I was immediately struck by how accessible and unintimidating Hazel’s methods seemed

I first heard about Hazel when researching an article on sports hypnosis (I’m a journalist and was writing a large feature on the subject for a fitness magazine and a daily tabloid newspaper, Metro. Looking at her website, I was immediately struck by how accessible and unintimidating Hazel’s methods seemed, though it was also clear from the high quality blogs on her site that she was incredibly knowledgeable about her profession, and always involved in the pursuit of learning. All of this appealed to me, and meant that I chose her as the hypnotherapist featured in my article(s), and went along for one long session to address the sports-related problem I was suffering from: an inability to listen to my body and offer it rest when it needed it… So impressed was I by Hazel’s understanding of the workings of our subconscious, and her strong belief in the endless positive possibilities of hypnosis (which wasn’t remotely scary; nothing like the stuff I’d seen on television as a kid…), that I returned several times to see her in a capacity completely unconnected to my work as a health and lifestyle journalist. It was knowing that she herself had been through a lot of hypnotherapy to help her tackle a very daunting and debilitating illness that also helped me to trust her, and feel at ease in her presence (she’s generally very approachable and non-judgemental too, so that helps), so that we could do some important work whose affects I still notice, in small changes, today (8 months on from our last session). For me, hypnosis has been an important part of a long process (which included other types of therapy, and alternative treatments, as well as meditation and yoga) in terms of addressing key issues that hold me back in daily life, or lessen my enjoyment of it and the fulfilment I might find there. Talking therapies, in my opinion, can be very successful in helping to heal major past trauma, or in terms of the weekly support they offer patients. But there’s also something about hypnotherapy that bypasses, by its very nature, the conscious mind and goes deeper, accessing parts of our selves – our core beliefs, usually – that we might otherwise, had we not unravelled them and reshaped them, have allowed to keep us entrapped for years and years and years