In2 Minds Blog - Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness - RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness - Online Across the UK

A Mindful Minute: When Your Mind Races Ahead

5/9/2026

Our minds are very good at racing ahead.
We imagine conversations that haven't happened, problems that haven't arisen and all the things that might go wrong. Before we know it, we're responding to something that exists only in our thoughts.
Mindfulness invites us to notice when this happens and gently bring our attention back to where we actually are.
Not to tell ourselves that everything will be fine. Not to push our worries away. Simply to notice: right now, this is where I am.
Perhaps today, if you notice your mind disappearing into tomorrow, take a moment to come back to today.
Until next time...
Take a mindful minute.

A Mindful Minute: Beginning Again

5/8/2026

In2Minds
Welcome to In2Minds - a space where I'll be sharing short reflections, practical mindfulness ideas and thoughts inspired by my work as a clinical hypnotherapist, mindfulness teacher and trainer.
These aren't lengthy articles or complicated theories. They're simply invitations to pause for a moment, reflect, and perhaps see things from a different perspective.

Beginning Again.

We often tell ourselves that if we've stopped doing something, we've somehow failed. Perhaps we stopped meditating, exercising, journalling, or simply taking time to pause.

Mindfulness offers a different perspective. Every moment is an opportunity to begin again. There is no judgement about how long you've been away or how often you've lost your way. There is simply this moment and the choice to return to it with kindness.

The practice isn't about never wandering. It's about noticing when you have and gently coming back.

Perhaps today is your opportunity to begin again. Not because yesterday wasn't enough, but because this moment is here, waiting.

Until next time...
Take a mindful minute.

Hypnotherapy can help you overcome your fear of driving

30/4/2017

Man holding a car's steering wheel

There are many different issues that people might like resolved surrounding the subject of driving – driving lesson anxiety, driving test anxiety, fear of driving on the motorway, loss of confidence after an accident, fear of driving abroad, fear of driving in town and many more. But as you can see the usual common denominator is fear and anxiety. And this is where hypnotherapy really does work.

First of all, you have to ask the question “How motivated are you to resolve your particular issue?” I usually ask my clients to scale how much they really want to make positive changes out of 10 where 10 means they’re absolutely desperate to do something about their fears. And sometimes the answer is “Not that much! Maybe only 3 or 4 out of 10.” These might be people who are quite happy to take the bus or catch a lift from someone; or they might be people who don’t really have the need to drive into town or on the motorway. It has to be said that hypnotherapy does not work so well when your motivation isn’t high!
However, when your motivation is high, say 8, 9, or 10 out of 10 then hypnosis will probably be your answer.

I always spend the first consultation having a chat and asking a series of questions to find out exactly what you’d like help with. I’m very much a ‘solution focused’ practitioner, however, I often need to find out exactly why you might be feeling the fear that you do – sometimes you’ll know this from the beginning and sometimes it might slowly dawn on you but usually you’ll arrive at some realisation as to why you feel the way you do.

I’ll also ask you about how that fear and anxiety affects you both physically and emotionally. Usually, there will be some kind of pattern that has taken a hold and hypnotherapy works by helping you to break the pattern. So, for example, I’ve had clients tell me their driving anxiety makes them go hot and sweaty, their hands shake, they grip the steering wheel tightly, their mind goes blank, and they feel like crying. Others see the world going past too fast and it feels as though they’re out of control. Others still, cannot even get into the driver’s seat.

There are a range of different techniques that can be used to overcome all of these symptoms and to break the pattern, leaving you feeling much more confident and in control.

If you’re suffering with driving anxiety please get in touch to find out more.

RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness now provides sessions exclusively online via Zoom, supporting clients across the UK. For current information about sessions and how to get in touch, please visit the Contact page.

Mindfulness in school - should it really be used to demand a certain behaviour?

26/2/2017

Mindfulness continues to be of growing interest, and more and more people from all walks of life are beginning to recognise just how important this form of mental keep fit / first aid is. And one place where mindfulness is a growing industry is in education.

There’s recently been a clip, I think from Radio 4, posted around Facebook of children (6 and 7 year olds) trying to describe what mindfulness is all about when they have been taught it in school. However, it appears from this clip that these young children were being taught mindfulness largely as a tool enabling them to work better, although the words ‘relaxed’ and ‘calm’ were mentioned too. I personally think this is a very precarious school of thought, after all, the essence of mindfulness involves no aims or goals.
I know that some people are wary of mindfulness because they have deduced (wrongly) that it disempowers people (employees especially), that it’s almost a form of subtle mind control – they might think that the attitude of acceptance means resignation; they might imagine that the attitude of trust means blind faith; they might think that the attitude of non-judgement means that they have to be completely passive when things are not going well. But again this is all very far from what mindfulness is all about. And I think it’s worrying that this seems to be running alongside the notion outlined above that mindfulness can be used in order to get children to work.
There is a great quote that I often regurgitate in my training session on working with children. It’s from www.thegreatergood.berkeley.edu:

“Although it may be tempting to use mindfulness as a disciplinary tool, it should not be used to demand a certain behaviour. It inherently includes the quality of acceptance.”

In other words, mindfulness should not be used as a way to get children to be quiet and get on with their work (especially when they’re perhaps still very young as the children in the video clip were). Instead, it accepts where the child is, in their own experience, right now, with all that that entails. And sometimes that’s not easy to deal with. They might be feeling upset, bewildered, frightened or conversely excited, full of energy, even hyperactive.

There have also been articles and video clips of schools in America using mindfulness sessions as an alternative to detentions. This again, I believe, is approaching things from completely the wrong angle. Mindfulness should ideally be taught when things are going right, not when things go wrong.

Yes, of course, I believe mindfulness should be an essential part of school life and it could be a game changer in allowing children to understand how their minds work, observing their thought processes and their reactions to situations. It also enables them to be more creative, observant, compassionate and resilient. But this all comes as a natural by-product, as does the ability to concentrate more successfully on the work they are expected to complete. As such, of course it should be an integral part of school life. But it should not, in my opinion, be utilised as that disciplinary tool. Mindfulness is so much more than that.

As a tutor for Mindfulness Now, Rachel shares a range of different techniques for teaching mindfulness to children and teenagers. For more information please visit the Mindfulness Now website

Update 2026: RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness now provides one-to-one and group sessions exclusively online via Zoom, supporting clients across the UK. Please see the current website pages for up-to-date information about services and contact details.

5 things to remember when introducing children (and adults) to mindfulness.

31/1/2017

During this last week I was asked why anyone should do mindfulness with children.
Earlier that same day, there had been a news report which stated that 50% of all mental health problems are established by the age of 14 (www.mentalhealth.org.uk). Question answered I think.

Mindfulness is an effective way of helping anyone be more emotionally resilient. But it’s not all about sitting down with our eyes closed – in fact, children often respond in a far better way if this is not part of the plan, at least in the early days of their mindfulness experience.
Here are five very quick tips that you might like to remember in order for any mindfulness teaching of youngsters to be effective and enable them to become more emotionally resilient:

1. The most important! As with any teaching, it has to be FUN, otherwise what’s the point?! We all know that we learn best when we’re fully engaged, when we find something interesting, when it makes us smile. Mindfulness should not be a dry, dull subject – for anyone! Employing different ways of stimulating their interest, will enable children to make the most of their mindful experience. So utilise their own interests, sing the song, paint the picture, imagine the story and bring laughter into the equation too.

2. Remember that young children won’t necessarily have the vocabulary to describe how they might be feeling. Using words like ‘relaxed’, ‘stressed’, ‘calm’, and ‘tense’ are second nature to adults, but perhaps not so much for children. It’s therefore perhaps a good idea to have props available in order to help. I love the analogy of uncooked spaghetti for feeling tense, and cooked spaghetti for feeling relaxed.

3. To some degree or another, children are used to listening to stories, so make use of this skill by employing metaphors and imagination. It’s a proven way to tap into a deeper level of consciousness. A point can be made much more easily, and much memorably too, if it’s put across in the form of a short story. Children (and adults) will automatically make the story fit to the way they see the world, and it will therefore be much more effective. Visual metaphors are great – I often use a jar full of glittery water to explain how mindfulness works.

4. Whenever possible, bring into play all of the senses. Mindfulness is about bringing ourselves back to the present moment, time after time after time. And one of the easiest ways to do this is by focusing on our senses. Things like cooking, art and craft activities, or looking after a pet are all great ways of enabling us to experience life in the present moment.

5. And when you think the time is right, bring a focus to the child’s breathing, again remembering that suggestions we give might sound quite confusing to a young child. Here we can employ a myriad of techniques in order to help, for example, sitting their favourite teddy bear on their tummy when they’re lying down – if they’re breathing deeply teddy will rise into the air, but if they’re breathing from their chest teddy will stay put. Seaside windmills too are great for teaching the fact that they can have some degree of control over their own breathing in response to feeling anxious or upset.

If you’d like more information on using mindfulness with children then please get in touch.

As a tutor for Mindfulness Now, Rachel shares a range of different techniques for teaching mindfulness to children and teenagers. For more information please visit Mindfulness Now website
She also uses mindfulness strategies, along with hypnotherapy and coaching, with children and their families in a private clinical therapy setting. For more information, please get in touch:
[email protected]
RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness now provides sessions exclusively online via Zoom, supporting clients across the UK. For current information about sessions and how to get in touch, please visit the Contact page.

A few things to remember for a calmer, more balanced New Year

29/12/2016

Feeling a bit stressed about the onset of 2017?

Still getting over the stresses of Christmas?

Have a read through these nine things and they could just help you to deal with everything that’s thrown at you in the coming year!

1. Recognise the story you give yourself about your own life and the things that happen in it. As much as you can, notice yourself acting out the main character’s role. Notice all the other characters and scenarios that take centre stage in the story of your life.
Then take a step back.
See your life as a member of the audience would see it from down there in the stalls. And notice how being able to step back and put a little distance between you and the story you create can help to put things a little more into perspective.
Also notice the story you create around others in your life, and the fact that they will all have slightly varying (or extremely different!) versions of you and their own lives. We all see things the way we believe. And what we believe is our own truth, the story we create, whether we like it or not. That’s why, often, we all deal with the same things in completely different ways, even perhaps creating completely different memories!

2. Acknowledge that this thing called life isn’t always a bed of roses. Stuff happens, things change, people move on and often we try to fight against this. But in the end we know it’s futile. We can never be fully in control of what happens because the future is unknowable. ‘You can’t stop the waves but you can learn how to surf’(Jon Kabat-Zinn). Everyone’s life is made up of ups and downs. We’re not the only ones who have to deal with getting hurt, losing our job, illness, bereavement. But, at the same time, it’s good to remember that we all experience happiness, joy, relaxation, calm and peace at some time in our lives too.

3. Remember that life is made up of emotion and we experience these emotions as good or bad or somewhere in between. Most of the time, most of us are happy enough somewhere in between to some degree or another. The trouble arises a) when we’re really happy - because we’ll try and cling onto this happiness at all costs and b) when we’re feeling really low - because we think it’s never going to be any different and we’ll always be this sad. At these times, both happy and sad, perhaps it’s a good idea to try and remember that emotions too constantly change, moment by moment, day by day, even year by year. Things pass, whether happy or sad.

4. Be gentle with yourself. So life is full of ups and downs, good and bad situations, things are constantly changing and, like everyone else, you’re doing the best you can just to get through. So try to start treating yourself as your new best friend. See things through their eyes. They wouldn’t blame you for everything. They wouldn’t say it’s all your own fault. They wouldn’t say you’re stupid and you ought to have done things differently. They wouldn’t judge.
Being a best friend, they would be compassionate, caring, non-judgemental, loving, nurturing.
How many times do we treat ourselves like this though? Instead, we are often our own harshest critics. Again, try to take a step back. In so-doing it might also become a little easier to be more gentle with others too. You might find yourself cutting people a bit of slack – we’re all just doing the best we can in the best way we know how.

And five practical things that perhaps might be a little easier to put into practise!

5. Remember that social media isn’t the real world and what you see portrayed is the version of events that someone else wants to convey. Again, this links back to the stories we tell ourselves and make up about others.

6. Go for a walk or a run, go to the gym, go for a swim – anything that gets you out there being active.

7. Take time out, even just five minutes, to step away from emails and texts, take a few deep breaths, stop, and simply recharge your batteries.

8. Do something you enjoy every day – whether it’s reading a book, playing with your dog, reading to your children, watching a film, going for a drive.

9. Get out of yourself and do something for someone else – phone a friend, do some shopping for an elderly neighbour, put some change into a charity box.

All of these things help you to experience life in more of a balanced way instead of getting caught up in worry and sadness.
If you’d like further help in dealing with stress, anxiety, or depression do please get in touch.

Happy 2017!

[email protected]

Update 2026: RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness now provides one-to-one and group sessions exclusively online via Zoom, supporting clients across the UK. Please see the current website pages for up-to-date information about services and contact details.

5 steps to successful self-hypnosis

30/10/2016

Clouds across the sky

A brief outline of self-hypnosis for a more positive and calmer outlook

Many people like to use this technique to lift their mood if they’re feeling down. It’s also a great way to get a good night’s sleep!

For any self-hypnosis to be successful, it’s really important to:

1. Set aside time especially for you - even 5 minutes can work wonders but if you’ve got longer then great! If you’re pushed for time, ensure you’ll ‘awaken’ when you need to by using a timer app on your phone. Make sure you won’t be disturbed – turn the ringer on your landline down, switch notifications on your mobile to ‘off’, be prepared to ignore the doorbell. This is often the hardest thing to do – to become completely unconnected from the world. But once you’ve done it, you’ll feel the benefits.

2. Make yourself nice and comfy – lying down on the floor or your bed, or sitting in a favourite chair. Really tune in to how your body is feeling at that moment in time. Do a quick mental ‘body scan’ from the tips of your toes to the top of your head, noticing any areas of discomfort. Change position if you need to. Hypnosis isn’t about being perfectly still but once you’ve found a comfortable position you probably will be!

3. Allow your eyes to gently close – simple as that really. However if, for whatever reason, you’re not comfortable doing this just allow your eyes to gaze downwards towards the floor.

4. Focus on your breathing – just notice what’s going on with your breathing. Notice whether it feels deep, calm and relaxed or shallow, stressed and tense. You might like to make your breathing a little deeper, not forcing it but gently making each breath a little longer than the one before.

5. Imagine your favourite happy place – think of a favourite, happy place. Somewhere that is special for you, for whatever reason. It might be somewhere real that you’ve been to (a holiday destination, somewhere from your childhood or even the comfort of your own bed) or it could be somewhere completely made up like a fluffy cloud drifting through the sky, the middle of a rainbow, or the floor of the ocean. It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you imagine using all of your senses to make the experience feel real. What do you see? What can you hear? What tastes might there be? What sounds are you aware of? What is there that you can feel? And imagine all the good emotions that are associated with this happy place. Experience them as though they’re happening… because in your imagination, they are.

At the end of this self-hypnosis, give yourself a little time to bring yourself back to the ‘here and now’ and know that you can bring any positive feelings back with you to use in whatever you’ll be doing for the rest of your day.

Enjoy!

If you'd like someone to guide you into a hypnotic trance for relaxation or you would like to experience hypnosis for therapeutic reasons then do please get in touch:

RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness now provides sessions exclusively online via Zoom, supporting clients across the UK. For current information about sessions and how to get in touch, please visit the Contact page.

The Emotional Freedom Technique

30/9/2016

EFT points

A favourite additional technique that I love to use as a complement to hypnosis is The Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT which is classed as an ‘energy therapy’ and has its origins in Eastern healing traditions such as acupuncture, acupressure and shiatsu.
It is based on the fact that the human body has very subtle amounts of electrical energy which continually circulate via meridians or energy circuits. Electrical patterns in activity can be detected in the brain using EEGs (electroencephalographs) and in the heart using ECGs (electrocardiographs).
Whereas Western medicine concentrates on the chemical make-up of our bodies and treats ailments accordingly with medication, EFT concentrates on the electrical circuitry.

EFT has its foundations in the notion that all negative emotion, whether due to stress/anxiety, phobia, addiction, habit formation etc is not, in fact, caused by the memory of a traumatic event but rather is due to a blockage or disruption in the body’s energy system set up by the traumatic event.
Consequently, these disruptions in the electrical circuitry are tapped upon near the end points of the meridians in order to release the blockage.

EFT can be used on a huge number of different issues, ranging from emotional issues to physical pain, with very few negative effects ever being reported. So you can try it on anything and see what happens!

People you might know of who have used EFT include:
Paul McKenna - uses EFT to help people overcome eating disorders, insomnia and phobias.
Whoopi Goldberg - used EFT to help her conquer her fear of flying.
Michael Ball - is reported to have used EFT to calm his nerves before going on stage to sing.
Deepak Chopra - award-winning author, frequently endorses the effects of EFT.
Lily Allen and Madonna - are also fans of the technique; as well as a number of sports stars who have been seen ‘tapping’, ranging from the world of football to Formula 1.

Personally, I have witnessed people time and time again suffering from phobias, panic attacks, cravings and pain reduce their symptoms dramatically using this very simple technique.

If you would like to find out how EFT could help you then get in touch:

Update 2026: RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness now provides one-to-one and group sessions exclusively online via Zoom, supporting clients across the UK. Please see the current website pages for up-to-date information about services and contact details.

Using your imagination to change the world… or Why size really does matter!

31/8/2016

Coloured ink blots

Our brains are inextricably linked with our bodies. Whatever our body experiences our brain responds; and whatever thoughts we have our body responds. Our brains constantly try to make sense of the world by thinking and doing and responding.
Very often, if we’re facing a particular problem, we try to think our way out of it. And often this works. However, what if it’s not that easy? Perhaps we’re suffering from chronic anxiety, pain or a specific phobia. Sometimes, it’s not always so easy to simply think our way out of it.
A technique often used by hypnotherapists is that of ‘changing the submodalities’. This is a very effective and powerful way of changing the experience of an experience.
Have you ever thought about how you experience pain, for example. Often we just say we’ve got a headache, or toothache or that we pulled a muscle. Sometimes we might add extra detail, and try to explain what that pain feels like – “My head feels like it’s in a vice,” “A sharp shooting pain in my tooth,” or the “searing heat” of a torn muscle.
Hypnotherapy uses our way of experiencing the world to help us make changes. We all use particular representational systems. These are, for example, based on our senses. We see things, hear things, taste things, smell things, and feel things. This is how we experience the world.
Changing the submodalities is simply changing the way we experience things using our senses in our imagination. For example, can we change what we see in our imagination from colour to black and white – if so we might just be able to change our experience of whatever it is.
Can we represent our experience of pain as something we can use in our imagination? For example, does it have a shape, or a colour, or a texture? How big does it seem to be in our experience? If we can imagine this, then we have the potential to change our experience of it by changing the size, colour, texture etc – changing the submodalities.
There are many different techniques in hypnotherapy that utilize changing the submodalities, ranging from those used for phobia release, through to weight management, smoking cessation and pain. And they all have the potential to change how we experience things.
If you’d like more information on how hypnotherapy might be able to help you then do please get in touch:

RMB Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness now provides sessions exclusively online via Zoom, supporting clients across the UK. For current information about sessions and how to get in touch, please visit the Contact page.

7 tips for successful weight management

31/7/2016

Tummy with tape measure

A course of hypnotherapy can work really well to help you lose weight and to keep those pounds off once they’re off.
Here are a few practical tips that you might find helpful whilst undertaking a course of hypnotherapy. Many people find that being aware of these can make the process of weight management a lot easier.

1. Always be prepared – As with anything, a lot of success hides in the detail of being prepared. Try to think ahead and purposefully avoid unhealthy patterns in your eating, for example, if you usually buy chocolate as part of your weekly shop decide to substitute it with something that you enjoy but which is better for you. Always be prepared with something different.
Remember your own personal triggers and plan for them. Plan ahead each day if you can and look at all the potential pitfalls that might crop up within your day. Be prepared!

2. Change the way you look at things – in psychology nobody really likes the idea of losing anything so instead of thinking about losing weight which obviously implies a feeling of loss, realise that you will be gaining health and fitness.

3. Prepare for change – Becoming someone who is fitter is all about changing patterns and routines, and noticing what’s going on in your thoughts.
Begin to imagine yourself as someone who is slimmer, in better shape and more active. See yourself as having achieved your goals. Prepare for it by buying new clothes in the size you wish to be. Make your goals achieveable.

4. Be mindful – To start with, you might think about food a lot but that’s only natural. Just be aware of the fact you will. Experience these thoughts fully, and don’t try to deny them. Let your thoughts be there; be aware of all the judgements you make about the process of losing weight and about yourself – and remember that thoughts come and go. Over time this will get easier. To help, make sure you keep yourself occupied. Keeping your mind focused on other things and keeping your body active can both help.

5. Fruit and vegetables – It might sound a bit boring but have lots of your favourite fruit and vegetables available and already prepared to eat so that when you have the urge to eat something that perhaps you know you shouldn’t you have something ready and waiting for you, making it easier to make healthier choices.
Water - Sometimes we mistake feelings of thirst for feelings of hunger. Always have a bottle of water with you. Take sips whenever you want to knowing that water is good for you. Drinking water can help fill you up and dissipate hunger pangs.

7. Breathe deeply – breathing deeply can help with relaxation. If you learn how to breathe deeply down into your abdomen feelings of tension soon disappear. This can help with anything – feelings of anxiety and stress – and ultimately help with the choices you make, including those surrounding food and drink. Breathing deeply helps to put you back in control.

And, of course, adding hypnosis into the mix can add a very powerful extra dimension to weight management.

Please remember it’s always a good idea to seek medical advice from your GP before embarking on a course of hypnotherapy for weight management.

If you have any concerns about your health or wellbeing, please seek appropriate medical advice.
Hypnotherapy and mindfulness should not be regarded as substitutes for professional medical care and are intended to be complementary.
Disclaimer: Results may very from person to person

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