About the Subconscious Mind

What is the subconscious mind?

The subconscious mind is the part of us that runs many of our automatic thoughts, feelings, behaviours and responses.

While the conscious mind is responsible for logic, analysis and decision-making, the subconscious mind stores learned patterns, emotional associations, memories, habits and beliefs.

Many of the things we do every day happen automatically. We do not consciously decide how to walk, drive, react to a familiar situation or interpret every interaction. Those responses are often influenced by subconscious programming developed through life experience.

This is why people can sometimes understand exactly what they need to do yet still find themselves repeating the same patterns.

The conscious mind may want one thing while the subconscious mind is working from a different set of instructions.

For a deeper exploration of how the subconscious operates, you may enjoy my article The Ten Rules of the Subconscious Mind, where I explain some of the principles that repeatedly show up in transformational work.

Why do I keep repeating the same patterns?

This is one of the most common questions people bring to me.

Whether the pattern involves relationships, visibility, confidence, procrastination, self-sabotage, people pleasing or emotional overwhelm, the experience is often the same.

People find themselves thinking:

"I know better than this."

The issue is rarely a lack of intelligence or awareness.

More often, a pattern developed at a time when it served a purpose. It may have helped us feel safe, accepted, protected or connected. The conscious reason for the pattern may have disappeared years ago, but the subconscious mind continues running the programme because it believes it is still helping.

Many of the patterns we struggle with today began as life-stage appropriate solutions.

The challenge is that the subconscious mind often prioritises familiarity and safety over growth and change.

Why do I know what to do but still don't do it?

Because insight and change are not always the same thing.

Many people spend years reading books, listening to podcasts, attending workshops and understanding themselves intellectually. Yet the behaviour remains unchanged.

This can feel frustrating, but it makes sense when we understand how the subconscious mind operates.

If a part of you believes that being visible is unsafe, success is risky, conflict is dangerous, or rest is undeserved, then simply knowing otherwise may not be enough to create change.

The conscious mind can make a decision.

The subconscious mind determines whether that decision feels safe to carry out.

This is one reason why subconscious work can be so powerful. Rather than focusing only on what you think, it explores the beliefs and experiences that shaped those thoughts in the first place.

Can subconscious beliefs really change?

Yes.

The brain remains capable of change throughout life, a process known as neuroplasticity.

New experiences, new emotional understandings and new ways of interpreting old events can all influence how we think, feel and respond.

This does not mean we erase the past or pretend difficult experiences never happened.

Instead, using transformational hypnotherapy we explore the existing neural pathways relating to a problem, then we update the meaning we gave those past experiences and the conclusions we drew from them.

When the underlying belief changes, the behaviour often changes with it.  We create new neural pathways and reinforce them over time with repetition through listening to your bespoke recording.

What once felt automatic can begin to feel like the distant past.

Is there any scientific evidence for hypnosis and subconscious change?

Yes.

Research into hypnosis continues to grow, particularly in areas such as pain management, anxiety, habit change, stress reduction and emotional wellbeing.

Brain imaging studies have shown measurable changes in activity and connectivity during hypnosis, helping researchers understand why hypnotic states can feel so different from ordinary waking consciousness.

One particularly interesting study used functional MRI scans to observe changes in brain activity during hypnosis. Researchers found alterations in areas associated with attention, self-awareness and the way different brain networks communicate with one another.

I've summarised that research in plain English in my article What Happens in the Brain During Hypnosis?, which explores what scientists are beginning to understand about hypnotic states.

The science is still evolving, but what is becoming increasingly clear is that hypnosis is not simply relaxation or imagination. It involves genuine and measurable changes in attention, perception and brain activity.

About Inner Gardening™

What is Inner Gardening™?

Inner Gardening™ is my approach to deep and lasting personal change.

It grew from a simple observation. Many people understand their patterns remarkably well and yet still find themselves repeating them.

They know what they need to do.

They need to have the difficult conversation, set the boundary, trust themselves, become more visible, leave what no longer fits, or move towards something they genuinely want.

They understand the pattern.

The pattern continues anyway.

This is because insight and transformation are not always the same thing.

Inner Gardening™ works from the understanding that most long-standing struggles have roots beneath the surface. The visible problem may be anxiety, procrastination, self-sabotage, burnout, relationship difficulties or visibility fears. The roots are often hidden in old beliefs, emotional learning, protective strategies and experiences that were never fully processed.

Rather than focusing only on the symptom, we explore the root system beneath it.

Why do you use the gardening metaphor?

Because gardening is honest about how change actually happens.

When a plant struggles, we don't usually solve the problem by focusing on the leaves. We look beneath the surface. We examine the roots, the soil, the conditions surrounding the plant and the environment it is trying to grow within.

Human beings are often much the same.

Many of the difficulties people bring to me make perfect sense once we understand the roots beneath them.

What appears to be a confidence problem may actually be a belonging problem.

What appears to be procrastination may be protection.

What appears to be a visibility problem may be an old fear of judgement.

When we understand the roots, the visible problem often begins to make sense for the first time.

What happens during an Inner Gardening™ session?

Every session begins with understanding the issue you would like to change and what you would like to be different.

From there, we explore the root system beneath the problem.

The reason I work this way is simple. Most long-standing patterns are not held in one place. They exist as a network of beliefs, emotional responses, memories, protective strategies and nervous system reactions that developed for good reasons at the time.

Different roots require different tools.

Hypnotherapy remains one of the most established and direct ways we currently have of accessing subconscious material. It allows us to move beyond intellectual understanding and work with the deeper emotional patterns that often drive behaviour.

When a pattern is connected to an unresolved experience, memory reconsolidation allows the brain to update old learning with new information. Rather than simply understanding the past differently, the emotional response itself can begin to change.

When a pattern is held physically, through tension, activation, shutdown or a chronic sense of unsafety, somatic work helps the body participate in the change rather than being left behind by it.

When different parts of us hold competing needs, such as one part wanting visibility while another part fears it, parts work allows those internal conflicts to be understood and resolved rather than fought against.

And when the roots lead back to significant moments from the past, regression and time-travel approaches allow us to revisit the experiences where those conclusions were first formed and bring new understanding, resources and choice to them.

The aim is not simply insight.

Most people already have insight.

The aim is transformation.

By combining these approaches, meaningful shifts can often happen far more quickly than people expect because we are working directly with the places where the pattern was originally learned, stored and maintained.  All whilst in a high resourced and low resistant state of mind in hypnosis.

No two sessions are exactly alike because no two people arrive with the same root system.

The work is always guided by what emerges and what will create the deepest and most lasting change.

How is Inner Gardening™ different from traditional hypnotherapy?

Traditional hypnotherapy often focuses on the presenting problem and uses suggestion to create change.  It can be a bit like papering over the cracks, instead of inspecting the foundations and repairing there.

Inner Gardening™ reaches the roots beneath a pattern, where we work with them directly. That may involve updating old emotional learning, integrating younger parts of the self, resolving internal conflicts, processing unresolved experiences, regulating the nervous system, or uncovering beliefs that no longer fit who you are today.

The goal is not simply to help you manage the symptom.

The goal is to understand, transform and update the system that keeps recreating it.

Is Inner Gardening™ the same as counselling or psychotherapy?

No.

Counselling and psychotherapy are valuable approaches with their own strengths.

Inner Gardening™ is a transformational hypnotherapy and subconscious change approach that focuses on identifying and changing the underlying patterns that continue to influence life today.

While we may explore past experiences, the purpose is not simply to talk about them. The focus is understanding how they shaped the present and helping the mind, body and nervous system update what is no longer needed.

Many people arrive having already done a great deal of personal development work. They often understand their story well. What they are looking for is a way to create change that goes beyond understanding.

What kinds of issues can Inner Gardening™ help with?

People come to this work for many different reasons.

Common themes include:

• Visibility and being seen
• Self-sabotage
• Confidence and self-worth
• Anxiety and overthinking
• People pleasing
• Relationship patterns
• Perfectionism
• Burnout
• Purpose and direction
• Resistance to change
• Repeating emotional patterns
• Business growth blocks
• Imposter syndrome

Although the presenting problem varies, the underlying question is often remarkably similar:

"Why do I keep finding myself here?"

Exploring the roots beneath that question is where the work begins.

How many sessions will I need?

That depends on the nature of the issue and what you would like to achieve.

Some people experience significant shifts from a single session because the root of the problem becomes clear and the emotional learning connected to it is updated.

Others choose to work more deeply over a longer period, particularly when exploring patterns that have developed over many years or across several areas of life.

My aim is never to create dependency.

The goal is to help you understand your own inner landscape well enough that you become increasingly able to navigate it yourself.

In many ways, the work is less about fixing you and more about helping you become a better gardener of your own life.

Research and Evidence

Is there any scientific evidence for hypnosis?

Yes.

Hypnosis has been used for decades and is used in a wide range of clinical, medical and therapeutic settings around the world.

Research, especially recently, has explored its use in areas including pain management, anxiety, stress reduction, habit change, emotional wellbeing, performance enhancement and medically.

While hypnosis is often misunderstood because of its portrayal in stage shows and popular culture, the research literature paints a very different picture. Hypnosis is increasingly scientifically recognised as a genuine psychological state involving measurable changes in attention, perception and responsiveness.

Today, hypnosis is used by healthcare professionals, psychologists, dentists, pain specialists and therapists across many different disciplines.

What happens in the brain during hypnosis?

One of the most interesting developments in hypnosis research has been the use of brain imaging technology.

Researchers have used functional MRI scans to observe what happens in the brain during hypnosis and have found measurable differences in how certain brain networks communicate with one another.

Studies suggest that hypnosis is associated with changes in attention, self-awareness and the way the brain processes information. In simple terms, the brain appears to become more focused internally while remaining responsive to helpful suggestions and new experiences.

If you're interested in the science, I've written a plain-English summary of one particularly fascinating brain imaging study here:

What Happens in the Brain During Hypnosis?

Why can change sometimes happen so quickly?

People are often surprised by how quickly certain patterns can shift.

This is not because the problem was imaginary or because somebody is being persuaded to think positively.

Often it is because the pattern was being maintained by a specific piece of historical emotional learning that no longer reflects reality today.

When that learning is revisited, updated and integrated, the mind no longer needs to keep producing the same automatic response.

This process is closely related to what neuroscientists call memory reconsolidation, the brain's natural ability to update existing emotional learning when new information becomes available.

Not every issue resolves in a single session.

Human beings are more complex than that.

But when we reach the right root and work with it effectively, change can sometimes happen far more quickly than people expect.

Is hypnosis just relaxation?

No.

Relaxation can certainly be part of hypnosis, but they are not the same thing.

Many people assume hypnosis works because they feel relaxed.

The research suggests something more interesting is happening.

Hypnosis involves focused attention, altered patterns of awareness and increased access to subconscious material. Relaxation may help create the conditions, but it is not the mechanism that creates change.

In fact, some of the most important moments in transformational work occur when a person is emotionally engaged with what they are discovering rather than deeply relaxed.

If hypnosis is so effective, why do patterns sometimes return?

This is an excellent question.

Sometimes a pattern returns because the original root was never fully reached.

Sometimes there are several roots feeding the same issue.

Sometimes insight occurred without enough integration.

And sometimes a person changes internally while their environment continues encouraging the old pattern.

This is one of the reasons I developed Inner Gardening™.

The aim is not simply to create a temporary shift. The aim is to explore the wider root system beneath the problem and create conditions where change can be maintained and supported over time.

Like any garden, lasting growth requires both healthy roots and ongoing tending.

Practical Questions

How do online sessions work?

All sessions take place online via Zoom.

Before we meet, you'll receive a link and any preparation information you need. At the start of the session, we'll talk through the issue you'd like to work on, your goals, and anything important I should know about your situation.

From there, the session unfolds according to what emerges.

Many people are initially unsure whether deep subconscious work can happen online. In practice, most are surprised by how natural it feels. Once the work begins, people often forget the screen is there altogether.

Being in your own environment can actually be an advantage. You don't have to travel afterwards, you can take time to reflect and integrate, and you remain in a space that already feels familiar and safe.

What technology do I need?

Very little.

You'll need:

• A reliable internet connection
• A device with a camera and microphone
• A quiet, private space where you won't be interrupted
• Headphones or earbuds if possible

That's it.

If you're comfortable making a Zoom call, you already have everything you need.

How long does a session last?

The length depends on the type of work we're doing.

Some sessions are focused on a specific issue and may take a few hours. Others involve deeper exploration and integration and can be longer.

You'll always know in advance what to expect from the particular session you've booked.

I deliberately allow plenty of space because rushing subconscious work rarely serves the process.

What if I don't know the root of my problem?

That's completely normal.

Most people don't.

In fact, if people already knew exactly where the root was and how to resolve it, they probably wouldn't need my help.

You don't need to arrive with answers.

You simply need to arrive with the issue you would like to change and a willingness to explore what may lie beneath it.

Finding the roots is part of the process.

What if I can't remember my childhood?

Many people worry about this before their first session.  

The good news is that perfect memory is not required.  In reality most of us only remember a handful of key memories from childhood.

Subconscious work is not an exercise in historical accuracy. We are interested in emotional learning, beliefs, patterns and the meanings that were formed, not creating a detailed documentary record of the past.

Some people recall specific memories easily.

Others work through feelings, images, body sensations or fragments of experience.

Both approaches can be equally valuable.

What if nothing happens?

This concern is more common than you might think.

People often imagine that subconscious work should involve dramatic memories, vivid images or profound revelations.

Sometimes it does.

Often it doesn't.

Change can arrive as a simple realisation, a shift in perspective, an emotional release, a new understanding, or a feeling that something has quietly settled into place.

The aim is not to have an impressive experience.

The aim is to create meaningful change.

Is this work suitable for everyone?

No approach is suitable for everyone.

Hypnosis is generally safe for most people, but there are some circumstances where it may not be appropriate.

If you have a diagnosis of psychosis or epilepsy, hypnosis is not usually recommended.

If you have significant trauma or complex PTSD, I may recommend additional support from your healthcare provider or therapist alongside our work.

Your safety always comes first.

If I'm not confident that a particular approach is right for you, I'll tell you.

How much does a session cost?

Not everybody arrives with the same root system, so not everybody needs the same level of support.

Some people come with a very specific issue they would like to work on. Others are looking to understand and transform patterns that have been influencing multiple areas of their lives for many years.

For that reason, I prefer to recommend an approach after we've had a conversation about your situation and goals.

As a guide, most clients invest somewhere between £499 and £1,200, depending on the depth of support required.

During a discovery call we'll explore what is happening, what you'd like to be different, and whether Inner Gardening™ feels like the right fit. I'll then recommend the option I believe would best support you, together with full details of the investment involved.

There is no obligation to proceed. My aim is simply to help you make an informed decision about what feels right for you.

Do you offer a discovery call?

Yes.

A discovery call is an opportunity for us to talk about what is happening in your life, what you'd like to be different, and whether I believe this work can help.

It is also a chance for you to ask questions and get a feel for whether we're a good fit to work together.

Not everyone who books a discovery call goes on to work with me, and that's perfectly fine.

My role is not to persuade you.

It's to help you make an informed decision about what feels right for you.

What happens next?

If you've read this far, you probably have one of two reactions.

Either you're curious and would like to explore further.

Or you're still gathering information and considering your options.

Both are completely valid.

If you'd like to experience a small taste of this work before booking a session, you can begin with the free Root Exploration recording.

If you'd prefer to discuss your situation directly, you're welcome to book a discovery call.

Either way, there is no pressure and no rush.

Like any garden, meaningful growth happens in its own time.

About RTT® (Rapid Transformational Therapy®)

What is RTT®?

RTT® stands for Rapid Transformational Therapy®, a therapeutic approach developed by Marisa Peer that combines elements of hypnotherapy, regression, psychotherapy and subconscious change work.

The aim of RTT is to help people identify and understand the beliefs, conclusions and emotional learning that may be contributing to present-day challenges.

The approach became widely known because of its focus on uncovering the root cause of a problem rather than simply managing symptoms.

I trained as an RTT® practitioner and clinical hypnotherapist and many aspects of that training continue to inform my work today.

Is Inner Gardening™ the same as RTT®?

No.

RTT® was an important part of my professional development, but Inner Gardening™ has evolved beyond any single methodology.

Over the years, I found that different people needed different approaches depending on the nature of the roots we uncovered together.

Some patterns responded well to regression work.

Others benefited from memory reconsolidation.

Some required parts work, somatic approaches, restorative dialogue, nervous system regulation or a combination of several methods.

Inner Gardening™ brings these approaches together within a single framework.

Rather than following one fixed methodology, the work is guided by the individual and the particular root system we are exploring.

Why did you move beyond RTT®?

One of the things I value most about RTT® is its emphasis on finding the roots beneath a problem rather than focusing only on the symptom.

That philosophy remains central to my work.

As my experience grew, however, I became increasingly interested in newer developments within neuroscience, trauma-informed practice, memory reconsolidation, parts work and somatic approaches.

I began integrating these perspectives into my sessions and found that they often helped create deeper, more sustainable change, particularly when working with complex patterns that had developed over many years.

Inner Gardening™ emerged from that evolution.

It retains the focus on root-cause transformation while drawing from a broader range of approaches.

Do you still use RTT® techniques?

Yes.

Many of the tools and principles I learned through RTT® remain valuable and continue to be used when appropriate.

However, they are now part of a larger toolkit.

The question I ask is not:

"What does the RTT® process say I should do next?"

The question is:

"What does this person need in order to create meaningful change?"

Sometimes that includes RTT® techniques.

Sometimes it includes memory reconsolidation, parts work, somatic approaches or restorative dialogue.

More often, it involves a combination of several approaches working together.

Which is better: RTT® or Inner Gardening™?

They are designed differently.

RTT® is a specific methodology with a defined structure.

Inner Gardening™ is an integrative approach that draws on multiple evidence-informed methods and adapts to the individual sitting in front of me.

For some people, the distinction may not feel particularly important.

What matters most is whether the work helps them understand and transform the patterns that have been limiting them.

My own journey led me from RTT® to Inner Gardening™ because I wanted the flexibility to work with the full complexity of human experience rather than through a single lens.

The roots people carry are never identical.

The tools we use to help them grow don't need to be either.