Danny Boyle's latest film is the thriller Trance. Made whilst he was working on the wonderful Olympic opening ceremony, it stars James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson and is a high octane thriller about an art theft.
Dawson plays a hypnotherapist in the movie and so she was taught all about what we hypnotherapists do to help prepare her for the part.
However, she nearly ended up causing a car accident when she started to put some of her new skills into practice, and accidentally hypnotised her friend.
She recently gave an interview for French Television where she said:
''I hypnotised one of my friends, but it was by accident! It was interesting, I recorded one of the trances that you hear in the film's trailer, and we were driving through the French countryside and everything felt very remote and far away and I started to say the very soft, relaxing words and doing this trance. My friend was actually the one driving on the motorway and she nearly crashed because she started to doze off. It worked! I was very pleased!''
Of course trance is a naturally occurring state that we can drift in and out of many times a day so just by talking softly and helping to relax her friend whilst driving it would have been easy for her to drop off!
It does show that taking some time to relax is perhaps easier than you would think once you have started to try it.
The one caveat I would say is not to do it whilst driving or operating heavy machinery ! Just find somewhere nice and quiet and take some time for yourself. You can even listen to my FREE relaxation MP3 whilst you do it !
TV always likes to see people in peril as it makes fascinating viewing and this week ITV's This Morning have been having a phobia week with Nik and Eva Speakman. They are working with people who have phobia issues to try and help cure them once and for all. As Celebrity therapists the Speakmans on Celebrity Big Brother is the latest rumour in television!
UPDATE: The Speakmans new ITV Series has now aired. There are episode review of each episode on this BLOG
It's interesting to see how television likes to make things different from reality. I see many clients for phobias and fears and unlike This Morning, I don't actually take them out and make them face it before I have done something about it. They even hook up everyone to a heart rate monitor so that we can hear the beeping get faster and faster. To be honest I wonder about the point of this. I can see it makes for interesting TV but quite frankly when a client comes to me and tells me what they are scared of, I take their word for it. I don't need to take them out and make them fear it again to start working with them. It does seem a strange way to work. I am looking to take that fear away, not make it worse first.
The Speakmans have been working with many different people, including Liz McClarnon from Atomic Kitten who has a fear of flying, another man who has a fear of dentists and a young lady who suffers from agoraphobia.
As I watch them work, and admittedly we are not actually seeing what they do I can't help wondering what their methods are. Why are we not being told what they are doing? How do the Speakmans cure phobias?! Surely that's a great way for people to see how these changes can occur.
It does all seem to happen very quickly for their "clients". They spend more time making them feel bad than good, and when we are shown the results I am not altogether convinced that they really have made the change. The body language, posture and facial expressions of these poor people tell a different story. When I work with clients, my aim is to rid them of a fear for good, not a few minutes of television.
I often use methods such as EMDR and EFT, alongside Hypnotherapy and NLP which really help people to overcome fears but even using these there is some time and effort which needs to be put in by both the therapist and the client. What we are being shown by ITV seems to be a little too showbiz for my liking.
However, if it shows people that you can make a change and don't have to live in fear of something for the rest of your life then that can only be a good thing !
If you have a fear or a phobia and it is causing problems in your life then I can tell you that you can overcome it, you can leave it behind forever. You will be surprised how easy it is to do this. Most clients report that they just forget about how things used to be when they get used to how easy it was to change things. If you would like to ask me about your phobia just email me at [email protected] or call me on 07980 233160 I would be happy to help.
I can help you in two or three sessions to make a real difference in your life permanently. It is much easier to deal with any fear or phobia that you have than you may imagine. If you learn't to have a phobias then you can lost it just as easily!
The first step I always take with clients in helping teach them to be able to start to relax about the problem is something that you can do for yourself right now. Just Click HERE to listen to my relaxation MP3, It's free and only takes 8 minutes!
If you suffer from a fear or phobia you can contact me to discuss how we could help to overcome this by emailing me at [email protected] or calling me on 07980 233160. I work with clients in my own therapy room and also via Skype Hypnotherapy if you are not local to me.
Fears and phobias really can be overcome so why not take the plunge and ask for some help? It could be the best decision you ever made.
Amendment on 23rd March 2014. The Speakmans are currently working on a new TV show for ITV called Change. They appeared on This morning with Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby speaking to a man who suffers from a fear of piercings. It is always interesting to see how TV takes people's phobias and turns them into entertainment. I am sure that you know how a fear or phobias can cause anxious feelings and even panic attacks. You can cure these, but perhaps doing it live on Television is not always the best way. The new Speakmans tv show starts on ITV on Monday 14th July 2014 at 2.00 pm. It should be an interesting watch. I will post a review of the Speakmans on ITV once the show has aired on this blog with lots more information about what they are able to show us and teach us about helping to end fears and phobias.
About me and how I help people with fears and phobias....
I can help you to cure emetophobia, arachnophobia, fear of height, fear of flying, fear of driving and any other fear that you have. Remember...if you learned to have a fear you can unlearn that...READ MORE about how to lose your phobia forever
If you are looking for more information about the speakmans book then here is the link to speakmans products on amazon..
How much do the Speakmans charge and what the the Speakmans qualifications?
For some reason the Speakmans do seem to try and distance themselves from hypnosis, this may perhaps be because they have not trained in hypnotherapy and their qualifications in any therapy are unclear and not something they are keen to talk about. In one interview for The Guardian they asked the reported not to talk about the fact they were not trained therapists.
However, Nik Speakman has talked about one of the audio downloads that they sell and this is what he said in a TV interview:
“It’s basically a way of programming your subconscious mind. Anyone who has got an issue, a fear or a phobia, it’s in the subconscious, so consciously you are saying this is ridiculous. You’ve got a fear of snails, it is ridiculous isn’t it? But, subconsciously, you program yourself to fear them and that’s the issue and it’s hard to change your subconscious, and the cd is basically a 55 minute programme, by ten or fifteen minutes consciously you will be asleep, but it carries on playing and reprogramming your subconscious and removes this fear.”
This is exactly how you could describe hypnotherapy, so perhaps the reason they now say that the Speakmans do not want to say that they practice hypnosis is because they are not trained or qualified to do so.
There are many people who are not qualified in therapy so make sure that if you are seeking help you look for someone who has the correct qualifications and is a member of a professional body. There's help and advice here on the difference between Hypnotherapy, CBT, and Counselling: http://www.markpowlett.co.uk/cbtandcounsellingvshypnotherapy.html
