Moving Minds Forward

Gary Johannes
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  • Mental Health

Most people know something's wrong. They just don't know why or what to do about it. Hosted by Gary Johannes , Solution focused hypnotherapist, founder of Inspired To Change, and senior lecturer at CPHT. Moving Minds Forward is a podcast about mental health, the brain, and what genuinely helps people change. One condition per episode. Anxiety, depression, panic, sleep, stress, trauma, OCD, overthinking, confidence and more, explored through honest conversation, grounded in neuroscience and current research. Some episodes are educational. Some include guests sharing their own experience of moving forward. No jargon. No blame. No dwelling on the past. Just straight answers about why the brain does what it does and what actually helps. Because people aren't broken. Sometimes the brain just gets stuck in patterns it learned to survive. And the brain can learn something different.

  1. 2d ago

    Imposter Syndrome Symptoms: Why High Achievers Feel Like Frauds (with Dawn Ibbetson)

    Imposter syndrome symptoms don't look like low confidence, they look like success that never feels earned.  In this episode, Dawn Ibbetson, who led global IT teams across time zones while convinced she'd be "found out," joins Gary to explain what's actually happening in the brain, and what helped her stop wearing the mask. Dawn calls herself the swan, calm and capable on the surface, panicking underneath. First in, last out, no lunch breaks, constantly trying to prove she belonged in the room. Not because she wasn't good enough. Because no amount of evidence ever felt like enough. In this conversation, Dawn and Gary get into: – What imposter syndrome actually is, and why it has nothing to do with ability – Why it hit harder for Dawn in a male-dominated corporate world – What's happening in the brain when the "found out" feeling fires and why the amygdala can't tell the difference between real danger and being seen – How imposter syndrome and burnout fed each other, and which one came first – The one small action that starts to break the cycle (it's smaller than you think) – What an ordinary working day looks like for Dawn now, boundaries and all Somewhere between a quarter and a third of high achievers deal with imposter syndrome symptoms at some point. 94% have never said it out loud. If that's you, you're not the exception, you're just one of the many who hasn't spoken about it yet. One condition per episode. What's going on, what's keeping it going, and what actually helps. Dawn Ibbetson is a solution-focused hypnotherapist with Inspired to Change, based in our Chelmsford clinic, and works with individuals and corporate teams on imposter syndrome, burnout, and stress. Find your nearest Inspired to Change therapist and book a free consultation: https://inspiredtochange.biz Subscribe for more episodes of Moving Minds Forward. #ImposterSyndrome #MentalHealth #SolutionFocusedHypnotherapy #MovingMindsForward #Burnout

    Imposter Syndrome Symptoms: Why High Achievers Feel Like Frauds (with Dawn Ibbetson)

  2. Sep 27

    Fear of Flying: Why Your Brain Panics on a Plane and How to Overcome It

    That heavy thunk as the cabin door closes. That's the sound your fear has been waiting for because that's the moment the choice is gone. If you've turned down a trip you wanted to go on, driven two days rather than fly two hours, or spent the fortnight before a flight with a knot in your stomach, this episode is for you. You're not weak, you're not dramatic, and you're not alone. Around one in ten people in the UK have a fear of flying, and a quarter of adults feel some anxiety about getting on a plane. In this episode of Moving Minds Forward, Gary Johannes takes the fear of flying apart the way he takes every condition apart: what's going on, what's keeping it going, and what actually helps. In this episode: Why fear of flying is often not about the plane at all, but about losing control of yourself in a place you can't walk out ofThe smoke detector in your brain that can't tell a fire from burnt toastWhy the facts don't help in the moment — your survival brain can't read a safety record, only your heartbeatWhy you don't need a bad flight to develop the fear, and where it usually comes from insteadThe stress bucket: why fear of flying is often the symptom and an overflowing life is the causeHow avoidance gives instant relief and makes the fear growWhy rehearsing the disaster in your head means you've flown that nightmare a hundred times before you reach the airportWhat actually helps: positive interaction, positive action, positive thinking, and the breathing switch that talks straight to the alarmWhat hypnotherapy really is (and isn't) and what Stanford brain scans show it doesOne thing to say to yourself the next time the dread risesThe fear was learned. What's learned can be unlearned. Gary Johannes is a solution-focused hypnotherapist, founder of Inspired to Change, and senior lecturer at CPHT Hypnotherapy Training. He left school at 14, joined the RAF at 16, spent 30 years in sales and hospitality, retrained in his late 40s and completed an MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King's College London at 60. Want help with your fear of flying? Inspired to Change has solution-focused hypnotherapists across the UK, in person and online. It's worth starting well before your trip. Find your nearest therapist and book a free initial consultation: inspiredtochange.biz If panic is showing up in everyday life, not just on the plane, please speak to your GP. Chapters 00:00 Gary's story and the Moving Minds Forward approach 00:00 The woman who drove to France, the man with the 7am whisky 00:00 The cabin door closes: what you're actually feeling 00:00 What fear of flying really is — and why it's often about the feelings, not the flight 00:00 What's happening in your brain: the smoke detector 00:00 What causes it: learned fear, claustrophobia, and the stress bucket 00:00 What keeps it going: avoidance, rehearsal and body-watching 00:00 What actually helps: the three pillars 00:00 What hypnotherapy actually is 00:00 One thing to say when the dread rises 00:00 You are not broken #FearOfFlying #Aerophobia #MovingMindsForward #SolutionFocusedHypnotherapy #MentalHealthPodcast #FlyingAnxiety #HypnotherapyForFearOfFlying #InspiredToChange #GaryJohannes https://inspiredtochange.biz/phobias/agoraphobia/

    Fear of Flying: Why Your Brain Panics on a Plane and How to Overcome It

  3. Sep 25

    5 Breathing Techniques for Anxiety and Stress and Why They Actually Work

    You've pulled onto the drive after work. Engine off. And you just sit there, home, but not ready to walk in. Chest tight, jaw tight, mind still on today and already on tomorrow. Nothing's wrong in that moment. Your body just hasn't got the message. And if someone saying "just breathe" has ever made you want to scream, this episode is for you, because Gary Johannes shows you why it works, and how to actually do it. This one's different. Not a condition to unpick,  a set of tools you can use tonight. In this episode: Why stress, anxiety and overwhelm are all the same thing: an accelerator stuck downThe one part of your alarm system you can reach with your own handsThe secret that unlocks every technique: out-breath longer than in-breathBelly breathing - the foundation the rest are built on7-11 breathing - the all-rounder for when your head's overwhelmedThe psychological sigh - your emergency brake when anxiety's climbing fastBox breathing - for when you're wound up or steadying yourself before something big4-7-8 breathing - for lying in bed when sleep won't comeWhich one to use when, and why you should only pick oneThe 2023 Stanford trial that put breathing exercises up against meditationWhy breathing calms the moment but doesn't change the baseline and what doesThe one thing to do today, while you're calmYou're not broken. Your body's just stuck in a gear it doesn't need to be in, and you're carrying the gear stick. Gary Johannes is a solution-focused hypnotherapist, founder of Inspired to Change, and senior lecturer at CPHT Hypnotherapy Training. He left school at 14, joined the RAF at 16, spent 30 years in sales and hospitality, retrained in his late 40s and completed an MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King's College London at 60. If the calm never seems to last Breathing is a tool, not a cure. If you're reaching for it ten times a day just to get through, that's your nervous system telling you the real work is upstream. Inspired to Change has solution-focused hypnotherapists across the UK, in person and online. Find your nearest therapist and book a free initial consultation: Inspired To Change Listen to more podcast here - PODCAST Chapters 00:00 Gary's story and why this episode is different 02:00 Sitting on the drive: the accelerator stuck down 03:15 Why breathing actually works — the brake you can reach 05:00 The stress bucket 05:45 Belly breathing: the foundation 06:30 7-11 breathing: the all-rounder 07:15 The psychological sigh: your emergency brake 08:00 Box breathing: for pressure and tension 08:40 4-7-8 breathing: for sleep 09:10 Which one when — and why to pick just one 09:45 Gentle is the whole point 10:10 A tool, not a cure: when the bucket's overflowing 10:50 The Stanford breathing trial 11:30 One thing to do today: practise while you're calm 12:20 You're carrying the gear stick #BreathingTechniques #BreathingForAnxiety #BoxBreathing #478Breathing #711Breathing #MovingMindsForward #SolutionFocusedHypnotherapy #MentalHealthPodcast #InspiredToChange #GaryJohannes

    5 Breathing Techniques for Anxiety and Stress and Why They Actually Work

  4. Sep 20

    Emotional Eating Explained: Cortisol, Serotonin and Why Diets Fail

    If you've struggled with your weight, you've probably decided the problem is you. Weak. Greedy. No willpower.  That belief is wrong and it's the very thing keeping you stuck. In this episode of Moving Minds Forward, Gary Johannes takes weight apart the way he takes every condition apart: what's going on, what's keeping it going, and what actually helps. And the answer is rarely about food. Emotional eating isn't a character flaw. It's a normal brain running an ancient survival programme in a world that programme was never built for. Once you see the machinery, you stop blaming yourself and a way through starts to appear. In this episode: Why weight is an emotional problem that plays out through eating, not an eating problemCortisol, belly fat and the stress loop that feeds itselfLow serotonin, that hollow "not hungry but need something" feeling, and why food is the fastest hitDopamine, reward, and why the same food keeps giving you lessThe shame cycle: eat, guilt, feel worse, eat again and why being harder on yourself makes it worseBlack-and-white thinking, poor sleep, and the other loops that keep it spinningWhy diets aim at the wrong target and what the solution-focused approach does insteadHow the trance state lowers cortisol and puts the thinking brain back in chargeOne thing to try today: the pause-and-name question that puts a gap between the feeling and the foodNearly half of UK adults are trying to lose weight at any one time. You are not a lonely failure. You're an ordinary human with a very common struggle and patterns can change. Gary Johannes is a solution-focused hypnotherapist, founder of Inspired to Change, and senior lecturer at CPHT Hypnotherapy Training.  He left school at 14, spent 30 years in sales and hospitality, retrained in his late 40s and completed an MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King's College London at 60. Need support? If your relationship with food feels out of control, Beat, the UK's eating disorder charity, has a helpline at beateatingdisorders.org.uk. If your weight has changed suddenly without explanation, see your GP. For help with the emotional side of eating, Inspired to Change has solution-focused hypnotherapists across the UK, in person or online: www.inspiredtochange.biz    Read the companion blog: Timestamps 00:00 Gary's story and the Moving Minds Forward approach 01:30 "The problem is you" — taking the belief apart 03:15 Weight isn't an eating problem, it's an emotional one 04:20 You're not alone: the UK numbers and the mood link 05:30 What's happening in the brain: cortisol, serotonin, dopamine 07:20 The ancient survival wiring 08:30 What causes it: emotional drivers, physical causes, eating disorders 10:10 What keeps it going: the shame cycle, black-and-white thinking, sleep 12:15 What actually helps: the solution-focused approach and the trance state 14:20 The three pillars and getting your feel-good chemistry from somewhere else 15:30 One thing to try today: pause and name the feeling 17:20 You're not greedy, you're not weak 18:10 Where to get help #EmotionalEating #StressAndWeightGain #MovingMindsForward #SolutionFocusedHypnotherapy #MentalHealthPodcast #WeightLossMindset #Cortisol #ComfortEating #InspiredToChange #GaryJohannes

    Emotional Eating Explained: Cortisol, Serotonin and Why Diets Fail

  5. Sep 13

    Why You Go Blank When You Stand Up to Speak and How to Change It

    You can be brilliant at your job, sharp in meetings, the person everyone turns to  and then someone says "can you just say a few words?" and your stomach drops through the floor. That's the fear of public speaking, and it has nothing to do with how good you are.  In this episode of Moving Minds Forward, Gary Johannes explains what's really happening when you stand up to speak: why your brain treats a friendly room as a life-or-death emergency, why your mind goes blank at exactly the wrong moment, and why avoiding it only makes the fear stronger. Then, what actually helps — including one simple shift you can use the next time your heart starts racing. Around half of us fear public speaking. One in seven call it overwhelming. Almost half say it's held their career back. If that's you, you're not a bad speaker. You're running ancient software in front of a modern audience — and that's a pattern, not a fact. Patterns can change. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 01:20 Why capable people go to pieces 02:40 What glossophobia actually is 03:45 How common it really is 04:40 What's happening in your brain 07:00 Where the fear comes from 08:20 What keeps it going: avoidance and safety behaviours 10:40 What actually helps: the solution-focused approach 11:40 Mental rehearsal and how hypnotherapy helps 12:50 The three pillars 14:15 One thing to try today: relabelling the fear Gary Johannes is a solution-focused hypnotherapist, founder of Inspired to Change and a senior lecturer at CPHT. He left school at 14, spent 30 years in sales and hospitality, retrained in his late 40s and completed an MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King's College London at 60. Moving Minds Forward: one condition per episode. What's going on? What's keeping it going? And what actually helps? If the fear of public speaking is holding you back, Inspired to Change has solution-focused hypnotherapists across the UK, in person and online. Book a free initial consultation:https://www.inspiredtochange.biz Subscribe for a new episode every week. #PublicSpeaking #Glossophobia #FearOfPublicSpeaking #Hypnotherapy #MentalHealth #Anxiety #SolutionFocusedHypnotherapy #MovingMindsForward

    Why You Go Blank When You Stand Up to Speak and How to Change It

  6. Sep 6

    Men's Mental Health: Why It Comes Out Sideways | Anger, Alcohol, Shutting Down | Peter Ely

    Men's mental health rarely announces itself. It comes out sideways - as anger, as a drink after work, as shutting down completely. In this episode of Moving Minds Forward, I'm joined by Peter Ely, solution-focused hypnotherapist with Inspired to Change and my co-host on Inspired Men Talk. Before he retrained, Peter spent 20 years in the security industry, a world where men were paid to look solid, unbothered and in control. He knows what that costs. For years his own coping strategy was alcohol, finishing work, walking into the pub, getting his laptop out and carrying on working while he drank. Not socialising. Coping. We talk about the statistic that changed everything for him: one in four men won't reach retirement age. We talk about why anger is so often vulnerability with nowhere else to go. And we talk about the stress bucket,why it's never the big thing that tips a man over, it's the parking space and the broken cup on top of everything he was already carrying. If you're a man who's still functioning, still turning up, still getting on with it, but quietly exhausted underneath, this one's for you. If you love a man like that, it's for you too. The message underneath all of it: you're not broken. Pushing it down isn't weakness or a character flaw. It's a strategy a lot of men learned and strategies can be swapped for better ones. You don't need a crisis as your entry ticket. In this episode: 00:00 — Why this episode exists: 76% of UK suicides are men04:00 — Welcome, Peter04:40 — The statistic that changed everything: 1 in 4 men won't reach retirement05:50 — Why men wait until it's at its worst07:20 — 20 years in security: what it taught him about men and feelings08:00 — The doorman, the shooting, and unprocessed trauma10:00 — What a struggling man looks like when he first walks in11:00 — Why it comes out sideways: anger as vulnerability12:20 — Peter's own story: alcohol as a crutch14:00 — The laptop in the pub14:40 — What's actually happening in the brain: the stress bucket16:00 — A parking space, a broken cup, and a bad day18:00 — The provider instinct: already a snowball before anything goes wrong18:30 — You don't have to dig through your past to get better19:00 — "I accepted I wasn't broken"20:20 — The first small thing a struggling man can do this week22:20 — Find your thing23:30 — The man sitting in his car outside the clinic25:00 — "There's nothing you can tell me I haven't done"Where to go next: Find your nearest solution-focused hypnotherapist, read more about how hypnotherapy works for men, and book a free initial consultation: https://inspiredtochange.biz Peter practises in Islington, North London. For more conversations like this, find Inspired Men Talk wherever you get your podcasts. Peter and I go further into exactly this territory, episode after episode. If you're struggling right now, you can contact Samaritans free on 116 123, any time, day or night. Andy's Man Club run free weekly groups across the UK where you can turn up and just listen. Moving Minds Forward - one condition per episode. What's going on, what's keeping it going, and what actually helps. Hosted by Gary Johannes, solution-focused hypnotherapist and founder of Inspired to Change. If this was useful, hit subscribe. There's a lot more to come. #MensMentalHealth #MovingMindsForward #Hypnotherapy #SolutionFocused #MentalHealthUK #MensHealth #Anxiety #Stress #InspiredToChange

    Men's Mental Health: Why It Comes Out Sideways | Anger, Alcohol, Shutting Down | Peter Ely

  7. Aug 30

    Why You Can't Switch Off | And How to Teach Your Brain to Relax Again

    If you can't remember the last time you properly switched off, this one's for you. Relaxation isn't collapsing on the sofa with the telly on. It isn't a glass of wine to take the edge off. Real relaxation is something your body actually does a shift in the nervous system from alert to calm, from doing to recovering. And for a lot of us, that ability has quietly faded. In this episode, Gary Johannes explains what's really going on when you can't relax: the two systems running your inner state, why your alarm gets stuck on, and why the harder you try to force calm, the more it slips away. You'll learn why walking clears your head when sitting still won't, why guilt keeps so many people braced even on their day off, and the one breathing technique you can use today to press the brake. Here's the part worth holding onto: relaxation is a skill. What faded through disuse can be rebuilt through practice.  You're not broken, and you're not lazy, you're someone whose nervous system has been running hot in a world that keeps its foot on the accelerator. That's a pattern, and patterns can change. Inspired to Change has solution-focused hypnotherapists across the UK, in person and online. Everything's at  www.inspiredtochange.biz.

    Why You Can't Switch Off | And How to Teach Your Brain to Relax Again

  8. Aug 23

    Driving Anxiety: Why You're Not a Nervous Driver and How to Get Yourself Back

    More than a third of UK drivers feel anxious behind the wheel. Nearly a quarter now avoid driving as much as they can. If you're the one white-knuckling the steering wheel while everyone else seems fine — you're not, and you're nowhere near alone. In this episode of Moving Minds Forward, Gary Johannes unpacks what driving anxiety actually is, in plain terms. Why your heart hammers before you've even picked up the keys. Why avoidance feels like relief but quietly makes the fear grow. And why none of it means there's something wrong with you. Here's the truth at the heart of it: this isn't a driving problem. It's an alarm system doing its job a little too well. And alarms can be reset. Gary walks you through what keeps driving anxiety going, the practical things that help straight away, and the deeper work, including how solution-focused hypnotherapy retrains the brain from "car, road, danger" to "car, road, calm." You'll hear what he's watched happen over and over: people who came in convinced they'd become a nervous driver for good, and left booking road trips. You're not a nervous driver. You're a capable driver with a nervous system that needs a bit of reteaching and that's a very fixable thing. Every therapist at Inspired to Change works with driving anxiety, in person or online, wherever you are in the UK. Find one near you at inspiredtochange.biz.

    Driving Anxiety: Why You're Not a Nervous Driver and How to Get Yourself Back
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About

Most people know something's wrong. They just don't know why or what to do about it. Hosted by Gary Johannes , Solution focused hypnotherapist, founder of Inspired To Change, and senior lecturer at CPHT. Moving Minds Forward is a podcast about mental health, the brain, and what genuinely helps people change. One condition per episode. Anxiety, depression, panic, sleep, stress, trauma, OCD, overthinking, confidence and more, explored through honest conversation, grounded in neuroscience and current research. Some episodes are educational. Some include guests sharing their own experience of moving forward. No jargon. No blame. No dwelling on the past. Just straight answers about why the brain does what it does and what actually helps. Because people aren't broken. Sometimes the brain just gets stuck in patterns it learned to survive. And the brain can learn something different.

Information

  • Creator
    Gary Johannes
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Gary Johannes
  • Show Website
    Moving Minds Forward

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