Hypnotherapy Articles
How hypnotherapy can help overcoming fear of flying and travel anxiety?
Posted by Nicola Preston Bell in General | 0 comments
Hypnotherapy can help you to feel confident and relaxed in the air!
Nicola has a special interest in enabling anxious clients feel relaxed and confident and discover a new energy and vitality as they build optimism and calm with each session.
Narrowing down your horizons
I see many clients who benefit from hypnotherapy for their flying phobias. When we begin to chat about how their fear stops them from going on holiday or developing in their career, we usually uncover other anxieties around travelling in cars or on trains to unfamiliar destinations. There might be a generalised anxiety which leads the mind to constantly focus on the possible dangers of each enterprise. This narrows down horizons gradually until the client finds they are only happy moving within a small, circumscribed area close to home and work. Their families often find this very frustrating, and makes trips further from home fraught with upset, as an anxious mind is easily frightened or irritated.
Keeping you safe
We have an amazing survival programme, the “fight or flight” response, that kicks in with a hit of adrenalin when the unconscious mind senses danger. You will know this feeling – perhaps your tummy will feel knotted or will do back flips, or your palms are sweaty. Maybe your breathing gets shallow and your heart is racing. All these symptoms are part of the fight or flight response, which is trying to get you to deal with a possible threat and feel safe again.
However, your mind does not differentiate between real and imagined experiences, and can switch on the adrenalin factory just by remembering a scary flight or imagining one. So your imagination can be filled with fear weeks before you travel in an attempt to stop it happening. It is trying to keep you safe.
This fear of travelling outside your comfort zone sometimes spreads to include doing anything outside the normal routine, confidence begins to slip and enjoyment of impromptu arrangements are squashed by dread and worry. That meeting that you have to chair, those friends who want to come and see you, instead of being an exciting prospect can become something that keeps you awake at night with concern about how it could all go wrong.
Hypnotherapy can help you release the fear
Hypnotherapy is a gentle therapy that uses the power of your mind to discover what is holding you back from trusting yourself to relax and enjoy travel and adventure and imagine vividly how much better your life can be when you are calmly back in charge. When the body and mind can relax and harness the creative mind to release the fears and embrace the possibilities of confidence and calm when travelling by plane, train or car, then you can re-write the script of your life. I will teach you relaxation techniques and strategies that let you gather those most confident and encouraging thoughts, memories or phrases that will carry you through with a smile on your face.
The first half of the session is a conversation to gather information and begin to wonder about the benefits you will experience once you are free of fear around flying. Then you can just sit comfortably, close your eyes and begin to let your mind wander to new, exciting possibilities as I guide you through the process to enable relaxed, confident travel.
Testimonials from Hypnotherapy for Fear of Flying patients
Hi Nicola ,I just thought I would let you know, Julia has just texted me to say she is now in Italy and wasn’t scared at all about the flight !! So thank you very much.
Anna 🙂
Hi Nicola, I wanted to let you know that I have realised that I am now really looking forward to my holiday instead of dreading it, so I’m sure the session has worked, many thanks!
Further to my last email, I was fine on the ‘plane, even though there was some turbulence, I was just a bit irritated by it. My daughter was also much more relaxed so thank you for seeing us both.