Why Did We Leave Corporate Careers To Start Up ANANDA HEALING?
Recently, I had to do a presentation to a room full of strangers who had little or no idea about Ananda Healing, who we are, why we started the business, our ethics, our passion. So, I told them our story, our why!
It struck me afterwards, that probably few of you know the whole story and so I decided to share it with you too
Firstly, who are we? Lets start with Duncan, Duncan is a Reiki Practitioner, Master Hypnotherapist, and Master NLP Practitioner (Neuro Linguistic Programming). He comes from a very practical, no nonsense background, his family had a carpentry & building business, they ran a small holding and the extended family were all farmers. He left school to join the Royal Marines and then the Police Force. Maybe not the background you think of when you think of a therapist? He loves Mathematics, computers and logic (I prefer shopping myself!). But how you go from IT to Hypnotherapy and NLP? To Duncan it is simple – if you can program a computer, you can program a mind – if you can fix a bug in a pr0gramme, you can fix a problem in the mind! And I have seen him do this so many times, and sometimes at lightening speed! It never ceases to amaze me.
I have seen him fix phobias, fears, self-esteem issues, sports performance, smoking and weight – he is the registered Hypno-Band practitioner for the area (some of you may have heard Paul McKenna talking about this recently – it is basically providing the benefits of a physical gastric band but without the pain, risks, surgery of massive cost! Not to mention an over 70% success rate!). Duncan is also amazing at dealing with children’s issues, including self-esteem, bullying, psychology impact of divorce etc.
So now you know a little bit about Duncan but why did we set Ananda Healing up? What was behind this ‘crazy’, according to my Mum, decision to give up successful corporate careers to start a therapies business? What are out core values?
We are passionate about well-being, we want people to feel good about themselves. We want to help people see that there is always a choice.
Both Duncan and myself have had to come to terms with serious health issues in the past and continue to live with these now. Duncan was a serving Police Officer, aged just 28, when he broke his back whilst riot training. He could have just given up at this point but he didn’t. He took a masters degree, carved a new career and, this is the interesting bit, if you ask him about the accident now, he would tell you it was one of the best things that has happened to him.
I too have had a difficult ride with regards to my health, since babyhood really, including a heart condition and Type 1 Diabetes but I would echo Duncan’s thoughts. I would say the decision that made the greatest difference to me personally was learning to meditate. My dad considered meditation to be as important as learning to read and write, but then my dad was something special – a story for another day. For Duncan it was learning to become a Hypnotherapist & NLP Practitioner. We always say to our clients, “Everyone’s journey is different and you have to find what works for you” – we are just here to facilitate.
We both took responsibility and made positive choices – choices regarding our lives and our well-being. Many people do not even know that have a choice. My Dad, who I have already explained was extraordinary, always told me “You may not have a choice in what happens to you but you always have a choice in how you deal with it” AND THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE WISH TO GIVE OUR CLIENTS
Before we started Ananda healing though we took time to talk and form our ethos that would drive and guide our philosophy. We decided that money would not drive our business, service would. We made the conscious decision to provide the very best for our clients, even if that meant recommending they go to someone else! And we have stuck to that throughout.
We began by specifically offering treatments that enhance well-being and by doing so we saw this was giving people back some control. I could go on about the research on massage etc and the chemical/physiological changes that happen in the body but, again, that is for another day. Gradually we also discovered that beyond the holistic therapies, our clients also responded profoundly with treatments that made them look good, which in turn made them feel good. It started when I was asked, many times, by clients, if I could recommend a skincare range that was natural and, or, provided help with problem skin, children’s skin etc. It took me two years of research and putting some very strange stuff on my own skin until I eventually found Arbonne, the Swiss formulated, botanical skincare range – it is phenomenal! (Do let us know if you would like to trial it). It really is the skincare industry’s best kept secret as it is only available through consultants such as ourselves. Forget what the Celebs are advertising – this is what they are using!.
Because of our discovery about how people look and the effect on their well-being since starting Arbonne, we have decided to now start moving more into the beauty side of the business. We have recently launched the Gelish 21 day manicure system that DOES NOT DAMAGE YOUR NAILS and DOES NOT CONTAIN FORMALDEHYDE.
During the summer we will be launching other beauty services BUT THIS WILL BE DONE, AS ALWAYS, WITH YOUR WELL-BEING AND HEALTH IN MIND.
Your well-being is our passion.
Massage, Meditation, Hypnotherapy, Athletes & You
Massage, Meditation, Hypnotherapy, Athletes & You
With everyone glued to the splendour of the Olympics and those amazing athletes, we can only wonder at what it has taken in training, sacrifice and determination to get them there. We strongly suspect that whatever admiration and awe we are watching with now will only increase with the start of the Para Olympics.
We have been lucky enough to look after a number of marathon runners this year at Ananda Healing. We have seen first hand what it takes to drive yourself forward through rain, pain and mental torment – when every fibre of your being is telling you to stop. Athletes seem to be built from stronger stuff than us mere mortals, but are they? Could it just be they have a stronger why? It seems to us that the only thing that separates us is their reason why. Could it be that if you dug deep and found a reason to do something that became so strong it would elevate you to a different league in your chosen area?
Some of you may also be wondering where Ananda Healing fitted into the sports training programme. Well, mainly with massage but also with meditation, hypnotherapy and NLP. Research is now proving the benefits of massage to athletes, with improved cell repair rate, in particular. Meditation – we you know that is our pet subject and everyone should do it! Duncan is also finding a number of sports people in particular are benefiting from the mind training techniques of Hypnotherapy & NLP which is invaluable to them to improve their game – the mind needing as much training as the body!
So you are not a top athlete or even aspiring to be one – how can you benefit from therapies?
Everyone can benefit from massage in particular as it lowers blood pressure, reduces pain (even in chronic conditions such as arthritis), releases “happy” hormones to improve your feelings of mental health and well-being. . As for meditation – again, don’t even get us started – we have a recent client who has just finished her meditation course who says she cannot believe the impact it has had on her life; she feels centred and peaceful for the first time in years! And finally, the hypnotherapy & NLP – maybe your first step to improved health is to give up smoking? Perhaps you don’t want to run a marathon but would just like to get through the day without that fear, phobia or habit controlling you?
If you’re having difficulty in getting your why clear and bright enough to drive you, speak to us about our Vision Boarding & Goal Setting workshop!
We made a promise to ourselves when we started this practice – we would be here to serve and to do what we could to improve life for you. That drive started us out four years ago and it drives us today – THAT IS OUR WHY!
What is hypnotherapy?
What is hypnotherapy?
A great number of people have misconceptions about what hypnotherapy is, what it isn’t, what it can achieve, and what it can’t. Today I’d like to clear that up with you by telling you what hypnotherapy is all about, and tell you how it can help you!
For a start hypnotherapy isn’t about the stage shows, which is stage hypnosis, and shortly I’ll explain why a hypnotherapist simply cannot make you squawk like a chicken or generally act like an idiot without your agreement.
So what is stage hypnosis all about, and why can they make people do weird things?
Well, if you imagine that in the audience for a stage hypnosis show and there’s 1000 people there, and say 90% of them actually want to be there and are up for a show, so that’s 900 left in the pot of potential candidates. Before the show the hypnotherapist will ask who is willing to come up on stage and make a fool out of themselves. Say for instance that 50% of them agree, so we’re left with 450. The hypnotist will then go through a series of susceptibility tests to see who will make the best volunteers and will select, say 50. Then those people will go through another series of hypnotic tests to see who really is “up for it” to determine the most susceptible, outgoing characters in the group. The rest will be sent back to the audience, and those on stage will be “primed” ready for the show. So a stage hypnotist will load the tables before the group even start acting like chickens or whatever they are asked to do. About 60 years ago governments experimented with hypnosis as a means of interrogation for captured enemy soldiers. After many studies they discovered that enemy soldiers could not be hypnotised to give up secrets! What this proved was that the person being hypnotised is still always in control at some level and cannot be made to do something that goes against their core beliefs. So now you know that we can’t make you squawk like a chicken, without your agreement, what can we do with hypnotherapy?
What can we do with hypnotherapy?
Now this is the exciting part, and get ready for a long winded answer……. anything you can imagine! Now I do have to say there are physical limitations. For instance if you’re wheelchair bound and you come to me saying “Can hypnosis help me win the 100 metres mens final at the Olympic Games?”, you’re going to have to expect a “No”! But, if you come to me and say “I’ve had this phobia of heights for 20 years, but I really, really want to climb a mountain, can you help?”. In that case the answer is a resounding “YES”. If you have a problem and you want a solution then hypnotherapy can help you massively!
How does hypnotherapy work?
So how does it work then Duncan? I’m glad you asked that. We use an hypnotic induction to get you into a state of deep relaxation, very similar to a state of deep meditation. Once there the concious mind is pretty much switched into a standby mode (just like your TV) and the unconcious mind is ready to listen deeply and openly to my suggestions. We then use a series of hypnotherapy techniques (like embedded commands, illusionary choice, and metaphors) to speak directly to your unconcious mind and change the belief programming that has been causing you problems. Now the great thing is here that you are always in control, and your unconcious mind will accept the new programming deeply and allow it to take effect immediately. I’m going to go into more depth about the unconcious mind, habits and how the brain learns in another blog, which will be coming your way very soon! The simple fact is that when I have experienced hypnotherapy as a client and when my clients have experienced hypnotherapy with me they sometimes don’t even know why they’ve changed. The question I’d like to ask you now is “Do you need to know why exactly you’ve changed?”, I mean “Do you need to know exactly how the electricity gets to your house to be able to switch on the lights?”, or “do you need to know how the TV signal gets beamed through the air in order to be able to watch your favourite soap opera?”.
We deal with phobias, fears, unwanted negative emotions, performance coaching, weight loss, stopping smoking, the list goes on and on!
So whatever your problem come and see us, or give us a call on 01342 842 098 or 07917 879 052, to discuss or send us an email to ask how we can help. We don’t charge for email advice, or telephone consultations because at the end of the day our focus is getting YOU to YOUR solution! What have you got to lose, apart from those old unwanted habits and fears?
Vision Boards. What are they and why would I want to do one?
What is a Vision Board?
Simply it is a collage you make using photos, magazine cutouts, anything you like that gives you a clear image of what you want from your life, whatever you desire. In other words, it should depict a clear visual focus for where you want your life to be. Once done it should be placed somewhere prominent so that it gives you a constant prompt of the direction you want to travel.
Why?
Without focus, it is the human condition, for most of us anyway, to meander though life reacting to what ever happens to us on a daily basis. We may have a vague idea of the job or business we want, the partner we would like, the children, the holiday, the house etc. but without any real, clear vision. A vision board is a fun way to give you that clarity to discover exactly what you want! Brilliant!
What you need and how?
Materials – a board, glue or pins, magazines, photos etc
It is a good idea to set time aside and come to settle before you start. Just sit quietly and focus on your breath for a few moments and then just ask yourself “What do I really want?” and then go for it! Start looking through the magazines and photos to find the ones that best depict your goals and dreams.
If you are getting stuck with how to Vision Board we have recommended a couple of products available at Amazon
We are also currently putting together a Vision Boarding and Goal Setting workshop which will be held soon in our brand new treatment and training room. This will be a great, hands on workshop and you’ll get plenty of chance and guidance on exactly how to discover what you really want, create your vision of the future on the board and how to maintain the focus to actually achieve your goals. As we do at Ananda Healing we’re merging traditional meditation and relaxation techniques with the science and art of neuro linguistic programming, NLP, to give you the very best tools to get to where you want, and deserve, to be! It will be fantastic fun, whilst being a great challenge.
Drop us an email or call us on, 01342 842 098 / 07917 730 944, if you would like to pre-register your interest.
Can I do this with friends?
Yes! Why not through a vision boarding party! Invite some friends, get the cakes out and spend a few hours together. The more enjoyable you make it, the more effective it will be for you. Also simply by sharing your vision of your own future with your friends you’ll make it more real and achievable.
Once you have collect the works and pictures you feel best capture the image of your future you can start arranging them on your board. You may want to discard some at this point. REMEMBER – they need to capture your dream in one. Just keep your intent and focus and ask yourself with each cutting “Is this really what I want?”
BE CLEAR, BE HONEST, HAVE FUN!
New Year, New You? How to stick to your resolutions
I’m sure pretty much all of us have made a New Year’s resolution in the past. I’m also pretty sure that the vast majority have failed at them too. But just why do we fail to keep to our wonderful plans? What stops us from achieving our wildest dreams? Why are we so successful at failing to reach our goals?
Firstly how do we set our goals? Have you made your goal Specific? Measurable? Achievable? Realistic? Timely? By setting a S.M.A.R.T goal you are far more likely to succeed at it. I’d like to expand a little.
Specific – When you set a goal make sure that you are specific about it. How much weight are you going to lose? By when? What size waist are you going to have? What dress size will you be? When will you have quit smoking by?
Measurable – How are you going to evidence to yourself and others that you’ve achieved your goal? How will you now when you have truly quit smoking? Lost the weight and kept it off?
Achievable – Is your goal too hard to achieve? Is it too easy?
Realistic – Do you really think you can lose a stone of weight in a day? Make sure that your goal is realistic.
Timely – Do you have a timeline for your goal? When will you reach your goal? Do you have any milestones on the way to achieving your goal? If you’re going to lose weight how much will you lose each week?
So that’s dealt with the SMARTness of your goal, now let’s deal with your motivation. It’s easy to think about how it would be great to lose those pounds, give up smoking etc and be dispassionate about it. But why not dare to be different? Be passionate about what you want to achieve. Imagine how great you’ll look when you’ve lost those pounds, now REALLY imagine it. Build a picture in your mind, add some sounds and make the colours more vivid, imagine how you’ll feel looking in the mirror knowing that you’ve truly reached your goal. How will you feel when you congratulate yourself? Make the sounds bigger, bolder and clearer. Imagine the feeling growing until you’re totally bursting with pride for having achieved your goal. Ask yourself right now, how do you feel about your goal? Write down your goal, write down how it makes you feel so that every time you read it you’ll remember! Write down why you want to achieve your goal.
So now you’ve got a SMART goal that you’re passionate about. Are you passionate about it yet? If not then go back to the previous step and GET PASSIONATE. Once you are totally passionate, I’d be willing to bet that you mind with start coming up with a whole load of ideas to help you get there. So start writing! This is how I’m going to achieve my goal: ………….
Fantastic job, you’ve achieved a massive amount already. So now you’re motivated, you’ve got your goal written down and it’s a SMART goal. Publish it as a statement. Take some action that is really going to put it out there. Do you have a vision board? Pin your goal on there. Tell your friends, tell your family and especially tell your partner. By putting it on a vision board and telling other people about what you’re going to do, you are far more likely to achieve it.
But let’s face, let’s be realistic here. We’re British and we don’t do that sort of thing. That’s just too bold and brash for us Brits. I mean, what if we fail? We’re going to look a bit silly in front of our mates aren’t we. All the more reason to GO FOR IT! If you want to achieve something you’ve not achieved up until now, you’re damn well going to have to do something different to normal! Don’t want to tell your friends? Tell me. Send me an email and tell me what you’re going to achieve, when you’re going to achieve it, and why you just HAVE TO! What have you got to lose?
My goal for 2012? I am going to write a seminar on goal setting and start motivating people to reach their goals. Oh and get a golf handicap of less than 20 (and if I do that by the end of March, then I’m going to get a handicap of 10)! If I fail? Well, I’m not going to fail because I don’t do failure! Do you?
If you still feel that you need help in achieving your goal then contact Duncan at Ananda Healing and ask him about Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnotherapy and Goal Setting.
How changing your mind can help you lose weight
Let’s start off on the right foot; there is no magic formula to losing weight. Losing weight is about the amount of calories going in and the amount of calories burnt during a day. There may well be different types of food groups that should be taken into consideration, but the basics are down to energy in versus energy out.
If you are having a weight problem, short of medical intervention, the best way to lose the weight is to change the way you think.
Most of the time we don’t think about how we eat or what we eat. Often we just smell something nice cooking and our conscious mind gets bypassed. We go from smells nice to putting it in our mouths. How often have we all suddenly realised that we have that cream cake on our lips without thinking about it?
How can we get our mind to work for us and not against us? How can we get properly motivated to lose the weight we want? What we need to do is to first get our goal straight in our mind. What do you actually want from your weight loss? What weight do you want to be? What do you want to look like? And most importantly, what will convince you that you’ve achieved your goal?
Getting your goal straight in your mind is probably the single most important thing about ensuring that your unconscious mind will be behind you rather than against you.
- Firstly make sure that your goal is achievable, it’s no use deciding that you want to lose 4 stone in a week.
- It must also be a positive goal, it’s no good making your goal about what you don’t want (I’ll explain about that shortly).
- Also, make sure your goal is about YOU, so many of us like to think we will achieve our goals for our family or friends. Make sure you will achieve this goal for yourself.
Let’s break each of these down.
- Make your goal achievable. Be realistic as to how much weight you are going to lose. It’s easy to go either way with this; easy to underestimate how much weight you can lose and make your goal too simple to achieve. It’s also easy to overestimate how much you can lose in a given time, so be as realistic as you can. Don’t be afraid to re-calculate as well, if you’re achieving your goal too easily then increase your goal a bit.
- Make your goal positive. Your goal should be about what you want rather than what you don’t want. Quite simply when said congruently our unconscious mind doesn’t deal in negatives. For instance if I tell you NOT to think of a blue elephant in an orange field, the first thing that pops into your mind is a blue elephant in an orange field (even if just for a second). So if your goal is not to be fat, guess what your unconscious mind is thinking? So by making your goal a positive your mind will be focused on what you DO want!
- Make your goal about you. Make it personal to you, don’t set goals about what other people want, because unless you want it at a core level, your heart won’t be in it!
- Decide on your convincer. If you don’t know how you will be able to measure your achievement, you can’t ever be sure you’ve achieved it. Will it be reaching a specific weight or fitting into those tight clothes in the wardrobe?
You’ve set your goal that’s achievable but not easy, made sure it’s positive and it’s about you. You also need to ensure that you can see and feel what you will be like when you’ve reached your ideal weight.
Now what I’d like you to do is to close your eyes and picture yourself at your ideal weight, in those tight clothes that you want to fit into, and wearing them comfortably. Now when you can do that I want you to make the picture bigger until it’s big enough for you to step into, feel what you’ll feel, hear what you’ll hear, and see yourself as you will be. Now, how motivated do you feel to achieve your goal? How convinced are you that you can reach your goal? The stronger your motivation is the better your chance to succeed at any goal.
Once you’ve set your goal, you need to plan your route to get there.
For some people this could be a direct route, for other’s less so. Set milestones on your route, so that you can monitor your progress towards that goal. Plan how you will reduce your calories in, joining your gym, and set your weekly goals. (Always check with a medical professional before starting a new fitness programme.)
You may well have been in this position before where you have a goal, your milestones are set and after a couple of weeks you’re on target. All of a sudden you find you’ve stopped going to the gym, and your eating patterns have returned to what they used to be. Your motivation isn’t strong enough to get you to your goal. Look at your goal and see what has changed about it. There will be something. Is it still about you? Could it be that it was over ambitious and simply needs more time to achieve? Is it about the way you see yourself in that picture? Adjust your goal using the above steps and get yourself back on track. Just like a GPS in your car re-routes you around roadblocks or traffic jams, your plan can be flexible enough to cope with the little hurdles you come across.
There is a presupposition of NLP “there is no failure, only feedback” which is appropriate here. Learn what you need to learn about why you’ve not achieved your milestone, or goal, and add it into the plan so you don’t make the same mistake again. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. After all, you’ve not failed before at losing weight, you’ve just not succeeded YET!
There are many other mind changing techniques that can help.
For example:
- Removing cravings for certain foods
- Changing the way you feel about yourself
- Increasing your motivation
- Goal setting
- Removing blocks in your mind that are stopping you from achieving your goals
These are the sorts of things that Neuro Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy can help with.
