'How Hypnosis Helped Me' Competition Winners

Let's face it, hypnosis is often dismissed as a fringe idea. But we think it's far from fringe. In fact, it's perhaps the most central element to being human.

What's more, we know it works. And we know our friends around the world do too. So that's why in late 2013 we started a competition called 'How Hypnosis Helped Me' to collect as many stories as possible that would show the world hypnosis is a natural and effective way of changing your life.

So many people wanted to share their story that we were inundated with entries. Hundreds of stories from all over the world flooded in about how hypnosis had helped people overcome depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, difficult childhoods, addictions and chronic pain - and go onto lead happier and easier lives.

There was no way we could possibly have chosen a winner ourselves, so instead we drew four names out of a hat. Here are the winning entries - four very different stories but all testimony to the power of hypnosis.

Renee Keltner's story: Exhausted and addicted

Hypnosis downloads has changed my life. I am so grateful for this website and all the people working behind the scenes to make these downloads available. I am forever thankful to all of you.

My story is a complicated one, and I'm not even sure where to start. So bear with me, and try to stay with me. I came to Hypnosis Downloads tired and stressed out, looking for hope. I was referred by a friend who has used self hypnoses successfully. She told me that self hypnoses may be the tool that I was looking for to help. Boy, was she right!

My first downloads were the Ten Minute Power Nap and Patient Parenting. See my husband serves in the United States Army and I have two autistic daughters. They are the light of my life, buy they are an emotional and physical drain on me. I have spent my entire life dedicating my all to getting them the best services they need to succeed in life. It has been tough, but the payoff has been great. I also stand by my husband proud of all he does. But his service also takes its toll on me. i wouldn't trade my life for anything, please don't get me wrong, I was just tired, and still am.

About three years and a half years ago I started having severe health problems. After multiple rounds of doctor appointments, and many lab tests, and endless specialists they all came to the same conclusion; I was sleep deprived and just tired. For three years I have heard over and over that I have Chronic Fatigue and I just need to get more sleep. That this is just my life because I have special needs kids. I knew there was more to it than that, but the doctors could never seem to look past my life circumstances of autistic kids, and a husband that served in the army, and is often away. They continued to run the same tests over and over, and kept prescribing me sleeping pills to help me get more sleep.

Fast forward three years... I was addicted to sleeping pills, walking with mobility aids, some days confined to my bed. My husband lived across the country and I had lost all hope. I was frustrated with my children and tired. Very Tired! That was when my friend suggested Hypnosis Downloads. Self-hypnosis has turned my life upside-down, for the better. Patient Parenting helped me in my relationship with my kids, and the Ten minute Power nap helped give me that little boost in the day whenever I needed it. I had hope again.

It made such a difference that I decided I was ready to tackle my sleeping pill addiction. I knew in my heart that my health issues were not a matter of lack of sleep, and the sleeping pills were not helping me. So it was time to get rid of them. So get rid of them I did. I quit the sleeping pills cold turkey with the help of Fall Asleep Fast from Hypnosis Downloads. I haven't looked back. And I haven't taken a sleeping pill since.

I now live near family, and my husband is still across the country getting ready for an overseas tour with the army. I am raising the kids on my own. But with hope. I have a civilian doctor this time, who believes me. He has run many tests and has discovered that not only do I have Fibromyalgia, but that I also have Systemic lupus erythematosus (Lupus). I have downloaded many Self-Hypnosis downloads to help me manage everything; from my outlook on life with living with a chronic illness, to my eating habits, to managing pain.

Hypnosis downloads has changed my life. I am so grateful for this website and all the people working behind the scenes to make these downloads available. I am forever thankful to all of you. But most off all I am thankful to my friend, for without her, I'm not sure I would have found hope again.

This hypnosis story came from Renee Keltner, Indianapolis, USA.

Katie Embick's story: Homeless, jobless and alone

I was at the bottom of the barrel... I had been kicked out of my house, gotten my second DUI, lost my job and had no family near me

I am an alcoholic, I say that because its not a disease you ever just stop having. However I am an 18 1/2 months sober alcoholic thanks to Perfect Partners: Diminish Alcohol Abuse + Stay Off Alcohol. I was about 3 months into outpatient rehab and I was still drinking and hiding it. Always thinking I was getting away with it.

Then it hit me, hypnosis. I had worked with a hypnotist during high school and college while I was playing golf and planning to pursue a career in it. After some research I came across hypnosis downloads and Perfect Partners: Diminish Alcohol Abuse + Stay Off Alcohol. I downloaded it onto my ipod and would listen every night before going to bed. I would say it took about a month and I woke up one day and just had no desire to drink. That was 18 months ago.

For some people they think wow I wake up everyday and don't have a desire to drink. For an alcoholic that is our first thought. I was at the bottom of the barrel, i literally had a friend pay for the downloads because I didn't have the money. I had been kicked out of my house, gotten my second dui, lost my job and had no family near me cause I had moved to Colorado with my boyfriend (after 4 years of drinking and lying he kicked me out). I woke up each morning before Perfect Partners: Diminish Alcohol Abuse + Stay Off Alcohol and my first thought was where was I going to get something to drink today?

I have told so many people about your products. I even played them for my rehab classmates. I truly have Hypnosis downloads to thank! I am sober, engaged (we got back together), have a great job, am genuinely happy and I have no problem being around alcohol, so I can go out with friends and still have a good time, a good sober time. I never thought I would be in the place I am today. So thank you, your product truly changed my life!!!

This hypnosis story came from Katie Embick, Littleton, USA.

Richard Lamb's story: Recovery from a near-fatal climbing accident

A hypnotherapist enabled me to overcome the fear and anger I experienced through working with the emotional trauma.

1. Climbing a winter mountaineering route in Feb 2001 - Tower Ridge, on Ben Nevis - with two friends, Neil and Andy.

2. While Andy declined to continue with the route, Neil and I pressed on. 90% of the difficult sections lay at the top of the route, on a section called the Great Tower. Approximately 30-40 metres of the c.600 metre-long route lay head. We successfully navigated these sections, and my last memory that day was to crack a joke to Neil, feel the wind pick up over my right shoulder (a similar feeling just before the motorcyle crash), then woke up 13 days later in Southern Glasgow Hospital's ICU. Neil was killed during the c.800 foot fall; I held on through temperatures reaching -21 Celcius until Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team reached our position the following morning.

3. Spent 3.5 months in hospital, learning how to walk, think (due to a near-fatal skull fracture) and live again.

4. Walked out of the burns unit (the closest thing the NHS has to treating frost-bite!) in Manchester - where most of my family were living - in June 15 2001.

5. Moved into my own bungalow in Glossop, where one of my sisters lived, in Feb 2002, to work out what was next in my life.

6. Received my Motability car in early April 2002, which 'gave me wings'!

7. Visited the folks at Lochaber MRT and staff at Fort William's A&E who saved my life (arguably the finest mountain trauma clinic outside of Chamonix!) in August 2002, and celebrated Life with them by taking a crate of Highland Park single malt whiskey to share ;{D

8. Didn't fancy being on state benefit for the rest of my days, so I invested my savings into retraining for a career in IT. Was accepted by UMIST, and started the conversion MSc in Computation Sept 2002.

9. Gained access to a Hypnotherapist via the NHS to enable me to overcome the fear and anger I experienced through working with the emotional trauma.

10. While finishing the MSc for June 2004, I started working part-time as a sales assistant at Cotswold Outdoor in January. By early Feb I started having dreams, which I couldn't recall, though the meaning was clear; Return to Tower Ridge. I planned and orchestrated the return to the tower for mid-June 2004. I utilised self-hypnosis, positive affirmations and visualisation through my preparations. To cut a long story short, me and Andy - who had identified Neil's body the following day we were rescued - reclimbed the route, 'slayed the dragon', and returned to the Ben Nevis Inn to celebrate. Neither of us have looked back since (Andy is now a UAV submarine freelance pilot, involved in gas and oil exploration, now living in the Languedoc. I will be visiting him in the summer of 2014 as part of a cycling holiday.

11. I now run my own Transformational Life Coaching clinic in central Nottingham, as part of a teach of holistic healthcare practitioners.

This hypnosis story came from Richard Lamb, Nottingham, UK.

Sarah Ridenbaugh's story: Homeless, helpless and hopeless

I have been given my life back and that gift is priceless. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Hypnosis has completely changed my life. I came from a broken family that didn't instill positive behaviours, thought process, or self esteem. My development was severely stunted. I was at a point where I wasn't sure what was right or wrong. I didn't know what to do.

My life never changed the way I wanted it to. I tried counseling, self-help books, moving, you name it, but the cycle continued. I stumbled upon hypnosisdownloads.com and haven't steered away since.

I was homeless, helpless, and hopeless but now thanks to hypnosisdownloads.com feel empowered, positive, and determined to make my dreams come true. I finally broke the cycle. I've learned to trust, believe, and enjoy the adventure. I have been given my life back and that gift is priceless. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

This hypnosis story came from Sarah Ridenbaugh, Florida, USA.