AJD Hypnotherapy
Romford, Brentwood and Hornchurch

The most frequent question that I am asked is 'Can I be hypnotized, or is it only a certain type of person who may be?' The true answer is that anybody may achieve hypnosis providing: (a) they wish to become hypnotized, and (b) they fully understand those things that they have to do in order to achieve hypnosis. All hypnosis is, in fact, self hypnosis. No mystical or magical powers are involved! If you watched me hypnotize a lady and remove her headache, you might suppose that my mother was a gypsy. If you heard that I had used hypnotherapy to help save the sanity of a bereaved mother, you may conclude that I have some God given power. If you saw me demonstrate hypnosis to a group of people, and saw a man laughing because he is now seeing the funny side of a situation, you might assume that I had taken over his mind. All such conclusions would be totally wrong. I possess no powers of any kind, none whatsoever, and neither do any other hypnotherapists. I do however, have a very positive attitude, the ability to listen to each and every client's problems, create individual scripts, and a desire to help them reach their goals.

Whilst I am a hypnotherapist, I have never actually hypnotized anybody, if by that you mean exerted some power, used a 'gift' or taken over anyone's mind. However, I have assisted all of my clients into the hypnotic state.

Perhaps this all seems rather confusing. As I have said, all hypnosis is self hypnosis, that is the state of hypnosis can only occur within the mind of the patient or subject. A hypnotist is basically just the teacher who shows you how you may achieve it.
A driving instructor will teach you how to drive, a football coach will teach you to kick a ball, a hypnotist will teach you how to achieve the hypnotic state.

Most people are quite surprised when I tell them that they are in a varying state of hypnosis thousands of times in their lives. Have you ever gone to bed at night, fallen asleep, and had a dream? In the morning, for a few moments just prior to waking, you lay in your bed and have been unsure whether the dream was real or not. Have you laid there trying to grasp reality? At this stage you are in the hypnotic state. Then of course you have woken properly and realized that it was a dream. Sleep walking is also a state of hypnosis. You probably know someone who sleepwalks, or did as a child. If a little boy who, in the middle of the night, gets out of bed and walks to the kitchen for a drink, you might watch him and realize he is not awake. When he has had the drink he goes back to bed and resumes his sleep. When he is sleepwalking he is not asleep, nor is he awake. He is in fact, in that lovely twilight world midway between wake and sleep. He is in a form of hypnosis.

There are many more examples I could give. Is there a driver in Britain who has not experienced a form of waking hypnosis? I am sure you have often set out on a long journey, on a route you know well, and on arrival at your destination you think time has flown, and you cannot recall places you have passed through. Your body has been driving the car, pressing pedals, turning the wheel etc. but your mind has been elsewhere, detached from your body. Perhaps you were on a beach at your favourite holiday resort, or running a company earning a fortune. This state that is called daydreaming, is a mild form of hypnosis.

Thus the success of all hypnosis is dependent principally on two important aspects. Firstly, the willingness of the client to totally co-operate with the hypnotherapist, and secondly, the skill, the experience, the technique and the reaching ability of the therapist.

You may be asking yourself if hypnosis is a natural and enjoyable state, how is it that it is not more generally used and understood? I have never worked out the answer to this to my entire satisfaction. However, I suspect there are a wide variety of reasons:- old horror films whereby the likes of Count Dracula 'hypnotizes' young maidens into his castle; the confusion between stage hypnotists and clinical hypnotherapists; the many misconceptions of what will happen whilst under hypnosis; and of course, a general fear of the unknown.

At AJD Hypnotherapy, you will be put at ease and reassured on any of the concerns mentioned above. If you would like any further information please contact Annie Dawson either by email or telephone

email click here
telephone 07812928263

'See the light in the darkest places'


Photography by Mary Gray - email click here