Yesterday, our latest class graduated. They had been a superb class and had moved from face-to-face classes one a weekend month to Zooming in online due to the COVID crisis. They took it in their stride and we were all pretty amazed at how well the final three course weekends went. It was rather emotional as each student described their experience of the course and the following blog post is just one of the stories:

Hello, my name is Leeza McCarragher, a mum to a wonderful 2-year old boy and a recent graduate from CPHT in June 2020.

When I started my journey to become a Clinical Hypnotherapist, I never imagined my life would change the way it did!  I’ll start at the beginning…

I’ve always wanted to help people, even as a research scientist focusing on the biochemical pathways in breast cancer, I felt I was putting my little piece into the jigsaw that is the cure for cancer. That feeling I had of getting a little bit closer to a potential cure does not even compare to the feeling I now have as a Clinical Hypnotherapist! Even when I started my own complementary therapy business in 2014, I still felt something was missing. It wasn’t until I went online looking at potential courses when CPHT jumped out at me – that was the night that changed my life.

So, September last year arrived, the first month of the course, and I eagerly made my way to class. I was filled with a nervous excitement. I had read that the course was a mix of fun and learning and I could not wait to see if that really was the case! Well that was quickly confirmed by the smiling and exuberant faces of both Alex and Jennifer – “wow this must really work, look how happy they are!”

Off we started, my fellow students and I, immediately thrown into a fascinating explanation about how the brain works and we were soon practicing language scripts on each other – all on the first weekend!

“I quite like the sound of this, I can really see myself doing this!” It quickly dawned on me that this was the mix of science and helping people that I craved, that this was my missing piece of my own jigsaw.  As part of our first month’s homework we had to practice the relaxation scripts on friends and family and before I knew it, I was beginning to feel much more positive and motivated. Was it because I was enjoying the course so much with a wonderful bunch of supportive fellow students (a simple explanation you could surmise)? Or maybe, just maybe the language patterns were embedding themselves in my own subconscious? Either way, I found myself being more passionate and more motivated.

Over the next few months, we built upon our knowledge and understanding of how the brain works, paying particular attention to the positive aspects of life. I was now practicing on members of the public as case studies and encouraging them towards the most positive and happy life they craved. But it wasn’t only the clients that were benefiting from this wonderful process, something began to change in me, I noticed that I too was becoming happier, more positive and more active. I began to feel this motivated energy that I can only explain as being high on happiness. I no longer procrastinated over the simplest things – I fell in love with life again! Don’t get me wrong, I always considered myself to be happy but in comparison to how I feel today, I wasn’t even close.

I hid behind my weight. I had my little boy when I was 42 and blamed my weight gain on the fact that I was an older mum and perhaps even in the early stages of perimenopause. I accepted my new post-pregnancy body, with reluctance, and I even accepted every excuse I could come up with to the fact that I would never lose the baby weight. It wasn’t long into the course when I began to realise why I was thinking and making excuses the way I did and that this negative thinking was what was keeping me fat. It was my light-bulb moment!  And sure enough, it wasn’t long before I was making healthier food choices and snacking far less.

This new found knowledge and motivational energy, coupled with listening to my own relaxation hypnosis recording every evening before sleep, had me finding the solutions I needed to change my life with no struggle at all because it all made so much sense. I addressed the lack of exercise by enrolling the help of my little sister, where we both decided to lose our baby weight together by setting ourselves a target of walking 12k steps per day – approximately 6.5 miles (and as I type this I have just completed 130 days of meeting and exceeding this target with no day off – if that isn’t positive motivation I don’t know what is!)

But the most obvious change to me, was that I found myself playing more energetically with my son, be it playing football outside in our back garden or chasing him around the house. There is no doubt whatsoever that he is loving this newer, brighter and more positive mummy!

We were taught about the 3 Ps during the course – positive thoughts, positive actions and positive interactions, that would give rise to a healthy flow of serotonin. This is needed in order to live a more positive and happier life. My positive thoughts around healthy food, my positive actions in terms of walking more and my positive interactions with my little sister is truly what turned my life around. I lost 50lbs within 4 months and continue to do so.

Enrolling with CPHT transformed my life both mentally and physically and I can’t thank the course tutors and my wonderful classmates enough for helping me on this amazing journey. I now help others through my new found knowledge and experience, either through one-to-one sessions or running weight management classes.

They say a picture speaks 1000 words, I’ll let you decide….

Leeza McCarragher – Spirit Of Calm Hypnotherapy