Coffee With A Clinical Hypnotherapist and Transformational Therapist

Annabella Zeiddar lives in sleepy rural Dorset with her husband and son, Zak. She works globally online via Zoom, helping stressed high performers to put themselves at the top of their to-do list, achieve equilibrium and feel as successful in their personal lives as they do in their professional ones. 

Describe what you do without using the name of your profession. 

I help my clients get to the root cause of their issue, whether it’s overeating, emotional eating or a lack of body confidence, at a deep subconscious level so that they understand why they feel and behave the way they do because understanding is power. During the session, the client is in hypnosis, so their conscious mind is switched off, and the subconscious mind can accept new empowering suggestions without judgment replacing any limiting beliefs the client may have had rapidly and permanently.  

How did you choose this career path? 

When I was in my early thirties, I performed the ultimate reset by giving up a successful career in law and escaping the grey skies of London for the sun and palm trees of Marrakech. (And I wondered why my family thought I had an early midlife crisis?!) But the truth was that I had lost myself to my legal career. I had given 100% to it, but I was sleep deprived, had zero social life, no partner and self-care wasn’t in my vocabulary. While my hard work was recognised with an equity partnership at the age of 27, it had left me tired and overwhelmed, stressed and looking to food as a way to get me through the day. I was sacrificing my life to a high-pressure environment. 

But all that glitters is not gold, and Marrakech brought its own issues. It was initially a considerable culture shock, and I sometimes felt lonely and disconnected. Even though it was a 3-hour flight from London, I felt a million miles away at times. I discovered that I couldn’t have my own family, and in a culture where having children is expected and highly prized, it left me feeling inadequate. So I turned again to my trusted coping mechanism of food to help me feel better at that moment, but in the long run, it left me overweight and hating my body - caught in a vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting, gaining more weight after every diet. 

One hot day in Marrakech, almost exactly six years ago, I was reading a book about a radical form of hypnotherapy that promised rapid and permanent change.. I decided to give it a go and resolve my eating and weight issues once and for all. The results were so dramatic (losing 10kgs in as many weeks) that I knew then and there that I had to train as a transformational therapist myself and help other women in the same situation. 

I had struggled with overeating, my weight and body confidence since I was a child, but I discovered in the session that it all started with being put on a diet at the age of ten. The school nurse had weighed me and because I was taller than the other kids and had developed early, I weighed more! A well-meaning note home meant me being put on a diet which started a lifetime of an unhealthy relationship with food and my body - relying on food to push down unhealthy emotions. Why? Because I had unwittingly been made to feel not enough as that ten-year-old. I understood though, that I wasn’t that 10-year-old anymore and that I was more than enough just as I was. Food wasn’t love or comfort, and it couldn’t make me feel better other than momentarily. I am now fitter, stronger and healthier than I have ever been, have developed healthy coping skills for handling negative emotions, and have kept the weight off. 

What attributes do you think you need to work as a Transformational Therapist: 

As well as being empathetic and compassionate, you have to love helping people - and that doesn’t mean loving them so much that you do the work for your clients or taking responsibility for the transformation. It means showing up fully and listening to your clients - so much so that you hear what they don’t say as much as what they do. I believe in my clients because I know that whatever is going on in their lives, they ALL have the power to change, and I think that inspires them to believe in themselves and effect that change. Detective skills are important because my client and I are working out the root cause of their issue during the session, so the ability to interpret what’s presented to you is essential. 

What do you love most about your work/ What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning? 

Every client is unique, and so every session is unique too. I love the connection I develop with my clients during the session and knowing that I’m truly making a difference in their lives. While I’m excited to get to do my work, I also feel at peace because I believe I have found my purpose and have been gravitating towards it all my life. My mission is to help women love themselves just as they are. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, when you love yourself unconditionally, you’ll naturally act in ways that serve you - implementing self-care, eating delicious, nutritious, healthy food and moving your body - shedding the excess weight and feeling amazing!

Tell us something we may not know about Transformational Therapy and Hypnotherapy.

We know from neuroplasticity that it’s now possible to rewire the brain with new beliefs because it’s plastic (malleable). It was once thought this only occurred in childhood, but we now know this can also happen in adulthood.

So following a session, I create a bespoke transformational recording that the client listens to daily for at least 21 days. It’s full of positive and empowering statements which support the client’s new beliefs (the transformation) formed during the session. Through repeated listening to that recording in hypnosis, the client is easily and effortlessly rewiring the mind with new, permanent empowering beliefs!

Tell us a fun fact about you.

I have a pet Chihuahua X called Magnus, who we rescued at the end of 2019, just before Covid. He’s a bit feisty, he’s on the larger side and has an underbite, but we love him so much!

Tricia Scott is a passionate startup business mentor and the Founder and Editor of The Female CEO - Create Evolve Overcome, a platform and digital magazine holding the space to showcase female entrepreneurs from all over the world. She brings the most inspirational journeys, stories and training to help entrepreneurs on their own personal success mission.

The Female CEO is gaining global recognition daily and Tricia is able to bring her own level of expertise as a start-up coach, mentor and multi-company director to her very exclusive table along with her team of brilliant Guest Editors and Contributors. You'll usually find her with her MacBook in one hand and a coffee or a glass of something fizzy in the other Reach out anytime!