Category: hypnotherapy for Insomnia and sleeping problems

1. overcoming exam nerves and preparing for success

   Posted on 12:20pm Saturday 27th Apr 2013

   I am working with quite a few students at the moment to help with exam nerves and stress. As we approach the season of exams many people struggle with the importance of these few weeks and how much impact they will have on their lives in the future.

   I am very fond of saying the expression "we get more of what we think about".

   It is very true and it applies in so many cases to people that I see. In the case of exams what could happen is this:

   You start to worry about what will happen in the exam and then you think that you will do badly in it, you also think that you probably won't get much sleep the night before and you will lie awake wondering if you will sleep. Then you also think that you will oversleep when you do get to sleep... and that as soon as you enter the exam hall you will begin to shake and forget everything that you have learned.

   Does this sound familiar? The truth is that if you do think that then you may well find that it comes true. You have begun to mentally rehearse the situation and you do "get more of what you think about" !

   This is why I work with my clients to help them prepare and imagine being calm, knowing they have done all of the work that they need to and that breathing, taking time and relaxing will really help to get them through the exam.

   When you think about it, you will find it makes great sense. Sometimes it is difficult though. We find we get into a cycle of worry and we struggle to get out of it.

   Rest assured that I work with many people who were in that cycle, and then after time changing their thinking habits they can go on to great happiness and success in all areas of their lives.

   As well as working with students and helping schools and teachers to explain my techniques to their students I spend a lot of time doing one on one sessions. It is clear to me that not everyone can afford these personal sessions so I have taken my "Exam Stress Buster MP3 download" out of my shop where it sells at £9.99 and added it to it's own page where you can buy it for just £4.99.

   I did wonder about just giving it away for free, but so much of what I do is about positive thinking that if you got it for free then there would be no need to bother listening or caring about it! I want you to listen to it, and I want you to be prepared and I want you to feel invested in it.. so that's why there is a small charge. That way I help more people and you really need to make that little bit more effort !

   If you would like to get the Exam stress buster download for yourself just click HERE

   Good luck with your exams... if you are prepared you can actually look forward to them !

2. Reflexology and the treatment of pain.

   Posted on 6:29pm Tuesday 9th Apr 2013

   I work alongside many practitioners to help create programmes that will benefit clients in many different ways. I co-created a pain relief and relaxation system with Joanne Marie from Breathe Holistic Therapy in Kidderminster, using my voice and her skills with reflexology..so when I saw this article I was very interested to read more...

   article from the press association...

   Use reflexology to complement drugs in pain treatment, survey findings suggest

   Ben Mitchell

   Tuesday, 9 April 2013

   Reflexology may be as effective as painkillers, according to a new scientific survey.

   Researchers at the University of Portsmouth have found that people felt about 40 per cent less pain, and were able to stand pain for about 45 per cent longer, when they used reflexology as a method of pain relief.

   Dr Carol Samuel, who is a trained reflexologist and who carried out the experimental procedures as part of her PhD studies, said it was the first time this therapy had been scientifically tested as a treatment for acute pain.

   She said the results suggested that reflexology could be used to complement conventional drug therapy in the treatment of conditions associated with pain such as osteoarthritis, backache and cancers.

   Participants attended two sessions, in which they were asked to submerge their hand in ice water.

   In one of the sessions they were given reflexology before they submerged their hand, and in the other session they believed they were receiving pain relief from a Tens machine, which was not actually switched on.

   The researchers found that when the participants received reflexology prior to the session they were able to keep their hand in the ice water for longer before they felt pain, and that they could also tolerate the pain for a longer period of time.

   Dr Samuel said: "As we predicted, reflexology decreased pain sensations.

   "It is likely that reflexology works in a similar manner to acupuncture by causing the brain to release chemicals that lessen pain signals."

   Dr Ivor Ebenezer, co-author of the study, said: "We are pleased with these results. Although this is a small study, we hope it will be the basis for future research into the use of reflexology."

   Reflexology is a complementary medical approach, which works alongside orthodox medicine, in which pressure may be applied to any body area but is commonly used on either the feet or hands.

   In this study reflexology was applied to the feet.

   Dr Ebenezer, from the Department of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, and Dr Samuel used a small study of 15 people to determine whether reflexology would be more effective than no pain relief at all.

   Dr Ebenezer said: "Complementary and alternative therapies come in for a lot of criticism, and many have never been properly tested scientifically.

   "One of the common criticisms by the scientific community is that these therapies are often not tested under properly controlled conditions.

   "When a new drug is tested its effects are compared with a sugar pill.

   "If the drug produces a similar response to the sugar pill, then it is likely that the drug's effect on the medical condition is due to a placebo effect.

   "In order to avoid such criticism in this study, we compared the effects of reflexology to a sham Tens control that the participants believed produced pain relief.

   "This is the equivalent of a sugar pill in drug trials."

   Dr Samuel added: "This is an early study, and more work will need to be done to find out about the way reflexology works.

   "However, it looks like it may be used to complement conventional drug therapy in the treatment of conditions that are associated with pain, such as osteoarthritis, backache and cancers."

   The study has been published in the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

   A spokeswoman for medical research charity Arthritis Research UK responded to the study with caution.

   She said: "Fifteen people is a very small number of people on which to base a claim that reflexology reduces pain, and the study needs to be replicated in considerably larger numbers before it can be substantiated."

   PA

    

   If you would like to find out more about Reflexology you can go to the Breathe website here... www.breathetherapy.co.uk