Anxiety – such a commonplace experience for most people. We all experience anxiety at one point or another, it’s necessary as it informs us when we are in danger or need to take a new course of action in order to respond to something effectively. However, anxiety that goes unchecked and begins to run wild like a veld fire in your mind is another matter entirely. And that is the first place to start when it comes to understanding anxiety – the mind.

As discussed in the piece on depression, the link between the aforementioned condition and anxiety are inseparable. There are, however, some vitally observable differences between them (refer to the table in the depression piece for a basic breakdown). The simplest way to put it would be that depression is heavy, it’s dark and it’s numbing. Anxiety, on the other hand, is the direct opposite, it’s lightning quick, electric hot panic that sears into every curve of your mind and body. Mental and physical symptoms of anxiety include panic, irrational worry and obsession with the future, persistent thoughts of self -doubt and tumultuous fear, panic attacks, diarrhoea, nausea, phobias… the list goes on. The main thing to remember is that depression is slow and dense, anxiety is sharp and electric. As we mentioned before, a little anxiety in life is not only normal but necessary. In case you are confused about differentiating between normal and abnormal anxiety, here is a table to help you a little:

http://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety

Let’s focus strictly on anxiety from now on. Where does it come from? Anxiety manifests and grows whenever we try to use past experiences to calculate future probabilities. Blend that unrealistic formula with a good dose of fear of the unknown and you have a cocktail for an internal explosion. To understand anxiety, you have to understand the mind. The mind cannot turn off, even meditation is not about learning how to silence your mind but rather about being able to observe the constant stream of chatter without running after every thought – it’s about creating distance between your conscious awareness and your mind, it’s about realizing that your mind is only a part of you but not you itself. Once we understand this, things become easier, until then we sit in a tornado of contorting mental torture. So how do we learn to kerb this habit of investing so much of our awareness in our mind? It begins by learning to remain at the moment, the moment is the only place you ever are. Even that past experience that has left you scarred, you were in the moment then too – if you had trained yourself to accept what was happening in that moment you would not be scared of it but grateful for it.

See, no matter how good or bad our mind perceives something to be, we need both kinds of experiences to understand each one individually. People think that good and bad are separate things to either pursue or avoid but that is precisely where the problem comes from. As soon as you chase only good, the bad parts of life and the bad parts of you scream all the louder to be acknowledged – you have to accept them both as a balance and not as a dichotomy. That said, a simple way to put it is like this: when we compare the present to the past we get depressed when we compare the present to the future we get anxious – it really is that simple. Train yourself to accept the present in whatever form it is manifesting.

Hypnosis itself is a form of meditation, an incredibly deep and penetrating form to be more specific. Hypnosis teaches you acceptance – acceptance of your past, present and future; acceptance of the pain you have experienced and caused yourself and others; acceptance of the unknown that your mind tricks you into fearing. With hypnosis, you can go deeper into the level of the unconscious and unearth the false foundations that are supporting your mental mirages.

With the opposing media and social stigma views linked to smoking, we are all well aware of the many negative effects that tobacco products have on us both physically and mentally. The reality of these effects are further compounded by the fact that our smoking not only impacts us but those around us in the form of secondary smoke. Believe it or not, smoking truly is a plain and simple addiction, something that you started way back when – sounds innocent enough, right? Wrong. The subconscious is addicted to addiction itself and has now assumed the responsibility of your bad decision, leaving your conscious mind open and available to concentrate on something new; heaven forbid the alluring appeal of another addiction. 

Cigarette smoke contains tar. According to the World Health organisation, tar contains up to 4000 chemicals, 50 of which are known to cause cancer. Additional chemicals found in cigarette smoke are Cyanide, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Methane, acetylene and ammonia.

The nicotine in cigarette smoke is what causes the addiction, just like any other drug the culprit appears inconsequential. Nicotine affects the chemistry in the brain and central nervous system, which in turn affects the temperament and mood of the smoker too. 

Everyone is under the impression that they smoke to keep calm, that’s their excuse and they stick to it… well, I’ve got news for you!

The first few puffs of a cigarette speed up your heart rate, compromise the efficiency of your lungs and create chemical imbalances in your brain…. Still feel relaxed? 

Did that cigarette create enough calmness and peace to enable you to find the solution to the problem that made you light up in the beginning?

No it didn’t! All it did was take your mind off the matter temporarily whilst poisoning your body and the bodies of those around you!  

We all know that smoking is responsible for such health conditions as lung cancer, pulmonary disease, bronchitis and emphysema, but guess what… cigarette smoke is also a common cause of oral cancers, cancer of the larynx and esophagus, kidneys, bladder, pancreas and uterine cervix.  

There are many techniques on offer to help one quit smoking… 99% of them are money making schemes.

“Take this drug” they say – what about the side effects they don’t tell you about? “Take this additional drug, it will help with the side effects” is what they will tell you. Many medical health practitioners will then capitalise on your ignorance by prescribing you with more drugs, “to keep you calm”. All of this irresponsibility is disguised by the motivation and assurance that you’re doing the right thing, that in fact what you are doing is detoxing. In actual fact what they’re really doing is manipulating your vulnerability to make money for themselves and the medications they’re endorsed to sell.

If you allow yourself to be open to the idea of hypnosis, why not stop smoking by eliminating the stressors that made you smoke in the first place – use hypnosis as a natural coping tool to be able to face the stressors head on. When this approach is taken, one can’t justify their addictions with excuses like, “I smoke because I have a horrible boss”. What happens when you quit smoking and head back to work… the boss is still there. 

Another go-to favourite is, “I smoke because I have three children” – they too will be at home during and after you quit smoking.

I believe that through hypnosis one can learn coping skills that teach you how to live with the various stressors that make you believe that you need to smoke, to begin with. Therefore, when confidence levels are high and coping skills are embedded, it’s time to kick the habit. 

Now, let Hypnotherapy provide greater peace and comfort than the Cigarette did!

Hypnosis has been used for tens of thousands of years.

Everyone goes through some state of Natural Hypnosis on a daily basis, sometimes without even being aware, such as when you are falling asleep or just waking up, staring at a fire, waves on a shore, reading a book or watching a movie. People often experience hypnosis when the brain mimics rhythms such as the motions of a boat, airplane or a car, sending you off into a light sleep.

Hypnosis is part of our everyday lives, it is a means to bypass the brain’s conscious interference and help you solve problems at a subconscious level. As the sound of your trained therapists voice guides you into deep relaxation, you enter an altered state of awareness where difficulties can be overcome and anything becomes possible. As you awake, you will feel relaxed, liberated and in control – wondering how you so effortlessly solved a nagging problem with the help of hypnosis.

With the acceptance of hypnotherapy as a valid solution more and more by the mental and medical health communities, people are using hypnosis as a very valid method of helping themselves without pills.

Hypnotherapy helps one to stop smoking, lose weight, enhance performance (physical and mental), build confidence and self-esteem, overcome anxiety, panic and grief, manage anger, relieve stress and tension, overcome phobias, eliminate bad habits and addictions, relieve depression, improve on overall well- being and so much more.

Due to our own choices, many people suffer from stress. Stress is our worst enemy and the cause of the majority of one’s ailments, aches and pains and often enough our demise (causing heart attacks and strokes).

Stress is caused by many different reactions due to our lifestyle, economic, work / school and peer pressure.

Stress stops a person from thinking clearly, making them overreact to situations thus making them overreact again, causing more stress and so on and so on… It is a vicious circle and the probable cause of most mental and physical illnesses.

One of our most important factors of personal well-being and longevity is stress relief.

In this day and age of pills and potions, Hypnosis is often overlooked as a stress relief.

When a person learns that they can, in fact, overcome and control their stress, the entire body is affected in a positive way. Making one calmer, thus, sleep easier, feel more energised and thus making one more active which in turn is a great stress release.

Calmness, therefore, can help a person to heal, think positively, achieve and be the person they want to be.

As we are all aware, Stress is one of the world’s largest culprits for physical, mental and emotional illnesses.
One of our most important factors of personal well-being and longevity is stress relief.
In this day and age of pills and potions, Hypnosis is often overlooked as a stress relief.
Stress is what it is… stress is how one feels physically, mentally or emotionally when one is under too much pressure.
Pressure can be caused by a variety of “stressors” caused from work / school, home or your personal life. Each and every person reacts and copes differently to stress.

Stressors can range from Micro stressors, the daily hassles and minor annoyances such as difficult colleagues, traffic jams, academic deadlines etc. to more severe stressors. Major negative events, such as the death or loss of a loved one, academic / career failure, illness or being the victim of a serious crime, place strong demands on a person and require major efforts to cope. Catastrophic events tend to occur expectantly and can include traumatic natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism even psychological torture. All three classes have significant negative effects.

CAUSES OF STRESS

It is difficult to identify the exact causes of stress, however, some of the biggest and most common causes include loss, change, uncertainty, conflicts in belief systems or life cycle transitions and events that place strong demands on us.

The brain does not distinguish between real or imagined stress, and stress levels are alleviated by what we think rather than what has or is actually happened or happening. It is not always the situation itself that causes stress, but one’s reaction to the situation.

Counselling and therapy (psycho and cognitive) can help individuals to understand their way of thinking, however, Hypnotherapy is effective for managing stress. Hypnotherapy alters our reaction to particular situations during hypnosis, to a more positive one; feelings about the particular situation are turned to positive ones. When the situation is experienced in real life, the reaction is different and that of a positive nature.

When a person learns that they can, in fact, overcome and control their stress, the entire body is affected in a positive way. Making one calmer, thus, sleep easier, feel more energised and thus making one more active, which in turn is a great stress release.
Calmness, therefore, can help a person to heal, think positively, achieve and be the person they want to be.
Once a person perceives himself or herself as unable to cope with their level of stress, problems start to occur.