Priceless Relaxation Testimonial

Great to be Back

September has appeared and it’s time to get back to The White House cancer Support after a lovely summer break.  Although it’s lovely to have a rest from running my relaxation support group, it’s also lovely to return. I do miss everyone.  I always look forward to getting back to our peaceful, calm, inspirational sessions. 

Long-standing Members

This year as we return, I’d like to share a beautiful testimonial of which has been written to have a place in my book.  It’s from one of my long-standing regulars of my group who attends almost every session.  Initially this lovely gentleman just came to try out the relaxation group, with a possibility of attending just an occasional session.  He had other priorities on a Thursday morning, but after attending a couple he enjoyed it so much that he never misses a session!

Making Sessions my Own

I find it truly heart-warming that people enjoy the sessions so much.  When I started as a volunteer at The White House Cancer Support back in November 2016, I would never have thought that the sessions would turn into what they are today.  I have developed them into something I am very proud of.  Initially when I first started in the role, I had thoughts of ‘How am I going to run these sessions?’, ‘What format will they take?’, ‘How will I know what to cover in them?’.  

Like most people starting a new position, many thoughts appear around what you are going to do in your role.  I needed not to be concerned. The sessions just flowed, adapted, adjusted, and were well received.  We have evolved with it. After all, I was coming from a place of my own experience with cancer.  I had already been on that cancer journey.  Sharing what I had learned and knew from my own experiences is what has made the sessions into what they are today.  Working with understanding the mind, and how we can use it to help us navigate through a stressful journey.  It was all that was required to run these sessions and make them my own. 

Testimonial Time

Here’s the wonderful testimonial I received … 

Priceless Relaxation …

Michelle’s Relaxation Class for cancer patients is unique in my experience. I have a lifetime of wonderful discussion groups in many contexts aiming to improve people’s quality of life. But when I joined this group, I immediately felt at home; people spoke with amazing candour and confidence whatever their background and however sensitive or personal the subject.

Michelle has the qualities of an excellent chairperson and gradually the conversation develops into a topic for today. But to do this she also uses the knowledge and intuition of a life dedicated to Harmony Life Balance. The result is a focus for meditation agreed and understood by all. The meditation is always superb. Twenty minutes can pass like a moment. Afterwards I feel a total relaxation of mind and body, a wholeness, a feeling of being grounded and ready for the world. This is – simply – priceless. Many people share comparable results. Thanks Michelle. So, so much.

– PAH Dudley (June 2022)

Subject of the Day

As this wonderful testimonial suggests, we focus on the specific subject of the day.  This is taken from the conversations that I allow at the very start of the session.  It is, after all, our get together to relax and enjoy, inspire, and support each other.  For me, it is an important part of the session that needs to take place.  It’s where I choose to direct guidance from.  

With everyone catching up and chatting away, we get the general idea around what people in the session would like to discuss or require guidance with.  We then agree the subject for the meditation, where I guide the relaxation in a way to help create reassurance, release feelings of concerns, worry and other issues.  The fact that I run the sessions from a holistic aspect allows positive change in the areas that are required for that particular week.  

Flowing with Adjustment

I find that any sessions I have planned tends to get adjusted.  By listening to the initial conversations of the group gives me the guidance of where to direct the meditation and inspirational talk and techniques.  Yes, it is good to plan sessions, I have many techniques and ideas to share, but if it’s not relevant for that day, it’s time to make the adjustment.  

Tools in the Toolbox – Connecting with Intuition

It’s not productive to talk about subjects that members are not resonating with and won’t find beneficial in that moment.  I have my tools in my toolbox as they say, we just bring out the ones that are required when needed.  What I also enjoy is meditations that just come from no-where.  It’s almost like I’m guided to create the right meditation for the group in that moment.  It just flows.  Something I have learned to acknowledge deep within me.  Rather than being concerned with have done it right for members, I connect with trusting in the moment and in the guidance that comes to mind from my intuition and own cancer journey experiences. 

Final Words

Running a cancer Support group gives a great feeling of helping and supporting people, giving something back to the community. Something I treasure greatly. Specialising in cancer support is something I enjoy very much, I love my job! I am also grateful for the many testimonials which I have received.

The lovely words people share from their experiences of support whether it be from my groups or my private sessions, is of course reassuring to me as a therapist. We require that feedback to help us continue the work that we do. Any therapist will tell you that. You can venture over and see more of my testimonial here.

No matter what you find yourself going though, where you find yourself; working with the understanding of the mind and how it can help you in powerful ways is always worth investing in. It changed my life in ways I would never have contemplated. From those understandings, and now as a therapist sharing what I applied myself; I appreciate where I am, what I do, and the wonderful support I can offer to others.

For more information on support please enquire here.

Fear and it’s Tricks – Testimonial Time

It’s amazing how fear can play tricks with us. So, let’s find out in today’s blog a little more around the subject of fear and how the mind processes it.

The focus this last couple of weeks has been of FEAR! Fear can surface in numerous ways, with anything. It’s interesting to know that we are only born with two fears, the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All our other fears have been created by us, through our life experiences and perceptions about those experiences.  We can only learn and process life from our own experiences nobody else’s, therefore everyone’s perception will be different. 

How does our Subconscious process Fear?

Like stress, a fearful response can occur with a thought. It is a thought. It’s a physical response that your body has practiced from your thoughts, memories, and reactions from previous experiences, particularly a fearful one! Your subconscious remembers those experiences when you find yourself in similar situations. Just thinking about those situations that created that fearful moment initially within you can strike an adverse bodily response. 

Cynophobia ‘The Big T-Rex!’

For example, let’s use an irrational fear, fear of dogs, known as ‘Cynophobia’, as today’s testimonial is just that.  Say you had ‘what seemed to you’ at the time a very big dog running towards you when you were a toddler.  This dog was observed, ‘by you’, like a big, massive T-Rex coming at you! As a child our minds are very creative.  Now, remembering that the subconscious doesn’t understand the difference between reality or whether we are thinking it, the thoughts of a T-Rex coming at you could allow strong emotional responses to come into our mind, especially in a two-year-old.  This would instantly create a fear response.  

To add to it…if your parent or guardian responded in a way to protect you, suddenly whisking you off out the way of the so observed T-Rex dog! that would reaffirm within you what you were experiencing. ‘He’s going to bite me!’. It’s the emotional response to that situation that creates the deeper-seated memory.  

Why and How does this Keep Happening?

Every experience you have is recorded in your subconscious mind. It is then filed away in your memory bank or memory library so to speak (See The Mind). These experiences will include every second of your life, right back to the third trimester in your mother’s womb. 

Now, consciously we can’t remember every single experience in our life, but our subconscious does. The T-Rex coming at you probably is a memory you will surely remember as an adult.  It’s also likely you have told the story repeatedly to friends and family of how awful it was at the time. Now, from YOUR perspective, it might have been awful back then, when in fact it was just a big playful, bouncy dog just wanting lots of love.

When we experience something fearful, stressful, or frightening and there is strong emotion attached to it, the subconscious logs it away very quickly in that memory library. Each time it is triggered you add more emotion to it. Strengthening the thoughts, reactions, and physical responses, thus creating a habit and a belief around the thoughts and response. All this coming from what was originally a lovely playful dog wanting a great big fuss! 

Each time that child then sees a dog, that memory along with the thoughts and responses reappear, it then builds and builds, creating a stronger fear. It’s how fears expand and trick the mind. The subconscious is also known as the ‘monkey brain’ and our body starts to respond in the same way that it did initially. We must remember each situation is about perspective too. We all have our own perspective, which of course comes from our experiences. Changing our perspective can switch a situation and tip it on its head.

Why does the Subconscious think it’s Protecting us?

We learn a lot from our experiences, and so does the subconscious.  Remembering everything about the situation.  It remembers the temperature of the room, colours, sounds, textures and of course your feelings, responses and especially your emotions. 

When we find ourselves in these similar situations again, the subconscious ‘pattern matches’. In an instant it brings back the information from the previous experience ‘The Big T-Rex!’ and creates a response in the same way.  If you responded in panic, fear, anxiousness, heart racing or a particular bodily response, those feelings arise within you instantly to protect you when it finds itself in that position again. 

The subconscious thinks it must respond this way because it doesn’t know any different, it’s been wired that way. 

The Power of Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis allows access to the powerful part of our subconscious mind (see Hypnosis).  Once in a state of Hypnosis you can be guided to create positive changes to release the anxiety, stress, fear, and feelings associated with our experiences. Our subconscious doesn’t understand the difference between reality or whether we are imagining it, so imagine what you can change when you are in a state of hypnosis being guided to create positive change.  

I liken it to ‘updating your App’ on your mobile phone or computer.  The subconscious works in the very same way. We are literally all a walking set of programs. Your brain fires and wires from our experiences so imagine what you can rewire, just by a change of perspective about your experiences.  It can create amazing changes to allow you to move forward in a positive way. 

Final Words

It has been lovely to receive amazing news of a client having success after just one session back in August 2021.  I received a lovely message letting me know of the success for overcoming her fear of dogs. Sadly, our beautiful dog Tess lost her life to cancer very suddenly last October, we had no idea at all that she was ill.  It came as such a shock to us all, she really is sadly missed.  

Tess used to help me with clients suffering from fear of dogs.  After each session I would bring her into the therapy room and allow my client to meet her, it was always with great success. Working alongside me she has helped so many people overcome their fears, she was just totally amazing.  This client was the last one to be helped by our Tess.  I know now that she works through me as her energy here can still be felt.

I am commemorating this Blog and wonderful Testimonial in remembrance to Tess, she will always stay in our hearts, she was by far the most special dog we could ever have wished to have had in our lives.

Testimonial

I cannot thank Michelle enough for the massive difference she has made to my Daughter’s life. From a very young age my Daughter had developed a phobia of dogs. It stopped her being invited over to friends homes if they owned dogs and would cause her severe anxiety if she came within a few metres of a dog. Over the next few years we tried many different techniques to overcome her fears but nothing ever worked. That was until she met Michelle.

She made my Daughter feel at ease and took time to explore what may have lead to these fears. By the end of the first session Michelle, along with her wonderful dog Tess, helped my Daughter to begin to overcome her fears. It was amazing to see how quickly the change occurred. My Daughter has now gone from strength to strength and was recently was able to stay overnight with a friend who owned dogs. This would never have been possible without Michelle’s help.

You can read more Testimonials here

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