Gut directed therapy has been developed by Peter Whorwell at Manchester University.

In hypnosis, you are very sensitive to subtle suggestion. Try this: say red lorry, yellow lorry to yourself  a couple of times, silently. What was going on in your mouth? Just thinking something causes a tendency to action. So when you think about your poor painful gut as being cool and smooth and comfortable while in hypnosis, you are learning to make the mind-gut link and with a bit of practice, you will find that you can calm your gut.

It may surprise you to know that there is lots of academic research showing that hypnotherapy is very successful with IBS, and as a result, NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommends it.