Hypnotherapy is an application of hypnosis for therapeutic benefits. It can be used in areas such as medicine, sport, and for development of a persons well-being. I have been working as a hypnotherapist for a couple of years now, and the one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the diversity of problems from which people suffer. Two people with the same problem can easily have different reasons for creating that problem, and different motivations for giving it up. At my office in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, I've found that by far the best approach is to treat everyone as individuals.

The reason why I say that people 'create' their problem is because the only world that really exists, is the one we create within our own minds. However, since we are creatures of habit, and regularly hard wire our nervous system to perform specific acts, emotions and behaviours, it becomes easier to understand how people believe that the problem is not only outside of them, but outside of their control. When Patients come to see me for a hypnotherapy consultation at my office in Hemel Hempstead (Herts), I regularly explain to them the way in which the brain takes in, filter and represents information to consistently produce specific states.

Hypnosis enables your mind to focus concentration, producing a state of deep relaxation. Throughout this process, your mind is more open to suggestion, allowing you to make changes in your perception and behaviour, for the benefit of your health.

Using your imagination is a mild form of self- hypnosis. During hypnotherapy the trance is aided by your focus on the hypnotherapist's voice. When you focus in this way you are able to ignore, if you want to, the great deal of other distractions that may be around you.

Whilst in hypnosis you are neither fully awake nor fully asleep. However deeply you may go into hypnosis, you will remain in control of the situation and will continue to receive important sensory data.

When using hypnotherapy at my office in Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire), I also provide a relaxing, therapeutic situation using music. Throughout the hypnotherapy session, the music is played which gradually encourages the slowing of the heart rate, in time with the slowing beat of the music. Interwoven into the music are pleasantly distorted nursery rhymes that again encourage the gentle dozing that was experienced as a child. Using a specially created sound system, my voice and hypnotic words are spoken over the music.

Hypnotherapy in Hemel Hempstead has helped many people throughout Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Buckingham to overcome minor and more serious problems. We live stressful and pressured lives, and it's good to know that there are ways to relieve these problems without pumping our bodies full of drugs. In fact, hypnosis has been accepted as a valid therapeutic technique by the British Medical Association since 1955. Conventional medicine is more aware of the connection between body and mind and to achieve a sense of well-being, harmony must be maintained in both.