Losing weight in a free trance (From York Press)

Losing weight in a free trance

10:42am Friday 9th May 2008 in Health & Wellbeing By Mark Stead, mark.stead@thepress.co.uk

IT'S a world of mystery and stagecraft to many - but could hypnotherapy really help you improve your health?

The opportunity to find out whether being sent into a trance can lead to weight loss is being provided for people in York as they get the chance to try it out - for free.

Hypnoslimmer puts groups of up to 50 people under the influence' and uses techniques to encourage them to only eat as much as they want, rather than conditioning themselves to scoffing more than they need.

And as the company expands into York, it is also hoping to debunk some of the myths about hynotherapy arising from stage an TV shows - including the suggestion that people can be hypnotised against their will.

Hypnoslimmer director Sheila Granger said: "My business partner Brian Glenn worked with people who had anorexia at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds and devised a hypnotherapy programme which was intended to help people become the size they were supposed to be."

"We knew it worked on a one-to-one basis where you can tailor hypnotherapy to a person's individual situation, but we didn't know if it would work in a group or not, so last October, we took a risk and set up Hypnoslimmer in Hull.

"So far, we feel we have got a result with every person we have worked with and found their size has reduced by twelve-and-a-half inches in four weeks, because we talks in terms of size rather than weight.

"We do four weeks of group hypnosis using a combination of modern clinical hypnosis techniques and a system called Emotion Freedom Technique, which taps certain meridian points - parts of the body - to turn off cravings for things like chocolates, sweets and crisps instinctively. It's something people can use at home."

Sheila also says that, while we may not realise it, we actually hypnotise ourselves up to 120 times a day.

"If you're driving a car, you might not be able to remember driving down a certain stretch of road because you went into your own trance, but is something had happened in front of you, you would have pulled yourself round," she said.

"It also explains why you can't remember when you went to sleep or when you woke up, and how you may be unaware of what's going on around you when you're watching TV or reading a book. Hypnosis can bring about change, but it has to be a change you want - you can only be hypnotised if you want to be.

"What we offer is a case of different techniques and saying to people under hypnosis that you can eat whatever you want, but you can also stop when you've had enough. We each have an optimum amount we eat - as babies, we have the perfect weight control system, but over time we begin to eat more than we actually need.

"We're hoping to get rid of people's fears about what hypnosis is actually like, because we really think people can lose weight and improve their health through trying it.

"It's obvious the mind and body are connected, so if you are prepared to spend time and money on your physical appearance, maybe you should spend a lot less time and money on your mind."

Hypnoslimmer opens in York at the Hilton Hotel in Tower Street next Tuesday at 7pm, where people can find out how the system works for free. For more information, log on to www.hypnoslimmer.co.uk