Elizabeth Laing, a 49-year-old café owner from Greenwich, London, has found her future husband after just three months of working with a flirting coach and hypnotherapist. After decades of unsuccessful dating app experiences, she changed her approach and met Owen, 50, who she is now married to.
Turning Point After Years of Bad Relationships
Laing was frustrated with her dating life, describing it as "awful dates, terrible boyfriends and horrible situationships." She realized she was part of the problem, admitting, "I was too scared to talk to attractive people, and I was addicted to chaotic relationships."
To change her pattern, she attended a flirting coach's workshop. The coach instructed her to walk around the National Gallery and start conversations with three strangers. Laing recalled, "I wanted to die. I was terrified." The coach taught her techniques like making eye contact and smiling with her mouth open, which initially made her feel awkward.
Practical Exercises and Hypnotherapy
In a one-to-one session, the coach sent her to a Tesco supermarket to approach men in different aisles. Laing asked a man in the carrot aisle, "What are you making with your carrots?" Though he wandered off, the exercise became easier with practice.
Alongside flirting lessons, Laing underwent light hypnotherapy to address the root cause of her attraction to chaotic men. She explained, "It turns out I was addicted to the chaos. There was a lot of chaos in my life so I just felt safe within it because it was familiar."
Meeting Owen and Starting a Business
After setting a goal to find a husband in three months, Laing began daily flirting, visiting pubs and bars alone. One day, she popped into a pub to complete her daily flirt and met Owen, who approached her saying, "Today, you've met a cheeky Australian." They got engaged two years later.
Inspired by her success, Laing sold her café and trained with hypnotherapist Marisa Peer in rapid transformational therapy. She now runs her own coaching business, Your Power Within Therapy, and shares advice on Instagram. She encourages women to delete dating apps and talk to people in person, noting, "Talking to someone you bump into in a shop is easy."
Laing and Owen have been married for two years and together for six, now living in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
