Imagine if you could unlock your mind! 

How Hypnotherapy Can Help You Break Free from Stress and Anxiety

Welcome to a space where the chaos of your mind can finally find a bit of peace.

If you are reading this, then chances are you are struggling with stress or anxiety or you know someone who is.

 You’ve tried everything from mindfulness apps to self-help books, only to find that your worries keep hitting the “snooze” button in your head and never really go away. Let me reassure you, you are not alone, I hear this type of thing from clients every day and there is hope.

As a solution focused hypnotherapist with a passion for helping clients break free from anxiety, I have got something that might just work for you. 

No, it’s not a magic wand (although that would be super) a scientifically backed, brain-friendly approach to managing stress. 

Why Your Brain Acts Like an Over-caffeinated Squirrel. 🐿️ 

Stress and anxiety can feel a bit like having an over-caffeinated squirrel running around in your brain. 

Hah, this reminds me of an incident about 12 years ago when I lived in london, and an actual squirrel fell in through the sky light of my flat, it was about 3am, it just banged into my kitchen, bless him, he was so scared,  he ran around like crazy trying to get back out! It was all fine.

That’s another story. 😊

So, back to you, you try to focus on one thing, but your thoughts dart off in every direction, sometimes without warning. This happens because stress hijacks your brain’s amygdala, the part responsible for the fight, flight, freeze response. Your amygdala, in its quest to keep you safe, has started seeing danger in everything: deadlines, crowded spaces, social situations, or even just an unexpected email.

Now, it’s important to know that this part of your brain is not cruel, it is just trying to protect you from a perceived threat. The problem is, when you are in a constant state of stress, your brain does not get the memo that the threat is not as serious as it thinks. This is where hypnotherapy comes in, it helps give your brain the memo!

Hypnosis and your brain are a team effort, when you enter a state of hypnosis, your brain goes into a deeply relaxed, focused state called theta brainwaves, the same state you are in during daydreaming or just before you fall asleep. Hypnotherapy simply taps into this relaxed state to help rewire those stressful thought patterns.

Using a combination of relaxation techniques and positive suggestions, I work with your brain’s prefrontal cortex the rational, decision-making part. While you are deeply relaxed, we can start to “declutter” those automatic negative responses that lead to stress and anxiety, tricking your brain into calmness.

If you have ever struggled with anxiety, you know it can feel like you are stuck in quicksand, the more you struggle, the deeper you sink. But what if, instead of fighting the quicksand, you could calmly float out of it?

When you can see anxiety not as something overpowering, but as something you can manage or even “outsmart,” then it loses its grip.

   I specialise in solution focused hypnotherapy, so we do not dwell on the past or dig into why you started feeling this way in the first place. Instead, we focus on how you want to feel and how we can get you there. Think of it as decluttering your mental attic. Instead of going through every box to figure out where all the junk came from, we focus on clearing out the clutter so you can breathe again.

Here is an example of how this works from a previous client:

Sarah’s Story: Sarah (not her real name) came to me overwhelmed by stress at work. Her mind was constantly racing, filled with “what-ifs” that made it impossible to concentrate. During our sessions, we worked on helping her brain realise that not every email was a fire alarm and that it was okay to breathe before reacting. Within a few sessions, Sarah reported feeling more in control and even found herself laughing at situations that used to make her panic.

Studies show that hypnotherapy can lower the levels of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. When cortisol levels drop, your body can finally stop sounding the stress alarm every five minutes. In fact, a study from the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis found that hypnosis can significantly reduce anxiety in as few as four sessions!

Additionally, MRI scans have shown that during hypnosis, the brain’s default mode network, (the area responsible for rumination and overthinking) becomes less active. This gives you the mental space to start focusing on solutions rather than problems. It is like taking the power cord out of that over-caffeinated squirrel’s coffee machine.☺️

In our sessions, we will focus on getting you into that deeply relaxed state where your brain is more open to positive suggestions. We will use metaphors, humour, and simple but powerful mental exercises to help you regain control over your thoughts. Whether you are dealing with general stress, work-related anxiety, or that anxious feeling you get when your phone buzzes at 3 a.m, hypnotherapy can help.

Together, we will retrain your brain to stop reacting like everything is a crisis and start responding calmly and rationally. And remember, this is not about fixing you, because there’s nothing broken.

 It is about helping you tap into the mental tools you already have—tools that just need a little dusting off.

We can work together to help your brain calm down, laugh a little, and find the peace it has been looking for. 

You’ve got this—and I am here to help.

Karen 😊