Roger Foxwell Hypnotherapy | Clinical Hypnotherapy – Emotional Freedom Technique – NLP – IBVA

When I first meet a client I always want to know if they are on any medication or seeing a doctor for their presenting issue. This is especially important for more serious mental health issues and for any physical issues that may be related to how they feel. For certain problems long term medication may well be the best answer and as far as I am concerned that is to be left to my client and their doctor. But even then some form of talking therapy is likely to be of benefit in many cases alongside any drugs.

However in a lot of cases taking drugs long term is never going to solve the underlying issues of why a person has feelings or behaviour patterns that they would rather be without. I subscribe to regular newsletters from Dr Mercola in America and they always make very interesting and entertaining reading. This article  from Dr Mercola talks about how he feels that there is an over medicating in America of people suffering from depression and is well worth a read. Although there seems still to be a prevalent view that depression is something that one perhaps just has to live with or at best may take years to overcome in my experience that is not always the case and I have first hand experience, as have many of my colleagues, of being able to help clients make significant changes in their emotional wellbeing in as little as just a few sessions.

As an update to the above this is a recent article on the BBC (health) website  by Dr Joanna Moncrieff where she talks about how putting patients on medication for pschological issues can be just a case of putting them into a “drug induced state” without ever addressing the real issues behind the problem.

Just been improving my healthy eating aims by incorporating the “green smoothie” into my diet. I must say it tastes a lot better than I had imagined and there is endless variation in ingredients so if you Google green smoothie you can find everything you need to know or go to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFm9_6BTCHM and see how it is done. Some fans say that if you drink one a day for a month you could lose your taste for sweet foods. I will keep you posted!

Here is the recipe I used today:

2 Lettuce leaves – 1/2 a Banana- Stick of celery – a carrot – piece of cucumber – four strawberries and a couple of cups of orange juice all blended together.

Improved breathing technique is something that I incorporate a great deal into sessions especially when dealing with anxiety and stress. There are many different breathing techniques one can use but the first thing to learn is abdominal breathing. Nine out of ten times if I ask a client to take a few deep breaths the shoulders will immediately rise and the abdomen, instead of filling outwards with air and releasing back on the out breath, will remain static. My favourite technique is alternate nostril breathing.

If you want to help bring stress levels down breathing is the perfect place to start.

If you are interested in finding out more about how you can raise your level of consciousness or even if you are not thinking about it you could click this interesting link- The Three Vibrations of Consciousness

Problems with alcohol, social and physical, are rarely out of the news these days and I find myself seeing more and more clients who are trying to get their lives back on track before it is too late. The success that I have had over the years has proved to me that hypnosis is a very powerful intervention that really helps clients get control back in their lives. A recent article in The Times helps support my experience so if you or someone you know needs help in this area it is well worth a read.

Thinking about losing weight and what changes you may need to make to achieve your goal?  Sometimes it can feel as if just about everything has to go but just cutting out or substituting one or two items on a regular basis can make a massive difference to the amount of calories you consume over a few weeks. Here are a few simple changes to help kick start the process from People Jam

The only substitute I am personally not too keen on is swapping sugar for sweeteners such as Apartame.

“The person who conducts is not the same person who is sitting here..there’s a moment of metamorphosis..you have to change..if you haven’t really tried to undergo that metamorphosis you’d better not go on stage.” That was Sir Simon Rattle talking in an interview for the BBC programme “Imagine” in which the cameras followed the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on a tour of China. But this was no documentary of lost instruments and double booked hotel rooms but a real in depth look at how the elite musicians in this world renowned orchestra cope with the physical and psychological pressures of performing to the very highest standard each time they walk onto the concert platform.

So what did Sir Simon Rattle mean by this “metamorphosis” he talks about undergoing, and how can we achieve it in our professional and competitive challenges? A lot of my clients come to improve their presentation and self confidence in sport, music, and business but to get the best results we often have to leave behind the everyday person that our friends and relatives know and take on the persona that will get the job done. This persona has no room for doubts and worries about our abilities and has to be completely focused and at the very least give an appearance of confidence on the outside. This does not mean one has to completey leave behind the real you but it does mean that to get results you need to develop a strong degree of focus, determination and self confidence to really achieve your true potential. There are many ways to develop this and one is to find someone in your field that you admire and can relate to and “take on the mask” of that person when you are in your performance situation. Ask yourself what would they think, feel, hear and see in this situation? How would they react to enable them to get the best results?  Then start to bring these attributes into your own performance situations.  Just be sure to choose a role model that uses their skills in an empowering and structured way then you will begin to develop extra skills and techniques that will give your that extra performance edge.

Liked this post from helpothers.org so thought I would pass it on.

“One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person we’d refuse to forgive in our life, we were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of our bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.

We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere for one week, putting it beside our bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work.

The hassle of lugging this around with us made it clear what a weight we were carrying spiritually, and how we had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget, and keep leaving it in embarrassing places.

Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty slime. This was a great metaphor for the price we pay for keeping our pain and heavy negativity!

Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person, and while that’s true, it clearly is also a gift for ourselves!

So the next time you decide you can’t forgive someone, ask yourself… Isn’t MY bag heavy enough?”

- from www.pravsworld.com

Aspartame is found in many products as a cheap alternative to natural sugar. The problem with Aspartame is it is thought to be a carcinogenic. It is said it can cause weight gain, headaches, lethargy and more. You may like to find out more about diet drinks containing any of these type of substitute sweeteners.  Try Dr Mercola’s article

Just think for a moment. What does being the best mean for you? Don’t we automatically imagine we can only be the best if we are better than everyone else? But this is our conditioning. Much more constructive to be the best that we can be, rather than defining our success against the achievements of others. There is nothing wrong in looking to others for inspiration but recognise and value your own achievements and then success will come to you.