Mind over matter

By Jacqueline Hogge THE power of the mind has long been associated with personal success but willpower has often eluded the best of people as they try to attain certain goals. Life coaching and other psychological tools have become popular in recent years as people try to harness their hidden strengths to achieve personal and professional targets in life, yet for some, the simplicities of stopping smoking or losing weight continue to elude them despite their best efforts.A last but growing resort for many is hypnosis, which according to its proponents has the capability to transform peoples' lives.One such practitioner, Dudley Hayden Van Niekerk, is based in Athenry. A native of South Africa, he has worked with hundreds of people over the past seven years who he says have changed their lives with the aid of hypnosis.'Hypnosis is a relaxed state and if the client is willing to let themselves enter the trance state, then the potential for magic to happen is there,' he explains.'You only hear positive messages in the trance, there is no negativity, no going back over issues, only moving forward with positive thoughts.'When you bypass the conscious mind, then you are in a state of hypnosis and that is when people feel the power of the positive suggestions, which are reinforced during the session.'Despite the common misconception, hypnosis is not a state of sleep. People are not 'put under' during a session but are taken to their subconscious mind where they are coached in the positive aspects of whatever goal they are striving to achieve.'Hypnosis is a state of extreme awareness where one focuses one's attention on what is being said or suggested,' said Dudley. 'The subconscious mind becomes more receptive and stores new ideas, better models of behaviour and better thought processes and feelings in the hypnotic state and in many respects it is a little bit like daydreaming.'This daydream state is extremely calm and relaxed and it is where positive suggestions are given to alter or change the way a person feels, acts or behaves.'When positive powerful suggestions are given and accepted into the subconscious mind they are acted upon immediately. When positive powerful suggestions are used we can re-programme the mind to bring about beneficial changes which are life-changing.'While the most common challenges clients present with are smoking and weight loss, Dudley has also worked with several sports stars both in Athenry and at his clinic in Naas in Co Meath.'I come from a sporting background myself so sports psychology is something that has always interested me,' he said.'I have worked with county hurlers and footballers, many of whom would have recovered from physical injuries but the anxiety of exacerbating these old injuries would cause them to seize up on the pitch, even though there is no physical reason for this to happen,' he said.'I prefer to work with individuals, as in team or group situations you always have one or two messers and that makes my job pretty difficult.'Dudley uses binaural beads to calm the client's mind and get them prepared for the trance like state they enter in hypnosis. Scientific hypnosis'It's known as scientific hypnosis whereby sound is used by a process of brainwave entertainment,' he said.'We get the brain/mind to follow a certain frequency or guide it into a certain state. If the brain has been responding to the continuous stimulation of a frequency for around four to six minutes, it begins to generate the same rhythm on its own. When the mind does this it then follows the frequency that it has been listening to, and as frequencies increase or decrease the mind follows.'Brain cells reset their sodium and potassium ratios when the brain is in Theta state. The sodium and potassium levels are involved in osmosis, which is the chemical process that transports chemicals into and out of your brain cells. After an extended period in the Beta state the ratio between potassium and sodium is out of balance. This is the main cause of what is known as mental fatigue.A brief period in Theta, about five to 15 minutes, can restore the ratio to normal, resulting in mental refreshment.'I am the only practitioner using this method in Ireland, having discovered it through a US-based hypnotist.'I find it very effective and have been using it this past three or four years.'It's a great tool to get clients to the right level of consciousness before taking them into the trance state.'Dudley's sporting success includes South African national boxing titles in the 1980s.'I finished boxing around 1989 and was due to compete in the Seoul Olympics in 1988 but the political situation at the time with apartheid meant we weren't allowed take part,' he said.'After that I worked for a time in the steel industry before deciding I wanted to try something and somewhere new.'Having trained in clinical hypnosis with the Irish Hypnotherapy Association, of which he is a former regional director, Dudley is also a certified member and hypnotherapist of the National Guild of Hypnotists.While hypnosis has long been associated with stage shows and indeed in recent years has experienced a surge in popularity through the likes of celebrity hypnotists David Blaine and Keith Barry, Dudley has also dipped his toe in the entertainment aspect of the phenomenon.'Stage hypnosis is something I am actively considering as the next phase of my career, having done a psychic hypnosis event in Naas earlier this year with Tom Coulton, Ireland's top medium,' he said.'But there's definitely a lot of potential there to bring the medium of hypnosis to a wider audience that clinical hypnosis could never do so it's probably the next step for me.It can help 75 per cent of people'Hypnosis has been very good to me and while I definitely believe it can help up to 75 per cent of the people who choose it, it's not for everyone,' he said.'There's no way of knowing whether or not it will work before a session begins but if the client is single minded enough to want to achieve whatever it is they're seeking help with, then the chances are high that hypnosis will help them reach their goal.'Most people want to make changes to their lives but don't know how. This is where the power of the subconscious can make a massive difference and it's through hypnosis that we tap into that subconscious. It gives people back the control they can and should have over their own lives.'