Hypnotherapy taught me how to calm the part of my brain where anxiety lives and bring my rational mind back online, so I could finally respond to life instead of just reacting.
Hypnotherapy first came into my life when I was retraining as a counsellor. I hadn’t done any academic work since leaving school, so my belief in my ability to take on something new was pretty much non-existent. But I had the learning bug, and hypnotherapy just intrigued me. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for, and my mind was blown.
I gave up drinking once I knew the damage it was doing to my brain and the impact it was having on me moving forward. Alcohol actually switches off the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps us make rational decisions and think about consequences. That’s why we can become more impulsive, emotional, or reactive when we drink. It also raises stress chemicals like cortisol and lowers serotonin, making anxiety and low mood worse. For me, smoking had always been linked with drinking, so when I stopped alcohol, smoking naturally went too. The desire was just gone. Having that freedom gave me the opportunity and motivation to build better habits. I train at the gym, I eat better, and I look after myself in ways that make a noticeable difference in how I look and feel.
Understanding myself and how my mind works made everything so much clearer. I realised I’d been living my life reacting to everything without even being aware of my conscious and unconscious thoughts and where they came from. Did you know we have around 60,000 thoughts a day and, according to research, around 95% of them are unconscious? No wonder so much of what we do is automatic. Once I understood that, those feelings of anxiety and the behaviours I struggled with all started to make sense.
Since then, life has changed a lot. I now work full time, run my hypnotherapy practice in the evenings, and also attend college as I study for my final year of counselling, something I never thought I’d be able to do. The old me was always thinking I never had time for anything. I’ve learned what’s important, and I make decisions that serve me rather than everyone else (yes, I’ve become a master of saying no) – I’ve rewired my brain!
I’ve also learned the importance of regulating our nervous system. When our stress response is constantly activated, cortisol – the stress hormone, runs high. This can affect how blood circulates around the body, meaning our organs and systems aren’t functioning optimally. Hypnotherapy helps calm that response, reducing cortisol levels so our blood flows properly, nourishing all parts of our body. It’s like giving your system a reset button, supporting not just mental wellbeing, but physical health too.
Hypnotherapy also works on the part of our brain where anxiety often lives – the primitive brain. When we’re stressed, this part of the brain can hijack our thoughts and behaviours, keeping us in fight-or-flight mode. By guiding the mind into a relaxed state, hypnotherapy helps bring the prefrontal cortex back online, the area responsible for rational thinking, planning, and emotional regulation. Essentially, it helps us respond rather than react, giving us more control over how we think, feel, and behave.
I still have low moods, and I can still react in the moment, I’m still human after all. The difference now is I don’t beat myself up. I recognise where it comes from. I can apologise if I’ve misjudged things, and I know when things are getting too much, I can step back if I need to, without feeling guilty or the need to over explain myself.
Most importantly, I know how to relax. Self-care isn’t about fancy holidays or spa trips, it can be as simple as sitting in the garden with a cup of coffee and a good book. When you allow that to be enough, it’s just as rewarding. I’m okay with just being. And it feels bloody marvellous.
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy isn’t just something I use with clients, it’s something I practise every day myself. Even when I take clients through hypnosis, I go into a light trance too, and the language I use has become part of how my mind works. It keeps me grounded and moving forward, and that’s why I believe in it so much.
Because hypnotherapy has been so life changing, I am passionate about sharing it with others. If this sounds like something you need to learn more about, I look forward to welcoming you into my therapy room, where we can explore what it is you want to change and what we need to do to help you move forward.
Terrie
