Welcome to the National Council For Hypnotherapy Podcast, where we dive into the fascinating world of hypnosis, lifting the lid on hypnotherapy, sharing insights and tips for change as we chat. So sit back, relax, and enjoy all the wonderful possibilities of hypnotherapy. My name is Tracey Grist, and I will be your host today. Hello and welcome. I'm here with Ada Meesen, lecturer, author, researcher, and organizer of the UKHC, the United Kingdom Hypnosis. Convention. For all us hypnotists to attend, to learn more about the academia behind hypnosis, the entertainment of hypnosis, all sorts of variants that we can bring to the therapy room to give us a rounded way of being as a hypnotherapist. So, Adam, welcome.

Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be here.

Great. So, should we just get stuck in?

Roll our sleeves up.

What what made you choose the hypnosis Hypnotherapy route? You know, you've done amazing things in your time as a practitioner, as a trainer, as a lecturer, all of these things. Why are you hypnotherapy? Hypnosis?

You know, I I was, I I I suppose a bit of a troubled teenager, and I had, I had a I had a whole bunch of sort of physical and mental health issues as a late teenager. And I made some very poor decisions with regards to how I was gonna help myself be be happier in life in general. And I ended up see seeing a number of different types of therapists, but it just so happened that that hypnosis and hypnotherapy were the things that that did it for me. And I remember thinking, wow. You know, this is this is really cool stuff. I would quite like to learn how to do this. And the the the kind of things that have failed to sort of grab my attention academically and intellectually at that stage in my life had, had, had, yeah, just meant that I found it very easy to sort of feel driven in a particular a particular direction. I realized that

that lots of people come in get become involved in the field because they've had some sort of personal some sort of personal

journey with it. And it helped me along greatly. And, yeah, I I I very much fell in love with it and and did it ever since. And and, you know, I I think our professional membership is dating from from 1996 when I, yeah, when when when I first I first started studying hypnotherapy in my final year at university.

Yeah. So what were you studying in university then to study hypnotherapy in your final

year? Well, no. I I I did that in addition to

I see.

Yeah. Yeah. So the the the 2 were completely unrelated. Yeah. I mean, later on in life, working and living in in well, running my business in Bournemouth, it just so happened that one of the psychology senior psychology lecturers and research department people at Bournemouth University was really into hypnosis. So it just made it very easy for me to be able to do my PhD at Bournemouth University, which is which is where I run and run my business and and live my life now. Yeah. So, but but but, you know, my my undergraduate days back in those days was was was nothing to do with it.

Yeah. I I studied that completely separately. So when I finished university, you know, I sort of sort of worked in regular jobs for about a year or so. But, ultimately, you know, it's pretty much all I've ever done with my adult life has been hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

Love it. Love it. So so you no doubt you've seen a lot. If if you had because I also know that you do physical training, like weight training and workout.

Yes. I do. Yes. I do. I make no secret about it either. Maybe maybe it's a midlife crisis or something like that. But, yeah, so I I used to be an endurance athlete. And so for for years years, I would run and run and run.

And, to to to the to the point whereby, you know, one of my books was was, you know, about how to use hypnosis for advancing, you know, and and psychological other psychological strategies, you know, in particular, cognitive sports psychology, and how that combined with self hypnosis for for for running. Mhmm. When I when I when I got married and had children, I realized that, you know, running running, you know, 100 mile endurance events across Colorado mountains was probably not sustain sustainable. Time. And the amount of hours that I was doing things like that, you know, it just wasn't wasn't sustainable. So I completely changed tack and and started lifting weights.

Yeah.