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."