Worried about exams?

Exams

Four ways you can supercharge your brain and get the best results in your exams.

Whether at school, at University or studying in your own time, exams are usually one thing you can’t avoid if you are looking to gain a qualification or upgrade your job.
There are lots of techniques and plenty of advice available to help you get the best results and below are a few example ideas that could help you.

Mind maps. The brain does not work in a linear fashion so the concept of mind maps helps us learn in a pattern more familiar to our actual thinking process.

Talk through your work with family or friends. Let them ask questions. Discuss your subject as if you were teaching the information. Getting it right is not the name of the game here. You are collecting information on your strengths and weaknesses and this will help you fine tune your study time and focus on any areas you need to work on.

Use past papers whenever appropriate to help you become familiar with the type of questions you will get and how they will be presented.

For interviews set up a rehearsal interview with someone who may be familiar with interview techniques. There is plenty of information on the internet covering the type of questions often asked.

However there are other important ways to programme the mind that will help achieve the best results. Working and developing the four areas below could really help you expand your memory, creativity and thinking in a major way.

1/ Gain Confidence.. Do you feel confident in yourself and your knowledge? This is worth anyone’s time to work on. If we do not feel confident all the knowledge in the world is not going to help us operate to our full potential.

2/ Improve your Memory. If we think our memory is poor then it will most likely stay that way. But if our memory is not as good as we would like it to be what can we do about it? I offer very powerful techniques that can help significantly boost memory.

3/ Develop your creative mind. If you can energise your creative mind in the right way then you have opened up another area that will give you access to even more knowledge and understanding. EFT and Hypnosis are both powerful ways to help get your brain into an optimal learning state.

4/ Learn to recognise different mind states. The state of Flow for instance is a state most of us will have experienced at some time or other but do we know when it is happening and how can we “turn it on” at the crucial times we need it? When we can recognise this state, then with the right tools we can begin to tap into it more and more when needed. To develop a hypnotic or trance state does not necessarily require us to close our eyes. Trance is a natural experience that gives us access to many different shades of experience. The trick is being able to choose the appropriate state for whatever we are doing.

The above are vital skills that when developed are of optimal value in helping boost the work you do to achieve the results you deserve. Having trained originally as a professional musician I have from my own experience as a performer developed an intense interest in methods that help develop the brain and our thinking processes.

“Hi Roger I just wanted to say that I successfully passed the exam.” K 
 

Over the years I have developed a unique set of tools that I have aligned with my training in Hypnosis, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). I have also spent many years teaching students on a one to one basis privately, in schools and at establishments such as Napier University (at the time Napier College), The Royal Conservatoire of Music, and taking group courses for students of all ages. This is the knowledge and experience that gives my clients the opportunity to make empowering changes in their lives and future. I have helped taxi drivers pass “the knowledge”, University students achieve fantastic results in their exams and business people get the promotion or job they wanted and I can help you achieve the results you are looking for.

“Meant to tell you that (after your workshop) the students at Strathclyde (University music department) were trying out your techniques and were all enthusing about them”  Andrea Kuypers. Tutor at Strathclyde and Napier Universities.
 

If there is any aspect of your studying that you would like to develop just email or call me and I will be happy to discuss how these techniques could help you achieve the very best results for your future.

Phone: 07970218451
email: rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com

Confidence. Can we achieve it if we don’t have it?

Confidence

I find it fascinating that although my clients book in for so many different issues, in many cases it often does not take long to discover that a large part of the problem comes down to confidence. Some people are very confident at work but not so out in the everyday world and others confident in social situations but not so at work. It may be authority figures, people who talk loudly or just everyone in general who seems to know more, have more to say, be better at things or just seem to have more confidence than we do.

Since we are all in situations every single day where we are communicating with other people, whether at work, socially or just in passing it can feel as if there is no let up to this problem. All these situations just seem to exacerbate those uncomfortable feelings and the emotional and social discomfort it breeds.

The big question is where does the problem come from and how can we fix the issue? Many issues are born in childhood and when we are young it can take only a word or a look for us to read into even a light hearted comment some slight that can still be stuck in our unconscious decades later. This is why it is so important to clear those old messages before we build our new programme of confidence in ourselves. It may seem like a huge task but I have found that with the right techniques one can help clear even those issues we don’t consciously know about in less than one session. Once that is clear then the way is open to move forward and build a new foundation of self belief and confidence. To help make these changes I use a mix of hypnosis, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), NLP and importantly some simple but very powerful techniques to help my clients make real changes to how they feel right there and then in any situation as it is happening.

Why is this is an area in which I am passionate about about helping people with? Two BIG reasons for me are a) I have experienced it myself and b) I have spent years researching and developing a series of strategies and techniques that will help my clients literally power up their own self belief and confidence in any situation.

Lack of confidence can be with us for years but with the best help and techniques you could, in just a matter of weeks if not days be gaining confidence in ways you previously never imagined. In fact one of my techniques will show you how you can literally “step into” the confident person you know you deserve to be. So if you feel it really is time to step into and be the person you know is really you, confidently and comfortably do give me a call (07970218451) or email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com and I will be happy to discuss how I can help you.

Alcohol Abuse, the dangers and what you can do about it.

Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol Abuse

What does the term alcohol abuse really mean? We all know the word alcoholic and we know that certain people drink too much but where does the term alcohol abuse fit in? If someone is suffering from alcohol abuse it means that they may not yet be physically dependent on alcohol but the alcohol is already beginning to have a negative impact on their lives. This negative impact can take the form of relationship and family problems related to drinking, issues at work, driving while under the influence and irresponsible behavior patterns.

Left to follow it’s own path alcohol abuse can become a slippery path towards some very unpleasant experiences. Some may be able to sustain an outside appearance that everything is normal but this will be at great expense to family, relationships, job prospects and self worth.

However thinking about stopping is one thing and taking action is another. This is where it is very important to find a group and/or therapist to help give support advice and counseling in these situations. Some people get good results from meetings such as AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and for others therapy in some form will help them find the strength to get out of this destructive cycle.

A couple of books I can recommend are Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey and Addictive Thinking by Abraham J. Twerski. However a book cannot replace qualified help and support and the longer this issue is left to develop the greater the danger that personal, physical, financial and emotional damage will occur. Although we often hear the terms genetic and disease used with regards to alcohol issues at the end of the day taking responsibility for our own health and behavior is the only thing that counts.

The techniques I offer my clients are designed to help take control of one’s life and thinking and develop the self esteem and confidence that everyone deserves to experience on an everyday basis. Hypnotherapy, NLP and EFT ( Emotional Freedom Technique) are powerful and empowering tools that have given so many of my clients the opportunity to get their lives back on track If you feel it is time for you to make a real change in your life call me on 07970218451 or email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com and I will be happy to discuss any aspect of this with you.

Anger and why it is important to do something about it now

Anger its consequences

Anger its consequences and how to get help

Anger can have many physical and mental consequences. Although anger is a primary and natural emotion that we all experience at times it is there for our survival and losing control of this emotion on a regular basis can have severe consequences.

Anger results in a loss of control of the mid brain and an increasing sensitivity to stress. As the stress continues it then becomes easier and easier to activate this part of the brain thereby leaving one less able to activate the prefrontal cortex, the rational, reasoning part of the brain. Anger over activates the sympathetic nervous system and we lose the ability to control the balance required with the parasympathetic nervous system. This floods the system with adrenalin and an inability to control one’s emotions. Spending one’s life with “a short fuse” and the “fight or flight” system turned up full is a recipe for some very unpleasant experiences emotionally, physically, professionally and in one’s relationships.

If you think you or someone close may have anger problems check this list and see if you recognise some of the symptoms.

  • Do you have periods when you refuse to speak to people or will not help them?
  • Are you angry about something that happened in your past?
  • Does anger affect your life and the lives of people around you?
  • Is anger affecting your health?
  • Do you experience actual physical outbursts making you feel out of control?

Any one of the above can take a big toll on health, endanger one’s career and harm your relationships.

To help yourself:

  • Talk about it. Bottling things up only makes it worse.
  • Try relaxing therapies such as massage, yoga and meditation.
  • Start to recognise situations when you can feel it coming on and immediately take yourself out of those situations.
  • Learn healthy breathing techniques.
  • SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP before things get worse.

I have successfully worked with many clients with anger issues. Hypnosis and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) are ideal techniques to help bring the trigger responses down to a controlled and comfortable level. Both EFT and Hypnosis work by relaxing the sympathetic nervous system and engaging the parasympathetic nervous system. When the sympathetic and the parasympathetic (relaxation) systems are in balance then we can deal much more comfortably with our work, our relationships and with ourselves. When they are out of balance it becomes very hard to control our emotions and actions.

With the techniques I use, three or four sessions will often be all it takes to turn this around and begin the process of engaging with and enjoying life in a much healthier and relaxed way than before. If you would like more information please call me on 07970218451 or email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com and I will be happy to help you. If you are unable to see me personally you can always book a session over Skype which can be an equally effective way to work.

Need help with depression? Try EFT

Need help with depression?

Using EFT to help with depression

EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique is an Energy Psychology technique that has it’s roots in Chinese medicine and acupuncture. In this technique the client will tap with their fingers on acupressure points at the same time as verbalising their issues.

Emotional Freedom Technique is a technique that anyone can use at home to help alleviate a wide range of emotional problems but when working on more serious issues such as depression it is wise to work with an expert and qualified practitioner.

Helping clients with depression is not a simple exercise in the therapy room but when one has a technique such as EFT available it is amazing how quickly it can release negative feelings and past traumas that could normally take months if not years to even partially resolve. This for me is why EFT is such a valuable tool to be able to use when helping clients suffering from depression. So often it is not necessary to go digging through traumatising experiences from the past and if there things that do need addressing then it is often the case that clearing one past experience will free the client from many of the remaining discomforts around their past with so much less intrusive and upsetting work that may be needed when using other therapies.

If you are not familiar with EFT the idea of tapping around various meridian points on the face can seem a little strange at first so I will often just “drop” it into the session and ask my client to instantly just tap on the points that I show them. In most cases they are surprised at the sudden relaxation they experience and when this happens the client will immediately know that something important is happening.

Another important factor with EFT is that it is a technique the client can take home with them and use whenever they feel confronted by any difficult feelings thereby giving them some control over their daily experiences.

If you have emotional issues such as depression which have resisted any previous attempts to free yourself from, then EFT is a very powerful technique that could help you get your life back on track.

As a hypnotherapist and EFT practitioner I specialise in helping people with issues that seem not to respond to other treatments. My many previous clients know that it is possible to make remarkable changes and I see EFT as one of the keys to helping achieve those changes.

For more information 07970218451 or rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com me and I will be happy to help you. It could make all the difference.

Help to Stop Smoking

Stop Smoking

Hypnotherapy can help you to stop smoking

Did you know that smoking just two cigarettes a day can still leave you in danger from smoking related illness? Research by The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found that there was still calculable risk from casual smoking even at two cigarettes a day. And apparently living with a smoker can leave a non smoker vulnerable to inhaling up to a third of the smoker’s smoke! smoker’s smoke!

When working with clients who are ready to quit smoking for good, the easiest thing about stopping is that unlike food, if one is trying to lose weight, there is no to ever smoke a cigarette again. This in effect makes it a simple change to make. We all have to eat but none of us has to smoke.

So there really is no need to hang on to those one or two “now and again” cigarettes. They are still harmful and stopping completely helps the ex smoker let go of a lot of unconscious guilt and anxiety around cigarettes.

Another important psychological change is that once we stop doing something it tends to become less and less present in our conscious mind. If you don’t like a certain food you probably won’t even notice it when out shopping because it simply is no longer in your awareness. The same with cigarettes. Once we don’t “do them” any more we begin not to notice them.

Roger successfully helps clients to Stop Smoking. If you would like more information just call 07970218451 or email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com

Skype Therapy

Skype being used to provide therapy

Using Skype for therapy has been around for quite a while although not everybody is familiar with the concept. With a video link it is a great way to communicate and work with clients. I have done many therapy telephone sessions in the past but with clients enquiring about my work from as far afield as the USA, Australia, India and Cyprus it is proving to be a wonderful way to work with clients who would otherwise be unable to see me on a one to one basis.

Other reasons that Skype can be an invaluable way to communicate with clients is for people who have physical or emotional reasons that mean they are unable to leave the house. In these cases I can work with agrophobia issues, chronic anxiety and many other problems even when a client, who may be local or in another part of the country cannot come directly to my office.

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and EFT (EmotionalFreedom Technique) lend themselves very well to this medium and since we are in a light trance regularly during the day I often use an “eyes open state” of hypnosis even when working in my office on a one to one basis. This works very well with Skype and the client is in always control and fully consciously aware throughout the session.

So if you are local or thousands of miles away and are interested in learning more about how a Skype session could help you make significant changes in your life you do contact me and do look at my website. All you need is a computer with a webcam, a decent broadband connection and a Skype account which is very easy to set up. The rest is just the same as answering your telephone but through your computer.

Does depression make you feel helpless and hopeless?

Does depression affect you?

Does depression affect you?

Anyone who has experienced depression knows what a debilitating state it can be with seemingly uncontrollable feelings of sadness or anxiety, loss of interest in life and feeling hopeless and helpless.
There are many reasons people can suffer from depression. It could be bereavement, loss of something important in their lives or it may just appear out of the blue for no apparent reason at all.
When someone is feeling this way they probably know that they should be doing something about it but even that may be just one step too far for them to take. For some medication will help and for others even this may not get them to where they would like to be.

In talking therapy one of the primary aims is to help the patient share their feelings with someone outwith friends and family and hopefully over a period of time perhaps discover the cause of their feelings and help them to move on. Of course no amount of “just snap out of it” or “get a grip”, however well meaning is going to help and will probably make things worse. When someone is in that state of mind the inner resilience is just not there to light that spark of positive reconnection with life that the depressed person would so love to experience. However there are ways if one can summon up the mental energy to help oneself. Just a small step could help rekindle the neural activity in the brain that helps to switch on the states we desire and switch off those we don’t. This article by Dr Mercola http://bit.ly/16Isvnq has a range of possible ways to kick start the process and safely re engage in the pleasures of life that everyone else seems to be enjoying.

I work with a lot of clients with depression and in my experience an important factor, as the above article points out is finding methods to help turn the switch that can take us to a place in the mind where it is possible connect with the pleasures and quality experiences of life. Using Hypnosis, Emotional Freedom Technique and NLP with a qualified practitioner are powerful ways to safely release underlying issues and help move forward in life.
However just as important in my treatments are using simple tools that can be used on an everyday basis to help regenerate and bring back the pleasures, and positive experiences that are available to virtually everyone if we are ready to find them. I always tell my clients, “I don’t know what you will be thinking or experiencing at, for example, 5 o’clock this evening any more than I know what I will be experiencing but if you have the tools to deal with and in some small way adjust that experience to your advantage you yourself will have made a change and begun to learn that you can bring back some control in your life.”
(To ensure you are getting the safest treatments always seek medical advice first)

For more information please contact me and I will be happy to help.

IBS. Irritable Bowel Issues

Irritable Bowel Issues

Do you have IBS

IBS is an issue that I regularly help clients with. Recently I saw a young man who had just left college and was now working in a local supermarket. Unfortunately he had been suffering from IBS since he was a teenager at school and it had become a more and more chronic issue that was not only very painful at times but had begun to restrict many of his activities socially and professionally.

Every journey away from home had to be calculated in advance and longer periods away and travelling long distances had become out of the question. He was finding the stress hard to manage which obviously exacerbated the symptoms so things like holidays and family reunions, unless they were close by, were becoming increasingly difficult to attend. His girlfriend was supportive but obviously she would have liked them to be able to spend more time out together and be able to go on holidays so this was also a restriction for her.

Now anyone suffering from IBS symptoms will most probably recognise what I am saying and working as a clinical hypnotherapist the story people give me is very much the same every time. They have probably had it for quite a few years and the discomfort and restriction in their lives is wearing them down and depressing them. The interesting thing is that I really can’t think of a client that I have worked with who has had IBS symptoms who has not experienced real change within the first session and after just two or three sessions has not returned to a virtually normal life style.

For IBS sufferers even the NHS website says that there is no cure for it. However there are many qualified professional hypnotherapists who are achieving really good results with their clients so if you are suffering from this it is well worth finding a hypnotherapist in your area who will be able to help you. It could make a big difference to your life and help free you from the restrictions and discomforts that are part of living with IBS.

Roger Foxwell is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, EFT and NLP practitioner. Contact Roger for more information and help.

[In the case of any physical issue always seek medical advice and get a professional medical diagnosis before embarking on any other treatment]

Musicians and Golfers do you need 10,000 hours practice

Musician

It has been accapted for a while now through research by best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell that to achieve mastery in a subject or discipline 10,000 hours of study or practise is the magic number that will help bring the requisite rewards. However a recent study as outlined in Time has come up with new research that doubts whether this is the whole picture. Of course even if we take the 10,000 hours as read then there are obviously factors such as physical and practical suitability and genetics that would be taken onto account.

However further research by Zach Hambrick and colleagues at Michigan State University have found that the10,000 hour rule really only applied to between 30% and 34% of musicians and chess masters that they studied. In fact they found that two thirds of the difference was unrelated to practice with massive differences in the time it would take one person to reach an elevated level in their field as against another in the same area of expertise.

So, as most professional musicians, golfers or anyone developing high level skills will know the whole issue is extremely complex as the researchers testified.

As someone who has trained to a high professional level in music (violin) with copious amounts of practise I have always taken a great interest in what is the difference that makes the difference in successfully achieving goals? Since I work helping professional golfers, sports persons and musicians get closer to discovering their own personal formula that will help bring out their best potential it is fascinating to actually be using my insider knowledge to help develop my own skill sets and pass that information on to my clients.

Some of the key strategies include:

• An intense desire to achieve a successful outcome
• A discipline ethic that will carry one through even when things are tough
• An ability to convert that work ethic into a pleasure so that it no longer becomes work but something you just can’t stop doing
• A linking of the creative mind with the analytical that produces a synthesis of artistic and technical skills.

Now there is much more to this but knowing how to take our skills to the next creative level is a skill in itself. However once we can tap into this whole process it can hugely accelerate our progress and maybe we won’t need 10,00 hours after all? Or maybe we will use much more than 10,000 hours because nobody can stop us since we enjoy developing our skill so much.

If you are ready to move to the next level I can help you. Using Hypnosis, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) plus a fascinating range of techniques that my own knowledge in this area has helped me develop you really could find yourself in another level of expertise and pleasure in your chosen skillset.

For more information just call me on 07970218451 or email rogerfoxwell.therapy@gmail.com or visit www.rogerfoxwell.co.uk