How My Mind Works

Article in The London Paper

Here is an article Luke Blakall that those lovely people at the thelondonpaper did on me. Thanks Guys!

COVERING London’s celebrity scene for thelondonpaper is a whirlwind existence. There are the premieres launches, nightclubs – every night’s a late one. But while the celeb s I chase around can recover with a long lie-in, your partyboy- in-residence is back at his desk by 7.30am to write it all up for theBuzz centre spread. On top of that I suffer from bouts of insomnia. After a night on the town I ’m lucky if I get to bed by 2.30am and I’ve barely slept a wink by the time the alarm wakes me at 5.45am. But I’m not alone; two in three of us say we don’t get enough sleep, while a third suffer from insomnia at some point. Which is where sleep hypnotherapists come in. Noticing the vacant expression on my face, the distant stare and the bags under my eyes at lunch one day, a colleague suggested I give it a go. Tim Smale is a down-toearth former media professional with a smart office off Trafalgar Square. As well as individual s, he treats corporate clients including Tony Blair’s former spin chief Alastair Campbel .

And if’s he’s good enough for him, he’s good enough for me. The treatment is based around three hour-long sessions. You then listen to recordings of the sessions which help you self-hypnotise and reinforces the treatment.
Or you can buy or download a sleep programme CD to listen to last thing at night, preferably in bed. Insomnia, according to Smale, is often a symptom of other activity going on in the subconscious mind. He uses hypnosis to open the sub - conscious to “progressive suggestions”. In other words, he tells your subconscious mind how to sleep more effectively and calmly and you learn to do it without even realising.

• I go into the first session sceptical, but having just struggled through another morning on less than three hours’ sleep, I’m keen for it to work.
Smale invites me to make an inventory of my mental health, giving him a score out of ten for categories such as happiness, work/life balance, fear of failure and most importantly for me, sleep. I score low on the good qualities and high on the bad ones, all of which, he says, is affecting my sleep. I’m directed to the “perfect” chair, which may well be the most comfortable seat I’ve ever sat in. I put on headphones and Smale sits next to me and begins to speak like a late-night radio talk show host, in a very controlled, smooth voice. In the background I can hear the sound of waves breaking on a beach. It’s a mixture of confusing non-sequit urs and buzzwords such as “comfortable” and “deep”. I try to stay focused as the words rush over me but quickly fall into a relaxed semi-conscious state. After what seems like five minutes, but is in fact half an hour, I’m brought back to
consciousness and feel as relaxed as someone who has just spent a couple of months
on holiday.

• A week later and we carry out the same inventory on my mental wellbeing. I feel a bit
better and my out-of-ten scores have improved almost across the board. My quality-of-sleep mark is up two points, anxiety down two. While the first session was a mental health perk-up, this time Smale’s subconscious messages are focused on my sleep. Again, I fall into a semi-sleep state after just a few minutes.

• Two weeks later, I’m really starting to feel the effects. Already, when coming in from a night of showbiz reporting, I’m falling into a deep sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. Even before the session, which aims to teach me how to power-nap effectively, I’m calmer and more rested. And all my scores are up. The only side effect is my bizarre dreams – including vivid ones about my childhood , which Smale says are a result of untangling my subconscious.

• A month on and while I’m still lucky to be in bed by 2am , when I do manage to hit the sack, my sleep is certainly deeper. I don’t stir until my two alarms go off. Plus I’m also finding time to take effective power naps in the afternoon before my evening work begins. I might not get a lot of sleep, but when I do, it works.

In The News

Here are some other press articles that have kindly been written about or featured me:

Better, faster, stronger: the hypnotist’s mantra - how I helped Alastair Campbell prepare to compete in the London Triathalon

Success Requires Half a Brain

What is Mind Coaching - An interview with the BBC