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Confessions of a cowork space: who has us in a trance?

Owner of Two Six Design and Le Bureau member Simon Woodward is an accredited hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. Here, he debunks some of the most common misconceptions around hypnotherapy, and explains why he can’t – and won’t – make you bark like a dog…

Simon Woodward, founder of Two Six Design

Simon, first things first: isn’t hypnotherapy a load of mumbo jumbo?
No [laughs]. Not anymore. People have been quite sceptical about hypnotherapy in the past but over time it has been proven to actually work.

As more and more people qualify in hypnotherapy, and more people use it, they have realised it is not ‘mumbo jumbo’.

What sparked your interest in hypnotherapy?
I took a course in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic programming), more through curiosity than anything. I had studied it at home for a few years then I came across a course I liked.

Hypnotherapy featured heavily so I qualified as a practitioner of hypnotherapy as well as NLP, accredited by the American Board of Hypnotherapy (ABH).

There isn’t a British equivalent of the ABH ­– why do you think that is? Are we Brits a more sceptical bunch?
Possibly. Americans are much more into therapy of all kinds. I think there will be a British board soon, though.

What is NLP?
Simply put, it is the study of the human mind.

Its founders, [Richard] Bandler and [John] Grinder discovered that human behaviour and language follows patterns, rules, even though we are all individuals. If you can break these patterns down then you can learn to communicate better with people by understanding what they are actually showing you and how their body is behaving.

There is a lot of hypnotic suggestion used in NLP. It uses [American psychiatrist] Milton Erickson’s metaphorical suggestion, which you do out of trance.

The Ericksonian language finds a way past your critical faculties that block your conscious mind. Metaphorical suggestion bypasses your consciousness and goes right into your subconscious.

That’s what we do when we are hypnotising you.

What exactly is hypnosis? What happens to an individual who is in a hypnotic state?
Hypnosis can take place in or out of trance but it is more powerful in trance because you are bypassing the conscious mind.

When in trance, you are totally aware of what is going on around you. You don’t go to sleep – although it doesn’t mater if you do, and you are certainly very relaxed – and you remain totally aware. That is a common misconception about being hypnotised.

Another is that I can say anything to you and change your behaviour. For instance, I can’t make you bark like a dog every time I say your name, because you won’t like that suggestions and therefore won’t take it on board.

In fact you will probably open your eyes and tell me to get lost!

But if you’ve been forced to go to a clinical hypnotherapist by your other half to quit smoking, say – and you don’t want to quit – then it is probably not going to work.

Why do people seek out hypnotherapy?
Habitual traits such a nail biting and smoking are probably the most common reason, and the easiest ones to cure. Phobias are another one. Minor ailment and illnesses, sleep deprivation, stress – you name it, there’s a script out there for it.

People come for all sorts of reasons. You can use hypnotherapy to replace pain medication. There are stories of hypnotherapists curing stomach ulcers and even more severe conditions.

Which implies that many ailments are psychosomatic…
Some are. But your subconscious is responsible for your wellbeing. When you wake up in the morning, you don’t consciously think of breathing or beating your heart ­ – your subconscious is doing that for you. In that respect, you can talk to the subconscious about repairing parts of your body.

I’ve done it, and I’ve seen it done.

Are some people more or less susceptible to hypnotherapy?
Some people find being hypnotised easier than others. I’d say we as a human race are quite sceptical, especially of things we don’t understand.

Part of the hypnotherapist’s role it to talk to the client about the process before they begin, giving them a lot of background information and explaining what’s going to happen.

By the time that has been explained and clearly understood, most people would be open to suggestion.

In addition to being a hypnotherapist, you run your business from our Battersea coworking office. Do you think hypnotherapy could have a positive impact in a professional environment?
Absolutely. Low confidence, poor communication, stress, anxiety – all of the mundane things that can make coming to work quite unpleasant can mostly be dealt with hypnotherapy.

Even if you just want a relaxing, 45 minutes spent chilling out and recharging your batteries, being hypnotised is a very pleasant experience. You leave feeling very refreshed.

Our society is suffering from ever increasing levels of stress and anxiety – what do you think explains the rise?
Mobile phones. Technology. Everything is so fast paced now. There is a new level of communication and it is not a nice one. Everything is required right now, and because we have technology to deliver it ‘right now’ it becomes very difficult to relax.

What’s the next step for you?
I’m doing a Masters in NLP and hypnotherapy later this year. It requires 240 hours of study and roughly 14 days on site, so you are either being talked at or in physical practise. It’s intense but there’s a nice community feel. You are all in the room for the same reason.

Hypnotherapy works, whether I am reading from a script or reciting it from memory, but I would also like to be at the stage where I can recite it. That would be good fun.

Right now, I enjoy doing it for friends who ask. It helps people, and I like helping people. It’s been a really nice journey.

*

CASE STUDY

“I had finally had enough.”

Joanne Young of Jigsaw Business Solutions had been biting her nails for over a decade when she reached out to Simon.

“Jo was desperate to break the habit,” says Simon. “I did a couple of scripts on her, one for the habit and one for the anxiety because she said that most of the time she did this habit was when she was stressed.”

So… did it work?

Jo says:

“I started picking and biting my cuticles and the skin around my finger nails when I was about 12. It’s such a  horrible habit – my fingers would be sore all the time and often bleeding.

I was worried that I looked very anxious and unprofessional when I was doing it. It’s worse when I’m stressed but it’s pretty constant, to be honest. I’ve tried to stop a few times without any success; I tried using the stuff that makes your nails taste horrible but I just ended up picking that off instead.

I had finally had enough and in mid-January I put a note on Facebook asking if anyone had recommendations for a hypnotherapist. It’s so hard to know where to start with something like that, and I hadn’t realised that Simon was qualified.

I had one session with Simon that lasted about 40 minutes. I wasn’t sure what to expect and he advised that because I’d been biting my nails for so long, I might need more than one session.

Initially, the aim was to make me aware of what I was doing so that I could stop myself and break the habit.

The session itself was not what I expected. I was much more aware of my surroundings than I thought I would be – I just felt relaxed.

Since my session with Simon I have completely stopped biting and picking my fingers. I’ve not needed any additional sessions. The day afterwards I caught myself putting my hand towards my mouth once and stopped myself – but since then I’ve not even had to try. It is like it has just gone out of my head. I have no idea how it works but for me, it really did.”

(Photograph: Event Awards)

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