Havening, Clinical Hypnotherapy, PTSD, and the Primal Brain
- Aug 13, 2025
- 5 min read
Rebecca Jones (M.A. DipPCH) is a Clinical Hypnotherapist & Consultant (GHR, GHSC) (GQHP, MAC) and CEO/Founder: 'Paris St. Cloud' | Harley Street Therapy clinic | 'The Empire State of Mind'
In our modern world, which at times, if not often, can be busy, stressful, and overwhelming, do you ever feel like you are not in control? Do you ever wish that you could just relax? Do you ever wish that you could just switch off? Do you feel controlled by your past negative experiences? Are you suffering from trauma or PTSD? Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to rest, be calm, and take a moment?
As a Clinical Hypnotherapist, I see many clients who come to me with similar questions.
Our primal brains, for very good reasons historically, often take us to a heightened sense of alertness, stress, and fight-or-flight mode.
However, this is often counterproductive and can even be harmful to our health in the present day. It is important for us to be able to rest, replenish, and relax.
The good news is that we have the power and the tools to rewire our primal brains so that we are running them, and not the other way around!
Welcome, Havening
Havening is a transformative tool that can help people heal and remove unconscious blocks, as well as old emotional wounds, extreme trauma, and self-sabotaging beliefs.
As a Clinical Hypnotherapist, Havening is one of the many tools I use to successfully work with clients on a daily basis.
Havening is a psycho-sensory therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Steven Ruden and Dr. Ronald Ruden. It uses touch and eye movements to treat PTSD and trauma.
It reduces anxiety and stress associated with extreme negative memories and intense grief.
It creates new neural pathways in the brain, removing the old pathways associated with emotional distress and replacing them with more positive and helpful rewiring.
The technique also boosts the production of serotonin in your brain. This, in turn, helps you relax and detach from an upsetting memory or experience.
The release of serotonin has a soothing effect that helps relieve mental health symptoms and keeps painful memories from troubling you further.
Havening uses neuroplasticity to rewire your brain (just like a computer!). It targets your nervous system to ease past pain and enables you to tap into your full potential, thus taking charge of your future and where you want to go from here!
Havening comes from the word "Haven," meaning creating a safe space for yourself. And that is exactly how it feels when you experience the Havening technique.
Impacting our internal world, the power of Havening then ripples out to all aspects and areas of one's life, enabling you to gain your strength back and take your power back to live the life you were meant to live.
Past, painful, and traumatic experiences do change our brains and neural pathways.
In the past, it was believed that our brains and neural pathways were changed permanently, forever. And that PTSD and past, painful memories were irreversible.
However, through Clinical Hypnotherapy, and now through Havening, it has been shown that we can change our brains and heal from PTSD and past trauma.
In the brain, and in the part of the brain called the amygdala, past trauma and memories are stored and are also held in the body. These memories are often lived out in our behavior patterns and the lives that we lead.
The amygdala is a complex structure of cells nestled in the middle of the brain, adjacent to the hippocampus (which is associated with memory formation). It is part of the limbic system and plays a key role in processing emotions and emotional reactions.
Through research and trials, Dr. Ruden was able to map out the functions in the brain surrounding trauma and develop the Havening technique to transform past trauma and rewire the brain.
Havening works by creating Delta Waves in the brain, which alters the neurochemistry of the brain and deletes the neural pathways holding the trauma, allowing them to be rewritten.
We all have five different types of brainwaves
Gamma
Beta
Alpha
Theta
Delta
Each brainwave has a distinct purpose and helps us behave, think, move, and process. Although they channel automatically, it is our ability to modulate between them that determines how well we cope with pressure, rational and irrational thoughts, task management, and more.
If our physiology, diet, or environment causes an overproduction or underproduction of a certain brainwave, it can alter the balance of our bodies and induce many negative effects such as insomnia, anger, stress, learning difficulties, or anxiety.
This is why it is important to optimize our brains for a better wave balance, rather than aim to increase or decrease a particular one.
(You can read more about our brainwaves and how to reach peak mental performance in my previous articles).
Once rewired, the way that the memories are encoded within the brain means that the factual component of the memory remains completely intact and accurate, while the emotional component is rewritten so that the memory is still there and accessible, but it no longer has the emotional intensity that it once did.
When the amygdala is running our brain, we have little or no control over our emotions, reactions, or actions.
But once rewired, we are in charge. We are running our brains, we are running the show, and we make wiser, better decisions, both for the moment and for our future selves.
If you are interested in finding out more about Havening, please contact a qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist with training and experience in Havening.
We are always happy to help!
Rebecca Jones, Clinical Hypnotherapist | Consultant Rebecca Jones (M.A. DipPCH) is a Clinical Hypnotherapist & Consultant (GHR, GHSC) (GQHP, MAC) and CEO/Founder: 'Paris St. Cloud' | Harley Street Therapy clinic | 'The Empire State of Mind'
Harley Street Therapy Clinic | London W1 | UK | Fifth Avenue Therapy Clinic | 5th Ave | NYC | USA | Global Solutions | Worldwide
Initially trained by Dr. Richard Bandler and Paul McKenna, & now a much trusted & highly valued part of their team, Rebecca is a highly sought-after expert in her field. Rebecca is an inspirational therapist and consultant with her thriving practice in Harley Street London and a successful clinic on Deansgate in Manchester; Rebecca is a dedicated, professional, highly experienced, and highly effective, successful therapist & consultant. Rebecca now also has a clinic on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, USA.
