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When you’re trapped in a limiting belief — doubting yourself, feeling inadequate, unworthy, or just not good enough — it can hold you back in all areas of life. Career, relationships, social situations… everything can feel just out of reach.

You might recognise the feelings of anxiety, hesitation, or unease when it comes to putting yourself forward, speaking up, enjoying time with friends, or going for something you truly want. That discomfort can feel so intense and unfamiliar, you freeze. You retreat. You stay in your comfort zone. You tell yourself, “It’s just the way I am.”

Whether you call it low confidence, Imposter Syndrome, or anxiety, your brain has laid down some boundaries about what you can and cannot do, in order to stay safe, to survive.  It’s not your fault — these patterns were laid down long ago.

Often, they began in childhood. Sometimes it was unintentional: a comment, a look, an experience, a misunderstanding. Other times, it was more direct — ridicule, rejection, or moments that made you feel small, powerless, afraid, or unseen.

Perhaps you had to smile and keep others happy, even when you felt uncomfortable or scared inside. Maybe you weren’t allowed to speak up, or were told in subtle ways that your voice didn’t matter. As a child, every experience is recorded and tagged according to the emotion you felt at the time.

As you grew up, you learned to adapt and cope.  You found a way around it, mostly.   But, your brain (and body) remembered, by laying down neural pathways that connect the stimulus (and anything similar) to the response, in order to protect you.

Those old feelings can still bubble up today: at work, in new relationships, in social situations, or anytime you want to show up fully and confidently, put yourself out there, move forward in life and expand your horizons.  Even things like posting on social media can seem a bit scary for someone who has a limit or a boundary in place.

It’s like driving with the brakes on — you want to move forward, but something keeps holding you back.

Sometimes, trauma lies at the root of it. Trauma doesn’t always mean a major life event — it can be anything that overwhelmed your ability to cope at the time.  It’s like a roadblock in the psyche. You try to move forward, but it repeats, unconsciously,  like a broken record. Even if you’ve pushed it aside,  your brain remembers.

There is a way through.

Therapy helps you uncover the keys that unlock the door to your freedom in different ways:

• To identify the real issue beneath the surface
• To understand that it’s a brain thing (not your fault)
• To detach the emotion from the stimulus
• To quieten the inner critic
• To release the emotional pain
• To establish your true identity (without the problem)
• To reconnect with the version of you that shines — uplifted, confident, radiant and free.

You don’t need to stay trapped in old beliefs that no longer serve you.

Your Ideal, Authentic Self  is already within you.

Hypnotherapy and BWRT can help you.

Get in touch today and book your free consultation.
Let’s begin the journey back to you.

Just saying Hello – how are you feeling today?

Do you find that exercise first thing in the morning sets you up for the day? I notice I’m more productive and inspired with my work following a lovely walk first thing.

Today I walked for an hour by the canal with my daughter, it was a bit damp and the sun was hiding behind the clouds, but it didn’t matter. It was so refreshing to be out there in the fresh air having a good chat, getting my heart rate up and reinforcing the habit of exercise.

There’s something powerful about starting your day with a walk (or some sort of exercise) that shifts your mindset. As a hypnotherapist, I’ve noticed both personally and with clients that morning exercise creates a mental “reset” that can transform your entire day.

It’s not just about the physical benefits of movement – that morning walk can literally change how your brain functions with enhanced mental clarity and focus.

Immediate benefits you’ll notice: 

• The increased heart rate pumps oxygen-enriched blood around your whole body, clearing brain fog
• Endorphins (the feel-good hormones) are released to boost your mood and make you feel happy
• Walking in a peaceful environment enhances creativity and problem-solving abilities
• Natural settings reduce stress and anxiety almost immediately

Long-term benefits for your brain: 

• Early morning light exposure helps regulate natural sleep cycles, contributing to better sleep at night
• Regular walking has been linked to improved memory and increased cognitive function
• According to the British Heart Foundation, walking stimulates the release of a protein called BDNF (Brain-derived neurotropic factor) which supports the growth of new brain cells and connections

These amazing benefits compound over time, making each walk more valuable than you might realize. Sounds like a win-win to me!

Even on those days when motivation is low (we all have them!), I find that committing to just 15-20 minutes outside can break negative thought patterns and create space for new perspectives and ideas to filter through. This is particularly helpful if you’re working through anxiety or stress, or feeling stuck in certain areas of your life.

Remember, it’s not about perfection – it’s about consistency. Even a quick walk around the neighbourhood counts.  Walking every day, even for five minutes, builds a positive life-enhancing habit that benefits every part of you.

Have you tried morning movement as part of your daily routine? What difference does it make for you? I’d love to hear your story.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, afraid for the future, or struggling with worries that keep looping around your mind? Have you lost sense of where you are going in life?  Is it hard to switch off and relax? are you fed up of feeling like this?

I’m here to tell you, you’re not alone in your struggles, and it’s not your fault you’re feeling this way. As a therapist with 14 years of experience helping people just like you, I’m here to offer compassionate support and effective, proven techniques to help you reclaim your sense of well-being, find peace of mind and see the pathway forward.

If you have suffered a trauma, a major health crisis, or a catastrophic change in your life, your brain can stay in a state of stress, hypervigilance and fear.  The stress hormones can stay switched on, even if it’s at a low level in the background, keeping you stuck in a vicious cycle of overthinking and exhaustion.  When you lack purpose and meaning your brain doesn’t know what you really want and it automatically focuses on the problems in your life. Perhaps today is the day when you say “enough is enough”.

From the free consultation right through each and every therapy session, we work together, helping you to feel better, and giving you back the power to be yourself again.

OPTIONS

Here is a breakdown of what you can expect.  Different therapeutic approaches give you different options that suit your personal preferences.

The first session:

• Looking at the ins and outs of the problem
• Identifying what success will look like
• Helping you to feel more in control
• Introducing some coping strategies
• Building a foundation of calmness & relaxation
• Introduction to Hypnosis or BWRT (BrainWorking Recursive Therapy).
• Planning ahead.

Further sessions:

We go deeper, and work with subconscious processes using Hypnotherapy.  We help your brain to feel calmer, let go of old unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaving, switch off stress, neutralise any upsetting memories and establish new associations focused on what you want to achieve.  Hypnosis is an age old practice that is used by many health care professionals, hospitals and schools.  Please note that Stage Hypnosis has nothing to do with Clinical Hypnotherapy – the Stage Hypnotist is an entertainer and performs to an audience in a very structured way.  Clinical Hypnosis is used in therapy, focused and personalised for each client, in each session.   My qualification is in Clinical Hypnotherapy.

Once you feel comfortable, I teach you how to access what’s known as a ‘trance state’,  a bit like day dreaming, where we  build upon a foundation of relaxation and calmness, with soothing and uplifting mental imagery & positive suggestion:

• Releasing trauma from the past.
• Realigning you with your deepest values.
• Working with your Inner Child, helping her/him to feel safe.
• Reprogramming old unhelpful patterns that keep repeating.
• Reconnecting with your sense of purpose and meaning.
• Building confidence and self esteem.
• Sowing the seeds of a happier future, giving your subconscious a new focus.

Neuroscience Based Therapy – BWRT (BrainWorking Recursive Therapy) 

BWRT is a relatively new, fast acting therapy that focuses on your preferred outcome, without the need to discuss the details of the past.  It’s called ‘content-free’ therapy which means you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to say, and the therapist doesn’t need to know what happened.   All a BWRT practitioner needs to know is what you want to change (i.e. the feeling of anxiety/anger/grief… etc) and what you want to feel instead (i.e. relaxed, calm, peaceful… etc.).  We work with the BWRT process in a structured way.

There are now BWRT Therapists all around the world creating change in their clients lives in just a few sessions:

• Changing the brain’s focus of attention to what you want, rather than what you don’t want.
• Establishing new positive neural pathways that are reinforced with repetition.
• Neutralising painful emotional memories.
• Building confidence & self esteem.

For the Spiritually Inclined – a different kind of therapy

 If you are more spiritually inclined, I offer Reiki Energy Therapy sessions, that work on an energetic level with your deepest wishes and desires, combined with your powerful intention for healing, in a way that is meaningful to you.

Reiki Energy Therapy is a gentle, non-invasive healing technique that promotes relaxation, stress reduction, and overall wellness. During the Reiki portion of our session, I’ll place my hands lightly on or just above specific areas of your body to facilitate the flow of universal life energy, helping to balance your energy centres and remove blockages. This creates a welcome receptivity for the hypnotic suggestions that follow, where we work with your subconscious to address specific goals or concerns. Together, these complementary approaches create a powerful synergy—Reiki prepares your energy system and relaxes your body, while hypnosis helps reprogram limiting beliefs and behaviours, offering a holistic path to healing and personal transformation.

And if you really want to dive deeper down into the subconscious,  QHHT  (Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique) sessions take you back in time, looking at your life experiences in a whole new way.  Through the stories and metaphors your subconscious offers you, you may discover answers and have realisations that make sense in the current time, removing blocks and showing you the way forward.   QHHT is a specialised hypnotherapy method developed by Dolores Cannon that facilitates deep relaxation and access to what practitioners refer to as the “higher self” or “subconscious mind.” The process typically involves guiding clients into a somnambulistic trance state (similar to deep meditation) where they may explore past lives, access information about their current life circumstances, and potentially experience physical or emotional healing.

A QHHT session includes an interview, a hypnotic induction to the deepest level and an exploration of metaphysical experiences.  The practitioner asks questions aimed at resolving your concerns.  In QHHT we work with the underlying belief that the subconscious can provide insight and healing that might not be accessible during ordinary waking states.  A QHHT session typically lasts 3 – 3.5 hours.

Ready to dive in? book your free consultation and find out more.   Email me mary@innerspacehypnotherapy.co.uk

Welcome back to my page for a new year.

I hope you enjoyed some quality time off to relax and recharge. Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2025.

Let’s start where we are and move forward together in confidence and ease.

Firstly, well done for getting where you are today, perhaps you have had to overcome setbacks and challenges, or things have not worked out the way you wanted them to – yet.

It’s the time of year when many people set goals, perhaps decide to deal with underlying problems and issues, start a new project or keep going with something important and of value.

For those of you who don’t know me very well, I’m really into personal development, neuroplasticity, meditation, self hypnosis and manifestation. Hypnotherapy allows me to combine all of this into a process whereby I can help others too. It’s exciting and rewarding to work with people who want to change and who are willing to put in the effort.

I have had a rush of new enquiries and am looking forward to helping people become their best selves over the coming months. Perhaps I can help you too.

January thoughts go beyond the month:

🌸 What are you most proud of about yourself?
🌸 What are your aspirations for the future?
🌸 Are you feeling energised and motivated to move forward?
🌸 Could 2025 be your best year yet?
🌸 Is there something holding you back?
🌸 Do you want to make some changes?

Over the years of working as a qualified clinical hypnotherapist and BWRT (BrainWorking Recursive Therapy) Advanced Practitioner, I have helped many clients to overcome trauma and anxiety, lift depression, cope with loss, manage anger, quit addictions, lose weight, gain self-esteem and self-confidence and much more. Change may not be as difficult as you think.

Change happens through the process of neuroplacisticity, the brain’s ability to change throughout a person’s lifespan. Hypnotherapy can activate the process of change, directed by your intention. In hypnosis your brainwaves slow down to a receptive brain state (alpha brainwaves) where suggestions can be accepted and acted upon. As we move deeper into hypnosis (theta brainwaves) neurological changes take place in the part of the brain often referred to as the subconscious. Relaxation and stress relief are usually part of the package!

So, whether it’s personal development, a better lifestyle, better health, looking better, feeling better, or regaining control in some area of your life, hypnotherapy can help you to become your best self.

If you are thinking of making some changes, here are a few questions you might like to ask yourself (remember that you can only change yourself, not others):

❓ If you could make one change in your life this year, what would that be?
❓ What is stopping you from making the change?
❓ What is your biggest frustration around the area you’d like to work on?
❓ What is it costing you to stay as you are? (time/relationships/money/health/etc.)
❓ How does this make you feel? (name as many emotions as possible)
❓ What will things be like in 12 months if you don’t make a change?
❓ How committed are you to solving this?
❓ How important is it to start making changes straight away?

Now list at least 3 of your strengths and remind yourself that you can do anything you set your mind to.

During a free 30-minute consultation with me:

✅ We clarify the problem and the solution;
✅ We establish exactly what you want, why it’s so important;
✅ We identify what success might look like;
✅ We explore the blocks that are standing in your way, consciously or unconsciously;
✅ We look at solutions and methods to get you unstuck so you can move towards your goal;
✅ We break it down to achievable steps to you can see the pathway that leads to success;
✅ Together, we create a winning strategy!

Now, jump over those January blues and kickstart your year with these 10 motivational quotes:

1) “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”
— James Clear
2) The first step is clearly defining what it is you’re after, because without knowing that, you’ll never get it.”— Halle Berry
3) “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”— Roald Dahl
4) “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”— Maya Angelou
5) “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” — Albert Einstein
6) “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
7) “Personal development is the belief that you are worth the effort, time, and energy needed to develop yourself.” Dr Joe Dispenza
8) “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor E. Frankl
9) “Psychological fitness is just as important as physical fitness. Just as we need to train our bodies, we also need to train our minds to be resilient and adaptable.” – Amy Morin
10) “There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” – Rumi

Thank you for reading this post and thank you for following my page. I really appreciate each and every one of you and wish you all the best for 2025.

Feel free to comment or contact me – mary@innerspacehypnotherapy.co.uk

Best wishes,

Mary.

I’m so pleased to share some feedback from a client who was alcohol dependent for many years and wanted to quit for health reasons.  We worked together some months ago and today I received a lovely message from her:

“…It has been 103 days and not a drop has passed my lips. I feel better, I sleep better and have a better relationship with life.”  –  Jane. (Not her real name).

Many people believe that the alcohol is the issue, but it’s not, it’s the dependence on alcohol that causes the problem.

When we are dependent on something, we need it in order to feel good because without it there is the feeling of discomfort in the body, a feeling of stress, frustration or agitation.  Even when we are aware of the health or other implications, it can feel scary to think about quitting.

Some habits and patterns may feel like they are hardwired and too difficult to shift, but with the right approach and mindset, a compelling reason, and determination to succeed, you can do it.

Milton Erickson, American psychiatrist, psychologist, and pioneer of modern day clinical hypnosis and psychotherapy, once said

“Your subconscious can learn without letting you know it is learning; at the right time and in the right situation it will shove up into the conscious mind the essential knowledge.”  

 The subconscious does the work effortlessly while you are relaxing in the chair.  It can make the switch all by itself, and once you have made the switch there is a knock-on effect on all the other lessons your brain has already learned, in relation to that subject.

When I see clients, I explain how Hypnotherapy and BWRT work with the part of the brain involved in learning, reprocessing and updating patterns of automatic thought and behaviour.   They are often curiously surprised to notice positive change the same week, or even the week after, before they realise they are doing some important things differently.

We all change, all the time, and it can feel good to know that you are sowing the seeds of positive, progressive change in every session.

To find out more or to book a consultation, get in touch.

If you are wondering about how you would benefit from hypnosis, and what to expect from a session of hypnotherapy, I’d like to assure you of your safety, confidentiality and comfort.

In order to prevent overwhelm and burnout, build emotional resilience and ensure you remain effective and efficient in your day to day life, looking after yourself is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.

Hypnosis is a wonderful experience that helps you to feel physically relaxed and mentally calm, whilst your amazing brain does the job of reprocessing and sorting things out in the background.

You can rest assured that everything you tell me in the session is in the strictest confidence and you will remain in control at all times.

You will have enough time and space to tell me what’s bothering you and what you would like help with.  There is no judgment and no criticism, I am on your side.

Once we have assessed the problem and you are ready to release it, I will gently guide you into a ‘hypnotic trance’, a state of consciousness that is similar to drifting into a daydream and becoming absorbed in your inner experience.

A good hypnotic outcome can be achieved with the hypnotic mindset – priming your brain for success with a deep desire and motivation for positive change.

• When you really want something your brain goes on search mode, finding more opportunities and ways to give you what you want. (Think of wanting your favourite chocolate and how you might go out of your way to get it).
• In order to achieve success, you must be willing to let go of any mental or emotional blocks that are holding you back, or are standing in the way of your happiness.
• The empowering belief that change is entirely possible, is like rocket fuel for the brain. Change happens all the time and you can point your brain in the direction you want to go.  The one constant thing in life is that change happens anyway.
• Positive expectancy in achieving your goal moves you in the right direction.  If you expect to find something, you are more likely to find it as your brain is wired to seek and find.
• Making virtual space for new ideas, insights and inspirations encourages the creative mind to open and get into a flow state where answers and solutions can be found.

The hypnotic experience unfolds softly whilst you relax in the chair.  You may observe your muscles releasing tension, as your body sinks down into comfort and you may feel heavy or light, gradually letting go, more and more.

A person in hypnosis looks very peaceful, their facial muscles are smooth and they appear calm and relaxed.  Breathing slows down naturally and there may be mild changes in temperature and skin tone, as the body becomes still and quiet.   It’s not uncommon to lose track of time, whereby half an hour seems like 10 minutes.

As you listen to the sound of my voice, your focused awareness takes you on an inner journey.  Stress hormones are switched off and the relaxation response switches on, enabling a reset in the body/mind system.

Remember, looking after yourself means taking time out to release, restore and reset, Hypnotherapy can help you to do just that.

For hundreds of years, people have tried to understand hypnosis and come up with a logical explanation about what it is and what it isn’t, but the best way to find out more about hypnosis is to experience it for yourself.

One of the curious thing about hypnosis is, it’s not about what you think and it’s not about what you don’t think, but rather what goes on beneath the thoughts, in the place where beliefs, habits and responses are formed.

“The mind that opens to new ideas never returns to its original size” – Albert Einstein

Hypnosis puts you in touch with wonderful feelings like calmness, tranquility and peacefulness, connecting you directly with a whole host of resources like confidence, motivation and optimism that already exist, inside of you, ready to be tapped into.

Whatever you want to achieve, hypnosis can help you to access the resources needed.

From becoming Assertive to getting into the Zone, there is a A-Z of things you can do with hypnosis.

In that comfortable place between waking and sleeping, when your brainwaves slow down, you experience an increase in relaxation, causing the muscles to feel loose and heavy. Stress hormones switch off as the relaxation response switches on.  Just like drifting into a daydream, you may lose track of time for a short while, as if time is of no importance, and everyday worries just seem to fade into the background.

Here, the transformative process of hypnosis helps to bring about positive changes in your life.  All that is required is an open mind, positive expectancy and a willingness to suspend judgment while you relax in the comfort of the Hypno-chair.

Hypnotherapy facilitates the process of 5R:

• Release – trauma, anxiety, stress, anger, grief, guilt, shame
• Reset – calmness, confidence, motivation, optimism, joy
• Renew – values, intentions, goals, wishes
• Restore – emotional resilience, inner peace, harmony, balance
• Rejoice – in the wellspring of compassionate self-care

If you would like to experience hypnosis and benefit from the 5R Formula, book your session with me: mary@innerspacehypnotherapy.co.uk

Mary Bowmer February 2024

Do negative or unhelpful thoughts ever overwhelm you, repeat in a loop, become obsessive, demand attention or try to sabotage you?   Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) might be the answer.

“ACT gets you in touch with what really matters in the big picture: your heart’s deepest desires for whom you want to be and what you want to do during your brief time on this planet. You then use these core values to guide, motivate, and inspire behavioural change.  It’s about “mindful” action: action you take consciously, with full awareness – open to your experience and fully engaged in whatever you are doing.” – Russ Harris

While it’s quite normal to think all sorts of thoughts, it can be exhausting to get stuck in a downward spiral. Did you know we have around 60,000 thoughts per day? and the majority of these are negative worrisome/disempowering (for a lot of people).

Thoughts are magnetic and one negative thought leads to another. It’s a mind thing, a process that is well documented. The human mind is capable of imagining great things, and it’s also capable of imagining terrible things. The brain repeats patterns and will latch on to anything you think regularly, creating a habit.

The thing is, most thoughts come and go, you don’t generate them, you don’t choose them, they just appear in your mind as words or images, but FUSION with your thoughts creates problems. (Fusion means getting entangled, getting stuck, buying into or believing what your thoughts are telling you and going along with the story). DEFUSION, on the other hand, means disentangling or separating from your thoughts, with the aim of being a bit more flexible and giving yourself a better choice. You are not your thoughts.

Many people who suffer from anxiety will go to great lengths to avoid, deny, suppress, or escape from unwanted thoughts and feelings. If this worked, why is there an increase in anxiety all over the world? This kind of thinking is unworkable.

A great way of dealing with disempowering thoughts is to mindfully accept them for what they are, just thoughts, accept your feelings as appropriate in the circumstances, and show yourself compassion. Then, carry on doing something that is in line with your values.

As an experiment, do the following exercise and be curious about your ability to change, in small and big ways, and how change can come when we focus on what we can do, rather than on what we can’t do.  It’s best to give yourself some time and not to rush this exercise.

1. Take a few slow deep breaths, tune in to the present moment accepting that things are the way they are, at this moment in time, without judgment or criticism, without having to debate or challenge your experience, without anything having to be right or wrong.
2. Become the observer and notice the mind chatter that goes on most of the time. Notice your feelings and your emotions. Also notice your physical body, sensations like tension, or relaxation etc.
3. What story are you telling yourself? What are you saying beginning with “I…..” and what are you telling yourself about the situation
4. Allow yourself to feel your feelings, even if they are painful or make you feel vulnerable.
5. Now begin to notice what’s actually happening inside and outside of you. Tell yourself what you are noticing, for example, “I am noticing stiffness in my shoulders; …. I am noticing that I am overthinking …. I am noticing that I feel a bit down and anxious,… I am noticing I feel grumpy… I am noticing I am worried about the future”…etc. Whatever it is, give yourself some space, take your time and lean in to the feelings.
6. Next think about your values in life and what value you would like to move towards, for example healthy living, confidence, loving relationships. Is it your intention to carry on the way you are or is it your intention to think and do something that will improve your life in a meaningful way. Can you allow yourself to accept what is and take valued action anyway?
7. What can you do now? Commit to taking inspired action in line with your chosen value on this occasion.
8. Visualise yourself rising up, adopting the mindset of someone that can do the things you want to do – “Your Ideal Self”, the you who is already living a life defined by your vision of the future. One small step is all that is required. One step in the right direction.
9. Now, adopt the habit of pivoting towards the things that will enrich your life, one day at a time.
10. When you have finished, open your eyes and do that thing.

Let me know how you get on and if you find this exercise helpful, or if you have any questions. I’d love to hear from you.

If you would like some guidance to live a more enriched and purposeful life, I’m here to help.