What is your ATTACHMENT style?

Scientific American Mind
January/February 2011
Get Attached

Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love by Levine & Heller

Attachment theory designates three main styles in which individuals perceive and respond to intimacy in romantic relationships, which parallel those found in children.

Attachment is an integral part of human behavior throughout their entire life span.

Adults can be divided into attachment categories according ot the way they recall their relationship with their caregivers, which in turn influences their parental behavior.

Patterns of Attachment
Anxious
Avoident
Secure

Basically, secure people find it easy to get close to others, feel comfortable with intimacy and are usually warm and loving.

Anxious people crave intimacy, are often preoccupied with their relationships and tend to worry about their partner's ability to love them back or to stay with them.

Avoidant people equate intimacy with a loss of independence and constantly try to minimize closeness.

Attachment principles teach us that most people are only as needy as their unmet needs.

When their emotional needs are met, they usually turn their attention outward.

This result is sometimes referred to as the "dependency paradox", the more effectively dependent people are on one another, the more independent and creative they become.

Unfortunaltely the significance of adult attachment goes unappreciated. Among adults, the prevailing notion is still that too much dependence in a relationship is a bad thing.

The opposite is true. Our ability to step into the world on our own often stems from the knowledge that there is someone beside us on whom we can rely.

If you want to take the road to independence and happiness, first find the right person to depend on and then travel down it together.


How can you tell what attachment style a person has?

Does the other person show a sincere wish to understand your needs and put your well-being first?

Do they brush aside your concerns or make you feel inadequate, foolish or self-indulgent?

Do you spell out your needs so it is easy for your partner to meet them?

Do you make your partner guess whether something is wrong and then make them guess what that something is?

Begin by determining your own and your partners attachment style to find more security in your relationship.


Take the ATTACHMENT STYLE QUIZ

The Top 10 Health Benefits of Kissing

From BEST KISSES

The health benefits of kissing have been documented in medical studies offering amazing advantages for a long and healthy life.

1.Those who kiss their partner goodbye each morning live five years longer than those who don’t.

2.Kissing is great for self-esteem. It makes you feel appreciated and helps your state of mind.

3.Kissing burns calories, 2-3 calories a minute and can double your metabolic rate. Research claims that three passionate kisses a day (at least lasting 20 seconds each) will cause you to loose an entire extra pound! It's time to start that kissing diet!

4.Kissing is a known stress-reliever. Passionate kissing relieves tension, reduces negative energy and produces a sense of well being, lowering your cortisol ‘stress’ hormone.

5.Kissing uses 30 facial muscles and it helps keep the facial muscles tight, preventing baggy cheeks! The tension in the muscles caused by a passionate kiss helps smooth the skin and increases the circulation.

6.Kissing is good for the heart, as it creates an adrenaline which causes your heart to pump more blood around your body. Frequent kissing has scientifically been proven to stabilize cardiovascular activity, decrease blood pressure and cholesterol.

7.Those who kiss quite frequently are less likely to suffer from stomach, bladder and blood infections.

8.During a kiss, natural antibiotics are secreted in the saliva. Also, the saliva contains a type of anesthetic that helps relieve pain.

9.Kissing reduces anxiety and stops the 'noise' in your mind. It increases the levels of oxytocin, an extremely calming hormone that produces a feeling of peace.

10.The endorphins produced by kissing are 200 times more powerful than morphine.

Enjoy some kisses to reduce stress.

Reducing stress in your life will support your weight loss goals.

Use hypnosis relaxation techniques including deep breathing, guided imagery visualization, and regularly accessing the positive feelings you will have when you achieve the results you want.

Get a massage. Massage is an excellent way to reduce muscle tension, lower stress hormone and boost immunity.

Regular acupuncture treatments lower cortisol as well as raise endorphins, our body¹s natural pain-reducing hormone.

Practice yoga and meditation.

Exercise programs such as cardiovascular activities, as well as weight training, reduce stress hormones if performed properly. Avoid over doing it, which will only create more stress!

Enjoy some kisses. Studies have shown that kissing actually lowers stress hormones.

Winners win in advance.

Have you heard the term Mental Toughness?

Mental toughness refers to training your mind to focus on positive thoughts about your performance and success.

Any negative reactions, thoughts, memories, feelings, ideas, beliefs, behaviors, habits, or limitations of any kind, are immediately identified and interrupted and replaced with a new focus on creating the most beneficial outcome possible in each situation that may arise.

Easily overcome and avoid stress by releasing any and all negative thoughts in the first place and replacing them with positive feeling thoughts that bring relief and satisfaction.

Hypnosis connects you to your unconscious mind on your own, so you begin getting the best results possible.

"Mental toughness comes from repeatedly and consistently recovering from stress and adversity by being determined, focused, confident, resilient, and in control under pressure.

When the going gets tough and you want to quit, have a set, prepared, thought process ready to go.

Thoughts lead to emotions.

Emotions lead to behaviors and performance.

Performance = Potential - Interference.

You can have all the head knowledge in the world but it isn't worth much if it doesn't get into your body ... your cellular structure.

Ways to do that: Experience, Imagination, Emotion."

(The above comments about Mental Toughness come from my colleague, Craig Sigl.)

Mental toughness is about not being affected by anything but what’s going on in the game or competition or any area of your life, no matter what is happening or what other people are doing. It’s being able to block out what’s not important.

Quickly get over making any mistakes. Be able to move past mistakes or failures and reach your goal.

Relax and focus in the midst of hectic surroundings.

Begin to "program" your mind to achieve the results you want.

Find and access the strength and resources you already have, while releasing anything that does not support you in getting the results you want.

Easily reaching your goals.

Keep going even if things get tough.

Bounce back, refocus, and make your goals a reality.
Quickly noticing if you do lose focus.

Easily be able to refocus quickly and get back to your best performance.

Stay positive, let go of distractions or tension, becoming more and more resilient.

What if you no longer allow the stresses involved to become larger than the joy and pleasures of playing the game or accomplishing the task.

Use the power of imagination. If the human mind is capable of imagining something, it's capable of making it happen.

Calmly repeating your success, in your mind's eye, over and over...

Release any worry of comparing yourself to others or matching up in a particular way.

Learning and improving with every effort.

Any mistakes are now easily released. Be easy on yourself during any setbacks and pick yourself up.

The only true failure is to give up, so congratulate yourself on your effort, regroup, and begin again.

Feeling calm and centered, no matter what is about to happen.

No longer allow life’s uncertainties, or any situation that may lead to uneasiness or inner tension, to can stand in the way of our best efforts.

Easily overcome and avoid stress by releasing any and all negative thoughts in the first place and replacing them with positive feeling thoughts that bring relief and satisfaction.

Freeing unconscious potentials from the limitations of consciousness.

Edited from:
Hypnotic Realities: The Induction of Clinical Hypnosis and Forms of Indirect Suggestion
by
Milton H. Erickson, Ernest L Rossi, and Sheila I. Rossi

"Famous Doctor and Hypnotherapist, Milton Erickson likes to emphasize that hypnotic suggestion can evoke and utilize potentials that already exist within clients, but it cannot impose something totally against their essential nature.

The effective hypnotherapist learns to use words, intonations, gestures, and other things that evoke the client's own mental mechanisms and behavioral processes.

Hypnotic suggestion is not a kind of verbal magic that can be imposed on clients to make them do anything.

Hypnotic suggestions are effective only to the degree that they can activate, block, or alter the functioning of natural mental mechanisms and associations already existing within the client.

These hypnotic forms are communication devices that facilitate the evocation and utilization of the patient's own associations, potentials, and natural mental mechanisms in ways that are usually experienced as involuntary by the patient.

Ordinary, everyday, nonhypnotic suggestions are acted upon because we have evaluated them with our usual conscious attitudes and found them to be an acceptable guide for our behavior, and we carry them out in a voluntary manner.

Hypnotic suggestion, by contrast, is different in that the patient is surprised to find that experience and behavior are altered in a seemingly autonomous manner; experience seems to be outside one's usual sense of control and self-direction.

A successful hypnotic experience is one in which trance alters habitual attitudes and modes of functioning so that carefully formulated hypnotic suggestions can evoke and utilize other patterns of associations and potentials within the client to implement certain therapeutic goals."

When you are in the moment, you are in your right brain.

Edited from Dr. Suzanne LaCombe, Ed.D, R. Psych.
Head Shrink and Editor,
MyShrink.com - Changing the way we see therapy!

"One of the fastest ways--possibly the only way--to engage the brain in changing any behavior or emotion is to stay in the present moment. Being present means being fully engaged in the moment with all your senses attuned to the here and now.

You are neither dreaming of the future nor regretting the past. You are in the moment.

You've probably had a "moment" in your life. You know, a moment of awareness, of being totally in the here and now. Well, you were in your right brain.

Our present moments are right brain based. That's because all our sensory information comes through the right brain.

Right brain-based therapy focuses on emotions and creativity. Left brain-based counseling, better known as "talk therapy" can be enhanced by bringing the emotions and body sensations into play. To optimize results, work from both the left and right sides of the brain.

It's the right brain that gives us that sense of being connected to one another. It's called the relational right brain for a good reason. The right brain regulates or influences many aspects of our behavior, often those aspects that we would like to change.

We use the terms "left brain" and "right brain" to refer to the two basic ways the brain processes information. Thus, when we say that someone is "in their right brain" it simply means that they are processing their experience in a holistic, "big picture" way.

There is no such thing as a right brain, separate and independent of a left one. They are not in conflict, nor is one "superior" to the other. For example, when you're having a conversation, your left brain will focus on the meaning of the words exchanged, while your right brain will observe whether the other person gets what you're saying.

Those things often have to do with our relations and connections with others:
• Self-awareness
• Empathy
• Identification with others
• Trust
• Emotion
• Non-conscious communication
• Attachment
• Recognition of emotions

Other right brain functioning includes visual-spatial recognition (imagery), autobiographical memory, stress modulation and holistic thinking.

The right side of the brain also has an integrative map of the body.

It is often useful to understand the role that the right brain plays. Because it's the center for processing emotion and of our sense of identity, it has a huge influence on how we feel about ourselves and how we manage our relationships.

Modifying the habitual patterns of feeling and behavior that are "encoded" in the right brain is the primary goal of all therapies, although many don't say this explicitly.

We use the term "right brain" to refer in a general way to those brain systems responsible for regulating our ability to interpret, navigate and thrive in the world.

In particular, these systems also determine the quality of our relationships with others, including the ability to form secure emotional attachments.

Technically speaking, the right brain encodes the implicit procedural memories which accumulated in the earliest years of life, well before the analytical left brain came online.

Not all areas of the brain are online when we are born.

What's significant is that areas in the right hemisphere become active in the first two years of life, whereas the left hemisphere doesn't come online fully until 18 months to two years.

Although the right brain develops first before any verbal or conceptual ability appears, an intense amount of learning happens in those first years.

We learn about ourselves and the world through direct experience, not through words.

Our experiences, especially with our caregivers, will be encoded in procedural memories that form the basis of our emotional life.

The right hemisphere is dominant in the first three years of life; it's the first to mature, before the left brain. Emotional experiences, especially those involving caregivers, are unconsciously stored and processed in the right brain during those first years.

What gets encoded is an ability to handle social relationships as well as knowledge and expectations about how others will react to our efforts to communicate and connect.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of procedural memories is their non-conscious operation.

Analysis, thought, and language are all conscious operations of the mind and are characteristic of "left brain" abilities, whereas the influence of the right brain occurs largely outside of our awareness.

The procedural memories that fundamentally condition our emotional lives are laid down long before the rational mind appears and are unaffected by intellectual efforts to change them."

Procedural Memory

"Changing or replacing procedural memory is the key to changing your behaviors.

The procedural memory system stores the instructions for our habitual responses. It patterns how we do things. More profoundly, it is about who we are. Procedural memory is the basis of our character, those aspects of ourselves that make us unique.

When we learn a behavior or an emotional response it becomes part of our procedural memory. Once it's been "programmed" into the procedural memory system we don't need to decide how to respond to a specific situation because it has now become automatic--after all, that's the whole point.

You see these "over learned" patterns are the "behind the scenes" kind of memory that frees up our attention for more important tasks.

For instance, I can drive my car and carry on a conversation at the same time. The 'driving' behavior is encoded in procedural memory. Since I've over learned the skills needed for driving I don't need to be conscious of every detail in order to keep my car on the road.

This kind of memory is called "procedural" because it pre-determines how we will react in a given situation. Once established in the nervous system, it is non-conscious and automatic."

Dr. Suzanne LaCombe, Ed.D, R. Psych.
Head Shrink and Editor,
MyShrink.com - Changing the way we see therapy!

THRIVING

Hypnosis promotes thriving, not merely surviving, and arriving at our fullest potential, as we create the most beneficial outcome possible in all situations.

Clinical Research and Development Background For The IBS Child's Program

From HelpforIBS.com

Michael Mahoney is one of the United Kingdom's leading Clinical Hypnotherapists in the treatment of IBS.

The hypnotherapy sessions in this program are unique to clinical hypnotherapist Michael Mahoney, who developed and used the protocol with many children with IBS over the years.

The at-home IBS audio program grew out of his clinical practice treatments of children with IBS. The program's initial formal clinical research began with in-person IBS treatments, involving 16 children (10 girls and 6 boys, ages 8 to 13). The children received IBS hypnotherapy sessions at the Guardian Medical Centre, Warrington, Cheshire. The children also listened to recordings of their sessions in their own home, under the supervision of their parents where applicable.

An initial consultation and evaluation was given to each child to determine the nature and their perception of their condition. Parents were interviewed separately and apprised of the treatment protocol and their need for involvement.

Each child was asked to rate their IBS symptoms and emotional/social areas of concern on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being very severe and 0 being non-existent). They were also asked to rate their general happiness from 0 to 10. This was done to get a baseline of their condition, so that it could be evaluated with their rankings after the completion of the program.

For Parents
Parents were put at ease and given a private introductory session fully explaining the nature of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Functional Abdominal Pain, and related symptoms and emotional concerns. They were told how the clinical hypnotherapy sessions would help their child reduce or alleviate IBS symptoms. It was fully expected that the parent would take part in their child's therapy sessions by explaining any further questions, providing reassurance, and ensuring compliance in listening to the sessions. Each live session was recorded for the child to listen to, according to a specific schedule at home, until the next scheduled appointment for the subsequent live session. All live sessions were recorded in this way.

Parents were apprised that IBS is still a major concern for doctors, that it is a complex disorder, and there are still many more questions than answers. IBS may start with what seems a simple stomachache, but so often leads to the disruption of many parts of the child's life, and the lives of those around them. This adult session empathizes with the parents' experience of cancelled trips to school, their child curled up in pain, and refusing to move or go out. Often this has a social impact as well. The child may drop out of clubs, after school activities, and even lose contact with friends.

Despair is felt, and confidence and self-esteem are reduced as all attempts at reassurance falter. The parents are informed that once trust has been gained, the majority of children and teens are excellent to work with. They listen, they are honest, and they are willing to put in the time and effort to help themselves.

Further information is given on the frustrations of both child and parent, and how they can work together to help the situation not only on the level of obvious symptoms, but the emotional aspects as well.

For The Child
Each child was given a first introductory session that was not hypnotherapy, but that explained the nature of their treatment, asked them questions about their pain and other symptoms, explained the brain-gut connection underlying IBS in simple terms, and made them feel comfortable and cared for.

The second session with the child was also introductory in nature and provided simple exercises for defining pain and thinking about it from a different perspective. The child was encouraged to think about their symptoms and problems in a new way, and to take ownership of them, as well as to know that they would be given the tools to do so in an easy, structured way.

The following six sessions for the child were completed over several weeks, and consisted of gut-specific hypnotherapy:

1. The first hypnotherapy session helps the child learn to relax and become accustomed to the hypnotherapy process, and to feel good about themselves taking time to get better.

2. The second hypnotherapy session used a combination of gentle imagery as well as the child's own answers to questions asked in the introduction to help address the child's symptoms. They learn to let go of those things no longer needed, like the worry about their stomach, and any worries about going out or going to school, visiting people or doing new things, or any other areas of concern for the child.

3. The third hypnotherapy session assists the child in looking forward to the future without symptoms, feeling well and able to move forward in a whole and healthy way.

4. The child's fourth hypnotherapy session uses further gentle imagery to address concerns with digestive motility, so that the child uses their own natural abilities to balance the digestive system and reduce or eliminate unwanted digestive symptoms of IBS.

5. In the fifth hypnotherapy session the child learns to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Processes and imagery are provided for the child to move even further into the future, removing any remaining areas of pain. They learn to look forward to taking part in life without worry or fear of any situation at home or school. They learn to see themselves in everyday life living it as they want to free of IBS.

6. The sixth and final hypnotherapy session encapsulates the previous sessions, embedding them further and helping to maintain the progress made through the program. This session provides a means to continue with improvements beyond the duration of the active sessions.

Participation for the child simply comprised attending the live sessions, then listening to the recording of that session according to a specific schedule in their own home until the next scheduled session.

Upon completion of the final session the child was again asked to rank their progress by rating the 27 symptoms and emotional/social areas of concern. They were again also asked to rate their general happiness. Improvement was shown on all levels.

In order to determine maintenance and continued improvement, additional rankings were provided by the children at several times in the year following their completion of the hypnotherapy program. These subsequent rankings indicated even further progress.

In addition to improvements ranked, further feedback indicated secondary outcomes. Parents became closer to their children, and the children received validation for their condition, which, in turn, further helped their progress. The children indicated that the sessions were pleasant and easy to do, and they were pleased that they were feeling better - and as indicated by feedback - much happier overall.

Could you answer these questions for me?

I recently was asked to answer questions for a young student's Health and Wellness class project.

His E-mail said, "I am supposed to ask an expert about hypnosis. Could you answer these questions for me?"


What is hypnosis?

The function of the brain is to set and fulfill goals. The brain is a goal setting mechanism. Safe and effective, hypnosis creates a special psychological state which allows you to make positive change happen quickly and easily. Hypnosis helps you gain control of responses that are normally controlled by unconscious mechanisms. With hypnosis you easily access the creative part of yourself at an unconscious level where learning and change take place.

The hypnotic state is very pleasant and has no harmful side effects. You already know how to reach hypnotic states because you have been doing it your entire life whether you knew it or not. For example, you reach a state of hypnosis, or trance state, when you daydream, remember an event that happened in the past, drive a car, read a book, watch a good movie, listen to music, or lie down to rest.

Stage hypnosis is for fun and entertainment. Hypnosis used for hypno-therapy involves a deliberate choice to enter this state of consciousness for a goal, focus your concentration, and use suggestion to make changes in your life or to promote healing. Whenever a suggestion is received in this state of suggestibility it tends to go deep into our subconscious and have a powerful effect on our behavior. Once the subconscious mind accepts an idea, it goes to work on making it come true.

Hypnosis may not feel any different than your normal waking state of awareness. During hypnosis, your conscious mind may remain focused on my words, or it may drift off, so you do not track what I am saying.

Hypnosis has many levels that range from light to deep. Depth is just a metaphor used when speaking about hypnosis, as in the suggestion to go "deeper and deeper" into hypnosis. Some people prefer the metaphor of drifting higher and higher. Hypnotic states are part of a continuum of regular consciousness, so you may reach many different hypnotic states during your session.

Some of the work I do with my clients is in an active trance state, engaged in guided imagery, where the client is accessing the Alpha and Theta brain wave states of trance AND is fully awake and aware.

The person in a hypnotic trance is always in control, just as someone who is daydreaming can decide to go on, or stop, at any time.

In my work, I tell my clients that it doesn’t matter what your conscious mind is doing during hypnosis, because your unconscious will be listening to everything I say and you can trust that you will go to the level of trance that is appropriate for you.

After your hypnosis session, you will feel calm, relaxed, refreshed, and ready to bring your full attention to the rest of your day.


Can everyone be hypnotized?

Everyone can be hypnotized, and most people go into a trance multiple times a day. The only difference with hypnosis/hypnotherapy is that you go into a trance state for the purpose of helping you achieve your goals.


What is it used for?

Hypnosis can be helpful in all areas of one’s life. Although it would be impossible for anyone to make a comprehensive list of what hypnosis is good for, here is a list of some of the most common problems that have successfully been addressed with hypnosis/hypnotherapy.

ACCOMPLISH GOALS
STOP SMOKING
LOSE WEIGHT
OVERCOME FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
STOP BITING FINGERNAILS
IMPROVE SPORTS PERFORMANCE
IMPROVE MOTIVATION, MEMORY AND LEARNING
MANAGE AND REDUCE PAIN
IMPROVE SLEEP
ACCELERATE HEALING
GET RID OF OLD HABITS, BEHAVIORS, FEARS, and PHOBIAS
MAKE POSITIVE CHANGES
REDUCE STRESS and ANXIETY
STRENGTHEN YOUR SELF-ESTEEM
RESOLVE GRIEF
STOP REPETITIVE THOUGHTS
GET THE RESULTS YOU WANT
CREATE POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
ENHANCE PERSONAL GROWTH
RELEASE EMOTIONAL BLOCKS
BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE
HEAL YOUR EMOTIONS
Diagnosed Medical Conditions require a referral from a doctor.


What is your training? How long did it take?

The credentials to look for when choosing a hypnotherapist would be that the hypnosis training is certified and recognized by the major hypnosis organizations. The State of Washington requires all hypnotherapists to be registered but has no requirements or practice standards.

My master practitioner level work was done in 2001 through a private university specializing in Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Bennett Stellar University, which is recognized by the Professional Board of Hypnotherapy, the National Guild of Hypnotists, and the Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Training can take between 100 and 300 hours or more.

When choosing a hypnotherapist, be sure they have training in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) because that provides a critical level of expertise in both verbal and non-verbal communication.

On a regular basis, usually each month, I attend continuing education seminars and presentations provided by professional hypnosis trainers and other experts in the fields of energy medicine, natural health, accelerated learning and personal growth.


What are concerns people have about hypnosis?

Since hypnosis requires your full cooperation, you can never be compelled to do anything that violates your ethical standards, spiritual beliefs, sense of good taste, or personal preferences.
Will I Lose Control In Hypnosis? NO
Will I Get Stuck In A Trance? NO
Can You Make Me Do Something Against My Will? NO


How popular is it?

The use of hypnosis as a viable therapeutic method is becoming more accepted today than ever before. Hypnosis has been clinically proven to provide medical and therapeutic benefits.


How long does it take to help with a problem like smoking?

Most of my clients see improvement after one or two sessions. Although when there are more complex factors involved, it may take more sessions to address what comes up for each individual.

Three sessions are recommended to become a non-smoker for life. You become a "non-smoker" after the first session. You will become aware of your subconscious triggers to smoke before they become a conscious feeling. If you do run into a situation where you have the desire to smoke, we will use it to do specific work on that particular situation where you were "triggered". The follow up sessions work on dissolving the habits attached to smoking to be sure the emotional and physical "triggers" for smoking are all gone. Results are ultimately achieved through the client's own personal efforts at applying these techniques over time.


Do you have a story of someone who was helped by hypnosis?

At Hypnosis Seattle, I have helped hundreds of people solve their problems and achieve their goals. Because of privacy laws I cannot give you a specific example, but I can give you an example from a public testimonial.

“I did not think that giving up smoking could be so easy. One session was all that was needed. I would never have thought that this was possible, especially with me. I had smoked cigarettes for 20 years. I started when I was really young and did not really think hypnosis would work, but I had a new girlfriend that didn't like it that I smoked, so I really wanted to quit. My first hypnosis session was on a Friday afternoon. That weekend, I went out to all the places I usually smoke and it was amazing. I did not have to struggle not to smoke, I just didn't even want to."

Robin Shapiro

"Intimate relationship is the best source of resilience and growth and hope for the future."

Trauma & Attachment Therapy BLOG
Robin Shapiro's musing about trauma, attachment, and affect-based therapies,
and her book: Trauma Treatment Handbook: Protocols Across the Spectrum

Robin shares notes from UCLA conference speaker Daniel Siegel: A System's View of Disintegration & Integration

P.A.R.T.T.T.T
when fully
Present we can
Attune to the client or others and
Resonate with others and develop
Trust which is important because it activates the smart ventral vagus so the social engagement system turns on so that we can
Track what's going on in moment to moment experience which allows the
Truth to come out and creates
Transformation/healing.

We help clients become open systems: self-organized: chaotic moving toward complexity, flexibility and adaptable: energized and coherent.

Coherence comes from integration.

When not integrated we move toward rigidity (avoidance), chaos (flooding) or both. It's all about the mind regulating the energy and information flow.

Calming exercise: Put one hand on your heart, the other on your abdomen. Hold them there for a while. Try switching hands to see if you prefer one over the other. Most people do.

"There's a distinction between awareness and mental activity: Awareness is the infinite possibility of neural firings."

In trauma, mental activies get locked into rigidity and chaos and pull humans into limited possibility. With unresolved trauma, rigidity and chaos imprison the person's possibilities. Good therapy transforms the brain of the the client to totally shift their center of attention and stay present to the self and watch self and make sense of it. The labeling of the internal state downregulates the limbic system. The client knows that "this" is not "that". Integration is the capacity to sit with core awareness and sit with anything that comes in.

You can use mindfulness practice to help people distinguish between mental activity and true awareness. Ventral integration--being in touch with the bodily state: Track it and you transform. Supress it and it screws you up.

We are designed to be interdependent and interconnected. There's hope for we as humans to move from chaotic & rigid states to integration, kindness, and peace.

Your eyes are an extension of your brain.

Vision has a straight line into the brain, like a keyboard connected to a computer. If someone were to open up your skull and remove your brain (carefully, please), your eyes would come with it. That's because your eyes are hardwired to a lobe at the back of the head responsible for sight information.

Exploring The Mind!, blog by Michael Lovitch of the Hypnosos Network

Adapt and thrive by knowing how.

Breathing and imagery are powerful tools allowing you to adapt to stress and change, using ancient truths and cutting edge research on the function of the brain.

Begin to understand the secret to remaining well amid the stress and chaos of the modern world. Adapt and thrive by knowing how to regain calmness and equanimity.

Begin by breathing deeply as often as you can. Send your awareness deep into your lower belly, allowing your body to expand as you inhale, through your solar plexus, filling your lungs from the bottom up, all the way up to your collarbone. Hold for a moment and then exhale, releasing your collarbone first in a big sigh of release, relief and relaxation, allowing a sense of well-being to wash through your entire body, from the top of your head, all the way down to the tips of our toes.

This slow exhale resets the body’s balance. Changes in body chemistry associated with anxiety, chronic pain, and many other functional problems may come from lack of deep breathing.

During the inhale think the word “love”. Universal love and consciousness is called “shen” in ancient Chinese Five Elements Medicine. “Shen” resides in the Heart. Visualize the heart and see the word “shen” within your heart as you breathe deeply and slowly and naturally.

On the exhale, think one of the following words: happiness, joy, love, or calmness, changing the words with each exhale.

This technique is powerful so practice it often.

Seeking the competitive edge?

Hypnosis and the Power of Suggestion

The positive effects of hypnosis are not just to achieve maximum effort during competition, but to improve all of the qualities necessary to make a champion athlete.

Hypnosis helps athletes perform at their best because actual neural growth occurs as a result of mental imagery. Hypnosis creates the mental state where they are able to perform at or near their peak.

There are two basic types of imagery rehearsal; process and result. Process imagery is imagining the various physical steps that must be undertaken in order to accomplish a specific task. Then the athlete might imagine the precise outcome they want and then imagine the feeling of elation or success that would accompany winning. This is result imagery. Teaching athletes self-hypnosis is perhaps the best way to have them perform mental rehearsals before their activity.

Because hypnosis is a process of focused attention, it can enhance concentration on a physical activity. First, it is important to eliminate distractions in nearly every sport, reducing the effect of sound, sight and physical distractions which surround an event and can thus impede concentration and performance. By preventing distraction, athletes perform at a higher optimal level.

Affective control, as it relates to athletic performance, is the control of anxiety and emotion. With low emotional engagement, performance tends not to be very good. As motivation becomes greater, performance improves. Yet, performance begins to fall as too high a level of tension interferes with the execution of the task. Anxiety often occurs as a result of stress.

When hypnosis is used to help control anxiety, it allows for individual differences as well as the situational demands in the sport performance. The goal is to have the excitement and anticipation of competence and competition create just the right amount of energy and engaged focus for each athlete to achieve their best performance.

Mental relaxation affects greater mental alertness. This type of mental alertness is a positive feature, and it produces better physical and mental reactions as well as better physical coordination.

Relaxation techniques can be used for cognitive restructuring, for mental practice and for visual motor behavioral rehearsal. Since physical tension is counter-productive to athletic performance, relaxation becomes an important goal.

Specific, reasonable and realistic goals are improved with the use of hypnosis. Reasonable and realistic goals are the result of using mental training or hypnosis over time. The best results are achieved when mental training and hypnotic induction accompany regular physical workouts and practice.

Dr. Andrew Weil recommends hypnotherapy for a wide variety of conditions

Dr. Andrew Weil recommends hypnotherapy to alleviate pain, lessen the side effects of chemotherapy, alleviate symptoms of autoimmune disease, counter-act anxiety and sleep disorders.

"First, I’d like to dispel some common misconceptions about this therapy. For some people who have never tried it, the idea of going into a hypnotic trance may seem weird or scary. But the fact is that we’ve all experienced trance states in everyday life--whether daydreaming, watching a movie, driving home on autopilot, or practicing meditation or other relaxation techniques. Essentially, trance is an altered state of consciousness marked by decreased scope and increased intensity of awareness. What distinguishes hypnotherapy is that it involves a deliberate choice to enter this state of consciousness for a goal beyond relaxation: to focus your concentration and use suggestion to promote healing. It can be done in person with a hypnotherapist or you can do it yourself, called self-hypnosis.

Parlor tricks and stage shows aside, a clinical hypnotherapist will not make you quack like a duck or sing like Elvis. The person in a hypnotic trance is always in control, just as someone who is daydreaming can decide to go on or stop at any time. While the practitioner serves as a teacher or guide, the only person who can hypnotize you is you, since trance is a latent potential of your own mind. Therefore, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

Some people use it to ease their aching backs. Others find it relieves eczema. Even one of the hot-air balloonists who broke world records by flying around the globe admits he relied on it to steady his nerves and catch some sleep while at the mercy of the jet stream. Hypnotherapy, or trance work, is a group of techniques that allow practitioners and patients to take advantage of the mind-body connection to foster healing."

Tranceformation Works at the University of Arizona’s Integrative Medicine Clinic

The "Dangers" of Hypnosis

Excerpt from an article by Will Thornton
of the Alchemy Institute of Hypnosis

"Learn to recognize when you are being hypnotized.

The state of hypnosis, after all, is not something very unusual. It is simply a state of relaxation, openness and trust.

Whenever we receive a suggestion in this state of suggestibility it tends to go deep into our subconscious and have a powerful effect on our behavior.

If you find that you are easily swayed by other people or you have difficulty sticking to decisions you make for your self-improvement, you may be experiencing the negative effects of hypnosis in your life.

Some of the suggestions that are currently influencing you may be years old which were received from well-meaning parents or other authority figures.

It happens much more frequently than you imagine. When you find yourself giving in against your best judgment to emotional appeals from people, or when you find yourself singing some advertising jingle as you walk through the supermarket, Guess what? You've been hypnotized!

The best way to learn to control these negative suggestions is to learn to enter a hypnotic state consciously under the direction of a responsible hypnotherapist.

Once you learn to recognize the state of hypnosis and become familiar with the contents of your own subconscious, you will be able to change the old hypnotic programming that is making it difficult for you to achieve your goals.
...
The hypnotic state is very pleasant and has no harmful side effects when performed by a certified and ethical hypnotherapist.

It facilitates a feeling of physical well-being which can help eliminate stress and can allow the body to recover more quickly from a variety of illnesses.
...
Something which is so pleasant and so powerful is obviously much too "dangerous" to remain ignorant of. But once you learn about hypnosis it won't be dangerous anymore. Then it can allow you to preserve your personal integrity under any circumstances. And it can give you the power to achieve a high level of wellness, to change your own behavior,..."

and to get the results you want in your life ... right now!

How Does NLP Work?

NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a name that encompasses the three most influential components involved in producing human experience: neurology, language and programming.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming describes the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay effects our body and behavior (programming).

Our neurological system regulates how our bodies function.

Language determines how we interface, interact and communicate with other people.

And our programming determines the kinds of models of the world we create; how we organize our experiences in our mind.

NLP is the practice of understanding how people organize their thinking, feeling, language and behavior to produce the results they get.

NLP was developed as a way to understand the secrets of outstanding performances achieved by geniuses and leaders in their field.

By using NLP strategies, you will be able to observe your world and reflect on how to revise the way you interact with others to promote positive outcomes in all aspects of your life. Imagine being able to reduce conflict and improve your ability to communicate.

Change your mind set with NLP principles such as Anchoring, Getting out of stuck states, Parts Integration, Changing a negative belief, Clarifying your goals, Change habits, Modeling Excellence, Clarifying what others are saying, Effective Language in Communication, Instant Rapport, Strategies in Communication. Develop visualization techniques to ensure you are totally confident in any situation. Learn and understand the importance of paraphrasing and matching/mirroring people to improve your relationships.

We can change our outlook on life just by changing what we choose to focus on. By learning how to relate to people, using hypnosis and visualization to change things in your unconscious mind, you will truly increase your happiness as you go about your everyday life!

Keith Livingston of Hypnosis 101 says:

"Here’s one way of looking at it. NLP techniques sometimes use a fair amount of conscious participation to work with the unconscious. Let’s look at an NLP visual swish pattern as an example.

With a visual swish, we might first find an image that is triggering a “bad” feeling in a client.

The client is unlikely to be consciously aware of that image before we get them to recognize it. We then take them consciously through the steps of the swish, having them create a resource image, shrink it down, swish etc. We do this until whenever the client thinks about the situation that’s been bothering them, they automatically get the new image and a new feeling to go along with it!

So, we’ve used conscious participation to get at and change an unconscious pattern. We can do this with a swish pattern because we understand the mechanics of the way pictures affect feelings."

See Hypnosis 101 for more informaiton.

Natural Breathing

Authentic Breathing® Resources LLC
Natural Breathing For Health, Well-Being, Longevity, and Self-Transformation

"The process of breathing is a living metaphor for understanding how to expand our sense of ourselves and be present not just to the miraculous energies of life that are both in and around us but also to the deep silence and spaciousness out of which these energies arise.

By checking in on your breathing, by noticing all the inner and outer movements of your breath as they take place, you are actually getting in touch with a deeper, more-conscious dimension of your own being.

Allowing your breath to take you deeper inside yourself, however, takes practice.

So check in on your breathing right now.

Allow all the sensations of your breath, all the internal and external movements related to how you are breathing now, to enter your awareness.

See if you can discover a quiet, non-judgmental place in yourself.

Just be aware, without any attempt to manipulate your breathing, of what your breath feels like and how this awareness influences your sensation of yourself.

Breath is life and movement. Let your breath engage and fill every part of your body, especially your belly, back, spine, and chest.

Inhale and exhale through your nose.

To transform your breathing, start with your exhalation, with “letting go.”

Be sure your belly stays relaxed. Let it expand as you inhale and retract as you exhale. Your belly is the foundation of your breath.

A long, slow exhalation helps harmonize your diaphragm and turns on your “relaxation response.”

Sense the natural pause after exhalation; let yourself rest there for a moment.

Let your inhalation arise by itself, when it’s ready.

Remember, you are a breathing being, alive right now and here. Let yourself feel the mystery and the miracle of your breath and your life as often as you can.

How do you feel right now?

One of the simplest, safest, and most powerful breathing practices you can undertake on your own behalf is to consciously follow your breathing in the many circumstances of your life.

As you inhale, simply be aware that you are inhaling. As you exhale, simply be aware that you are exhaling. Try this practice for 10 minutes or so at a time at least three times a day. It will help free you from your automatic thoughts and emotional reactions and thus enable you to wake up in your daily life more often, to live with more receptivity and clarity in the present moment.

You may find this practice especially useful at moments when you are anxious or angry. With roots in Buddhism and the other great spiritual traditions, this is a wonderful practice for both beginners and advanced practitioners.

Natural breathing involves the harmonious interplay of the lungs, diaphragm, belly, chest, back, and other parts of the human body. In natural breathing, the depth and speed of the breath is appropriate to the actual demands of the moment, as long as those demands are not being conditioned by unnecessary tensions, contractions, or restrictions in the body.

During inhalation, the diaphragm moves downward massaging, either directly or indirectly, all the organs, and the energetic wave of breath moves upward through entire body, opening the belly, chest, back, and lungs.

During exhalation, the diaphragm moves upward massaging the heart, and the wave of breath moves downward closing the lungs, chest, back, and belly.

In human beings, natural breathing occurs mainly through the nose. This not only ensures the natural filtering, warming, and moisturizing of the air, but it also helps ensure that we don't release carbon dioxide too quickly.

The word “deep” in the expression “deep breathing” does not (or at least should not) refer to the volume of air in any given time period but rather to the depth that the diaphragm is able to move downward and upward on inhalation and exhalation.

The farther the diaphragm can move downward on inhalation and upward on exhalation, the deeper the breath. Except for those with severe pulmonary problems, a person who breathes more deeply most often breathes more slowly as well.

Deep breathing depends on the ability of the diaphragm, belly, lower ribs, and spine all to participate in the breathing process. If there is too much stress or tension in and around these areas, deep breathing will not be possible.

“Shallow breathing” means, or at least should mean, that the diaphragm moves down and up very little during breathing. In fact, many people are shallow breathers, not because their lives dictate shallow breathing, but rather because of weakness and tension in their breathing muscles, or a lack of good coordination.

Instead of using their diaphragms effectively, they try to use the secondary breathing muscles of their chest. Many people who try to do deep breathing without being able to or understanding how, end up simply tensing their secondary breathing muscles and lifting their shoulders and upper chest to try to take in more air. In such cases, their diaphragms move very little, and they lose the many benefits of diaphragmatic breathing, which include an internal massage of all the inner organs, aiding venous blood flow and lymphatic flow, and much more.

Many of us, without knowing it, habitually "hyperventilate"—that is, we take quick, shallow breaths from the top of our chest. These quick, shallow breaths sharply reduce the level of carbon dioxide in our blood. This reduced level of carbon dioxide causes the arteries, including the carotid artery going to the brain, to constrict, thus reducing the flow of blood throughout the body. When this occurs, no matter how much oxygen we may breathe into our lungs, our brain and body will experience a shortage of oxygen.

The lack of sufficient oxygen switches on the sympathetic nervous system—our "fight or flight" reflex—which makes us tense, anxious, and irritable. It also reduces our ability to think clearly, and tends to put us at the mercy of obsessive thoughts and images. Some researchers believe that hyperventilation can actually magnify our psychological problems and conflicts, and that chronic hyperventilation is intimately bound up with our anxieties, apprehensions, and fears.

To breathe naturally and authentically, our belly needs to be supple. It needs to be able to expand on inhalation and retract on exhalation. This bellows-like movement of the belly supports the downward and upward movements of the diaphragm.

When the belly expands on inhalation, the diaphragm can move farther downward into the abdomen, allowing the lungs to expand more fully.

When the belly retracts on exhalation, the diaphragm can move further upward, helping the lungs to expel gases more fully.

The increased downward and upward movements of the diaphragm, along with the outward and inward movements of the belly, not only help to slow down our breath rate and to take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide more efficiently, but they also help to massage all our internal organs, including the heart.

This "internal massage" has a healthful impact on digestion, elimination, blood flow, the immune system, and the nervous system. People who are shallow breathers either by habit or by design lose these many benefits of deep breathing.

Learning how to breathe more naturally and efficiently, the way our bodies were designed to breathe, can have a powerful influence on our metabolism and overall sense of well-being.

Healthy, natural breathing makes us feel better physically, emotionally, and mentally, and this has a beneficial influence on the quantity and quality of our exercise, the way we look at and feel about ourselves, the kinds and quantities of food we eat, the amount of energy we have.

Among other benefits, healthy breathing helps us achieve the right balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our cells, which has a beneficial influence on our metabolism.

Our breath is an incredible gift, a fundamental force that has subtle interrelationships with all the different sides of ourselves--body, mind, emotions, and spirit."

Anatomy of the lymph system

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP of the Women to Women Clinic:

"The first thing to understand about your lymph system is its vast extent. Like the circulatory system that supplies blood, the network of lymph vessels serves almost every cell in your body.

Strung along the lymph vessels like pearls knotted on a string, the lymph nodes serve as a series of cleaning filters. Lymphatic fluid percolates through the nodes, being purified and immunologically boosted at every stage.

The lymph vessels and nodes are made of lymph tissue, but so are many other parts of the body. One crucial function of lymph tissue is generating and storing white blood cells, the blood cells that fight infection. Besides the lymph nodes, principal lymph organs include the bone marrow (where white blood cells called B-lymphocytes are made), the spleen, tonsils and the thymus gland (where T-lymphocytes are made). Lymphoma is a group of related cancers of the lymphocytes.

The largest concentration of lymph tissue in the body surrounds the intestines. Called gut-associated lymphatic tissue, or GALT, this tissue is the guardian of this largest gateway through the body’s defenses, and it actively separates desirable nutrients from undesirable pathogens, and helps mount a defense whenever needed.




And importantly, the organs of elimination (skin, kidney, liver, bladder, small and large intestines) need to be doing their jobs well so that the lymph does not get overwhelmed with waste products.

Amazingly, the lymphatic system has no central pump but depends on muscle contraction and manual manipulation to move fluid. Deep breathing is another essential way we can enhance movement of lymph through our bodies."

Vitamin D3

Dr. Dale's Vitamin D3

"Supplemental vitamin D comes in two forms:
ergocalciferol (vitamin D2)
and
cholecalciferol (vitamin D3)
and the active form of vitamin D is
1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3]

Vitamin D3 is one of the most useful nutritional tools we have at our disposal for improving overall health. This vitamin is unique because cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) is a vitamin derived from 7-dehyrocholesterol; however, Vitamin D3 acquires hormone-like actions when cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) is converted to 1,25-dihydroxy Vitamin D3 (Calcitriol) by the liver and kidneys. As a hormone, Calcitriol controls phosphorus, calcium, and bone metabolism and neuromuscular function.

Vitamin D3 is the only vitamin the body can manufacture from sunlight (UVB). We just don't get outdoors enough today due to our adaption to indoor living. We also use extensive amounts of sunscreens due to concern about skin cancer, therefore, we are now a society with millions of individuals deficient in life-sustaining bone building and immune modulating 1,25-dihydroxy Vitamin D3.

Without vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, soft, or misshapen. Vitamin D prevents rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, which are skeletal diseases that result in defects that weaken bones.

Vitamin D3 is structurally similar to steroids such as testosterone, cholesterol, and cortisol (though vitamin D3 itself is a secosteroid).

Vitamin D is an important immune system regulator. The active form of vitamin D has been shown to inhibit the development of autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)."

For more information click here.

HOW CAN RELAXATION HELP?

"During and following relaxation, individuals typically report experiencing less rapid thinking and an increased ability to focus thoughts and maintain concentration.

The quality of thought is also reported to be calm and restful in nature. Herbert Benson, MD, an accomplished researcher of the healthy effects of relaxation, describes the thinking state of relaxation as a "passive attitude," perceived as a peaceful willingness to just let thoughts flow in a natural, non-directed or non-controlled manner.

Relaxation produces a particular pattern of bioelectrical brain activity as recorded in the electroencephalogram (EEG). The EEG of non-relaxed individuals shows relatively low voltage high frequency brain activity that is not synchronized.

When deeply relaxed, the dominant frequency of brain nerve firings slows, portions of the brain appear to fire in a synchronized fashion, and a high voltage slow
frequency pattern can be recorded.

When relaxed, there are two changes in muscular activity.

First, relaxed people are very still. If they move at all, they do so slowly and gently.

Second, muscle tone is greatly diminished when people relax. Muscle tone is the background level of muscle tightness in between overt muscle movements. Many of us get sore, aching muscles in our lower backs and shoulders or develop muscle tension headaches when muscle tone is too high for too long.

The third system that changes with relaxation is the autonomic nervous system. This is the part of the nervous system outside of our brain and spinal cord that controls digestion, blood circulation, and other our basic biological processes.

This "automatic" nervous system controls parts of our body that we do not normally have to attend to, like when our heart beats or the level of activity of our gastrointestinal system.

This autonomic nervous system has two branches, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems activate different parts of the body in different ways, but they tend to act like the two sides of an old-fashioned scale -- when the sympathetic system is activated, the parasympathetic system is less activated and vice-versa.

Generally, the sympathetic nervous system is activated when you are challenged, stressed, or faced with a dangerous situation. When we are anxious, frightened, or in pain, we know that our heart beats more forcefully and races, our palms sweat, and we suddenly feel very awake and alert. By contrast, we tend to be more parasympathetically activated when out of danger and environmental demands are low.

Under parasympathetic activation, the organs take care of functions such as digesting meals, converting blood sugars for long-term storage, and moving nutrients to cells while moving waste away.

Breathing is an interesting physiological process as it is controlled voluntarily and by the autonomic nervous system, such as when we sleep, lose consciousness, or do not need to voluntarily regulate our breathing for activities such as speaking.

Research studies suggest that many parts of the autonomic nervous system tend to follow the activity of breathing. Under sympathetic activation, breathing tends to
be rapid, shallow, and less rhythmic.

During relaxation and parasympathetic activation, breathing is slow, deep, and has a regular rhythm. Because one can voluntarily change breathing patterns and because the autonomic nervous system tends to mimic what is going on with breathing, a relaxed breathing pattern can be a successful way to gain control over automatic physiological processes.

These three systems, the brain/cognition, the muscles, and the autonomic nervous system, are integrated by brain centers including:
the limbic system (governing emotions),
the hypothalamus (controlling basic biological/behavioral processes),
and the reticular activating system (regulating arousal).

The three systems tend to work in a coordinated fashion. When an individual changes the pattern of responding in one system, this affects the other systems.

KEY ELEMENTS IN LEARNING TO RELAX:
Like any skilled act, relaxation skills are developed through practice. For a patient to show any lasting benefit from relaxation training, research has indicated that a minimum of four training/therapy sessions is critical.

Regular practice of relaxation appears to be critical in learning how to become deeply relaxed and producing health benefits from relaxation.

Researchers have repeatedly found that any systematic program of relaxation appears to produce positive changes in physiologic and psychological states for most people."

Edited from:
USING RELAXATION:
COPING WITH FUNCTIONAL GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS
Kenneth R. Jones, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor of Medicine/Clinical Psychologist
Steve Heymen, MS
Instructor of Medicine/Certified Biofeedback Therapist

WEIGHT, sounds like WAIT

"It is all about your inner mental communication. The "conscious talk" you have with yourself! It's so great when we start to understand the inner message of the language we use in the things we focus on in our lives.

Like WEIGHT, sounds like WAIT, right?

Sometimes we create unrealistic expectations of ourselves, just because we do not accept who we are.

So, what are you waiting for in life?

Why do you wait to see the real you and accept yourself?

Why are you waiting to give and receive happiness in life?

Are you gonna wait your whole life immersing yourself in this struggle with weight?"

Is Losing Weight Fast the Secret to Long Term Weight Loss?

"We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream!"

"May each day witness the discovery of more dimensions and potentials within yourself and awaken you to the potentials latent within us all!"
Joel and Michelle Levey
title quote by William James

Five Key Steps in Goal Setting

"Once the subconscious mind accepts an idea, it goes to work on making it come true.

When you learn to communicate directly with the subconscious mind you can begin to discover your personal power, the ability to choose your goals and to create your reality for the better.

The key language of the subconscious mind is pictures and feelings. When we learn to choose verbal language that creates pictures and feelings of our positive goals our performance begins to move in the positive goal direction that we choose.

We use Goal Setting to choose our focus areas, and then we wire this into our brain through practice, lots of repetition, to move it from our working memory to our subconscious memory.

We supplement this with Visualization and Imagery, which we control, this allows us to reflect, edit and improve our performance. It continues the wiring process and strengthens the wiring.

Work with this, week by week you will begin to create the positive results that you desire."

"The first step in goal setting is to choose what you want.

This is the seed that you plant in the subconscious mind.

This is central to Mental Training.

When we select the goal (the seed) we submit it to the subconcious mind and then we release the goal so that the brain can go to work on fulfilling it.

The function of the brain is to set and fulfill goals. The brain is a goal setting mechanism.

That is not to say that we are a mechanism, we are the spirit behind the mechanism, choosing how and when we use it, we use the mind for this.

Goal Setting is a reflection of the brain, it uses the creativity and problem solving of the right side of the brain and the structure and analytical skills of the left brain to break down our goal into easily achievable steps.

Setting Goals is essential to success, it is the mind choosing a focal point for the brain to orientate itself to."

"There are Five Key Steps in Goal Setting

1. Specificity
Your Goal must be specific and clearly defined.

Know what you want. Write it out in one sentence.

2. Measurable
Your goal needs to have a measure attached to it, this lets you know when you have achieved it and whether you are on track with it.

Having a measure allows you to break the goal down into steps.

3. Achievable
Is the goal achievable and realistic to your level of development.

The goal needs to be challenging without being so far out of your reach that you will become discouraged when you don't achieve it.

4. Record
Keep a journal or log book of your progress, this allows you to reflect on your progress and growth.

You can begin to see your habits, good and bad, to see where you are on track and off track with your goals and then make the adjustments.

5. Time Frame
Put a time frame on your goals, this gives them a context and helps you to focus.

It allows you to take an idea and bring it from seed form into reality, you break it down week after week to goal completion."


From Mental Training

"Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself. To expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts toward others, I am not going to get angry, or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can."

The Dalai Lama

Seek your doctor's approval for any medically or psychologically diagnosed conditions or disorders

Hypnosis is not meant as a substitute for standard medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment and consulting hypnotists / hypnotherapists are required to advise you to seek your doctor's approval for any medically or psychologically diagnosed conditions or disorders. Hypnosis techniques are a complementary alternative for self-healing, self-help, and behavior modification. Results are ultimately achieved through the client's own personal efforts at applying these techniques over time.

Hypnosis will treat completely what is treatable with trance and guided imagery, often triggering the physiology of the client in the proper direction and towards the appropriate action. Hypnosis may reveal problems that must be treated differently; a structural, mechanical problem would be referred to a chiropractor,and a nutritional deficiency needs proper input of nutrients, not energy medicine.

Pre-tox before you party to stay healthy.

From the Women to Women website, Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP.

"Sugary treats are almost always available at parties and special events, as well as other celebratory hazards that can disrupt even the healthiest lifestyle. If you’re planning to celebrate, there are some simple steps to take before you indulge to help pre-tox your system, and keep you feeling energetic and healthy.

The Favorite Four — Marcelle’s “pre-tox” tips:

1.Don’t skip meals — especially breakfast — if you starve yourself for hours before a big dinner or event, you might end up eating even more when you finally sit down at the table.

This type of fasting and feasting is a vicious cycle: it causes fatigue, digestive problems, blood sugar/ insulin complications, and fuels cravings.

To compensate, plan to eat regular meals, full of nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, along with adequate lean protein to give you the energy you need.

I always advise cutting back on wheat/gluten intake or completely eliminating these symptom-causing culprits.

Make sure you’re taking a high-quality multivitamin every day before, during, and after special events or parties.

If you do eat sweets, pair them with some protein to tone down the surge in blood sugar. If you follow a healthy diet plan most of the time, you can still splurge on a treat here and there but you’ll be less likely to binge.

More about healthy eating...

2.Exercise — I know you’re busy and have a million things to do, but physical activity helps give you energy, strength, and stamina so you can really enjoy the festivities.

Exercise — even just a brisk 20-minute walk — stimulates your blood circulation, which is a key element in healthy detoxification.

Good circulation keeps toxins moving along detox pathways and out of your body.

Regular exercise also enhances mental clarity and helps you sleep better so try to make time for it.

3.Support liver function — Your liver is your “detoxification specialist,” working continually to neutralize and remove alcohol, toxins, pathogens, and other substances that can make you feel sluggish, fatigued — even sick.

Your liver is also in charge of breaking down most of the ingredients in the food you eat.

Party treats that contain excess sugar and fat can make your liver work extra hard. Help support this hard-working organ by eating lots of fruits and vegetables (again!) and choosing sulfur-rich foods (eggs, cruciferous veggies) that help support the detox process.

Try to take in enough fiber — it helps maintain a healthy balance of gut flora.

And consider using milk thistle or charcoal capsules — both available in many pharmacies — to help counteract any excess alcohol.

More about detox, liver function, and helpful supplements...

4.Bolster your immune system — Holidays or celebrations may be fun, but they still can take a toll on your immune system.

Late nights keep you from getting enough sleep. Get as much sleep as possible; a pre-party nap can do wonders.

Too many sugary, high-carb foods don’t provide the nutritious fuel necessary to support your body’s organ systems. You can fuel a healthy immune system by eating right as often as you can.

Take care to get enough vitamin D every day — your immune system depends on it — and 250–500 mg of vitamin C as well. You can also add probiotics on a regular basis because they promote digestive balance — most of your immune system is located in your gut.

More about immune support...

It may be tempting for women who feel they have a problem with sugar to simply cut out all carbohydrates. But an all-or-nothing approach just isn’t healthy — it takes all four food groups to regulate insulin and quell sugar cravings."

WHAT IS EPIGENETICS?

"The new field of "epigenetics" is rapidly revealing how people may start with a certain genetic code at conception, but the choice of which genes are "expressed," or activated, is strongly affected by environmental influences.

Epigenetics refers to DNA and chromatin modifications that persist from one cell division to the next despite a lack of change in the underlying DNA sequence. Some epigenetic changes can be passed from one generation to the next. The expression of genes can change quite rapidly over time.

WHAT IS EPIGENETICS?
Within our DNA, the development and maintenance of our body is orchestrated by a set of chemical reactions that switch parts of the genome OFF and ON at strategic times and locations. Epigenetics is the study of these reactions and the factors that influence them.

They can be influenced by external factors. We are more than just the sum of our genes, and biological complexity depends less on gene number, and more on how those genes are used (expressed), which is largely due to epigenetic mechanisms.

EPIGENETICS & THE ENVIRONMENT
The genome dynamically responds to the environment. Stress, diet, behavior, toxins and other factors activate chemical switches that regulate gene expression.

EPIGENETICS AND THE HUMAN BRAIN
Throughout our lives, the brain remains flexible and responsive to the outside world. In addition to receiving signals from the outside world, the brain allows us to form memories and learn from our experiences. Many brain functions are accompanied at the cellular level by changes in gene expression. Epigenetic mechanisms such as histone modification and DNA methylation stabilize gene expression, which is important for long-term storage of information.

NUTRITION AND THE EPIGENOME
Unlike behavior or stress, diet is one of the more easily studied, and therefore better understood, environmental factors in epigenetic change.

The nutrients we extract from food enter metabolic pathways where they are manipulated, modified and molded into molecules the body can use. One such pathway is responsible for making methyl groups - important epigenetic tags that silence genes.

Familiar nutrients like folic acid, B vitamins and SAM-e (S-Adenosyl methionine, a popular over-the-counter supplement) are key components of this methyl-making pathway. Diets high in these methyl-donating nutrients can rapidly alter gene expression, especially during early development when the epigenome is first being established."

This is edited from the "Learn Genetics" website of the University of Utah

What is Alopecia Areata?

This is from an article, Natural Remedies for Alopecia Areata (severe hair loss) from Alternative Medicine.com.

"What is Alopecia Areata?
Alopecia areata is a hair loss condition that causes the rapid onset of round patches of baldness. The cause of alopecia areata is unknown, although in some cases, alopecia areata has been associated with autoimmune diseases."

"A preliminary study explored the use of hypnosis on hair growth and well-being in people with alopecia. The study involved 28 people with extensive alopecia areata, alopecia totalis, or alopecia universalis who did not respond to previous conventional treatments.

After treatment with hypnosis, all patients had a significantly lower score for anxiety and depression. Hair regrowth of 75% to 100% was seen in 12 people after 3 to 8 sessions of hypnotherapy. Total regrowth occurred in 9 of these 12 people. In 5 people, a significant relapse occurred.

There were major limitations to this study, however, including the small size of the study, the lack of a placebo group, and the fact that the study was not double-blind. Larger, well-designed studies are needed."

Your Wish Is Your Command!

Indirect Suggestion Hypnosis

This information is from author, and leading hypnosis trainer, Keith Livingston.

Please click here to visit his website, HYPNOSIS 101, for more information about hypnosis.

"Most hypnotherapists do direct suggestion hypnosis. Period. But there's a whole other world put there--indirect suggestion hypnosis.

Indirect suggestion hypnosis covers a lot of ground so let's define it and see if we can get our heads wrapped around the idea. Indirect hypnosis is giving suggestions that are not obvious or direct instructions.

An oft-used example is the request "Can you get the door?" It's not in the form of an order like a direct suggestion would be ("Get the door.") The suggestion is implied rather than direct.

But indirect suggestion is so much more than couching suggestions in easier to swallow forms. Indirect suggestion also may include the framework of the session, metaphor, embedded suggestions, and a lot more.

But before we can explore how to use indirect suggestion hypnosis, it's useful to know how it works.

Conscious vs. Unconscious Processing

The unconscious however, is in charge of behaviors that are already well learned, body processes and emotion. The unconscious also has a wonderful ability to pick up patterns and categorizes events based on themes and emotions.

That's why, when you dream, there may not be a lot of logic in the dreams. Dreams often have themes and patterns and involve emotions. They may be difficult for us to understand consciously.

So, when you're communicating with the unconscious mind, it makes sense to package your communication in a way the unconscious already recognizes. Using metaphor, patterns, themes and emotions are powerful ways to drive suggestions deep into the mind.

Back to indirect suggestion.

How does it work?

Embedded Suggestions

Embedded suggestions are simply suggestions that are buried inside other communications as coded messages. The conscious mind focuses on the surface message and your unconscious picks up the messages hidden inside.

So, embedded suggestions use the unconscious mind's ability to notice patterns that may escape the conscious mind.

Metaphor

Metaphor uses the unconscious mind's ability to recognize themes and then apply them to the subject's own situation. You might use metaphor to tell a story that is similar in some way to your subject's situation but that involves a solution. If done well, the person being hypnotized will, without conscious interference, apply the solution delivered in the metaphor.

So, how does indirect suggestion hypnosis work? It works by packaging suggestions in the form that the unconscious already uses."

Please click here to visit Keith's website, HYPNOSIS 101, for more information about hypnosis.

no pressure

Sometimes when you have had a problem for a long time, it may seem hard to balance the complexity of accepting it, while at the same time pursuing a solution and getting your hopes up.

Hypnosis is very positive and gentle, with no pressure to force you to make any changes that do not support you completely. Trust your intuition as to when the timing is right for you.

Your thyroid, your voice

This information is from the Women's Health Network Program:

In Eastern medical paradigms, the thyroid is associated with “sacred voice.” As a component of the fifth chakra, thyroid issues are linked with difficulty speaking our truth, following our dreams, or fully expressing ourselves.

Anatomically, the thyroid sits right over the voice box, and one of the symptoms of thyroid dysfunction is a gravelly or “muted” voice. When the thyroid is underactive, it doesn’t hurt to step back and evaluate how well you’re expressing your individual needs, wants, and opinions to those around you.

Find ways to diminish stress and speak your truth. Speak up, share your opinions, explore the things that make your life meaningful. Don’t feel guilty about asking for, and receiving, more support.

Remember that your voice doesn’t serve to merely communicate — it is connected to your whole being. Likewise, your thyroid doesn’t simply produce thyroid hormone. It is connected to every cell in your body and subject to both physical and psychological influence. My advice is to look at the whole picture when it comes to your thyroid, and you will find the dynamic balance your body is naturally seeking.

Support your thyroid by supporting your adrenals.

As the great balancer of more than 50 hormones in the body, the adrenal glands have a broad impact on your health and energy. The adrenals are primarily responsible for activating your stress (“fight or flight”) response, shifting energy away from restorative processes like digestion and toward the organs of action — your heart and skeletal muscles — by pumping adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream.

“If you feel happy and well, have steady energy and emotions, sleep soundly seven to nine hours a night, wake up feeling rested, recover well from stress, and maintain a healthy weight without dieting, then your adrenals are probably doing just fine!”

If, on the other hand, your energy lags during the day, you feel emotionally off-kilter much of the time, you sleep poorly or less than seven hours a night, you can’t shed excess weight even while dieting, and you rely on caffeine or carbohydrates as “pick-me-ups” — these are all red flags indicating adrenal imbalance.

If this is the only thing you do… this will benefit your health on many levels. Not only will supporting your adrenals lighten the burden on your thyroid, it will also help restore your energy levels and overall well-being.

The natural approach to thyroid health.

Astragalus root (A. membranaceus). Astragalus aids in the body’s natural ability to adapt to stress, bolstering the immune system so you stay well while helping to regulate normal blood sugar levels and alleviate insulin resistance.

Cordyceps (C. sinensis). Cordyceps is a prized antioxidant fungus that can slow aging and take a load off the adrenals by supporting the immune system, balancing the inflammatory response, and helping to stabilize blood sugar.

Eleuthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus, formerly called Siberian ginseng). Eleuthero is an adaptogenic herb that can help protect us against the negative effects of stress, while decreasing fatigue, enhancing mental clarity, helping to balance blood sugar, and even perhaps supporting bone remodeling as well.

Rhodiola rosea (“golden root”). Rhodiola is another adaptogenic herb that protects against stress-related fatigue and “burnout;” increases mental clarity; and offers immune and blood sugar support. An added benefit of Rhodiola is its antidepressant and antianxiety effects.

Licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra). Well known for supporting adrenal balance, licorice root aids in increasing energy and endurance. Though many of the above herbs can be used relatively freely of restrictions, certain forms of licorice can increase blood pressure and lower potassium and thus, licorice should be used with care and guidance. Adrenal fatigue, in many instances, is accompanied by low blood pressure, so licorice taken at the appropriate times and dosages can be of benefit in those cases. However, this herb is best taken under the care of an herbalist or a functional medicine practitioner.

Take a pharmaceutical-grade multivitamin–mineral complex. Ensuring a rich foundation of nutrients for the daily production and activity of thyroid hormones may be all you need to get yourself back on track.

Phosphatidylserine (fos-fuh-tie-dul-SEHR-een)(PS) is a phospholipid that is vital to your brain cells and helps reduce high cortisol levels. Cortisol is elevated in response to stress. If your adrenal glands are producing too much cortisol, you may develop conditions such as weight gain, especially around the abdomen, depressed immune function with all of the consequences, accelerated aging and stomach ulcers. If you have too little cortisol, you may suffer from fatigue, chronic fatigue, or exhaustion.

Also consider supplementing with selenium and iodine. Ask your practitioner to test your iodine levels, and talk about boosting your iodine and selenium levels in addition to your multivitamin.

You can do this through the foods you eat or with supplements, but if you do use selenium or iodine supplements, please work with a professional healthcare provider to monitor your levels appropriately… do not recommend taking more than 200 mcg/day.

Nutrient-rich foods to replenish thyroid health:

Iodine (I): seaweed (e.g., nori), clams, shrimp, haddock, oysters, salmon, sardines, pineapple, eggs.

Selenium (Se): smoked herring, smelt, wheat germ, Brazil nuts (just one nut provides ~139 mcg), apple cider vinegar, scallops, barley, lobster.

Zinc (Zn): fresh oysters, ginger root, pecans, dry split peas, Brazil nuts, egg yolk, whole wheat, rye, oats, peanuts.

Vitamin E: wheat germ oil, olive oil, sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts.

Vitamin A: dark green leafy veggies, liver, winter squash, cantaloupe, stone fruits, papaya, and cod liver oil.

B vitamin complex: brewer’s yeast, wild rice, brown rice, whole wheat, beans, peanuts.

Vitamin C: Red chili, guava, parsley, dark green leafy veggies, strawberries, papaya, citrus fruits.

Remember to work with a professional healthcare provider to monitor your health and any supplements appropriately. See a doctor who specializes in functional medicine, a naturopathic practitioner, or a wholistic nutritionist for a program that best fits your personal needs — dosage, timing, blood pressure, cortisol levels, and other factors should be taken in to consideration.

Creative Imagination

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.

"Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again, draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

From "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

Don't worry if you don’t feel hypnotized.

Don't worry if you don’t feel hypnotized.

Hypnosis may not feel any different than your normal waking state of awareness or any other relaxed states you may have experienced.

During hypnosis, your conscious mind may remain focused on my words or it may drift off, so you do not track what I am saying.

It doesn’t matter what your conscious mind is doing during hypnosis, because your unconscious will be listening to everything.

So, whether you are listening to my voice or not, and whether you are visualizing what I am saying or not, you can trust that you will go to the level of trance that is appropriate for you.

There is no pressure to perform, because all you have to do is relax.

What we say to ourselves has a lot to do with whether we succeed or not, because it determines how we think, what we feel, and what we picture in our mind. Those pictures affect our behavior and can either lead us to what we want, or what we don’t want.

In hypnosis we use positive language to keep us moving in the direction of success.

It’s like we are training our mind and behavior with our own thoughts. I’d much rather be successful, so I focus my thoughts and feelings on the results I want to experience in my life. Take time to really feel what it will feel like to acheive the results you want.

It’s important to remember that we do have a choice about how we respond to what happens in our life. We have a choice about the words we use, both inside our heads, and what we say outloud as well.

We can choose to focus on how we want to feel as we begin to make changes that bring new results.

Thank you Dr. Seuss!

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go!"
~Dr. Seuss

Slow down your brain to improve test performance and get better grades.

"Use hypnosis to slow down your brain waves to the alpha level which is the brain frequency associated with meditation. One of the many benefits of slowing down and entering the alpha brain wave state is to help you to get better grades in school, college, licensing exams, or any kind of test situation.

Using an hypnosis technique called an "anchor", you can use the benefits of thinking at the alpha level. That is, it will allow you to enter the alpha level with your eyes open. This technique is especially useful in recalling information, increasing focus and concentration, and increasing creativity.

While under hypnosis, you instruct your subconscious mind to create a simple post hypnostic signal by bringing together your thumb and the first two fingers of either hand, or both, so you can easily comunicate with your own subconscious mind whenever you choose. Now, any time you touch your thumb and the first two fingers of either hand, or both, you will easily enter the alpha state. One of the best uses of this special "OK" signal is for students who are preparing to take a test.

Better results can be achieved using the special "OK" signal, if you program yourself with a specific intention. If you want to have better retention while attending a lecture, program yourself during hypnosis, in the alpha brain wave state, before the lecture and tell yourself that when you make the special "OK" sign with your three fingers during the lecture, you will enter the alpha level and be better able to focus and listen attentively to the lecturer. You can do the same thing before reading a book that contains information that is important to you and that you would like to be able to easily recall at a later time.

For example, if you're going to study for an exam, enter the alpha level and tell yourself that you're going to count from one to three, at which point you will open your eyes and read the textbook in front of you, allowing you to process the information with imorived concentration and understanding. Remember to mention the name of the textbook that you're about to read, the subject matter, and the author. When you're done reading the text, enter the alpha level once again and tell yourself that whenever you put together your thumb and the first two fingers of either hand, you will have perfect recall of the text that you just read. During the test you put your thumb and the first two fingers of either hand together and proceed to answer your test questions.

In addition there are relaxation exercises that will help you to reduce any "test anxiety" and will help you to remain relaxed while studying for the test and while taking the actual exam. Also, repeating positive affirmations and using creative visualization to "see" yourself doing well on the test are both beneficial and will help you to do better on your exams."

Edited from article about the Silva Life System

Hypnosis has many levels.

Hypnosis has many levels that range from light to deep. We say that during hypnosis you will go "deeper and deeper" into trance. Hypnotic states are part of a continuum.

Using descriptive words about "depth" is a metaphor that we can use to speak about hypnosis. Another way to talk about hypnosis is to refer to brain wave states, such as alhpa and theta, where hypnotic suggestions can have powerful effects. You may experience a range of awareness and reach many different hypnotic states during your session.

Hypnosis may feel different to each person. Regardless of the level of trance you reach, trust that you will go to the level that is appropriate for you. There is no pressure to perform because all you have to do is relax.

Your unconscious will be listening, no matter what your conscious mind is doing. All you need to do is to allow yourself to open your mind to the hypnotherapist’s suggestions to acheive the results you want in your life. You are in complete control as you work together with the hypnotherapist, using your own mind to make the changes that allow you to reach your goal.

You already know how to easily reach hypnotic states because you have been doing it your entire life whether you knew it or not. For example, you reach a state of hypnosis when you recall a memory, listen to music, daydream, drive a car, read a book, play a sport while in the "zone", watch a good movie, draw or paint, meditate, and drift off to sleep.

Many people are curious about hypnosis and may not have problems to resolve, but they suspect that they have potential which is not being used. Hypnosis is an effective technique to tap into new levels of creativity and intelligence.

Hypnosis helps you change your beliefs which will then improve your life. As you take on new beliefs, your thoughts, feelings, and behavior change. Old negative patterns that may have been controlling your behavior are released and replaced with more positive ones.

The subconscious takes over and any suggestions made in the hypnotic state will be accepted as reality. The subconscious does not differentiate between reality and imagination; it simply accepts as real that which is repeated until it becomes a habit. The suggestion takes root in the subconscious and becomes a reality.

Hypnosis is an effective way to release emotional blocks and create positive changes in your subconscious mind.