About Rachel Ford

Glad to meet you!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my site and find out a little more about me.

The short version…
I specialise in helping individuals to significantly reduce stress and overcome anxiety. While my background and qualifications were initially in Clinical Hypnotherapy, I have also studied Life Coaching, NLP and Stress Management. Through my study and experience, I have developed a wholistic approach to helping people take control of their stress and create a life full of calmness, balance and joy.

From working with many clients over the years, I know that everyone has within them all the resources they need to take control of their stress response. The only problem is that many people don't know how to access them.

Now, I don't claim to be able to take anyone's stress away, I simply act as a guide. Like a GPS for calm. Taking you through the steps and processes that you need to be able to create a calmer life.
 

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The longer version….
I don't live in a secluded monastery away from the pressures of the Western World. I'm a real person just like you who deals with the everyday stresses of life like raising a young child, running a business, dealing with deadlines ect

But I do manage to live my live with a sense of calmness and control. And yes, I do get stressed sometimes, but know how to access my inner resources with a variety of tools and can manage whatever stress I am experiencing easily and effectively – but it wasn't always that way.

Close Encounters With Stress & Anxiety
There was a time when I was so full of anxiety that it was affecting my job, my relationships and my sense of well being. I started to dread each day and turned to artificial ways to relax, having an extra glass or two of wine with dinner, taking sleeping pills just to stop myself from thinking so that I could fall asleep. I just kept ignoring the symptoms, blaming everything else for my stress. It was my bosses fault, or my partners fault that I was feeling this way.

If only I had more money then I'd be able to relax or I can relax when I finally get a chance to take some time off work. But til then "I just have to get through this" I thought. I never did get around to "relaxing" and eventually, the stress got so much that it culminated into an explosion of nervous tension where I was forced to reassess my life and either deal with it correctly or face a grim future full of misery.

Finding A Way Out
I did a lot of what some call "inner work". I started meditating more often, taking care of myself more and dealing with my perceptions. Taking responsibility for my own life was a huge step for me. Once I made it a priority, it was much easier than I thought. Then everything else became a lot easier. I decided to follow my passion and study Clinical Hypnotherapy and started my own Practice in Sydney, Australia.

Back when I first stated practicing Hypnotherapy, I discovered something very quickly. Stress can be debilitating for everyone. It wasn't just me who had experienced this. It can stop you from doing the things that you want to do and living your life the way you want to. If you've ever abandoned a goal because you were too stressed to think about it anymore, then you know what I'm talking about.

So as part of the therapy I offered, I started teaching clients how to relax, and help them deal with their inner responses to stressful situations in their lives, their own perceptions and subconscious reactions to stressors before moving on to the issue that they were seeing me for.

An Interesting Observation
One thing that I noticed, was that once my clients learnt how to get a handle on their stress and become more relaxed, then making changes became much easier. They were reporting a trickle down effect into other areas of their lives besides the issue that they were seeing me about.

It was as if I was accidentally helping people sleep better, become more positive and feel more centred and in control. And in many cases this made them feel more confident, increased their self esteem and general happiness.

Another thing I discovered was that, contrary to what is believed in the hypnotherapy community, people's lives aren't completely ruled by their subconscious mind. So I began not only helping people with their subconscious mind issues but also their conscious minds. I started showing people techniques of how to use their thoughts and perceptions to help reduce stress as well as giving them practical advice on how to deal with specific situations without needing to go into hypnosis.

The Business Of Calm
So I started specialising in Stress Management and Anxiety issues. I began coaching people on how to consciously deal with stress as well as taking them through guided processes to help them overcome the subconscious triggers of their stress. I also developed a great understanding of the link between our thoughts, feelings and behaviours and what it takes to really take control of stress.

Since then I have created programs to help people deal with the issues of stress and achieve calm in a way that empowers them to not only reduce stress in their lives but to also transform their reactions to stressful events whenever they come up.

I am passionate about helping people reducing stress, not only because of my own experiences, but also because of the changes that it's made in the quality of life that my clients experience.

It's wonderful to watch people as they take control of their stress and start to live their lives to their full potential. And I love seeing the way that people "light up" when they manage to eliminate the anxiety that they have been struggling with for years.

if you'd like to get in touch with me directly just go to my contact page and send me a message.