Dr. Claire de la Varre

Psychotherapist & Hypnotherapist

This simple, quiet story illustrates the profound lessons we can learn from nature if we walk, sit, look and listen with the perspective of a child when everything is new and fresh.

Nature teaches us profound lessons if we view it with childlike wonder, as shown in this quiet yet powerful story.

A Little Boy Learns Some Secrets

This guided visualization allows you to tap into your inner wisdom as you meet and spend time with your physical self, your intellectual or thinking self, your emotional self, and your spiritual self. Finally, you will integrate and balance all of these parts of you to make up a more harmonious whole. Enjoy this contemplative walk.

Guided visualization helps integrate and balance physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual selves to create a more harmonious whole.

A Self-Balancing Walk

While this guided meditation could be done in a sitting or lying position, it works best as a standing stretch, feet firmly on the ground and arms stretched upwards, like a tree.

Best done as a standing stretch with arms stretched upwards, this guided meditation helps improve focus and balance.

Three-Minute Morning Stretch

Each episode in this series of stories from nature is quietly interesting, but not interesting enough to keep you from drifting off to sleep. The book that these tales are taken from, was published in 1910. The Land of Azure Blue contains discussions of the beautiful plants found in the French Côte d'Azur, as well as tree frogs, and the origin of the color blue in the sky, smoke, and the human eye.

A sleep-inducing but informative nature series derived from a 1910 book, covering the French Côte d'Azur's flora, tree frogs, and the color blue.

Stories from Nature: Land of Azure Blue

Each episode in this series of stories from nature is quietly interesting, but not interesting enough to keep you from drifting off to sleep. The book that these tales are taken from, was published in 1910. Modern Horses and their Ancestors contains discussions of modern horses and their ancestors from the fossil record, and what was known from the fossil record a century ago.

"Quietly interesting nature stories from a 1910 book on modern horses and their ancestors may lull you to sleep."

Modern Horses and their Ancestors

This meditation is designed to be played for children at bedtime, just before they go to sleep, and can be especially helpful during times of anxiety.

Bedtime meditation for children to ease anxiety.

Child Sleep Meditation

This self hypnosis recording helps prepare the mind and body for deep restful sleep. With practice you will be able to use these techniques to fall asleep very quickly and easily. This recording includes making an "anchor" something you do with your body - in this case gently squeezing finger and thumb together to make a circle - that will become associated with a relaxed, calm feeling. Enjoy!

Self hypnosis recording aids in deep, restful sleep with an anchor technique for a relaxed feeling, resulting in quicker and easier sleep.

Self Hypnosis for Deep Comfortable Sleep

Robert Browning's version of this well-loved folk tale about the Pied Piper hired to free the town of Hamelin from its plague of rats... but it seems there is evidence that this story might be based on an actual event, that happened in the year 1284.

Robert Browning's Pied Piper tells the story of a rat plague in Hamelin, possibly based on a real event in 1284.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

The ancient Egyptians learned the secrets to restful, peaceful sleep thousands of years ago. Now you can too!

Learn ancient Egyptian secrets to peaceful sleep.

The Sleep Temples of Ancient Egypt

Each episode in this series of stories from nature is quietly interesting, but probably not interesting enough to keep you from drifting off to sleep. The book that these tales are taken from, was published in 1910. Here Be Dragons contain discussions of how the idea of dragons developed in human consciousness from observation of mysterious fossils, into mythology and legend.

Here Be Dragons: a series of nature stories from a 1910 book discussing the evolution of dragons from fossils to mythology, but may bore you to sleep.

Stories from Nature: Here Be Dragons!

By following the breath into the depths of the heart chakra, we can briefly visit the layers of emotions contained within, before expanding outwards into space, as far as the universe itself has expanded, and bringing that experience back into daily life. Enjoy this peaceful meditative journey.

Explore emotions in heart chakra, expand outwards to universe and bring back the experience into daily life with peaceful meditation.

Expanding the Heart: Inwards & Outwards

This well-loved poem by Eugene Field is about a little child falling asleep. Children will love joining in the repetitive phrase "wynken, blynken and nod" at the end of each verse.

Eugene Field's beloved poem features a child falling asleep with the repetitive phrase "wynken, blynken and nod" at the end of each verse.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod

This guided visualization takes you on a walk up a hillside after a gentle spring rain, scattering magical rainbow seeds and enjoying the range of colorful flowers that bloom, as you walk with appreciation and gratitude for yourself and your life.

Take a guided walk up a hill after the rain, scatter rainbow seeds, appreciate colorful flowers and be grateful for your life.

Planting Rainbow Seeds

This gentle guided hypnosis session helps you attune to your own, unique inner music.

A guided hypnosis session to attune to your inner music.

You Are Music

Each episode in this series of stories from nature and science is quietly interesting, but probably not interesting enough to keep you from drifting off to sleep. The book that these tales are taken from, was published in 1910. This chapter, Comets, describes many fascinating facts about these celestial objects.

A series of stories from nature and science that may be too dull to keep you awake, but chapter on comets from a 1910 book is fascinating.

Comets: Stories from Nature

This track guides you through the peaceful 'garden of your life, beginning with a body scan and moving into guided imagery. First, you get rid of negative emotions, old hurts, and frustrations, by making a bonfire, then you visit your tool shed which is full of wonderful resources, and finally, you gain perspective through a bird's eye view of your life.

Guided meditation track for inner peace: body scan, bonfire to release negative emotions, tool shed for resources, bird's eye view for perspective.

The Garden of Your Life - Guided Imagery

The guided imagery session begins with a peaceful walk from a hill on a tropical island, through a forest, and to a beautiful deserted beach. After being on the beach for a while, you follow a path and pass through a gate in an old stone wall. You find yourself in a beautiful, magical landscape. Here you will become aware of your higher self, repair any energy leak you may have, and feel bathed in a golden white light of love and healing. Enjoy this relaxing, healing journey through your inner landscapes.

Guided imagery session takes you on a peaceful journey to a deserted beach, magical landscape to meet higher self and heal with golden white light.

Tropical Island Walk With Higher Self

Sometimes we move through a difficult experience and come out the other side. We think we are past it and yet every once in a while we find ourselves being drawn back into the emotions of the event again. Grief can be like that. Or fear, or anxiety. We spiral around and revisit issues - and yet each time we are in a different place, so we view these past events from a different perspective. This meditation invites you to reflect on cosmic time, stars, and comets, and to think about cycles in your own life.

Reflect on past experiences with new perspective through meditation on cosmic time and cycles in your life.

Comet Meditation For Cycles In Our Lives

Chronic pain sends no useful message - the brain gets "locked" into a pain matrix with different parts of the brain working together to generate pain. Hypnosis, through the use of language and suggestions for increased comfort and reduced pain, works on many levels. The pain matrix is disrupted and the comfort matrix is strengthened. Even the act of simply relaxing slows brain waves so that pain signals are sent less frequently. With repetition, the brain can learn to let go of the old unhelpful patterns and learn new ones. Guided imagery and visualization of a relaxing "special" place by a mountain lake make this recording a delightful experience with practical long-term benefits that strengthen each time you listen.

Hypnosis disrupts the pain matrix by suggesting increased comfort and reduced pain, relaxing the brain waves with repetition, and teaching new patterns.

Chronic Pain Reduction And Relaxation

This short, sweet, guided meditation has you imagine yourself as a sunflower seed that then becomes a sunflower. You are invited to think about what "seeds" are lying dormant in your life, full of potential, quietly waiting for a touch of sun and rain to start the new cycle of growth.

Guided meditation: imagine yourself as a sunflower seed and reflect on the dormant potential within you waiting for growth.

Sunflower Seed Meditation

At night things look different, and familiar places take on different characteristics. Our senses may seem more acute at night. We notice sounds and shadows, and our minds sometimes create scenarios that frighten us. This short, calming meditation invites you to contemplate what you reflect back into the world and what you project onto others.

A calming meditation inviting contemplation of reflection and projection, as heightened senses and imagined scenarios can make familiar places frightening at night.

Moonlight Meditation

Functional dyspepsia is the term given to a benign cluster of symptoms that may include nausea, stomach pain or discomfort, and feelings of indigestion, with no obvious cause. It is a common disorder and it is estimated to affect 20- 30% of the population. Symptoms eventually go away in a significant number of people. Stress is known to play a part, and this relaxing hypnosis recording contains soothing beach imagery along with helpful suggestions for the symptoms of dyspepsia to lessen and fade away.

Functional dyspepsia is a common benign disorder with stomach pain, nausea, and indigestion, and this hypnosis recording uses beach imagery to alleviate symptoms.

Beach Hypnosis For Functional Dyspepsia

In the early stages of pregnancy, when you have just found out you are going to become a mother, there can be a mixture of excitement and anxiety. This soothing and comforting hypnosis exercise encourages you to communicate with and bond deeply with your newly conceived child. Gentle guided imagery and helpful suggestions allow you to embrace this new life growing within you during the first trimester, and release any fear or anxiety you may feel about this journey of motherhood.

A soothing hypnosis exercise helps pregnant women bond with their unborn child and release anxiety during the early stages of pregnancy.

Embracing Early Pregnancy

Just found out you are going to be a dad. It can be exhilarating and scary all at the same time. This calming and relaxing hypnosis recording will help give you the perspective you need to be the father you aspire to be and to support your partner through her pregnancy. Congratulations!

A calming hypnosis recording to help expecting fathers gain perspective, support their partner, and become the father they aspire to be.

Embracing Fatherhood

Adopting a child is an extraordinary act of love and selflessness. It means opening one's heart and home to a child who may have experienced hardship or adversity. Parenting through adoption entails embracing the unique journey of another's life, offering unwavering support, and creating a nurturing environment where the child can flourish. It means providing a sense of belonging, acceptance, and unconditional love. Adoptive parents recognize the importance of meeting the child's emotional, physical, and developmental needs, while also honoring their individuality and heritage. This guided imagery recording offers positive suggestions for those who are embarking on this particular journey of parenthood.

Adopting a child is a loving and selfless act that requires embracing their unique journey, providing support, and creating a nurturing environment.

Becoming The Parent Of An Adopted Child

This guided hypnosis recording uses imagery of a cozy log cabin in winter... beginning with a short walk in crisp, cold snowy weather, then heading into the warm inviting cabin, with a log fire, a comfortable bed, and a soothing dream for deep sleep and relaxation. Finally, you will wake up feeling rested and refreshed with optimism for the coming days.

A guided hypnosis recording takes you on a peaceful journey to a cozy log cabin in winter, promoting deep sleep, relaxation, and optimism.

Cozy Winter Cabin For Reducing Stress

This guided imagery takes you on a peaceful night walk by moonlight, around a lake. Your attention will be drawn to the sights and sounds of the night when all your senses are heightened, as you hear the description of water, moonlight, crickets, and owls, and even observe a fox silently moving through this quiet nighttime landscape.

Experience a serene moonlit walk around a lake, immersing yourself in the sights and sounds of the night, including water, crickets, owls, and a silent fox.

Moonlight Lake Walk For Stress Reduction

In a tropical setting, imagine yourself swinging gently in a hammock, watching the waves on the beach, and then taking a leisurely stroll around the lush grounds of an exclusive hotel. Relax and enjoy!

Experience ultimate relaxation in a tropical paradise, lounging in a hammock, admiring beach waves, and exploring lavish hotel surroundings.

Tropical Resort Walk

This guided self-hypnosis visualization begins in a beautiful forest on the slopes of a mountain. As you walk higher you cross a mountain stream. After reaching the summit you take an alternative route down the mountain, alongside the stream. These various landscapes provide rich metaphors for life and will relax and calm you as you imagine yourself walking in this beautiful and inspiring scenery. Experience the restorative powers of nature and emerge in a calm and relaxed state of mind.

Experience a guided self-hypnosis visualization in a forest and mountains, using rich metaphors to relax, restore, and calm your mind.

Refreshing Forest Mountain Stream Walk

Loneliness is a sense of disconnection from others, often due to social isolation, and is an epidemic of our times. It is not just about being alone, although that may be a factor, and it is unfortunately a common human experience. It is also a public health concern as loneliness can hurt health, and activates stress responses in the body. This meditation invites us to connect to the earth, the sky, and ourselves. It also encourages us to reach outward and connect to our ancestors in the past, the people in our lives with whom we have past and current relationships, and ultimately to everyone else in the world.

Loneliness is a modern epidemic caused by social isolation, affecting health and well-being, but can be eased by connecting to others and the world through meditation.

Meditation On Loneliness And Connection

Children face a lot of stressors in their daily lives and can become tense, anxious, and irritable as a result. This calming hypnosis recording takes your child on a beautiful beach walk, with dolphins, seagulls, and a big sandcastle to build! Suggestions for calm, peace, and relaxation are sprinkled throughout. Suitable for ages 5-11.

Help children relax and reduce stress with a calming beach walk hypnosis recording featuring dolphins, seagulls, and a sandcastle, suitable for ages 5-11.

Gentle Hypnosis Beach Walk For Children

Children are sometimes afraid to go to the doctor or dentist because of a fear of needles. Unfortunately, to stay healthy, medical and dental procedures often require the use of a needle to give a shot or to draw blood. This track uses a fun story called Johnny and the Dragon full of gentle hypnotic suggestions to convince the subconscious mind not to be afraid anymore. Parents: there is a dragon in this story who lives in a cave, but he is old and relatively harmless. The story uses the dragon metaphor to talk about fear of medical procedures - all he does is give a mild scratch or bite, like the needle in a shot. I have used this technique with some child clients. After a few listens it works like a charm. Give it a shot! Pun intended.

Help children overcome fear of needles by using a fun story about a dragon to convince them not to be afraid of medical procedures.

Overcome Your Child's Fear Of Needles

Edinburgh is my home town. Join me on an atmospheric and historic walk up the Royal Mile, from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle. Along the way, you will hear stories of Mary, Queen of Scots, William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and other Edinburgh characters, along with eerie tales of ghosts and witches. I do lead private tours in Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland, so I'm delighted to introduce you to the heart of this fascinating ancient city. Just a heads up so you won't be surprised, occasionally these stories include some darker elements, including the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, reflecting the true nature of Edinburgh's history.

Explore Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile on a private tour filled with tales of Mary, Queen of Scots, William Wallace, and eerie ghost stories.

A Walk Through Old Edinburgh, Scotland

This recording contains positive suggestions for increasing self-confidence, speaking and thinking more clearly, interacting with other people engagingly, and experiencing yourself being successful.

Boost self-confidence, clear thinking and engaging interactions with positive suggestions for success in this recording.

Confidence and Personal Success

This recording is to help you prepare for surgery, or a similar medical procedure. It contains soothing suggestions for relaxation, using imagery of walking in peaceful woods and then floating in a tranquil pool in the woods, that is the same temperature as your body, like a flotation tank would be. There are also suggestions for reduced bleeding and inflammation during the operation, and more speedy healing after the operation. I recommend listening several times before your procedure as hypnosis gets better with repetition.

Prepare for surgery with relaxation suggestions of walking in woods and floating in a tranquil pool to reduce bleeding and inflammation, and speed up healing.

Calm And Relaxed Before Surgery

This calming guided imagery session helps foster resilience, gently grounds and relaxes you, and offers suggestions for immune system balance.

Guided imagery session promotes resilience, relaxation, and immune system balance through calming visualization techniques.

Resilience and Balancing Immune System

If you are experiencing the effects of fluctuating hormones due to perimenopause (the months or years before your periods stop) or menopause (once your periods have stopped completely), this recording can help manage your symptoms. Research shows that hypnosis can help with several of the symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, mood swings, and sleep disturbance, and this track addresses all of those symptoms through guided imagery.

Hypnosis recording helps manage menopause symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings, and sleep disturbance through guided imagery.

Support for Menopause

Are you a highly sensitive person? This trait affects at least 15% of the population. This guided hypnosis track addresses the various symptoms associated with being highly sensitive, including helpful suggestions for managing overwhelm, overstimulation, and being attuned to or taking on the emotions of other people.

Guided hypnosis track for highly sensitive individuals to manage overwhelm and overstimulation while tuning into emotions of others.

Relaxation for Highly Sensitive People

This meditation expands The Nine Prayers, by Thich Nhat Hanh, and focuses on peace and well-being. Regular practice of this simple loving-kindness meditation enables you to cultivate awareness of the positive qualities within yourself, extend them to others, and connect with your joy and happiness.

Thich Nhat Hanh's meditation on peace and well-being through The Nine Prayers helps cultivate awareness of positive qualities within oneself and others.

Loving-Kindness for All

Enjoy this guided cosmic journey, outwards and inwards. Just as constellations are patterns we trace in the night sky, for each of us our very being is a pattern written in stardust—a living map of the cosmos. You are the stars made visible…not in the heavens, but walking the Earth.

Embark on a cosmic journey inward and outward, recognizing yourself as a living map of stardust, the stars made visible on Earth.

You are the Cosmos - Guided Meditation

Step into your feminine wisdom, strength, and power. This short meditation contains affirmations based on Greek mythology so that you can align with your inner goddess.

Embrace your inner goddess with affirmations from Greek mythology in this meditation for feminine wisdom, strength, and power.

You Are A Goddess... Claim Your Power!

This short, sweet bedtime story uses guided imagery to relax your child and soothe their worries away. Take a nighttime carpet ride over fields and forests, wave to a family of owls, and end up tucked safely in bed at home.

Guided bedtime story uses imagery to relax children, taking them on a peaceful journey before tucking them into bed safely at home.

Flying Carpet Ride

Big Max Thundercheeks is a tiny mouse with a big heart. One night, he goes out, armed with his firefly torch, and meets a wise owl, a cat with a sore paw, a hedgehog, and a turtle. He learns some valuable lessons about life and friendship. The story ends with Big Max returning to his family and his cozy bed.

Tiny mouse Big Max Thundercheeks learns life lessons about friendship on a nighttime adventure with animal friends, returning home wiser.

Big Max Thundercheeks

This short meditation is inspired by ancient Greek wisdom and contains affirmations for a new, loving masculinity. One that doesn't fear emotion or vulnerability, or hide behind silence or pride. One who knows when to lead and when to listen. Everything you do—your work, your relationships, your choices— aligns with your core values. This is your strength. Because you are a Titan.

Embrace loving masculinity inspired by ancient Greek wisdom, aligning your actions with core values to become a strong Titan.

You are a Titan! A Masculine Meditation

This track uses gentle metaphors and imagery of a beautiful and secluded garden to relax the body and mentally prepare for conception.

Track uses garden imagery to relax body and prepare for conception.

Support for Fertility

Explore the beautiful South Island of New Zealand with a walk along the Heaphy Track, one of New Zealand's "Great Walks". Enjoy the scenery, the bird life, and learn a little about Maori history. Maybe this will inspire you to do your own "great walk!"

Discover the beauty of New Zealand's South Island on the iconic Heaphy Track, a Great Walk showcasing stunning scenery, bird life, and Maori history.

Walking in the South Island, New Zealand

Lots of children bite their nails and eventually will outgrow the habit. But it can hurt! If your child is motivated to stop biting, then this gentle story about swimming underwater with dolphins and finding treasure can help. It contains subtle suggestions for being comfortable without having to bite nails – because after all, dolphins don't have fingernails, do they? This track also teaches your child a widely used hypnotherapy technique called "making an anchor." To do this, your child should just squeeze together a finger and thumb on one hand to make a circle. They will soon connect, making this shape with feeling calm and strong, and can distract themselves with this anytime they may have the urge to bite their nails.

Help your child stop biting nails with a gentle story about swimming with dolphins and finding treasure, using a hypnotherapy technique called "making an anchor."

Overcome Nail Biting (for Children 5-8)

Thumb sucking is a common childhood behavior that can deform the mouth and teeth. Children eventually become embarrassed by the habit but may need a little extra help to stop completely. This gentle recording features a helpful dinosaur called Bob (a very short name for a very long brontosaurus), who doesn't even have any thumbs. This track offers an effective combination of relaxation plus hypnotic suggestions from Bob while your child has fun imagining riding on a dinosaur. The thumb is encouraged to find a new job (making an "anchor") and doesn't have to get wet and wrinkly anymore. Listen every day if possible until the habit subsides. Suitable for kids from ages 4-8.

"Bob the dinosaur helps kids stop thumb sucking with relaxation and hypnotic suggestions in a fun audio track, suitable for ages 4-8."

Stop Sucking Your Thumb, with Bob B

Welcome to this hypnosis session dedicated to embracing the middle stages of pregnancy, the second trimester. During this special time, your body is undergoing incredible changes as your baby grows. Through guided visualization, you will relax deeply and connect to the child growing within you, as well as being gently reminded of the importance of taking care of yourself!

Embrace your second trimester with guided visualization to relax, connect with your baby, and prioritize self-care during pregnancy.

Embracing the Middle Stage of Pregnancy

Late pregnancy can be challenging - sleep is often elusive, you can't get comfortable, and it can seem endless. This relaxing track helps keep things in perspective, with suggestions for increasing comfort and improving sleep. It also emphasises the connection with your baby and that now you are getting ready to meet each other.

Prepare for late pregnancy challenges with this relaxing track, promoting comfort, sleep, and bonding with your baby before the big day.

Supporting for the Third Trimester

This guided imagery track takes you on a walk through a beautiful pine forest and by a stream. With metaphors and suggestions for healing the symptoms commonly found in fibromyalgia, reducing inflammation, soothing sore muscles, and spreading comforting warmth through the body.

Guided imagery track through pine forest and stream for fibromyalgia healing, reducing inflammation, soothing sore muscles, and comforting warmth.

Support for Fibromyalgia

Have you ever wondered who invented marshmallows or how chocolate came to be? What about ice cream? This sweet and lyrical bedtime story invites you to take a stroll through the ancient world and the surprising history of how these common treats came about, along with the clever use of ice in ancient times. Please note, if you have a problematic relationship with sweets or a tendency to crave sugary treats, I recommend that you listen to a different track.

Explore the ancient origins of marshmallows, chocolate, and ice cream in a sweet bedtime story, but beware if you have a sweet tooth.

The Sweet Legacy of the Ancient World

Come with me on a beautiful winter walk on a snowy evening. You are bundled up in cozy clothes, walking to a bonfire party with children and families, neighbors and friends. There are marshmallows, s'mores, steaming mugs of cocoa, and sitting watching the fire under the stars. Relax and be grateful for the good things in life.

Enjoy a cozy winter walk to a bonfire with loved ones, marshmallows, cocoa, and stargazing. Appreciate life's blessings.

Winter Walk with Friends for Gratitude

We carry lots of small burdens from our past - hurts, frustrations, unkind words. While they may only trouble us consciously once in a while, these small burdens accumulate. This gentle meditation invites you to place your past hurts on tiny leaves and let them float away down the river.

Let go of past burdens by placing them on tiny leaves and letting them float down the river in a gentle meditation.

Tracks by Dr. Claire de la Varre