I often wonder how much the combined stress of teenage years and exam pressures hold back our younger people from reaching their potential.
After all what is the aim of our education system? I would venture it is to give young people a blend of qualifications, confidence, resilience and perhaps physical fitness. In addition it should encourage an enquiring mind and an appreciation of their fellow man to enable them to have an enjoyable and, so far as is possible, productive and successful life.
Of course they are not alone, many sports people, business people, entertainers and normal everyday folk also experience similar challenges.
Some turn to hypnosis to help them to make the changes needed to achieve their goals. In many cases it is a quick and effective therapy and in the process they become more confident, relaxed and focused on reaching or exceeding their targets. They also often become more balanced and have greater perspective about the impact of success and failure.
If you search the internet for examples of hypnosis working for well known people or in business you will find many references. Some examples are Henry Ford (founder of the Ford Motor Company), Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge), Sir Winston Churchill, Jessica Alba, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Costner, Mark Phelps, Ashton Kutcher, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and others.
In my own practice I use hypnotism therapeutically to help people who work in, amongst others, the finance industry, telecommunications, software, and healthcare professions, increase their confidence, overcome emotional barriers to success, reduce their anxiety, deal more effectively with pressure and stress and achieve their goals.
So why can’t the simple, safe, drug free techniques of hypnotism be more widely used to help students overcome the stress of teenage years and exam pressures. It can remove the blocks that prevent them from achieving their potential and to improve their general emotional and physical well-being?
My own experience with hypnosis and younger people has proved to me how well many of them can respond to the process and how valuable hypnotism can be for them. Many have a great ability to be hypnotised and successfully take on new ideas and better approaches to situations and the pressures of school and life in general.
One example was a student who was referred to me a few years ago who was in her final year of ‘A’ levels. Due to the amount of pressure she felt she was under, she found that she was unable to focus on her revision programme. As a result of the hypnosis, she became much more relaxed, able to put the demands she was placing on herself into perspective and get her revision back on track.
Another was an undergraduate who was having anxiety attacks about whether she could complete her degree course, even though she was perfectly well equipped to see it through to a successful conclusion. After hypnosis, her attitude changed and she was able to resume her studies and pass her degree. Today she is a successful entrepreneur.
A third was a young man who experienced the physical symptoms of anxiety when going back to school after a break. Hypnosis helped him to be more relaxed and confident about his school life and his ability to succeed at his studies.
A final example was that of a school ‘A’ level student who was anxious about going to university. She was concerned about whether she was making the right decision, how would she deal with being away from home and making new friends. An email from her recently let me know that she is happy and confident at university which was wonderful to read.
It would be great to see more schools, colleges and universities enlisting the use of hypnosis to help their students be more relaxed and confident, more able to structure and focus on their work and ultimately meet their goals or even over achieve on what they were hoping for.
It would also equip them with some additional tools and understanding so that they could deal more effectively with the life after full time education, growing into the assertive, confident and valuable members of the community they aspire to be, which I think is or should be the main aim of education anyway.