Denise Billen-Mejia 0:07
Welcome to Two hypnotherapists talking with me, Denise Billen Mejia in Delaware, USA.
Martin Furber 0:13
And me Martin Furber in Preston UK.
Denise Billen-Mejia 0:16
This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about fascinating subject of hypnosis, and the benefits that offers.
Martin Furber 0:24
I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and psychotherapist,
Denise Billen-Mejia 0:27
I'm a retired medical doctor turned consulting hypnotist.
Martin Furber 0:31
We are two hypnotherapists talking.
Denise Billen-Mejia 0:34
So let's get on with the episode.
Martin Furber 0:36
All right, well, let's get on with the show. Indeed, Denise we're welcoming back our guest, Beverley Densham.
Denise Billen-Mejia 0:43
In case people haven't met her before, you should probably do a quick introduction now.
Martin Furber 0:47
Yeah, tell people what you do, Bev.
Beverley Densham 0:50
Yeah, thank you so much for having me back. So I love helping people with mindfulness Pilates. I teach mainly on Zoom, and also wellbeing workshops in the workplace for corporate and all the stress to calm teaching with a stress to calm series of books that I've written. So that's expanding, even teaching schools and teachers now as well.
Martin Furber 1:16
Fantastic, because of course, you were on the show a couple of series ago. And you were talking about your new stress to calm books that were coming out at the time. And we did say, come back and tell us when they're out. And of course, they're out now, aren't they? So tell us about them.
Beverley Densham 1:32
It's very exciting. I suppose it's maybe a little bit unusual to have one book after the other book after the other because they come out kind of in quite quick succession.
Denise Billen-Mejia 1:41
Are they are they intended to be a triple? Or is it specific audiences for each book?
Beverley Densham 1:47
Yes, that's specific. So the stress to calm series, here I'm holding them in my hand. So the first one that came out was stress to calm in seven minutes for lawyers. This is a beautiful turquoise cover. Then the second one that came out in the series is stress to calm and seven minutes for nurses, and obviously to help the hospitals and NHS and hospitals around the world and all the nurses. And then the third one that came out so far in the series is stress calm in seven minutes for teachers as the latest one that came out this year.
Martin Furber 2:19
Okay, are there references to OFSTED inspections in there, in the stress to calm for teachers?
Denise Billen-Mejia 2:25
A good idea!
Beverley Densham 2:26
It's interesting you actually say that because we did a survey for all professions a kind of stress survey, which it sort of went out as a survey just that we did. Anonymous survey for those in each profession to kind of share what challenges and stresses they're going under. And actually, one of them was that we actually got quite upset with some of the responses to be honest. We actually did cry with some of them
Denise Billen-Mejia 2:55
Oh! that kind of upset.
Beverley Densham 2:57
Yeah, we did. Myself and my co author Jenny, we both, I don't know which bits each of us individually got upset at but there is some extremely high stress going on. And when you said about OFSTED having inspections that was one of the stresses that did come up with the teachers, the teaching profession anyway with some of the individual responses.
Martin Furber 3:23
Now I'm thinking about particularly to that recent suicide of a teacher headmistress wasn't it? A head teacher with, when OFSTED downgraded her school again, excuse me.
Denise Billen-Mejia 3:37
I know I'm British, so I know what those words mean but for our American audience and pay maybe Australia for that matter. Can you explain what Ofsted is quickly and can you give a little quick story on the horrible story of a head teacher?
Martin Furber 3:53
Yeah, sure Ofsted inspections I can't remember exactly what it stands for Office of School inspections something or other. Basically schools get inspected periodically, and they are graded, or rather they are assessed and then graded, and it's a time of mega mega stress for teachers. I know from teachers who've been clients of mine how stressful that can be. Also my sister helps schools get prepared for their Ofsted inspections and I know how she reports to me how stressful it can be for teachers.
Denise Billen-Mejia 4:27
And the story for the head teacher? I haven't heard, so it didn't hit our news.
Martin Furber 4:31
So there was a head teacher of a school who the school was downgraded from outstanding to requiring improvement if my memory serves me correctly, and she took her own life.
Denise Billen-Mejia 4:44
Because of that downgrade?
Martin Furber 4:45
I think that's what the inquest said yeah, that was a large contributory factor to it. And since then they've brought in wellbeing for staff in schools. And I suppose that's where you fit into the equation Bev?.
Beverley Densham 5:00
Yeah, yeah, I mean, first of all, I just like to acknowledge that, you know, obviously sending love to the school and everyone affected in the family, that particular head teacher, I also saw it in the news. And I think, also, from some studies came up that these three particular professions came up in the top four most stressed professions in the world overall. And, yeah, it's been really I attended an event, I taught at this big wellbeing event, which was held at the University of Bournemouth, and not well, not very long ago, actually, the last sort of few weeks. And it was amazing. They had like, I think about 150 secondary school children attended lots of the secondary schools, were attending quite a few mental health charities, it's actually run by really fantastic charity, who actually ran the events. And then I got to teach in the lecture theatre, both the secondary school children and I did one for and obviously, the teachers present there. And then also specifically for the teachers and support staff, not just teachers, but also the support staff Well, being workshops with the stress to calm practical, what, you know, seven minutes and one minute tools that obviously teach the teacher, but I'm holding here, it's just really, I think, what's really rewarding and like, the feedback from the teachers, they were amazed that in one minute they could use they could do a tool for themselves, I guess I taught them but then they can take it away and do it themselves that they could actually I think a lot of them find it very, very difficult to switch off. And the for that one minute. They managed, I did an inspirational talk, obviously well being workshop, and then this particular one minute tool, they they actually felt like they could just kind of forget about everything else and just be in that moment, obviously very mindful. And really, really switch off and de-stress. It was amazing. It was amazing, actually. So roll on lots of more of them but yeah, they need it. They need it though, because they're so caring. They're really, they're not just teaching the children or looking after the school, they've obviously got all these other aspects. Like obviously Martin just said about to look after, they're also looking after the well being of the children and so many things going on for them that they might be forgetting to look after themselves or they're so frazzled. Some of them in the survey we did, some of them are so frazzled, you know, they're snapping at their own children when they get home. And they're like just grabbing a quick frozen ready meal, whatever, and they just haven't got the energy or, or whatever.
Denise Billen-Mejia 7:57
Of course, certainly over here, and I'm sure over there that it's not just you know, this child has difficulty learning math or sums. It's it's all the social stuff around them. And of course, they have so much less autonomy than they used to have. And lacking autonomy, it builds your stress levels a lot.
Martin Furber 8:20
Who's lacking in autonomy Denise? The children or the teachers?
Denise Billen-Mejia 8:23
The teachers. The kids are a given! But, the teachers because they might have to deal with a child. But that is that's not the end person that they have to. That's not the person who's grading them, really. It's, the other people bringing in excess stress. Of course, here our teachers have to worry, as our children do, about violence in the school. Mass shootings, which is just is so bizarre to have to say that but yeah, maybe it is something that happens so often. Now. It's like, oh, another one.
Martin Furber 8:54
That shocked me Denise. I mean, Bev cast your mind back to school days over here, I can remember the fire drills vividly. But in America, they have sort of mass shooting drills, they are as common as fire drills in the school. Wow. Imagine the stress of the teachers over there.
Denise Billen-Mejia 9:12
Entering schools, most schools you have to go through a metal detector like an airport.
Beverley Densham 9:16
Wow.
Denise Billen-Mejia 9:18
So they've on top of all the the educational parts of it, and the stress of dealing with helping children achieve their potential and their own career paths and dealing with their own families. There's also the possibility of lethal outcome from just going to work in the morning.
Martin Furber 9:39
Wow. Wow. So just thinking about this, then Bev, what brought teachers to your attention? Was it like you say just from doing this research? Or did you have a lot of teachers as clients?
Beverley Densham 9:51
Well, no, no, no to the second question there as in teachers as clients. I think I might have mentioned before that I'd I started off by teaching a very stressed lawyer who was personally professionally stressed. And she did actually end up writing, like the foreword to our book. And it didn't take very much she only needed like a little one to one programme with me, I taught her the tools, and then she just kind of needed maintenance, because it's like brushing our teeth, we still need to keep using the tools. And obviously, if you actually see a teacher or like a hypnotherapist, then obviously you're accountable and you practice properly, and then you're more motivated to go and continue to practice. So that kind of set it off. But it was actually, it was actually our publisher said, who did I want to help. And I've always, always wanted to help schools, teachers, support staff and children more I had already been teaching families and children's from the mindfulness Pilates side of things. And I've been adding in more and more of the kinds of practical stress to calm teaching within that, or I'd been teaching it a standalone and I realised, I just really wanted to help them as well, equally the nurses. I mean, you can, so there are different sorts of areas I wanted to teach, sort of helping, and they were like, Well, no, let's not just do one book, let's make it more tailored and specific to each each book that you're writing, and actually research, not just research on the tools and bringing the science and research in behind each tool, whether that's meditation, or whether that's journaling or whatever, whichever tool it might be, but also research within that profession as well. So just to make it more specific, and then, and then having a deeper understanding of what is actually going on, you know, as a bigger picture with a stress survey so that the book can really speak to them properly. You know, rather than it's just a general book for everybody.
Denise Billen-Mejia 11:50
Do you have more in the series?
Beverley Densham 11:54
Yes, the answer is yes. The next one is top secret, I have to say, you know, when you get inspiration, and you know, you must do something about it. It's one of those things. Our publisher already really loves the next idea of the next book, but we haven't, it's a completely different audience. We haven't researched it yet. We haven't done anything with it, but it has been popping in my mind all year long, probably a few times a week.
Beverley Densham 12:22
And I haven't done anything about it yet. I'm
Martin Furber 12:25
just curious knowing how I agonise over the simplest sales page or blog or email to people, how long does it take, you from start to finish one of your books?
Beverley Densham 12:35
Well, it's taken about a year and a half for these three books. But then you could say a lifetime. The time before the year and a half of writing implementation, prior to that there was probably a few, I've probably been testing and trialling the actual some of the new tools that I've created. I've been trialling and sort of testing them out with my regular clients. And then of course you've got all that lifetime. It's actually my works 26 birthday this month, so and then of course you've got all your education behind prior to that as well. So it takes different amounts of times we've been on a bit more of a what's a bit quicker asset.
Denise Billen-Mejia 13:23
But obviously some some things are the same no matter which book you're doing you struggle to make an outline, you still got to go you know this, get your grammar checked. Yeah, I'm just wondering when your next one's going to be out, when can we expect you back again to talk about this next one? That's so top secret?
Beverley Densham 13:42
It is top secret. Yeah, I'm very excited about it because there's more people I'd like to tell, but I've got to spend a little time talking about the current one. Oh, but no I am I really do feel I'm gonna get you know get in touch with my my my co author Janie and publisher and start getting things in motion, I think. So, I don't know when exactly what timeline because sometimes with publishers, you're working like, you might finish actually writing the thing, and it doesn't come out till a year later. But with our books, they came out actually quite quickly.
Martin Furber 14:23
So this latest one, how different is this is teachers? How different is it? From the one that's aimed at lawyers, because they're both stressful jobs for different reasons. Yeah,
Beverley Densham 14:36
The tools are the same, the actual practical one minute tools and the seven minutes, they are the same otherwise it's different because there has to be different. There's, you know, it's different the research which is going on in each profession. It's, you know, that side of things is all different and writing and this obviously With, the law profession, there's lots of different types of lawyers as well, that makes a very big difference as well as to what's going on with them. So family lawyers in particular, it's, it's a lot tougher, I'd say it's more like your self needs. Some of many of their clients needs booking in with therapists, for example, because they're going through trauma or domestic abuse, or you know, but equally, they're...
Denise Billen-Mejia 15:31
Or just plain divorce with children in the middle.
Beverley Densham 15:33
Yeah. But then, of course, some of that, you know, different levels of stressful, traumatic, but they're also they're obviously dealing with that. So they've got kind of a different level, or I'm trying to think of other some of the other lawyers. Anyway, there's so many different types. But what I'm trying to say is, yeah, we're sort of writing to obviously to them. So it's just been, it's just been really nice to start teaching with the book. And that's kind of that's kind of the main that's kind of the main differences. Really. Yeah.
Denise Billen-Mejia 16:13
Can people only buy it from your self and the publisher or is it available?
Beverley Densham 16:19
No, it's very much Amazon international Kindle. You know? All good. book shops, Waterstone, Voiles any independent bookshops.
Denise Billen-Mejia 16:31
Voiles is still around?
Beverley Densham 16:33
Yes, it is. Yeah, very much very much. Just whether it's London Waterloo, or wherever they're all based.
Martin Furber 16:42
Is it a Southern thing? I've never heard of them.
Denise Billen-Mejia 16:45
Voiles was a real flagship in London. My sister worked there right after college.
Martin Furber 16:50
Oh, wow.
Denise Billen-Mejia 16:52
She's a teacher, it took a year to find a job. That was it was just, at where she wanted to be, she was in London. And so she loved working there. It was, there were books everywhere. But then I sort of heard oh, it's going away. It's, I'm glad to hear that there are new ones. We have a similar, very well known shop in the in New York, the strand that they almost went under during COVID. And they're their patrons rallied to keep it going. There is hope for authors, or people who like books.
Beverley Densham 17:25
People really do, don't they? Something that's it's been really rewarding this year as well. I started teaching it schools, like inset, like here in the UK, they're called like inset days or staff training days. Yeah, in service days. But they're bringing me in to do the well being stress to calm workshops, for the staff and teachers. I think the biggest school I've worked with so far is one in London. And I've actually worked with them virtually as well, like on teams, they have seen to work on teams rather than zoom schools, but there's a school of like 190, and the staff, so 100, teachers, 90 support staff are all invited to the workshop. And they zooms me in.
Martin Furber 18:05
Oh, wow. Yeah, I found that with schools and local authorities, they're on teams rather than zoom. Yeah, so I'm just thinking though, Bev with all the sort of wellbeing workshops and that kind of thing you do. People read the book. When when people read your book, are there invitations to join your live online classes, as well, because as you say, it's you know, you can teach people these techniques and things, but then it's, you know, keeping them on top of it, keeping them motivated and what have you.
Beverley Densham 18:38
Yeah, I mean, it has both mine and my co authors, you know, contact details, websites, and, you know, kind of follow us on social media at the back of, but it doesn't particularly say Oh, come and do it. Like that, or book or wellbeing works.
Denise Billen-Mejia 18:54
But you'd be happy if they did.
Beverley Densham 18:55
Yeah, of course, of course. And the nice thing is I started doing more corporate, more corporate stuff, like I've worked with an accountancy firm, about to work with another accounting software, you know, company for the well being and better mental health stress management as a team. So I started to do more of that side of things as well. So practically at the desk, as opposed to having to get a map out or anything like that.
Denise Billen-Mejia 19:23
Is it common in the UK, like there was here, to do retreats for various corporations, they take a half a day and they go off and spend it in the woods or sometimes a whole weekend.
Beverley Densham 19:36
Yeah, I mean, I think there are there are staff wellbeing days or there are retreats as well. I haven't particularly offered corporate retreats because I've done a lot in the past or you know, just general generally for individuals but not corporates, but they do. They do seem to be offering that for companies as well.
Martin Furber 19:56
You're taking me back to their to last year when I went online for the charity I work for you remember, I was swinging from a tree and a hammock.
Denise Billen-Mejia 20:03
I do remember oh my god, this year has gone so fast.
Martin Furber 20:08
Don't you remember that one Bev? I'm sure you liked it on LinkedIn. Right?
Beverley Densham 20:13
Oh, you were really squidged in the hammock?
Martin Furber 20:15
That's right, yeah.
Beverley Densham 20:16
It was a very squidged in hammock. Yeah.
Martin Furber 20:19
Yeah, that was a wellness and wellbeing day where we did some mindfulness exercises. But it's that link, isn't it with mindfulness and hypnosis? I think I said it last time, my one of my first questions at Hypno school, was what's the difference between mindfulness and hypnosis? And yet the two are intrinsically linked. Absolutely. Because it's about, you know, calm and relaxation for one thing, but also it's about being guided by somebody else, and being equipped to be able to do it yourself. You've said it. And we say it virtually every week as well. We don't do anything to people, we teach them how to do these things for themselves, it's quite possible to enter into hypnosis by yourself very, very easily.
Denise Billen-Mejia 21:09
Most poeople do it every day, many times.
Martin Furber 21:11
All the time, all the time.
Denise Billen-Mejia 21:15
My mindfulness, particularly with my clients who want to work on weight issues, and self confidence issues, mindful eating is a big thing. Do you work in with that in any ways? Is it specifically stress? And obviously, the exercise involved in Pilates?
Beverley Densham 21:38
Well, I mean, I teach mindfulness Pilates, but with that, I sprinkle every single stress reduction technique I have in my toolbox, all those stress to calm tools, I sprinkle into it, or I teach the stress to calm tools separately on their own, that does also always involve movement, and things like power stretching in the sort of power pose positions, for example, stretching, power stretching. And that works very, very well. Would you say the question again?
Denise Billen-Mejia 22:10
How, mindful eating was what I was talking about.
Beverley Densham 22:18
Yeah. I mean, I don't particularly teach mindful eating, I think. I think, my opinion is though, the more you do this sort of thing, the more mindful that you become, in a lot of like, I've just had a beautiful salad or lunchtime, and I don't want to sit there scrolling on my phone while I'm eating that beautiful, you know, lunch? Not really No. Or do you want to sit out on our lovely, you know, balcony with the sun shining, eating even better. But no, I tend to, some people actually, it's a whole thing that they're teaching, isn't it with mindful anything and everything but there are sort of seven main areas and one of them actually does encompass the whole of life and work. So the first one that that I teach quite a lot of is of course, breathing and meditation. Positive positive affirmations is the second, the third one is stretching, good posture, stretching for the neck and the shoulders, neck, stretching, and stretches. Also for the back, all the sorts of power stretching, I've talked about is number four. Number five is my one of my favourite things to teach in the whole world. It's called the happy exercise and it encompasses good posture, sitting or standing, breathing and relaxation encompasses a positive affirmation. And it encompasses high power pose a punching the arms of yet, and number four, a part of that is smiling and I love teaching the science of smiling. It's one of my favourite things in the world.
Denise Billen-Mejia 23:53
This is akin to laughing yoga.
Beverley Densham 23:55
No, actually, it's purely Smiling. Smiling, and I bring in the research of when Amy Cuddy psychologists and the studies that they they did and created during a stressful task half the participants had to have like a straight face during a stressful task and the other half had to have a pencil to their teeth, which is faking a smile. And it puts the person physiologically and into their mental health state a much better state because the outcome is they are coming out of a stressful task. Feeling pretty good, feeling happier, feeling less stressed, because they force they faked and force a smile. So I love teaching a bit a bit of this and we go into more depth on each of those tools. In the book, we go into even much more depth. So the benefits of smiling for example, and it puts you into that state. You don't have to have just won a running race. You don't have to just one gone across the mat marathon racing you got across the line or 100 metre sprint and you've won the race. This morning. You're feeling that elation, and you're putting yourself, doing those four things in the happy exercise, which I created when I was trying out with all my clients all those years. I'm piecing some different bits together. And then looking at the science and research on it all. It's amazing how you can take yourself from stress, if you are stressed to calm or calmer, more relaxed, but then empowered and more confident and more successful and more happy and more motivated. One thing I have noticed as well with that, if there isn't any research on this yet, maybe I will get a study going on in the future. But a lot of people finding there's a boost in energy levels. But though I haven't done research on that, though,
Denise Billen-Mejia 25:53
Probably, there's certainly a boost in my energy level, just from sunshine, which makes me smile.
Martin Furber 25:59
Yeah, it's funny, you're talking about smiling Bev, I talk about this quite frequently with my clients as well. And this is where, even though our disciplines are different between yourself and what Denise and I do, a lot of the principles we use are the same. And a lot of what we call in hypnosis, the pre talk when we're giving support and information to people is very, very similar to what you do. And I call it reverse engineering a smile, if you force yourself to smile. I sort of give this analogy if you force in your backwards neurologically to where a smile would normally come from. Because of course, when somebody makes a smile, we don't think about it first. It happens subconsciously, if something pleases you, you'll smile.
Denise Billen-Mejia 26:44
Unless it's some idiot on the street. Oh, come on, honey, smile, that has a different effect on me. But if you're intending to smile, and it certainly will make you feel a lot better, and uses fewer muscles. As we all know, frowns are much worse. I was wondering actually, while you were speaking though, I don't know if there's been any research on it. You know, how if your people are very uncomfortable and have a nervous laugh, isn't there's a tendency if it's from animal studies, we know there's a sort of like don't hurt me. I wonder how that affects things?
Beverley Densham 27:28
Well, any smiling, according to this study is helping with mental health and happiness and reducing stress levels.
Denise Billen-Mejia 27:38
So maybe it helps them to survive the stress that they're feeling with, with these situations? Yeah.
Beverley Densham 27:49
So yeah, I'd imagine the same things happening. This is from our book, when we smile, our brain triggers a cascade of physiological responses that contribute to our overall well being. Research has shown that the facial muscles involved in signing send signals to the brain stimulating the release of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter associated with getting some happiness, pleasure and relaxation. These natural feel good chemicals can counteract stress hormones, such as cortisol leading to more tranquil state of mind. And then it goes on to some studies and other bits all about that as well.
Martin Furber 28:22
That's what I was saying. I call it reverse engineering a smile, when we force ourselves to smile, we can still generate those feelings.
Beverley Densham 28:30
Yeah, exactly.
Martin Furber 28:31
A lot of what I talk about with my clients in therapy is what's been good in the last week, when you can get them in the moment and really start to think back about what's been good. And I always talk about the small things, like when you're waiting in your car to turn right or left in America, when you're waiting in your car to turn right. And you're in a queue and you're waiting for ages, and then somebody just flashes you and lets you go, you get a little hit and feel good, just in that split second. And I ask people to look back over the past week and really look back and really think hard about any little moments like that that have happened in their life. And as they re-engage with those thoughts, you can see them smiling, you can see them generating those same feel good feelings again.
Beverley Densham 29:12
Yeah, that's I mean, that's just really that's just really, really powerful, isn't it? One of the tools that I teach a lot is the one minute journaling and like you're saying about recounting what's been good, you can equally do that, obviously, with journaling as well and you I call it sleep better journaling. We don't we don't call it sleep journaling in the books. We're focusing very much on one minute journaling with a positive affirmation and writing down what that means but it's really powerful to do a bit of journaling at bedtime and write down what went well or what you're grateful for that day as well.
Denise Billen-Mejia 29:49
I always have my my people write down all the things that they need to get done tomorrow because now it's on paper and you can forget about it.
Martin Furber 29:57
Yes, that's another good trick., that's another good one. Yeah, the other thing you mentioned, Bev, and this is something Denise and I are both very strong on, is positive affirmations. Because the reasons a lot of people feel bad is because of the negative self talk. You know, the absolute opposite of positive affirmations. And when I first speak with some people that you know, that may be cynical about hypnotherapy, or is woowoo Oh, it's this that on the other, and, you may find the same kind of thing with mindfulness, sometimes off people. And when you start to talk about positive affirmations, they might be tempted to dismiss it. And yet, when we explain to them about negative self talk, and they absolutely get that and they accept that, then it's easy for them to accept Well, actually, yeah, do the opposite, then. Yeah, why wouldn't it work then? Because we know that the negative self talk works for sure.
Beverley Densham 30:52
Yeah. And of course, there's research behind it. I think, I think how what's I'm noticing, like, probably, I can't say the timeframe. But so I've been teaching 26 years now the first 16 years, I never used the word meditation, because at that point in that in that space of time, it wasn't a mainstream word. Whereas now it's very mainstream. Doctors are recommending it research and finances recommending, you know, breathing and meditation practices, which, which we all teach. And it's,
Denise Billen-Mejia 31:24
That sounds like such a funny little meme. You know, doctors recommend breathing. Yes.
Beverley Densham 31:30
I know that sounds really funny, because I didn't think about it, you're like, oh, that sounds really like a bit. But obviously, it's by consciously. It's the mindfulness by the consciously using it, it's, it can take things to a whole other level. Rather than that, obviously, we obviously naturally vary, but on the journaling side, whereas journaling now has science and research behind it, but it isn't as well known as meditation and breathing yet, but it's all there. And I think, when people understand that it's actually highly respected, and you've got other incredible doctors like Dr. Rangan Chatterjee recommending journaling. And it's quite exciting that, you know, there's a, there's a tool that people can use for free, and you know, some of the stress out of their brain, but the way we sort of frame it in our foot in the stress DICOM books is, we give you a whole loads of positive affirmations in the book, or I mean, I do have decks of cards for children and adults and teenagers. And you pick your affirmation, and then you write what that actually means to you. But then, if you're not writing positive stuff, because you may or may not, or might be a combination of the two, you can then spend more time than one minute if you want reframing it or how can I be more like that? Or what? What action steps can I do to feel more like that? And right, is that you have people?
Denise Billen-Mejia 32:55
Do people use the same affirmation for a few days at a time? Or is it that. Because I just wondered, it would build on itself?
Beverley Densham 33:04
Well, okay, yes and no on this. The initial answer is no, purely because the idea is you choose the affirmation that feels right for you, that you check from the book, or that you've picked on a card like this one is I am calm, I can stay calm. I think that one's also like in our books. And but yeah, I do, I do encourage to go back regularly to your one minute journaling, because there's a lot of insights. And you can go into more depth, and you need to spend a bit of time with it to reframe things a bit needs reframing. And I mean, obviously, happiness is a choice, changing our negative, you know, negative self talk, is a choice, we can stay as we are, or we can start to educate ourselves to change it. So, but it is also good to pick the one that you're inspired to choose that day as well. But definitely to go back to the ones which you know, and spend a bit of time revisiting it as well. Thank you.
Martin Furber 34:04
Brilliant, can you believe it, we have overplayed our time for the episode. Bev, before you go, because this is the last show of the series as well. And you're the final guest on the series. Would you, we're going to tell people to get in touch with you in the show notes. But do you just want to explain just one more time to people what your books are about and a little bit about what you do?
Denise Billen-Mejia 34:28
Yeah, and hold each one up as you go.
Beverley Densham 34:29
Yeah. Well, I will. So I'm a mindfulness Pilates teacher. So I do teach classes on Zoom. So it doesn't matter where you are in the world. You can either do a one time programme with me or you can come into a class I've got over nine a week, right from beginners to advanced. And then I do of course teach the well being workshops either for an individual or for corporate companies worldwide on Zoom, and of course for teachers and schools as well. And And then the books. We've got three in the series so far. So the first one is stress to calm in seven minutes for lawyers. And that's paperback and Kindle available, obviously anyway. And then we've got stress to calm in seven minutes for the nurses and oh, it's very exciting. I must just tell you it, the nurses one and the teachers one have been one of the most gifted books for nurses on Amazon. It's been in the top 100 best seller. And that's the thing, it got to number one and two is its highest so far. And then the stress to calm in seven minutes to teachers us also has been one of the most gifted big books for teachers this year and the teachers kind of bid on the bestsellers on Amazon as well.
Martin Furber 35:43
Yeah, you've got a lot of the students buying them for the teachers for end of term and that kind of thing.
Beverley Densham 35:50
Yeah, that's been happening or somebody's just got a friend who's a teacher, and they've been gifting the book or their child's at school, and they've been gifting them for the teachers, that's been really lovely.
Martin Furber 36:00
Oh, fantastic. Well, it'll be series six or seven when you do the big reveal on this next top secret while you're doing what you must come back and join us. Thank you so much for coming back on.
Denise Billen-Mejia 36:12
And just let us know privately when you actually do know what the topic is - we won't tell anybody.
Martin Furber 36:20
Denise we'll be catching everybody on the next series because for now it's bye bye to everybody until the next series.
Denise Billen-Mejia 36:25
That's right, yes, because we gave our bonus earlier. Okay, so we'll see you in a few weeks people
Martin Furber 36:34
We will we will we will.
Denise Billen-Mejia 36:43
We hope you have enjoyed listening. Please remember, this podcast is designed to give you an insight into therapeutic hypnosis, and it's for educational purposes only. So remember, consult with your own healthcare professional if you think something you've heard may apply to you or a loved one. If you found this episode useful, you could apply for free continuing professional development or CME credits. Using the link provided in the show notes. Feel free to contact either of us through the links in the show notes. Join us again next week.
