Under the spell: Hypnotherapy changes lives for good
Many people still have no idea about the amazing life benefits of hypnosis are, says Alistair Horscroft, an expert in the industry.
“At best, people think it's about relaxing to whale music as they are guided down some stairs into a magic garden, or some such nonsense,” says Horscroft.
“But hypnosis is actually the world's oldest healing approach and modern hypnosis, including NLP (neuro-linguistic programming, which teaches people how to adopt new positive behaviours), provides some of the most insightful and practical approaches you can use for changing people's lives.”
When it comes to prevention, he adds that hypnotherapy is one of the most researched approaches in the world.
“The results are extraordinary, from cancer to smoking, weight loss and irritable bowel syndrome. Hypnosis has been proven again and again to be remarkably useful in clinical trials.”
When asked about the misuses of hypnotherapy, Horscroft says there are very few. “It's far easier to manipulate someone to do something they don't really want to do with a gun or money - the old tried and tested approaches!”
“Using hypnosis to get people to do things they don't want to do is nearly impossible. This is because the deep values of the individual act as a monitoring system over what is suggested whilst in hypnosis. However, getting people to do things they really want to do, but can't put into action, is much easier because their deep values support this kind of change.”
Misuse of hypnotherapy
However, he cannot blame doctors and other medical practitioners for not wanting to be involved in what some natural health/complementary practitioners do because it can be a lottery for them sometimes.
“For example, you can go to a practitioner for clinical hypnotherapy and they will start a psychic reading on you, or some other new age mumbo jumbo. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with what people get up to but there needs to be clear boundaries about what you practice, or rather what you advertise you practice and what you deliver.
“If I go to a clinical hypnotherapist, I want high level clinical hypnotherapy. If I want NLP, then I should get NLP. If I want a quality coach, I should get a quality coach! I don't think psychic pet readings are an appropriate title to have on a professional clinical therapist's business card or website, for example.”
Horscroft says he works hard to make sure The Mind Institute is truthful and honest. “We are Australia's most professional training company for courses, regarding positive change approaches, such as Clinical Hypnotherapy, NLP, Health Coaching, Mind Training and Practical Psychology, amongst others. Just as there are naturopaths who train in multiple natural health disciplines, we do the same with the mind - training people in all the very best approaches of practical change based psychology.”
Horscroft's personal journey
As for Horscroft himself, he left school at 16, just as he was about to go into an officer's career in the army. In the end, he decided to travel the world instead.
Eventually, he started a four year apprenticeship with Dr. Gamal Saleem in London, where he studied natural medicine, martial arts and metaphysics.
He then became a personal trainer before heading back to university to take an honours degree in philosophy. After that, he studied hypnosis, then NLP and started to focus on personal and professional development.
“When I started in the industry, I didn't have a genuine affinity for natural medicine or personal training. It all seemed a little bit 'stage 2' - as if you couldn't get to the mind behind what you were doing then not a lot happened.”
But he had always been into the so called 'spiritual stuff', having meditated since the age of four years old. He also went to a unique school from the age of 9-15, where he was taught verdic (Indian) philosophy, sanskrit and meditation, as well as renaissance philosophy and ideals.
“When I returned to university, it was a toss up between sports science, psychology and philosophy. I had intended to do post graduate work in psychology, but by that time hypnosis and NLP had entered my life and I was more convinced by them as useful change methods because they had personally helped me far more than the psychologists I had visited.
“Therein lied the start. My own personal problems and looking for ways of dealing with them, which involved literally trying 100s of different approaches, led me to follow NLP and hypnosis because they delivered.”
Horscroft found it hard to start with because he had come off the back of some heavy life experiences. He was in a pretty bad way mentally, emotionally and to a certain degree physically too.
He personally suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for 15 years and got depressed from time to time.
“After a severe head injury, I became severely depressed and incredibly distressed emotionally as well as mentally for a number of years. This is why I chose to enter this field - to help others reclaim their lives and to live the life they want to lead.
“I did it and I know everyone else can too. So, I was dealing with all this alongside my movement towards my own personal goals. That being said, the intensity with which I pursued my goals allowed me to achieve everything I wanted within a few short years.”
He ended up running a hypnosis/NLP clinic for years in Regents Park, London. He was also involved with a few personal development business start ups, including one with the famous Bob Proctor, a main contributor to The Secret.
With his Australian girlfriend (now wife) he set up the first complementary health clinics inside UK health farms and spas. They led the way for the rest of the country to follow.
Starring role on TV
“They were very successful,” he adds, “but for me, a TV series was on my goal list.”
Although Paul McKenna is very famous in the UK for being a personal development hypnotist, Horscroft was actually the first person in the world to have his own TV series using NLP, personal development and clinical hypnotherapy to help others to change their lives.
“15 episodes were ran solidly for three years in the UK and are still shown in Europe now. The programme was called: The Life Guru and was shown on the Discovery Channel. I also did a year of live television twice a week on a show called: Loose Lips with Melinda Messenger, as well as numerous slots on pretty much all the UK TV channels.”
At one point, for a couple of shows he was used as a coach on the UK's Pop Idol. However, throughout all of this, his desire to be in Australia was gradually becoming stronger than his need to remain on TV in the UK.
“To be honest, I wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought I would. So at the height of it all, with some big offers coming my way, I turned it all down and moved to Australia with my wife in 2004. I always wanted to live in Australia since I was five years old. I had a beautiful Australian wife, so I thought: 'Why not?'”
When he first came to Australia, he did some pilots for TV shows, including a pilot with Don Burke's company, but he did not have a big urge to pursue the opportunities.
“My real passion involved starting a training company that aimed to deliver the highest quality courses to people, so that's what I did. I also set up a phobia program at Taronga Zoo, which has been a total success for three years. I have also consulted for some big name Australian companies, such as News Digital Media.
“On top of that, I created a program for the long term unemployed to get them back to work with Waverley Council in Sydney, which has helped them to achieve their best results ever so far.”
Beating depression, stress and anxiety
He is now writing books, creating now products and is ready to take what he does mainstream again. That is why he is running a 2 day seminar in Sydney, from November 28th-29th, about beating anxiety, stress and depression.
“I know that at the Mind Institute, we have the tools and approaches that can genuinely help people and I want this information in the hands of practitioners and people who are suffering from it. It's that simple. Prevention is the key, but that requires major shifts in cultural attitudes towards life.
“People are affected by their environments, be that our families, the media or social influences and this is where most of these problems start. You then have to go through the journey of taking back your personal control and sense of self in such a way that these environmental concerns no longer become detrimental affects. At the end of the day, it's between you and you.”
He is proud to say that his seminars are not usually gung-ho or happy clappy, fist in the air type affairs - as in, they are not like the American guru style shows.
“Our courses are very down to earth, engaging and inspiring. Within a few minutes, you know that you are listening to people with real life experiences and real life approaches.
“We explain things and provide material that simply goes deeper, more quickly, in a more common sense and life applicable way than other approaches. The courses also have people laughing from start to finish. What people learn on our courses makes a significant difference to the quality of their lives.”
Horscroft also has plenty of ordinary advice to give people who are suffering from depression, stress or anxiety.
“Make the decision that you will be free from it and seek the help you need. To fully deal with these things you need good information, a true understanding of what is actually going on within yourself and the appropriate techniques to support your recovery.
“The biggest obstacle for people who suffer from depression and anxiety is that they have tried to get themselves over it but have failed. They might have seen a couple of people and it has not worked. As a result they start with: 'What's the point?' thinking.
“People need a system that covers all the possible avenues of thinking that a depressed or anxious mind can come up with, and believe me, there are a lot of avenues they can go down. “For example, an anxious person normally starts to engage in 'what if' type thinking, such as: 'what if this happens?'; 'what happens if I panic here?'; 'what happens if I can't handle this?'; 'what if they see me like this?'”
He says the problem with 'what if?' style thinking is that there are infinite possibilities. So we have to deal with the root problem of this, otherwise the mind just comes up with another one like: 'what if this doesn't work?'.
“When done right, hypnotherapy is one of the fastest ways to re-train the brain. But there is a lot of misunderstanding about the therapy. Attitudes will change and are changing, but this is one of the main reasons why I created The Mind Institute – so that people can train in modern hypnosis and other powerful change approaches.
“But the Institute is not just about hypnosis. We also teach people about cutting edge mind techniques and methods that include: NLP, coaching, personal development and many others.”
As well as the 2 day seminar planned in November, Horscroft's Institute trains people to have careers as therapists, coaches and personal development consultants. The courses are recognised both in Australia and worldwide.
“We have doctors, psychologists, natural therapists, as well as people with no training whatsoever, who are just wanting to create a part or full time career in this field. Our diploma of Mind Therapies provides a huge amount of the highest quality material in this area with recognised qualifications upon completion.”
Wayne's world
His partner is Wayne Wigham, the Balmain Tigers an ex-rugby league veteran. Wigham played 167 1st team games and was first introduced to hypnotherapy and the power of the mind during his NRL career in the late 70s and early 80s.
“From personal experience, he knows the benefits of getting the mind on side when you want to succeed at anything, including sports, health, success and relationships,” adds Horscroft.
Wigham also struggled with depression throughout his life and says that he has found the insights gained from his dealings with Alistair to be a turning point in his life.
He now works as the general manager for The Mind Institute, which involves making sure the courses are delivered to a guaranteed standard for the students.
“I attended the Diploma of Mind Therapies course and found the content very impressive because I was looking for a life changing breakthrough and a way to help others,” says Wigham. “I then approached Alistair about developing sports specific programmes and our relationship has developed from there.”
Wigham also founded a physical injury rehab and prevention company that led his way into this field. Before then, he was a professional fire fighter. He also has a Degree in teaching and a Diploma of Social Welfare.
“I could see that mental stresses are even more costly to the community than physical injuries and I saw that Alistair was leading the way in this direction of dealing with the problem and self limiting beliefs. So that's why I wanted to join him.”
To find out more about the courses, check out the website here for full details. They are run in Sydney, NSW and Noosa, QLD.To sign up to his 2 day seminar in Sydney, click here.
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