‘I attempted hypnotherapy as my remaining throw to repair dartitis – however does it actually work?’
Some of the top players at this year’s PDC World Darts Championship have suffered from dartitis – the oche’s version of the yips – and the Daily Star’s Aaron Flanagan has had similar issues, so he followed the advice of the professionals
Watch out Luke Littler… I’m back! Ok, Luke has nothing to worry about just yet, but after going through the same sort of hypnotherapy that the likes of Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting have undertaken, my own darting journey has a new lease of life.
For the last four years, I have been completely unable to throw darts with my right hand. Dartitis, the oche’s version of the yips and something we hope we won’t see in action at this year’s World Championship, is very, very real.
It has completely battered my social life. I was never going to make Ally Pally, but 180s were frequent and I loved playing with my mates. I’ve gone from playing three or four times a week at a reasonable standard to not being able to release the dart at all.
READ MORE: ‘I took on PDC darts star next to World Championship trophy – and even took the lead’READ MORE: Emma Paton’s life in pics as glamorous Sky Sports Darts presenter stuns off the screen
It started when a pal noticed I added a slight ‘pause’ between the pull-back and release of my dart. From there, it took just a month before the dart would not leave my hand.
To say I’ve tried all sorts to fix it has been an understatement. As a sports editor, I’ve been fortunate to have access to the game’s top pros. Phil Taylor, Rob Cross, Fallon Sherrock and more have offered their advice.
I’ve thrown darts underarm, thrown bricks across my garden, wound up my neighbours by throwing ping pong balls against a wall and had my friends standing on my feet to try and keep my body still.
I even tried playing stark-b****ck naked. “You’ll soon forget your throwing darts because you’re more concerned about everything hanging out,” world No.7 James Wade told me.
It didn’t work. And I had my todger out.
It was time to try and solve this once and for all – and take on hypnotherapy.
Zoe Clews works with her team of 12 associates has over 20 years in the hypnotherapy game. The list of sports that her clients have come from is impressive. “Racing drivers, snooker players, golfers, footballers, netball, hockey, rowing,” she reels off.
Of course, darts is in there too.
Aspinall and Bunting are both World Championship semi-finalists who have worked with hypnotherapists and both with impressive results.
Of course, hypnotherapy comes with trepidation. Before the first session, my most recent interaction with hypnotherapy was a TikTok video of a Scottish bloke in a pub being put ‘under’ before a click of the fingers made him sing Sweet Caroline in Chinese. Undeniably hilarious, but the thought someone else can take over your body is genuinely quite petrifying.
Zoe, reassuringly positive and with a smile on her face, does dabble in the stage hypnosis, but this would be a much more calm affair. The room is dimly lit, Zoe sits on her armchair and I lie down on the sofa.
Hypnosis can be used to aid anxiety-driven issues. Fears of flying, elevators and public speaking are some of the more common uses. Sporting performance is increasingly regular.
Zoe says: “Because someone had made a comment that wasn’t very helpful, they didn’t mean it to be, it’s just an observation, but it made you self-conscious for whatever reason. So your subconscious goes, like a computer, ‘darts bad’, so then it stops you from playing it.
“That’s why people have ridiculous phobias, like banana phobias, clown phobias, balloon phobias, and they’re like grown adults. They know it’s insane. No one thinks it’s rational, and they’re like, and they’re really angry with themselves for having it.
“It’s because your subconscious mind is stronger than your conscious. So your subconscious mind is not there to punish you, it’s there to protect you.”
Your subconscious mind does not understand time. For example, if you are bitten by a dog when you are five years old, your subconscious will set up a dog phobia for the rest of your life until it is resolved.
Once I hit a place of complete comfort, Zoe talks to my subconscious mind. With headphones on and soothing music playing, Zoe talks to me with an enhanced echo. What she is saying barely makes sense.
“Just melting, melting, melting away… like an ice cube… in a hot drink… on a hot summer’s day… you don’t have to think about anything… you mind carries on thinking all by itself… and you can just let it wander away…”
I knew where I was, but I zoned in and out, almost like a figure of eight. Daydreaming, possibly even sleeping, and then suddenly listening to every word intently.
“A smoker may come in for hypnosis and they will hear every single thing I say, every word, and they never smoke again,” Zoe says. “Some people come in for hypnosis and they drift in and out – a bit like your experience – they go in, they go out, and they never smoke again. Some people come in and they forget everything I say, and they never smoke again.
“Most people have that experience of drifting in and out, but some people hear everything or nothing, and it doesn’t matter. So the subconscious is still listening, no matter what.”
Before I knew it, “after the count of five, you will open your eyes”. I was back in the room, wondering where I had just been sent to. It could have been 20 minutes or two hours. I was completely clueless.
Sessions two and three followed the same routine, but not before I had an out-of-body experience that I’ll never forget.
Ideomotor hypnotherapy allows Zoe to communicate with my subconscious (which by this point I’m imagining like a little disruptive child inside of my body) by forcing tiny, unconscious muscle movements to answer yes or not.
After five minutes of being put into my trance state, Zoe asks questions. “Can you give me a movement to indicate yes?” My body stayed still, until suddenly it was as if a bolt of electricity shot down my left arm, and my middle finger twitched.
“Do you know that it is safe for Aaron to throw darts?” The finger twitched.
“Do you understand how much joy Aaron gets from playing darts?” The finger twitched.
“Is there anything stopping Aaron from playing darts?” A bolt down my right hand, and my other middle finger twitched.
I knew exactly where I was. My conscious mind was staying completely still. But my subconscious mind was reacting yes or no.
I’ve listened to Zoe’s recordings every night since the first session. I am sleeping almost in a hypnotic trance and then attempting to throw for five to 10 minutes a day. My trio of sessions might well be the right amount, though the right number of sessions depends on how deep the anxiety is.
So, the million dollar question (quite literally with the PDC now offering £1million to the World Championship winner): can I now throw darts again?
Well, kind of. It’s not perfect, and my body is not completely static while I throw. But can I release the dart? Yes.
Maybe this hypnotherapy stuff is the real deal. And even better, I can do it with my pants on.
Find out more about Zoe Clews and Associates at www.zoeclews-hypnotherapy.co.uk. You can follow her on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.
