We're very pleased to announce the dates of the next Kent SlimQuest courses.

They are:

Gravesend, Tuesday 7th July - 7:45pm
Meopham, Monday 7th September - 7:45pm

SlimQuest is a 6 week group course that helps you understand your relationship with food and overcome the obstacles that have prevented you from losing weight and keeping it off in the past.

Spaces are limited, so early booking is advised. Visit our SlimQuest page for more information and booking instructions.

We're very pleased to announce that the first SlimQuest course to run in Kent has completely sold out.

The 6 week group course is designed to help you understand your relationship with food and overcome the obstacles that have prevented you from losing weight and keeping it off in the past.

If you were hoping to come, don't worry, we'll be organising another course date soon.

To ensure you get advanced notice, please contact us to register your interest in SlimQuest Kent and let us know the course that would suit you best.

Nicotine chewing gum, lozenges and inhalers designed to help people to give up smoking may have the potential to cause cancer, research has suggested.

Scientists have discovered a link between mouth cancer and exposure to nicotine, which may indicate that using oral nicotine replacement therapies for long periods could contribute to a raised risk of the disease. A study led by Muy-Teck Teh, of Queen Mary, University of London, has found that the effects of a genetic mutation that is common in mouth cancer can be worsened by nicotine in the levels that are typically found in smoking cessation products.

Full article: Times Online, 22nd April 2009

The National Council for Hypnotherapy website has picked up the story, and confirms that Hypnotherapy is a safe alternative for people worried about nicotine replacement therapy which studies suggest is more than twice as effective too.

Hypnotherapy was proven to be the best method of stopping smoking by a meta analysis of almost 72,000 subjects conducted at University of Iowa by Viswesvaran & Schmidt (1992), reported in New Scientist (1992 - Volume 136, Issue 1845, Page 6).

Their findings were as a result of an in-depth study of all methods of stopping smoking, and showed that Hypnotherapy in general is up to five times more effective than willpower alone and more than twice as effective compared with nicotine gum.

Hypnosis is being touted as the cure for every modern ill, from obesity to sexual frustration and even infertility.

There were shrieks of disbelief when Lily Allen revealed that her dramatically slimmed-down figure was not the result of the latest Hollywood diet or a hot new personal trainer, but of a far more unlikely regime: hypnotherapy. That a woman could magically drop two dress sizes as a result of lying on someone’s couch sounds, frankly, unbelievable. Yet there is a body of scientific evidence to back up the effectiveness of hypnosis for weight loss and a range of other issues, from anxiety and sleep disorders to infertility and compulsive shopping.

Times Online (12th April 2009)

"SlimQuest" is coming to Meopham on 11th May

Are you always on a diet? Does the weight just come back when you stop?
It's not your fault. Research has shown that yo-yo dieting can actually make you fatter!

SlimQuest is a 6 week group course designed to help you understand your relationship with food and overcome the obstacles that have prevented you from losing weight and keeping it off in the past.

SlimQuest is a proven concept that uses Cognitive Hypnotherapy and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) to not only assist you in your weight loss goals, but more importantly, to help you achieve them on a long term basis.

There are no embarrassing revelations or weight-ins, and you have the freedom to set your own targets. And with the comfort of a small group of like-minded people, you'll be amazed how quickly diets become something that other people fail at!

The next SlimQuest course in Kent starts in Meopham on 11th May - spaces are strictly limited, so contact Heidi to reserve your place today.

It's been a little while since we posted. Sorry about that. There have been a lot of developments in the last year, both personally and professionally, and after seeing hypnotherapy clients, our various other professional commitments, and an addition to our family, the time seems to fly by these days.

But this video struck a chord, so I just had to take a moment to share it. For me, it's a reminder that our enjoyment of life depends on our perspective, and the value in stopping to appreciate the amazing things (and people) that we can sometimes take for granted.



Hope you enjoy the video - leave us a comment below.

In her new monthly column in the Mail on Sunday, Star of BBC's "What Not To Wear", Lisa Butcher reveals she visited a Quest-trained Cognitive Hypnotherapist to boost her confidence in front of camera. In her words,

"When I started work on What Not To Wear at the BBC, the clothes I wore were important, but that was not enough to give me the confidence I needed. I discovered a solution in cognitive hypnotherapy/ neuro-linguistic programming with the Quest Institute. I went to two sessions and that was enough to build up my strengths and deal with my anxieties."

As Quest trained Cognitive Hypnotherapists ourselves, it is great to see the approach we use reaching the stars...

If you would like to boost your confidence or self esteem, why not contact us and see how we can help.

(And if you are not in our area, why not find a Quest trained Cognitive Hypnotherapist near you...)

"At a hospital in Peterborough, Bernadine Coady, has been having routine knee surgery.

But unlike most patients, she was not given any anaesthetic - instead, the 67-year-old claimed she used self-hypnosis to control the pain.

She told surgeon Ahmed Shair of the private Orthopaedics and Spine Specialist Hospital in Cambridgeshire that she could feel only tugging and pulling.

Despite much research, nobody knows exactly how the technique works but Mrs Coady says anyone is capable of using self-hypnosis to control pain if they train their mind."

(BBC News - Monday, 7 July 2008 (Video available))

What a shining example of the power of self-hypnosis, and hats off to Bernadine, not only for doing it all on her own - but also having a film crew in the operating theatre with her every step of the way.

Hypnosis has been used as a form of pain control for centuries, but fell out of popular use when modern anaesthetics were developed. However, some progressive modern surgeons (notably Irish surgeon, Dr Jack Gibson) have continued to use it in their work. Dr Jack, now 92 (and still working!), has performed over 4000 procedures using hypnosis instead of anaesthetic.

Modern neuroscience suggests that hypnosis works the same way as an anaesthetic - by blocking or altering the way the mind processes the pain signals coming from the body. MRI scans show the physical brain activity actually changes as a person goes into self hypnosis. Unlike anaesthetic, however, Hypnosis has no side effects, and studies show that patients actually recover much faster.

From our perspective, it is great to see yet more unquestionable proof that hypnosis works - helping to dispel further the hollywood myths and stage show shenanigans that have dogged its past. The mind is a powerful thing, and hypnosis allows each one of us to tap into its full power to make change in our lives - if we will allow ourselves to do so.

The Guardian and Observer are running a two part feature on massage and relaxation this weekend, and we are listed in the section on Cognitive Hypnotherapy.

Here are some extracts from the article on Cognitive Hypnotherapy.

"Cognitive hypnotherapy provides overworked minds with the toolkit they need to fix their own stresses and strains. It is based on modern psychology and neuroscience and, don't worry, there's not a pendulum in sight ...

... In 2001, Trevor Silvester set up the Quest Institute (questinstitute.co.uk) and introduced the idea of combining hypnosis with cognitive behavioural therapy, tools from positive psychology, cognitive theory and neuro-linguistic programming...

...There's no one way to treat stress or to encourage relaxation, it all depends on the way you see things - your model of the world. As part of a session, the client is supplied with a toolkit for the mind. This enables them to use different tools to fix different mental states...

...everyone has the capacity to adopt new mental tools, and anyone can be hypnotised. The only prerequisite is to be open to the process."

As specialists in Stress, Anxiety and Panic, we can help you to deal more effectively with the strain of modern living. Whether you want to learn to relax more, break an unhelpful pattern of behaviour or find more balance and happiness in your life, we are ready to help you.

When most people think about hypnosis, it is usually Derren Brown or the hypnotist character from the Little Britain TV show that spring to mind, complete with the immortal words, “look into my eyes…”

NCH registered Cognitive Hypnotherapists, Rob & Heidi Woodgate of Gravesend based practice North Kent Hypnotherapy say that neither gives a true picture of hypnotherapy, and think that these popular misconceptions of hypnosis might actually stop people seeking help for issues that could otherwise be overcome in just a few sessions.

Rob says, “We think it’s important to bring to the public’s awareness the difference between hypnosis and hypnotherapy. It has nothing to do with ‘looking into your eyes’ and more to do with looking into your behaviour.

Hypnotherapy is most often used for psychological problems like stress, anxiety, lack of confidence and low self esteem, and can also help with weight loss, phobias and obsessions. It has also been scientifically proven to be beneficial in smoking cessation and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Heidi says, “Over a decade of scientific research has shown hypnotherapy to be an effective choice for alleviating the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Hypnotherapy routinely produces positive results in over 80% of the people who use it.”

National Hypnotherapy Week is sponsored by The National Council for Hypnotherapy, who maintains the highest standards among its members and is regarded as the premier professional body in hypnotherapy within the United Kingdom.

Well, not quite - but we have renamed our practice “North Kent Hypnotherapy”.

Our practice was originally called Ghost Gum Therapy, a name we chose because it is a great metaphor for the work we do. The Ghost Gum is an Australian Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus Papuana) whose name comes from the white chalky coating it secretes on its bark. By day this coating can be used to provide sun block protection. By night, it provides an eerie glow, enabling people to make their way through the dark. The branches of the Ghost Gum make excellent firewood and the leaves can be used to catch fish. With this amazing versatility, the Ghost Gum provides a great deal help and support to the native Aboriginal people.

The Ghost Gum has the ability to survive in the harshest climates of the Australian Outback by knowing how to look after itself. When the water supply is scarce, rather than dying off, the Ghost Gum cuts off the water and nutrient supply to its non-essential branches, allowing it to lose its excess baggage and thrive. In this way, by making changes and addressing those parts which are not helpful, it is always able to adapt and move forward in its life.

We decided to change to our new name because it simply says exactly what we do and where we do it - Hypnotherapy in North Kent!

The new name also compliments Heidi's brand spanking new counselling website - North Kent Counselling.

Time magazine reported this week that one billion people will die from smoking by the end of this century. According to the World Health Organisation, smoking related illness already kills a person every six seconds (that's 100 million people in the 20th century alone).

As stop smoking experts, we help people quit smoking every day. But there is a limit to the number of people that we can physically see each week, which is why we created a FREE stop smoking programme - '5 top tips to Quit Smoking'. This programme is delivered by email over a month and is designed to follow your progress as you quit.

Please let us know how you get on with it!

The crash landing of BA flight BA038 at Heathrow will no doubt have made quite a few people nervous.

And we're not just referring to the people involved, who will understandably be very shaken up. All over the country, countless people with a fear of flying will be reading and watching every piece of news on this incident they can lay their hands on.

We are pleased to announce that our self hypnosis mp3 for natural birth now uses binaural beats to make them even more effective.

Binaural beats are created when sounds of slightly sifferent frequencies are heard separately by each ear, and combined by the brain to create a third perceived 'sound' which is the difference between the two.

Research at educational institutions worldwide, including the Monroe Institute, has found that binaural beats cause our brainwave patterns to synchronise with the beat, allowing people to reach the deeply relaxed states of mind much more quickly and with less practice.

This technology not only helps make our self hypnosis mp3 so much more effective, but also means our programmes can be much shorter than traditional hypnosis cds, making them much more convenient to listen to each day.

Trying to cut out all thoughts of your favourite, fattening food may actually make you eat more, claims research.
Women who tried to stop thinking about chocolate ate 50% more than those who were encouraged to talk about their cravings.

This "rebound" effect could also apply to smokers, say the Hertfordshire University authors in Appetite journal.

Experts at Weight Watchers said a "varied diet" was the best way to lose weight.

Dr James Erskine, who led the project, recruited 134 students who were asked to either suppress all thoughts about chocolate, or talk about how much they liked it.

They were then asked to choose from two brands of chocolate, believing that it was this choice that was being recorded by the researchers.

However, the quantity they ate was recorded instead.

Women who had tried to suppress their cravings ate on average eight chocolates, while those who had talked freely about it ate five.

Men did not show the same effect, with the group told to talk about the snack eating more.
(BBC News, 22nd October 2007)