Over 8 million people in the UK are living with anxiety right now. Most of them have never told anyone.

If that's you, this episode is for you.

In this first episode, solution-focused hypnotherapist and founder of Inspired to Change, Gary Johannahs, breaks down what anxiety actually is, what's keeping it going, and what genuinely helps.

No jargon. No judgment. Just the science, explained clearly, and a practical place to start.

Because here's the thing: anxiety isn't a sign something is fundamentally wrong with you. It's your brain doing its job. It's just doing it a bit too much.

What we cover in this episode:

• What anxiety actually is, and why it's not a character flaw
• The fight-or-flight response and why your brain can't always tell the difference between danger and a difficult conversation
• The two parts of the brain that drive anxiety (and why "just calm down" never works)
• Why avoidance feels like relief but makes everything worse
• The role of sleep and serotonin in keeping anxiety going
• What solution-focused hypnotherapy does differently
• One simple daily practice that starts to retrain your anxious brain

About Gary Johannahs: Gary left school at 14, joined the RAF at 16, and spent his first 30 years in sales and running bars and nightclubs. In his mid-40s, he discovered hypnotherapy, and it changed everything. He went on to retrain, found Inspired to Change, and completed an MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King's College London at the age of 60. He was also diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD that same year. He now leads a team of solution-focused hypnotherapists and is a senior lecturer at CPHT.

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Every episode covers one condition, what's going on, what's keeping it going, and what actually helps. There's a lot more to come.