Hypnotist grounds Steve's flying fear

Oct 2 2006 - Sam Burson, Western Mail

A MUSICIAN who has been unable to travel to gigs abroad because of his fear of flying says he has been cured thanks to the unusual combination of hypnotism and theme park rides.

Steve Simmons, from Swansea, was subjected to a series of white-knuckle rides at Oakwood in Pembrokeshire.

The 40-year-old, who also had phobias about heights and roller coasters, was guided through the park's stomach-churners after being treated by celebrity hypnotist Ray Roberts.

Roberts had last week appeared on the Sharon Osbourne Show to help Edna from X Factor turn her nightmare holiday into a holiday of a lifetime.

It took him just an hour to treat Steve, who had not flown since he was nine years old.

He immediately put his treatment to the test with a flight on Vertigo, in which the victim is attached to ropes and swung from hundreds of feet above the ground, and a ride on the Speed roller coaster, which is the first in the UK to have a beyond-vertical drop.

Steve who works at Craig-y-Nos Castle in the Brecon Beacons, said, "I was willing to try anything to overcome my fear of flying and Ray has done the trick.

"I'm amazed at how much I enjoyed the rides now I've had my phobia lifted. Doing it at the theme park and going straight on the roller coasters, especially Vertigo, meant I was able to put my fear of flying, roller coasters and heights to bed all in one go.

"As a jazz musician I've had to turn down many gigs abroad. I've always dreamt of visiting New York, the jazz capital and playing my sax there, but my fear has put a stop to it.

"Now I'm going to start planning my trip."

Ray Roberts of Capital Hypnotherapy in Cardiff, who has been a consultant hypnotherapist since 1985, said, "Hypnotherapy can effectively alleviate the fear, panic and dread of travelling by aeroplane.

"By the careful use of suggestion and visualisation whilst you are in the relaxed- but-in-control-and-aware hypnotic state the subconscious mind can be, in effect taught to respond and act differently when it comes to flying.

"I've managed to eliminate Steve's old negative thought patterns associated with flying so he can feel in control from booking the airline ticket to actually getting into the plane, taking off and landing on the other side."

 

Past-life sentence

From the Western Telegraph, first published Thursday 9th Jun 2005.

Can hypnosis be used as a way of accessing lives that were lived before our own? We sent ex-caveman, buccaneer and Edwardian hat-maker Owe Carter to a past-life regression workshop to find out.

The workshop was held by Dr Ray Roberts on Saturday, May 14th.

Though what the entranced subjects would undergo would certainly seem to be the reliving of past memories, Ray conceded that this alone cannot prove that past-lives exist.

He added that "they're usually very mundane lives that people have led, and can easily become boring."

There are several theories as to why one could access past-lives through their unconscious mind. One is the theory of 'cosmic memories', based on the thermodynamic principle that energy cannot be created or destroyed.

This is applied to thought energy, which is scientifically measurable in terms of electrical brainwaves. Such energy is thought to continue after death, and can still be harnessed.

A similar but distinct theory is that of 'spiritualism' - one may speak to spirits of the dead using the hypnotised body as a vessel.

This implies that the subject has not lived the past-lives accessed themselves. Another is the 'collective consciousness' theory, which claims that we are privy to some kind of pooled knowledge.

A sceptic might argue that the human brain is a very powerful imaginative tool; and though the subject may claim they lack the requisite imagination to create alternative 'lives' from their own subconscious, they simply sell themselves short.

The first subject regressed was Carol Mills, a voluntary worker from Neath. This began with Carol being put into a trance, regressed backwards through her own life pinpointing certain events; and then through early years, birth, and into a corridor.

She was asked to choose a door. Passing through the door, Carol explained how she was walking bare-legged and sandaled towards a castle.

After describing her appearance, she revealed how she was a 19-year-old called Rose, who served tables at The Master's castle. At 25, she fled to marry John, a farmer.

When taken to the last day of her life, she told how she'd been bedridden with disease for six months, and could no longer walk.

She was taken into death, where she just saw blackness. Ray explained how taking a subject through their own demise could often assuage the fear of death. In her next life, Carol assumed the role of Greta, a typist, who was killed at a young age when she was hit by a truck.

No-one, Ray included, expected the reaction of Damon Morris - a gentle giant from Oxford, now studying at Lampeter. Damon had come to the workshop with his mother-in-law, and was seeking hypnotherapy to help him deal with his lack of self-confidence.

However, when regressed into a past life, his demeanour became cocky, his language turned the air blue, and his body language altered entirely.

His character, Jake, stole horses from the rich - a crime for which he could hang. At 20, he was already on the run for committing several murders.

First he killed a man who caught him stealing, by beating him to the ground, then setting upon him with a block of wood. By 25, he claimed that he was always on the move, having now killed around 20 people. An aghast Ray declared that he was a mass-murderer, to which Damon angrily responded "Are you taking the mick?", prompting fear that Ray might become the 21st. Eventually, Jake was caught and hanged.

In another life, Damon was a gangland boss in 1960s London, who claimed he was The Boss, that the Kray twins were "nothing", and that people who didn't agree with him went "swimming in the Thames". In 1962, he was shot in the back at 25. When brought back to the present, Damon was visibly shaken, perceptibly cold, and lamented.

The session went no distance in proving whether past-lives are real. However, it did provide an insight into the mysterious and chilling places the mind goes when the subconscious is in control.