Hypnotherapist Lyn Lyons’ treatment room is almost exactly how you would imagine it; calming, tranquil music; the aroma and mystical mist of smouldering incense; and soft, peachy colours.  Every spare space is adorned with Buddhist ornaments, water features, lava lamps and cushions... lots and lots of cushions.

But that is where the stereotype ends.  Because while most of us associate hypnotherapy with men in cloaks dangling a pocket watch, as hilariously depicted in Little Britain, being greeted by Lyn at her cottage-cum-clinic in Renfrewshire is like meeting an old friend.  She welcomes you into her home full of spritely enthusiasm and eagerness to engage in conversation.

This bodes well, because being a trained hypnotherapist is only one piece of the jigsaw in Lyn’s role as a specialist in the gradually evolving field of sports hypnotherapy.  The number one priority for any potential client is, she tells In The Winning Zone, is the ability to build a rapport.

“It matters who you are as a person,” she says through the haze of incense in her incredibly comfortable therapy room.  “You need to be able to relate, communicate and talk the language of the individual.  I have to connect with the person before we do any hypnotherapy.”

Although the bulk of Lyn’s experience is based around symptomatic therapy, working with smokers, weight watchers and those with flying phobias, Lyn markets herself as a hypnotherapist specialising in sport because, “I got fed up with people coming to see me about depression, guilt and negativity issues.  I wanted to do something that best utilises my skills, brings my energy out and is very positive, and sport was the thing. 

Lyn is ‘the Golf Therapist’.  She helps golfers, as well as other athletes, get better at their sport through hypnotherapy.  She chose golf as her main focus because, “it is more of a mind game than most.”

However, what is intriguing about Lyn is that she openly admits to not being a ‘sport’ person.  Now you might think, ‘Hmmmm, how can she claim to help sports people if she doesn’t know about sport?’  But, actually, that’s the best bit.  She is, unlike most of us, untainted by the rituals and rudiments of sport.  She can approach an athlete/client from a ‘pure’ perspective.

“I don’t play golf – I have never played it in my life.  I don’t want to inflict my negative, personal thoughts onto the player.  I want to focus on the athlete and how they view golf through their own eyes.”

So let’s stick with golf as the sample sport, and learn a little more about Lyn and hypnotherapy. 

What is hypnotherapy, Lyn?

“Hypnotherapy is just a word for deep relaxation.  If you put someone into a relaxed state their unconscious mind becomes more open and you can access it more easily to make the changes.

“If you imagine the brain is a sphere, it has a conscious half and an unconscious half.  The conscious half is your logical thinking part – black and white.  Your unconscious mind is all your deep rooted memories and emotions.  And it is also the truthful part of your mind. Your instincts, emotions and memories – it makes up your character.

“Any emotional and psychological changes you want to make in your life, no matter what they are, are done in your unconscious mind.  It is your conscious mind that will say ‘I want to play better golf’ but it is the unconscious side that will actually make the change.

“As a hypnotherapist I can reach someone’s unconscious mind by taking them into a deep, relaxed state, because that closes off the conscious mind and opens up the unconscious mind, to re-programme it.”

And how can you use it to address, say, a crisis of confidence in a golfer?

"I look at the areas of their game where they have a lack of confidence.  But then I focus on the areas they are good at.  I then take them into a state of hypnosis to focus on these, their strengths.  That will boost their confidence and belief. 

"Over the course of several sessions I will take them into the part of their golf that they are not so good at, but bring that positive emotion along with them from the things they are good at.  They focus on that feeling of confidence.  They have to get the non-confident language and thought processes out of their head, and that’s where the hypnotherapy helps.

"If for a example a player slices a ball a lot.  They have that feeling where they just know they are going to slice it.  So I have them think back to the things they do well, when they are feeling confident.  So they use that confidence and visualise hitting the ball straight, exactly where they want it to go.  This will build their confidence up.

"If you could possibly show a video to someone of all their good plays over the past few years, you would feel great.  But if they watched one of all their bad plays they would feel awful.  So by visualising all your good shots and then going out full of confidence, you will play better."

So, the big question, how do you hypnotise somebody?

“When a person trusts me and we have a rapport, I tell them to make themselves comfortable.  I put cushions under their feet, let them slouch down in the chair and relax.  I tell them to focus on their breathing, inhaling and exhaling slowly, in the nose and out the mouth.  That relaxes them, it slows the heart rate and the circulation of blood through the body. Everything starts to slow down.

“I tell them imagine standing on a balcony looking outside.  It is a lovely calm day.  There are ten steps in front of them leading into a beautiful garden.  As I count from ten down to one going down these steps, they are getting into a deeper and deeper state of relaxation.  They can feel their whole body become heavy, and they sink down into the chair.

“They arrive in this wonderful garden, I will paint a picture of it for them, describing the birds and the flowers.  My voice will eventually sink into the background.  They are listening to what I am saying, but it is all going into their unconscious mind.  This is when I start talking about their sport.

“I tell them, ‘Picture your last round of golf, and to remember the confidence you felt.  In your next round you should carry that emotional confidence with you – keeping your head held high and feeling strong and confident.’  I tell them to focus on exactly where their want the ball to go, because I know that in their unconscious mind the ball will go exactly where they want to send it.  They are in control.

“I bring them back up into full consciousness, back up the steps.  They will walk away feeling very calm, but they won’t have remembered a single word that I said.  They think, ‘what was the point, I don’t remember a word she said to me.’ 

“But that is a great sign, because it means it has all gone into their unconscious mind and re-programmed it.  The next time they play golf and step onto that green, for some bizarre reason they feel so confident.”

So, if you’re reading this and are thinking, ‘I want some of that action!’ You can contact Lyn directly by emailing lyn@lynlyons.wanadoo.co.uk.  You never know, if might take you from your local Open to, well, the Open...

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