The side effects of hypnosis are positive.

Hypnosis and hypnotherapy is widely regarded as one of the safest ways to make lasting positive changes to your health and wellbeing. 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 when you daydream, remember an event that happened in the past, drive a car, read a book, watch a good movie, listen to music, lie down to rest, etc. The whole point of hypnosis is for you to achieve greater personal control, a greater sense of well-being, and a more relaxed and peaceful mind and body.

Research has shown few serious side effects to hypnosis. In fact, most of the side effects of hypnosis are positive.

Sleeping better is the number one side effect of working with hypnosis.

Many clients have multiple issues that come up even if they come in with only one problem they want to solve. Hypnosis is able to resolve complex issues on every level, even if you are not consciously aware of them. Some clients discover the cause of one problem and clear it and find that other issues are resolved as well. I call it "extra wellness" when several problems get resolved while you are working on another one.

A possible cause of reports of negative side effects usually comes from misuse of “direct suggestion”, which I rarely use. My approach is very adaptogenic. For instance, instead of saying, for example, “you will now stop feeling angry”, I use wording that is more open so your unconscious can adapt it in the most beneficial way without negative effects, such as “you will maintain your goal of being completely free of all old responses, emotions, habits, beliefs and behaviors ….creating a healthy body and mind…”

Some patients have experienced mild feelings of fatigue or disorientation following their hypnosis session. Please be sure to report such feelings to me because they can easily be resolved.

Also, research has shown that events recalled during hypnosis are neither more nor less likely to be accurate than those recalled in a usual waking state of consciousness, although recollections are sometimes experienced more vividly.

And please note that if hypnosis is used for decreasing pain perception, medical consultation and referral from your doctor may be required.

At no time will the use of hypnosis involve any attempt to provide medical or mental health therapy. Always follow the advice of your doctor or other professional medical practitioner. Hypnosis is not meant as a substitute for standard medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment and consulting hypnotists are required to advise you to seek your doctor's approval for any medically or psychologically diagnosed conditions or disorders. Hypnosis techniques are adjunct to symptoms and 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.

Report on Thyroid and Autoimmune Disease

Thyroid Deficiency
Preventing a Metabolic Meltdown
By Raphael Kellman, MD

Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

Low progesterone in women between the ages of 30 and 50 may lead to autoimmune hypothyroiditis, or Hashimoto’s disease, as a consequence of immune stimulation by the dominant estrogen.

In this condition, the body’s immune system develops antibodies to thyroid cell components, resulting in self-destruction of the thyroid gland; specifically, antibodies to thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin are generated pathologically.

Twenty-five percent of such cases may also result from a genetic predisposition.

This attack by the immune system on the thyroid results in damage to the cellular mitochondria, the energy producers in the cytoplasm, and the progressive destruction of the thyroid itself.

Stress can also provoke this mitochondrial response, which in turn can result in other types of inflammation and allergies.

To improve mitochondrial function, we use N-acetylcysteine (a precursor to glutathione), coenzyme Q10, and alpha lipoic acid, an antioxidant for liver and nerve health that also works to regenerate coenzyme Q10.37

This treatment also improves cholesterol and fat levels in the liver, and helps the gall bladder.

Looking for the Cause

In addition to treating both symptoms and organic dysfunction, it is important to identify and eliminate all other possible causative factors. These may include:

Iodine deficiencies.
Iodine is an important component of T4 and T3. Although dietary iodine deficiencies are now almost nonexistent in the US, some people need to supplement their iodine intake with kelp, seaweed, or iodine tablets. Iodine is also found in dietary supplements such as Thyroid &; L-Tyrosine Complex™ capsules, which contain other trace minerals needed for optimal endocrine function—such as iodine, magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese—as well as tyrosine, the precursor to thyroid hormone.

Toxicity/heavy metals.
Metal toxicity, determined by hair analysis, can be addressed with chelation, both intravenous and oral. Selenium supplementation can also help remove heavy metals by working in conjunction with glutathione peroxidase, a compound found in asparagus, garlic, and mushrooms. A blood test can determine if selenium supplementation is needed; if so, there are several options, including Se-methylselenocysteine caps.

Candida.
Candida is detected using stool testing for overgrowth of yeast and yeast antibodies. Eliminating yeast, sugar, and wheat from the diet helps to starve out candida. People suffering from this disorder should eliminate even honey and fruit sugars from their diet at first, and then slowly reintroduce them into the diet later. Twinlab Yeast Fighters include biotin, fiber, acidophilus, and herbs to support a healthy intestinal environment.

Environmental radiation.
Radiation can cause free-radical damage to the thyroid, as has happened in Ukraine as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. The cell mitochondria are also prone to free radical damage. I recommend turning off cell phones and unplugging bedside electronic and electrical devices (including the telephone) at night, even though these devices produce relatively low levels of radiation. Because electromagnetic radiation in food can also be problematic, eating organic food whenever possible is also recommended.

Treating Hypothyroidism
Conventional treatment calls for patients to take an oral, synthetic form of T4. Synthroid®, the most popular such medication, is used by about 8 million Americans. Especially in older people for whom the side effects can be more problematic, it is important to advance the dosage slowly until TSH blood levels return to normal. This medication usually must be taken for life.

Dr. Kellman has discovered that many people respond better to Armour® Thyroid, which is desiccated porcine thyroid.

A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine claimed greater improvements in mood and brain function with Armour® Thyroid than with Synthroid®.

Dr. Kellman recommends starting treatment with a dose of 60-120 mg of Armour® desiccated thyroid, and then retesting in a month.

One patient, a woman in her early forties, complained of fatigue along with dry scalp and hair loss. She had gained 10 pounds and had irregular periods of depression. Because her blood test results were in the “normal” range, she went from doctor to doctor, until one physician prescribed birth control pills and Prozac®. Dr. Kellman noticed that her TSH level was 3 mµ/ml; this score, though considered to be within the normal range, may indicate low thyroid. Dr. Kellman treated her empirically with Armour® Thyroid. Dr. Kellman also tested her adrenals and found that they were hypofunctioning, and thus prescribed ashwagandha and Panax ginseng.42,43 Two weeks after treatment, the woman regained her energy and told me, “I have my life back!” The weight also disappeared—she dropped 10 pounds in eight weeks, her skin returned to normal, and her mood lifted."

BodyTalk, How To Balance Your Brain

BodyTalk, Balancing the Cortices

CORTICES is the plural of cortex which is the outer layer of the brain called the cerebrum (the cerebral cortex), composed of folded gray matter and playing an important role in consciousness.

"One of the very important things about balancing the cortices is that it helps to shift the body and mind out of ‘fight or flight’ (sympathetic) and into ‘growth and healing‘ (parasympathetic).

We often get stuck in flight or flight which causes great stress to the body, and breaks down those communication pathways in the body. It’s like too many plugs are plugged in and our circuits ‘blow’. This causes us to get stuck in a stressful state, and from this place, everything is more difficult - including healing.

Balancing the cortices also balanced the right/left brain which is fundamental for a healthy body and mind.

The right brain is the more intuitive side, imagination and it can work holistically - looking at the big picture. It is responsible for our creativity and and artistic abilities.

The left brain is responsible for our reasoning, logic and thought. It looks at the details and works in a linear way therefor it is slower. It is our knowledge and our learned behaviors.

What we would like is to have both sides of the brain working together to provide us with the ability to connect to the big pictures whilst knowing the details, have logic AND intuition, be able to be aware of where we’re going at the same time as knowing the steps to take.

Balancing the cortices daily starts to bring the body and brain back to a state of health where we can naturally move between different events without getting stuck in fight or flight and start to live using our whole brain.

I highly recommend balancing your cortices in the morning when you wake up, before you go to sleep, and if you have any kind of shock or trauma. If you have an accident, a headache, cut yourself, are stressed out, or receive some bad news.

Tap out your cortices and watch how you relax and return to a place where the body can start healing."

Why is our thinking focused on the past when we're depressed?

From Dr. Suzanne LaCombe's article
"How to Define Depression?"

"It has to do with state-dependent memory. Memories are encoded together with the state of the mind-body at the time they're first laid down. When we feel depressed, this state is tapping into the memory of previous times we experienced this depressed state.

To fully appreciate this idea it's helpful to understand how the brain organizes itself.

The success of our species has depended on our ability to 'put two and two together'. In other words, we notice associations between ideas and we profit from it--we can connect the dots. The brain is designed and organized to make these associations, and the more connections there are between neuropathways, the more associations there will be for us to make.

A consequence of this interconnectivity within the brain is that specific memories get associated with the mind-body state at the time the memory was acquired. So if I feel angry right now, it will be easier to remember the last time I felt angry. If I feel agitated it's easier to recall the last time I felt that way.

Some experts suggest that some depressive states might well be associated with memories formed during infancy. This might explain why there is no identified memory, because the hippocampal memory for facts, names, etc. doesn't come online until about age two."

Conscious Femininity by Marion Woodman

The work of Jungian analyst and writer, Marion Woodman. One of my favorite authors. She has taught me well.

Quotes from Conscious Femininity:

I am learning how to move into the conflict and hold the opposites and create a new path.

I am learning how to communicate my own experience of myself without blaming, attacking, or betraying you or me.

Learn to separate what is real from what is unreal, what stays and what goes.

I am learning to identify my preferences and communicate in a neutral way so you can receive them and not be threatened, hurt or betrayed.