Category: Anxiety

Are you spiralling into a continuous state of stress and anxiety?

And what can you do about it?

Our brains are still running on the primal circuits and neural pathways that belong to the jungle. But the jungle is not a very safe place. However we are still in a jungle but in a different jungle. A jungle that can feel just as scary as the actual jungle although in different ways. For instance we are constantly bombarded with worrying news, with deadlines, with all sorts of insecurities and doubts, some big and some small.

A lot of fears and worries in our present jungle come not from “life or death issues” that our fear response is primed to respond to, but from a series of ongoing doubts and worries that enter into our everyday lives unannounced.

This constant low level drip feeding begins to find it’s own channel to travel down which gets wider, broader and stronger the more we feed it. After time it can become almost like a raging torrent that takes over one’s life keeping us in a constant state of “looking out for danger”.

On virtually all my clients’ notes I start with three words. “Am I Safe?”

Whatever the issues we need to work on, they will virtually always stem from these three words.

But what we actually need is to get back to “I Am Safe”

This will mean reconnecting with our own feelings of safety in our everyday lives. The aim is to become able to control our own autonomic (automatic) nervous system. We can’t always control everything in our lives but it really is possible to learn to have a lot more control than you might imagine over your own nervous system.

Working with hypnotherapy, relaxation and EFT alongside simple and powerful strategies and techniques, I regularly and rapidly help clients lift themselves out of this spiral of stress, fear and worry. This way you can begin to direct and enjoy your own experiences and lives in a much more beneficial and satisfactory way.

Isn’t that where we all want to be?

For more information just email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com or call 07970 218451 and I will be happy to help

Trauma Release and how this method could help you

It’s tough going through life when past traumas still follow us around

Recently, one of my clients, on her second session said to me “It really was huge not having to revisit those old issues again”

The way to clear trauma and stress is often seen as deeply discussing every incident and issue whilst forensically picking one’s way through each experience from the past.

Now this can be one way of looking for the truth and finding answers but for me the question is, do we really need to continually revisit past traumas to achieve the mental freedom we are looking for? In therapy that method may work for some, but not for all.

To achieve what we are we are looking for we don’t necessarily have to relive the trauma and worries locked in the recesses of our unconscious mind. What’s more we would only be working on the tip of the iceberg.

Often I will work with clients who have told me nothing about their issue but who, after a few sessions will leave extremely happy with their outcome. If clients wish to talk about how they feel about their issues that is perfectly natural and an important part of the session but continually going over things can leave us reliving the old experiences on a never ending loop.

The secret is to show clients how they can use their unconscious to clear their past issues. Once they have connected with their creative unconscious mind that part will be able to continue the healing process whilst leaving the client free to enjoy their everyday lives.

So, in a nutshell our unconscious already knows all about our traumas, disappointments and worries from the past.

We could spend 5 years on the psychotherapist’s couch talking about our past traumas but we would only ever be able to scratch the tip of the iceberg.

Remember, there are traumas we know about, traumas we didn’t think were traumas and traumas we will never consciously know about. Getting born was traumatic but I don’t remember anything about it. Do you?

I help clients resolve these issues by using an empowering mix of Hypnosis, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and Eye Movement Sequencing that engages the creative unconscious mind. This way the work can be done on an unconscious level while helping my clients happily continue enjoying everyday lives.

And it’s nice to know that another part of us knows how to do this for us, isn’t it.

Chronic Pain and how you can relieve it

Chronic pain can be a really debilitating experience affecting virtually every part of our life. The constant background distress distracts our awareness from anything else around us and can leave us totally focused on our discomfort.

Of course, it is of primary importance that initially any pain in the body should be referred to a medical practitioner and/or a skilled professional bodywork therapist.

However, it is not unusual, even when scans and medical interventions have taken place, that the pain will not go away. This may be a body-brain loop that has become stuck and keeps repeating. This repeating signal may continue to automatically sequence between the neurons in the body and brain, strengthening its own circular message. Everything is becoming more highly sensitised and we were hoping for desensitisation.

It is not unusual for a client to come into my office and tell me that scans and doctor’s visits have revealed nothing physically out of order but IT STILL HURTS!

To help clients with this type of issue I will begin with hypnosis to help relax the body and mind. This really can help release some of the mental and physical stress very effectively.

EFT “tapping” is also an invaluable technique helping clear the faulty over-sensitised messages connecting the neural pathways. Now our body and mind can begin to return to healing mode and help quieten this highly charged loop. Pain and distress triggers our Fight or Flight mechanism and then our only task is “to keep ourselves alive”.

Another very simple change to make is in our language. Using the word pain will invariably “grow” more pain. Our body is programmed to respond before our conscious awareness can kick in. This means that by using the word pain we are continuing unconsciously to strengthen this connection and, surprise, surprise, we get more pain. The aim is to quieten, and whenever safe and possible to disconnect this loop and give the body a chance to heal.

However I am not discounting the word pain but replacing it with a word such as discomfort we are sending a healthier healing message to body and mind. This takes some of the “sting” out of it and helps us get out of “Fight or Flight” and back into a state of healing.

Pain is usually there for a reason so is not to be ignored. However, if there is nothing physical to be found then it is worth checking whether this pain is actually a residual discomfort loop still circulating unchecked.

For more information or to book an online or face to face appointment please visit my website www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk

Email or call: 07970218451

rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com

Cigarettes. Health or Wealth?

Still, smoking? You may well have been thinking about it for a long time but just can’t bring yourself to make that change. However, now circumstances have overtaken most of us and we are having to look carefully at our finances. What better place to start than with cigarettes?

It’s interesting how we generally put our health behind our “need” to continue smoking but for most, there comes a time when we will be forced to make that choice – cigarettes and illness, or no cigarettes and healthier future life.

I used to smoke decades ago but now we all know better. Everyone used to smoke then but when my eldest son, who was just a toddler at the time walked up to me holding a full ashtray saying “dirty, dirty”. I immediately knew it really was time to stop, and I did.

No regrets, no worries it was a strong enough message to my conscious and unconscious and I knew I had no answer that would stand up to even a moment’s scrutiny. My eldest is now grown up. He’s a nonsmoker and I’ve had no interest whatsoever in even trying one throughout all these decades.

However 25 years ago when I began seeing clients to help them stop smoking it probably took a month or so to recoup the fee. Now, with inflation, you’ve probably already worked out that a £95 hypnotherapy session is a bit of a bargain. And if you smoke 20 a day you could recoup it in just 9 days! After that, it’s all profit and you could be saving up for your next holiday.

So far we’ve ignored the “elephant in the room” ( it’s OK it’s used to being ignored!) We haven’t talked about health. Well I remember a letter in a local newspaper when this gentleman talked about how his father was a heavy smoker. His father used to say to him “Son, I’d love to stop but I just can’t”.

Soon after that conversation he coughed up a little blood on his handkerchief and from that day on his father never touched a cigarette again.

You won’t leave it too late will you?

For more information just call 07970218451 or email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com

And I will be happy to help you

How does the pandemic affect your mental health and everyday life?

After Covid

Although many countries are back to relative normality after Covid close to the surface there are still major issues the pandemic has left behind. This means that many people still continue to experience both physical and emotional difficulties from Covid.

There are 3 words that I write on the initial notes for virtually every client’s first session.

“AM I SAFE?”

From both a physical and mental viewpoint Covid has left us all feeling unsafe

If you are still experiencing these sort of issues and find that you have not found a way forward emotionally or mentally I offer a healing protocol using Hypnosis, Emotional Freedom Technique and Eye Movement Therapy plus working with the Vagus Nerve (which is of prime importance in the healing process). I have been using these techniques for many years now with excellent success and offer clients on a daily basis the tools and strategies that they can begin to use to help turn their lives round.

Hypnosis has many facets of healing body and mind and a major one is helping us learn to relax again. If we cannot relax then the body cannot heal since it is using all its energy to keep us safe. Hypnosis will encourage the healing response through deep relaxation

Emotional Freedom Technique is now a very popular healing technique that my clients always love to use. Here we literally gently tap on acupressure points helping the body and mind release inner tension both physically and mentally. This helps us stabilise our emotions and release blocked energy stored in the body.

Eye movement Therapy has been available for many years now but it is only relatively recently that research has been done showing how our eye movements hold so much valuable information past and present.

The Vagus Nerve is another area that only relatively recently has been shown to have a much more profound effect on our body and mind than was originally thought. Using the latest scientific information we can make amazingly powerful changes to our lives using the simplest of techniques that will naturally help engage more healing and healthy experiences for our everyday lives.

If you would like to learn more about this work and how it could help you please feel free to contact me and I will be very happy to help.

For more information about one to one sessions online in English anywhere in the world please feel free to contact me

www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk 07970218451 rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com

How to “Stay out of the Jungle” folks!

It’s tough living in the jungle isn’t it!

Well OK we don’t live in the actual jungle but we certainly seem to spend a lot of time in what feels like the jungle. So why, so often does it feel this way?

Anytime we experience a perception of danger our brain will respond in a primal way as if we are being chased by tigers. This is what it was designed to do. The words “fight and flight” are used these days to describe this experience but from a biochemical perspective we are being triggered into something closer to “life or death”.

We are all in effect still living in the jungle but in a different jungle. Whereas in the real jungle there is instant and present danger, in our modern jungle we are being constantly exposed to a “drip feed” of knocks, disappointments and worries that gradually build up until we are locked in full “fight and flight” mode.

Now fortunately if something really dangerous happens our brain knows how to instantly switch on everything needed to protect ourselves. The problem comes when we become “locked” into full “fight and flight” virtually every moment of our lives.

To find our way out of this self imposed jungle we need the tools to be able to regulate our own autonomic (automatic) nervous system in our everyday life. We also need the skills to upgrade our thinking and perceptions to help support us rather than frighten us.

Hypnosis to relax the body and mind, Emotional Freedom Technique to help release past build up of negative experiences and feelings, plus simple yet extremely powerful strategies to help build a truly positive and pleasurable future are just some of the very effective techniques I offer my clients on a daily basis.

For more information please email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com and I will be very happy to help.

Why you should address your stress and anxiety now?

Hypnosis and EFT are very effective ways you can release stress and worry

We may think stress is “all in the mind”. Even though it may appear to start in our mind there is no separating it from our body. That frightened feeling you experience in your stomach is cortisol and the fact your heart is racing so fast is adrenaline.

However these experiences are in fact designed to keep you safe. This means you can physically run for your life if you need to. But in our modern everyday life we are usually “imprisoned” in our experience when the brain signals to the body to produce a whole raft of “Fight and Flight” chemicals. This reaction to stress is part of our limbic system’s response to danger. However that response is primed for the jungle and in effect only has an “on/off” button. This means that once it switches on we have very few options to “turn it down” to a more realistic level.

Experiencing “happy” body and mind chemicals is great but they don’t last very long. So these feelings quickly become stored in the body. Recent scientific research has shown that physical issues can be exacerbated and even triggered by stress. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120402162546.htm And stress has been cited as a possible trigger in Autoimmune diseases such as Chronic Fatigue, Fybromalgia and more.

Ongoing tension and chronic anxiety can lead to structural changes in the brain as well as physical issues such as headaches, IBS, rises in blood pressure and sleep problems. According to the research as the tension rises the body’s inflammation response finds it harder to heal our body in the way it would normally do.

However if you do want to be able to release and resolve stress levels in your life (wherever they come from) Hypnosis and EFT can make rapid positive changes in your daily experiences and help get you back on track for a healthier and more enjoyable future.

More and more professional mental health practitioners are now bringing physical and mental programmes together to help both body and mind heal. Using both body and mind we can start to engage in new patterns of thinking and healing. With tried and tested tools such as Hypnotherapy and Emotional Freedom Technique we have an effective and powerful opportunity to help match up the body responses together with the mind. This I know from my experience as a qualified hypnotherapist really helps bring about change that lasts.

If you would like to know more about the work I offer clients online all over the world and face to face in my office please visit www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk

Why chanting om is so powerful?

Why is “OM” so good for you and will it help release anxiety and worry? And does chanting OM create a supernatural experience and help you connect to your higher being or source?

And the answer is probably yes to both those questions.

Chanting “OM” helps improve sleep, releases stress and helps you feel calmer. It focuses your mind, it balances your emotions and helps generate a feeling of peace.

But for now, just in case you were thinking OM is some strange sound that people use when practising yoga let’s have a look at some of the scientific proof that helps explain why that simple sound can be so powerful.

The chant OM is often used at the beginning and end of a yoga session or meditation. One clue to it’s natural power is in the vibrations, vibrations that create a calmer and more relaxed body and mind. When we hum or sing we are creating vibrations in the body that help us engage our vagus nerve which connects with virtually all our organs. When the vagus nerve is operating healthily it helps our body and mind relax and heal.

Now, why not try singing OM and notice when you close your mouth at the “MMM” how clearly you can feel the vibrations. Not only will your singing generate these vibrations but that will also be generating nitric oxide which will be regulating the elasticity in your veins and smoothing the blood flow

Scientific studies have also shown that chanting OM also raises levels of concentration and focus.

There are in fact a lot more scientifically proven benefits physical and mental benefits to OM so why not hum a few OMs in your everyday life? Then you will start to notice how it is helping you relax a little more and how you can begin to feel less stressed.

It won’t take any time at all to do and the more regularly you do so the better the results.

For more information about Hypnotherapy, EFT and Eye movement therapy which I offer online and one to one please go to www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk

How does EFT tapping work?

Emotional Freedom Technique (“Tapping”) and the issues that connect each tapping point to the meridian lines in the body

Lets look at the tapping points for EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and some of the emotional issue each point is linked to.

Clients often ask me what issue each tapping point stands for and although it is not at all necessary to know it is interesting to have an idea of some of the emotional connections of each meridian point.

I originally trained in TFT (Thought Field Therapy devised by Dr Roger Callahan) which is the technique that EFT grew from (developed by Gary Craig). In TFT there are certain combinations of points one would tap on for each particular issue, whereas in EFT we tap around all the points in order whilst verbalising (out loud or to ourselves) how we are feeling about the issue we are working on.

This makes it easy to use at home since it is very simple to remember the sequence. So whether I am helping clients tap to release past issues, to feel confident at work or take a driving test the basic sequence is the same.

So starting with tapping on the “karate chop” point we have:

Side of hand Sadness. This is also a general point where we acknowledge how we feel and the issue we are working on

Inner eyebrow Trauma, Hurt Sadness

Outside of the eyebrow Rage Anger Frustration, Uneasiness

Under the eye Fear Anxiety Worry

Under the nose Shame Guilt Grief

Under the lip Confusion Embarrassment Uncertainty

Collarbone Worry Stuck Indecision

Under the arm Insecurity Obsession Self esteem

Top of the head Lack of focus, Ruminating

For more information about my work using EFT, Hypnosis, Eye movement therapy and techniques to help improve your life please visit www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk or email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com

Your brain may be 40,000 thousand years old but have you updated it yet?

Did you know that the modern shape of your brain may be 40,000 years old? OK, I don’t mean your particular brain but all our brains are working on “coding” that was developed to keep us safe in the jungle!

This means that in many daily situations your brain and mine will often choose the fastest route to “keep you safe” even though our more modern thinking brain (prefrontal cortex) is crying out that we should use more logical options.

An important part of my work is developing simple ways my clients can take some control over their own autonomic (automatic) nervous system. This helps us make better and healthier decisions, helps us have better relationships with ourselves and the world around us and helps us feel safer and more supported in our own lives.

So here is something you can do whenever you find yourself feeling overwhelmed with thoughts and worries that you would like at least to quieten down in your own mind.

Just imagine how you might react if someone is talking absolute nonsense about something that you know is not true. You might not want to offend them but you would more than likely raise your eyes to the ceiling wouldn’t you? These eye movements instantly make powerful changes in the brain that help engage our logical thinking cortex.

Now why not do the same for thoughts that are not supporting you. Remember, in the jungle we need to be able to make a very quick exit if a predator is about to attack us. That protective part of the brain is programmed to instantly “kick in” if we are in danger. Unfortunately the old system is in effect still using the original software in all situations. It does not distinguish between a mild irritation or a life threatening situation.

So, any time you find yourself getting into a spiral of needless worry just rapidly move your eyes towards your forehead in just the same way. This is taking you out of your primal mind and into your rational mind.

Two or three strong upward looks toward the forehead will begin to dislodge the old pattern that previously put you into “fight or flight” mode every time you thought about it. With those three upward looking glances we are triggering ourselves into a different part of our nervous system and connecting to the “new” part of the brain.

Have a bit of fun with this as you continue to help reprogramme your “unconscious thinking cues” into a different and healthier set of responses.

You will find more information on my work as a Hypnotherapist, NLP and EFT practitioner at www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk and also please do explore my channel on YouTube