Mindfulness is a form of meditation which teaches you to focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment. The practice uses breathing methods and guided imagery to relax the body and mind in order to feel ‘fully present’ and aware of each moment, in turn, reducing stress, anxiety and depression. It is [incorrectly] touted as a universal tool for boosting mental wellbeing.

Mindfulness has become a trendy billion-dollar ‘meditation/wellness’ therapy pushed by scientific luminaries such as pop star Harry Styles, football player Raheem Sterling and TV personality Oprah Winfrey. In short, Mindfulness has taken the health industry by storm. It is claimed that 15% of adults in the UK have tried it.

However… a new study warns that mindfulness can result in some very unpleasant side effects and trigger unpleasant feelings such as disembodiment.

University of Cambridge researchers conducted an in-depth trial to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness as a way of coping with the stress of exams. The team followed 670 participants a year after their mindfulness course to discover if they had experienced any ‘altered states of consciousness’. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire exploring 11 ‘dimensions’ such as spiritual experience, blissful state, disembodiment and unity.

The experience of Unity is supposed to create a sense or a feeling that we are all part of a larger, interconnected whole, while Disembodiment experiences often consist of a floating sensation or a dissolution of body boundaries, meaning a person can feel disconnected from their body and mind.

Analysis of the results revealed that the participants who had undergone mindfulness training were twice as likely as those in a control group to experience feelings of unity and disembodiment. Of those who said they experienced altered states of consciousness, 43% experienced unity, 47% experienced blissful states, and 29% said they had experienced feelings of disembodiment. Similar results can be found with people who practice meditation, but one must remember that these feelings are manifest only in the imagination.

As interesting as all this might be, the jury is still out on whether mindfulness actually helps people. But… Hypnosis takes less effort and is much quicker because it teaches clients to control their feelings and emotions and self-hypnosis is easy to learn and practice.

In my clinical practice I encourage clients to put their problems, their feelings and emotions, in perspective. I also encourage clients to come to an understanding of proportionality… to stand back and see the bigger picture. Life isn’t always a bed of roses,  as with anything else, happiness often takes effort! Being mindful of that means you are normal and living in the real world.

From one of the world’s leading experts on hypnosis…

Are you intrigued by the art of hypnosis and its potential to bring about positive change? If so, training online is your ticket to unlocking the mysteries of the mind. If you’re looking for the best hypnotherapy training, Andrew Newton Hypnosis Training is where you want to be.

Hypnosis is not rocket science — in fact it’s a relatively straightforward process — it’s how to use it effectively that takes the time.

Andrew Newton provides training on a one-to-one basis for individuals, guaranteeing you receive his full attention. With 43+ years of experience in all areas of hypnotherapy and hypnosis, Andrew has a clear understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Andrew provides the best training, saving you time and money. The training includes all Course Notes and a copy of Andrew’s Scripts for Therapists, which covers almost every issue you’re likely to come across with clients.

Training online means you can learn the basics and the advanced techniques of hypnosis from the comfort and convenience of your own home, and at your own pace. Online courses provide a flexible and accessible way to study hypnosis and are conducted one-to-one, guided every step of the way and tailored to your own specific requirements.

Although Hypnosis is an ancient practice, modern hypnotherapy is supported by modern science. As a hypnotherapist, you can use your training to help people change the way the think and feel about themselves. Using modern technology, you can work from home and  see clients online, providing clients with recordings of sessions, negating the need to return for second and third sessions.

Training can be scheduled to fit in with your availability — you can do it in one go, over two intensive days, or you can divide it into 8 separate modules.

One great advantages of working with clients online is that people feel less self conscious and more relaxed in the comfort and privacy of their own home. The experience is the same as if you were working with the client in the same room. From the client’s point of view, there’s no need to travel and they feel completely safe.

Hypnotherapy online gets exactly the same results as meeting clients face to face, and there’s a host of issues you can deal with, including weight loss, anxiety, trauma, PTSD, pain management and much more. Training as a hypnotherapist online will provide you with everything you need to treat and help your clients.

The biggest PLUS is that Hypnotherapy training online is more affordable than going on a ‘classroom’ course where there are lots of other people — there are no overheads, the lessons are flexible, you get 100% one-to-one attention, and you can ask questions whenever you want.

After training, you can start your new practice immediately, and If you already have your own practice, short online seminars can help you take your existing knowledge to new levels. There are always new ways of working with clients!

What do the best hypnotists have in common?

Hypnotherapy has helped millions of people around the world deal with issues affecting their quality of life.

The mind-body connection is complex, but Hypnosis is a bona-fide, safe and effective treatment, which incorporates psychological techniques to cure a variety of problems and conditions, such as pain management, weight loss, smoking, stress & anxiety, and more. Hypnosis is a state of relaxation and focus of attention, allowing clients to become more receptive to new ideas. It’s also an excellent tool for weight loss, relationship problems, addictions and fears & phobias.

A good hypnotherapist will have a broad skill set. The building blocks of successful hypnotherapy employ several relevant psychological techniques enabling clients to achieve their goals. The best hypnotherapists will employ creative techniques such as hypno-analysis, metaphor, and occasionally regression to eliminate psychological blocks. A skilled hypnotherapist will adapt to meet your own personal needs.

The best hypnotherapists listen carefully to their clients and answer questions with honesty and clarity. The best hypnotherapists also strive to fully understand what the client needs and what they want to achieve. Working together, they will find the best road to long term cure.

Andrew Newton, member of the Royal Society of Medicine and one of the world’s most respected & experienced hypnotists, will show you how to reconcile personal struggles and achieve a more relaxed, productive life. Andrew can help you overcome stress & anxiety, unleash your potential, enjoy a more fulfilled life, and overcome life’s struggles.

Hypnotherapy is a powerful and versatile way of neutralising problems, breaking down barriers, and moving forward with your life. Most conditions require only one treatment session, and the best treatment is when each session is tailored to a client’s own specific and unique needs.

Based on proven and understood scientific principles and backed by extensive research, hypnotherapy offers a safe and effective way to unlock your potential. Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation, where limiting beliefs and past issues can be resolved, and significant changes in the way you think and feel. In short, hypnotherapy can improve your life by ditching limiting beliefs and negative habits and healing past traumas, shifting your perspective toward a more positive future. Hypnotherapy has the power to bring about transformative change in your life!

Banish Anxiety:

Hypnosis can quickly and effectively eliminate the stresses strains of everyday life once thought incurable! The process utilises your inbuilt ability to relax and visualise, helping you turn your back on the problems that caused you to feel like that in the first place.

Improve Athletic Performance:

Many athletes now use hypnosis to boost their performance, including Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan. Athletes use hypnosis to de-stress, relax their mind and body, eliminate negative or distracting thoughts, and improve concentration and focus. This mental training also amplifies confidence, ability, and consistency at all levels.

Beat Chronic or Acute Pain:

Pain is Nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong. With chronic pain, the nervous system sometimes continues to relay pain signals even after the body is healed… and the mind can even make the pain worse. Hypnotherapy can dial down pain signals, resulting in a significant decrease in chronic-pain.

Overcome Fears and Phobias:

Fears and phobias limit our lives. The primary function of the unconscious mind is to protect us from physical harm and emotional pain. People experiencing fears and phobias often have a sense of anxiety or panic and physical symptoms like heavy breathing, increased heart rate, and sweating. Hypnosis can resolve these problem by rewriting the past and managing and eliminating fears.

Managing Bereavement:

Grief, and loss, especially the loss of a loved one, can be debilitating, resulting in anxiety and insomnia. The purpose of grief is to help us remember loved ones, but there must also be room for positive feelings and emotions. It’s only fair to put aside a few minutes every day to remember, but hypnosis can also help coping with grief by putting a timer on grief.

Beating Insomnia:

Lack of sleep can adversely affect memory and decision-making, leading to depression, and even obesity or heart disease! Most people experience insomnia because they fear not being able to sleep, but the unconscious mind manages sleep, so using conscious thoughts to treat insomnia is usually ineffective. Hypnosis can eliminate this fear, help you enjoy a good night’s sleep and reprogram your mind to sleep at night.

Smoking Cessation:

Taking prescription nicotine replacement drugs, over-the-counter medications, herbal remedies, etc. just wastes time and money because most of these treatments are ineffective. Apart from simply deciding to quit, Hypnotherapy is the most effective and successful way to stop smoking without cravings. Hypnosis is effective whether you smoke one or a hundred cigarettes a day or if you’ve been smoking for years. Smoking cessation hypnosis is a proven strategy that helps you quit for good. The hypnotherapy session targets triggers and cancels them, making it easy to kick the habit for good.

Andrew Newton has 43 years experience in hypnosis and hypnotherapy and is one of the world’s most respected and experienced hypnotists. He is a member of the Royal Society of Medicine.

He is Senior Lecturer in Hypnosis at Hypnoseakademiet, Norway, Europe’s leading Hypnosis and EFT training school, a position he has held since 2008. He is a regular speaker at psychology conferences in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. He regularly lectures to psychology students on Hypnosis, Suggestion, Group behaviour and Social Compliance.

Andrew Newton has worked in hypnotherapy in Harley Street, London specialising in the treatment of deep trauma, emotional problems, anxiety, grief and loss, achieving positive results in just one session. He has a wealth of experience specialising in weight loss, stress & anxiety, pain management, grief and loss, letting go of the past, trauma, PTSD and confidence.

He has trained over two hundred hypnotherapists worldwide, and has hypnotised 62,000 people together with more 6000 public and TV appearances worldwide. He is the author of 36 books and over 100 articles on psychology and hypnosis. 

Hypnosis is a potent tool that can be utilised to overcome diverse challenges, enhance personal growth and a happier, healthier life. Clients can expect a supportive, professional approach. Andrew Newton provides an unmatched service, achieving life-changing results working with clients from all over the world. Using a combination of hypnosis and psychotherapy, Andrew prioritises listening to clients to understand their needs, helping them to achieve their goals in a single session. His commitment is unparalleled, helping people overcome personal psychological challenges and lead more fulfilling lives.

Hypnotherapy clears negative thoughts, emotions and behaviours, rapidly reducing the effects of stress, anxiety and other personal challenges and inspiring positive feelings and emotions which reshape clients’ outlook on life. Hypnosis is not a panacea for all evils nor is it’s purpose is to replace traditional medical treatments, but it does complement them, often resulting in dramatic and instant results.

The newtonhypnosis.com website is user-friendly and provides a wealth of information about hypnotherapy — how it works, valuable tips and insights on improving mental health and wellbeing, and the conditions it can treat, both informing and enlightening visitors.

“My aim is to modify the way clients think and feel about their problems, their habits and their issues. Hypnosis helps the mind process information in a new way by changing the way clients think and feel about themselves. They can eliminate limiting beliefs and negative thought patterns and achieve positive change. The use of visualisation, and guided imagery helps individuals relax and focus on new ways of thinking and living to regain control and ownership of their lives.”

Hypnotherapy is not a stand alone treatment, it operates hand in hand with traditional psychotherapy. Not all hypnotherapists are equal — so it’s important to select a therapist with years of experience and an understanding of the human condition. Hypnotherapy has gained justified recognition as an alternative and effective form of therapy, effectively treating issues such as anxiety, depression, weight management, and much more.

A hypnotherapist with years of experience will have a comprehensive understanding of all the diverse approaches to therapy, and the best approach to address a client’s needs. But beware — a lot of hypnotherapists hold certificates and ‘qualifications’ that are not worth the paper they’re written on, which is why Andrew Newton stands head and shoulders above the rest, many of his clients coming from recommendation.

Tired of endless diets and exercise that lead nowhere? Virtual Gastric Band Hypnotherapy changes how you think and feel about food, making you feel full more quickly, making it easy to eat less, and make healthier food choices.

The journey to weight loss can be complex, and while physical activity and diet play their part, the mind-body connection is a critical feature. Virtual Gastric Band Hypnosis is now a tried, tested, safe and proven way of shedding pounds by changing your eating habits. Hypnosis will help you make healthier food choices, resist temptation, and adopt a more positive attitude towards food.

Hypnosis is a state where a person becomes receptive to suggestion which temporarily bypasses the conscious mind, allowing access to the unconscious mind, making it possible for new positive attitudes and behaviours to food, making weight loss easy and effortless.

An experienced hypnotherapist will work with the client to identify any underlying issues, such as stress, low self-esteem, and anxiety. Negative thoughts and beliefs about food and lack of motivation are targeted and turned around in just one session. By talking directly to the unconscious mind, weight loss can be achieved effortlessly by addressing the root of the problem rather than just the symptoms. Hypnosis modifies the psychological and emotional factors that contribute to weight gain.

The Virtual Gastric Band sets achievable long-term goals. And weight is lost gradually without major sacrifices. Losing weight gradually means it’s much less likely to pile on again. The mind fools the body into believing you’ve had enough to eat. The method is now the world’s most successful way of losing weight without feeling deprived or hungry, eliminating unwanted cravings for food, emotional eating, and impulsive snacking.

Hypnosis also helps encourage the desire for healthy food. Working with an experienced hypnotherapist, clients can achieve and sustain weight loss, setting easily achievable goals of around 1 kg (2lbs) per week.

Gastric band hypnotherapy has a success rate that equals actual gastric band or gastric sleeve surgery. The first part of the session provides an opportunity to discuss your eating habits and examine any underlying conditions, such as stress or anxiety. Hypnosis then helps the client focus on their own individual needs and determination to succeed. The session takes you on a journey through the gastric band operation and recovery, leading to long term weight loss.

Having just one of these traits does not make someone a psychopath, but it’s someone’s overall personality traits that indicate psychopathy.

Parasites lead a parasitic lifestyle, often sponge off others financially, or get others to do things they could do themselves, such as doing work for them, even though they might pay for that work to be done.

Psychopaths also tend to have a lot of short-term relationships and display a lack of empathy with others.

Behavioural problems are evident from childhood. Psychopaths are often short tempered and will start to display these signs in childhood. Being violent toward other children, even pets, is another sign. Psychopaths may often explode with anger, usually for manipulative purposes.

Promiscuity is also an indication of psychopathy, jumping from one short term sexual relationship to another. A lot of whirlwind romances and marriages are another sign — they’ll meet someone and get married quickly, but the marriage won’t last.

Psychopaths do not care about other people’s feelings. If you approach a psychopath to tell them about how you’re feeling, it may be obvious they’re not interested in how you feel!

Psychopaths are good at putting on superficial charm, but as you get to know them, that charm will disappear as you discover they are not as charming as you thought. Everyone who meets them for the first time will think they’re nice, charming, funny, and yes, even caring, but this is entirely nothing more than window-dressing, paving the way for them to get what they want.

Psychopaths also harbour a grandiose opinion of their own worth, thinking they’re the best at everything, never wrong, and no one can ever better than them a higher intellectual plane than others.

Psychopaths are always pathological liars. This trait is not always noticeable at first, but once you start getting to know your psychopath friend, you’ll see that lying is deeply ingrained in their nature and they sometimes do it just for the fun of it!

Psychopaths are also skilled manipulators. They know every trick in the book that will help them achieve their aims. They will lie, they will use anger or charm as it suits, and they’ll use an armoury of tactics to get what they want, and you won’t realise you’ve been had until it’s too late.

Psychopaths lack any sense of remorse or guilt. They don’t care about ruining your life, they’re only focused on achieving their aims, and whoever gets in the way will be crushed and destroyed in the process.

Some clients are by nature, negatively biased and so it’s important to recognise and understand the impact these ideas can have on their overall wellbeing.

Not all clients possess resilience and a positive mindset… negative thinking clients will [usually unconsciously] sabotage their own success, no matter how much better they feel during or straight after the session. Sometimes clients ‘reframe’ success and turn it into failure because they’re not sure the hypnosis will work, or their reality is the only reality, or perhaps they are just naturally pessimistic and feel destined for failure.

Some self-doubt can be helpful, especially if it stops people taking part in very dangerous pursuits, such as driving at 100 miles an hour through the Mersey Tunnel, or just visiting Liverpool. But positive changes in their thinking and behaviour might be beneficial, and that’s the important message they should take on board. Clients should also be prepared to ditch their past emotional conditioning and embrace new positive advantages.

With some clients, the certainty of a bad outcome might even provide them with a sense of security and even protect them from disappointment. But substituting emotional resilience peppered with a dash of optimism is better!

Clients often harbour extreme all-or-nothing thoughts and these simply have to go! This kind of thinking is known as cognitive distortion. Nothing is all good or all bad! Added to which, it’s the mindset of children which can result in anger, self-sabotage and anything in between. So one way to deal with this is to get them to think of a few examples of how they might be able to put things in perspective. You might have to provide a couple of examples, but once they get the hang of this new way of thinking, they’ll be on their way to thinking more clearly. By doing this, we can help eliminate all-or-nothing thinking.

Some clients will think that everything in their life is awful and everything they attempt to do is a failure. But these clients are rare. Well guess what? We all go through times like these, but there are some easy ways to break free — and the best way is to visualise a success and also visualise how that success feels! Not everything in life is permanent. More important, a more balanced view means there will be a solution. Some might call it ‘positive thinking.’

So it’s great when a client stops dismissing positives. One way of course is to get the client to imagine themselves having a conversation with someone they really admire… someone they respect… even if they’ve never met them… and then ask them to imagine (in as much detail as possible) what advice this person would give them. It works every time because they are able to see barriers and setbacks as temporary and the concept of ‘try, try, try again…’ something everyone in the world has to do from time to time.

Some negative thought is triggered by pessimism or low self-esteem. Negative thinking often leads to people assuming the worst and these thoughts then manifest themselves as stress and anxiety. It’s easy to imagine the worst, which is again, where perspective comes in handy. It’s always possible to consider the different meanings of thoughts, no matter how uncertain things are. There will always be other explanations — even positive ones.

Another important step is to recognise that these thoughts have already surfaced many times in the past… and they never happen! Maybe the answer is a ‘meaning box’ where all the familiar negative thoughts and imaginings can be kept… locked up and locked in a cupboard somewhere.

And if the client doesn’t know what the outcome will be, they can just keep the box in the ‘pending’ drawer.

Some people might blame themselves for past mistakes or failures, but the past doesn’t mean the same thing is going to happen again any time in the future. They might imagine the problem is someone else’s fault and they have no power to deal with it, in which case you should explain to the client the meaning of ‘learned helplessness’ and how negative thoughts and emotions can adversely influence our logical thinking — “why should I be held back or blamed because so-and-so failed to get such-and-such finished in time?’

This is not meant to absolve the client from blame, it’s simply to get them to consider alternatives. Nobody is perfect… the client is not perfect.. things don’t always turn out the way we want all the time… even clever people also make mistakes you know… and that’s just part of life.

Humour also helps. As a former stage hypnotist, I was renowned for my off-the-cuff rapier-like wit and I occasionally allow my sense of humour into therapy sessions. I once told a client who was having trouble coming to terms with her poor memory that I had accidentally taken my grandmother to Dignitas (the Swiss end of life clinic) instead of Disneyland. There was a look of horror on my client’s face before she realised I was kidding. But it worked and she became a different person. I really do believe that humour helps clients to see problems in a different light.

Constant negative thinking and expectation is not the way life unfolds. Sure, we all have disappointments from time to time and the client has to understand this. Neither is life always a breeze, but it’s never as bad as the client imagines. The real problem is that negativity sometimes encourages people to expect more from like than is reasonable.

The imagination is a powerful tool — for good and bad. It’s how we use it that matters. So… getting the client to visualise positive outcomes and all the good feelings they bring. Guided imagery can switch a client’s thought processes from negative to positive in the blink of an eye. Immersive imagery — and imagination — can help clients move forward in record time. Hypnosis provides a calm, peaceful pathway that makes those images vivid and meaningful to the client.

The position you sleep in can have an effect on the amount of sleep you get because sleeping in the wrong position could leave you more prone to nightmares.

A study published in 2016 in the journal Sleep and Hypnosis found that people who sleep on their left side run a 41% chance of having nightmares because left-side sleepers put more stress on their hearts, while only 15% of people who slept on their right side had them. The Sleep and Hypnosis journal study also found high school students who slept on their stomachs had more empowering dreams.

A study in the National Library of Medicine found that patients who slept on their left side showed changes in their heart activity, which is an indicator of stress. This is because the heart is more likely to shift very slightly to the left and right in this position. Participants who slept on their right side showed almost no changes in heart activity. This is unlikely to cause health issues if you don’t have pre-existing heart problems, but if you have heart disease or are at risk of heart failure, the change in heart activity could lead to discomfort.

Sleeping on your back can also lead to nightmares — especially people who experience breathing problems while asleep… they are more likely to bounce from deep sleep to light sleep and experience anxious or disturbing dreams, common in people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). For individuals with OSA, it’s common for the degree of apnea to be worse during supine (back) sleep compared to lateral (side) or prone (stomach) sleeping positions.

In people with OSA, the airway can partially collapse, resulting in a decrease in oxygen and increase in carbon dioxide levels in the body. These fluctuations can trigger the fight-or-flight response, causing stress or feelings of suffocation. This can contribute to disturbing dreams or nightmares.

So changing your sleeping position could influence the kind of dream you have. The best sleep position is a position that is optimal for healthy breathing and potentially better for your dreams! However, warding off nightmares isn’t just about sleep position. The most important factor is comfort.