Black Friday Deal - Until 30th November 2015: All eCourses Only $10 Each

​Black Friday Deal

Between now and Monday 30^th November 2015 you can have access to any of these courses for just $10 following the links below or using the code BLACKFRIDAY2015DEAL

Self Publishing Made Easy

Learn Self Hypnosis For Personal Development

Introduction To Solution Focused Therapy

Introduction To Mindfulness Meditation

Overcome IBS With Self Hypnosis

Calm Anxiety With Self Hypnosis

Overcome Insomnia With Self Hypnosis

Reduce Stress With Self Hypnosis

Certificate In Ericksonian Hypnotherapy

Pattern Matching – Hypnotherapy Masterclass

Trance & Reality – Hypnotherapy Masterclass

How To Help Your Child To Sleep & Stop Wetting The Bed

Boost Wellbeing & Life Enhancement

Feel free to share these discounts if you know anyone that would be interested in taking advantage of them.

All the best

Dan

The Rabbit Who Came To Tea - Bedtime Story For Parents To Read To Children To Help Them Sleep

This extract is from my book 'Sleepy Bedtime Tales'. This is the first story in the book and is to be read to your child at bedtime to guide them to sleep. (http://www.alt-solutions.org/sleepy-bedtime-tales) - (this link takes you straight to the book on your local Amazon website: http://apn.to/prod/B015HVQZV4)

'Sleepy Bedtime Tales' isn't like other bedtime story books. All the stories in the book have been designed around my approach to helping to get children to sleep. The approach works with any story, but is easier to do when the story is written specifically for the approach. This also makes it more effective. These stories have been written for 4-7 year old's but they can be read to younger children. The approach itself works with people of any age.

Read this story slowly and calmly in time with the rhythm of your child's breathing. Ideally read while your child is breathing out, and pause while your child is breathing in. Yawn occasionally as you read (get into the story a bit first). Add extra emphasis to the words and phrases in italics (add a more 'relaxing' voice to these words). As you read through the story gradually slow down your reading and make the reading sound more relaxing. This will help your child to drift deeper asleep. I use a similar structure (like counting down) to help the listener associate the process or elements with relaxing and falling asleep regardless of which story they listen to. It helps people to 'know what is coming next' on an unconscious level so the more they hear the stories the more effective the stories become.

There is more comprehensive information in my book 'Sleepy Bedtime Tales' along with other ideas that help to get children to sleep at night, and ten more bedtime stories.

The Rabbit Who Came to Tea

As you close your eyes, I’m going to tell you about a rabbit who came to tea. This was no ordinary rabbit; this was Malcolm, the magic rabbit.

 So with your eyes closed, you can listen to me reading this story, and while I read this story, you can begin to feel relaxed. And as I read, you can imagine this story and begin to drift off to sleep. As you drift off asleep you can continue this story in a dream. And my reading will help you feel sleepy, it will help you feel tired and it will help you fall asleep.

Malcolm lived inside a magician’s hat, and the hat lived on the magician’s head. The magician used to spend every day doing magic tricks for children. He would make ribbons appear in his hands, and coins appear from behind the children’s ears.

But what the children most loved was when he would show them his magic hat. The magician would show that the hat was empty, and then, with a magic word ‘abracadabra’and a wave of his magic wand, there would be a puff of smoke; Malcolm the rabbit would appear out of the hat.

The magician didn’t know where Malcolm came from, or where he went when he put him back in the hat. All he knew was that, when he said ‘abracadabra’ and waved his magic wand, Malcolm would appear in a puff of smoke.

Every evening, the magician went home for his tea. He would take his hat off and leave it on a shelf by the front door until he next went out to do magic for the children. What the magician didn’t know was that the hat was magical.

Inside the hat was a magical world. Each day, after the magician’s last show, Malcolm travelled deep down into the hat and went back home. As he travelled deeper and deeperinto the hat, he became less aware of the magician’s world, and started to become more aware of his own.

His land was one where trees grew upside-down, and the sky was bright pink. When Malcolm arrived home, he found a letter waiting for him on the doormat.

‘You are invited to afternoon tea at three. From, Cybil the Squirrel.’ Malcolm read.

‘Afternoon tea? That does sound nice,’ Malcolm thought to himself as he wiped his feet on the doormat and closed the front door behind him.

Malcolm hadn’t been to afternoon tea for a long time; he wondered what he should wear. He tried on five different pairs of shoes and four different t-shirts before he decided on the right one for him. He didn’t have long to get ready, and he knew deep down that he was going to enjoy his afternoon tea.

Once Malcolm was dressed for afternoon tea, he left his house to go and visit his friend, Cybil the Squirrel. Cybil had short ears and a bushy tail, and she lived in the tallest upside-down tree in the land.

Malcolm hopped along the blue path, past the green upside-down oak tree, before turning left. From here, he could see Cybil’s tree at the end of the road.

He hopped towards the grand upside-down tree where he found a doorway. He knocked on the door three times.

Knock,knock, knock.

On the third knock, he could hear Cybil’s voice. ‘Hello, who is it?’

‘Hi! It’s me, Malcolm’

Just then, the door creaked open and Malcolm could see stairs leading down into the base of the tree. There were ten steps for Malcolm to follow, and each step led Malcolm deeper and deeper into the tree. The stairway was lined with twinkling lights, sparkling and flashing with a rainbow of colours, and at the bottom was a beautiful glow coming from a room at the base of the tree.

Malcolm excitedly hopped down the stairs towards the glowing room. The stairs were numbered, to let visitors know how many steps they had left to walk down.

He stepped onto step ten, then nine, and eight. He didn’t know what the afternoon tea was going to be like, or what the room at the bottom of the stairs was like. Seven, six, five. He was hopping down the stairs deeper and deeper into the tree. He began to feel like he was going to a party. Four,three. 

Malcolm was now nearly at the bottom of the stairs and he could see that the room was glowing with a soft light, and he could hear a voice talking in the room. Malcolm continued to hop deeper and deeper down into the base of the upside-down tree. Two, one.

Malcolm reached the bottom of the tree, paused for a moment, and then stepped into the room.

Cybil was sat in the room at the end of a long table. On the table were lots of plates, full to the brim with small sandwiches, cakes and sweets. 

Chugging around the outside of the table was a small stream train, pulling carriages laden with tasty food.

Malcolm’s mouth watered at the sight of all the food. As he sat down with Cybil to eat,he wondered why she was having this afternoon tea, and why she had invited him round. But, before he could ask, he already had a tasty cake in his mouth. It looked so nice, he couldn’t help himself.

‘Mm, these are good!’ he said, talking with his mouth full.

‘Malcolm, I need your help,’ Cybil said, ‘I have lost my favourite toy. You know magic,and you know how to find things. I need you to help me find my favourite toy.’

Malcolm did know magic, but he didn’t know whether he could find Cybil’s favourite toy. Still, he was going to try. He asked Cybil what the toy looked like and where she had last seen it.

Cybil told Malcolm she had had her favourite toy this morning, but when she got home she had lost it. She tried to look for it, but couldn’t find it. 

Malcolm said he would try and find it for her.

Malcolm and Cybil finished their afternoon tea. Malcolm put some of the cakes and sweets into his pockets and set off in search of Cybil’s favourite toy.

Malcolm wanted to find Cybil’s toy before his bedtime. Malcolm looked along the street; Cybil’s toy wasn’t there. He looked behind upside-down trees; it wasn’t there. He looked around the bushes; and it wasn’t there either.

Malcolm didn’t know where else to look, so he decided to use magic. He had seen the magician making coins appear from behind children’s ears, and he thought maybe he could make Cybil’s favourite toy appear from behind her ear.

Malcolm went back to Cybil; he said a secret magic word, before reaching behind Cybil’s ear where he found Cybil’s favourite toy appearing in his hand.

Cybil was so excited and grateful to Malcolm. She gave him a big hug and an extra big slice of cake to take home with him.

Malcolm walked home, eating the big chunk of cake and feeling great about helping Cybil. This made him smile and think to himself: ‘I’m going to be kind and help people more often.’

As the sun set in the pink sky, and the shadows drew long and thin, Malcolm arrived home,feeling tired and sleepy, and, with a big yawn, Malcolm went to bed, falling deeply asleep.

This story 'The Rabbit Who Came to Tea' is the first story in the book 'Sleepy Bedtime Tales' which is available on Amazon as a Kindle eBook and Paperback (this link takes you straight to the book on your local Amazon website: http://apn.to/prod/B015HVQZV4).

http://www.alt-solutions.org/sleepy-bedtime-tales 

Sleepy Bedtime Tales Book Cover

Tales of a Teenage Hypnotist With Asperger's Part 04

When I was growing up I had tremendous trouble understanding how people felt. I would say things and do things without realising that others could be upset by this. My view was that if I was just stating facts, then clearly I wasn't trying to be hurtful or upsetting to anyone, I wasn't trying to upset anyone, I was just stating facts (or, in some cases facts from my perspective of how I read the evidence/situation - not that I thought about it in that way back then).

A few examples of my lack of understanding that what I say could upset others. In school as a teenager a girl asked me out. My response to her was that I thought she was ugly and so wouldn't want to go out with her. She slapped me... I couldn't understand why she would be upset by me, from my perspective I felt people go out with people they find attractive, so if I didn't find her attractive then I wasn't going to want to go out with her and I thought she would want to know the reason I was saying no, rather than just being told no.

I would often walk into rooms where people had been arguing and carry on as if nothing had been going on, completely unaware of the fact those in the room are perhaps angry or uncomfortable whilst I am in the room. I wouldn't notice when people were attracted to me, and likewise wouldn't notice when people weren't attracted to me. So if I wanted to ask someone out I would just do it, when it would have been more helpful to just do it with those that were likely to be more receptive, and it would have been more helpful to notice people that were flirting with me, rather than being blind to this.

When I was about 14 I began to experiment with some ideas. I used to read lots of books on subjects like auras, spirits, ghosts, etc. I wondered whether it would be possible to use hypnosis to hallucinate auras around people as a visual colour representation of the emotion that person was experiencing.

Chichester Hypnotherapist Dan Jones Aged 14

Like today one problem I have always had is my obsessiveness around subjects I am interested in, so if I was interested in a subject I would talk about just that subject with whoever wouldn't walk away or tell me to shut up. I wouldn't notice that people were bored of listening to me, or that people were getting angry with me constantly talking about my interests with them.

So seeing auras around people allowed me to begin to notice emotions others were experiencing. My belief about how it was all working was that although I wasn't very good at reading emotions I assumed that my unconscious mind would take in all the information and would recognise the patterns of behaviour associated with someone being bored, or being angry, or annoyed, or anxious, etc. I felt that although to me I couldn't notice any difference, there must be a difference, perhaps such a small difference that I can't detect it, but maybe my unconscious could.

This turned out to be correct, and very useful. By the time I was approaching 16 I was much better at reading emotions by noticing what colours where around people. As time went on I also began to learn about micro-expressions, and learn to notice minimal cues, and taught myself as much as I could about noticing these things for myself, rather than just letting my unconscious do all the work. I still make lots of mistakes, but when I can get 'in the zone' I can be more efficient and effective and noticing what is going on for others.

Tales of a Teenage Hypnotist With Asperger's Part 03

I began studying hypnosis about the same time that I began to also show an interest in playing pool. As I had already started to use hypnosis to 'see sounds' to help me to play manhunt and other games in the dark, I was curious about whether it was possible to improve my pool playing with hypnosis.

An idea that I had was that playing pool would be so much easier if I had lines on the table that I could follow, so I decided I would try hallucinating them. I hallucinated a dot on the cueball so that I would know where to hit to do the shot I was thinking needed to be done, I would hallucinate a line, like a laser beam, coming out from the cueball and making contact with the object ball I was aiming for, with it meeting the object ball at the point I needed to hit, and then a line, like a laser beam, coming off the object ball, following the path the ball is going to take, all the way to the ball's destination (normally a pocket), and a line for where the cue ball will go, and end up.

This wasn't a failsafe process, I still needed to be able to hit the cue ball at the spot on the ball, and still had to hit it so that it followed the line to the object ball, but if I could get these right I had a very good chance of doing well.

This wasn't to only trick I used to increase my chances of winning when playing pool, but other tricks will be saved for future posts.

Here is a brief video of me playing pool using the technique described above.

Which is your favourite? The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep, or Sleepy Bedtime Tales

Today is the launch of 'The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep'. So with the release of 'The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep' I thought I would ask a question to parents out there.

September saw the release of 'Sleepy Bedtime Tales' which is a collection of 11 bedtime tales designed with ideas from social psychology to help children fall asleep.

As these two books seem to offer similar approaches the question for parents is: which book do you prefer and why? What has been your experience with both 'The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep' and 'Sleepy Bedtime Tales'?

'The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep' is a single story to be read to children to help them to fall asleep. While 'Sleepy Bedtime Tales' is a collection of 11 different stories to be read to children to help them to fall asleep.

Comment below what your experience is with these books, which is your favourite and why?

Tales Of A Teenage Hypnotist With Asperger's Part 02

When I began learning hypnosis as a young teenager I didn't realise I had been doing hypnosis for years.

When I was in primary school I was a small, quiet child. I was often ignored and overlooked, but I did make one observation that taught me a strategy for getting my own way.

Chichester Hypnotherapist Dan Jones, Aged 9

What I discovered was that if I suggested an idea, and it happened to be a good idea, then people would do that idea even though I wouldn't get any credit for it and no-one would realise I was the one who initially suggested it.

For example; if I wanted to play a specific game, I would suggest it in front of my friend that were trying to think of what game to play, no-one would acknowledge that I have just spoken, but eventually the people that heard me suggest that game, without realising they had heard it, would suggest it themselves, and then others would suggest it, and after a few minutes we would be playing the game I wanted to play.

This is a bit like when you ask someone that is intensely engrossed in a TV programme if they want a cup of tea. They may not hear you, but once the adverts come on they suggest wanting a cup of tea because the idea went into their mind subconsciously.

Many children would have got annoyed with suggesting ideas, being ignored, and then having others 'come up with' the ideas they had, and then having those other children taking credit for the ideas. But I thought about things differently.

I have never been particularly bothered about being in the limelight, or taking credit for things, so to me as a small child it came naturally to notice that I was 'getting my own way' even though I wasn't getting credit for ideas that I had and not to be bothered by this, but to use it to my advantage. Often ideas in school for tasks and projects, or who should do what would come from me initially, but someone else would suggest it louder than me, and they would get credit for the idea, but everyone would be doing what I want us to do.

So if I wanted to play manhunt, then I would suggest playing manhunt, a minute or so later the children around me would suggest manhunt and the idea would ripple around the group and we would end up playing manhunt, which is what I wanted.

Later I life I have continued using this strategy in secondary school, in work, in life, and when I am doing therapy. In therapy for example; part of the aim is to help people to make changes that perhaps they aren't so motivated to make. So I will suggest ideas that I would like clients to follow in a way that allows them to suggest the ideas to me that 'they want to do' later in the therapy session.

Lose Weight While You Lie In Bed

When I was in my late teens/early twenties I used to eat a lot of chocolate. Back then the British shop Woolworths used to sell a Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate bar they called 'The World's Largest Chocolate Bar'. It was 1.5kg and I used to eat one bar every day. I would eat 'normally' as well, so this one bar was in addition to my normal meals.

Knowing hypnosis I wanted to keep the weight off (I had a 28in waist back then) so I used to use hypnosis to increase my metabolism.

One day I met with other hypnotists and one of them questioned the ethical nature of my actions and said that I should exercise and not 'cheat' with hypnosis. Following this, for some reason I stopped being able to use hypnosis to speed up my metabolism in this way so I had to think of an alternative way of burning more calories.

What I found was that I could lie down in bed and imagine myself running along the seafront. I would start off with a vague image, and would focus in on the internal experience by imagining specific parts of running, so I would focus on the swing of my arms, what that would feel like, I would focus on the movement of my legs and on how my feet hit the ground. I would focus on how I would need to be breathing to be running optimally, and would allow myself to become absorbed in the experience of what I would see and hear and feel and smell as I ran along the beach.

All of this would increase my heart rate and increase my metabolism. After 30 minutes of doing this, despite lying in bed, I would feel hot and sweaty and would open my eyes still feeling my heart beating as if I had just been doing strenuous exercise.

This increased metabolism would then continue to be higher through the day. I often did this twice per day to keep weight off, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. I didn't always lie down in bed to do it, as I got more skilled at it I could do it anywhere, so I could do it sat on a bench or chair, or anywhere I could close my eyes for about 30 minutes and let my mind drift inside.

This may sound unusual or unlikely, that I could do something in my mind which effects my body, but it is no different to what people do unintentionally every day. Many people worry about things. Worrying is imagining things that may happen, and many of those things don't happen. People that worry can give themselves a panic attack or feelings of anxiety, they can induce the 'fight or flight' response and find that their heart speeds up and adrenalin flows, and they feel sweaty or clammy. All responses that should only happen in the face of real danger.

Or if someone focuses on a lost loved one and allows themselves to be drawn into the thoughts and memories they can find themselves crying, or allowing your mind to be drawn in to happy thoughts of something that made you laugh can make you suddenly laugh again, which can be embarrassing when this takes you by surprise. So what you think influences your body, in the same way that how you feel and what your body does can influence the thoughts you have.

If you give this idea ago I look forward to hearing your experiences, and what results you get...

Are You F**king Up Your Children?

One of the hardest things people have to do in life is bring up the next generation. You frequently hear that children aren't born with a handbook. It is common for people to make mistakes as they bring up their children, and hopefully most people learn lessons along the way and do better as time goes on. Here I hope to illuminate areas that can influence a child's health and wellbeing that may not all be what people immediately focus on, or are aware of. I have tried to avoid focusing on what most people already know, like the effects of what a parent is teaching a child through the natural modelling that goes on as the child grows up learning from those around them. I have also tried to point a light on some areas where 'genetic' changes are actually changes that were avoidable or are reversible. Over the years I have frequently heard parents say 'I want them diagnosed'. They want to find out what is wrong, have a diagnosis of ADHD or Autism/Aspergers and hope that this will solve everything. Often I can see areas where improvement can be made and where behaviours or 'problems' are coming from, yet the parents will still be focusing on wanting a diagnosis rather than making changes that will help the child. They often don't realise that some of the problems they are having are because of their lifestyles, either now or in the past, or of the way they treat the child, like how they parent the child and what diet and exercise they give the child. I have avoided talking about attachment theory and the impact of poor attachment, or different attachment styles, because they are often covered. I want the reader to learn something, or read something new that perhaps they haven't thought about or read before.

Here are three areas which can influence your child's current and future health and wellbeing:

1. Nurturing

It may seem like common sense that children need to be nurtured, they need to be hugged, they need close loving contact from a parent or care giver. The effects of not doing this run deeper than just having a child that feels unloved and perhaps has attachment issues when they grow up, or grows up unsure how to show love and affection. A neglectful parent that doesn't frequently hug their child and show love to their child is actually causing epigenetic changes to that child's genome.

Epigenetics is about the turning on or off of different genes, so the genes aren't mutated or physically changed, but they act differently.

If a child is bought up in a low nurturing environment they may well be more likely to grow up sexually outgoing, and perhaps getting into intimate relationships at an earlier age, whereas a child bought up in a high nurturing environment is more likely to grow up to be more modest, and likely to take relationships slower.

A child bought up in a low nurturing environment is more likely to have a lower stress threshold, it would be like they have been primed to expect that the World is a scary and dangerous place, so they may well end up getting angry or anxious about things much quicker than those around them, they may be short-tempered and abrupt with others, or seem to always be nervous and worrying about everything.

If they don't learn how to manage this and they go on to have children they will pass on this tendency to have a low tolerance to stressful events to their children, and they will then have to work extra hard to undo this by getting the nurturing as right as possible with their children despite the fact that their children are likely to be more challenging than expected to manage.

Growing up in a low nurture environment leads to epigenetic changes in females brains that reduce estrogen and so can lead to those females being less attentive and nurturing to their children, which can then continue the cycle. The individual has to grow up and learn a nurturing way of being if they want to break the cycle, but they are likely to find it feels like it doesn't come so naturally to them because they are going against a way of parenting that was instilled in them by the way they were parented.

Low nurture environments, or childhoods full of stress, shouting, aggression, bullying or authoritarian parenting, with very little hugging, and close loving contact and interactions can lead to adults more prone to depression and anxiety disorders, obsessive behaviours, more fears and phobias and being more socially awkward, they are more likely to suffer with illnesses including high blood pressure, heart problems, stress related and low immune system related illnesses and cancer, and generally lead shorter lives.

What the child chooses to do as they grow up can reverse the effects of a low nurture environment in childhood, but they will have to have the mind-set that encourages them to actively make those changes, like learning about appropriate relationships, learning how to express love appropriately, learning healthy thinking styles and developing a positive self image and positive beliefs. They will also have to learn how to manage stress and how to relax in healthy ways.

2. Diet

There are two components to the diet issue. One is the parents diet before the child is born, the other is the diet of the child.

Starting with the diet of the parent. Fathers that eat foods high is fat or sugar, or that have eaten excessively and are overweight create epigenetic changes within themselves relating to this high fat/high sugar diet. These epigenetic changes are expressed throughout the body, so as the man's body creates sperm this sperm carries the DNA with the encoded epigenetic changes. This is how the diet of the father passes to their child. For mothers it is a little different. Because the mothers eggs have existed for a long period of time it seems that they carry the DNA as it was at the time they were created. So dietary influences in women would precede the creation of the eggs. Where the mothers current diet influences the child is during pregnancy. If the mother is eating high sugar/high fat foods during pregnancy, or making other unhealthy dietary choices this is the time that those choices will influence the epigenetic changes on the DNA within the unborn child. If the mother is overweight or unhealthy this will also have the effect of creating unhealthy changes within the unborn child. Children born to parents that have had poor diets may well suffer with asthma, cardiovascular disease, be more prone to obesity and more likely to develop diabetes, even if they eat healthy and normal sized meals. The children will also be more likely to die significantly younger than the average life expectancy. So the children will have to grow up doing more to be healthy and overcome these 'handed down' effects than children who grew up with healthy parents. Some of the effects of poor parental diet can be undone if the mother breastfeeds. Regardless of the parents diet, breastfeeding can reduce and undo some of the negative epigenetic effects, and if the mother has a good diet then the positive 'undoing' effect is even greater, the child is then at a reduced risk of obesity and related health risks.

For the children, if they are eating a diet of high fat/high sugar this is likely to impact on the development of their brain, they may well grow up more inclined to 'crave' these foods and use these foods as emotional crutches during times of stress or difficulties. Poor diet through childhood can lead to cells growing abnormally and can increase the chances of cancers developing, they can develop obesity, chronic illness, depression, low self-esteem, less able to focus their attention and more likely to exhibit behavioural problems, less physically and mentally active, high blood-pressure, cholesterol and increased risk of stroke, and more likely to have unhealthy eating habits. They will also be passing on epigenetic changes and health risks to their children and grandchildren. To undo a childhood of eating unhealthy the child will need to grow up exercising and eating healthy and doing activities that relax them and help them regulate their mood so that they reduce as many of the negative effects as possible. If they can keep this up then they may not pass on so many negative effects. Unfortunately this is unlikely to remove all negative effects because research has found that fathers that have been eating unhealthy high-fat/high-sugar diets before the age of 11 pass on negative changes leading to obesity to their offspring.

3. Your Baggage

Many of the examples above show how the parents upbringing and life experiences and life choices can create epigenetic changes which can then be passed on. If the parent had a rough childhood which was stressful, or a childhood in poverty, perhaps a shortage of food, then this can pass on to their children giving their children health risks and perhaps they will be more likely to display poor behaviour or struggle with concentration. If the parent experiences stressful life experiences and doesn't address these experiences and 'deal' with them then they may mentally revisit these experiences giving themselves stress regularly which can create negative epigenetic changes.

If the parent takes drugs, smokes, eats unhealthy, or drinks alcohol all of these can create epigenetic changes which can be passed on effecting the child. If mothers during the second or third trimester before birth experience any high stress events, especially events that can cause trauma or fear this can lead to a child being born with a low tolerance to stress, so they will seem to perceive the world as a dangerous place and struggle with stress and perhaps cry more than normal, or get angry more than normal. Parents with unresolved emotional baggage or parents feeling 'trapped' in a situation so they feel stress on a daily basis can have this lead to changes which impact on the development of the child.

Parents ignoring their child because they are going through a difficult time, or because they are depressed (for example if a parent has post natal depression) can then find they don't parent as nurturing as they need to be, or they display anxiety or negative emotions around the child which can then create epigenetic changes, as well as the 'learnt behaviour' of how to handle situations which can impact on the child's future.

To address this issue the parents should address their own baggage. If someone is thinking of becoming a parent, to give the child the best opportunity and best start in life it is useful to get any issues resolved, visit a counsellor if needed, or find someone that you can work through any historic issues with. If you are a 'nervous' person, or if you are an 'aggressive' person, or any other negative extreme emotion then getting this addressed is useful. If you spend all of your time worrying, then the child will be likely to be born with a propensity to worry. They will then be hit with the second blade of the sword, because they will also grow up in an environment of 'worrying' and so will be learning that this is how you behave and handle situations. Children learn by copying those around them, and they learn very effectively, even the subtle aspects of human behaviour. So not only do they learn to speak an entire language, and learn what accent to use to speak that language, and learn how to walk despite the fact that their body is a different size and slightly different shape everyday, but they also learn how to handle conflict, how to deal with change, with disappointment, with the unknown, etc...

To address unhealthy lifestyle baggage, it is best to get healthy and get into shape before having a child. You may not be able to undo all changes you will pass on, but hopefully you will be able to pass on better changes than if you remained unhealthy. In many cases stopping 'once you find out you are pregnant' will have some positive effects, like smoking or drinking during pregnancy isn't advisable. But there will be many changes you will pass on simply because you left it too late before stopping. If you have developed healthy lifestyle changes before having a child you are more likely to bring the child up encouraging them to be healthy, so any epigenetic changes passed on that are unhealthy, perhaps from when you were younger, before you started getting healthy, you will be teaching your child the skills to undo as much of this in their lifetime as possible so that the generational cycle gets broken.

The most important thing for parents to learn is how to relax, how to keep stress to a minimum. This one thing before conception, during pregnancy, and during the child's childhood is what will have the biggest impact on that child's health and wellbeing. The other thing is diet and exercise for the parent and the child, making sure the child gets plenty of outdoor exercise and eats a healthy and balanced diet that is low in fat and sugar. Parents should keep shouting or aggressive acts to a minimum, there are very few occasions a parent is likely to need to shout, and never any occasions a parent should need to hit a child.

To learn more some useful reading includes:

Epigenetics: How Environment Shapes Our Genes by Richard C. Francis
Your Happy Genes: Tripping Your Inner Switches for Pleasure, Success & Rela​xation by Dawson Church
The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance by Nessa Carey
Genie in Your Genes by Dawson Church

Dan Jones Interviewing Legendary Hypnotherapist Stephen Brooks

Chichester Hypnotherapist Dan Jones, founder of the Sussex Hypnotherapy Centre, and author of 'Becoming a Brief Therapist', 'Hypnosis for Beginners', and 'Advanced Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Scripts' interviews legendary Hypnotherapist and Trainer Stephen Brooks, founder of British Hypnosis Research. Stephen Brooks was the first person to bring Ericksonian Hypnotherapy to the UK back in the early 1970's, he had a thriving practice before moving on to teaching Indirect, Conversational, Ericksonian Hypnotherapy & NLP, initially in the UK, and then Worldwide.

At the peak of Brooks popularity here in the UK Stephen Brooks vanished, he gave up his successful training business and moved to Thailand and began leading a minimal lifestyle. In 2007 Stephen Brooks began an advanced online training course and live practitioner and master practitioner training.

Stephen Brooks trainings are interesting, mind-opening and entertaining, Brooks works with real-life clients in front of the students and then breaks down what he was doing and why, and possible directions he is likely to take if he was going to continue to work with the client as well as 'usual' teaching.

For the benefit of those not trained by Stephen Brooks that watch this interview I would be interested to have students and those that have trained with him to comment below and share your experiences about Stephen Brooks, the man you met, Stephen Brooks, the trainer, and your experiences of being on the training course and why you would recommend others should grab the opportunity to train with him.

I have trained with many people over the years and always recommend people should learn from Stephen Brooks, as he is by far one of the leading, most skilful therapists I know of. I hope you enjoy and share the interview... 

Tales Of A Teenage Hypnotist With Asperger's Part 01

What do you think someone setting out learning hypnosis gets up to?

I started learning hypnosis when I was about 13/14 over 20 years ago because I had difficulty communicating with others and saw Paul McKenna on TV and thought hypnosis would be the answer.

As a young boy I struggled to get clients to practice on so I practised on friends, family and strangers.

13/14 year old Dan with runner Roger Black

I thought what would be interesting is to share with you some of the things I got up to as I developed my interest in hypnosis and 'mind control'.

When I started out one of the first things I did was to practice on myself. I didn't really understand hypnosis, I hadn't read enough to make me limit what I believed was possible. As a young boy I used to love playing manhunt. Manhunt was a game where you would have two teams with one team having to get to a location and the other team having to 'tag' that team before any of them make it to the location.

Myself and my friends would often play this in the dark in the woods at night and would have a free-standing torch on the ground as the location to reach. Something I wondered was whether I could make the game easier for myself. I thought it would be handy if I could see where the 'attacking' team players are. I wondered about whether it would be possible to 'see' sounds (later I learnt that this was synaesthesia). I hypnotised myself so that any sounds of cracking branches or of breathing or sudden movement would 'look' like flashes of light and colours so that I could see where the attacking team players were hiding.

This gave a tremendous advantage in the dark when playing this game, as I could identify where people were by 'seeing' their breathing, breaking twigs or sudden noises.

This was the first time I intentionally used hypnosis to my advantage and practised on myself.

Subscribe to this blog for future posts where I will be revealing times I used hypnosis techniques unknowingly when I was in primary school, how I used hypnosis to excel at playing pool, and tricks I used to use to make other players play worse, how I made one man see everyone in a nightclub as being naked, and more...

Therapeutic Story Telling For Those Working With Children

Originally Published 6th September 2012

Many of you that know me or that have attended my Therapeutic Story Telling Workshops will know that story telling25 is one of my favourite areas of therapy.

Here I hope to explore this topic with you mainly in relation to how you can use story telling when working with children.

For thousands of years story telling has been used to help children to move from childhood to adulthood (Just look at The Iliad and Odyssey by Homer). Many cultures use story telling or 'shared dreams' to help children make the transition from childhood to adulthood. One of the most hypnotic things that someone can say is 'Once upon a time...' and we instantly enter a light trance, drift inside the mind and begin to relax and focus in anticipation of what is to come.

When working with anyone using stories therapeutically you need to make sure that the person hearing the story has the problem in mind so that they can link up the patterns in the story to the problem they would like help with.

For example if someone wants help with depression and they come to see me and I start talking about someone climbing Everest they know they came to see me to be helped with depression so the story will be absorbed in relation to the depression and the story is highly likely to have a therapeutic impact. If I knew someone had depression and met them in the street and they didn't know I knew they had depression and I told the same story it is unlikely to be successful as the depression and the patterns in the story aren't linked. If on the otherhand I meet the same person and start by asking how they are; even if they just politely say they are fine they will still access the thoughts about depression because these thoughts make up 'How they are'. If I then talk about someone climbing Everest this again has an increased chance of helping them with the depression.

An example of this idea is when I was on a plane and the person next to me was nervous about flying. I spoke about a child playing with an airport toy set and because the person had direct access to the problem the patterns I was laying down took effect and the person relaxed and found the flight OK.

For many years I worked with Children and Young People that had had difficult childhoods and had often experienced abuse whether this was physical, emotional or sexual. Many of these children and young people were wonderful, bright and intelligent people that unfortunately found certain situations would make them become angry, or they would lack confidence or self esteem or would become very anxious and often they didn't know why. Many people would ask them why and find the young person couldn't answer the question which often led to situations where the child or young person now felt stupid or angry with themselves for not even knowing why they do what they do.

Due to my training I knew that 'why' questions aren't the best way to go because the child or young person is unlikely to know why. The way to go is to create change from the inside out. With younger children especially I would tell stories that match the patterns that I see occuring. The brain is essentially a pattern matching machine; but it doesn't match patterns exactly; it can match a pattern with a 'near fit' so for example the pattern for suckling can be matched by the end of a finger or a bottle, it doesn't just need to be matched by a breast.

This means that if you have a general idea about a pattern you can lay that down in a story and know the brain will accept it. And if the pattern is way off and you were wrong the pattern wont fit at all but this doesn't matter it is just feedback to alter the story, or perhaps start more generally next time.

Stories that you use could be stories from books or even having the child watch certain films with you or it could be something you make up (either imaginary or based on real events). The important thing is to access the problem. This is often very easy to do indirectly. For example if I talk about my family people will unconsciously begin to think about their family. If I talk about when I was in school people will begin to think about when they were in school. This process of carrying out an internal search for related information is a 'transderivational search' and happens in every conversation you have. If someone says "You'll never guess what happened today?" A part of the person will probably try to think of what may have happened while another part of the person will think about what has happened to them today.

This process can be used by mentioning something that will create this search before or at the beginning of a story. Sometimes it can be done at the end of a story but I find it seems to work best near the beginning. This could be done in a brief conversation or whilst first mentioning a characters situation. You could even allow yourself to be overheard talking to someone (like on a telephone) about your day, or about having to do something you were nervous about that day etc...

If you incorporate it into the story it could be for example introducing Cinderella and how she was very nervous around her sisters.

Storytelling with children has many advantages. Children often have far better imaginations and can become absorbed far easier. Some ways I have helped children to become absorbed are to read to them with their eyes closed and ask them 'and what colour do you think the walls are?' and whatever colour they say you agree that they are correct. And you can ask them for the detail which means they have to imagine that detail building up an internal mental image.

Anyone wanting to use storytelling therapeutically with children should go and read short childrens stories and fairytales and look at what patterns are in those stories. For example do characters stand up for themselves successfully, do characters find they are good at things they used to think they were no good at, do they change their opinions, or do they become confident etc...

Self Hypnosis Session Hypnosis Scripts Demo Taken The Book 'Advanced Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Scripts'

Life Changer Self Hypnosis session created with scripts from Dan Jones book 'Advanced Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Scripts'. This book (available from the Amazon websites as a Kindle eBook or Paperback book) contains over 100 hypnotherapy scripts and strategies, here is an example of how they can be combined to create personalised hypnosis sessions. This book is a must for any budding hypnotherapist, anyone interested in hypnosis or anyone newly qualified in hypnosis.

Unlike many other authors of Hypnotherapy Scripts books here I am demonstrating the quality of the scripts for you first hand so that you can experience the scripts in the book before deciding to purchase the book or not.

Self Publishing Made Easy: How to self publish on Amazon Kindle and Print on Demand

This course on 'Self Publishing Made Easy' teaches you how to write and publish books and ebooks using Lulu Publishing's 'Print On Demand' service, and Amazon's 'Kindle Direct Publishing' service, so that you can generate an income that continues to get paid into your bank account or PayPal account long after you finished working on the books and ebooks that are continuing to work for you. You will get paid whether you are on a holiday, sleeping, enjoying your free time, or whatever else you choose to be doing.

You will learn:

• How to create your own professional looking book covers
• How to create book titles that get more sales
• How to find niche topics to write about to increase sales
• How to price your books and ebooks
• How to market your book to boost sales and exposure
• How to make money off of the back of your books

Following this link you can access 'Self Publishing Made Easy' for just $49 rather than the RRP of $197 (there are a limited number of discounted spaces available), and the course has a 30-day money back guarantee.

This course is made up of a series of video lectures which guide you through various stages of publishing. The course can be watched through in about 6 hours, but to do the course properly should take longer. To get the most from this course it is recommended that you write a book as you go through the various lectures, even if it is a short ebook. You can then use this book to follow along to the various stages you are guided through, so you can use the 'deciding what the write' stage to develop an idea for a book, and then the writing stages to write the book, and then follow the publishing stages to publish the book, and then at the end of the course you will have published a book or ebook and will hopefully be on track to begin to earn income straight from the end of the course.

The course is structured into a logical sequence, taking you from developing the initial ideas for what to write about, through content creation, to developing your print book and ebook and then marketing the book and making money off of the back of your book.

Why Take This Course?

So why should you take this course, compared to other courses available? With this course I share with you my process of coming up with ideas for books, through to publishing the books and making money from the books. I teach you exactly what you need to know, and teach you each stage. I don't say things like 'then create a cover' and expect you to figure out how you would create a cover, I tell you how you can create a cover. I take you through all of the stages showing you exactly what to do.

I share everything all in one place, I don't try to make money out of you by telling you to take my writing course about writing your manuscript, or take my cover creation course to create your cover. I teach it all here. You get everything you need and can apply it all straight away and be on the road to making money from self-publishing by the end of the course. You will only need to take this one course to know how to generate a passive income, to know how to give yourself more time to do what you would rather be spending your life doing, and to be making money whether you are working hard in front of a computer, lying back on a warm tropical beach, or trekking up a mountain. The money you make will be coming in whatever you are doing, and wherever you are in the World.

Imagine being able to live anywhere. With a residual, or passive income if you want to move, you don't have to worry about finding a new job, or taking time off work to move, you have income coming in the whole time. If you decide to spend six months living on a beach relaxing, you don't have to worry about needing to be earning money, with passive income work you have already done will be still paying you each month into your bank account or PayPal account, and that money will be waiting for you when you need it.

When you complete this course and publish your book or ebook I look forward to seeing the book or ebook you have created mentioned in your review of this course so that others can see what can be created, and I also enjoy checking out what people are writing and what books and ebooks I can recommend to others.

'Certificate in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy' Online Hypnotherapy Training Course

This course is about Ericksonian Hypnotherapy. It teaches you about the history of hypnosis, through to the work of Milton H Erickson and how to do Ericksonian Hypnotherapy. By the end you will know how to do hypnotherapy without the need for structured hypnotic inductions, without the need for hypnotherapy scripts, and without the need to just do 'suggestion therapy' hypnotherapy. You will know how to work with clients as unique, individual human being, and tailor what you do to each person as an individual.

There are around 75 lessons to this course, check out the first few lessons for free by following the 'PersonalFreedom' link below.

(Exclusive 'Personal Freedom Blog' Discount Code : PERSONALFREEDOM  - This discount gets you the course for just $49 rather than the RRP of $197)

The course is made up of video lectures with PDF's of the slides used within the lectures, and additional information to help with learning, as well as a video demonstration filmed at a live training event of Ericksonian Language Patterns being used, and some Ericksonian Hypnotherapy demonstration Mp3's which can be analysed for learning purposes, and used for self-hypnosis, or self-help. There is also a quiz at the end of most sections to help with your learning.

The course can be completed in about 10-12 hours, but to get the most out of this training it is recommended that you take time to absorb and learn from each lesson by going and practising with friends, family and like-minded people, as well as going and observing people and reading some of the books from the recommended reading list to broaden your knowledge. Curiosity is the key to developing mastery and success. It is also good to ask questions and interact with others to get others understandings and views and experiences on different elements of the training. This same amount of content when taught at Dan Jones live hypnotherapy training courses takes 60+ hours of classroom tuition (with the lectures taking about 15-30 minutes per lecture, including discussing lecture content, then 30 minutes of practice around the lecture topic, then 30 minutes of debrief and discussion following the practice for each lecture).

The course is structured to give you an overview of the history of hypnosis before focusing in on the work of Milton H Erickson. The course then takes you through the underpinning foundations of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy before building on this with Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns and structuring hypnotherapy sessions.

This course is ideal for those that are new to hypnosis and keen to learn about how to do hypnosis, for those with experience with hypnosis who perhaps use hypnosis scripts or structured inductions and just suggesting problems away, that want to develop their skill and knowledge at being able to do hypnotherapy with people without the need for structured inductions and just the use of suggestion therapy. It is also ideal for hypnotherapist that perhaps don't have much knowledge or experience with Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and want to take a course for continued professional development (CPD), or Life-Coaches, NLP Practitioners, Coaches, Counsellors and other therapists that want to learn about Ericksonian Hypnotherapy to add this skill to the therapy or coaching you already offer.

Dan Jones, the course tutor, is one of the UK's leading Ericksonian Hypnotherapists with over 20 years experience. He teaches the UK's premier Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Diploma accredited by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council, and is bestselling author of 'Advanced Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Scripts'.

Introduction To Solution Focused Therapy Online Course

This course on an 'Introduction To Solution Focused Therapy' is taught over a number of video lectures. There is also a solution focused therapy demonstration and annotated transcript of the session. Following the link above you can get exclusive access to the course for just $19 rather than the RRP of $79 (Limited discounted places available)

The course explores and includes:

The solution focused approach
Why the approach is useful
Many of the main solution focused techniques
Examples of solution focused sentences
Recommended reading list
Structuring Solution Focused Sessions
An article outlining the effectiveness of using a solution focused approach
PDF of a PowerPoint of the course content
Solution Focused Therapy Session Audio Demonstration
Annotated Transcript of the Solution Focused Therapy Session Demonstration (Explaining what the therapist is doing, what techniques are being used, and why the therapist is doing what they are doing)
The course is made up of video lectures, audio tracks, PDF documents and additional text. The course can be completed in about three hours, but if you read through everything, listen to the demonstration and do additional study and recapping it can take longer.

The course is structured to take you on a journey from how the solution focused approach developed, then giving you an overview and starting from the bigger picture, before narrowing in on why it is useful to use a solution focused approach and the key benefits of using a solution focused approach, and then into solution focused techniques like looking for exceptions to the problem, establishing what people really want and where the client is in relation to what they want to achieve/how close are they to the goal already and what are they already doing towards that goal.

You will learn how to evidence your work, by gathering information on how successful you are, which is invaluable in the current climate of expectation that everyone works in an evidence-based way. And you will learn how to use language and questions to identify client resources, strengths and goals, and help to move clients forwards.

The course is ideal for those that are new to the solution focused approach, as well as those experienced in therapy, NLP or life coaching and related fields that are looking for something to compliment and enhance their skills.

If you are interested in taking this course for just $19 you can access it here - Introduction to Solution Focused Therapy. This course comes with a 30-day money back guarantee.

Dan Jones, the course tutor, has had over twenty years of experience with solution focused working and has used the approach in a variety of settings from business leadership, to residential care homes, parent and family work, working with teenagers and children and a wide range of clients with problems ranging from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and confidence issues, to insomnia, addictions and anger problems. He has written a number of books on the topic and had his research on using a solution focused approach to reduce youth crime published in the peer reviewed journal 'Human Givens'.

Brief lecture introducing Solution Focused Therapy taken from the course 'Introduction To Solution Focused Therapy':

Interview About Big Brother With Author of 'The Psychology of Big Brother', Dan Jones

In 2007 I wrote a book 'The Psychology of Big Brother', this has lead to a number of radio interviews, newspaper interviews, magazine interviews, interviews with different websites and blogs, and more. One of the interviews I did was with Chris Gray which is across the four tracks below.

This interview was based on the content of the book 'The Psychology of Big Brother'. The book uses examples from Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (CBB5), and the interview uses examples from Celebrity Big Brother 2010 (CBB7) which took place shortly before the interview.

With Big Brother back on our screens and this interview being unavailable for some time now I felt people may find the content of this interview interesting. The interview covers how to read body language of Big Brother housemates, reading their unconscious communications, revealing hidden secrets about who housemates like and dislike and other secrets they may be reluctant to reveal. I also discuss how to interpret housemates dreams, secret signs of flirting, learn the essential skills for surviving Big Brother, how being in the Big Brother house can effect our basic emotional needs and bullying and gossip that can take place in the Big Brother house.

Part One of the Big Brother Interview:



Part Two of the Big Brother Interview:



Part Three of the Big Brother Interview:



Part Four of the Big Brother Interview: