It gives me great joy to have started to see some clients for fear of flying again, after 2 years of not being able to travel.

As a lover of travel myself, helping people to eliminate anxiety about flying and enable them to enjoy holidays abroad with loved ones is one of my favourite hypnotherapy interventions. Over the years I have seen many people who would actually love to travel but a strong fear about flying holds them back. Very often they have a partner who is aching to go abroad but cannot, due to the loved one’s anxieties.

The great thing is, too, that it only usually takes a couple of sessions to eliminate the fear. I also record a personalised hypnosis download which you can use at any time, this is a valuable tool which you always have for any future flights.

Sometimes clients come to see me after having completed a fear of flying course with an airline. These can sometimes be useful but I am not sure it helps being in a large group with others who are all very anxious. One client reported feeling worse after the course as there was a woman sat behind her who could not stop screaming!

Its a much better idea to book an individualised hypnotherapy session as we are not all the same and I find that people’s fears about flying centre around all sorts of different things. Sometimes the issue is lack of control, sometimes feelings of claustrophobia, maybe linked to worries about turbulence. I always focus on the client’s individual mindset, it is certainly not a question of one size fits all.

So, if you are contemplating travelling again this year but fear of flying is holding you back, don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to help you to look forward to enjoying a wonderful holiday.

Best wishes,

Wendy x

Hypnotherapy is often seen as a therapy that mainly deals with weight management or stopping smoking. Whilst it has an excellent success rate at tackling those issues, in my opinion hypnotherapy treatment comes into its own when helping people who are experiencing anxiety.

Anxiety can present in many forms, for example social anxiety, health anxiety as well as fears and phobias of all kinds. Typically, the person feels trapped in a bubble of negative thinking and worry about a certain issue and they feel unable to get out of this negative thought process.

Hypnotherapy works by helping the person to feel deeply relaxed and also planting positive suggestions in their mind, so that in a sense there is a reprogramming, allowing for a new and much more positive mindset.

If you are experiencing anxiety symptoms, do consider hypnotherapy. You won’t regret it.

take care,

Wendy x

We are all immensely saddened by the constant stories of the awful war that the Ukrainian people are enduring at present. We feel helpless that innocent families are having their lives quite literally blown apart and there seems to be little we can do.

My heart felt glad, therefore, at the recent story of Hassan, an eleven year old boy, who managed to walk an incredible 700 miles to the Slovakian border to try to make contact with family in Slovakia. Hassan’s mother was poorly and also looking after her own mother but she felt that Hassan would have an opportunity to be safe by fleeing to Slovakia, where the family had relatives. So, she packed the little boy off with 2 plastic bags, his passport and a phone number written on his hand. Amazingly, he managed to reach the border and has since been helped out by the Slovakian authorities to find his relatives.

Thinking back to how I was at the age of 11, I cannot begin to imagine the incredible maturity and resilience this young chap must have. I hope that Hassan, along with his mum and grandmother, can all be reunited in a safe and comfortable place soon.

My heart goes out to the incredibly brave and wonderful people of Ukraine. We are all thinking of you.

Wendy xx

Mr Chalk and I were travelling back from the in-laws in Southampton yesterday and we were delighted to share most of the journey with Johnie Walker and his ‘Sounds of the Seventies’. Being of a certain age, this was our decade, music wise, so inevitably, although we can’t remember our children’s names sometimes, we sang along to the seventies hits, practically word perfect with most of the songs played.

Although I didn’t know Mr C at this time, we are the same age and so we have a very strong mutual bond in our memories of all this wonderful music. The albums we saved up for, the bands we went to see and the association with certain times in our lives, it all comes flooding back.

The weather was interesting, to say the least during our journey, with gale force winds, torrential rain and even some hail stones at one point. But with the wonderful music to listen to, were we bothered? Well, to be honest we were actually towards the end of the journey when we aquaplaned along most of the A14. But somehow it could have felt far more stressful without the music of our childhood and teenage years to soothe us.

Thank you Johnie, Pink Floyd and the Eagles were just the ticket for a wild, weird and windy journey home.

I hope you are keeping safe and warm.

Wendy xx

I was really interested to read this week that by making sure that you have enough sleep you are much more likely to be able to lose excess weight. Although it’s long been known that people who work shifts can often experience weight issues, this is the first study of its kind to confirm definitively that weight gain can be linked to people having too little sleep.

I would also add that quality of sleep is as important as quantity. Research has shown that hypnotherapy can improve sleep enormously, particularly enhancing the deeper part of sleep which is so important for cell growth and repair.

Whenever I see a client with weight management issues, we always look at other factors which may be causing an inability to shed weight. Sometimes there could be an underlying anxiety which is causing the person to eat emotionally and not according to hunger cues. I also urge my clients to check with their GP as to whether there may be physical causes which would predispose them to weight gain, for example hormonal or thyroid issues.

Everyone is unique and it is important that we treat people in a holistic way, not just dealing with the one presenting issue. This is why I always insist on allowing plenty of time for the initial consultation as well as the sessions themselves. I never clock watch.

If you are really keen to get to the bottom of a weight issue and you are interested in trying hypnotherapy, do give me a shout.

Oh and happy Valentine’s Day!

Wendy xx

It is not my business to criticise other therapy modalities as we are all unique and what can work for some people may not be helpful for others.

However, it saddens me that a recurring theme in my practice is seeing clients who have attended a course of CBT and they actually feel worse at the end of it. Whatever happened to the Hippocratic oath, ‘you shall do no harm’?

For some years now if you go to your doctor with some form of mental health issue you are invariably given a card with details of the well-being service. It is suggested that you self-refer and then, as is often the case according to my clients, you may find that you have to wait many weeks or months to see somebody. When you finally have an appointment it may not even be a face to face consultation, but a phone call.

CBT sessions are normally held every week for a period of about 6 – 8 weeks and the essence of CBT is that you begin to recognise a dysfunctional pattern of thinking in your mind. CBT’s premise is that your negative thought patterns can lead to negative emotions. This can be a very useful exercise, but it can also lead to an over focus on negativity, and some people end up feeling even more depressed. Also, you may be very aware of your thought patterns, but the CBT does not enable you to change them just by talking. Hypnotherapy is powerful in this sense as it allows you to make those changes.

If you are currently waiting for CBT or you have had a course of it and are still feeling very low, I would urge you to consider hypnotherapy. In general I see clients for 3 sessions on average and in most cases you will be feeling so much better from the very first session. I do realise that you have to pay for sessions, but can you honestly put a price on happiness and well-being? The type of therapy that I practice is a solution focused modality, helping you to make changes in how you are thinking and feeling. It is also a most wonderfully relaxing therapy and many of my clients leave feeling as though they are walking on air.

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Wendy x

I stop to pinch myself sometimes. It’s not always been easy but my boys are growing up to be the most wonderful, kind, hardworking and amazing human beings. You may say that I would say that as I’m their mum and yes, of course I would say that. But I do think that people who have just met them would say that too.

The older one is making a successful career in music, as a jazz pianist and teacher in London. He is extraordinarily creative, composing his own work, but also collaborating with others. Joe Lycett came to one of his gigs last week and Olly sent a selfie to me of them (love Joe Lycett!). His partner is similarly gifted as a jazz musician, currently touring with the youth jazz orchestra as their musical director, having arranged all of Amy Winehouse’s music for big band.

The younger one is director in my husband’s business and at the tender age of 25 has made such a massive contribution that the business has doubled its turnover in 2 lockdown years. Business associates often do not believe his age, he has a natural confidence and calm personality which people warm too. Oh by the way, he didn’t go to university either. He is about to buy his second property, a new house with his girlfriend who is a lovely, talented girl with tons of warmth. After a gruelling year of teacher training, she is now a primary school teacher and a doting auntie to her little niece.

They all get on so well together and in fact they are meeting today in London. The boys couldn’t be more different but have an incredibly close bond.

I love them all so much and I feel so blessed to be able to witness their interesting, exciting lives.

Sorry! I realise that this is a bit like a boasty round Robin Christmas card, just wanted to reflect on how lucky I am.

Grandchildren will of course be lovely, but there is plenty of time for that!

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Wendy xx

This time of year is hard for a lot of us. The fun of Christmas has been and gone, spring and summer still seem a very long way away and it seems to take all our energy to just keep going in the cold and damp winter months.

I see a lot of clients who experience seasonal affective disorder or SAD. This is a very real illness which affects people mentally, physically and emotionally. Often people suffering with this disorder find that they have very little energy and enthusiasm to do the simplest things. Motivation can be affected and it’s often very common for the person to want to sleep a lot more and crave carbohydrates.

It is very important that we cut ourselves some slack and keep things as simple and stress free as we can when feeling this way. Rest as much as possible, but also take every opportunity to get some fresh air and daylight. Even though there may not be a lot of sun some days to provide us with vitamin D, this is still very important. Consider taking supplements such as Vitamin C and zinc for immunity, as well as B vitamins and magnesium for good mental health.

With regard to nutrition, make sure that you are eating lots of healthy protein as well as loads of veg. Keep fruit to a minimum as it tends to increase sugar levels and make you more hungry. Try to cut carbs down as much as you can, particularly the highly processed sugary ones as the more you eat of this type of food, the worse you will feel. Think about reducing your alcohol intake as it is a depressant and that initial good feeling will be followed by a downer.

Arrange to see people that give you a boost and limit contact with toxic folk, you know who they are.

Most of all take it easy, be kind to yourself and look forward to those little signs of spring. They will be here before you know it.

warmest wishes everyone,

Wendy xx

I was saddened to hear about the lady from Leeds who took her own life due to severe anxiety caused by the menopause. She had been with her dear husband for 41 years and had started to experience extreme anxiety in middle age. She was also overwhelmed by anxiety about covid and this drove her to commit suicide.

We already know that suicide is the biggest cause of death for young men between the ages of 18 and 30. What we may not be aware of is the high number of suicides for women between the ages of 45 and 55. Whilst there may be plenty of other factors at play here such as caring for elderly parents, worry about children, relationship issues, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that this is the age when a lot of women are going through the peri menopause or the menopause itself.

Years ago this stage of a woman’s life was not widely talked about, discreetly referred to as ‘the change’, something to be pushed under the carpet or at best laughed about. The hot flushes coming out of nowhere! Yeah, they’re so funny, aren’t they?

As a woman of a certain age I am really thankful that the menopause is something we are now able to talk out, thanks in part to celebrities such as Davina McCall and Mariela Frostrup. A recent campaign has also led to a change in the law which means there is now a one off prescription charge for one year’s worth of HRT. This is excellent news.

We now know too that – due to faulty research from decades ago – that the risk of breast cancer from taking HRT is minimal. Also the new forms of body identical HRT are much safer and better for women. There is even the argument that it is risky NOT to take HRT as oestrogen supplementation prevents osteoporosis, heart disease and many age related illnesses.

If you are suffering with menopausal or peri menopausal symptoms, it is important to see your GP and consider taking HRT. Some doctors are still not clued up about the new data, so be persistent and even consider getting a second opinion.

Hypnotherapy can also help a great deal in dealing with the anxiety symptoms of the menopause. It has been my pleasure and privilege to have helped a number of women experiencing mood swings and extreme anxiety at this time in their lives. Together we can help to install feelings of calm and wellbeing, so that this can be a new, healthy and exciting chapter for them.

Best wishes to you all,

Wendy x

I am so glad that the world is opening up to travel once again, with today being the first day that travel to the USA can take place.

It seems like such a long time ago now but back in the spring of 2019 Mr Chalk and I flew to the big apple. I was so excited about this trip and New York did not disappoint in the slightest. We packed our week with all the usual touristy things, going up to the top of the Empire State Building, a trip on the Hudson, shopping in Macey’s as well as a sad but necessary visit to the 9/11 memorial. We also had to go to an iconic vintage jazz club, the Village Vanguard – with a jazz pianist son, this was a must on our list. We then topped it off with a Broadway Show starring the amazing Bryan Cranston.

We also had the delight of meeting up with my niece, who works in Manhattan. We dined in a fancy restaurant and even glimpsed Ben Stiller as we were waiting for our table.

Everything that they say about NYC is true and I would go back in a heart beat.

Those who know me well know that I adore travel, so the not being able to travel aspect of lockdown has been one of the more unwelcome aspects of this strange time for me.

I have also missed being able to help people who have a fear of flying. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to have helped many clients who have wanted to visit different places in the world but have been held back by an intense fear of going on a plane. This was one of the most enjoyable aspects of my practice and I loved receiving postcards from all sorts of far flung places from happy and anxiety free clients.

Maybe you are considering a trip abroad next year but you are fearful of flying? Hypnotherapy is brilliant at helping you feel relaxed and confident about getting on that plane.

Do get in touch if you would like to book a session.

Have a nice day!

Wendy x