How to get rid of yips and performance nerves?

Sports Challenge

What do you need to know about the YIPS and PERFORMANCE NERVES plus how to get rid of them

FIGHT or FLIGHT or FREEZE is designed to keep us alive. It is a primitive part of our autonomic nervous system and this means that whenever there is a sense of danger or even just worry, this system will in fact respond as if we are in a LIFE or DEATH situation.

Immediately your brain’s only job is to keep you alive and all it’s resources will be focused on that one outcome. This means that your body’s healing mode is switched off and your “modern” thinking brain is no longer able to operate rationally. You have now lost access to your fine motor functions and clear cognitive thinking

Also, in “shutdown” your body and brain are preserving oxygen. So there is not enough dopamine to turn the “freeze” state off and your focus and clarity back on.

This is why it becomes virtually impossible to instantly switch back to your clear thinking relaxed state.

So, to help gain more control of our autonomic (automatic) nervous system the most important place to start is with BREATHING.

Using the best diaphragm breathing techniques will lay a foundation whereby you can, as rapidly as possible re-engage your dopamine and other body chemicals. Now you can help reconnect the higher communication centres which have the blueprint of all the tens of thousands of hours of practise you have put into your skills.

Te next step in my work with Golfers, Tennis players, Darts, Snooker players, Musicians etc. is opening and expanding our vision pathways and learning to control our autonomic nervous system on an everyday basis.

Using simple acupressure points and mental programmes we will be able to find and relax the physical and mental, body and mind stress points in a way you can begin to take with you into every competition, friendly game or performance you have.

An extra bonus is that no one will know you are using these techniques. But they will be very unlikely not to notice that everything about your performance is improving!

For more information on how I can help you play and perform to your highest standards just call or email and I will be happy to help.

These techniques and strategies will work equally effectively with

great results – online, face to face, professional or amateur.

www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk +44 7970218451 rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com

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. EFT Technique

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

Hot Water bottle for adrenal release and relax

Hot water bottle/ Heated pad for tension and adrenal release/relax

In this post I will be giving a few pointers on how important it is to be aware of what our adrenal glands are doing. How we treat our adrenals can have an important bearing on our health.

A major part of the work the adrenals do is to regulate our metabolism, our immune system, stress response and blood pressure.  Hot water bottle

When the adrenals are over stimulated for long periods of time we can suffer from fatigue, thinning hair, low sex drive, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and more. So if we have spent our lives in a high state of stress as many of my clients have, the adrenals will have been relentlessly working on full throttle 24 hours a day.

There are many ways to reduce stress, and as a professional hypnotherapist, in my experience one of the very best and effective ways to do this is hypnosis. However, just one modality will not necessarily cure everything because both the body and mind are interconnected. So to do any worthwhile healing we should also work on the physical aspects as well.

An extremely simple (and comfortable) way to help your tired adrenals relax is to place a hot water bottle or warmed pad on your back while sitting or in bed.

Remember if your adrenals have been switched on flat out for many years just giving them some warmth and respite may be just what they need to help you start your programme of healing and relaxation.

Just by placing the hot water bottle roughly in line with the lowest part of the front ribs should help quieten the flight and fight response and pave the way to getting the whole system into a healthy state of balance.

This post should not be taken as a medical guide. Always consult your medical provider.

HELP! Racing Heart? Panic? Anxiety? Stress? Tinnitus? Etc…..

Learn to breathe much more efficiently to help control and relieve these and other mind/body issues

Disclaimer: Always seek professional medical advice to check your state of health

The way we breathe plays a massive part in our physical and mental health and it will be very difficult to solve the above and many other issues effectively if we are not breathing correctly. The majority of clients who come to see me with stress, anxiety or panic attacks are (obviously) still breathing but not correctly! Anxiety Stress

If you watch a baby breathing you will see how easy and natural it looks. However, as we grow up, life gets in the way with a disappointment here and a knock there, and over time that continues to build up leaving us in the fight and flight state, looking for danger at every corner.

This is a heavy drain on our resources and over time wears us out, exacerbating the tension in the body and leaving us physically and mentally exhausted.

Breathing correctly is paramount to our health so here is a simple way to learn how to do it much more efficiently.

I would suggest to at first practise this lying down, soles of your feet flat on the floor, knees pointing upwards and a cushion under your head.

If we first try this sitting or standing we can become confused because the connection between brain and body has been slowly getting lost over time. Lying on the floor means we can’t move our shoulders and the brain /body can relearn the natural breathing pathways and muscular connections.

THE SEQUENCE

So, lying on the floor or bed, when you feel comfortable in this position place one hand on your abdomen and the other on your chest just below the collarbones.

Now we get to the part that seems so simple but can take a few days to get used to especially if we have been upper chest breathing and not using the lungs efficiently.

Take a slow breath in and notice what moves.

If correct you will start the breath from your belly and your lower hand will move up. If not you will be lifting the shoulders and breathing only into the upper part of the chest and only the hand on your chest will rise.

Now focus on your belly and push in and out a few times with your abdomen muscles.

Now using those muscles breathe deeply in as if all the air is going into your belly. It’s not air but the diaphragm pushing down and making more space for the lungs to fill with air.

Do this a few times to get that new sequence working.

With a little practise you won’t need to think about your abdomen muscles, they will strengthen and work simply as the diaphragm moves down and the organs move out of the way to give more space.

The next part brings the ribcage into play.

From the same position “breath half the air into the belly” and then continue to breathe in the rest of the air into the chest without raising the shoulders. Notice what is happening as the air physically fills the lungs. As the lungs expand so will the ribcage expand at which point you will feel the hand on your chest moving up with each breath.

The more you get a feel for this the more you will feel the ribcage expanding not just at the front but also through the sides and back.

Keeping your hand on your belly, experiment by moving the top hand and touch the side of your ribcage. Now as you breath in and out you will feel the ribs expand at the side of your chest.

Practise this in bed on the floor only for a minute or two each day until you get used to it but you will soon find that this sequence will become natural and you will be doing it without thinking.

I hope you find this useful and if you would like more tips on improving your lifestyle please follow me on YouTube.

www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk

Hypnotherapy.EFT. Holistic Counselling. NLP. Eye Movement Reprocessing and much more

 

Why do people who whistle or hum all day always seem to be happy?

Here’s a question. Why do people who whistle or hum all day always seem to be happy?

Well, people who whistle or hum all day may seem irritating but they are actually toning their vagus nerve and putting their body into a relaxed parasympathetic state. And that’s exactly why they always seem to be happy!

I always encourage clients to do some singing, humming, because this not only exercises the voice but sends these vibrations through the body, toning the vagus nerve and helping us feel physically and emotionally relaxed.

One of the exercises I use is to hum along to a favorite song or a “warm up for singers” such as the one I’ve put at the end of this post. Just a couple of minutes singing or humming while doing other things about the home can make a significant difference to how you feel for the rest of the day. Happy Woman

Recently I have added another dimension to this simple exercise by connecting one’s awareness to the multitude of vibrations singing or humming brings to the body. The idea is that by adding an extra dimension to this valuable vocal exercise will help bring very real and positive change to how we feel physically and emotionally for the rest of the day.

 And all with a minimal amount of effort.

So to experience this begin by humming or singing with your fingers gently cupped around your ears. You will notice how the head is vibrating with the resonance of the voice.

Now place your fingers gently over your scalp and also become aware of the skull and the brain vibrating.

Try the jaw, the collarbone, the chest, the throat. In fact have a bit of fun experimenting with different parts of the body as you discover how relaxing and effective this is.

Not only will you be improving your mood but the vibrations from the vocal chords will be vibrating the whole physical body. These vibrations will be “massaging” the organs in the body, the muscles round the lips, the brain  and even the bones of the skull. They will be increasing blood flow, relaxing the voice and making a myriad of other significant changes in your body.

We can’t “make these changes happen” but they will happen automatically as all parts of the system share these positive messages and feelings with each other.

Having done that you may well notice how much more resonant your own voice has become and how that resonance gives you an extra boost of relaxation and confidence. You have connected billions of neural connections just by singing or humming!

If we try doing this by thinking about it we will soon discover that it is virtually impossible to MAKE these changes happen. But when the body and mind work naturally together they know exactly what to do.

This way we can get on with our daily lives as we continue to add real value to our daily experiences.

Telling yourself to BE HAPPY doesn’t really work so why not “Sing Yourself” there!

For more information about my online international therapy and one to one work in Glasgow, Scotland please email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com   or visit www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk

Singers warm up

 

Are you feeling stressed by overthinking and the thoughts in your head?

Over Thinking

One of the amazing things about the human brain is that we can think and work things out in our head. This process helps us navigate through our complex daily lives. We can arrive at the right place at the right time and manage all those everyday tasks almost automatically day in and day out.

However thinking can also get us into a lot of mental complexity. Especially when it becomes obsessive thinking such as obsessive compulsive disorder. Now we don’t even need to have OCD to start getting stuck in a loop of nonsensical personal arguments with ourselves. This type of thinking can bring stress and anxiety into our daily lives without us even knowing it.

For instance we may have spoken to someone and felt they were a bit offhand or rude. But we don’t know anything about that person’s feelings or experiences that day, or maybe we just feel a little vulnerable ourselves. This does not stop our inner conversation getting straight into gear and giving all sorts of reasons why they “should have behaved better”, “what is wrong with them?”, “what is wrong with me?” etc. etc. This is our primal brain trying to justify our dominance or position in the primate hierarchy and since this thinking is developed from our primal feelings it is very hard to switch off.

Once our cognitive mind recognises that our brain is making a lot of this up it can help release us from this interminable loop of nonsense that seems to take up a lot of our everyday thinking. And it often is nonsense, or as I call it “Fairy Tales” since these thoughts are not based on facts but on us making up stories in our head.

The brain likes to make up “Fairy Tales”, stories, so that in effect we can “Feel Safe” and “Right”. To feel relaxed and safe is the state we would like to be in but unfortunately when we try to generate our “happy, feel good brain chemicals” by making up stories we won’t feel happy for very long.

So my 21 day challenge is to interrupt that “Fairy Tale” and call it out for what it is. It may feel a bit weird at first but after a while you will notice less of that sort of thinking taking up space in your mind. Don’t waste any more time telling yourself “Fairy Tales” that really have no basis in reality.

Then you really will feel safe, relaxed and comfortable.

How hypnosis can help Covid, Stress and anxiety

Stress and anxiety

As many of us thought when lock down started it would only be a matter of weeks before life would return to normal again. Unfortunately as we all know that was not the case and at the time of writing we are still in a state of not knowing whether things are getting better or worse.

What we will have noticed is how the stress of these restrictions, the changes in our everyday habits and lack of regular social interaction has taken a toll on our mental health.

Not that we may have particularly noticed it at first. It just creeps up on us and we don’t notice it eating away at our confidence, our self esteem and our relationship with ourselves and others.

It is in fact rewiring our brain and we don’t know it. So what can we do to protect our mental and physical health during these difficult times? One of the most important things in my opinion is to stimulate or tone the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve connects right through the body from the base of the skull to the base of the spine. It affects so many important functions of the body and mind that it is surprising it has not been taken a lot of notice of until recently. It relaxes our voice, helps control our blood pressure and pulse rate, adjusts our breathing and gut function just to name a few examples. Pretty important I would say.

Now when the vagus nerve is functioning well, even if we have no idea what it is, we will be in a state of balance and relaxation emotionally and physically, whereas when it is out of sync we will be in a state of fear (Fight and Flight).

In lock down we are understandably sending out more messages of fear and worry and the vagus nerve will respond appropriately to the messages we send it. Even everybody walking around in masks will trigger it because we don’t see the face and our primal brain becomes worried whether we are safe.

Although the vagus nerve is controlling so many complex body responses the actual things we can do to help it and our lives run smoothly are in fact very simple.

Here are some simple suggestions that I use regularly and you can seamlessly add into your everyday life.

1/ Hum, whistle, sing. This stimulates the vagus nerve to send comfortable messages around the body. Even 2 minutes a day will make a difference and will probably become addictive after a few days.

2/ Meditation, Yoga, Hypnosis are all excellent ways to tone the vagus nerve.

3/ Simple stretching and yoga type exercises are very beneficial for mental and body health.

4/ Cold showers! Or just splashing cold water on the nape of your neck will engage the vagus nerve
in a good and stimulating way.

5/ Avoid too much social media and news. This can quickly put us back into the sense of danger and
we won’t even know why we feel so depressed.

6/ Go for a walk

See how simple that is! Give it a try and if you like those you can also try my 3 minute relaxation
video as well.

Just using a few of these tips will really help you now and in the future.
To find out more about how hypnosis, EFT, NLP and EMDR can help you and your vagus nerve
please visit www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk

The PROBLEM with Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

The problem with Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

Is there a problem with hypnosis and hypnotherapy? Not at all, as long as it is done ethically.

The problem in our mind comes when we muddle hypnotherapy up with what we see on television and with stage hypnosis. A short clip of someone resolving an issue on television or YouTube is just that. It’s short, and it is a only a clip. So we are not privy to the actual work done backstage and the time and the techniques used to elicit trance.

Hypnosis is a remarkable tool that gives a skilled hypnotherapist the opportunity to help clients make rapid and lasting change. However there are many other tools a hypnotherapist must have if they want to work with the wide range of issues that clients bring to their office.

Another factor equally important is the client. The client is not just someone who is going to be told what to do and how to feel. Like anything we learn in life it involves the active participation of both therapist and client. To get the most from a hypnotherapy session we must be willing and ready to engage in the process.

Watching from the comfort of our armchair as a hypnotist taps a line of participants on the shoulder and says “sleep” can be very entertaining as one by one heads nod forward and they are put into trance. But this is stage hypnosis not hypnotherapy and only about 1 in 10 people are able to reach that state as rapidly as we see on stage. Even on stage as a third of the audience run forward to be “hypnotised” most will be sent back to their seats. A skilled hypnotist knows instantly the ones who will naturally and rapidly respond to their commands.

However virtually anyone can go into trance. In fact it would be difficult to operate in our daily life if we couldn’t. We are all experiencing different trances throughout the day. Driving, socialising, watching TV are all forms of trance that help us enter and engage appropriately with each experience we are in at any given moment.

Hypnotherapy is a two lane highway where client and therapist work alongside each other to help achieve the client’s goals. This work is a process of connecting new empowering and positive neural pathways just like learning any skills. We practise any skill not just with our muscles but with our mind.

Your mind, given the right keys to release the changes you are looking for, already has that knowledge and it is available to you now.

Life Coaching and Hypnotherapy

Therapist

Is a Therapist a Life Coach and is a Life Coach a Therapist?

Well yes and no.

A Therapist will need therapy credentials to be able to set up their practice and a Life Coach will presumably have been through certain training before setting up their practice.

The more I have developed my Hypnotherapy practice and brought in various other trance based modalities the more I realise how much EVERYTHING COUNTS. For instance if I am working with a business client who feels nervous giving a presentation then one of the many things I need to offer that client are tools to manage their anxiety otherwise all their valuable work could be overwhelmed by their fear of public speaking. On the other hand if I am a Life Coach helping a business client feel comfortable in these situations they also will require to offer, for example voice projection and presentation tools. And so here we begin to see that success for the client is supported by both the coaching aspect and the therapy aspect of their treatment.

When I continued to bring in more techniques and tools that covered more eventualities the results began to speak for themselves.

So I found myself joining tools for life coaching and tools for therapy together. As they say, “you only get one chance to make a good impression” whether it is interviewing for a job or speaking to a few hundred people in a packed auditorium. To grasp that opportunity how much better to have a powerful selection of tools, coaching and therapy, that cover as many eventualities as possible.

Some people are looking for coaching to help them and some are looking for therapy to help them. Yet Hypnosis, Life Coaching and Therapy can begin to easily and fluidly become one and the same thing. Trance is a state of Hypnosis and Life Coaching is a form of therapy. Hypnosis is a state of trance and therapy is a form of Life Coaching.

Everything overlaps and extending one’s skills in overlapping areas will help give clients more information and power to develop the changes they are looking for.

Some people will be looking for a Life Coach and some for a Hypnotherapist but where does one end and the other begin. The titles may be different but the real differences are more likely to be in the personalities and specialties of each practitioner.

So the best advice is first look for recommendations you can trust. Engage your intuition to help you get the best match for you and your issue whether a Therapist, Hypnotherapist or Life Coach.

Or perhaps you would like all three?

HYPNOSIS and what really happens in a hypnotherapy session

Hypnotherapy Session

So you’ve been watching videos and television clips of hypnotists at work and with a command to “SLEEP” or a tug of the arm the person in front of them flops down on the couch, becomes totally rooted to the spot or they completely forget their name.

Amazing, you think to yourself. If I go see a hypnotherapist I could have my smoking habit, my anxiety and my phobia sorted by lunchtime and I will be a new person!

Does it really happen like this?

Well yes and no.

Yes, I have clients who after we have been working in a session for a while who, for a few moments, can’t remember what their issue was. However this means the issue is now not in the forefront of their mind so we are making good progress. Or some who are already drifting into a trance as we continue talking. I may at that part of the session have to reorient them “back into the room” since that may not be the best moment for that particular state to engage. Or later, after doing a deep body relax they quite probably feel so comfortable that they might not want to open their eyes. I will then suggest they take their time “as they come back into the room.”

What is happening? We will be engaging certain states of mind that will have been appropriately introduced depending on what we are working on. Sometimes a client may only be in “eyes closed” for few moments during a full session. But we will be choosing the trance just as you unconsciously are choosing your own trance as you read this post or when you drive your car.

I remember a client telling me he didn’t think he had been hypnotised so I asked him “and what did I say?” Looking a bit perplexed he said “I don’t know”.

Hypnosis or trance is happening all the time within us. Even the organising of the words in this post are designed to attract the attention in a way that helps draw you and your imagination into the story. To facilitate change we must harness the creative and cognitive parts of our mind to work together. This skill will help us achieve the changes and goals in life we are looking for.

The job of the hypnotherapist is to give clients the tools that they can use to enable them to engage their own inner knowledge and “arrange their own story” in the very best way they can for the future.

And, by the way, enjoy the process at the same time.