Dr Michael Ayling

About Dr Michael Ayling

Dr Michael Ayling is a Specialist Anaesthetist and Lifestyle Medicine physician with a particular interest in behavioural interventions and clinical hypnosis to improve health and quality of life. Anaesthesia has given Michael a distinctive clinical perspective on altered states of awareness, pain modulation, and how context shapes perception and experience. Additional training includes extensive postgraduate training in clinical hypnosis, strategic psychotherapy and evidence-based behavioural approaches. A former army medical officer, Michael brings more than two decades of specialist medical practice to his work in behavioural medicine. His approach combines medical understanding with practical strategies drawn from Lifestyle Medicine, clinical hypnosis, motivational interviewing and contemporary psychology. Treatment is individualised and directed towards the factors that may be maintaining symptoms or interfering with meaningful behavioural change. Clinical hypnosis may be incorporated where appropriate for conditions including irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, anxiety and stress-related symptoms, phobias, sleep difficulties, habit change and other functional or persistent symptoms. It may also assist patients seeking changes in areas such as physical activity and nutrition. Michael works collaboratively with patients’ existing GPs, specialists and psychologists, with interventions intended to complement other appropriate medical and psychological care.