Many times as we continue through life there are times when it becomes evident that it could be helpful to go for a higher level of certification in order to better do our jobs, move up to a higher level or perhaps even change our careers. In so doing there are many things that are required of us in becoming successful. It is one thing to attend classes and read material. It is quite another to be able to retain that material and pass the required test in order to gain the new certifications. This becomes even more difficult if you have a job to do already. Add a family to the equation and one wonders how anyone gets through it, but many do.

I recently had a gentleman call with only one thing on his mind. He wanted to pass the bar exam to get his license to practice law. He has a full time job and a wife that wanted more of his attention. He had worked so hard for the last few years to get through law school and get his income producing activities accomplished to keep the paycheck coming in that he was just “burned out” on studying. He found every excuse there was to put aside the books with the information required to pass the test. He also realized that over the course of law school he had gained 12 pounds because of the lack of time to do his usual work out and was not eating as well as he used to when he had more time in his life. Taking this into consideration he realized that he needed to get back to the more balanced life that he had before, making time to take better care of him self.

The answer to his problem in this case was easy with hypnosis. He already knew what he wanted to achieve so all I asked him to do was to write out some suggestions that would resonate with his unconscious mind to bring in to our session. These suggestions became the basis of a CD I made for him to listen to in order to reinforce all the ingredients that would make him successful. It turned out that he had always wanted to go to law school and he finally had the means to do so. I hypnotized him as I recorded the CD. When I emerged him from the trance he felt warm and emotionally moved because it reminded him of what was important to him. Given the feeling he had with his individually created CD, he was sure that he would be listening to it every day because it felt good to do so.

These days seem to bring more anxiety than we have felt in a long time given the state of the economy, the derelict things we have found our representatives here in the states have done with the power they were granted and the political scene as discussed in the news.

It is interesting to me though, that none of these items are contributing to why people will call for help. It is usually the more mundane human situations that create the most angst. Sexually inappropriate behavior is one area that creates much worry as well as anger. It can happen on either side of the marriage. Recently I had a fairly happily married woman in here that cheated on her husband many years ago. She never shared this information with him, never wanting to hurt him. The secret seemed to be a contributing factor to creating panic attacks in her since once the event was cleared they disappeared.

I have many men call because they are cheating on their wives or girlfriends who feel guilty and anxious about this behavior. Some of them realize that the behavior could destroy the life they so carefully crafted if caught.

I have clients who worry about their health usually with histories of chronic or acute issues. And I have clients who have kids who they have no idea on how to deal with. I have grown children who do not know how to deal with their controlling parents.

It seems that the over arching concerns of my clients anyway, are still concentrated on the areas that have always been problematic. It is great to know that hypnosis can make the worries go away and free the time and energy that was wasted to be better utilized in more productive ways leading to a happier more fulfilled life. It is really just a matter of desiring to deal with those areas in life that feel most uncomfortable and then doing whatever it takes to put it all in the past. Once that is accomplished you are able to learn better methods to create the life you desire and deserve.

If you are in a situation that is creating unnecessary worry and you are ready to let it go, do call a hypnotist in your area so you too can enjoy life again. It would be a great holiday gift to give to both you and those who love you.

As a practicing hypnotist I have found certain commonalities in the clients who are successful at receiving their results. The most important of these would be the true desire to be free of whatever the issue is that they came in to release. These clients take the work very seriously and never have any reasons, rationalizations or excuses as to why it was that they did not do their homework as given during the sessions. Any homework that is given is specially crafted for that particular client’s situation. In fact when a client agrees to do the work with me they are given two forms to sign stating that they will do whatever it takes to receive the results they came in to get. The expectation is that both the time and monetary investment is large enough that they would be inclined to do what is necessary to be released from what ails them. These clients understand that I can not do the work for them. This is their work and they are in control of confronting the issues that need to be dealt with, not I. I am merely the tour guide to get them to where they want to be.

The second most important thing is for the client to trust the hypnotist of their choosing. It is helpful to work with someone with whom you feel comfortable. You are going to have to open up about all those scary things that are in your mind that are making you feel badly enough to get the help. If you are not comfortable with the person, there is no way in which to create the appropriate dynamic between the two of you to achieve what you desire through the work. I have had many clients who came to me after unsuccessful work with other therapists who have said that they really didn’t know why they felt comfortable telling me things that they never felt comfortable telling their previous therapist. I can. It has everything to do with not feeling judged for the thoughts and feelings that the client brings into the work. I make it very clear that I would not want to be judged for the things that I have done and therefore would never judge another. This creates a very different feeling for the client. The client is not used to having the idea of judgment released in the first session; however to my mind this is more important to the client than anything else. The idea of working with another fallible human being is a relief, and so they can be themselves feeling safe in doing so.

The third most important commonality is the understanding that if they have little to no understanding of what hypnosis is, that it would follow that they would not know whether or not they were in a hypnotic state. Simply stated it is a very relaxed state, nothing more and nothing less. However, the average person does not understand that. When a client decides that they were not hypnotized they are also deciding that they are not going to allow the suggestions to take place. This is of course something that is explained to them before they come in and again on the first visit, and still some folks believe that they can understand something in which they have little to no knowledge. My successful clients really have no concern whether they were hypnotized because they hired me to do that for them and believe that I as the expert know what it is that I am doing. They also realize that they are the ones who need to create the desire for the change to happen, or even in a hypnotic state, they may not be successful.

The last commonality is the knowledge that they have it within themselves to do what they need to in order to be free, even if they are not sure of how it all works. They have an understanding that the process will unfold itself and when they are complete they will know it. In the hypnotic work that I do, the client knows after the first session what their results are to be and the evidence that will be manifested in the achievement of those goals. This is helpful because it is always easier to attain a goal when you know what it is that you are seeking.

Because these clients realize that the more complex cases may take more time, they allow themselves the time and space to do what is needed. This is not to say that they sometimes don’t get frustrated because it may take a little longer than they wanted, but they realize that patience is a good thing and everything else that they tried did not work, so they allow the time to get the job done and that is based on how their own mind and body is able to integrate the new learning.

If you are the sort of person who is willing to go with the program and do what it takes, then hypnosis can be a very safe and quick way to achieve what you desire in life.

Recently I have moved from a place that I lived for the past 13 years to a smaller apartment. Now, any of you who have gone through this process can understand the concept of clearing out all the stuff that you no longer need. As hard as this exercise may be, there is I believe a harder one that many of us have difficulties getting through. This would be in the area of reviewing the relationships that you have in your life. I bring this up because I have realized that there were some relationships that I had that were not very healthy for me, others that needed to be reformatted so that I felt that I was receiving the attention that a caring long term relationship should have and releasing others that were not of any use and in some cases creating a negative energy that was not welcome.

Many of my clients find themselves in similar situations where the people with whom they are spending many hours of their time are a drain on them. It feels as if you are not getting heard or receiving the sort of attention that you feel you deserve and it hurts. It happens at work when your boss is giving you negative feedback, instead of assisting you to aspire to be the best that you can be. It happens in primary relationships when you feel taken for granted or worse, abused or ignored. And it can happen when you are in friendships where you feel that you are putting a lot of effort out, and not having it returned in like kind. In the more serious cases, you may feel used and abused by these “friends” or family of yours.

When we feel that we are not being heard or respected by those with whom we interact, sometimes we create interesting ways to deal with it, unconsciously of course. For instance if you feel your boss is unsupportive of you, you may create behavior that is counter productive to your job situation like showing up late, becoming antagonistic, or not being all that productive. If it is in your primary relationship you may decide to get your needs taken care of outside the relationship. If you are hanging out with people that drink and you have an issue in that area, you may find yourself once again getting drunk, for that seems to be what you need to do in order to fit in even though for you drinking leads to sabotaging yourself which brings feelings of failure.

The great motivational speakers all give the same advice of being aware with whom you interact, for that is what you will become. You need to think about the people with whom you choose to associate carefully. Over the years people can change. If you are growing you too are changing. Perhaps it would be useful to clear out all those individuals that are creating issues inside you and figure out if they are helpful or harmful to your sense of self. If this is an issue that you do not feel that you can handle on your own, perhaps working with a hypnotist will help you to understand exactly why you are choosing to stay in relationships that are keeping you from growing and feeling good about yourself. I know I had to get some assistance from outside myself in order to better understand how to deal with these influences on my life, creating a healthier way to live, for it can be difficult to really confront in an objective way. Your unconscious mind can assist you in better understanding what you need and want in each of the relationships From there it is easy to reconstruct the relationships feeling good about those with whom you give the ability to influence you.

Over the past few years I have worked with many individuals with eating disorders: anorexia which is the repulsion of food, bulimia which is the compulsion to eat past feeling full, and in some cases it will be purged and in other it will not, individuals who are addicted to sugar and those addicted to food in general.

In general, eating disorders are NOT about food, they are about deeper psychological issues that then are manifested with behaviors related to food.  Continue »

Prior to working with Suzanne I found myself binging at night, half-asleep and unable to control my behavior. In fact, I felt that way about most of my life Continue »

I have been working with one of the brightest people I have ever met. Here is a man with not one but two master’s degrees from Yale University who came in to see me because he had been out of work for over two years at the time.

After going through his history a few things became quite evident. First of all he was traumatized by the way his last few jobs ended. From his perspective he was not treated fairly and I would have to agree that given his account of what was going on. At the time he was dealing with some fairly serious family health issues. Corporate America seems to be a place where few are allowed to deal with family emergencies in a manner that is helpful both to the employee and to the employee’s family. The need to continue to be on the job, able to perform as if nothing is going on, is indeed a most heartless and useless way to go in my opinion.

Later on in his job history he had made all his sales goals in another job and yet was given a letter by his boss stating that he had not performed the way he was required. There was never any mention of any concern previously from the boss, and so it came as a very hurtful surprise.

As we worked together, it became obvious to me that this person did not have the personality of one who was going to be able to work for another. He got frustrated easily with his bosses inability to do things in a more logical and quicker manner and further was bored by most of what corporate America had to offer in terms of jobs anyway. This became very clear after he attended many networking meetings and job interviews.

After clearing all the hurt feelings and trauma involved in his previous work history it was necessary to figure out how he could create the sort of income his family was used to doing something that he really cared about doing in a company that he could feel pleased to work in.

My solution was for him to find a way to be his own boss. He is very bright, very accomplished and need not live according to what some boss he probably would not respect would ask of him anyway. It was a fruitless exercise of repeated frustration.

After about 6 months of working together I am happy to tell you that he is going to be a partner with two other people in a company that will bring in as much income as they can generate from a very well marketed web presence. My client’s expertise happens to be marketing and software, and so it will be his responsibility to create the sort of income that he knows he can produce for the company and that is absolutely a perfect fit for this very talented and accomplished gentleman.

I recently had the great honor of working with one of the Boston areas great performance icons. This gentleman is in his eighties and has been performing in the area for over 60 years at this point. He came in to see me because he was having some difficulty in writing the material that he uses in his performances. On top of that he has had some physiological changes due to his age that he was hoping to get under control with the use of hypnosis. However, the most important issue of all was his lack of self-esteem. In short he wasn’t feeling all that great about himself because he was not making the sort of money that his family would like him to have made. This seems interesting given the fact that this man has worked his entire life and would be at the point where he would have long ago been retired if he were working in the normal “work-a-day” world. However to this gentleman’s credit he has always lived life on his on terms and lives to perform.

From the hypnotist’s point of view it is usually much harder to work with a person who is older for they have had decades to practice the strategies that do not work for them. Usually people who are more mature, have been dealing with the trials through life. Added to that they usually have a skeptical notion of what hypnosis is and can do, but come in because they have tried everything else to no avail.

I am happy to say that this particular client was very well equipped to work with hypnosis. In fact he was fascinated by it and had done a lot of self education in the subject, even going as far as practicing some self-hypnosis. This made it easy to work with him since he was so open to what could be accomplished.

The first session we went over the goals that he had set for himself. His friend who accompanied him to the sessions was helpful in bringing up other issues that were of concern to help him out. It is my experience that it is most useful to have another person who the client is comfortable with and knows what is going on to help explain the situation at hand.

After we got the list of issues that we needed to work on, I next asked for the goals that my client would like to receive as a result of our work together. With that list I next went on to speak to what hypnosis is and how it works. From there we cleared all the issues that were in his way. It was very interesting because in this case, the cause of all the other problems seemed to be his feeling that at this late stage in his life he had not lived up to other’s expectations in terms of his ability to create the income that he should have. This was because he chose to live according to what fulfilled his passion, rather than work in a job that he may have made more money, but would have resented. This is true of most of the artist I know. In this day of internet access and sales, there really is no reason for a performer such as this man to not be able to create whatever income he would like. He has a following from all the years he has been out there working in his craft, and further has no reason to feel any shame for adding to the culture of our society with his art.

During the second session we worked a bit more on his successfully performing the way he knew he could while adding more feelings of pride for what he has already accomplished while allowing him to see what that he could create a much larger income if he would allow his audience the chance to purchase CDs and DVDs and books that could be easily created by his friend. Once he was able to really believe that this was true, he was easily able to release all of the issues that held him back, “performing with the energy and control of a man 20 years younger than he is” according to the thank you email I received from his companion who accompanied him on his hypnotic journey and the very next show he did after the hypnosis was completed.

I have most recently been working with a woman who has been battling alcoholism for the better part of 30 years. She is a very bright woman who at times feels as if she is not so bright, because in her own mind, if she were she would be able to live a normal life without this particular problem and all the other problems it creates.

I would gather that most of you realize that most people who drink to excess would prefer not to, however they are uncertain as to how to stop. Also, it clear that once a person goes over their tolerance level their body is in fact “addicted” to the substance, meaning that without it, they will suffer withdrawal symptoms which commonly begin six to eight hours after sudden withdrawal with the greatest intensity after ten to thirty hours, subsiding in a few days. The most common symptoms are tremors, nausea, dry mouth, sweating, weakness and depression. In about 5% of cases the high fever accelerated heart rate, agitation, and hallucinations of delirium tremens, DT‘s, begin after about the second day after withdrawal.(Harvard Medical School, Mental Health Review, Alcohol Abuse and Dependence by Grispoon, M.D. and Bakalar, J.D, No. 2 Rev.)

Most of us realize that alcoholism can create many problems with the physical health of the person with it, as well as putting others at risk should they involve themselves in risky behavior such as driving drunk, or having unprotected sex with several partners.

However, from my point of view, as horrendous as the disease of alcoholism is, it is only the presenting problem. Abusing alcohol is the method of choice to self-medicate the individual thus releasing them of the self-depreciating thoughts they experience usually as a symptom of depression. The alcohol will create a decrease in impulse control that can lead to risky behavior.

When the allopathic world, otherwise known as Western medicine is only focused on the need to release the alcohol, they are neglecting the more important aspect to the recovery. Unless it is understood why the behavior of drinking alcohol was created, it will be very difficult to release it for good. One can only release a behavior if there is something else that fits that need is put in its place. This is true of any behavior that needs to be changed. For the alcoholic, it is more important to get them in touch with letting go of the feelings of guilt that are manifested as a result of anything hurtful they may have done either to themselves or others. Second, they need to figure out what they can do to that is productive and fun for them to do instead. Once they are feeling better about themselves, it becomes much easier for them to be able to focus on the positive that life can offer as they get reconnected with those who love and care for them.

Hypnosis is a wonderful way to get to “the cause” of the problem as well as to figure out what other behaviors would do well to replace that of drinking alcohol. I have found interestingly enough that my clients do not go through any of the demerits tremens that is common because of the ability of the unconscious mind to be told to release the need for the alcohol without any feelings of withdrawal. This is similar to how the smoking cessations clients become non-smokers without any of their withdrawal symptoms either.

My client was able to beat alcohol for several months, but as can be the case with this particular problem, she has relapsed. I believe we understand better now what needs to be cleared for her to leave it alone for good, and with those answers I look forward to the day when she will be able to say quite honestly that there is never a reason that would be good enough for her to go back to abusing alcohol, for the damage it creates in her life is not ever worth going back. In the mean time we will continue our journey together to get her where she has decided she would like to be. Healthy and enjoying her family, the most important purpose that she has found in her own life as she gets back in touch with her painting, bicycling and kayaking with her husband.

If you are looking to get help for yourself or another please find a person who has proven experience working in this specialization. It is best if they have a back round working in mental health, though from my point of view they need not be licensed, but they need to be certified in advanced hypnotic techniques in order to be a safe bet.

It is a fact of life today that people are feeling over whelmed by all the pressures they feel as the cost of everything is going up, up, up and the income they receive in real dollars is going down, down, down. With the increase in the cost of goods due to the devaluation of the dollar in the world markets everything from the cost of fuel for operating vehicles to the cost of anything that is transported from elsewhere, the squeeze is being felt more tightly.

When we feel squeezed by the influences from out side our selves we can become very upset and frustrated. These negative emotions can start to permeate every area of our life, for it all seems to be such a struggle. It can affect our physical and emotional health which can lead to problems in our work environment as well as in our personal relationships out side of work.

The question that I have for you is: What are you going to do to counter these negative influences? What are you willing to do in order to get back on track and most importantly to keep your health, for without your health life is quite a challenge?

I would like you to think about the ways the outside world influences your inside world, mainly the way you think. It is a fact of life that most people are going through life unconsciously. They go to work because that is what they feel they have to do to have a roof over their head and food on the table, whether or not they get any fulfillment from the work that they do, or are positively impacted by those with whom they spend the greater portion of their working hours. Then they go home to deal with the demands of a family and/or friends and leave what ever time is left to escape from the lonely, unfulfilled life that they consider living. In some cases they self medicate with the use of alcohol or drugs, the endless chatter of the mindless TV or sensationalized so-called news or waste tons of time in front of the computer looking at websites that tantalize and some time leading to other destructive behaviors. I consider this a living death, for the soul is not nurtured and the concept of living “on purpose with passion” is totally vacant.

The question than becomes one of what needs to be done to turn the living dead into the life of passion, fulfillment, purpose and love of self and others? I have found in my practice that many times the cause of the vacant or depressed manner of living is due to negative emotions that were installed in childhood, generally from the age of two through eight. The reason for this is because when we are that young we are in what is known in psychological terms the “imprint stage”. This simply means that the person is “unconscious” allowing all the input that is given to be literally understood and stored in the unconscious mind. This is where a child will be able to either be happy and successful, if the messaging from the adults around him/her were based on unconditional love and the idea of being able to aspire to be anything that the child can dream up, or if they were given messages that they were never good enough, not what one parent or the other really wanted in that particular child that they brought into the world. Or perhaps the all too common reality of many more kids, no matter the wealth of the family, may have had parents that were not nurtured in a positive manner resulting in the inability to foster the healthy growth and emotional development for a happy contributing member of society as a product of their upbringing.

The way that one is most easily able to let go of the negative emotions of the unconscious mind is through working with a professional that is expert in handling the reframing of the unconscious mind, for it is in the unconscious mind that all these reprogramming needs to happen. The professionals who are the most expert in this regard would be the hypnotists and neuro-linguistic practitioners. These are the individuals that are trained in assisting you to let go of what is holding you back with your unconscious programming that is creating the strategies that are responsible for the thought and behaviors that are not working for you, in return for strategies that will empower you to create the life that you would live if given the opportunity by creating the strategies that will enable the changes required to get the results for a life that is well lived.

The most amazing part of this is that hypnotism is a most natural manner in which to accomplish your goal since every one is in and out of it all day long. They just have no idea of what it actually means to be in a hypnotic state. All it hypnosis is, is a relaxed state of being, in fact the same state you are in every time you are doing some activity where you are “in the zone” or in a meditative state, or a day dreaming state. The hypnotist utilizes that state to break through the “concrete faculty of your conscious mind to work in the unconscious part of your mind, where the change work occurs. It is the quickest manner in which to do the work, because you are working in the part of the mind that needs to be reprogrammed using the natural way the unconscious works, which is with images. Even better is the fact that when you are in the hypnotic state you are disassociated from your emotional feelings which allows you to more easily clear the issue at hand and get you on track really easily and more quickly than almost any other method that there is out there.

I would suggest that you go to the various hypnosis associations to find a qualified hypnotist to work with. You want some body that has experience in dealing with the sort of issues you are looking to resolve since there are so many specializations out there. I would suggest that you interview a few of them and find out what they charge and how they work. If they are charging very little compared to the others in your area, it may be advisable to move onto some one who is more sure of the work that they are able to do. As in anything, one usually receives the value for which they invest. I would also find out how much training they have had. If they have a website find out if they have a CV – listing of all the trainings that they have done and notice at what level they are practicing. The levels are commonly as follows: Certified Hypnotist and Practitioner of NLP Practitioner, next is Master Hypnotist and Master Practitioner of NLP, then comes Certified Instructor or Trainer of Hypnosis and NLP and then comes Master Trainer of Hypnosis and NLP (the designation given to those who train the trainers). The National Guild of Hypnotists gives an exam where they certify people as Board Certified in Hypnosis only. If the person that you are going to work with has this designation you can be assured that they have more than a basic knowledge of the subject area. However, I do not hold that certification because I have not deemed it necessary to do so given that I have done my trainings out side of the NGH where I believe I have received a superior education to that which the NGH is currently offering due to their strong bias for hypnosis while leaving doing little in the area of NLP in my humble opinion. They also do next to nothing in the area of working in the super conscious mind which is a whole different level on which to do this work.

Once you have an idea of the criteria that you would like for the professional education for the provider you choose to work with you will need to interview the hypnotist to notice if this is a person with whom you would like to work. Find out if their philosophy matches yours in the care that you are desiring to receive and then be sure that you like one another, that the two of you “click” for if there is no “rapport” there is going to be very little gain from the work that you do most especially with a hypnotist with whom you are allowing to work in your unconscious mind.

To start your search I would either Google “hypnotist” and the area in which you live and read their websites to learn about how they feel about their work and if their approach is something that would be amenable to you or Google “hypnosis associations” and call their number and get a referral directly from them. They all have list of their members along with the level of practice they are on and in many cases the specializations as well.

Good luck in your search, and congratulate your self on utilizing the power of your own mind to assist you in transforming your life using a modality that goes back to the ancient civilization when they recognized that the body, mind and spirit all work in collaboration and respect the fact as they work with the whole “you” to create the healing that you have requested based on your goals.

Awaken to Living with Hypnosis

Tools to Create Your Life

Vol. 73 May 2008

Thriving Under Pressure: How Your Emotions May Be Limiting You

It is a fact of life today that people are feeling over whelmed by all the pressures they feel as the cost of everything is going up, up, up and the income they receive in real dollars is going down, down, down. With the increase in the cost of goods due to the devaluation of the dollar in the world markets everything from the cost of fuel for operating vehicles to the cost of anything that is transported from elsewhere, the squeeze is being felt more tightly.

When we feel squeezed by the influences from out side our selves we can become very upset and frustrated. These negative emotions can start to permeate every area of our life, for it all seems to be such a struggle. It can affect our physical and emotional health which can lead to problems in our work environment as well as in our personal relationships out side of work.

The question that I have for you is: What are you going to do to counter these negative influences? What are you willing to do in order to get back on track and most importantly to keep your health, for without your health life is quite a challenge?

I would like you to think about the ways the outside world influences your inside world, mainly the way you think. It is a fact of life that most people are going through life unconsciously. They go to work because that is what they feel they have to do to have a roof over their head and food on the table, whether or not they get any fulfillment from the work that they do, or are positively impacted by those with whom they spend the greater portion of their working hours. Then they go home to deal with the demands of a family and/or friends and leave what ever time is left to escape from the lonely, unfulfilled life that they consider living. In some cases they self medicate with the use of alcohol or drugs, the endless chatter of the mindless TV or sensationalized so-called news or waste tons of time in front of the computer looking at websites that tantalize and some time leading to other destructive behaviors. I consider this a living death, for the soul is not nurtured and the concept of living “on purpose with passion” is totally vacant.

The question than becomes one of what needs to be done to turn the living dead into the life of passion, fulfillment, purpose and love of self and others? I have found in my practice that many times the cause of the vacant or depressed manner of living is due to negative emotions that were installed in childhood, generally from the age of two through eight. The reason for this is because when we are that young we are in what is known in psychological terms the “imprint stage”. This simply means that the person is “unconscious” allowing all the input that is given to be literally understood and stored in the unconscious mind. This is where a child will be able to either be happy and successful, if the messaging from the adults around him/her were based on unconditional love and the idea of being able to aspire to be anything that the child can dream up, or if they were given messages that they were never good enough, not what one parent or the other really wanted in that particular child that they brought into the world. Or perhaps the all too common reality of many more kids, no matter the wealth of the family, may have had parents that were not nurtured in a positive manner resulting in the inability to foster the healthy growth and emotional development for a happy contributing member of society as a product of their upbringing.

The way that one is most easily able to let go of the negative emotions of the unconscious mind is through working with a professional that is expert in handling the reframing of the unconscious mind, for it is in the unconscious mind that all these reprogramming needs to happen. The professionals who are the most expert in this regard would be the hypnotists and neuro-linguistic practitioners. These are the individuals that are trained in assisting you to let go of what is holding you back with your unconscious programming that is creating the strategies that are responsible for the thought and behaviors that are not working for you, in return for strategies that will empower you to create the life that you would live if given the opportunity by creating the strategies that will enable the changes required to get the results for a life that is well lived.

The most amazing part of this is that hypnotism is a most natural manner in which to accomplish your goal since every one is in and out of it all day long. They just have no idea of what it actually means to be in a hypnotic state. All it hypnosis is, is a relaxed state of being, in fact the same state you are in every time you are doing some activity where you are “in the zone” or in a meditative state, or a day dreaming state. The hypnotist utilizes that state to break through the “concrete faculty of your conscious mind to work in the unconscious part of your mind, where the change work occurs. It is the quickest manner in which to do the work, because you are working in the part of the mind that needs to be reprogrammed using the natural way the unconscious works, which is with images. Even better is the fact that when you are in the hypnotic state you are disassociated from your emotional feelings which allows you to more easily clear the issue at hand and get you on track really easily and more quickly than almost any other method that there is out there.

I would suggest that you go to the various hypnosis associations to find a qualified hypnotist to work with. You want some body that has experience in dealing with the sort of issues you are looking to resolve since there are so many specializations out there. I would suggest that you interview a few of them and find out what they charge and how they work. If they are charging very little compared to the others in your area, it may be advisable to move onto some one who is more sure of the work that they are able to do. As in anything, one usually receives the value for which they invest. I would also find out how much training they have had. If they have a website find out if they have a CV – listing of all the trainings that they have done and notice at what level they are practicing. The levels are commonly as follows: Certified Hypnotist and Practitioner of NLP Practitioner, next is Master Hypnotist and Master Practitioner of NLP, then comes Certified Instructor or Trainer of Hypnosis and NLP and then comes Master Trainer of Hypnosis and NLP (the designation given to those who train the trainers). The National Guild of Hypnotists gives an exam where they certify people as Board Certified in Hypnosis only. If the person that you are going to work with has this designation you can be assured that they have more than a basic knowledge of the subject area. However, I do not hold that certification because I have not deemed it necessary to do so given that I have done my trainings out side of the NGH where I believe I have received a superior education to that which the NGH is currently offering due to their strong bias for hypnosis while leaving doing little in the area of NLP in my humble opinion. They also do next to nothing in the area of working in the super conscious mind which is a whole different level on which to do this work.

Once you have an idea of the criteria that you would like for the professional education for the provider you choose to work with you will need to interview the hypnotist to notice if this is a person with whom you would like to work. Find out if their philosophy matches yours in the care that you are desiring to receive and then be sure that you like one another, that the two of you “click” for if there is no “rapport” there is going to be very little gain from the work that you do most especially with a hypnotist with whom you are allowing to work in your unconscious mind.

To start your search I would either Google “hypnotist” and the area in which you live and read their websites to learn about how they feel about their work and if their approach is something that would be amenable to you or Google “hypnosis associations” and call their number and get a referral directly from them. They all have list of their members along with the level of practice they are on and in many cases the specializations as well.

Good luck in your search, and congratulate your self on utilizing the power of your own mind to assist you in transforming your life using a modality that goes back to the ancient civilization when they recognized that the body, mind and spirit all work in collaboration and respect the fact as they work with the whole “you” to create the healing that you have requested based on your goals.

Awaken to Living with Hypnosis

Tools to Create Your Life

Vol. 73 May 2008

Thriving Under Pressure: How Your Emotions May Be Limiting You

It is a fact of life today that people are feeling over whelmed by all the pressures they feel as the cost of everything is going up, up, up and the income they receive in real dollars is going down, down, down. With the increase in the cost of goods due to the devaluation of the dollar in the world markets everything from the cost of fuel for operating vehicles to the cost of anything that is transported from elsewhere, the squeeze is being felt more tightly.

When we feel squeezed by the influences from out side our selves we can become very upset and frustrated. These negative emotions can start to permeate every area of our life, for it all seems to be such a struggle. It can affect our physical and emotional health which can lead to problems in our work environment as well as in our personal relationships out side of work.

The question that I have for you is: What are you going to do to counter these negative influences? What are you willing to do in order to get back on track and most importantly to keep your health, for without your health life is quite a challenge?

I would like you to think about the ways the outside world influences your inside world, mainly the way you think. It is a fact of life that most people are going through life unconsciously. They go to work because that is what they feel they have to do to have a roof over their head and food on the table, whether or not they get any fulfillment from the work that they do, or are positively impacted by those with whom they spend the greater portion of their working hours. Then they go home to deal with the demands of a family and/or friends and leave what ever time is left to escape from the lonely, unfulfilled life that they consider living. In some cases they self medicate with the use of alcohol or drugs, the endless chatter of the mindless TV or sensationalized so-called news or waste tons of time in front of the computer looking at websites that tantalize and some time leading to other destructive behaviors. I consider this a living death, for the soul is not nurtured and the concept of living “on purpose with passion” is totally vacant.

The question than becomes one of what needs to be done to turn the living dead into the life of passion, fulfillment, purpose and love of self and others? I have found in my practice that many times the cause of the vacant or depressed manner of living is due to negative emotions that were installed in childhood, generally from the age of two through eight. The reason for this is because when we are that young we are in what is known in psychological terms the “imprint stage”. This simply means that the person is “unconscious” allowing all the input that is given to be literally understood and stored in the unconscious mind. This is where a child will be able to either be happy and successful, if the messaging from the adults around him/her were based on unconditional love and the idea of being able to aspire to be anything that the child can dream up, or if they were given messages that they were never good enough, not what one parent or the other really wanted in that particular child that they brought into the world. Or perhaps the all too common reality of many more kids, no matter the wealth of the family, may have had parents that were not nurtured in a positive manner resulting in the inability to foster the healthy growth and emotional development for a happy contributing member of society as a product of their upbringing.

The way that one is most easily able to let go of the negative emotions of the unconscious mind is through working with a professional that is expert in handling the reframing of the unconscious mind, for it is in the unconscious mind that all these reprogramming needs to happen. The professionals who are the most expert in this regard would be the hypnotists and neuro-linguistic practitioners. These are the individuals that are trained in assisting you to let go of what is holding you back with your unconscious programming that is creating the strategies that are responsible for the thought and behaviors that are not working for you, in return for strategies that will empower you to create the life that you would live if given the opportunity by creating the strategies that will enable the changes required to get the results for a life that is well lived.

The most amazing part of this is that hypnotism is a most natural manner in which to accomplish your goal since every one is in and out of it all day long. They just have no idea of what it actually means to be in a hypnotic state. All it hypnosis is, is a relaxed state of being, in fact the same state you are in every time you are doing some activity where you are “in the zone” or in a meditative state, or a day dreaming state. The hypnotist utilizes that state to break through the “concrete faculty of your conscious mind to work in the unconscious part of your mind, where the change work occurs. It is the quickest manner in which to do the work, because you are working in the part of the mind that needs to be reprogrammed using the natural way the unconscious works, which is with images. Even better is the fact that when you are in the hypnotic state you are disassociated from your emotional feelings which allows you to more easily clear the issue at hand and get you on track really easily and more quickly than almost any other method that there is out there.

I would suggest that you go to the various hypnosis associations to find a qualified hypnotist to work with. You want some body that has experience in dealing with the sort of issues you are looking to resolve since there are so many specializations out there. I would suggest that you interview a few of them and find out what they charge and how they work. If they are charging very little compared to the others in your area, it may be advisable to move onto some one who is more sure of the work that they are able to do. As in anything, one usually receives the value for which they invest. I would also find out how much training they have had. If they have a website find out if they have a CV – listing of all the trainings that they have done and notice at what level they are practicing. The levels are commonly as follows: Certified Hypnotist and Practitioner of NLP Practitioner, next is Master Hypnotist and Master Practitioner of NLP, then comes Certified Instructor or Trainer of Hypnosis and NLP and then comes Master Trainer of Hypnosis and NLP (the designation given to those who train the trainers). The National Guild of Hypnotists gives an exam where they certify people as Board Certified in Hypnosis only. If the person that you are going to work with has this designation you can be assured that they have more than a basic knowledge of the subject area. However, I do not hold that certification because I have not deemed it necessary to do so given that I have done my trainings out side of the NGH where I believe I have received a superior education to that which the NGH is currently offering due to their strong bias for hypnosis while leaving doing little in the area of NLP in my humble opinion. They also do next to nothing in the area of working in the super conscious mind which is a whole different level on which to do this work.

Once you have an idea of the criteria that you would like for the professional education for the provider you choose to work with you will need to interview the hypnotist to notice if this is a person with whom you would like to work. Find out if their philosophy matches yours in the care that you are desiring to receive and then be sure that you like one another, that the two of you “click” for if there is no “rapport” there is going to be very little gain from the work that you do most especially with a hypnotist with whom you are allowing to work in your unconscious mind.

To start your search I would either Google “hypnotist” and the area in which you live and read their websites to learn about how they feel about their work and if their approach is something that would be amenable to you or Google “hypnosis associations” and call their number and get a referral directly from them. They all have list of their members along with the level of practice they are on and in many cases the specializations as well.

Good luck in your search, and congratulate your self on utilizing the power of your own mind to assist you in transforming your life using a modality that goes back to the ancient civilization when they recognized that the body, mind and spirit all work in collaboration and respect the fact as they work with the whole “you” to create the healing that you have requested based on your goals.

In March 2005, I had a gentleman referred to me for smoking cessation; however, this was not the primary importance at the time we spoke. He had another problem that needed to be addressed immediately- teeth grinding.About eight years prior, his dentist noticed that many of his teeth had been totally worn down; some of them were cracked. At that time he realized that he was always grinding his teeth, but had no idea why. He thought he was content in his life. His dentist told him that he would need $40,000 worth of dental work to keep his own teeth. He followed through and had the work done. By the time we spoke, the teeth had grounded down again and one would never know that he had all that work done.His dentist told him that he would have to stop the grinding before he was to have any more work done on his teeth. While we were on the phone the client asked me if we could do anything to stop this destructive habit of his because he really wanted to keep his own teeth.I found out from a dentist that the reason that people grind their teeth (otherwise known as “bruxism” in the dental community) is because they have a lot of pent up anger, which increases adrenaline in their bodies. The body uses this adrenaline by the grinding of the teeth. It became obvious to me that the course of action was to find out what was creating all the anger then de-sensitize the emotional charge on each of the events that was creating that anger. Once that was accomplished the grinding of the teeth would stop.The first step was to do a Detailed Personal History on my client ; I found out that there were a few incidents that occurred in his twenties that triggered him. The first incident happened during WWII, when his father was fighting the socialist in France: he was captured and tortured, which lead to his death. His mother was devastated with this turn of events and become very depressed for the rest of her life. His oldest brother was having a difficult time with manic-depressive episodes and came after my client a couple of times with a knife trying to kill him. With all of these events, my client was forced to take on the role of the “father figure” for his large family. He did the best that he could under fairly difficult circumstances. Though he thought he was calm and in control of his life currently, he did realize that he was grinding his teeth not just at night, but all day long. We now knew why this was happening.Using a technique where he imagined the past traumatic incidents in a light trance state, we were able to desensitize him from the emotional charge of these negative events in his life. We then reframed the experiences so that he could understand how much he was able to learn about taking control of his life and doing what it takes to get through any adversity, while reclaiming his life, for all these things had happened 50 years ago and had no practical effect on his current life.A few years after the treatment, which lasted all of 5 hours, he is still not grinding his teeth any longer.If you have a known problem of grinding your teeth, I suggest you find yourself a competent hypnotist and NLP practitioner to assist you, for this is a very easy situation to get under control with the correct professional intervention. Incidentally, with any habit, once you discover and understand the triggers, it becomes much easier to let it go.

A couple of years ago, I receive a call from a woman whose son habitually pulled out his eyelashes and wanted to know if I could help. Her husband was on their son’s case to stop this habit every time he looked at his son’s uneven eye lashes. They had already tried the medication route but she concluded that he was not taking the medication as prescribed; in fact, she discovered pills on the floor and hidden under cushions. During the first session, I found out that their son exhibited some obsessive compulsive behaviors, only one of which was the eyelash pulling. I used a procedure called “Parts Therapy” where we find the unconscious mind’s purpose of the behavior, then integrate it with the conscious mind so that both minds will work as one. We discovered that it all began when his sister broke his snow globe a few years prior, and he was angry at her for doing this. Once he was able to understand that he did not need to be angry with her any longer we were able to continue with the rest of the intervention.I had him go into a deep trance state, where he was able to create anesthesia in his hand and had him increase it as we moved the anesthesia from his right hand to his left hand, to his left foot to his right foot and back at his right hand, the hand he used to do pull his eye lashes. I gave him the suggestion that, just as he easily created the anesthesia in his hand and could no longer feel it, he could now no longer ever feel the need to pull out his eyelashes. He was also given a new behavior- of moving his hand through his hair instead- because if a behavior is removed, it is always good to replace it with another, but the suggestion was also given that he would probably never have the need to use his new behavior. To finish off the session, I had him see himself as no longer needing to do this behavior, starting from when he got home from our session, into the next day, and through his life. I received a phone call about a year later from the boy’s father, who said he was quite pleased with how his son was doing. If you have a child who is pulling out his/her hair, it (quite literally) only takes one session to do the work and a follow-up to make sure that the behavior has stopped.I suggest that you call a hypnotist in order to take care of this problem and better yet work with someone who has some knowledge of NLP because this is an easy problem to take care of from the hypnotic point of view.