During our hypnotherapy session, we visited a large lake, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, on a boat. We rowed along at an exhilarating pace, and considered whether to use the engine in the back of the boat or let the winds drift us in the right direction. We lay down in the bottom of the boat and looked at the clouds in the sky. Next stop was a bull ring, where we visualised ourselves as a bull peacefully ignoring the red flag being waved by a matador.

‘Metaphors are very powerful,’ says hypnotherapist Houry Pappins, who has a whole bank of images and ideas at her disposal to suggest to you while you’re in a sleepy, trance-like state to help you change the way you see situations. She brings you into this state very gently through the kinds of techniques you’ve all heard about – deep breathing, counting backwards, and letting your mind follow the sound of her voice – in other words, nothing creepy, and definitely no swinging watches. You are not unconscious or out of control at any point, and stay fully aware of your surroundings.

The state of hypnosis is basically a deep relaxation, where your mind is receptive to suggestions. Houry says, ‘We’re actually hypnotised frequently – through advertising for example. Sometimes I actually call myself a “dehynotherapist” because I’m working on focusing the mind, and changing ideas that you may have been “hypnotised” into thinking earlier in your life.’ She also cites daydreaming as an example of hypnosis, or the autopilot zone your mind enters when you drive a familiar route. Once you’re in this mode, your brain receives ideas more easily, so positive thoughts and new behavior patterns can be introduced.

Houry helps her clients with everything from weight loss to quitting smoking to depression. Stress, unsurprisingly, is a particularly common complaint, and so this became the subject of our session. Houry also specialises in Neuro Linguisitc Programming (NLP) and Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT), and she used some of these techniques throughout our time. Tapping meridian points on our face, wrists and side was a soothing EFT method that made us feel calm enough to focus better on the hypnotherapy before we began. Houry also helped us play with mental images of stressful situations. First, she asked us lots of non-specific questions about a scenario: was it large, bright or noisy?

Then, once the image was clearly set in our mind, she told us to remove the colour from the scene and hear the sounds in a silly cartoon style, then imagine the picture crumpled and flung across the room in a very satisfying way. This NLP technique uses the ridiculous to undermine the situations that make us anxious – similar to the way nervous public speakers are commonly advised to picture the audience in their underwear to restore confidence. It also gives you ownership of the scene – a helpful tool in controlling how it is able to affect you.

After the hypnosis was finished we felt soothed, positive and a touch spaced out, but certainly significantly less stressed and, perhaps, more able to control difficult situations. The metaphors were stuck in our head for the rest of the day – Houry had suggested the lake and the boat images as mental tools with which to consider our direction and take control of situations. As for the bull ring, the red flag was supposed to represent stress, so what better way to picture yourself than as a powerful beast, happily choosing to ignore a hopping matador? The image was suitably ridiculous, creative enough to grab our imagination and above all else, it worked.

Houry Pappins practices Hypnotherapy, Neurolinguistic Programming, Emotional Freedom Therapy and Reconnective Healing at The Wellbeing Zone pappins@eim.ae, www.thewell-being-zone.com. Prices of various treatments are available on request