are allowed to socialise more. The conflicting information that is in the press and online is adding to our stress.
Here at my Leatherhead hypnotherapy clinic I have had a number of clients whose anxiety is on the increase. Health anxiety is a major problem of some. They find themselves constantly checking Doctor Google for signs and symptoms of the virus.
Those who have been sheltering for various reasons are now worried about going out and about again and the increased risk of catching the virus. Parents are worried about their children returning to school and nursery and some children are themselves suffering from increased anxiety.
These challenges have to be faced; we have to restart our lives. Spending the rest of our life on the sofa isn’t really an option.
Some clients have put on weight during the lockdown and they have lost control of what and when they eat. They face going back to work with clothes that are straining at the waistband. Others have found it difficult to control their drinking habits.
Now is the time for us to gain control of our lives again. We have to believe that life will return to some kind of normal over the coming weeks and months. Many of our plans have been cancelled and we are unable to do all what we would have liked over the last few months.
We have enjoyed glorious weather and many of us have found new hobbies in gardening, knitting, crochet and dozens of other long forgotten skills. Other people have found time to relax read those books we always wanted to read and recharge our batteries.
Whatever we have been doing, now is the time to look forward. If anxiety is stopping you moving forward, even going out now that the doors are slowly opening, hypnotherapy can help to calm those fears. Don’t let anxiety control your life in the future.
Get in touch to discuss how hypnotherapy could help you.
Letting go in lockdown
It is just over three weeks now since the government ordered us into our homes. We are only to go out for exercise, essential shopping or work. The newspapers tell us that 90% of the population are obeying the government’s rules and there are signs that it is working and the virus spread is slowing.
How do you cope when your routine is shattered and suddenly you can’t see friends and family? We had the strangest of Mothering Sundays with families grappling to get to grips with new technology. Easter came and went without the traditional Sunday roast and we had Bank Holiday at home.
Many people find it difficult with the whole family at home every day and this can be overwhelming. It is important to have time to yourself and allow your children the same. We do not need to be entertained all day. Sometimes just taking time out to stand and stare is a bonus.
Mindfulness is all about living in the here and now; Savouring what we are doing now and not worrying about tomorrow. The politicians are all being pushed about how we can come out of lockdown. We have no control over this at the moment so if you can pack away your fears and worries you can enjoy this time as a time of rest and recuperation.
Stop looking at this as imprisonment or punishment and see it as a sabbatical or a retreat. Use the time do something you have always wanted to whether it is learning to knit or reading ‘War and Peace’ now is the time to do it. If your goal isn’t achievable because of social isolation use the time to plan, consult the maps for those long distance walks or special holidays etc.
Going out for a walk when we don’t have to rush to catch a train or bus is a new joy, perhaps you could retrace your daily walk to the bus stop or train station at a new leisurely pace and notice all the things you usually rush past. One of my dog walks takes me across a footbridge over the normally jam packed M25. Today I noticed the smell of the may blossom instead of diesel fumes.
Whatever you do in lockdown make it a joy. Don’t waste this time by longing for things we can’t do but do what we can. It’s not a competition to see who can achieve the most it. This is your time and space and a chance for once in your life to do your own thing.
If you feel low on occasion this is only to be expected. Find a quiet corner have a good cry, then as the song tells us “pick yourself up and start all over again.”
If you can’t do this and you find your low mood continues, many therapist are still working on line. Here at my Leatherhead clinic I recently helped a lady on Skype who was struggling to control her eating during the lockdown. I am offering 30 minute relaxation sessions for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed. If you are struggling in anyway contact, find out how hypnotherapy can help you.
Soon the lockdown will be over and we will return to some sort of normal, in the meantime find a way to enjoy this quiet time of rest.
Get in touch to find out how online hypnotherapy can help you
Getting online in difficult times
People are worried and anxiety is increasing but you don’t have to do this alone.
Counselling and hypnotherapy are still available via Skype, Facetime etc. There is still help out there, don’t be afraid to ask.
We have to become more flexible and adapt to this different way of life. This is the same for therapy as well as other businesses.
Here at my Leatherhead clinic people are seeking treatment for on-going anxiety as well as health anxiety. Fear about the future can weigh heavily on our minds.
This Sunday many for the first time cannot visit their mothers or take them for the annual Mothering Sunday lunch. You can still speak to them on the phone and if they have a smart phone or access to a tablet then it is the easiest think to set them up with Facetime.
Perhaps a handy son, daughter or grandchild could phone and talk them through the steps involved. Social isolation could in the end bring us closer together.
Hypnotherapy and counselling can be done on line and works well. One of my recent Skype clients said, “I wouldn’t have coped so well with this if I hadn’t been working on my anxiety issues.”
If you are feeling stressed or anxious please don’t hesitate to contact me and I can give you help and advise on the phone or via the Internet.
Just a thirty minute relaxation could relieve your stress.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Happy Chinese New Year, welcome to the year of the Rat.
This is another chance to make some New Year resolutions. If your New Year resolutions have faded in the cold wet January days of earlier this month, then the Chinese New Year is another chance to start over again.
What is it you want to change this year? Do you want to lose weight but the house is full of left-over chocolates and cakes, which you really can’t waste.
Perhaps this year you have decided to get fit but the cold and the wet have caused you to lose your motivation. Who wants to jog round the park when you can so easily retreat to the sofa with a box set and the remains of the Christmas cake?
Perhaps stop smoking is your priority in 2020 but the stress of the year-end figures and tax demands have again undermined your willpower.
The Chinese New Year of the Rat is another chance to dust of those resolutions and start again.
Here at my Leatherhead hypnotherapy clinic a lot of clients are looking for hypnotherapy to help boost their willpower and increase their motivation. Perhaps to find out what old programmes cause them to sabotage their efforts to make changes?
Whether you want to give up a bad habit or start a new good habit hypnotherapy can help.
Whenever you choose to make changes either January 1st or Chinese New Year or just because today is a new day it is always to right time for you.
Get in touch to find out how hypnotherapy can help you make lasting changes
2020 Weight Loss Goals
Have you started 2020 on a positive note or have you already given up on those New Year resolutions?
Do you fail with the same resolutions every year and in 2020 decided not to make any at all, or go with a general resolution of just being healthier?
Sometimes we need a push to help us make those changes. Last year at my Leatherhead clinic one of my clients came to see me for weight loss. She needed an operation on her foot and the hospital kept postponing the date because she wasn’t losing any weight. She wanted to lose four stone in total but the hospital had asked her to lose a stone before they operated.
We concentrated not on a diet or a low calorie plan but on the reasons why she ate when she knew it were so important to lose weight. Why did she eat when she wasn’t hungry and didn’t need food? Was this emotional eating for reasons like boredom or because of a bad day at work, even eating as a reward for a something good that had happened? What we realised was that eating didn’t solve any problem and that there were better ways to reward herself than eating cakes, sweets, crisps or any other type of junk food.
We also focused on treating a cake or a piece of chocolate with enjoyment and eating it mindfully so that a small piece of cake or chocolate was entirely satisfying. This removed the negative thoughts around that sweet treat and there was no need to eat the whole bar of chocolate or finish the packet of biscuits because she could have another one another day.
My client is going into hospital in the beginning of January having lost two and a half stone. In our last session we have focused on the advantages she has gained by losing the weight and making sure there is no temptation to over eat whilst she is on crutches and recovering.
When she is fully recovered she plans to lose the rest of her weight to reach her goal. More importantly she has made up her mind that never again is she going to be overweight. Whatever the future holds she is determined that her weight will not be something that holds her back again.
Regardless of whether you have made a new year resolution or not perhaps 2020 is the year you can take charge of your life. Whatever you want to change stop smoking, weight loss, get fit, hypnotherapy can help boost your willpower and understand why you have these destructive habits.
Please call me on 01372 812 189 for a free consultation to see how hypnotherapy can help you achieve your weightloss goals this year.
Stop Smoking Now
For most clients one session of one hour is all it takes to stop smoking.
For the remainder there is a FREE backup session at no extra charge.
Contact Eileen today on 01372 812 189 to find out more
The Austin Technique of Advanced Structured Hypnotherapy which has the highest reported success rate for smoking cessation. It uses a combination of hypnosis and NLP techniques to enable you to have a change of attitude towards cigarettes and tobacco, so that you no longer want to smoke.
‘A friend in London passed me Eileen’s details, and I booked a one hour stop-smoking session with her via Skype. The results have been fantastic, and four months on I have not even been tempted to smoke again.’
Fiona, South Africa
Try hypnotherapy today to help you a quit smoking, with the reassurance of a free back up session what have you got to lose!
Call Eileen today on 01372 812 189 for a free phone consultation.
How safe is your drinking?
Do you know the guidelines for safe drinking? The official guidelines state a women should have no more than 1 – 2 units of alcohol a day and for a man it is the same.
Regularly drinking above these levels can increase our risk of illness and disease. In addition alcohol impairs our mental functions and can increase depression and anxiety.
Here at my Leatherhead hypnotherapy clinic I have clients who come to me worried that their drinking is out of control. Sometimes it is a bottle of wine every day after work, others worry about binge drinking at weekends. Some clients tell me that once they have the first glass of wine they are unable to stop until the bottle is empty.
Other clients worry about the trip to the pub after work which leads to them staying later and later each night. This causes conflict when they get home late and the evening becomes a round of arguments and recriminations.
One of the problems about drinking at home in the evening is that alcohol can remain in the system and a minor accident on the way to work or the school run can lead to loss of a driving licence with all the implications that this involves.
Hypnotherapy can help if you want to cut down on your drinking. We will suggest you try keeping a drink diary to find out how often you exceed the guidelines. We will help boost your willpower so that switching to low-alcohol beer and wine or alternating each alcoholic drink with a soft drink or water on a night out becomes easier.
If you use alcohol to wind down at the end of a stressful day hypnotherapy will reinforce your determination try and find another activity perhaps a long hot bath or even a cup of tea.
Hypnotherapy can help you with your drinking habit and help you take back control. It is much better for not only your health but also your wealth and even your weight if you are in control and not your drinking habit.
Please get in touch to discuss ways hypnotherapy can help you manage your drinking.
Return to Stoptober!
It’s difficult to believe that a year has gone by since I was writing about Stoptober. The summer has gone and half term is getting closer. The shops are full of ghosts and pumpkins and soon the sky will be full of fireworks.
Are you attempting to do Stoptober again and does your will power fade after the first few days? The idea of Stoptober is a good one. There is plenty of support and maybe several of your friends are doing it as well.
We are now half way through the month. Have you gone 15 days without smoking or have you just managed to cut down a little. Perhaps you gave up on the idea all together about the 5th of the month. Perhaps last time you managed the whole of October but went back to smoking on the 1st November.
Here at my Leatherhead hypnotherapy clinic the aim is to stop smoking forever. In the hypnotherapy session I use a variety of techniques including hypnotherapy suggestions and an aversion script. I also use Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques to help you break the habit and the link between smoking and other behaviours.
So many times we use a cigarette not only to relax and for stress relief but as a motivator. For example do you ever tell yourself you will do a job you have been putting off and then reward yourself with a cigarette or you will have that cigarette then do the job you have been trying to ignore?
In hypnotherapy we can release those links and make it easier to stop smoking forever. If therefore you are struggling with Stoptober or you have given up before and then started smoking again perhaps now is the time to stop forever.
Please get in touch to find out how hypnotherapy can help you quit smoking forever.