Hypnotherapy attempts to address an individual's subconscious mind, using the power of suggestion for beneficial change. A hypnotherapist uses hypnosis* to give relevant, positive beneficial suggestions to help an individual bring about the change they desire. Although hypnotherapy is not the same as sleep (the individual will still have awareness and control), hypnotherapists often require the individual to be in a deeply relaxed state to enable them to use their imagination fully.

For this reason, it’s imperative that the individual feels completely comfortable with their hypnotherapist. Hypnosis is a different state of consciousness from being awake or asleep, and many people compare the deep, relaxed state of hypnosis to daydreaming.
Altered states of awareness have been recognized for thousands of years and hypnosis is widely accepted as a beneficial psychological therapy to access our inner potential. Techniques can be used to reveal issues from an individual’s past that may be causing them distress, or the approach can be focused more on their present problems. Hypnotherapy can generally help with most emotional problems an individual is finding hard to cope with, and some physical problems can also be effectively treated with hypnosis too, such as IBS and insomnia. Hypnotherapists will often combine hypnosis with other psychotherapy and counseling techniques to benefit individuals.
It is important to recognize that it is not possible to hypnotize an individual against their will, and even if an individual is hypnotized, they can reject any suggestion that is not beneficial to them. Hypnotherapy is therefore natural and safe, with no harmful side effects.

Hypnosis is a state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination. In reality, it is more like daydreaming, or the feeling of "losing yourself" in a good book or movie. You are fully conscious, but you tune out most of the stimuli around you. You focus intently on the subject at hand, to the near exclusion of any other thought. In the everyday "trance" of a daydream or movie, an imaginary world seems somewhat real to you, in the sense that it fully engages your emotions.

During hypnosis, a person is said to have heightened focus and concentration. The person can concentrate intensely on a specific thought or memory, while blocking out sources of distraction. Hypnosis is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction involving a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as "hypnotherapy", while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience is known as "stage hypnosis".

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) explores the relationship between language, behaviour and excellence. It is essentially a model used to identify and analyze the linguistic techniques used subconsciously by successful people, in order to produce a recipe for excellence. The process of NLP explores neurology (which regulates how our bodies function and receive experiences), language (which determines how we communicate and think) and programming (our behavioural response) in a bid to find out how their interplay with one another effects our behaviour and the outcomes of our behaviour. NLP techniques use both the conscious and unconscious mind to replace pre-programmed negative behaviors with far more positive ones. An NLP practitioner will look at your attitude, language and your use of it, your understanding of relationships and how you build a rapport and the physical and emotional states which are best for accomplishing a task. Effective communication and perception of ours and others will also be key focuses and all will be examined so that strategies for improving understanding, motivation, learning and remembering can be formed.
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