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HEALTH ISSUES These are a series of very short articles that were written for the local paper in Norfolk with limited space. [Aylsham & Reepham TSI} Each one is designed to give information and interest to COMPLEMENTARY - not alternative- therapies. You will see the first 4 on acupuncture under that title on the main menu ~ Stella
Part 5
- HABITS AND PHOBIAS
by Stella Rodgers DCHAc CMIR HPD MNCH
HABITS like nail biting, over eating, smoking, things of
this nature are embedded in the unconscious mind, and are what we might call a
‘safety valve' for our inner selves, a distraction.
Whereas a PHOBIA is an extreme reaction to event/s that have
in the past caused distress. The conscious and unconscious mind has a duty to
protect us all from harm, but sometimes doesn't choose the best way!
How can hypnosis work for you to help you make the changes
you desire?
- Are you having trouble
getting over a past traumatic event?
- Are negative emotions
preventing you from progressing in life?
- Do you have a habit, which
is affecting your happiness and/or health?
- Are you held back by a lack
of confidence?
- Is stress or anxiety
affecting your life and health or limiting your performance?
- Do you sabotage yourself
every time you get close to success or happiness?
- Are you finding it hard
coping with the loss of a loved one?
If you're one of the millions of people who aren't enjoying life to it's
full potential, hypnotherapy may well be your way forward to the emotional
renewal that you deserve.
It is used for ... Sports performance - Pain Management - Public speaking -
Drug addiction - Eating disorders - Excessive drinking - Sleeping problems -
Relationship problems - Compulsions - Fears - Phobias - Panic Attacks
HEALTH ISSUES PART 6 HEALING & HYPNOSIS - REGRESSION
THIS LIFE REGRESSION We are used to seeing special effects such as time travel in
our entertainment films, but what if you could actually go back in time and
recall forgotten things that you need now, to help you heal the conditions of
today?
I don't know what has happened in your life, but even if you
can't seem to remember, that important information is stored in your memory
somewhere, just waiting to be of use to you now.
What is this interesting therapy used for? To dissolve negatives from the past, which may be limiting
and causing discontentment in this life: To discover a greater meaning and
purpose in life now, when one seems to be waiting forever for things to
improve. Finding the causes of illness now, which may be linked to the past:
Feelings of guilt or anxiety that seem to have no discernable reason, such as
phobias etc.
It is most thought of as a therapy perhaps in the context of
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. ‘Flashbacks' are a very real problem
that can disturb people no matter what their cause. Stress and distress is not
relived in any way, it is ‘viewed' as a tool that is serving a function - in
fact we have techniques to employ that do not even need any details of a personal
nature, if this is how you wish to proceed. Of course, only the
experiences that are helpful are used, there is a very strict protocol for the
well-trained hypnotherapist.
It might be that the experiences of childhood are still seen
through those eyes; through hypnosis we can see them through the eyes of
adulthood and they no longer have the same impact.
PAST LIFE REGRESSION is not only for people to explore or be
curious about a past life they think they might have had, or a belief they have
of having lived before, but for people who have issues in this life and would
like to explore the possibility that limiting beliefs from a past life have been brought foreward.
Did you ever feel, with a great affinity, that you have been in a place
before, and yet know that you haven't? Do you ‘see' things as it were, in
another time? A greater part of the world's population takes the matter of
reincarnation for granted, and yet others still preach against it. Some say it
is a metaphor for the unconscious mind to understand our lives in a different
way. Whatever your opinion, it is a very interesting subject.
What is this therapy mosly used for? It
might be that a person seeks help through this form of regression because they
know of no reason why their behaviour in this life is causing them to have
negative thoughts or feelings. Sometimes the cause is further back in time than
this life, past life regression can play a part in settling the conscious mind
and bringing peace to issues that have so far lacked resolve.
A typical case would be of aqua phobia - the fear of water - when a memory
of drowning is brought from one life to another that fear is serving a mistaken
purpose and can be put back where it is no longer a problem, back into the
perspective of the past. Many things that are puzzlement to the thinking person
are explained in this way.
There is a very strict protocol for the well-trained hypnotherapist, so
avoiding any unnecessary upset. You can find out more as read case studies on
my website www.hypnotherapy-in-norfolk.com or phone me
at Reepham 01603 879126 for an informal chat.
HEALTH ISSUES Part 7 HEALING FREEDOMS - Thought Field Therapy
A round of TFT comprises a gently tapping on meridians on
the face / body / hands, while focussing on an emotion; it might be stress or
fear, any emotion at all. This tapping sequence is repeated twice, and between
each round [the filling to the ‘sandwich' you might say] are performed some
simple eye exercises - it only takes a few moments. When the initial problem
that was affecting you has lost its hold, we move onto the next subject.
I have helped many people with varied issues using TFT and
sometimes together with Hypnotherapy, from eating and smoking addictions to
various phobias: From an engineer who suffered severe nerves before
presenting his work to new clients, to a woman who hated a close relative:
From a child who was afraid to go on a train, to a
beautician who didn't know how best to develop her business: From an OAP desiring to be open to new friendships, to a man
in his fifties finally wanting to be free of a childhood trauma...
Everyone is different and no two sessions are ever the same.
The results, however, are pretty consistent. TFT and / or Hypnotherapy enable
you to look at issues objectively, understand where they come from, let go of
them and move on. And the majority of cases can be resolved in just a few
sessions; it's as simple as that!
Does all this sound good to you?
HEALTH ISSUES ~ PART 8 ~
CHANGE
What would you change if
you had the power that would enable you to live your life the way you really
want? Maybe you want to achieve more in work or your social life, have more
confidence, get over a fear, a phobia, or a traumatic event: Perhaps you want
to lose weight, have more energy or stop smoking. It might be you just want to
be free from stress and enjoy your life more. Are there sometimes thoughts from
long ago that haunt you...?
The
physical, emotional, mental and spiritual are all a part of the holistic
approach that need to be addressed. What does this mean? When a person comes
for help to a therapist, it is often the case that the primary issue has
triggered the appointment - weight, wanting to become a non-smoker etc - but as
we ‘follow the thread' of reasoning it so often leads to other things like
disturbances in life.
Does that
sound strange to you? Well, as part of being human we all have the ability to
learn by example or experience; it is built into the 'software' of our
computer-like brains. We also all have the emotions that these two learning
processes stimulate (so that bad experiences are not repeated) unfortunately
there is often an emotion that is so stimulated to an alarming degree that it
overrides and can overwhelms all else.
So we
remain with that alone and not just a lesson learned for the future simply to
keep us safe, you could almost say it's an accident. We are left thinking,
"what's going on?" Sadly the most memorable of these overshadowing
emotions are the negative ones, the ones that hurt the most, a sharp slap in
the physical, or a sharp word in the mental, these stay far longer than we
would wish or need.
The
unconscious part of us all is where these memories are stored, and long after
they are forgotten, they can still disturb even many years later. That's
what is ‘going on', and the answer is found through ‘talking' to all the parts
of our being working in co-operation, so don't think for one minute that this
is all academic, it's very practical.
I'll give
you a typical example. Having a habit that is harmful to the physical body
most often begins with a good reason, an intention not to be harmful, in fact the opposite, it's to
protect or sooth the emotional body, a built-in programme. Smoking for example
was not always considered harmful; it was just one way of relaxing the mind and
body.
But why do
people still even start to smoke now we know more about the knock-on effects?
Because the emotional benefits are still there and they tend to override all
else. What do we do to solve this tricky conundrum? We
address the parts other thoughts cannot reach, (to coin a phrase.) If
this sounds a bit simplistic to you, I'm sure you have tried the DIY method.
Tell
yourself to stop doing a thing and see what happens! The desire to do it gets
increased, doesn't it? This is because you are not addressing the inner self,
only a trained therapist can do this, but cheer up ‘cos even a trained
therapist cannot do this for himself or herself!
With a unique blend of the new
cutting-edge techniques such as Thought Field Therapy (TFT), Neuro-Linguistic
Programming (NLP) combined with traditional methods including life coaching,
and confidence building, a good hypnotherapist can skilfully blend a range of
methods to help YOU change what you want to change, and get exactly what you
want out of life.
Costs vary according to the circumstances, so do call and find out
what is available for you. Stella has an answer phone so that if she is with a
client she will call back as soon as possible and have a chat with you, do
please speak slowly and clearly leaving your name and number. We are in Yellow
Pages. Why not call now? Reepham 01603 879126
HEALTH ISSUES Part 9 Healing with NLP
~ Neuro linguistic Programming
Is often referred to as the study of human excellence, and it so often goes
hand in hand with hypnosis therapy because they are both the study of human
mind ‘workings'. In particular, it focuses on the way we communicate and
understand the world around us. It is the use of language to enable both the
client and the therapist to achieve results in a speedy and efficient manner.
Many institutes now teach this subject alone as a ‘self-help' programme too.
Communication is about language and representational systems - do you think
in pictures or sounds? Used internally when we talk to ourselves ... yes, we all
do it! ... And also when we interact with others. The way we process the
complex information received through our senses [pictures, sounds or feelings]
structures our thoughts, influencing our behaviour and the way we communicate
with others.
NLP
is sometimes used in conjunction with hypnotherapy, it's the way we use
language to our best advantage for a multitude of reasons. Let me give you an
example, have you ever had a conversation with someone who just doesn't get
what you are trying to tell them? It might be because you are using a pattern
of language they are not familiar with. How can this be?
To
put it simply "I hear what you're saying" - is an audio persons
way of talking. "I see what you mean" - is a visual person. "I'm
getting a feeling for the plan" - is a kinesthetic persons way of
processing language. So to have better communications [and avoid arguments!]
notice which one your friend or work colleague is using, and go to that way of
talking!
NLP is supported by its practitioners in the psychotherapy field and has
influenced other forms of brief and eclectic interventions [therapies]. Its models and
tools have been used widely outside of psychotherapy in business communication,
management training, television media, teaching, executive coaching and
motivational seminars. The strategies and methods so often seen there have many
uses in the organising of our everyday lives, it's easy when you know how!
HEALTH ISSUES Part 10 HEALING and our PHILOSOPHY
Taken from Nelson Mandela's inaugural speech:
"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that
most frightens us. We ask ourselves:
'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you
not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people around you
won't feel insecure. We are all meant to shine as children do. We are born to
manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is
in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically releases others..."
Everyone has a philosophy, if it's only "Live and let live."
Our Deepest Mind is an untold source of everything we will ever need to
survive, every lesson from the beginning of our lives is recorded there. Some
of it, the scientists are coming to believe, is not just recorded in the
genetic pattern, but in the spiritual template of existence. Regression is a
very interesting subject.
All scientists agree that existence is a combination of
positive and negative, of light and dark, we cannot have energy without this
polarity, the yin and yang of the ancients. Our own freewill comes in the
choice of how we balance these energetic factors, how we make light or dark a
predominance in our lives, its up to us. In living in the constrictions of a
small life we limit our opportunities, we inhibit the opening of our minds to receive
that which we are entitled to, as Nelson Mandela says, as children of God. It
is for us all to reach out and grasp, it is for us all to be open in this way.
As we allow our true selves to grow in the light, like the
universe we expand out exponentially, the energies of existence are used in
this way, and the same rules of physics that govern this material planet still
rule the worlds that are as yet unknown. We know that all physical things must
have a plan, a blueprint, and this plan starts with thought, an idea of what
might be. Any car you see everyday in the street outside started with a person at some time in the
past visualising what might be possible.
Thought is an energy that is so powerful it is forbidden in
some countries, it is punishable by death. Free speech and human rights have
long been fighting in the dark to emerge triumphant into the light, since the
first tyrant discovered the controlling strength of thought. The philosophers
and teachers are the first to be destroyed.
Do we all allow ourselves to take all our thought power for
granted? Do we become complacent, lazy? Not so much ‘hiding our light under the
bushel' but perhaps letting the oil run low. We can train ourselves through
positive thought patterns and beneficial habits to be the people we truly are
when at our best, yes, even the people we are entitled to be. Perhaps it is our
weariness that allows us to forget this heritage as children of the spirit.
The focus of self hypnosis and/or the help of a therapist, is to enable a
person to generate solutions to problems, based on techniques learned which are
more effective than simply conscious coping strategies, these other methods can involve
months, even years, of other processes ‘digging out' the past and desensitising
the mind and emotional sensitivities along a hard and troubled road.
Hypnotherapy is an educational approach based on scientific principles, which
help to understand the workings of the various ‘built in' survival systems we
all have, and our own basic philosophy, again, as children of spirit.
HEALTH AND HEALING ~ PART 11 ~
Hypnosis FAQ's
Are there any people that can't be
hypnotised?
No. Except persons with learning difficulties, although of
course the degree varies from person to person. The only other exceptions would
be persons 'high' on the effects of alcohol or drugs.
Will I remember what has happened?
Yes. Most people are surprised to find that they remember all
that happens during the therapy, it is a state of heightened, not diminished
awareness.
So I'm not asleep then?
No. Simply very relaxed.
Are there any causes for concern?
None whatsoever. Hypnosis is a proven therapeutic aid. The
only time hypnosis could prove dangerous is whilst driving or using machinery.
You should not listen to a hypnotic tape under those circumstances.
Can I speak whilst in hypnosis?
Yes and in hypnoanalysis you will be encouraged to do so.
Particularly during Regression, and this is recorded for you to take home, and
study at leisure.
How many visits will I need?
Simple problems, such as smoking and nail biting, I attend to
in two sessions. The more deep-rooted nervous disorders require 'analytical'
rather than 'suggestion' therapy, which usually consists of 6 or more weekly
sessions, and the success rate is surprisingly high. I do not want to take up
more sessions than are necessary for the clients benefit.
What does 'being hypnotised' feel like?
Common sensations can include feeling very heavy, light,
tingling and complete mental and physical relaxation. Many clients report that
it is the most relaxed they have ever felt in their entire lives.
I feel my phobia is silly!
No phobia, fear or anxiety is silly. Almost certainly a
well-trained hypnotherapist will have seen it before and will be able to deal
with it. No worry is silly if it is affecting your life and it is worth doing
something about it.
Can I be influenced to do anything against my will?
No, and in fact you would be shocked out of the hypnotic state
should such a thing happen.
Can 'normal' people be hypno-analysed?
Not only can be but should be - for an insight into yourself
it has no equal.
Can anyone get 'stuck' in hypnosis?
No.
Can I drive after having hypnotherapy?
Yes.
Are any drugs or tablets used?
No.
Costs vary according to the circumstances, so do call
and find out what is available for you. Stella has an answer phone so that if
she is with a client she will call back as soon as possible and have a chat
with you, do please speak slowly and clearly leaving your name and number. We
are in Yellow Pages. Why not call now? Reepham 01603 879126
HEALTH ISSUES ~ Part 12 ~ The HOLISTIC HUMAN
Holistic, simply put means whole. An holistic human being is
one in whom all the parts working well. Those parts are physical, mental,
emotional, and some would say also the spiritual.
How do we assess this, how do we get the sense of
self-wholeness? How do we know if something is going wrong? There are clues sent from the various parts
mentioned, firstly the physical, clues here are symptoms that might come and go
or be a ‘background' noise' that we have got used to over the years, skin
complaints and backache are quite common.
Mental clues could be out of the ordinary behaviours for
that person, the ‘walk-about' syndrome, the statistics for missing persons that
do not want to be found are difficult to separate from those who do, here an
extreme emotional clue would be a ‘breakdown'. Spiritual crisis have been
written and talked about in come circles since the first written word.
These are all strong urgent clues, we could call them
signals, distress flares sent up from our non physical parts, this is the
unconsciousness, so-called because it's the built-in part that needs no
consciousness at all, it looks after us all the time in a tireless way, we
don't have to get up in the morning and remember to keep our hearts beating, do
we?
The warning signals we ignore at our peril! Emotional
disturbance is a very common and some say the major, cause of ill health.
Sometimes we have a good idea what is it is that's affecting us. It can be due
to a slow wearing down of inner strength, or a ‘sneaking up' behind us after an
illness, maybe a short sharp shock that upsets the whole system, a death or car
accident for example. All these scenarios are possible in the modern world, and
it needs to be understood that they serve a purpose.
What do we do if the whole, the holistic system breaks
down? There is medication for the
distress flares in all departments. But what to do when the cause is still
hanging about after the course of pills is finished, what action can be taken
then?
What form can these distresses take? I remember one man told
me he started with a simple rash on his arm, and it progressed to sores all
over his scalp, it took a while for him to get good advice and take a long hard
look at his circumstances at work, which were ‘stressing him out'. Another case
was a young girl with eating problems, and she wouldn't or just couldn't say
what was the cause; this can be quite common with teenagers, (or people who
feel its too painful to "go back there"). She learned through gentle holistic
healing how to deal with the emotions that seemed to be insurmountable. And
that's the beauty of holistic healing; it does not need to know everything that
has happened in a person's life, only that they wish to get better.
Addressing the inner self, which only has our best intentions at heart, we
find that things can go awry at times. IBS and many other such disorders can be
dealt with in the holistic way. There are many disciplines for the therapist to
get to the root of problems. Thought Field Therapy with the use of acupressure
points is one, Neuro Linguistic Programming is another.
What exactly is an holistic healer? S/he's a therapist who is incorporating
as many different disciplines as are needed, the most useful of which can
hypnotherapy, which uses the relaxed state of focussed inner awareness, this
allows changes to be made so much more easily and naturally. You're not simply
telling yourself to "pull your socks up" or "get over it"
from your usual conscious / thinking state, DIY in this case just doesn't work
as I'm sure you've found out for yourself!
Hypnosis is contacting that other, deeper part of our mind, where you can
get in touch with your true self, the healthier you, it is highly effective for
stopping smoking, exam nerves, relaxed childbirth, fear of flying, weight loss,
pain control, driving nerves etc. So often the client says that the lifting of
‘weights off the shoulders' is tremendous. This might be accessed through
regression of this life, or even sometimes past lives, which is a very
interesting subject.
Do you want to feel more confident? Are things in general getting you
down? Do you feel as if your ‘batteries' are getting flat? Want to move beyond
an issue that you've been struggling with for a while? Or overcome a fear or
phobia? Stop smoking? Lose weight? Why wait to feel positive about your life?
There is a very strict protocol for the well-trained hypnotherapist, so
avoiding any unnecessary upset. You can find out more as read case studies on
my website www.hypnotherapy-in-norfolk.com or phone me
at Reepham 01603 879126 for an informal chat.
HEALTH
ISSUES ~ Part 13 ~ WEIGHTY PROBLEMS
Do you have a weight on your mind,
and for that matter your body too? Do you find that food is constantly an
issue? Just why do some people have weight problems? Be they lack of, or too
much body weight, it can be a tricky situation.
Well, we all have a built in need to
eat, it is part of the 'primitive brain', if we didn't the human race would
surely have died out long ago. We know that people kill other people for food
in dire circumstances. The very thoughts and feelings that go with this basic
essential need, sometimes are established from as far back as babyhood, and
have of course to be pleasant, this is part of the healthy survival instinct
too.
You probably can't remember, how you
behaved in those early years when eating patterns were established, but the
information is stored in the ‘library' of our unconscious minds just waiting
there, and collecting around these memories might be good thoughts, or
sometimes they could be uneasy or even destructive thoughts, this information
has been miss-filed.
The subject of food is so emotive,
but it needs to be in kept perspective so that it definitely is a pleasant
experience, and not an obsession. The extreme of overeating to the detriment of
our health - diabetes etc - might be masking something else entirely, a fear
perhaps. In some circumstances the error in the ‘filing system' might cause
rejection of food as in anorexia nervosa. Sadly, unpleasant thoughts are good
at masking those much needed pleaasant emotions.
Whatever the habitual association
with food, with a little time and patience these thoughts can be re-filed,
thinking about food and worrying about it a lot of the time uses lots of
energy, and can even be debilitating, bad habits are so much easier to get into
than good ones, aren't they?
Through the gentle methods of
hypnosis and holistic healing, habits are re-filed into their original healthy
places, and the upsetting ‘inner voices' which whisper guilty things, and upset
those happier voices of confidence and self assurance, soon fade away.
A deep hypnotic trance is not
necessary, in fact we all have plenty of practice of a light trance, and go
into light trance states any time that we're absorbed in or focusing on, for
example watching television or reading a book is a form of trance.
Because hypnosis is a fast-track to
the sub-conscious "emotional trigger" the therapy can take a few hours rather
than years as in conventional psychotherapy, which works mainly on the conscious
level. This is a great bonus because so many people need speedy results for
many reasons, waiting for the safest weight for an operation is just one
example I deal with quite often.
This is what the trained therapist
helps the client to do, but if the will to change is not truly there, there
will be no change. We cannot, any of us, talk a person into doing a thing that
s/he is not ready to do at that time. A slight resistance to change is soon
overcome, with patience, skill and understanding, this is why it is so
important that a therapist is well qualified. The use of Thought Field Therapy
and Neuro Linguistics in recent years has given the profession so many more
‘tools' to work with.
HEALTH ISSUES ~ Part 14 ~ ADDICTIONS
The term of ‘addiction' is used in many contexts to describe an obsession,
or excessive physical dependence. In medical terminology, an addiction is a
state in which the body relies on a substance for normal functioning and
develops physical dependence, as in smoking, alcohol, over eating and drug
addiction etc etc.
The term addiction is also sometimes applied to compulsions that are not
substance-related, i.e. psychological dependence, such as excessive gambling
and so-called computer addiction. In these kinds of common usages, the term addiction
is describing a recurring habit turned compulsion, formed by an individual to
engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, to his or her
individual's health, mental state or social life.
What is the holistic thinking on this increasingly common trait of modern
society? Is the answer "Pull yourself together!" perhaps? No, the reply to that
is so often: "Had I the ‘strings' I would have pulled them long ago!" Any one
can tell you that the more we tell ourselves not to do a thing, the more we
want to do it!
In fact the DIY method has failed to get anywhere near the solution. This
subject can best be approached in an indirect way, through what could almost be
described as the ‘side door' to the problem. So, what's the answer? Have you
guessed yet? It's the door to the other self, the unconscious part that other
therapies simply cannot reach (to coin a phrase) - hypnosis.
Because hypnosis is a fast-track to the sub-conscious "emotional trigger"
the therapy can take a few hours rather than years as in conventional
psychotherapy, which works mainly on the conscious level. This is a great bonus
because so many people need speedy results for many reasons, waiting for the
safest weight for an operation is just one that comes to mind.
A gentle guided visualisation, might
bring all the emotions up to the surface, and a little restructuring of the
thought patterns shows so quickly how special techniques causing no distress,
soon get rid of those unwanted sensations, and peace and harmony are brought
back into a persons life.
This is what the trained therapist
helps the client to do, but if the will to change is not truly there, there
will be no change. We cannot, any of us, talk a person into doing a thing that
s/he is not ready to do at that time. A slight resistance to change is soon
overcome with patience, skill and understanding, this is why it is so important
that a therapist is well qualified.
The use of Thought Field Therapy
and Neuro Linguistics Regression and other techniques in recent years have
given the healing professional so many more ‘tools' to work with, and dealing
holistically with all the levels of understanding, physical, and emotional
bring those seemingly scattered parts together again in a kind and gently way.
HEALTH ISSUES ~
Part 15 ~ STRESS
Chronic stress is stress that lasts a long time or occurs
frequently. Chronic stress is potentially damaging. The list symptoms of
chronic stress include: upset stomach, ulcers, headaches, backache, insomnia,
anxiety, depression, anger, hypertension, haemorrhoids and varicose veins.
In the most severe
cases it can lead to panic attacks or a panic disorder. It has been
discovered that there is a huge upsurge in the number of people who suffer from
this condition. A very large number of these new cases suffer from insomnia.
In a review of the
scientific literature on the relationship between stress and disease,
researchers found that stress plays a role in triggering or worsening
depression and cardiovascular disease and in speeding the progression of many
illnesses.
There are a variety
of methods to control chronic stress, including exercise, adequate rest, and
relaxing hobbies and stress management through visualisation, meditation and
hypnotherapy incorporates these together with NLP, TFT and many other
techniques.
The link between
emotions and physical illness is a two-way door. If we ignore the physical
stresses the emotional will rebel, e.g. abuse of the physical can cause a
‘nervous breakdown', conversely stress of the emotional/mental kind can result
in the breakdown of the physical body by restricting nourishment, stomach
ulcers, bringing on pain and/or malnutrition and loss of weight.
What is the answer
to this most modern of complaints? Look at the symptoms, the life style, and
decide to do something about the entire picture.
Hypnotherapy will
circumnavigate the thinking part of the brain and go straight to the
nitty-gritty, the unconscious part that guides all ‘bodily particles'
breathing, heart beats, fluids and solids movement etc. Here is where it all is
happening, here is where the re-programming takes place to direct the energies
into constructive forces that enliven and enrich our lives, they may have gone
astray, but they can be redirected with a little help from a friend.
Having a friend is
what therapy is about, the therapist as well as being a friend also explains
that we all are our own best friends, inside us all is a built in
survival ‘fight, flight, feint' system that has ensured the human race's
existence so far, and it is used efficiently in hypnosis.
HEALTH ISSUES ~ Part 16 ~ The Ego
Firstly, the term
"ego" is simply the Greek term for "I" or "me" or
"myself." In this, it is a neutral term. If you
open up a Greek New Testament, Jesus used it all the time. "Ego eimi
ho poimen ho kalos." "I am the good shepherd." In
itself, there's nothing negative or bad or untoward in the term
"ego." It is our ability to think, understand, reason, and
therefore to choose ways of coping and eventually master the challenges of
life, we develop the inner strength so that we have resilience - the power to
bounce back after we have been knocked down. In modern parlance a person who
has a ‘big ego' or is on an ‘ego trip' is one with a bad case of selfishness,
but it's a miss-name in truth.
We can see that ego
is acquired, when we look at babies because they don't have the mind or
consciousness to know that they are separate from another person, so the
differentiating process that begins with birth actually takes several
years. When the child ventures out into the big wide world the ego is
mostly under-developed, or you could say weak. Strength of ego is the ability
to consciously face life without falling apart, giving up, or reacting to
stress with the primeval ‘fight or flight'. The ‘nature / nurture debate'
comes in here.
A healthy ego is
having: Self-esteem - and this is healthiest when it is unconditional,
it ‘s the sense of "I am valuable, significant, and have worth because I
am a human being." Self-confidence - your sense that you have
"power" or "control" to be able to do something that
you can take pride in and that you can trust yourself to
accomplish. Self-identity - is your self-definition, how you
define yourself in your roles and relationships.
An unhealthy ego is
ill-formed, under-developed, or distorted by misunderstandings and miss-beliefs
- it is an ego that is loud, boisterous, and constantly getting in the way.
Without a solid sense of unconditional value, your ego keeps getting in the way
because you keep having to "prove" yourself. You constantly feel
insecure and needing support and attention. If your value, worth, and
dignity is evaluated as "low" or "high" then it goes up
and/or down according to whatever criteria you're using to judge it, money,
status etc...
With an unhealthy
ego whatever you do, it's always likely to get in the way-because you are using
your false criteria to prove yourself. This undermines your
leadership, your ability to connect with people, and everything. If
you're a public speaker, you make it about you, about your image, intelligence,
charm, not your audience. If you are a coach, you make the experience
about your success with the client. If you are a CEO, entrepreneur,
businessperson, you make things about your degree of success or money not the
value that you add to the whole In all of these instances, the ego is in
the way.
To get the ego out
of the way requires developing a healthy sense of self. You are
unconditionally valuable just because you're a human being and simultaneously
wonderfully fallible and mortal! By asserting that your dignity and
lovability is a given, you don't have to prove anything, but you get to express
everything. You have incredible potentials within to unleash. You have a
fallible brain, heart, and body. It is made of flesh-and-blood. You
are from dust to dust. And you are also made of the stardust of the
universe.
In conclusion: When
you focus on what you can do and contribute. When you embrace life as it
is and the cards dealt you, and when you acknowledge your being self
with awe or esteem, you settle the question of your value. It takes a lot of
self-esteem to be humble and modest. This frees you from
having to prove yourself or to become a ‘somebody'. You begin with the
declaration that you are already somebody without all the trappings. Now you
can, if you wish, experience the full unleashing of an ego set free from
needing to be right, maybe with a little help from a friend. Help is at hand,
the unconscious mind has all it needs in reserve to re-align the mistaken shape
of ego, but the will to be free has to be there to activate it - even through
hypnosis.
Humour is part of a
healthy ego too, in the words of the song: "Oh lordy it's hard to be humble,
when you're perfect in every way. I can't stand to look into the mirror, I get
better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a heluva man. O
lordy it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can!"
HEALTH ISSUES ~
PART 17 ~THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS
Eastern and western
medicine have come together a bit more in recent years, the west is beginning
to understand what the ancients have always known - that the body, emotions,
and mind, are all inseparable, in fact ... the holistic approach is going to be
fashionable! Hooray!
Please excuse me if
I sound frivolous, but it's my experience that nobody can separate any of these
from each other, as a healer, to me it seems so obvious, that if we ignore the
needs of one part of ourselves another will protest, simple.
Physical abuse, if
ignored, often results in a breakdown of the emotional aspect; alternatively
emotional abuse can just as easily have a detrimental effect on the physical,
skin problems and common here.
If we look at the
organs of the body as houses for different emotions, as in Traditional Chinese
Medicine, an interesting picture emerges. Family relationships are used to illustrate the organs and positions on
the Chinese medicine charts; the two ‘partners' are described below.
Liver = Anger -
"What a gall that person has!" - ‘Partner' Gall Bladder: Heart = Hysteria - Dad
worked himself up into a heart attack - ‘Partner' Small Intestines - a heart
attack can be mistaken for indigestion and visa-versa.
Spleen = Worry -
Ulcers commonly caused by over work - ‘Partner' Stomach: Lungs = Sorrow - Pining away
for a loved one is very common - ‘Partner' Large Intestines, malfunction
results in starvation when the organs cannot absorb the nutrients, IBS.
Kidneys = Fear -
Children's nightmares - a wet bed with ‘nightmares' / fright - ‘Partner'
Bladder:
So, what do you
think? Is it possible to die of a ‘broken heart'? Of course it is! What
is the cure? Look to our whole situation when we
become unwell, if it's ‘sick of heart' or aches and pains in the joints, what
is your body trying to tell you? Eating habits not good? Food sensitivities?
Detox?
Costs vary according to the
circumstances, so do call and find out what is available for you. Stella has an
answer phone so that if she is with a client she will call back as soon as
possible and have a chat, do please speak slowly and clearly leaving your name
and number. We are in Yellow Pages. Why not call now? Reepham 01603 879126
HEALTH ISSUES ~ Part 18 ~ Smoking / Addiction
The term of
‘addiction' is used in many contexts to describe an obsession, or excessive
physical dependence. In medical terminology, an addiction is a state in which
the body relies on a substance for normal functioning and develops physical
dependence, as in smoking, alcohol, and drug addiction.
The term addiction
is also sometimes applied to compulsions that are not substance-related, i.e.
psychological dependence, such as excessive gambling and so-called computer
addiction. In these kinds of common usages, the term addiction is
describing a recurring habit turned compulsion, formed by an individual to
engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, to his or her
individual's health, mental state or social life, and can thus continue after
the dependency of the drug has been eliminated.
What is the
holistic thinking on this increasingly common trait of modern society? Is the
answer "Pull yourself together!" perhaps?
No, the reply to that one is so obvious: "Had I the ‘strings' I would
have pulled them long ago!" Any one can tell you that the more we tell
ourselves not to do a thing, the more we want to do it. In my family that's
call ‘the opposites'!
But joking apart,
when the DIY method has failed to get anywhere near the solution, the subject
can best approached in an indirect way, through what could almost be described
as the ‘side door' to the problem. So, what's the answer? Have you guessed yet?
It's the door to the other self, the unconscious part that ‘other therapies
simply cannot reach' (to coin a phrase) - hypnosis.
Because hypnosis is
a fast-track to the sub-conscious "emotional trigger" the therapy can take a
few hours rather than years as in conventional psychotherapy, which works
mainly on the conscious level. This is a great bonus because so many people
need speedy results for many reasons, for example, waiting for the safest
weight for an operation.
A gentle guided
visualisation, and a little restructuring of the thought patterns shows so quickly
how special techniques causing no distress, soon get rid of those unwanted
sensations, and peace and harmony are brought back into a persons life.
This is what the trained therapist helps the client
to do, but if the will to change is not truly there, there will be no change.
We cannot, any of us, talk a person into doing a thing that s/he is not ready
to do at that time. A slight resistance to change is soon overcome with
patience, skill and understanding, this is why it is so important that a therapist
is well qualified.
The use of Thought Field Therapy and Neuro
Linguistics Regression and other techniques in recent years have given the
healing professional so many more ‘tools' to work with, and dealing
holistically with all the levels of understanding, physical, mental, and
emotional bring those seemingly scattered parts together again in a kind and
gently way.
HEALTH ISSUES ~ Part 19 ~ CHILDBIRTH
Hypnosis
for pregnancy and birth empowers the mother to take control of her childbirth.
To give birth peacefully, comfortably and joyfully:
When ladies become
pregnant they find a real connection of 'self'. But often excitement can be
followed by fear. Did you know that pain is the product of fear, and sometimes
fear can be born not just out of misinformation but also negative conditioning?
Conditioning that we might have no conscious memory of, reflexes and habits are
all in the unconscious parts of our minds.
Unfortunately many
stories we have heard about birth labour are of it being a negative experience.
It is these stories that have been passed down over the years, and they are
doing nothing to dispel the fear and pain!
Giving birth is the
most beautiful and natural thing in the world, but why is the fear condition so
easy to get into?
Fear is a tool of
our unconscious mind that is very useful when the need arises; for example,
survival of the fittest means that whoever is able to ‘fight, flight or feint'
is going to last longer than the ‘freeze' person trapped in the headlights when
danger is imminent.
Picture the scene;
pre-historic Britain, woman about to give birth, dinosaur pops up for a tasty
meal. What is the most sensible thing to do? Stop giving birth.
How is this
achieved in the fastest possible way? The body activates a massive wash of
instantaneous chemicals stopping the ability of the muscles to contract (and
push) out the baby. Bingo - no baby just now. So we see that there is a time
and a place for this fear emotion and the function that follows. Fear is the
friend here!
The hypnotherapists
job is not just to give reassurance so that the mother can trust herself on
this emotional journey, but also to show the tools and resources for this true
labour of love. How nice will it be when you can tell your child that their
birth was the most beautiful and joyous experience in the world?
HEALTH
ISSUES ~ PART 20 ~ ENJOYING LIFE
Enjoying
life? Do you have a plan? Do you overstrain or try to
save too much? Do you simply not have
enough of anything?
Life is good and rich with things worthwhile and things to enjoy. Don't
miss it. There's more to "wealth" than just money. There's also
wealth of mind, emotion, relationships, and much more.
WORK of any kind, for the self or others, will
become the best friend you've ever known if you use it as an opportunity to
enjoy living. Do you take the attitude that only slaves work? That means you
have decided to be one of those slaves, free yourself! Give any and all work
your best efforts. Turn it into fun by looking at how you do enjoy it even if
its only sometimes - you can make those ‘sometimes' happen more often, gaining
satisfactions that only need a mention to grow into full blown enjoyments.
FRUSTRATION can kill your dreams and can change a
positive attitude into a negative one. The worse thing a negative attitude does
is wipe out self-discipline, and when that discipline is gone, the results you
desire are gone. You know, people get paid very well to handle frustration. The
more frustration you can handle, the more you can be paid. Success is buried on
the other side of frustration.
FEAR is the greatest inhibitor. The fear of "no" stops most
people from taking action. Learn how to strip it of all of its power! Refuse to
turn failures into Big Events! How many "no's" can you take? You give
it power through how you represent it to yourself. With hypnosis you can learn
Remember There are no real successes without rejection.
I truly believe that the secret of successful living is giving, and we
have to give first. It's a circle and to get on it you start by giving in the
physical mental or emotional - we can all find one of those with a bit to
spare.
We can learn how to get and how to give, how to earn and how to save
and how to learn to give back to the world-to create value, to act from the
position of abundance, to become that kind of a person, to expand our sense of
appreciation. Giving back teaches us more fully what money can do and what it
cannot do.
If you're just accumulating money for you, to lord it over your own
small world, you are not really a success, and you don't really have power, nor
do you have true wealth. Just think of success as a process, a way of
life, and a strategy for living.
WITH
HYPNOSIS and its sister therapy NLP you can learn how to handle frustration,
fear, and all the other day-to-day encumbrances, so working effectively and
actually getting useful energy in the process.
NOTE:
Willpower is not required - just your commitment.
HEALTH ISSUES ~ Part 21 ~ THOUGHT SPIRALS
We realize that we have forgotten someone's name just as we're meeting
them, and then feel stupid and incompetent for forgetting the name, thinking,
"it's such a simple task". Next we're wondering what in the world is wrong with
us, and then maybe the thought comes into our head that we are in some way
responsible for all that is seemingly wrong around us, and our thoughts turn to
embarrassment and feeling inadequate, that the other person thinks we're stupid;
nobody else has this problem but us.
Is this familiar to you? It's called a downward spiral. Are you locked
into the goings-on inside yourself?
Nobody likes rejection, but knee-jerk reacting with more and more of the
same thing over and over needs to be recognised.
Then step back and view the situation from a little distance, because
when our thoughts and emotions are about
something out there, and external to us, then that's much better. These
are signals to let us know how to alter and redesign future situations.
Emotions draw us in, or push us out; therefore being aware of the pushing and
pulling makes us better able to alter the process. We can so easily turn our
own habits of thinking against ourselves.
How To Make Things Worse: Fearing our emotions, anger, joy, sexuality,
tenderness, playfulness, assertiveness, etc. Being
angry at our fear, our frustration, our stress, etc. Rejecting
and being contemptuous of our failure, weakness, fallibility, etc. Shame-ing
and Guilt-ing ourselves over our fear, anger, frustration, etc, and so on, and
so on.
How
To Make Things Better: First, take these things into conscious awareness. Be
aware that all the emotions of anger etc are only a temporary state, and it's
OK to feel things. Next, evaluate whether the current
feeling/state is appropriate or inappropriate, current or dated, information to
take counsel from, to face with courage, etc. Then we are able to effectively master our thoughts and emotions, and so use them in
an intelligent and thoughtful kindly (to ourselves) way.
As we learn how to observe the state we're in, and then handle that
state, we learn how to make our minds work in the way that we want, the way
that's healthy. And when we do that, we're able to bring control into our lives
in such a way that even a dose of frustration will trigger positive solutions not
negative actions, with practice of course, because nobody said it didn't need a
bit of effort!
Developing our understanding of our experiences is crucial to being
contented that we are doing our best on life's journey and growing in good
ways. It provides a conscious
understanding of the mechanisms of our own minds and it opens up new domains
for discovery and creativity. It stops the spiralling down and actually starts
the spiral upwards, now there's a happy thought!
So how do we stop the downward spiral? By using specific strategies
that are constructive, there are many that are available through the use of
NLP, TFT, etc, in or out of the hypnotic state. Relaxation is part of the
therapy that heals, the treatment that gets to the parts that other methods
just cannot reach.
So relax in the knowledge that with a little help from a friend you too
can get into the upwards spiral, and change your life for the better, whatever
your wants and needs.
HEALTH ISSUES
Part ~ 22 ~ Healing &
Recovery
Would you be surprised to
know that a loss of dignity can trigger grief? The loss of property through a
burglary you might think has little to do with grief, but the attached memories
lost and the violated feelings do set off the this very real process. Grief is
loss and as such might be a part of ourselves, physical mental or emotional,
and yes spiritual too.
Both physical and emotional
issues have a debilitating ‘knock-on' effect and the rehabilitation and
recovery from illness or medical operations is a particularly good example of
how holistic healing therapy can speed the recovery process.
It is commonly acknowledged
that the stress of modern living aggravates such conditions as eczema,
psoriasis and other allergy / toxin related problems; the symptoms of these
unpleasant conditions can be most successfully treated with many different
disciplines.
PTSD. The common assistance is to
alter our unwanted behaviour, like giving things up that have become a habit,
other help can be given with phobias, fear of heights public speaking - spiders
etc. The fear of flying can be very disruptive in the business context, not
just going on holidays. Also for example stress related emotional issue, which
is ‘tied' to past event - the ‘instant re-play' of memories, commonly known as
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
IBS. One area where it
is recognized for achieving massive success is indeed with the problem of
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Hypnotherapy routinely produces positive results
in over 80% of the people who use it. Hypnosis has been so successful for
improving IBS symptoms that Adriane Fugh-Berman (MD), chair of the National
Women's Health Network in the USA, says that hypnosis should be the treatment
of choice for IBS cases that have not responded to conventional therapy.
Over a decade of scientific
research has shown hypnotherapy to be an effective choice for alleviating the
symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The main theory behind the success of
hypnosis for IBS is that the relaxation improves blood flow to the gut -
something that stress tends to inhibit - and so improves digestion and the
movement of food through the bowel.
HEALTH ISSUES
~ Part
23 ~ WHAT IS HYPNOSIS
THERAPY?
It's both safe and enjoyable. You might have
picked up a sensationalised picture of hypnosis from the media or stage shows.
Please put that out of your mind, you should have a really enjoyable as well as
powerful experience, during which you are always in control.
At every point the therapist will ask if you
are willing to let go of old habits; everything needs your permission. S/he is
just there to be an experienced guide for you, who knows the territory, and is
there to take you only where you want to go, at the pace that is right for you,
and by the most pleasant route possible. You're in charge.
One definition of hypnotherapy is: "Using a
light trance state for positive change". Each time we visualise in our
own mind an event in order to recall it, we go into a light trance state so we
can draw that memory out of our 'store-house'. Visualisation is the lightest
form of trance, which is just like being taken on a journey with a friendly
guide.
What does it feel like? You might well say,
"I didn't feel hypnotised" or "I heard every word". Usually
it feels as if you could get up straight away if you wanted to, but you just
can't be bothered. You're not going to a hypnotherapist to be 'hypnotised', or
feel as if you've had a good sleep, the therapist's job is to create positive
change in you, not to knock you out!
What can it help? The common assistances are
to alter behaviour such as smoking or weight control, other help can be given
with phobias, fear of heights - spiders - flying, and post traumatic distress.
Some Popular Uses The stresses of modern
living can aggravate eczema, psoriasis IBS and other allergy related problems,
the symptoms of these unpleasant conditions can be most successfully treated
with Hypnotherapy.
When there is a long-term problem with weight
there cannot be a ‘quick-fix'. So the dieter who truly wants to be in a new
phase of their lives will be putting in some work to achieve their goal of a
better and more comfortable lifestyle. Below you see the first suggested step
in the programme for weight reduction of a good therapist. Habit reversal -
Behaviour change - Increasing confidence in self - Dieting skills - Building up willpower and motivation -
Installing appropriate self control mechanisms.
Peter Naish, at the
UK's Open University, says that the understanding of hypnosis has moved away
from the popular misconceptions created by showy stage hypnotists. "We have a
technique that has now moved towards evidence-based treatments," he says that
research work "... is showing for sure that the brain is doing quite different
things under hypnosis than in normal everyday existence."
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