Look into my eyes . . .

Aug 14 2008 by Emma Pinch, Liverpool Daily Post

Emma Pinch meets a man who says he can help you take back control of your life

DRIVING from Cambridge to Scarborough, Joseph Clough felt as grey and flat as the expanse of road in front of him.

He never woke up in the morning filled with a sense of possibility of what the day might bring.

At 18, with a job in insurance, he wasn’t as much seizing the day as seizing up with boredom.

So, when he had signed up for a week-long course in hypnosis, it was as much for a break from his routine as anything else.

But the decision proved life-changing.

“My self-esteem completely soared,” he says. “I suddenly felt I had control back in my life and I was where I was meant to be.

“On the drive back to Cambridge, I decided there and then that I wanted to help others have that, too.”

Now Joseph Clough, Liverpool-based qualified hypnotist and teacher of hypnotism, is forging a name for himself in the world of TV and celebrity, with clients like singer Sandi Thom.

What gets him springing out of bed in the morning, he says, is the opportunity to put colour and possibility into other people’s outlook on life.

Joseph, 25, explains how he left school with an unremarkable six GCSEs at Grade C, directionless and lacking in confidence.

“I was extremely shy from as early as I can remember. Even with my grandparents, I wouldn’t know what to say, and that led to a blushing problem in my early teens.

“One event I remember that really knocked my self-confidence was at 10, when a maths teacher singled me out about something I didn’t know, saying you have to know this or you will fail at secondary school.”

He managed get on a business course and then got a job in insurance.

It was nine months of being “absolutely discontented”.

When his father, a practising hypnotist, suggested he sign up to the week-long course in Scarborough, he jumped at the chance.

He started practising in Liverpool and continued to add to his skills.

He’s now a master practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming – retraining the mind to think positively and “drown out” that limiting negative little voice in your head.

He tackles phobias, weight and smoking addiction and addresses confidence and anxiety issues, panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorders, and helps people plan and achieve their goals, be it sports based, financial or personal.

And hypnotism, or the lighter state of trance, is nothing to be nervous about.

“Trance is a natural state, similar to how we are on auto-pilot when driving,” says Joseph.

“It gives us space to focus our minds on other things, and start a new dialogue that says, ‘yes, I am worthy’.

“It’s very exciting for me to help people do that, and hugely empowering.

“We can use the mind to change your health, career, your relationships and even your finances.”

* JOSEPH will be giving a one-day seminar at The Liner Hotel on Sunday, August 17.

He will be helping attendees with self-esteem issues, and talking about releasing negative thoughts and achieving success.

* HE HAS 20 pairs of tickets to the seminar to give away. To win, answer the following question: Arachnophobia is the fear of what? Email answers to features@dailypost.co.uk by 9am tomorrow.

emma.pinch@dailypost.co.uk

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