Weight Loss, Smoking Cessation, and Other Uses of Hypnosis
Hypnosis for Test Taking
Sometimes even smart people have a difficult time Learning and taking tests. Often people have mental blocks. Hypnosis is an effective tool in helping you clear your mind to absorb information and to be in a positive frame of mind to do well on tests.
Sometimes we need to do some work to remove the mental blocks using hypnoanalysis. Learning self-hypnosis helps you learn to focus your mind and to relax so you can absorb information and have a clear mind to remember information for tests.
Hypnosis for Pain Management
Many people have used hypnosis successfully to manage pain. In fact, hypnosis has been used for pain management by the medical community all over the world for centuries. One reason it can be so helpful is that when in pain, people often feel helpless and out of control. When using hypnosis to relieve pain, a person has an increased sense of control which can give a big emotional boost.
How does it work?
Pain is a signal from the nervous system to the brain. Using hypnosis, the brain can be taught to modify pain signals for brief and longer periods of time.
A second aspect of pain relief happens when pain is present and muscles tense, not consciously, but as a coping mechanism against pain. This tension magnifies the pain. The secret of pain relief is total relaxation of every muscle. Relaxation of the body also raises the pain threshold. The time of self-relaxation during which you can be almost pain free can last as long as you wish.
A third aspect of using hypnosis to manage pain is in the relaxation of the mind which reduces the anticipation of the pain.
A fourth aspect of pain relief is that putting one's attention on pain makes it worse. The opposite is true also. The mind can be distracted away from pain. For example, a person cuts a finger or skins a knee while very involved in a game or some activity and may never notices it until things have quieted down.
Finally, hypnosis can help the anxiety and depression that often accompanies pain, making it less likely to interfere with life. The emotional response to pain can sometimes be as debilitating as the pain itself. Sometimes a course of hypnoanalysis is helpful in relieving the emotional component of pain.
Many dentists now use hypnosis to reduce fear and the need for anesthesia.
However, in some situations, pain is a warning that something is wrong. This kind of pain needs to be medically evaluated, not relaxed away—unless relaxation is a temporary coping device used until the underlying causes are assessed and diagnosed.
Sports Performance
The greatest athletes know how to focus their minds, shut out distractions, concentrate and achieve a state of alertness that is at once loose and intense. It is often called the zone. The state of alert, relaxed, focused attention allows athletes to achieve top performance. Hypnosis is defined as a state of alert, focused attention while the body is relaxed. Many top athletes use this state to train their minds and rehearse events. Fortunately, this tool is available to any golfer, tennis player, gymnast, dancer, football, basketball, or baseball player, runner, or swimmer whatever your age or skill level.
There are three techniques that use hypnosis that can assist both professionals and weekend warriors achieve their top level of performance.
Hypnosis is a state of alert relaxation that is measurable using an EEG machine. It has has several benefits for athletes. First, you can learn to focus your mind and relax. Recent brain imaging technology has shown that this state improves problem solving, reduces anxiety, and reduces blocks that help you have access to the areas of the brain that produce peak performance. In other words, it allows you to get out of your own way so you can perform at your best.
Some people believe they can not be hypnotized. In fact, no one can hypnotize someone else. Each individual can allow themselves to go into a normal state that in fact most people go in and out of several times a day. Anyone who can focus their attention can achieve a state of hypnosis. In fact, learning self hypnosis is an important part of our sports performance program.
Hypnotherapy is the second technique. It can be used to enhance positive thoughts, beliefs, and mental images that can help improve sports performance. There is an old saying, "What you believe, you can achieve." While this saying may sound trite to some, recent brain imaging technology has discovered the neurological reasons why this is true. Hypnotherapy can be used to help program the mind in positive ways so that your mind set is positive when you are on the course or the court.
Many of us wish we could leave or concerns behind when we get a club or ball in our hands. Unfortunately, because we bring our whole selves, including our memories with us wherever we go, these things can get in the way. The third and most advanced hypnosis technique called hypnoanalysis can help resolve issues that get in the way of top performance. Again, recent brain research has shown that the sensory information necessary for top performance is filtered through memory. Some memories help sports performance, some don't.
Hypnoanalysis can help restructure memories that block performance. It can help resolve worries, anxieties, negative thoughts, and concerns that may pop up even during an intense event. When these things are resolved it clears the way for athletes to focus, perform and enjoy.
Our sports performance program is a multi-session package individualized for each person. It includes learning self-hypnosis, suggestions for individual sports, hypnotherapy suggestions for individualized for each person, a personal sports enhancement recording, and analysis of issues that block performance.
Public Speaking
Hypnosis has been used by many seeking to improve their public speaking. Hypnosis can help calm your mind and body so you can speak effectively. It can also help you memorize and rehearse speeches. For those dealing with stage fright, hypnoanalysis can resolve the cause of the anxiety so you can relax and speak effectively.
Weight Loss Hypnosis
Why Hypnosis works for weight when other things have not
Many people start diet and exercise programs with every intention of losing weight and keeping it off. They decide this time will be different. Perhaps there is a new diet, or even new diet pill. But, they don't manage to stick to it. You may be one of these people. Some people say taking weight off isn't the problem, it’s keeping it off!
Why? The answer lies in how the brain works.
The part of the brain that controls your eating and lack of exercise just can't be reached with conscious decisions. It is not a matter of will power. For most people with weight problems, emotions got connected with food and weight at an earlier stage of life. That connection happens in a part of your brain that never hears about your New Year’s resolution or the new diet.
It’s kind of like Pavlov’s dog. Russian researcher Ivan Pavlov rang a bell every time his dog ate. Soon, all Pavlov had to do was ring the bell and his dog would salivate. If the dog heard the bell ring, he couldn't make his mouth stop watering. For humans the stimulus can be something that happens in the environment such as a difficult conversation, or troubling thoughts. You may not even know what the stimulus is. When difficult feelings arise, the need to eat just seems automatic and compelling. The obvious problem is, that when the impulse to eat has nothing to do with your need for nutrition, you end up eating more than you need to. Here's the good news.
Brain researchers now know that we can “un-ring Pavlov’s bell.2” Yes, we can disconnect the stimulus from the impulse to overeat or to remain sedentary. And, we can reconnect the need to eat with the need for healthy nutrition. We can end the emotional need to eat and reconnect with what the body actually needs. How does hypnosis help? Hypnosis, in fact, is the key. During a state of hypnosis, the conscious mind goes into the background and you have access to the part of the brain that connects stimulus with responses.
There are specific hypnosis techniques that work for weight problems with different causes. We can find out what your causes of over eating or extra weight are and resolve them. The goal is gradual, permanent weight loss. Hypnotherapy: If you've just gained a few pounds in recent months, weight loss hypnotherapy can help strengthen your motivation and help you change habits. Or If you've gotten into the habit of eating when you want a break, self-hypnosis can provide a relaxing refreshing change of pace that actually helps reduce stress and give you renewed energy. These techniques are especially important with new research that has discovered the link between stress and weight gain. Hypnoanalysis: Advanced hypnotherapy—Perhaps you know you're a stress eater, or that your eating is related to your emotions. Some people eat to stuff anger, or to comfort or reward themselves; often people eat to protect themselves. When emotional issues get connected with food and weight deep within the brain, it is necessary to find out how that happened and resolve it. Hypnoanalysis is an in-depth process used to resolve the emotional issues and then disconnect food from those issues. Engrained emotional habits are 'programmed' in the subconscious. The problem is that the conscious part of the mind—which is different part of the brain—does not have access to the subconscious mind—in the lower brain. The good news is that while in hypnosis, we have access to those difficult-to-access parts of the brain. Using hypnoanalysis we can discover the cause of the problem, resolve it and help you reach your weight loss goals. And if you already know you are having difficulties with anxiety, depression, stress or other emotions, hypnoanalysis can work with that and weight at the same time. My personal goal is always that clients reach their ideal weight and maintain it permanently.
Weight issues are complex. Often a thorough physical check up with your doctor is needed to ensure there are no hormonal or other endocrine problems. Also, researchers are discovering a close link between lack of sleep and weight gain. A recent study found that in children, the difference in one hour sleep can mean a 300% (not a typo!) increased chance of obesity3. Hypnosis can help improve sleep.
Effective, compassionate, caring help Contact usStop Smoking Hypnosis
Smoking cessation is one of the common uses for hypnosis. For many people smoking is a simple habit. If you really want to quit smoking our three-visit Hypnosis Smoking Cessation Program can help you with this challenge. You probably already know why you need to quit smoking. You can see what the American Lung Association has to say about the effects of cigarette smoke. Did you know that according to the Mayo Clinic, within 24 hours of being smoke free, the risk of heart attack is reduced because nicotine and carbon monoxide have been eliminated from the body? In one year, the risk of a heart attack is cut in half.
Why does it work?
We know that breaking the smoking habit is challenging. You probably already know that simply making a logical decision to stop smoking doesn’t work well for many people. Smoking, like other habitual patterns are ‘programmed’ in the subconscious mind, which many researchers have identified as part of the brain. Hypnosis targets these areas of brain function, the parts of the brain that makes about 90% of the decisions we make. Hypnotherapy allows positive suggestions to take effect and change many habits.
Some people have some emotional attachment to smoking. If you smoke more when you are stressed, or started smoking again after you had quit during a stressful time in your life, you may be one of these people. In this situation, the emotional connection to smoking needs to be addressed to help you become a permanent non-smoker. If you are not sure if this is your situation, our program is individualized to address the physical as well as the mental/emotional areas of smoking cessation.
Find the support you need to become a non-smoker and re-gain control over your life! Give us a call and find out how Hypnosis can be your ticket to freedom! the American Lung Association
Take charge today and call for more information on how hypnosis can help you. If you would like more information on how hypnosis can help please call Jeanne Clark, LCSW at 708-442-5728 or e-mail dreamswork45@yahoo.com or call Mary Kullman, LCPC at 630-983-4577 and e-mail: spiritmk7@gmail.com and start improving your life today. To find a hypnotherapist click here. Not all hypnotherapists are qualified to do hypnoanalysis, so be sure to check your hypnotherapist's qualifications.
- The Amygdala and Insular Cortex
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences "Hypnotic suggestion reduces conflict in the human brain" Amir Raz, Jin Fan & Michael I. Posner102 (28): 9978, July 12, 2005.
- Reported in New York Magazine, October 15, 2007, "Snooze or Lose"