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Publisher: ValleyNews.com
Hypnotherapist says you can diet with your mind.
Mid morning. Roberta stands in front of the refrigerator struggling with herself. Eat the cake. Don't eat the cake. Eat the cake, maybe just a little piece. She gives in and begins eating until half the cake is gone. Thinking she has ruined the whole day anyway, she rationalizes hat she may as well finish the rest and start on her diet tomorrow. Sound familiar?
At this point Roberta is thinking in blocks of time - a day, a week, or even a month. What would happen if we were able to let go of that type of programming? What if we were able to let go of the guilt from the big breakfast we ate as we sit down to lunch? Or the anxiety of anticipation of dinner, seen in the context of a day?
When you consider that you will eat approximately 80,000 meals and 50,000 snacks over the period of a lifetime, this is a staggering number of eating events to cope with.
The good news is that it can be easy when you change your subconscious programming.
Here's a tip on how to start: begin to think of each eating event as unique and separate event on a continuous chain - on a timeline. There is no before and there is no after. Once you have completed a meal, it's over forever. The next one is a brand new opportunity to nourish yourself successfully, both physically and mentally. When you begin to look at your eating in this way, you become free of the emotional burden you may be carrying around that sabotages even your best efforts at control. There is no more waiting for tomorrow to start again.
The same concept works with letting go of pounds. Need to lose 20 pounds? That's a daunting task! But as you let go of one pound, it's gone. Now you need to let go of one pound again. Anyone can let go of just one pound, right? You will repeat this process for the number of times you desire, but the task becomes doable with your new perspective.
How do we knock down the barriers that hold us back? How can we reprogram our internal, subconscious life script that seems to take us in every direction but the one we really want to go in? The ideal way is through hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis allows direct access to the subconscious mind, where your beliefs systems reside. Desired changes are easy when you conscious and subconscious work together. Associations lodged in the subconscious can be altered. This allows or changes in behavior and thinking - often immediate. Food or situation triggers, which might send you off on an eating spree, are desensitized in this manner as well.
Based on the timeline perspective, using hypnosis, your subconscious is being programmed to eat the first and only meal over and over again. It's the only one that counts. When you are able to view eating in this way, and believe it, each meal becomes a pleasant opportunity for success and control.
In addition, hypnotherapy is an excellent tool for relieving fear and phobias, stress, anxiety - all factors affecting health. More reasons one might decide to go to a hypnotherapist include motivation in school or career, performance enhancement in sports and exam taking, and even pain management.
While they are not licensed by the state of California, hypnotherapists often work through referrals by medical health professionals, coordinating treatment for clients.
The actual therapeutic session is a wonderfully relaxing and positive experience as you drift gently into the sate of hypnotic relaxation. People often mistakenly believe that they will be unconscious or out of control. Ever driven home and have no memory of how you got there? Ever been so involved in a movie that you don't hear knocking on the door? Then you've been hypnotized.
In fact, the hypnotic state is one of hyper awareness and a client will never do something they would not willingly do in a conscious state. The best way to think of it is the same state as the transitional moments before falling asleep at night.
Something you can do just before going to sleep is to relax comfortably and visualize a line - a timeline - in front of you with thousands of dots on it equally spread out. See how it is a continuous chain with no beginning and no end. Take in a few deep breaths and concentrate on relaxing all the muscles in your body.
Let your mind clear and now repeat silently to yourself that you are focusing on eating on the timeline, just dealing with one meal at a time. No past, no future. Think about this and what it means to you. You will begin freeing yourself of old perspectives and develop new ones.
Sheri Neuberg is a local Certified Hypnotherapist, holds a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA and developed the unique "timeline" approach to weight management. She can be reached at 323-691-6375. Sheri posted this story 2006 September 28 to the Woodland Hills Hub on Valleynews.com.