Everyone has already experienced being in a state of hypnosis, even though they were not aware of it at the time:
If you have been at a film, or play, when you forgot about your surroundings to the extent that you were speaking (silently) to the actors – ‘don’t go in there!’ ‘oh, please hurry’, or were crying as though the sad or happy event was happening to you, then you were hypnotised- ie, concentrating so hard on what you were seeing that you let your own reality slip aside.
Or, if you travel the same route regularly, you may have had the experience of suddenly realising that you have passed a particular place without noticing it. When you were going through that place, you were in a state of hypnosis, concentrating on something else such that you were not consciously aware of your surroundings. Of course, if a crisis had arisen, you would have reacted appropriately, you were not in any sort of coma!
It is the same with hypnosis for therapy purposes. It can feel so normal that clients often tell me after the session that they were not really hypnotised –‘I could have stood up at any moment’. This is true, they could, but because they actually were hypnotised, they did not choose to stand up, because they were enjoying the deep relaxation that is part of the experience of hypnosis.

 Our minds have two parts, the conscious mind, which deals with all the day to day stuff, and the subconscious mind which is in the background holding most of our beliefs, attitudes and fears.
For example, a person will use their conscious mind to plan a trip and book their flight. Then the subconscious (or unconscious) mind may kick in, saying “I’m scared to fly, I don’t want to go.” It is very hard to convince your subconscious mind to change its opinion, and although that person may talk themselves onto their flight, using their conscious and logical mind, the subconscious may go on complaining all the way there, making for a very unpleasant trip!

With hypnosis, we can talk directly to the subconscious mind, and convince it that it does not mind flying. This is done by bringing about a state of very deep relaxation. In this state the conscious mind ‘slips to one side’, a bit like an iceberg turning in the water, so that the small bit that used to be visible is now hidden. The subconscious mind comes to the surface, and can be talked to and encouraged. It will usually agree to change its opinion to the one the therapist suggests, in this case, that flying is no trouble at all.

There are many ways of inducing a deep relaxation.
The client will be invited to lie back in a comfortable chair, and concentrate on either my voice, or sometimes to look intently at something.
I will choose a method most suited to the individual.
Usually I just talk, and as one of my tutors described it, ‘bore the client into relaxation’!
Dramatic methods, such as staring at the cliché swinging watch, are rarely used.
The client is the person actually in control, and it is up to her to ‘agree to go along’ with what is suggested, just as a child will go along with another child’s suggestion that they play house,  or cops and robbers: ‘You be the robber’ – ‘ Okay’ !

Anybody over 7 years old. 
95% of people can allow themselves go into a deep state of relaxation that is sufficient for therapeutic work to be carried out.
People with learning difficulties may not be able to concentrate adequately.
What is it useful for?
Hypnosis can be helpful in any situation which has a psychological component. Commonly treated issues are;
Fears and phobias
Anxiety states and panic
Undesirable habits: smoking, bed-wetting, nail-biting
Lack of confidence
Problems losing weight
Long term pain
Stage fright
Morning sickness
Shyness, social phobia, blushing
Grief
Children’s problems: shyness, clumsiness, lack of confidence, bullying
These will generally be treated with what is called ‘suggestion therapy’ (see separate section)
Other problems may originate from events in the past – see ‘hypnoanalysis’. These can include fears, sexual problems, confidence problems, obesity of more than 3 stone overweight, or any problem that does not respond adequately to suggestion therapy.
General dissatisfaction with life, uncertainty about a path to take, unresolved grief, can be helped by ‘regression therapies’.

This is the commonest form of hypnotherapy, and will clear many problems. It involves giving ‘suggestions’ to the subconscious mind, for example that it will not be afraid of flying, that it will perform well in a given situation, that it will not feel bullied by a particular person. There are many ways of dressing up these suggestions so that they become acceptable to the subconscious, which then agrees to change. Often I will teach the client how to hypnotise herself at home, so that these suggestions may be repeated, thus strengthening their effect.

This is a powerful therapeutic tool with which the subconscious can be helped to explore the reasons behind a condition.
Many illnesses or states of unease originate from a situation in the near or distant past, during which the mind learned to think or behave in a way which is no longer appropriate. By ‘going back’ under careful guidance, and looking at such a situation, the emotions which were appropriate to it can be left with it in the past. This is not frightening, and most people find reliving past events to be fascinating. For many people, the past may also show up positive and loving experiences that had been forgotten, and which can boost self-confidence and a feeling of well-being.
Unresolved grief can be helped this way, often by revisiting times with the deceased person, and ‘talking with them’ again.
Hypnotic regression is simply an exercise in remembering. The subject can ‘stand back’ from the scene and view it as an observer. If an unpleasant event occurs during the memory, it is not necessary to suffer through it, the subject feels only as upset as when watching a film. The therapeutic effects of the session are not reduced, and the emotions relating to the uncomfortable experience can be left in the past, and forgotten.

The Past has Power.
The past has power
He is a slumbering demon
Who pulls our strings from a distance
And makes us dance to an old forgotten tune.
He cannot be tamed by neglect.
You can throw sand in his eyes
From the new dance floor’s rhythm,
But he will rise up again and shape the future
By controlling the present.
To tame him he must be revisited
And studied, and acknowledged.
Only by close attention will we see
The way he is formed, and how our future is made
By the habits he created.
And we must be aware of how he did it then
-If not, his paws will reach out to our present
And push the pieces into old shapes
And our future will be like our past.
To start afresh today
We must know our past
And make the newly forming parts of him
Be the future we desire.
©Madeline Ann Stringer 1998

The existence of past lives has been discovered accidentally by many hypnotherapists, during routine sessions, when the patient’s subconscious mind is invited to ‘go to the time from which your problem stems’. Many patients spontaneously find themselves in another life, often with resonances with their present problems. Today’s problem can then be let go because the subject realises it is only relevant to a time now well over. In about half the cases of problems caused by a reaction to a past event, that event will have been in a previous life, not the current one.
It is not necessary to believe in the literal truth of ‘past lives’ to gain benefit from a past-life session. The situations experienced during the session can be accepted as a metaphor, or as a fairy- tale that your subconscious mind has created to explain your problem to your conscious mind. It is possible in this way to learn a great deal about yourself.
People who are sceptical about past lives often mock the idea by saying ‘everyone is always royalty’. Nothing could be further from the truth, the vast majority of clients find themselves in very ordinary lives, as slaves, servants, peasants, or foot soldiers. It is rare to find someone in the life of a rich person, never mind royalty, for the simple reason that through history there have been proportionally very few rich people – just like today!
Every ‘past life’ can teach you something about yourself, and how you are living your life today. Some people will recognise characters in the past life who are in their present life, and that can be enlightening.
Hypnotic regression is simply an exercise in remembering. The subject can ‘stand back’ from the scene and view it as an observer. If an unpleasant event occurs during the memory, it is not necessary to suffer through it, the subject feels only as upset as when watching a film. The therapeutic effects of the session are not reduced, and the emotions relating to the uncomfortable experience can be left in the past, and forgotten.

If you do accept the idea that you have lived before, there next comes the question – where was I in between my lives?

Dr Michael Newton, a hypnotherapist in California, now retired, stumbled upon the life - between - life when he was facilitating a past-life regression session for his client. She stated that she was lonely because none of her ‘group’ was here with her. On further questioning, she described her group of soul friends (no one has only one soul mate!) with whom she played and studied in the spirit world.
Dr Newton subsequently regressed up to 8,000 clients to their in-between, and found that all his clients described much the same experiences, suggesting that the ‘spirit world’ does exist, and is like they said.
Visiting one’s life in between lives can be fascinating, teaching a lot about why things have turned out as they have, with whom you have deep connections, what your abilities are, and how you occupy yourself, what work you do, while waiting to re-incarnate. Most comforting of all for many people, clients will meet their ‘spirit guide’, a higher soul, (not an angel,) who oversees your progress on this earth, and helps you through some of the difficulties. It has been suggested that the small ‘voice’ you may hear, often called intuition, may be this entity’s efforts to help you.

What about the session?

An ‘LBL’ session takes up to 4 hours. During that time you will first go into a deep relaxation, and then go back to the womb just before your birth into this life. Then you go further back to a past life, and by going through the death, find yourself entering the spirit world. It can be slow at first to see the information, but with time and practice it comes clear.
Not everyone sees all the details of their between-life time. But most people feel they have seen what they needed, what will help them at this stage of their life.
Dr Michael Newton has written books about his findings, called ‘Journey of Souls’ and ‘Destiny of Souls’. If you are interested in having an ‘LBL’ session, but have not yet read these books, my advice is not to read them until after your session, as it is far easier to relax into and believe your own session if you are not comparing your performance or findings with what you have read.
Another book, “Memories of the Afterlife” published in October , overseen by Dr Newton, but written by therapists he has taught. I have contributed a chapter.
You can also go onto the Newton Institute website: www.spiritualregression.org for fuller details.

A first hypnotherapy visit costs € 115, this includes 20 euro to cover the 'intake' consultation. Subsequent visits are € 95. I allow 90 minutes for the visit, but expect to be under hypnosis for less than an hour.
If you would like to have a short consultation with me in advance of your visit, to make sure hypnosis with me is for you, this will cost € 20, in which case your first visit would be € 95

Hypnosis visits are available on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Thursday and Friday afternoons.

I do not do hypnosis appointments late, as being hypnotised is not a sleep, but can be like work for the client, and it is not useful if they are tired. If a client nods off, I have to wake her and start from scratch!

A past-life session takes up to two hours. Sessions are available on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Thursday and Friday afternoons. Past life sessions which last up to two hours, cost € 190.

“Life Between Life” hypnosis sessions take up to 4 hours. They are available on Tuesday morning, 10am till 2pm, at a cost of € 300, or on a Saturday morning, 10am till 2pm, at a cost of € 400.
You should be at least 30 years old before you have an "LBL" session. Experience shows that younger clients do not receive as much useful information.
I accept cash or cheque, and can give receipts for tax or health insurance.

Please phone 01 2986365 for an appointment.