Hypnosis/Hypnotherapy/Hypnotherapist for IBS, Insomnias, Pain management, painless child birth, inner child in Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Inner Potential Hypnotherapists submit on this page Articles about other issues or common issues that clients call
about but these symptoms, issues or problems often either stem from or has an effect on their mood levels, sleep &
relaxation level and even their work performance and personal relationships.

If you have specific questions regarding depression,anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem, anger, stress, sexual abuse, IBS or any other emotional/mental issue feel free to EMAIL your personal question regarding Hypnotherapy and your specific issue now

IBS- I am too ashamed to go out!

IBS is often a secret pain emotional and mental pain that clients live with until they come across articles of how
hypnotherapy can be very effective within three to four sessions or often they get referred by their GP.
The internet is full of research done on the results that clients have achieved via hypnosis as a tool for dealing
with IBS. But in their hypnotherapy practice as well hypnotherapists find that IBS is one of the issues that they get fastrecovery results with.Clients come in complaints of panic over their bladder, becoming an extreme worrier looking for toilets and exitsigns wherever they go and feeling embarrassed at work over their regular disappearance to the toilets.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common 'functional' disorder of the gut. (The gut includes the bowels.) A
functional disorder means there is a problem with the function of a part of the body, but there is no abnormality in
the structure. So, in IBS, the function of the gut is upset, but all parts of the gut look normal, even when looked
at under a microscope. IBS causes various symptoms and up to 1 in 5 people in the UK develop IBS at some stage in
their life. IBS can affect anyone at any age, but it commonly first develops in young adults and teenagers. Women
are affected more often than men.

What are the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome(IBS)?

•   Pain and discomfort may occur in different parts of the abdomen. Pain usually 'comes and goes'. The length
     of each bout of pain can vary greatly.
•   Bloating and swelling of your abdomen may develop from time to time. You may pass more wind than usual.
•   Some people have bouts of diarrhoea, and some have bouts of constipation.
•   Other symptoms sometimes occur and include: nausea (feeling sick), headache, belching, poor appetite, tiredness, backache, muscle pains, feeling quickly 'full' after eating, heartburn, and bladder symptoms (an associated 'irritable bladder').
Some people have occasional mild symptoms. Others have unpleasant symptoms for long periods. Many people fall somewhere in between, with flare-ups of symptoms from time to time.

A Hypnotherapist will aim to get the client so relaxed that his/her unconscious brain that controls our unconscious
physiological responses(breathing, heart beats etc that can go up or down depending on how our unconscious brain is
reading our safety sugns) is more alert and absorbing of suggestions of relaxation by the hypnotherapist.
The hypnotic suggestions are partly about self-control, self-empowerement and self-confidence; often the IBS is
masking emotional issues such as low self-esteem, relationship issues, stress a worrier mindset etc… The aim of your
hypnotherapist is to help you find those needs and find healthier ways of satisfying them so that your mind stops
developing psychosomatic tendencies of expressing itself via the body e.g. IBS, migraines, insomnias, tics,
stammering etc…

Please note that no Professional Hypnotherapist will work with IBS or even other psychosomatic symptoms without
ascertaining first with the lient that they have had all the medical checks to clear any physical causes for the
symptoms of IBS. It is only after the client and the GP are clear that there are emotional and mental issues
involved as physically the client suffering from IBS is all right that suggestions for alternative forms of
treatment are looked into.

With Hypnotherapy the dual benefit is of becoming relaxed once again and reducing the worrier tendencies as the
Hypnotherapist cannot work anyway without taking/helping the client get into a deep relaxed state of hypnosis.

Below is what one client suffering from IBS had to say about her experience with hypnotherapy:

“I would like to thank you for helping me to have a better quality of life after suffering persistent problems with
IBS. I am a woman in my 20’s who had been struggling with severe IBS for about a year and I had done everything I
could to try to investigate and treat my problem. My GP referred me to a Consultant who confirmed my symptoms as
IBS, but neither my GP nor my Consultant could provide me with a long term solution to alleviate my symptoms. I
maintain a good diet, omitting certain foods such as dairy.I make sure I walk and stay active, and I also take anti
-spasmodic medication. All these things help but I would still frequently find myself waking up and spending the
start of my day in pain and suffering with diarrhoea.

I had recently started a new job and I found my IBS stopped me from fulfilling my potential at work, I had a lot of
time off sick, and I also found myself avoiding social situations as I worried about having an embarrassing flare up
of my IBS. In such a short space of time my life had turned upside down. As a result of this I became isolated and I
was very depressed and I lost confidence in myself. I ended up doing my own research on the internet to find a way
forward, which is when I discovered the benefits of hypnotherapy to treat IBS, so I contacted A. who was very
understanding of my problem. Immediately I started to feel a difference in myself after my first hypnotherapy
session,

I felt calmer, more relaxed and my stomach and bowels felt calmer too. A. tailored the hypnotherapy
sessions to meet my personal needs and focus on where I needed help the most. I visited A. in Windsor for a few
sessions; in a calm and relaxed atmosphere I was able to learn valuable relaxation techniques and developed my
skills for self-hypnosis at home. I had been a little sceptical before

I visited A. as nothing had been able to help me before, but since I started my hypnotherapy I have not looked back,
even my family have noticed a change in me and they think it is the best thing I have ever done. After my
hypnotherapy I took a step back to look at my life to see where I had unnecessary stress and I have made changes
accordingly. I am now working in a job closer to home where I am much happier and my IBS no longer controls my life
anymore.”

“I KNOW WHAT TO SAY BUT…WHEN I STAND UP TO SPEAK MY MIND GOES BLANK!!”
Let Hypnotherapy give you the confidence to speak your mind!!

Each one of us has experienced at some time or the other the initial “stage-fright”, the flutters and heightened
heartbeats: some of us interpret them as the extra adrenaline push they need for their best performance; others
panic and focus on the sensations of heartbeats, sweating, blushing and trembling in their knees so much that their
mind goes blank and the only message screaming in their head is “I want to get out of here” “If I speak now I am
definitely going to make a fool of myself” “Relax, relax ….. Oh please God make this panic stop.”

In my three years of practising Hypnotherapy with people working at the executive levels (managers, sales
representatives/coordinators, lawyers, directors and business-owners) it has always been and still is a pleasure
to witness the talents/skills of a speaker emerge and grow in my clients above the fears of presentations or
speaking in meetings. It all happens within three to four sessions.

The facts are simple: you know you are good at the work you do; you have the intellectual and personal skills to
prove yourself to your manager/director or even the group of twenty-thirty people staring at you but it is at that
crucial stage when you have to convince them that you panic! WHY??

Many reasons for that: past conditioning, learning as children from models who were insecure or anxious, experience
of failures which have created a mindset within you that you are going to keep failing, the inability to cope with
pressure of being stared at and sometimes it is as simple as being so self-conscious of having everybody give you
attention and what about the complete silence around you when you stand up? You can almost hear your own breathing
and heartbeats and it feels as if they can all hear it out there.

My clients come from two levels of interest: some of them wish to know the origin of the fears/panics and then work
with it and others tell me to help them grow above it and take control of it without necessarily wishing to find the
origins. Hypnotherapy can satisfy both requirements because there are several techniques to retrain and reprogram
the mind to change the way it has of perceiving and reacting to events.

How does it all work? You are a driver aren’t you? Now go back to your first few months of learning how to drive
and you will realise that there came a phase in the learning curve when your knowledge slips into your subconscious
mind and you were driving spontaneously and without consciously having to remind yourself of the gears or mirrors.
That is when you became very relaxed and at ease with driving don’t you? The triggers have settled into your
subconscious mind and make you react automatically once you are behind the wheel.

In a very similar way, the fears and panics in our current lives developed almost without our conscious knowledge
and sunk into our subconscious mind and then they control us from there. That explains why even if you consciously
and studiously repeat to yourself to relax and it is going to be ok, when the moment comes your body and mind seems
to have a will of their own and you helplessly feel the panic grow. You still manage to give the presentation maybe
but come out of the whole experience feeling very dissatisfied and convinced that everyone knew you were panicking
and you start anticipating the next one with accumulated tension.

Hypnotherapy helps to access the subconscious mind and changes the triggers that prompt us to start panicking at
the sight of people staring at us or fear of starting the presentation. It also sets new triggers in our
subconscious mind, constructive ones so that your mind starts reacting to the same situation with calmness and
relaxation both in your body and mind.

Let me give you an example: You used to sit in a meeting dreading the moment when you will be asked to speak; you
mind started spinning the images of you stammering, sweating, going blank in your mind and trembling in your body.
With Hypnotherapy training you sit in the same meeting after a month and even if you force your body to start
trembling it doesn’t! Because your mind is controlled by the subconscious and if the latter is already programmed to
react with utter calmness and relaxation focusing on your material rather than the people staring at you what do you
expect?

After a good promotion at work, I was under a lot of pressure to present and negotiate with some strong characters.
This was very difficult as I lacked the confidence to perform. I called Amreeta to talk about hypnotherapy and
decided to give it a go. In the few sessions that I had, Amreeta taught me relaxation techniques and self-hypnosis
and within in a short period of time I was gaining the confidence to control and negotiate properly in my meetings.

This has made a significant difference to my performance at work and I am continuing to develop my new skills. This
has been a very positive experience and I would recommend anyone to contact Amreeta to try hypnotherapy.

Have you ever wondered how some people manage to enjoy and flow in their presentations so easily? There is only one
major difference between that confident state and your fearful one: this person has got only constructive triggers
in his subconscious mind that says “This is wonderful; at last I have an opportunity to prove myself.”

Article by: Amreeta Chapman( Clinical Hypnotherapist) website: www.innerpotential.info

Self-Confidence problems? Self-Image issues? Blushing or stammering in public? Fearing social occasions because you

feel yourself going red in the face?

It always amazes me how many clients of mine who come for issues similar to those listed above answer in the

negative when I ask them “can you look at yourself in the mirror?” and yet they are constantly checking yet never

liking their appearance wherever they can get a peek: Shop windows, other people’s gaze, car mirrors…

Try it for yourself: stand silently in front of your mirror and observe what thoughts and images come to your mind;

you’ll know by your ability to sustain your gaze and feel okay about what your mirror reflects back whether you are

one of those people who is still waiting for others to tell you how good you look today!

Looking good and feeling good is one of the essentials to have in business or personal life. But looking good by

whose standards? And trying to keep ahead or in line with the criteria of “looking good” factors that are widely

advertised by the media: latest lip gloss, slimmer dress code or most aggressive perfume does not necessarily make

us feel any better in the long run….

Our self image, the way we imagine ourselves and the way we talk about ourselves internally is our set of rules that

we carry around and we confirm that set of beliefs by reading others’ minds and body language as confirmations. We

create that mirror effect and we get back only what we are already expecting by our internal images of ourselves!

Imagine the scene: one person is wearing the latest bright dress and wishing to be noticed and liked; but before she

leaves her house she looks into the mirror and says “oh my god, I still look fat!” Another person wears her

favourite dress not necessarily acclaimed as the latest fashion and she looks at herself in the mirror and her

internal voice goes: “I love this colour on me!”

When they reach that party the first lady is already wearing her internal lenses, poised to read “how fat she looks”

in the eyes of people and thereby even when she is given a compliment instead of being able to rejoice at the

efforts she made, her internal dialogue goes something like “yes but….I am still fat!” and soon she is miserable and

feeling not good enough. When lady number two is told how good she looks that compliment just confirms what her

internal lenses were saying earlier and it doubles her smile of satisfaction; she feels elated and even better

because let’s face it we all like being liked and admired…

The first mirror of self-approval and self-affirmation comes from inside and whatever our self-image is in there

that is what we project outside and awaits for confirmation via the words and expressions of others. If our self

image is grotesque, ugly or even “I am not good enough!” we either fear social situations or escape from them and

then our mind creates all kinds of symptoms to cope with our inner need to run away: blushing, stammering, blanked

mind, tensions and nervousness, lack of confidence, panic in talking in public. Basically the mind is battling with

the logic saying “you are not good enough to be here! Let’s go!”

As a Hypnotherapist the part of my work that I like best is witnessing those extra lines of tensions disappearing

from the faces of my clients; years of battling with one’s own self-image when the logic and the promotions at work

or the love of the partner is saying they are good enough puts a lot of strain in people’s body language and we can

notice those extra tensions in our shoulders, neck and facial expressions. Over just a few sessions of hypnosis the

body feels safer and good enough to smile without effort and extra use of the muscles to hold tension. As well as

clients learn to let go of those old obsolete triggers of self-image absorbed from years of growing up in

conditional and judgemental family or social atmospheres thus creating an inner self-image that is acceptable and

“good enough”.

It is a pleasure for the therapist in me to observe how clients’ gaze grow steadier, how their language patterns

change from “I should be more good looking, more smart, more tall.” To “I can be who I am and I am okay”

There is nothing magical in applying Hypnotherapy to a mind that is caught in self-defeating self-talk and self-

image but it is magical to watch what changes people bring to their lifestyle and expectations from others as the

simple process of changing their inner mirror help them to develop that internal locus of control rather than

awaiting constant approval from external sources.

I’d like to end with what one client said about it all:

“ Before I did hypnotherapy my mind saw my boss as a tiger howling at me and whatever I did it was just not good

enough because I felt like a child being reprimanded; through the process of hypnotherapy I understood it was

because I developed a self-image of myself as a little girl of not being good enough, of failing my parents

constantly and that feeling still got triggered every time I faced someone in authority! In only four sessions of

intense Hypnosis techniques and practice I entered his room with the winning smile of a young capable woman and even

now after a whole year of my last Hypnosis session on days when I am told what I did wrong I hear and see in my boss

a man talking to the woman in me and not the tiger out to eat a little child!!”

By Amreeta Chapman, Clinical Hypnotherapist practising in Reading, Wokingham, Windsor and Maidenhead. You can read

more about her work on her website: www.innerpotential.info. Or call her on 0118 926 9978/0786 129 3634 for more

queries.

The inner child’s voice is in every one of us. It is often repressed behind a strong, superior/arrogant exterior or

behind social anxieties or self-awkwardness. For the lucky ones it is a very excited, funny, exploratory and happy

voice- ever wished you were like that bloke who can look so cool and make people like him instantly? Ever wondered

how that woman can look so full of energy and excitement that she lightens the atmosphere of the whole room? These

are people with a very happy, relaxed and explorative/eager inner child’s voice.

People with a critical and vulnerable inner child’s voice will often come into hypnotherapy with symptoms such as

low self-esteem, panic attacks, social phobias, fear of presentations, stress because they are spending so much time

and energy to do well and yet that inner voice is saying “it is not good enough yet!”

As we grow up we often go in a trance state (just watch kids around you day-dreaming, staring at the T.V. or not

hearing your voice despite all your callings) where we wonder about the world, our role in it, our place in it and

we interpret our parental figures’ messages with our little minds. Because we are in a deep reflective state

whatever interpretations we make as children become part of our unconscious mind and settle down there to control

and lead us from the subconscious part of us. You know it; you have often been exasperated with yourself that

despite all your self-encouragement you still feel anxious when you face the world outside your door!!

Take an example: the little child observes that his parents are ever so busy that they rarely have time to talk to

him; he gets everything he wants in the material sense but no attention to his own person. In his small mind the

interpretation goes “I must be very ugly; I am not important; I must be doing something wrong for them not to love

me” That child grows into an adult and his conscious, adult mind is very knowledgeable, he is successful at work and

has many friends. But he does not allow people to come too close to him; as soon as he feels that someone is

starting to like him a lot (or vice versa) he breaks the relationship. Because although his adult mind tells him he

deserves it his inner child’s voice says “he/she will lose interest if he/she gets to know you better”, “you have to

keep people at a distance because they will know you are no good if you let them come too close!”

The scenario can take different shapes but the pattern is the same: If the inner child’s voice is insecure,

vulnerable and miserable you will find yourself always having a tug of war between your adult and child self. You

may not admit it openly but you know this inner voice, you fight against that vulnerable, weakened side of yours,

but it always win. How do you know it? The inner child voice expresses itself in moodiness, sadness, fears, phobias

and often leads people to feel panicky in social situations because all it wants is to protect itself. You will

recognise in many situations, despite your self-reassurances you still panic when it comes to make social relations,

or a commitment, or take a flight for example….

In Hypnotherapy we believe that the inner child’s voice wins most of the time because it is the voice in the

unconscious mind and thereby it is more in control. The conscious mind can fight but not win against the

subconscious mind. There is a beautiful technique called “meeting the inner child” in Hypnotherapy, among others,

that helps many clients face that inner child part (which is obsolete by now; its interpretations are obsolete to

your present life) and help that part to change and becomes more secure, explorative, risk taking and eager about

experiences.

The more this inner growth takes place in the subconscious mind the more my clients feel relieved and encouraged by

their inner voice to be themselves; they start bringing out their inner potential which they knew was there but

repressed behind the inner voice’s insecurities/fears. You have heard friends/colleagues say “I can do this

business, this deal; I want to do it but the moment I think of this meeting tomorrow I fear I will fail. I feel I

don’t deserve it and it’s so weird when I want it so much!” That is the inner voice triggering the insecurity

feelings in front of the unknown or the old messages of failure if that what it learnt about itself in childhood!

Hypnotherapy helps you access your unconscious mind, change this inner child part into a happy, easygoing part and

thereby allow your adult self to reclaim and express its potential that you have always felt lying beneath the

insecure child’s voice.

Insomnia/Sleepless nights can be completely a medical condition or a combination of medical and psychological
conditions but there are a considerable proportion of insomnia patients who cannot sleep properly because of purely
psychological reasons.

People with sleepless nights and insomnia are the people who are getting a lot of relief and help from Hypnotherapy.
Men and Women coming for Hypnotherapy regarding Insomnias are often undergoing a very hectic lifestyle or they have
just come out of a trauma e.g. post-natal depression, death, mid-life crisis, sexual problems, divorce etc.
But some clients report having been poor sleepers since their early years. They have gone through early years of
stress due to problems in the family, child abuse, or low self-esteem issues that can keep them awake over thinking
in the night. Thereafter the sleepless nights just become their pattern at night.

The sequence of sleep disturbances varies:

* Some people find it difficult to go to sleep and toss around at night listening to their partner’s snoring and
deep breath….until early hours in the morning.

* Other people go to sleep very well but on the dot of early morning hours (three or four o’clock in the morning)
they will wake up and find it almost impossible to go back to sleep again.

* Still other people cannot achieve what we call REM sleep that is they hover between light to moderate sleep
patterns so that when they wake up they feel even more tired than when they went to sleep, because they cannot
manage any deep sleeping patterns. As clients describe it: “it is as if I am running and working in my sleep; am on
a rollercoaster….”

The important question is: Why do some people find sleep such a luxury that they crave every night for while others
sleep off like a baby and wake up after six/seven hours feeling fresh and energetic?

There are several reasons for insomnia and sleeplessness:

1. Cognitive over activity and conditioned habit patterns incompatible with sleep: over analysis of past events,
ruminations during pre sleep, conditioning oneself “it’s no use; I will not sleep!!” often the mind is kept so busy
working that even if we do fall asleep we find that we wake up and carry on thinking from exactly where we dozed
off!!

2. Central Nervous System excitation: anxiety, tension contained in the muscles which keeps indicating to the mind
that the person has some unfinished work and cannot let go; anxious people keep thinking in vicious circle patterns
so that they never reach deep sleep or find that they cannot relax enough to fall asleep, even if they have a nice

glass of wine or a hot bath!!

3. Underlying (unconscious) conflicts or fears that disrupt sleep: often the mind has been conditioned to always
maintain control because in the past (maybe early childhood, or after a trauma or major loss) loss of control over
emotions felt too vulnerable, fragile, fearful. Then the mind does not let go even to the extent of keeping the mind
awake. If we sleep the unconscious mind starts working on our fears and this is what leads to dreams /nightmares.

We have conditioned our brain not to let go and keep a good check on these fears with the results that it will not
allow us to sleep. E.g. a woman went through a major divorce; she spent hours thinking about the past and the events
so that when the sense of release comes, she should be able to let go and relax; surprisingly enough it is then that
she finds she cannot go to sleep!!!

This is where Hypnotherapy comes to the rescue within two or three sessions; the mind has been programmed to stay
awake and despite changed circumstances when it should let go you find that you can no longer change its habit of
keeping you awake!! In Hypnotherapy we access the unconscious mind where all the programming happens and we help you change the past programming and set newer, more constructive ways of behaving and more importantly we program the mind TO SLEEP PROPERLY FOR PROPER HOURS OF THE NIGHT!!!

Read what a client who is back to sleeping for the whole night has to say:

“It happened in just two sessions!! I have never been a great sleeper but I took that as natural until I got married
and was amazed that my wife could sleep off like a log while I am still brushing my teeth….by the time I came to bed
she was sleeping like a baby. Then we actually had our first child and then I lost my sleep, however light and less,
completely. I just could not go back to sleep after the first time the baby woke us up in the night.

Seeing me arrive to work as a very tired and stressed man, my boss suggested therapy and I looked into Hypnotherapy.
I came to the first session thinking “there’s no way she can make me relax. I have been so tensed lately!” But
within fifteen minutes I was deep into that craved- for world of peace where my mind became so quiet and calm I was
amazed it could happen to me…”

By the end of the second session, where Amreeta taught me self-hypnosis, I was sleeping very deeply by starting off
with my self-hypnosis when I went to bed; we ended after three sessions and I am writing this after four months of
having last seen Amreeta in Wokingham and I am very happy to sleep a full night’s sleep after long agonising years
of sleepless nights. Hypnotherapy has given me back my sleep!!”(Client in late 30’s from Wokingham, Berkshire)

Pain Management: what to do with pain that has no clear physical cause?

Pain, aches, tremors, twisting feelings in the body, muscular tensions, heaviness, bloating feelings…… pain is just
that: irritating and painful. People suffering from these pain and aches will often term them as: Migraines, ME,
Hypertension, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Arthritis, Muscular Tensions, Headaches etc…

Although these irritating painful states can be alleviated via medications often the human mind creates a mindset and starts expecting and predicting these pains and aches; then follows the unconscious mind’s learning these
triggers and triggering them readily as soon as you anticipate them. For example, as soon as I wake up, the
heaviness sin my head makes me think about the possibility of another migraine. As I brush my teeth, I see a bit of
black blur around my vision and I feel miserably convinced that the migraine will be there. Before I know it, my
head is pounding and I have a full blown migraine.

Pain is known to be triggered and felt often by the mind more than in the body. That is why Hypnotherapy, which
works directly with the mind and especially trains, via hypnosis the unconscious mindset into triggering healthier
messages, works so well in pain management.

Have you even noticed how you are more focused on your body after a certain illness or just after hearing about someone having just gone through an operation or major illness? Where the mind focuses, the body part there will react immediately. If the mind’s reflections about that part are positive and healthy that part of the body will react accordingly but this works the other way round as well.

Thus a Hypnotherapist will help the mind to trigger positive and healthier thought and physical reactions as soon as the
body sends its pain signals. After a while the mind stays with the healthier messages and gives up the painful ones.
That is not to say that all physical symptoms are created by the brain only. It works the other way round as well. A
certain part of your body pains, it sends the message to the brain, the brain interprets it as pain and triggers pain hormones and you feel the pain.

Now imagine through the power of your mind, that you are able to reduce the focus of your mind on that pain signal.
What will happen? I ma sure you have been in situations where the migraine has gone away just because you had to
focus on your guests at a party or the fatigue feelings reduced considerably when the grandchildren or children are
around in the house. Because the mind is suddenly more focused on nice feelings and thoughts, although the muscles
have sent a pain signal to the brain from the knees or the head, the mind has pushed it as secondary and preferred
to stay with the nice thoughts and feelings. The less focus on your muscles, the less the chances of your increasing
the pain.

Pain starts as physical but is often accentuated or increased in intensity via the mind’s focus or reflections on
it. But this is a natural process, you would say. Yes I agree but just as a child’s mind can be taken off a certain
pain via focusing his/her mind on something he/she will enjoy, so the adult’s mind can be trained to trigger
healthier thought patterns as soon as the pain triggers happen. After some practices, the mind finds itself unable
to trigger pain without automatically triggering something nice.The pain may not disappear completely but it may change into just a state of irritation or discomfort. Nevertheless, the body will still be able to enjoy T.V. a walk or company without focusing on the pain only.

Hypnotherapy has been proven to help alleviate and reduce pain and discomfort to a large extent in these
cases/symptoms:

Arthritis Pain Relief with Hypnosis

If you suffer with arthritis, you might be wondering how hypnosis can be used for pain relief. Arthritis pain relief
is much the same as any other using hypnosis, but focused on diminishing the long-term pain arthritis causes.

Using your mind for pain relief

Hypnosis can help you achieve relief from arthritis pain by teaching you how to use your mind to lower the amount of
pain you perceive. Think about it - if someone can undergo a surgical operation under hypnosis, isn't it likely that
you could get relief from arthritis pain too? Studies have shown that when hypnosis is used for anaesthesia - that
is, total removal of pain, the pain signals are still generated at the nerve endings, but they are not 'acted upon' by the brain. Or in other words, the brain simply ignores the pain signals.

Hypnosis can create arthritis pain relief through a variety of methods such as metaphor, scaling and dissociation.
This download will help you train your mind so that you are able to 'switch on' your pain relief skills at will. In
addition to the simple fact that you feel less pain when relaxed, hypnosis can actually reduce the amount of pain
you perceive. Studies have shown that although pain signals are still sent to the brain, hypnosis can teach the
brain to ignore them, and so no pain sensation is created.

If you have had your knee pain checked out and now just want relief, learning hypnosis may well be your best bet.
People often find that although much knee pain can be cured with minor surgery, they have to wait a long time for
the operation. Much can be done to alleviate ongoing pain with hypnosis.

How hypnosis can give relief from knee pain

If you have a damaged knee, the nerves there will generate pain signals - there's not much can be done about that.
However, we can alter how the brain responds to these signals. Thousands of pieces of research have led to the
conclusion that hypnosis relieves pain by making the brain 'ignore' the incoming pain signals, so that it does not
generate the pain sensations. Knee pain relief can be achieved quickly and relatively easily using hypnosis without
the need for drugs, and once you have learned the techniques, relief is available to you whenever you need it.

Although using hypnosis for pain relief may sound strange at first, when you consider that before modern
anaesthetics hypnosis was routinely used as a pain relief method, you begin to understand just how effective hypnosis can be.
Hip pain can present for a variety of reasons, and of course must be checked out medically, but if pain is ongoing hypnosis can be used to provide relief.

Phantom limb pain is all too real for many sufferers. Usually, phantom limb pain can only be controlled through a
cocktail of medications. And although phantom limb pain is more normally associated with lower limb loss, people can
experience uncomfortable sensations in any lost limb. Pulsating, aching, burning, shooting, cramping, stabbing even
itching can all be felt in a limb that isn't there. But how can it be that phantom limb pain can exist at all?
Surely if a limb is missing there should be no sensation in that area?

Phantom limbs: maps in the mind

In his book Phantoms in the Brain, Dr Ramachandran shows how different parts of the body are governed by different
parts of the brain - and that, even after a limb has gone, the brain still expects to receive sensations from that
limb. Since you feel with your brain, not your body, the sensation from a phantom limb is real and exists inside the
mind. After you lose a limb it seems your brain has to readjust to the loss. The brain has to adjust its feedback
systems as its territory changes. The area of the brain responsible for a limb may receive information from other
areas after amputation. This is called cortical remapping. This may explain why sufferers feel increased phantom
limb sensations from touching part of the face; for in the brain the regions are very close.

Hypnosis can help phantom limb pain by helping your brain update its map of your body. These sessions will encourage
your brain to 're-wire' it's cortical map to encourage a sense of 'rightness' in the brain. It's also a great help
to relax deeply because when you relax the 'feel good' chemicals called endorphins are released. Endorphins help
close the pain gates in the central nervous system.

Fibromyalgia pain can sap the joy out of life. Constant chronic pain is dispiriting and can make simple tasks and
activities feel impossible. The intense pain of fibromyalgia doesn't have a clear organic cause, but the pain is all
to intense for sufferers. Fibromyalgia pain may feel 'stabbing' or 'burning' or 'aching'. Fibromyalgia as a chronic disorder causes widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points that occurs in precise, localized areas. Pain occurs particularly in the neck, spine, shoulders, and hips. Fibromyalgia may also cause sleep disturbances, morning stiffness, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, and other symptoms.

Fibromyalgia is not the same as chronic fatigue syndrome although there may be some overlap in symptoms.
For a fibromyalgia diagnosis there has to be the presence of the 'tender points'. The body has 18 sites that are
possible tender points. To qualify as a tender point, pain must be felt when pressure is applied to the site. People
who have fibromyalgia may feel pain at other sites, too, but those 18 sites on the body are used for diagnosis.
Areas of pain will often include the neck, knee joints, upper back and shoulders and arms. The pain can be felt when
pressure is applied to these areas. The pain can be debilitating and long lasting and, of course, continuous chronic
pain is physically and emotionally exhausting. People living with fibromyalgia speak of loss of enjoyment in things
they used to love doing.

Hypnosis and fibromyalgia

As well as the benefits of hypnotic relaxation, hypnosis can also help by lowering chronic pain levels directly.
Hypnosis has been used for centuries as an anaesthetic in surgery and as a general pain relief device. Hypnosis has
been used for migraine, phantom limb pain and childbirth.

If you have the following symptoms:
•   low back pain
•   rheumatoid arthritis
•   osteoarthritis
•   migraine and tension headaches
•   joint pain
•   fibromyalgia
•   lupus
•   spinal cord injuries
•   irritable bowel syndrome
•   Crohn's disease
•   carpal tunnel syndrome
•   nerve injuries
•   reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
•   or numerous other conditions

pain can be unrelenting. Suddenly daily life becomes defined by the pain. Every part of life is affected, including your activities, relationships, finances, diet, and self-image. Everyday actions — as basic as opening a door or lifting a child — can have unexpected consequences, leading to days or weeks of hurt.

Amreeta clinical Hypnotherapist has found that three to four sessions are the maximum needed to
change painful symptoms or states, like migraines/headaches, ME, Blood pressure, Hypertension, fatigue states etc,
into states of just mild discomfort with which it is easier to live with and in fact learn to ignore and enjoy the
rest of your body.

Of course, in her hypnotherapy practice, she will ask you to have a medical and physical check up first to eliminate
to possibility of any serious physical illness. Only when your GP exempt the physical illness factor can Hypnosis
start. Thereafter the aim and goal of hypnotherapy will be to move your mind’s focus from the pain and learn to
manage it via triggering other states as soon as the brain captures any messages of pain. With the mind occupied in
enjoying other states, the pain dimishes by itself because where the body reacts only to where the mind is
focusing!!

Giving birth to your baby can be pleasurable with Hypnotherapy

➢ Giving birth to a child can be the most fulfilling experience for a woman.

➢ Going through the process of childbirth can be the most feared experience of pregnant women.

Does childbirth really need to be so painful and long?

➢ Medicine has tried over the years and succeeded to a great extent to make childbirth as pain free as
possible. Hypnotherapy has a definite and proven role to play in contributing towards making childbirth a more
fulfilling and relaxing experience.

➢ Researchers assessed the effects of hypnotherapy on the first and second stages of labour in a large group
of pregnant women (236 first time mothers with 300 age matched controls). They found that the mean lengths of the
first stage of labour in the first-time mothers were 6.4 hours after hypnotherapy against 9.3 hours in the control
group. The mean lengths of the second stage were 36 minutes versus 50 minutes respectively.

HYPNOSIS IN PREGNANCY HAS SEVERAL BENEFITS SUCH AS:

It is easy to learn and use, lowers blood pressure, birth satisfaction is higher, babies are calmer, it is drug free
and safe for both mother and the baby, it eliminates fears and anxieties about giving birth and about coping with
changes in relationship and self concepts after birth.

Clients are usually seen when they are around 12 weeks plus into their pregnancy. Usually 3-4 sessions prior to date
of confinement are sufficient to teach self-hypnosis and prepare mother (as well as partner) for the experience to
come. The session is approximately one hour in duration and is relaxing, comfortable and safe.
Each session is defined by the needs of the mother to be, her fears and concerns about the childbirth process and
her concerns about how things are going to be afterwards. The mother is in control of the session throughout and
the session plan is drawn out with her active collaboration.

TESTIMONY OF A NEW MOTHER WHO GAVE BIRTH TO HER SON IN THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2003:

➢ She had three sessions of hypnotherapy with me as well as learnt self-hypnotherapy and practiced during her
pregnancy and through her labour.

“The birth of my son was incredible. My labour was drug free and over in 5 hours. I used hypnotherapy throughout
the contractions to manage the pain and arrived at the hospital just in time to deliver. I had a few sessions with
Amreeta and practiced self-hypnotherapy in my own time as taught. Amreeta talked through my fears of birth and my
expectations, she used this information in hypnotherapy to help me visualize my labour, rehearse it in my mind and
manage the pain that could be experienced. Amreeta also worked on what I wanted to happen after the birth, in effect
to recover quickly and enjoy motherhood. I am and would certainly use hypnotherapy again as my experience was so

positive.”
(R.CHESSELL,35YEARS)