New Scientist Event - Consciousness and the Mind-Body Connection


 Yesterday I spent the day in London at an event put on by the New Scientist entitled Consciousness and the Mind-Body Connection. It was well worth getting up early for the 6:33 train, what an amazing day it was. We were treated to six fabulous speakers, all experts in various fields of brain science, much of which is directly related to my work as a CBT-Hypnotherapist. By the time I left my head was spinning!

When I meet potential new clients, often one of the first things they tell me is how sceptical they are about hypnotherapy, but they're so desperate for help that they're willing to give it a go. Yesterday's sessions would hopefully have helped them see that they have nothing to be worried about, in fact, quite the contrary. Recent developments in brain science and our ability to see inside the brain through imaging, allow us to understand how the techniques I use with my clients are so effective. Brain science is catching up with hypnotherapy, which has been around for much longer!

One of the key components of hypnotherapy is tapping into the brain's amazing power of imagination to help people see themselves in the future doing the things they want to do whilst feeling happy/calm/relaxed. This could be anything from flying in a plane, going to bed and sleeping, or confidently walking into a conference hall to give a talk to a room full of experts. Neuropsychologist, Prof Catherine Loveday gave a fascinating talk on how our brains reconstruct memories and use this information to imagine the future. The parts of the brain that deal with memory and imagination overlap, which explains why this process works so effectively. Prof Loveday's work is truly inspiring and I would encourage you to check out her podcast, Mempathy, which looks at dementia-related memory loss.

Another key part of my work is to give people the tools to be able to consider whether their thoughts are true or just their own perception of reality. Cognitive Neuroscientist, Steve Fleming who has done extensive research into the brain's ability to think about itself, gave a fascinating talk on this subject of self-awareness, reflection and certainty. I've bought his book, Know Thyself: The New Science of Self-Awareness, which I'm looking forward to reading.

There's so much more I could write about, but final special mention goes to Dr Jennifer Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, who talked about our ability and increasing tendency through wearable tech, to focus on our own internal body, particularly our heart rate, and how this can affect our mood. Again, this is an important part of the work I do with clients - learning how to react to our body's internal sensations in a controlled way, rather than be at their mercy.

I'll stop there, but we also covered fascinating subjects of the gut-brain connection and the effect probiotics have on our emotions; what the science of consciousness can teach us about our place in the universe, which delved into the world of physics, philosophy and maths, and the fascinating latest research on the placebo effect.

My thanks to the New Scientist and all of the brilliant speakers for a fascinating day. Our brains are amazing!


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