I remember my days working at Mass General Hospital and how many of my colleagues saw getting by on minimal sleep as a badge of honor . I talk about sleep with my weight loss clients and hear the same story. As Rodney Dangerfield might say “sleep gets no respect”. Living a healthy fit healthy life is all about balance and routine quality sleep is a big part of the plan.
Beware of falling below the six-hour mark.A review of studies reveals the role inadequate sleep may play in increasing the vulnerability to obesity.Those who fall below six hours of sleep a night have an increased body mass index, diabetes and hypertension. This may be due to the fact that lack of sleep negatively affects your ability to make good food choices.
ts in a row reported a 24% increase in appetite and their cravings for sweets, salty, and starchy foods greatly increased.
By: Carolyn_r
I get frustrated when people dance around descriptions of imagery without incorporating hypnosis into the dialog. This morning I saw an article on a popular weight loss website teaching the reader to visualize their weight loss without mentioning the “H” word.
It was a well written piece but there was no specific direction that would enable one to actually enter the depth of meditative thought (hypnosis) necessary to initiate substantive positive change. Instead, there was nebulous verbiage on how to take calming breaths and quietly be with the notion of weighing less.
I ask all of my clients if they have any experience with meditation, and those who do, usually describe frustration and failure to achieve the desired results. This frustration is rapidly relieved when they are shown how to take control of their thoughts with self-hypnosis.
4 steps to meditative bliss
Step 1: Take 5 deep breaths with the intention of stimulating the flow of relaxing endorphins. Why not take advantage of how the body works to get the relaxation ball rolling? Smokers think smoking relaxes them but is really because of the deep breaths they take while smoking that does the job.
Step 2: Once the endorphins initiate the shift into relaxation it is time to focus within for the purpose of entering meditative thought. The fastest, easiest way to do this is to just pay attention to the process of each breath. By paying attention to how the chest expands and contracts you force yourself to focus within thus begins your journey into self-hypnotic bliss.
Step 3: This where it gets good. With the subconscious now activated we can begin imagining, fantasizing or pretending we can inhale pure relaxing comfort with each breath. Intend for this to happen. Feel it before you feel it. This works for two reasons. 1) We all like the feeling of deep relaxation; 2) The subconscious can easily create the sensation with just a little practice.
Once you feel the shift into relaxation deepen, begin to imagine the accumulation of relaxation. If every breath carries in more and more it makes perfect sense that it will quickly fill you up, so get to the business of making it happen. You will be pleasantly surprised how deeply relaxed you will become.
Step 4: If you can pretend that you can inhale the good stuff, then pretend you can exhale and release the rest. Spend a few moments anticipating letting go of any and all limitations, frustrations or distractions. Once you get into the flow of pure 100 proof hypnotic comfort, then you can start visualizing yourself weighing less, being less stressed, or just being happier with your life.
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
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The fear of relinquishing free will while hypnotized is a very common misconception that couldn’t be further from the truth. Hypnosis actually helps individuals tap into powerful inner resources they never knew they had. If sessions are not in line with ones values and beliefs, clients will reject the experience out right. Not only does the hypnotist have to offer sessions of value but the phraseology and technique need to be just right for a positive connection to occur.
If someone is worried about giving up their free will a more relevant concern is the insidious manipulation of advertising. As previously mentioned, we all go into a light state of hypnotic trance everytime we stare at a television. With the conscious mind taking a break it is more likely that what we see can be subconsciously filed away, and considering the nature of advertising and the content of television programming in general, the actions we take as a result may not be in our best interest.
A.C. Nielsen says the average American watches more than 4 hours of television per day. In 65 years that adds up to 9 years of tube time. To that end, Time magazine study revealed that today’s children believe that fast food is healthier than a home cooked meal. (Time 2004)
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
Unfortunately hypnosis has been buried under decades of myth, misconception and manipulation. It has been one of the most misunderstood of the complimentary sciences. Over the years, the accumulation of positive scientific research has become too great to ignore.
Hypnosis research organizations:
American Society of Clinical Hypnosis http://www.asch.net/
Society for Clinical and Exp. Hypnosis http://www.sceh.us/index.htm
Inter Journal of Clinical and Exp. Hypnosis http://ijceh.educ.wsu.edu
American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/divisions/div30/
Hypnosis is now consistently validated as one of the leading therapeutic tools for personal positive change. Today’s practicing hypnotists have benefited from all of the dedicated research by these fine organizations.
Knowledge is power for the practitioners and clients alike. Research certainly helps me better understand the science of hypnosis, which in turn helps me prepare and treat my clients. Informed individuals have a good idea of what hypnosis is and how to productively use it are more likely to experience their desired success.
I describe hypnosis as a daydream on demand. During hypnosis, we go to the same level of thought as when we zone out, meditate or practice guided imagery or progressive relaxation. This is when the subconscious mind becomes open and active. With hypnosis, our goal is to positively empower an individual’s inner thoughts to support their goals.
Imagine that wonderful feeling we all experience during a deep daydream moment, when we don’t have a care in the world. It feels like a layer of comforting insulation has been added between us and the stressful assembly line of life. The reason daydreams feel different than our usual reality is because the subconscious becomes a bit more open and active than it normally is.
We are all hardwired with this ability to access the subconscious mind or long-term memory. Unfortunately, until we learn about hypnosis, the only time we usually experience this is while staring mindlessly at a television or computer screen, waiting in line at the grocery store, or on a long drive when we have no conscious memory of parts of the trip.
The reason it is so helpful to visit this level of thought is that it is where we store all of our life experiences, habits, patterns, values and beliefs. With such unique access to the subconscious two important goals can be accomplished: We can remove unproductive values, habits or beliefs and we can also replace them with preferred alternatives With hypnosis, the unproductive connection to past problems can be quickly severed, thereby freeing one to establish a new life path.
You go to the physical gym to increase your stamina and strength. Why not go to the mental gym to positively enhance your thoughts and perception? The repetition of physical exercise tones and strengthens our bodies just as the repetition of hypnosis establishes and solidifies a new philosophy of positive change.
As a hypnotist, I teach individuals to relax in a particular way and then guide them into the depths of subconscious thought where dreams can manifest into a new reality. Clients apply meaning to the message in whatever manner works best for them. Some connect more with the words while others create vivid imagery. Enabling clients to understand this simple truth helps them to own the process which further empowers them to shape the lives they choose to live.
To those who doubt that they can be hypnotized, I ask if they like the idea of becoming so powerfully relaxed that they can easily establish positive change. Who could resist such a notion? If an individual has difficulty entering into hypnosis it is more likely due to inadequate preparation or technique on the part of the hypnotist. In my experience this is never an issue.
Another significant part of the process is rapport. Effective sessions require a relationship of trust and cooperation. If clients feel comfortable with the process and the practitioner, and values what is suggested to them during a session, then success usually follows.
As a baseline, even for those uninformed about hypnosis would agree that we have a short-term and long-term memory. The short-term memory is the conscious mind and the long-term memory is the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is the more active of the two. It is the gate keeper, it analyzes, judges, accepts or denies information for storage in subconscious mind.
The subconscious is a complex and powerful place. Think of it as our storage and control center. It is also the home of our imagination. The subconscious is active when we daydream, zone out, watch television, and when we sleep. It is also active when we’re hypnotized. When clients understand that entering into hypnosis is something we are all familiar with, the process is easier, more enjoyable and productive.
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
