Will I be out of control?

No. You're aware the whole time, you can open your eyes and stop whenever you like, and you only take on suggestions you choose to.

What is cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy?

Hypnosis is a practical way of working with thoughts, habits and automatic responses. We look at what's underneath a pattern, then use hypnosis to rehearse a calmer version so it's there when you need it.

How many sessions will I need?

Some people get what they came for in the Reset Session and I don't see them again, which is how it should be. Others want to carry on.

Both. In person in Acomb, York, or online from wherever you're comfortable. Alfie has been known to appear on video calls.

Do you work with IBS?

Yes, with gut-directed hypnotherapy, and it has a site of its own so that it can be done properly.

The Relaxation Room with Kathryn Dunn

Time just for you, twice a month

It's half past nine and you've finally stopped. Sort of. You're on the sofa with your phone, and you're still going over what you said in that meeting at four o'clock.

You know what would help. You've got a relaxation recording somewhere. You listened every night for about a fortnight back in March, and it worked. But you're going to keep scrolling, and you knew that when you sat down.

That isn't you being lazy. Everybody else relies on you to remember things, so we both know you can do what you've said you'll do.

What those twenty minutes have never had is a time, a place, and someone expecting you to turn up.

So that's all this is. Twice a month, in the diary, with me.

Nobody has to speak. Everything gets typed in the chat and I read it out loud. Your camera can stay off from start to finish.

Join for £25 a month Or come to a free Drop-In first

Or £95 for the whole year, if you join before the first Sit Down on 3 November. That price stays the same for as long as you're a member.

What you're joining

An hour on the first Tuesday, twenty-five minutes on the third

The Sit Down

First Tuesday of the month, half past eight, on Zoom. It's an hour, and it's the main event.

The first twenty minutes are group contributions, and they all happen in the chat. Nobody speaks. I ask everyone the same question, how did you get on with it this month, and you type your answer. I read them and talk about what's in them.

I'm asking about the relaxation, not how you've been. This is a relaxation session and not a therapy group, so we keep it to whether you got to it and when. I say that out loud at the start of every session, so nobody's ever caught out by it.

Then ten minutes where I teach you one small thing.

Then thirty minutes of relaxation, and the hour ends there. There's nothing left to do but to get ready for bed taking that relaxed feeling with you.

The Lie Down Live

Happens on the third Tuesday at half past eight. Twenty-five minutes of pure relaxation, and there's nothing else in it. No group, no teaching, and nothing recorded.

You lie down if you can, and sit if you can't. I do the rest of it. It sits halfway through the month as a top-up or a restart depending on how your month is going.

First Tuesday, 8.30pm. The Sit Down, an hour.

Third Tuesday, 8.30pm. The Lie Down Live, twenty-five minutes.

Last Tuesday, 8.30pm. The Drop-In, half an hour, free, for anyone.

The first Drop-In is Tuesday 27 October. The first Sit Down is Tuesday 3 November, and the first Lie Down Live is Tuesday 17 November.

Both are included in the £25. Come to both if you want to, or just one, or neither in a month when there's no time for it. Nobody's keeping a register.

The Drop-In is free and it's open to anybody, member or not.

Afterwards

This month's, and it comes to you

You get two things as a follow up to The Sit Down. An audio recording of the relaxation, and a video of the ten-minute tip.

Most people use the audio. You can have it on in the dark without looking at anything.

Both arrive by email, during the week of the session, so you've got them from the start of the month rather than the end of it.

There's no library, and that's on purpose rather than me being mean. If I gave you forty recordings you'd open four, feel bad about the rest, and stop using any of them by the end of the month. You get this month's, and I'd like you to wear it out because you listened so much.

Keep them if you want to. My aim is to work on one thing properly rather than collect a folder of recordings you never listen to.

The ten minutes

What we'll cover over the year

I'm not making this up on the Monday before. It's all written down, so you can see what's coming and pick out the months you'd rather not miss. Each relaxation will be recorded, along with the ten minute tip section.

We start with two that suit the time of year.

November. The clocks have gone back, and why everything feels harder when they do
December. Getting to January without arriving on your knees

Then the year proper, starting in January.

January. What's happening in your body when you relax
February. Why you can't relax on demand, and what to do instead
March. Breathing, and the part nearly everybody gets wrong
April. The tension you're holding that you stopped noticing years ago
May. Rest and distraction aren't the same thing
June. Winding down takes a while, it isn't a switch
July. What to do when your mind won't stop talking
August. What it costs you to brace for something that hasn't happened yet
September. Where your attention goes when you're not watching it
October. How to build a habit you'll keep
November. Why it feels hardest on the days you need it most
December. What to do with the twenty minutes after

If you only come to one all year, make it July.

Being straight with you

What I'm not saying

These are general relaxation sessions. They're an hour where nothing is being asked of you, and twenty-five minutes later in the month where the same is true.

They're not treatment for anything, and I'm not going to tell you what they'll do to how you feel. I don't know, and neither does anybody else selling you a relaxation.

They're also not confidence work. That's one to one, it's a different thing altogether, and it starts with a call that costs nothing.

Book a free 15-minute call about the one to one

Questions people ask

Before you join

Why is this so late in the evening?

Because half past seven is still teatime, and phone calls, and other people wanting things. By half past eight most houses have gone quiet. It also means the relaxation is the last thing you do before bed, rather than something you come out of with two hours of evening still to get through. Everything in the room is at half past eight for that reason.

Do I have to say anything?

No. Nobody speaks in The Sit Down. The whole of the first twenty minutes goes in the chat, and you type as much or as little as you want. Reading and saying nothing is a perfectly good way to spend it.

How many people will be there?

As many as want to come. The number doesn't change what it's like, because nobody's speaking and nobody's waiting for a turn to come round to them. A busy month and a quiet month feel much the same.

Do I have to put my camera on?

Only if you want to. Plenty of people keep theirs off the whole time, and nobody will ask you why.

Is the chat recorded?

No. The recording starts when I start teaching, so nothing from the first twenty minutes is kept, the chat included. What you get afterwards is me teaching and me doing the relaxation, and nobody else.

Do I have to lie down?

No. Sit if that's easier. A chair you can rest your head back on is plenty. The only thing that matters is that you're not holding yourself up.

What if I fall asleep?

That's fine, and it happens to nearly everyone at some point. You've still had the relaxation. If you're using the recording at bedtime then falling asleep is rather the idea.

Can I listen while I'm driving?

No. Not while you're driving, and not while you're doing anything else that needs you. These recordings are meant to make you drowsy. Wait until you're somewhere safe that you can stop.

How often should I use the recording?

Every day, if you can manage it. That's how it works best, because it's a practice rather than a one-off.

If every day isn't realistic, a few times a week is fine. Do what you can to keep up.

What if my mind wanders the whole way through?

It will, and that isn't you doing it wrong. Noticing you've drifted off and coming back to my voice is the practice. You don't need a quiet mind to get something out of it.

What if I have to disappear halfway through?

Go. Somebody's at the door, or the phone goes, or you're needed. Nobody will notice and nobody will mind. Come back when you're ready and pick it up where we are.

What if I can't make either session this month?

The relaxation audio and the tip video are both available until the next session, so you can do it in your own time. And a month where you get to nothing isn't a failure. It's a month.

Is this hypnosis?

These are general relaxation sessions. They use the same kind of settling and focusing you'd find in the first part of a hypnotherapy session, but they're not treatment and they're not aimed at anything in particular.

Who's running it

Me, in case we haven't met

I'm Kathryn. I'm a cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist in York. I qualified through the UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy and I'm a member of the Federation of Holistic Therapists.

Most of my work is with women who are doing everything and feel worn out by it. That's where I learned how much of a day can go on being braced for something.

I run these because relaxation is the part everybody agrees helps and almost nobody does. Not because they don't want to. Because there's never a reason to do it on a Tuesday rather than tomorrow.

So I made one.

The price

£25 a month, for both sessions

The Sit Down and The Lie Down Live, the relaxation audio and the tip video emailed to you at the start of the month, and a new subject taught every month.

You can cancel from inside your own account whenever you like. You don't have to write to me and explain.

Join for £25 a month

Founding rate, until 3 November

£95 for the year

If you'd rather pay once and forget about it. It's less than a third of what the monthly works out at, and it stays at £95 every year for as long as you are a member. Not just the first one.

It closes when the first Sit Down starts, on Tuesday 3 November. So you can come to the free Drop-In on 27 October, see what it's like, and still decide afterwards. Then it's gone, and I won't be doing it again.

Take the founding rate, £95

Not sure yet

Come to a Drop-In first. It costs nothing.

Happens on the last Tuesday of every month, half past eight, half an hour on Zoom. Anybody can come, and you don't have to be a member or intending to be one.

It's a smaller version of The Sit Down. A few minutes for questions, then twelve minutes or so of relaxation, then I tell you what the membership is in case you want it. That's the whole of the sales part, and it's at the end, so you can leave before it if you'd rather.

You'll know in the first five minutes whether you like my voice. That's really what you're there to find out.

The first one is Tuesday 27 October, which is before the founding rate closes.

Save me a place at the Drop-In

Or start with nothing at all

There's a free version

Twelve Minutes Before You Walk In is free, and it comes with Confidence Connection, one essay a week. Plenty of people stay there for months before they want anything else, and that's a perfectly sensible way to go about it.

And there's The Drop-In on the last Tuesday of every month, half past eight, half an hour, free, for anyone. The first one is Tuesday 27 October.

Get Twelve Minutes Before You Walk In