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You don’t need to be suffering with Irritable Bowel Syndrome to know there’s a connection between the brain and the gut.
Most of the time the gut just gets on with it’s work, but the brain always has the ability to take over. So you may have noticed;
- butterflies you when you feel excited
- nervous loosening of the bowels before a terrifying job interview
- convenient constipation when you’re on a long hall flight
And for most people these are just normal signs that your brain and gut are communicating well and helping to speed things up or slow things down.
But put VERY simply, Irritable Bowel Syndrome is when your gut-brain communication becomes unhelpful.
Symptoms of IBS include cramping, wind, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, constipation or both.
But because the symptoms of IBS can be the same as the symptoms for other conditions like food poisoning, Crohn’s disease, bowel cancer and more… you must consult your doctor and get the right diagnosis.
Important to know:
Gut-directed hypnotherapy is a complementary therapy. So whether you want to know how to do gut directed hypnotherapy techniques at home, or work with a gut-directed hypnotherapist (like me) please keep seeing your doctor/gastroenterologist as normal and get a diagnosis first. Always speak to your doctor before starting a new complementary therapy, or if you have a condition that makes you unsuitable for hypnosis, visualisations, relaxation or mindfulness.
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What is Gut Directed Hypnosis?
Gut Directed Hypnosis, IBS Hypnosis or ‘Stomach Hypnosis’ is one of the fastest growing areas of hypnotherapy and is quickly becoming the MUST HAVE thing for managing Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
And as the name suggests, Gut Directed Hypnotherapy (GDH) uses direct hypnosis to focus directly on the gut.
How we use GDH depends on your symptoms. But in a nut shell – GDH helps to mentally create a soothing of the intensity of symptoms, improve your subconscious ‘part’ communications including messages between brain and gut and help calm your brain’s central nervous system as well as your gut’s enteric nervous system.
And hypnotherapy is a combination of talking therapy and deeply relaxing hypnosis that can act rather like a rocket pack for positive change!
Is Gut Directed Hypnotherapy hypnosis?
Yes. Hypnotherapy is a combination of talking therapy and hypnosis and the hypnosis is like a rocket pack for positive change!
And Hypnosis is gorgeous. It’s a deeply relaxing, natural state of awareness in which your mind becomes gently and positively focused, helping your normal negative, ‘critical’ faculties become quieter as body and mind becomes more open to positive suggestion and the changes you want.
Most people are a little wary of hypnosis at first, but its something we all do every day very naturally. So the only difference when you work with a Clinical Hypnotherapist like me, is that you know you are aware of the hypnosis and you know exactly what you want from it!
About IBS Hypnosis
Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects as much as 25% of the population in their lifetime and its a common symptom of menopause as well…I hear your sighs ladies!
Also known as stomach hypnosis or gut hypnosis, in the first series of studies by Professor Whorwell, researchers found that after a course of hypnotherapy, subjects who had hypnotherapy showed:
- around 70% of participants responded to the therapy (80% women, 60% men) reporting a 50% or more reduction in symptoms
- significant improvement in rectal sensitivity in those with diarrhoea-predominant IBS
- improved abnormal sensory perception
- reduced psychological distress, improved cognition of pain and reduced bowel performance anxiety
The biggest benefit of IBS hypnotherapy is that it is effective, it can helps naturally, holistically and can be used alongside your mainstream medical care, your dietitian and even other types of therapy!
But it’s important to know hypnotherapy can’t promise a full cure – no one can.
So if you are just starting to think about working with a hypnotherapist like me, or you want to try a little gut directed hypnotherapy yourself, I’m listing a few simple techniques you can try yourself.
The Ease IBS MP3
Ease Irritable Bowel Syndrome MP3 is an affordable, acccessible ‘listen at home’ gut focused hypnosis download that aims to calm down stress levels, and sooth your digestive system.
As you relax and listen repeatedly to your download, you can expect to:
Relax faster and deeper each time you listen
Begin to feel more generally relaxed and comfortable
Develop confidence using visualization techniques to help your IBS
How to do Gut Directed Hypnotherapy at home
I am going to share 5 simple techniques that you can use to introduce yourself to the world of GDH and practice is key!
The steps below are relaxations, so use this as a helpful introduction and a starting point for Gut Hypnosis. Then when you are ready go to my booking page and I’ll teach you the real thing.
1. Rectangular Breathing
Mind and Body are one and they are in constant communication, so how you breath determines how you feel, and how you feel determines how you breath.
So adjusting your breath to create a positive state of wellbeing is one of this easiest things you can learn, and it’s a skill you’ll have for life!
But most of us breath far too rapidly and from the upper portion of our chest. It’s a bad habit because it’s how we breath when we are anxious or in danger so it actually tells body and mind that there is a problem – even where there isn’t!
Rectangular breathing is the answer.
Rectangular breathing, like 7-11 breathing, golden thread breathing or bubble breathing, is just one of the ways to guide your breath (and your body) into a restful state. When your breathing is long and relaxed, and from your stomach rather than your chest your whole system naturally settles, entering the state of ‘rest and digest’.
How to do it:
Use a rectangle as a visual aid to guide your breath:
- Look at a rectangle, a window, door, phone or book will do but you can be as creative as you like
- Breath in and cast your eye along the short side of the rectangle
- Breath out and cast you eye along the long side of the rectangle
- Repeat
2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Also known as a Body Scan, Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a classic part of gut-directed hypnotherapy that can easily be practised at home to help manage symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
When we experience anxiety, worry or physical pain the natural response is to tense your body, and PMR helps by doing the opposite!
PMR (or body scan) helps release physical and emotional tension by systematically relaxing the different muscle groups of the body or if preferred, systematically tensing and then relaxing different muscle groups in the body; both of which help to reduce stress and subconsciously held tension…and it can be a game changer for pain as as well.
Buy this luxuriously long (30min) body scan relaxation from hypnosis downloads and just settle back as you relax, listening as often as you like, knowing that with practice, this foundational part of IBS hypnosis will get easier and easier.
Or give it a go yourself with my simple guide:
How to do it:
- Imagine that your whole body is going to relax from the top, all the way down
- Start at the top of your head and face and work down to your toes
- Relax down through your head, relaxing your neck, shoulders dropping, relaxing arms, down your back, chest, stomach and keep going until you reach the tips of your toes
- Relax nice and slowly
- If struggling to relax, and if comfortable to do so, tense each muscle group first by focusing on how your muscles feel as you tense them, and noticing the differences between tense and relaxed. This can help the sense of ‘release’ feel more noticeable, but you may want avoid tensing the abdominal area.
- With practice PMR can become easier, more effective and can be achieved with as little as a single thought.
Body Scan Relaxation*
Possibly the easiest way to practice progressive muscle relaxation. This 30 minute audio takes you through each relaxing step.
3. Colour Visualisation
Once you know how to breath, and relax with PMR, you can start to introduce a colour.
Colour anchoring is most widely used to help alleviate physical or emotion pain and discomfort and this visualisation one of the easiest ways to bring it into your daily practice.
In terms of the gut and abdominal region, colour techniques can help you more fully relax any stubborn areas as you reframe they way you feel, visualising a healthy functioning digestive system, reducing tension and improving your overall health.
How to do it:
- Breath using the lovely relaxed breaths of rectangular breathing
- Focus inward to a while
- Decide what your colour will bring you e.g. calm, comfort, peace or warmth etc
- Let your mind give you a colour – whatever feels right
- Relax using the PMR above, but this time, bring your colour down through your body with you
- Feel the colour bring that positive emotion or sensation
- Focus the colour where you need it most – e.g. like a bright healing light, or a warm soothing colour
- Take the colour through your abdomen, your gut or problem areas
4. Self hypnosis gut visualisation techniques
If you’ve read this far, Hypnotherapy for gut issues should be starting to feel like a no brainer (a gut-brain no brainer!) because the chances are – you’re already in a state of hypnosis. By the time most of my clients find me they can already visualise their gut problems and their descriptions are VIVID. But if you are stuck in a loop of negative imagery – it is sending your gut negative messages.
But it’s not your fault. The mechanisms of your brain and body are not equipped to deal with all the stresses, strains and hierarchical TREADMILLS of modern life. And you are built to focus on the problems within your body. But positive focus works too.
I’ve had clients crushing jewels in Jimmy Choos, releasing their own body weight in unwanted baggage and lifting their fears into the clouds.
Visualisation is a powerful technique and within gut-directed hypnotherapy there are several ways to do it ranging from the traditional ‘safe place’ to indirect gut visualisation, metaphor and direct gut visualisation in which you literally travel through your gut.
But be patient, it takes time to perfect and I’m giving you instructions for a specific technique within hypnosis, NOT hypnosis itself.
So let’s start with the simplest technique which involves tuning into the sensations you feel in your body and imaging how your digestive system is working properly.
Or just dive into this Ease Irritable Bowel MP3 recording with hypnosis downloads for an even easier place to start!
How to do it:
- For the purposes of this, we shall use the metaphor of a river. Once confident with this you can use any metaphor you like, you are only limited by your imagination!
- Consider your digestive system as if it were a river
- But rather than thinking of it as how you don’t want it to be, think of it as you would like it to be.
- If suffering constipation, you may want a river that flows effortlessly along
- If suffering diarrhoea, you may want one thats steady
- Finding a suitable image or film might help you at first
- Visualise your river, strong, steady, confident, flowing as it needs, with ease, never stopped or obstructed, just stable and steady.
- Mentally journey with your river
- Then imagine your river as it were your gut (the techniques you learnt in the colour visualisation above will help)
5. Parts therapy for guts
When you think about your gut issues or your IBS do you find you’re quite descriptive? Do you visualise your gut problems as something quite specific?
Maybe you think of a steamroller, an over inflated balloon, carpenters vice or a bag thats about to burst?
Or does it feel like ‘part’ of you is not in full alignment or ‘part’ of you has got something wrong?
Parts therapy could be a game changer
Parts therapy is a type of hypnosis in which we communicate directly with the part (or parts) of the subconscious mind that are linked to your problem.
So rather like the A Team…“If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire”… a parts hypnotherapist…like me.
This is definitely one I can’t teach you to do yourself but the following is lovely introduction to this style of work.
“Everything is about something else” – Brian Roet, Parts Therapist
How to do it:
- Use any or all of the techniques you have learnt so far to switch off and relax nicely down.
- Give yourself time to focus on that unwanted sensation, fear or metaphor (like the balloon or carpenters vice)
- Watch it, listen to it, observe it and learn from it
- Ask yourself what you would like instead
- Be curious and open minded, allowing your natural creativity to flow
- If your thoughts feel analytical, its a sign you are using your conscious mind not your subconscious mind, so you’ll need to take time to relax deeper.
- And then facilitate the change.
- Check everything feels happy and comfortable.
- Remind yourself of the changes your have made daily.
- Show gratitude.
6. Best Hypnosis Downloads for IBS
Investing in Gut Directed Hypnotherapy with a Clinical Hypnotherapist like me means your hypnosis is bespoke to you, your gut and your life. And I support and guide you every step of the way.
This means:
- Progresses is tracked week to week
- You can expect positive change after every session
- Hypnosis is crafted perfectly for your symptoms and your desired outcomes.
And to start, just book an Initial Consultation on my Prices and Booking page.
So whilst the Hypnosis downloads below are good, please just consider them as a start, a taster a nice little ‘extra’ or just a bit of fun! They are not a replacement for personalised 1:1 Gut Directed Hypnotherapy with a Clinical Hypnotherapist.
Here are my favourite Hypnosis downloads for IBS:
- Buy one single track for $14.95
- Buy two save $6.95
- Buy 3 save $14.90
- Buy 4 save $19.85
- Buy 5 save $24.80
1. Ease Irritable Bowl Syndrome
An absolute classic, this Ease Irritable Bowl Syndrome MP3 gut focused hypnosis download is here for you to enjoy in your own home, in your own time, as often as you like. And practice is the key! So learn to relax more quickly, more deeply as you gain confidence in your own gut directed techniques.
Length 27.45
2. Body Scan Relaxation Technique
The body scan, or progressive muscle relaxation as I call it, is a fundamental part of Gut Directed Hypnotherapy and Medical Hypnotherapy. Helpful for IBS, I also teach this to help with chronic pain, chronic stress, fear and more…
But it’s so beautifully simple it’s a common mistake to overlooking this. Even I have to remind my clients!
So having your own recording it perfect!
Buy or listen to a preview of Body Scan Relaxation Technique MP3 download.
Length 30.22
3. Relaxing Massage Hypnosis
Most of my clients say that giving their tummy a rub or a massage helps. So being able to massage with your mind can make it even more effective!
Learning massage hypnosis gives your freedom and even more soothing massage comfort
Buy or listen to a preview of Relaxing Massage Hypnosis
Length: 27.25
4. Relieve Constipation
If you are suffering with constipation and you need to see a doctor you need to do that first.
But as long as your doctor is happy, then a recording like this could be the release you need!
I teach my IBS constipated clients to use their own hypnosis metaphors to reframe their internal thoughts, images and expectations of the bowel and/or anus. And I often receive reports of daily movements within a couple of weeks, and of course, that satisfaction of the ‘fully empty’ poo.
This hypnosis downloads recording supports the natural connection between mind and body, thoughts and bodily functions. Learn to relax your whole body and focus on what you want your body to do, instead of what you don’t.
Buy or listen to a preview of Relieve Constipation MP3 download.
Length: 20.54
5. Anismus Treatment
This gentle recording encourages you to relax mentally and physically as you make healthy and helpful unconscious changes
Hypnosis Downloads say that as you relax and listen you can expect to notice:
- You begin to feel more comfortable when visiting the bathroom
- Your abdomen and pelvic muscles feel more relaxed when they need to
- Those old anismus symptoms fade away.
Buy or listen to a preview of Anismus Treatment
Length: 24.41
6. Feel the Healing Power of Hypnosis
How you think effects how you feel and how you feel effects the world around you. Positive thinking and being kinder about yourself and to yourself is a powerful tool on the road to wellbeing. And this Feel the Healing Power of Hypnosis MP3 download is an easy place to start.
Length 23.57
7. The Glove Anaesthesia
This is so EXCITING!
I practiced this from 32 weeks of pregnancy, and in labour felt nothing but movement until full dilation!
Glove anaesthesia is the art of making your body numb with your mind. You will train yourself to bring a comfortable numbness to your hand, which you can transfer anywhere in your body.
So perfect for all those nagging pains!
Buy or listen to a preview of Glove Anaesthesia
Length: 19.59
8. The Magic Rainbow
Free for a limited time, this is the core relaxation track I give my clients. It’s not about gut problems for a reason, but you will feel the metaphors and you will feel the relaxation!
Perfect if you want to work with me. And perfect if you want to hear my voice before we start.
Find an even bigger freebie at the end of this list!
9. A Warm Place Relaxation
If you use a hot water bottle or warm lavender pack to help soothe your IBS, this Warm Place Relaxation download is for you! Enjoy feelings of comfort and relaxation with this MP3 that gently echos the classic ‘perfect room’ technique and warmth of IBS hypnosis I use with my hypnotherapy clients. Pair this with The Room of Deep Rest dowload to maximise effects!
Length 17.01
10. The Acid Reflux Remedy
A 1994 study at Alabama University found that amoungst other benefits, people who received relaxation training “had significantly lower reflux symptom ratings and total esophageal acid exposure” than those who received no relaxation training. The Acid Reflux Remedy MP3 download aims to target specific physiological processes associated with heartburn to help you feel more comfortable after meals, notice your symptoms less and sleep more comfortably.
Buy or listen to a preview of The Acid Reflux Remedy
Length 24.37
11. Complete Stress Management Pack
The deliciously relaxing Complete Stress Management Pack contains 5 carefully selected dowloads to help the stress melt away.
This pack includes:
- Stress Management Training
- Work Life Balance
- Asking for Help
- Overcome Overwhelm
- Reduce Time Pressure.
And who doesn’t need that?!
12.Ten Steps to Overcome Negativity
33% off this fully comprehensive 10 Step Course course during January:
Negative patterns can become ingrained, embedded and feel impossible to fix. But it’s not your fault, and because negativity can start from an early age, this 10 Steps to Overcome Negativity course is designed to tackle each important facet of negative thinking in detail as you can relax and absorb the material in your own time.
This pack includes:
- 10 hypnosis downloads
- The 10 step ebook
- Practical exercises
- Progress checkers
- BONUS mindfulness download
Conclusion
Gut Directed Hypnotherapy is about rebalancing and reframing the relationship you have with your gut.
As an IBS sufferer it can feel like your gut is working against you, instead of for you and your happy, healthy mind-body connections can feel lost entirely.
But IBS Hypnosis and Gut Directed Hypnotherapy can help you on a gentle path to a happier balance, a happier journey inwich you can start to trust your body again.
And remember, it’s not all about the gut!
Because the stresses and strains of daily life, the ups and downs, and the pressures put upon you all play their part in how your gut works. So book your sessions with me and we will work together to ensure that you are feeling more confident about, and more confident in:
- Yourself
- Your IBS Hypnosis
- Your guts natural ability to get on with its work in a way thats useful to you
- Your guts ability to work without any conscious effort from you
- Your ability to deal with the ups and downs that life may throw at you
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I hope the techniques I have shared have been helpful, that with practice you achieve positive results, and that you have been inspired to dig deeper into Gut Directed Hypnotherapy and want to learn more!
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