Nervous Horse Riders And How Self Hypnosis Can Help.

Nervous Horse Riders And How Self Hypnosis Can Help.

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Introduction
Chapter 1. Background to Theory Chapter 2. How Hypnotherapy works Chapter 3. How nerves affect the rider Chapter 4. The process of Hypnosis for the rider Chapter 5. Resistance and Blockages to Process Bibliography

People from all walks of life come to horse riding, sometimes its the realisation of a childhood dream, sometimes the rekindling of a long lost hobby, or the interest arrives by accident, often through cross contamination if you cant beat them, you might as well join them, but we all have different stories to tell about our fears and anxieties and how they have affected our lives as riders. The fascination we have with the horse is so embedded and entrenched in our psyche as human beings, that often it is hard to explain to someone who has never been bitten by this bug; why those of us who have, are prepared to put ourselves through so much pain, anguish, and discomfort to achieve our goals. Giving up riding altogether is often not a perceived option. In an attempt to hang on to a way of life that we feel lovingly entrapped by, we will continue to keep our beloved four-legged friends as companions or pets, acknowledging inwardly that we feel helpless, frustrated with ourselves and desperate. We live in the hope that just one day, the feelings of fear, and dread that prevent us from riding with confidence, will some how disappear from our minds and bodies whilst we sleep through the night.

Each day we hope that for some reason, something has changed, perhaps because the sun is shining on us, the wind has died down, the road works have finished, the litter has all been collected, that blooming dog is indoors; the jumps are more inviting, the approach more controlled, the poles are more solid; the cross-country ditches seem shallower, the ground is good, or the fences not so high; the dressage judge has missed that spook, you manage to remember to breath, the horse strikes off on the right leg, better still, the horse has read the dressage test beforehand. Any number of reasons as to why today is different from all others, but unfortunately, it rarely is.

So next time your negative thoughts, those automatic ones that jump into your mind before you have chance to challenge them, and they stop you in your tracks, remember, you do have an option, you can change those thoughts, you can change those feelings and you can change the behaviours that they create. You may not become the next John Whittaker, Carl Hester, or Pippa Funnel, but you may enjoy the delights of hacking down a country lane or a main road, or popping over a clear round course or a fallen log, or doing an unaffiliated dressage test, and for many of us, this is as big an accomplishment as receiving an Olympic Gold Medal.

To these people, I dedicate this ebook.

Chapter one

Background to Theory

Most of you reading this I'm sure, will be familiar with those stage hypnotists seen on the television and in the media, or even down at your local pub, but Clinical Hypnotherapy is quite another matter, and it is by no means a new phenomenon, in fact the use of hypnotherapy and hypnosis to solve emotional and psychological problems; in other words therapeutically, dates back as far as 1779, with Franz Anton Mesmer's theory of animal magnetism, later referred to as mesmerism.

We are still learning about how the mind works as oppose to the brain, and although Clinical Hypnotherapists have been practising for a long time using tried and tested methods, there are still a number of theories as to what the state of hypnosis actually is, and how it works.

I feel that having some theoretical background knowledge about these theories plays an important part in the successful outcome of the process, and its ongoing usefulness for any individual that wants to use it. I am therefore, going to briefly outline the main theories or assumptions about the state of Hypnosis (as there are many more than those listed here) and there are some excellent books available if you really want to get your teeth into the subject in some depth, suffice to say, that recent developments have resulted in a common view that the State of Hypnosis is both scientific and phenomenological based. I will explain later what is meant by the conscious and unconscious (sometimes also referred to as subconscious) minds, as this is the cornerstone of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis.

Disassociation Theory:

Theorists suggest here that the subject disassociates from conscious mental activity and external events, whilst accessing other compartments of the mind with the focus being on internal experience. This theory claims that this can be likened to wakefulness and full conscious activity to sleep and dream activity.

Atavistic Theory:

Suggests that the individual overrides intellectual and critical mental functioning to access a primordial compartment of the brain that operates on a primitive simplicity level; in other words we all have an ancient remnant within our brains that is the left over from when we were a primitive species, and this compartment is tapped into during the hypnotic state.

Hyper-suggestibility Theory:

Suggests that all behaviour, thoughts and feelings are learnt; that individuals are products of conditioning and that our responses to life can only be understood in relation to conscious and out of aware stimuli. This theory suggests that our mental processing and our behavioural responses are all governed by internal responses to environmental suggestion, and that the contextual setting for hypnosis heightens the potential for conditioned responses to suggestion.

Altered State Theory:

Suggests that not only is another part of the mind accessed during hypnosis but also in addition, another level or dimension of consciousness is entered into. 'Hypnosis may be defined as an altered state of awareness affected by total concentration on the voice of the therapist. It will result in measurable physical, neurophysiological and psychological changes in which may be produced distortion of emotion, sensation, image, and time' (Waxman 1981)

Essentially, theorists fall into two main categories; State Theory and Non-State, but a common understanding and agreement that all theorists share, is that the process of hypnosis can be utilised to benefit individuals psycho-biologically.

Over the past decade, hypnotherapy has established widespread therapeutic use in medical and psychotherapy settings. It is now recognised by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom as an Alternative and or Complimentary Therapy, and can be offered as such to patients as a valuable safe therapy for a whole host of psychobiological disorders.

The model of Hypno-Psychotherapy that I was taught to use is called Ericksonian, because it was developed by Milton H Erickson, M.D. the foundation of his hypnotherapeutic system is his orienting assumption that people have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind. Erickson used the term unconscious mind to refer to all the cognitions, perceptions, and emotions which occur outside of a persons normal range of awareness. He reserved the term conscious mind for the limited range of information that enters the restricted focus of attention of most people in everyday life, (and in some of us its more restricted than others - but I digress!). Erickson was less concerned about the state v non-state debate; the response of the client to the suggestion was far more important than the question of whether it was a function of conscious compliance or unconscious processes.

Well, now you have some basic knowledge of what the theorists and experts in the field think hypnosis could be, you can perhaps understand why it is so difficult to answer in a few words when people ask me, 'how does it work'. I guess what you really want to know is 'will it work for me? Well, like all alternative and complimentary therapies, there are no guarantees, much as there often isnt with traditional medicine, but if you have an open mind and an imagination, there is every chance it will do. It is generally accepted that 90% of the population can be induced into the hypnotic trance state by an individual Hypnotherapist, provided that the subject is willing and not afraid. Analytically minded people that try to work out the why and wherefores of what is happening to them during hypnotherapy, are not likely to find the hypnotic process as easy to relax into as others, but even for these people sufficient depth of the hypnotic state for successful treatment can be obtained, with adequate preparation, patience, repetition and perseverance.

Whether the hypnotic trance state is arrived at through face-to-face Hypnotherapy or through Self-Hypnosis, (using pre-recorded audio CDs, MP3s, or Personal Computers) the procedure is very similar. The main advantage though of a face-to-face session is that a consultation process takes place, during which information is gathered so that the language used by the Hypnotherapist during hypnosis, is tailor-made to that of the listener. This increases the intensity of the therapy and depth of the trance state, and can improve the success rate.

Unfortunately, there are few qualified registered Hypnotherapists, who also have first-hand knowledge of what a rider goes through when they have reached an all-time low on the confidence-scale, so face-to-face sessions are rarely a practical option. But with todays advance of audio technology, which seems to change daily, access to pre-recorded material is as easy now as hitting a button, and far more cost effective.

My Self-Hypnosis CDs can now be downloaded for use on any MP3 player, (often called an iPod, which is the brand name for Apples version) or a personal computer or CD player. However, I must emphasise that no hypnotherapy session should ever be undertaken whilst driving, riding or operating any machinery or doing anything that requires concentration. You need to be in a relaxed, quite environment where you wont be disturbed. Therefore, the portability of MP3s, iPods and mobile phones really does make it easy now to get away from it all, and really engage in the hypnotic process whenever the opportunity arises.

I must stress here that Hypnotherapy is not a panacea for all ills, and contraindications do exist, one being when a persons psychological state of mind would make the process unsafe for them; as in the condition of schizophrenia or any type of psychotic personality disorder or psychosis that already causes an altered state of mind, or disassociation or a distortion of reality. If you are receiving E.C.T. or any form of treatment for a psychological problem, I would advice you check with your Doctor before using Hypnotherapy, and as hypnosis lowers the blood pressure, if you already suffer with low blood pressure, and this is being treated with medication, I would advice you to check with your GP first.

Chapter Two How Hypnotherapy Works

Hypnotherapy works by accessing the unconscious mind (also called subconscious); so what is meant by the conscious and unconscious minds?

When we talk about the conscious mind, we refer to the thoughts that are going through our heads right now, the ones that we are aware of as we think about something, the little voice on the shoulder or in the head, the one you can hear right now, as you think of your shoulder. The conscious mind is rather less significant than our unconscious mind. To make it clearer, or not as the case may be, If you compare your mind to an iceberg; an analogy that one of my lecturers favoured, then the tip of the iceberg that you see above the surface of the water is the conscious mind, and the larger more substantial part of the iceberg that is out of sight, below the water line (but supports the tip), is the unconscious mind, a significantly larger part.

The unconscious mind is the seat of our emotions, and directs nearly all our behaviour. Everything that has ever happened to us, and everything we have ever seen, smelt, touched or heard is stored away there for future reference. It contains all our wisdom and intelligence; it is our source of creativity. The number of activities our unconscious mind performs and controls for us is quite humbling and astounding. Whenever we need to remember something, a name, date, place, an instruction, an understanding or insight, up it pops out of our unconscious mind like magic, weather the conscious mind wants it to or not. Without ever being consciously aware of it, we breathe, walk, talk, drive a car and use complicated pieces of technology, never giving a second thought as to where all that knowledge came from. However, the conscious mind constantly takes credit for, and finds explanations for the activities of the unconscious mind, over which it actually has no control and about which it is unaware.

Over many years, the conscious mind becomes very good at this act so that it is able to offer such impressive rationalisations and explanations for its behaviour that we dont even question it. Nevertheless, the unconscious mind is much more observant, wise, intelligent, adaptive, and skilful than the conscious mind could ever be; it is said that the conscious mind can only hold eight thoughts at any one time; usually in small chunks, which is why we tend to remember numbers more easily if they are in small bundles. The unconscious mind can also delete information from our awareness. It would be impossible to process all the information we receive consciously, so the unconscious mind sorts it and then presents us with a summary of what is taking place. We have all heard anecdotal stories of extreme bravery when someone has badly injured himself or herself, but feels no pain and has no awareness of their own injuries until after the traumatic event. The unconscious mind had sorted through the information and decided what we need to know to help our actions at that moment in time. The interaction between the conscious and unconscious minds is going on all the time and we never give any of this process a second thought. Our conscious mind uses questions to reason, our conscious mind; the voice in our head, is always evaluating - critically and analytically by comparing, contrasting and noticing, but in hypnosis, and the hypnotic trance state, the conscious mind is dampened down and this allows excellent communication with the unconscious mind, and without its critical analytical partner, changes in core beliefs and behaviours can take place.

But this ability of the unconscious mind to accept without critical analyses has a downside, because it can just as easily hang on to negative experiences, so that whenever a similar event to that previously experienced occurs again in the future, the old feelings of discomfort that were felt the first time, are instantly brought back to the conscious mind in an attempt to protect us; this is how phobias start. If you had a bad experience on your horse, your unconscious mind may bring back all the negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviours associated with that experience the next time you ride. This is very frustrating for the rider who knows rationally and logically that there is nothing actually happening in the present time to create these unwanted thoughts and feelings, (its a doubly hard pill to swallow when you arent even sitting on the same horse anymore because you had to get a new one to satisfy yourself that is was the horse that was the problem!).

So to recap, during a hypnotherapy session, it is the unconscious part of the mind that is spoken to, where new ideas, concepts and affirmations can be implanted, and it is here that old limiting beliefs can be changed. Past phobias and learnt negative behaviours, feelings and concepts can be looked at and laid to rest, allowing the conscious mind to adopt a more rational positive outlook. The subconscious part of our mind has no critical awareness, and is only limited by our imagination.

Chapter Three How nerves affect the rider

Well if you first of all accept that horse riding is potentially a dangerous activity, you are more than half way there to understanding what's going on inside your mind and body when you ride. Nature has been very clever in installing a small chip into our brains that is designed, amongst other things, to protect us if something life threatening is happening, or about to happen, (the Hypothalamus - part of the endocrine system) and not surprisingly, when we do something that this chip perceives as a potential threat to its host, it starts to react, and this is when we run into problems.

The unconscious mind starts to ask questions like; why are you doing what you are doing? Do you need to do what you are doing? When will you stop doing it? Do I need to take action?, and then our conscious mind analyses the situation from the stimulus it receives via our environment and our senses such as smell, sound, sight, temperature touch and so on. If the host that's you and me - doesn't come up with a sensible, rational, logical, objective explanation, and the unconscious mind makes a connection between the outside stimuli and a previous negative experience, the chip in our brain starts to take charge and produces chemicals that will help the body to survive an attack; thats the flight or fight instinct that all of us horse riders hear so much about.

When this happens we feel the effects in all sorts of places, our stomachs, legs, arms, wrists, ankles, heart and head, and psychologically it causes feelings of anxiety, stress, panic and fear; phobias can be created associated with this perceived threat, that can last for days months and even years. In prolonged periods, it can cause stress leading to distress, and in sever cases, depression, a less effective immune system causing general ill health, and heart problems.

So lets look in more detail at whats going on. Stress and anxiety have some rather devastating affects on the human body. When we are stressed, anxious or frightened, the chemicals our brain releases are: Adrenaline, Noradrenaline and Cortisol - an 'Alarm Reaction', part of the Sympathetic Nervous system, and this creates all sorts of problems, the eyes adjust to long vision, in preparation for finding an escape route, so that near vision becomes blurred; the skin sweats and becomes pale as blood is drawn from the surface to important organs; muscles under the skin partially contract in readiness to spring into action causing 'goose pimples'; the heart increases its output and blood pressure goes up so you feel your heart pounding; breathing becomes more rapid so that adequate oxygen can be transferred to the blood; the spleen releases more red blood cells from its store; and non essential systems are inhibited, so the dig

About the Author:
Sharon Shinwell Dip Couns. Dip HP. Dip. CBT. Dip Sup. MBACP., is a qualified, Integrative Counsellor, Clinical Hypnotherapist, and Clinical Counselling Supervisor. She is a Co author of 'Ride with Confidence' and the producer of The Confident Rider Series of Self-Hypnosis audio CDs and downloads for nervous riders.

Self Hypnosis for Nervous Riders



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