What my Cognitive Hypnotherapist did for me was lead me back to me. A home that is uniquely mine and no-one else’s. A home of my design.

If we trace back the lingual roots of Cognitive Hypnotherapy we find that:

Cognitive comes from the Latin Cognoscere meaning to ‘get to know’ and Hypno from the Greek word Hypnos meaning ‘to sleep’. 

So, Cognitive Hypnotherapy really just means getting to know one's sleep.

By recognising the ways in which we sleep-walk through life, Cognitive Hypnotherapy helps us rewire our unconscious patterns and create a reality that aligns with who we want to be.

Yet, there is a huge misconception in our society that Hypnotherapy involves some sort of pendulum-waving magician whose sole purpose is to get you to walk and talk like a chicken. This stereotype has become so deeply entrenched that many people, including myself, shy away from it as a therapeutic approach merely because of the connotations it provokes and the assumptions we hold. 

Before I knew what I know now,

the word 'Hypnotherapy' scared me. I thought that if I attended such a session that I too would be 'put under' some trance. That I would lose my self-control and become someone I didn't want to be. I was not ready, or so I told myself, for any type of therapeutic intervention that might push be beyond my comfort zone, beyond what I thought I could handle. 

And so, I never made the appointment. 

I decided that I was fine. That this was as good as it gets. That this was as good as I get. 

And I stayed as I was for a long time. Comfortably uncomfortable in the 'safety' of the familiar. Allowing my life and myself to shrink away. 

And then something shifted. 

The pain of staying the same was more than the pain of change. 

There was this feeling deep within me that said I want more. That I need more. It was a quiet voice. Not like the loud and fearful one I was used to. Almost peaceful. 

Calm.

And so, I took the leap and booked my first Cognitive Hypnotherapy appointment. 

I was nervous at first. Afraid and ashamed to bear my soul to yet another professional. Afraid and ashamed that I was going to be the common denominator again. Afraid and ashamed that it wasn't going to work. 

And the truth is, things didn't happen overnight. Cognitive Hypnotherapy was not the magic elixir I had been searching for. Nor did not cure me of my perceived flaws and insecurities and problems and fears. 

In fact it did none of this. 

But what it did do was something better. 

It gave me back my agency. 

Unlike therapists I had been to in the past who professed to 'fix me', my Cognitive Hypnotherapist held my hand and taught me how to help myself. She guided me back to the resources I already have inside, of resilience and strength and kindness, resources I thought I had lost. 

What my Cognitive Hypnotherapist did for me was lead me back to me. A home that is uniquely mine and no-one else's. A home of my design.

And when I learnt how to let myself let go of what no longer served me, and transform what I thought was dirt to compost, I soon realised that I had choice to choose. To choose to use the learning from my experience and let it become something new. Something better than before. 

Something of purpose. 

And that's where I find myself today. Still at sea amongst the waves, only this time I know I have the skills to surf the swell and find my way back to shore. And maybe, just maybe have some fun along the way. 

This is my hope for you too. 

Follow our journey.