Yay to a new start! Lucky for me, I’ve met a wonderful and vivacious human who’s given me great insight into the process of rebranding and together we’ve created a new website and brand. Thanks to Norita Omar for making this happen. I needed inspiration. I needed vision. I needed someone who could really see me and draw out the gems. So here goes…
Tell my story, she says! Where to start? So here I am sitting with a piece of 70% chocolate in hand, recounting the main events that have led to this moment, and feeling grateful.
My name is Angela Freychet and for 25 years I have taught yoga and meditation in many varied environments – from school rooms to hospitals, prisons and corporate boardrooms, and in countless yoga studios in many countries. This was my main job, and I loved it. It allowed me flexibility, especially living abroad with my family, and gave me a deep insight into the human experience.
“Yoga teacher?! Wonderful!” I would hear from people when I mentioned it. Sounded great and that I should have my sh**t together since I was studying with wonderfully experienced and enlightened beings from all over the world. On the outside was this yogini who looked the part. On the inside was another ‘Story’…
I have experienced anxiety since I was a small child. I bit my nails down to the quick until they bled and shunned a lot of experiences based on FEAR. Who knows the WHY – being bullied at school or maybe watching childhood pets die could have been the reason. A father who was ill with meningitis crying on the floor in pain with headaches could have been another. Whatever the reason, I came to learn much later on in life, the why was not important. What was important was how it was adversely affecting my life.
40 years down the track and it still lay there that feeling in my solar-plexus. Events would trigger it – when my children got hurt. A minor conflict with my husband. A loud bang from something falling. My body would shake and tremble, my breath rapid, and my heart felt as though it would beat right out of my chest. Nothing in my immediate life caused nor warranted that kind of reaction. All the asanas, pranayamas, mudras and meditations were at my disposal and yet stubbornly it lay there, like a nest of eels squirming.
I would also experience depressive thoughts – demeaning negative self-talk that began to play over and over like a broken record.
I was ashamed of it. My yoga students had no clue, even my closest friends didn’t know about it. I put on my happy face and the ‘show would go on’. I was not sure how to deal with it until I came upon a Podcast which interviewed a hypnotherapist who spoke about how anxiety and depression could be cleared through hypnosis, and I had a light-bulb moment.
I’ve followed my gut where-ever I’ve lived and I know things never happen by accident. It was a sign. Soon after, I made contact with this lady who was based in California. Dr Elena Gabor explained the nature of the subconscious mind and how it works, and she guided me through many hypnosis sessions. I began to use hypnosis on a daily basis and began to see results.
With a huge motivation to learn more I began to study hypnosis. Through her mentorship and friendship over two years, I became a hypnotherapist with the National Guild of Hypnotists of America. Not only did I notice more peace and less anxiety within my own being, but this began to really complement my yoga teaching and help people at a more fundamental level.
Many students would report, even after going deep into a Yoga Nidra (deep body-mind relaxation), that they couldn’t stop their thoughts, and asked what they could do about it. A typical yogic point of view would be: not to identify with the thoughts; watch the breath; stare at a candle; or practice more vinyasana yoga to focus on the body and breath. I comprehended the value and results of applying these wonderful practices, but they require time, commitment and practice. Rare qualities in a time-poor society.
Hypnosis is a segway to access the subconscious mind and has the potential to change fundamental dysfunctional programs. But it depends how deep one goes in hypnosis, and how much conscious interference there is. I was getting mixed results from the clients I was taking on, and I still felt a few of those eels slithering in there.
Coming back to my home town of Perth Australia after 12 years, was interesting. Ground-hog day I called it, but everything had changed and evolved, like me probably. The first couple of years were difficult as I experienced a ‘reverse culture shock’. I felt those old slimy entities resurfacing again, and meanwhile I was getting only minimal efficacy with my old hypnosis tools.
I learned about a new technique that was coming to town and signed up for training in a method called SP (Simpson Protocol). Named after Ines Simpson who created it, this works by taking a person very deep into hypnosis, bypassing the conscious mind interference in order to get to the deep-seated roots of an issue in the subconscious mind. I had no clue, but this was to be one of those pivotal events in my life.
I was driving home after day one of the training and I noticed something different. At first I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I felt light and relaxed. But then it struck me: OMG!! I can’t feel the EELS!!! No anxiety in my solar plexus. Instead, a freedom; a clarity; a buoyancy; utter contentment. This was strangely beautiful. Odd yet liberating. I wondered how long it would last.
To this day, I still experience no anxiety. From time to time, I get butterflies of excitement; of anticipation. But NO FEAR. It was and still is, surreal – weird not having those feelings that I was so used to. The body-mind has a memory, an imprint of these emotions and their physical manifestations, but now I am living in a new paradigm.
I now use Simpson Protocol in my practice, and occasionally draw on the yogic tools from time to time, but it’s such a complete and effective method that it really doesn’t require more. I also practice Self Hypnosis everyday, which I teach for every client. This means a person is empowered with tools themself, not reliant on a therapist to take them into hypnosis every time.
Sitting here savoring my piece of chocolate, I am feeling content, but also very eager to share what I’ve learned and experienced. I would like to help people be free of their suffering, regardless of how long that has been going on. I held onto that anxiety for over 45 years and still it was able to be shifted. It was also due to the fact that I was so READY for change. Open to possibility. That’s all I ask of a person when they meet me over Zoom or come into my office. If you believe that it’s possible to change, then more than half our work together is done.
Are you too, ready for new beginnings? Start here with a free hypnosis audio!