1089 3rd Ave. SW
Suite 110
Carmel, IN 46032
317-373-1315
Stress
Stress
If there is one thing you can do to help your body heal and stay well - it's to learn how to manage your stress level. View the video to learn more. Winslow Hypnosis utilizes HRV monitoring to give you a visual representation of the level of stress your body is under. We can also help you learn how to manage stress in order to achieve a safe and live-enhancing level.
Anticipatory Concerns - Nobody knows what will happen in the future, but a lot of people spend a lot of time worrying about it. And their worries make them anxious, spoil their lives, and make very little difference to what actually happens in the future. This session will help you cut down your fear about what will happen, and build up your capacity to contemplate eventualities in a calm and measured way.
Dining Out – Enjoying a meal with friends, either in a domestic environment or out at a restaurant, is one of life's great pleasures. How could anyone fail to enjoy the delights of good food and convivial conversation? Yet for some people eating out is the source of nothing but stress. They may dread the event for days in advance, and suffer tortures of discomfort and embarrassment during the meal itself. And all because their fear instinct has constructed an inappropriate link between 'eating out' and 'fear'. This session will help all those who find social eating a terrifying nightmare learn to disconnect eating out from fearfulness so they can really enjoy a good meal with friends again.
Bathroom Fears - Although modern western society likes to think of itself as liberated and at ease with itself, there are still many taboos around normal bodily functions. People may feel quite easy about making rude jokes - but would never dream of talking to anyone about bladder problems - physical or psychological. The result is that many people suffer severe concern in relation to toilets, and may find their lives drastically restricted by such worries. And often the worry itself actually makes matters worse. This session will help those whose lives are limited by the overwhelming feeling that they must always be within reach of a toilet.
Courtrooms - Going to court, whatever the reason, is an unusual and to many people quite alarming experience. Courts have a certain 'mystique', and it's common to feel nervous and even frightened about making appearance there. This session will help those who must appear in court prepare themselves beforehand to deal with this situation calmly and confidently.
Generalized Worry - Some people seem to worry about everything, all the time. Their minds are full of 'what ifs' and 'what terrible thing has happened', even if everything appears outwardly to be going smoothly. This can have serious negative impact on their health and well-being, not to mention their enjoyment of life. This session will help people who fall into a pattern of constant concern without specific triggers regain their calm, and learn how to have a more relaxed approach to life.
Musicians & Singers Nerves - It's natural for musicians to feel nervous before a show, in fact a little adrenaline can make them more focused so they actually give a better performance. But sometimes these nerves can get out of hand and cause stress for weeks beforehand, as well as negatively affecting the musician's ability to play. This session will help you overcome performance anxiety and trust in your intuitive abilities and talent.
No Reply - The age of instant communication has brought with it an expectation of instant response. When people don't reply as quickly as we expect to our communications, it can feel like something has gone wrong, and set off a chain of needless worry and concern. This session will help people train themselves to stay calm with the unpredictability of communications and stop scaring themselves by thinking the worst.
Compulsive Habits - We all use repetitive behaviors every day. They help us structure our lives and keep things predictable and manageable. But for some people, for various reasons, the ability to determine that a behavior has accomplished its purpose and can now be stopped becomes unreliable. They can find themselves in a nightmare of repeating the same pattern over and over, with no sense that it's 'enough'. This session will help people caught in these patterns (alongside professional help if necessary) develop the resources to interrupt them and get their lives back.
Overcome Fear - Fears can ruin the lives of so many people. Of course, there are situations when such an emotions are entirely appropriate, but many people are plagued by fears not of real but of imaginary dangers and problems. They have fallen into the habit of negative imaginings. Attend this session and we’ll provide an effective and comfortable way for you to take back command of your emotional responses to life.
Overcome Globus Hystericus - Stress and anxiety produce some surprising symptoms. One of the oddest is the uncomfortable sensation of having a lump in the throat - known as Globus Hystericus. Of course, any discomfort in one's throat should be medically checked out, but if there's nothing physically wrong, what can one do about a lump that isn't there? This session will provide an easy and effective way to help you recover from this uncomfortable experience and prevent it from recurring.
Performance Anxiety - What'll I do with that prize/result? How will it change my life? What if I fail to get it? What are they thinking about what I am doing? Do they think I am doing well? Badly? Negative thinking can flow between us and our actions, perhaps spoiling our chances of success. This session will help anyone whose life has been adversely affected by performance anxiety to rediscover the art of 'flow'.
Stage Fright - Stage fright is a deeply uncomfortable and distressing phenomenon, and anyone who has been through it is understandably less than keen to repeat the experience! Worrying about stage fright can cramp performance, and even cause the dreaded paralysis. A vicious circle gets set up. Attend this session and learn how stage fright has taken hold, and receive the key that will unlock its mystery.
Stop Panic Response - When our emergency response system becomes activated inappropriately, it can feel like we're in a life-threatening situation. But there are a number of effective ways of dealing with panic attacks, including regular, deep relaxation. In this session you’ll learn the inner resources needed to quell those feelings of panic and calm the mind and body over time.
Night Panic - Night time panic can feel more scary than the daytime variety, because it often seems completely inexplicable. How can you wake up from a deep sleep in a state of panic? One such experience is bad enough, but if it becomes a pattern, it can be a serious problem. This session will help people who frequently wake up in a panic learn how to calm down this response and sleep soundly again.
Test Result Worry - Waiting for results, whether medical tests or examinations, can be a very stressful experience. If you know or believe that the results will have a significant impact on your life, it is hard to keep your mind on other things. You may spend every waking moment thinking about what might happen. Being able to stay calm in the face of uncertainty can greatly relieve the stress of waiting for results. This session will help people who want to be able to wait calmly for an unknown outcome.
Urination - Even if you have been to a medical professional and were told you have no physical problems, the feeling of needing to urinate can be persistent during times of stress. This can be a cause of worry and embarrassment, which may hold you back from living a comfortable life. In hypnosis, thought patterns can be calmed down making it possible to feel physically at ease once more.
Wedding Day Nerves - There are watershed moments in everyone's life, and there's no doubt that your wedding day is one that you are more likely to remember than most. For historical and cultural reasons, weddings are important personal, social and cultural events. They are surrounded by a forest of customs and expectations. The happy couple and their families may find themselves swept away by the pressures and expectations of this exciting but stressful time. Wedding nerves may keep you awake at night. You may even come to dread the great day. This session will help anyone who is getting married to put aside wedding nerves and be relaxed and happy on this important occasion.
Nervous Coughing - Stress can affect people in different ways, and a common response in an uncomfortable situation is to cough or clear one's throat - even if there is no physical need to do so. This is harmless in most circumstances, of course, and nothing to worry about in itself. But sometimes, perhaps when there are lots of stressful situations to deal with, such a cough can become more like a nervous tic - happening of its own accord, whether you want it to or not. This session will help those with this nervous habit take back their self control.
Overcome Self Consciousness - We've all had the experience of feeling as if everyone is looking at us. And we've all had the experience of concluding that everyone must be thinking badly of us. And the awful feeling of awkwardness that follows, imprisoning us in self-conscious stiltedness where we can no longer be spontaneous. But the truth is that this scenario is far more often than not totally imaginary, and our self-consciousness quite unnecessary. The truth is that most people are far more concerned about their own feelings and behavior than they are about anyone else's. But it can seem very difficult to drop that self-consciousness and return to spontaneity. This session will to help anyone who feels that their self-consciousness has become a burden.
Overcome Shyness - Although human beings are highly social creatures, liking nothing more than to get together with each other, there are also many human beings who find social occasions very difficult. Their shyness makes it hard for them to really enjoy the company of others in the way they are entitled to. The causes of shyness are many, ranging from personal character to life experiences and upbringing. Shy people 'do' shy behavior in the same way that confident people 'do' confident behavior. And all behaviors can be learned. This session will help anyone who struggles to feel comfortable in social situations.
Speaking in Groups - The presence of other people affects all of us in different ways. Some of us are quite unaffected, others find that being watched or listened to by more than one or two people makes a big difference to how comfortable we feel. If we are invited to say something in a group, what we say, or how we say it, can seem more significant than is really warranted. The perceived 'pressure' to contribute in a particular way can feel uncomfortable enough for some people to make them hold back when in group situations, and turn down opportunities to have their say. Which can mean missing out. This session is not a skill session, rather it’s a psychological tool to help you become more relaxed about participating.
Stop Blushing - Embarrassment is an awkward social feeling that we've all experienced at times in our lives. When we do something that is felt to be 'socially inappropriate', we get an immediate signal from within our own bodies that we have 'gone wrong'. That's useful, of course, because we can learn from it how to be more socially acceptable. But when we get into a pattern of regular blushing and flushing, even when we are not doing anything particularly questionable, it becomes an embarrassment in itself. This session will help you learn to modify this natural response and feel more comfortable with yourself.
Stop Nervous Laughter - We all know people who have a tendency to giggle nervously at inappropriate times, and who sometimes do not even seem to notice that they are doing it. We tend not to take them seriously, or we consider them lacking in confidence. Often we get irritated by them. But the person who is afflicted by a habit of nervous laughter can be enduring a lot of anguish inside. Laughing or giggling can be a way of processing tension. This would not be a problem in the ordinary way, but if it becomes a habit it can make things very awkward for the individual concerned. This session will help those who want to overcome a habit of nervous laughing.
Customer Service Stress - Customer relations are an important part of any business and the people who answer the phones or front the desks are the 'face' that the public see. Or hear. For the customer, the customer service agent often is the business. So it's an important and responsible role, even if it seems mundane at times. And it can be a highly stressful role. These are the staff who must deal with the complaints and the problems. Not an easy thing to do, day after day. This session will help you develop the psychological skills to make your jobs easier and more rewarding.
Everyday Stress - Everybody knows the big things that cause stress - death, divorce, job loss, illness, disaster, etc. And because everybody knows, it's easier to get help and support when one of these calamities strikes, and gradually come to terms with and get past them. But what about the background stress of life that you can't ascribe to some clear cut cause, but which can make life pretty miserable? This session will provide an effective tool for bringing down (and keeping down) the tension levels of ordinary life.
Failing School Tests - The attitudes of your teachers, your fellow students, your family and yourself all influence how you handle the pressure of sitting tests at school or college. And they will also influence how you handle the outcome. If you pass, there may be no problem. But what if you fail? For many people, failing a school test can feel like the end of the world. Proof that they are 'no good' and should give up straight away. And they may struggle with guilt and shame at 'letting everyone down'. This session will help students who are facing the challenge of test failure overcome the negative feelings that may swamp them and hinder their progress.
Feel Safe - Our sense of danger is a vital lifesaver when it switches on at the right time. Which is when a real danger actually threatens us. But if it's always coming on when we're perfectly safe, it can make it very hard to relax and enjoy life. This session will help people caught in a repeating pattern of feeling scared and frightened when there is no current actual threat learn to calm down the emotional arousal that keeps them on red alert.
Feeling Trapped - Having some level of control over our lives and our situation is a basic human need. We have other basic needs beyond the physical, of course, such as the need for security, connection, and meaning in our lives. But the loss of a sense of control can be particularly devastating. In the worst cases, it can lead to giving up completely. When we 'feel trapped', it is because we feel things have gone beyond our control, and we are helpless to do anything about them. This session will help anyone who feels they are struggling with insuperable difficulties to give themselves the best possible chance.
Long Flights - Long haul flights can be daunting and many people find it difficult to occupy themselves in a positive, enjoyable way. It's important to make preparations beforehand, such as bringing books, movies, food and water, and comfortable clothing. However it's also important to get into the right frame of mind before a long flight, and this is where hypnosis can help. This session will help people use this time to focus on their personal interests and enjoyment.
Loss of Status - Humans are hierarchical and we all register where we 'stand' - our status. Life's shocks and challenges can knock us from where we stand. And then where are we? This session will help people manage the experience of losing a valued sense of who they are due to circumstances, and move on to rebuild their sense of self worth.
Midlife Crisis - 'Midlife crisis' may be a clichéd term, but the point about clichés is that they are true! Midlife crisis is a genuine phenomenon affecting people in the middle part of their lives, and it can be a very uncomfortable and unsettling time. Self questioning and uncertainty can throw people back to a quasi adolescent state which most thought that had left behind long ago. This session will help with the re-assessment process necessary to overcome the crisis.
Mindfulness Meditation Training - Mindfulness is no longer considered just an interesting esoteric ascetic practice of use only to Zen monks. It is more and more widely recognized as a practice that can have a significant positive impact on moods, emotions, thought processes and general wellbeing. This session will provide a simple, clear and easy way for anyone to begin to learn how to use mindfulness techniques for themselves.
Nervous Breakdown - Nervous breakdown is one of those terms which is at the same time very vague and very clear. It can cover a variety of experiences, but all these experiences have something in common - the devastating feeling that you have 'lost your nerve', that you have 'broken down'. Life can seem pointless and hopeless. This session is an effective tool for helping anyone who has experienced nervous breakdown recover their zest for life.
Over Competitive Behavior - Humans are hierarchical, and always comparing themselves with each other in every field of life to establish - and maintain - pecking order. So competitiveness is in our nature. But, as with everything in life, you can go too far. When competitiveness takes over your life, and it's all about being better than, one-up on, everyone else, it can ruin relationships and lives. But how do you get it under control? This session will help people to get a hold on their own compulsion to compete so that they can allow other aspects of themselves to flourish.
Overwhelmed - Sometimes life can be just too much. Too much to do. Too many demands and expectations. Too many people to deal with. Too many pressures. And those pressures include the pressure to 'get it right' and 'do everything that needs to be done, or else…' The 'else' is rarely articulated, but the pressure of it can lead to unpleasant feelings of being overwhelmed. People rarely stop to consider how things got this bad. They are too busy. By the time they notice, they are on the verge of cracking up. This session offers a set of protective tools for people whose pressured lives are threatening to destroy their health and wellbeing.
Parent with Dementia - The effects of dementia can be devastating, and not just on the person who is afflicted. Watching a parent go through this process of decline, where they may eventually forget who they are, and even who their own children are, is one of the most challenging experiences anyone can face. This session will help people who find themselves caring for a parent with this condition cope with the stress and strain and maintain their own resilience.
Personal Bankruptcy - Bankruptcy is a way of dealing with debts you cannot pay. Bankruptcy proceedings free you from overwhelming debts so you can make a fresh start (with some restrictions) and make sure your assets are shared out fairly among your creditors. Being freed from debt and being able to start again are good things. But facing public court proceedings and losing your assets and your access to credit are serious emotional as well as financial challenges. People who have been declared bankrupt may struggle just as hard psychologically as they do financially. This session offers effective tools for dealing with their situation and coming through it positively.
Stop Rushing - The hectic pace of modern life is something few people have escaped noticing. The constant expectation that everything must be done now (or preferably yesterday) builds up an unbearable psychological pressure which, sooner or later, results in mental or physical breakdown. Yet somehow it seems that we have all come to accept this awful state of affairs, that we are trapped, and helpless. This session will help you to establish control over the rhythms of your own life again.
Relieve Shoulder Tension - Neck and shoulder tension can build up because of bad habits, of course, but sometimes it's not what you are doing that induces tension, but what is happening to you. We respond physically to stressful situations as well as emotionally, and this physical response can get locked into our muscles. Painfully. This session offers an effective way to reduce and eliminate stored tension and enhance your resilience in the face of stress.
Relieve Stress and Tension - It's a cliché that modern life is stressful, but cliché or not, it is true that the incidence of stress-related illness is on the rise, and it's imperative that people everywhere are empowered to cope better with the tensions and strains that we all encounter and manage their own stress relief. This session provides a powerful and effective way to handle stress and address the causes of stress.
Stop Being Messy - Some people are obsessed with tidiness and others couldn't care less. But there's no doubt that high levels of uncontrolled mess can cause problems and cost money, time and peace of mind. But how do you get better control without becoming an obsessive? This session will help people who want to see a bit more order around them because the level of mess they currently tolerate is causing them problems.
Stress Management Training - Most people will have to learn to get along with pressure as best as they can. If they don't learn how to deal with stress, they risk high blood pressure, digestive disorders, panic attacks, depression and a number of other ills. Some people can be so badly affected by stress that they become unable to work. Sadly, there is little help available. This session provides a self-help training tool for people who want to conquer stress.
Caregiver Stress Relief - The role of the caregiver is all too often hidden from view. Their 'work' is usually done at home, in private. Despite its immense social and economic value, caring is not held in high respect socially. Caregivers can become very isolated, especially if they are handling all the care needs on their own. They may experience severe stress, which can lead to depression and illness, and thus make the task of caring even harder. Many can see no way out. For whatever reason, they feel they must continue their caring role, and so many 'just soldier on'. This session offers a stress-reduction tool for caregivers which can be used in a home situation.
Travel Stress - Although modern travel is vastly quicker and far more comfortable than journeys of old, going on a journey, whether it's a daily commute or a holiday trip, can throw up innumerable inconveniences and annoyances to try you. Some people find traveling so stressful they will do anything to avoid it. And that means they miss out on all the benefits that may have awaited them at their destination. This session will provide a safe, enjoyable and above all effective way to quickly develop the mindset of the happy traveler.
Work/Life Balance - 'Work/Life Balance' is a popular phrase, but what does it really mean? However hard it is to precisely define work/life balance, it is easy to tell when the relationship between working life and non-working life has gone wrong. It shows up in tension, headaches, irritability, poor concentration, poor decision making, relationship problems and illness. So looking after that relationship ought to be a priority. This session will help people who have become concerned that their working life has taken over the whole of their life and to re-establish control.
Stop Thinking the Worst - Asking "What is the worst that can happen?" is useful - providing that the answer galvanizes us rather than immobilizes us. Excessive focus on what can go wrong makes us unrealistic in our assessments and can make us feel helpless. This session will counteract our tendency to focus too much attention on how bad things could be, to the detriment of our powers of realistic appraisal and planning.
Stop Over-Thinking - Young children are notorious for asking 'why?' and following every answer they get with another 'why?'. As their knowledge of the world grows, they naturally want to understand how it all works and what it all means, and asking 'why?' seems like the best way to get to that understanding. But sometimes you can ask too many whys, and if you get caught in a pattern of analyzing everything to death, your life can get seriously stuck. 'Why?' is not always the best question. This session will help anyone who finds that their over-thinking about everything has become an obstacle rather than a help to their lives.
All or Nothing Thinking - Everybody likes a simple life and dividing everything up into nice clear 'good' or 'bad' categories seems like a simple route to the simple life. Go for the good. Reject the bad. It's not hard to tell the difference, is it? But in reality life is never simple, and taking a black and white attitude leads to decisions based on incorrect information and judgments. Decisions whose consequences are likely to fall rather plainly into the 'bad' camp. But how do you get out of a pattern of excessively absolutist thinking? This session will help you gain a more balanced view of life.
Overcome Self-Limiting Beliefs - Some things are possible, and some things are not possible, but the boundary between them isn't always as easy to determine as we might imagine. We often set the boundary ourselves, decreeing that "I can't do that" when there is no objective rational reason why 'that' is impossible. We just believe that it's impossible. And that means that we often don't do things we might want to do, or might like to do, and are perfectly capable of doing, because they're on the other side of the (imaginary) boundary. This session enables people to free themselves to do more of what they want and are capable of without being held back by imagined ideas of limitation.
Improve Objectivity - People often say that we live in highly emotional times. The public expression of emotion is much more common in western society now than it used to be. People are expected to be 'in touch with their feelings' and able to respond emotionally in all sorts of situations. There are pros and cons to this social change. While it's good that people are no longer expected to always repress or hide their real feelings, uncontrolled emotionality threatens our capacity to think clearly. This session is a tool to help people hold on to the power to use their brains without getting swamped by emotion.
Dealing with Disappointment - Disappointment comes the way of everyone at some time or another, because we don't live in a perfect world where we can all have everything we want (though there are 'gurus' who will try to tell you different). But for all that disappointment is such a universal experience, there is precious little in the way of preparation or training for coping with it. The consequence of this is that many people fail to realize that they can influence their experience of disappointment - they think it is something that just 'happens'. In this session you will learn how to have more control over the process of anticipation/experience/response where disappointment is encountered.
Dealing With Bureaucracy - Nobody likes form filling, or grappling with regulations, or the stress of call center hell, where you just can't find anyone to take responsibility for your issue and get things moving. But bureaucracy is something we all have to deal with at some time, so what's the best way to handle it all? This session will give people an effective mind-training tool that will give them the best chance of getting the results they want and avoiding overwhelm.
Don’t Jump to Conclusions - Everybody likes to know, for sure, what's going on. In fact, we like it so much that we often convince ourselves that we know, when we don't. We jump to conclusions. Which is fine, if the conclusion is in fact correct. But very often it isn't. And that brings so many problems in its wake. This session is an effective way for people who want to get out of the habit of always assuming that their conclusions must be true.
Overcome Indecision - Never have there been so many decisions to make in life. People call it 'choice', but all these choices burden us with the task of making a decision. And each decision faces us with the risk of discovering that we have made the wrong decision. This risk can actually paralyze us into total inaction, leading us to miss many of life's opportunities. But just how do you cope with the need to make decisions, the best decisions that you can? This session will help those who find themselves getting stuck in a state of indecision move through it confidently.
Overcome Superstition - Walking under ladders, seeing a black cat, speaking the same words as another person at the very same moment, giving a pinch and a punch for the first of the month - all these unrelated phenomena have one thing in common. They are the basis of a common superstitious belief. Is there any harm in such superstitions? What does it matter if someone thinks seeing a black cat means they are about to have bad luck? It's easy to laugh, but superstitious people are likely to experience a great deal of anxiety and low self-confidence - they feel they are at the mercy of events and that 'magic' is their only chance of influencing things. This session will help people escape from the emotional grip of outmoded ideas about causation and begin to develop confidence in their ability to navigate their way through life's troubles.
Overcome Paranoia - The sense that other people are ganging up on you, or are not to be trusted, is uncomfortable and frightening. This is even more true when there is no real basis for such fears. Anxiety and insecurity can incite paranoid feelings, and they can wreak havoc in someone's life. Paranoia may be associated with other psychological difficulties, and in such circumstances may require expert help. However, we are all susceptible to such notions to some degree. But what can be done to overcome such unfounded doubt and mistrust when it affects us? This session helps help individuals look at their own tendency to paranoid feelings and ideas and bring themselves into a more balanced state.
Self Talk - People are often their own worst enemy. They don't mean to be. It's just that they don't realize that habitually putting yourself down or giving yourself a hard time when things aren't going well actually makes things go worse. This session will help you realize the importance of taking control of what they say to themselves and deliberately shaping it so that it will help and not hinder them in meeting the challenges of life.
Comparing Yourself - Many people's lives are blighted by the constant pressure to 'measure up' in some form or another. Often in quite material ways - to have what others have, to look like them, to wear the same clothes, to be seen in the same places. An unforeseen result of this process has been that many people lose a sense of the value of their own individuality. Being 'like so-and-so' becomes the only criterion. In this session you’ll gain recognition of the detrimental effects of this 'comparanoia', and learn how to reclaim their self-worth and self-respect.
Victim Mentality - Perfectly decent and ordinary people can find themselves being bullied and victimized and wonder what hit them. It's an unpleasant experience which we are all only too glad to put behind us as soon as we may. But some people find themselves regularly on the receiving end of trouble - as if some evil witch had attended their birth. They seem to be in a permanent state of victimhood. Yet, on the surface, there is nothing to distinguish them from anyone else. How can they stop being a victim? This session will help you “re-script” your emotions and regain control over your mind.
Worrying About Others - It's normal and natural to want the people we love to be safe and well, and to worry sometimes about dangers that might befall them. But when excessive worry takes over your life, it can be detrimental to you. And to them. This session offers a safe and effective way to calm down excessive worry so you can lead a more balanced life.
Tame Your Inner Critic - Some people think too highly of themselves but many more people think too lowly of themselves, and keep an inner critic busy full time on telling them how useless they are. This is corrosive and demoralizing, and prevents people from enjoying life and making the most of their potential. But how to you make that critic shut up? This session will help you take control of the tendency to over-criticize yourself and convert your thoughts into a more useful attitude of firm but loving support for yourself.
Stop Being a Control Freak - A sense of control is one of the basic human needs. Without some sense of control over our environment and our lives, we become deeply stressed and cannot function very well. So it's no wonder that we all seek to extend our control over the world. But if we become unconsciously concerned about not having enough control, we can start to inappropriately extend our control beyond what is reasonable. And this is when other people start calling us 'control freak'. This session will help people who realize that their efforts to control everything have become counterproductive and it’s having negative effects in their lives and relationships.