Nervous Horse Riders and how Self Hypnosis can help

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 it‘s 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 can’t 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 person’s 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 it’s 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 isn’t 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 CD’s, MP3′s, 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 today’s 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 CD’s can now be downloaded for use on any MP3 player, (often called an iPod, which is the brand name for Apple’s version) or a personal computer or CD