Me with the great boxing legend Leon Spinks, who won the undisputed world heavyweight championship when he beat Muhammad Ali on February 15, 1978, in what was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. A rematch followed shortly thereafter in New Orleans, which broke attendance records. Ali won a unanimous decision in the fight, making him the first heavyweight champion to win the belt three times.

In a world of preservative-laden processed foods, unhealthy eating habits, and sedentary lifestyles brought about by of the rise of office desk jobs, it is no surprise that weight loss is one of the most pervasive talking points in modern society.

Concerns about weight, fitness, and looking good are also behind the constant surge and decline of fad diets, exercise programs, and weight loss “magic pills”—so-called one-size-fits-all solutions that magically make you lose X many pounds in X many days.

In any case, there is no denying the fact that trying to lose weight successfully can be a long and arduous process. If you have ever tried to go on a diet and sign up for a gym membership, only to give up a few months—or worse, a few weeks—into your personal weight loss journey, then you probably know just how frustrating things can be.

With factors like stress, body image, and boredom coming in, it’s easy to fall off track and give up on your weight loss mission.

By far the most common behavior people trying to lose weight fall victim to, is the ‘yo-yo diet,’ a damaging cycle that includes:

• Going on an aggressive diet
• Failing to meet the diet and binge eating
• Feeling guilty
• Attempting to diet once more

This unhealthy and demoralizing cycle is akin to going around in circles. But more importantly, the frustration of not losing any weight at all can damage your motivation and confidence, planting the idea in your mind that diets and exercise just do not work for you.

Motivation and Weight Loss

Regardless of what kind of diet or fitness program you are on, one thing is certain: it takes motivation and discipline to get things started, change your lifestyle, and see your weight loss goals to the end.

And this is where hypnotherapy comes in—to enter your mind and unlock your inner source of motivation and willpower.

Whereas diet and nutrition plans address your eating habits and nutrient intake, and exercise programs aim to solve your lack (or absence) of fitness, hypnotherapy designed for weight loss looks at your thoughts, feelings, and motivations about your diet and lifestyle.

Why Do Diets and Fitness Programs Fail?

The reason why going on a diet leads to failure for so many people is due to how they approach it with a “temporary” mindset. That is, going on a diet means making a temporary change in your eating habits, until such a time that you hit a weight loss goal or finally look good in front of the mirror.

But there’s a difference between going on a diet and changing your diet.

The latter is a long-term adjustment that redefines how you feel and think of your food for the rest of your life. Yes, it can be a terrifying commitment, but one that pays dividends for your health and fitness. In fact, you are better off making small incremental changes to your diet, hitting progressive calorie deficits instead of going all out with a low-carbohydrate crash diet.

The same thing applies to fitness programs and routines. Many people sign up for a one-month membership at their local gym or yoga studio, thinking that one month should be enough to gauge their interest in the exercise program. Again, this temporary approach ignores the fact that fitness should be a fixture of your life, not just a passing interest.

So, where and how does hypnotherapy come in? Let’s assume that you’ve decided to change your diet, which requires you to cut back your sugar and carbohydrate consumption. On your new diet, you know that eating a carrot is healthier than say, eating a sweet carrot cake, but you can’t help yourself and still crave for the latter.

With hypnotherapy, you can change the way you view that carrot, seeing it in a new light instead of giving in to your cravings. With hypnosis techniques, you can change the way you think and feel about food and exercise, allowing you to view your weight loss mission in a more positive light, instead of a restrictive one.

Does all this sound too good to be true? It may help to understand how hypnosis works to understand why hypnotherapy can be a powerful way to supplement your diet and fitness regimen.

What is Hypnosis and How Does it Work?

Contrary to popular belief and its portrayal by the media, there is nothing mystical about hypnosis. It is not some kind of magic trick or spell that puts a person to sleep and under the control of the hypnotizer, only to wake up with no recollection of what happened while they were “under hypnosis.”

Rather, it is as gentle and harmless as closing your eyes and meditating on positive visual imagery. In many ways, hypnotherapy uses the same techniques of traditional meditation, from deep relaxation and mindful breathing to letting the mind wander freely and being receptive to positive suggestion.

Hypnosis is a deep state of concentration and absorption. By falling into a relaxed, trance-like state, your hypnotherapist can better access the subconscious part of your mind through mental visualization and verbal repetition. Under this state, your attention is both relaxed yet focused, making you more responsive to positive changes, including ideas and reassurances that can help you achieve your weight loss goals.

By targeting the subconscious, the same part where habits and urges originate, your hypnotherapist can help you develop a positive view and relationship with healthy eating habits and exercise. If you find yourself constantly facing feelings of self-defeat and frustration over trying to lose weight, hypnotherapy can be a way to help you feel confident about your body image, and change your negative perceptions of nutrition foods—both of which can help you lose weight in a responsible and sustainable manner.

In other words, your change of diet and fitness habits has a higher chance of working because you know you are making a change for the better. When your mind and emotions are in harmony, the body can better perform what it is told to do.

But what exactly is it about hypnosis that can work wonders for your weight loss efforts? We look at 4 factors that your hypnotherapist will target in your hypnotherapy session.

1. Your Motivation and Willpower

At its core, hypnosis and weight loss are tied together by motivation and willpower.

Do not let the ‘mind over matter’ approach of hypnosis fool you. Hypnotherapy is powerful, and by conditioning your mind to push beyond its limits and change, you will find yourself taking a hyper-focused approach to your weight loss efforts.

In fact, this approach is something professional athletes have been doing for years. By visualizing winning games or matches, athletes can push themselves to bring out their A game.

You can learn these same principles through a hypnotherapy session, which will allow you to visualize changing your diet and exercise habits. If you are struggling to imagine seeing these things turn into reality, your problem may be a lack of focus—an issue your hypnotherapist can also address through confidence-building messages

The science also backs the ability of hypnosis to improve your odds of losing weight successfully.

A 1998 study published in the International Journal of Obesity, sought to understand potential benefits of hypnotherapy for weight loss. The study saw the participation of 60 obese patients, who were into two groups:

• One receiving two types of hypnotherapy “directed at stress reduction or energy intake reduction”
• The other receiving “dietary advice alone”

The researchers found that, “Analysed over the whole time period the hypnotherapy group with stress reduction achieved significantly more weight loss than the other two treatment arms which were not significantly different from each other.”

The researchers thus concluded, “Controlled trial on the use of hypnotherapy, as an adjunct to dietary advice in producing weight loss, has produced a statistically significant result in favour of hypnotherapy.”

2. Cravings and Binge Eating Habits

If you ask any hypnotherapist, he or she will tell you that you have all the weapons at your disposal needed to lose weight safely. It really is a mind over matter problem, especially since most, if not all, unhealthy eating habits ultimately stem from cravings and stress-coping mechanisms.

Many people tend to eat more than they should because their mind tells them to seek the dopamine rush triggered by tasty treats. So the next time you have a bad day and wonder why you seem to be craving for donuts or pizza, it’s your mind telling you to literally swallow your negative emotions with “good food.”

Again, this is all happening in your mind. “Good food” is a relative concept. For some people, this could come in the form of low-calorie and fiber-rich overnight oatmeal. For others, it could be a bowl of French fries.

What hypnotherapy does is help change your perception of food. With repeated sessions, you can ultimately condition your mind to see food for what it is: fuel for the body. Sure, there is no harm in wanting an ice cream cone or a burger every now and then, but with hypnosis, you can avoid problems like binge eating and stress eating.

One study published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis found that the researchers’ test subject, a 16-year-old boy, was “able to reduce his anxiety by gaining an understanding that it originated as a result of fear of failure.” Besides binge eating, the boy also suffered from “anxiety, insomnia, migraine headaches, nausea, and stomachaches.”

3. Your Positive Mindset, or Lack Thereof

Fear-inducing messages such as “Fatty foods will kill you,” or “Sweets will lead to diabetes,” can certainly work in changing some people for the better, but what usually happens is these behaviors only last for a few weeks at most. This strategy is what governments around the world have taken in their effort to stop people from smoking, yet millions of people continue to light up, right?

In contrast, taking a more positive approach tends to have a more lasting effect, for the simple fact that people respond better to positive messages than they do negative ones. And this is exactly what hypnotherapy does.

In your therapy session, your hypnotherapist will use positive messages such as, “a healthy, balanced diet will make me genuinely feel and look better,” or “Eating healthy is not just about looking good, it’s also about feeling good,” are not just upbeat, they are also more sustainable goals to aspire to.

You will also find that this positive mindset will help carry you throughout the hard journey towards weight loss.

4. Your Views on Exercise

If you feel your problem with exercise has to do with a lack of motivation to get out of bed to go to the gym or on a run, hypnotherapy could be the answer to your problems.

Many people have turned to hypnotherapy as a way to overcome their fears and lack of motivation to start exercising. People like celebrity Olivia Munn swear by the restorative power of hypnosis, finding it to be the key to resolving deep-seated issues in their past and developing a new mindset when making healthier choices.

Hypnotherapy might also be the key to going over your perceived limits and pushing yourself out of your fitness comfort zone. According to a 1985 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, “The hypnotic manipulation of effort sense during dynamic exercise can significantly alter patterns of brain activation and elicit cardiovascular changes.”

This essentially means that through hypnotherapy, your mind can be trained to go over mental hurdles and push the body to work harder and be stronger.

Is Hypnotherapy the Right Approach for My Weight Loss?

“Will it work for me?” is perhaps the most commonly asked question about hypnotherapy. Ultimately, the best way to know is to see and try it yourself. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach with hypnotherapy, not when different people respond differently to different hypnotherapy messages.

But either way, hypnotherapy can be a solid first step in the right direction, helping you open up and talk about the importance of developing good eating and exercise habits, and discarding habits that are only doing you harm.

It should also be said that hypnotherapy, on its own, is definitely not a substitute for a healthy and balanced diet, as well as improved fitness levels. However, hypnotherapy can be an excellent way to complement your new diet and exercise regimen.

If you are looking for advice on how to lose weight, or want to know if you even need to lose weight at all, be sure to ask your physician or healthcare provider first. With the combination of a better diet, a plan to exercise more, and hypnotherapy sessions, you should be able to set yourself up for success.

REMINDER: Seek the Professional Opinion of a Physician Before Trying to Lose Weight

Although hypnotherapy is a gentle and safe approach to supplementing your weight loss efforts, it is imperative that you first seek the opinion of a physician before anything else. Many people mistakenly believe that they are overweight, even if they are not.

There is a difference between having unhealthy body image issues and being actually overweight. When you consider the fact that so many people succumb to peer pressure and media influence over what kind of body looks good and does not, it is easy to see why weight loss is such a pervasive topic.

Your doctor will usually consider the following factors when determining if you are in a healthy weight range:

• You have a body mass index beyond 25 (not accurate at all times as people are built differently)
• For men, your waist circumference is over 37 inches
• For women, your waist circumference is over 32 inches
• You have a high body fat percentage relative to your age and sex
• You have joint pain caused by excess weight
• You suffer from pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, or type 2 diabetes

Again, your healthcare provider will be the best authority to get an accurate measurement of your height, weight, body mass index, and body fat percentage.

What Can I Expect from Hypnotherapy?

While different people respond differently to hypnotherapy and have different reasons for wanting to lose weight, you can still expect some of the following in a hypnotherapy session.

• Visualizing your desired physique and level of fitness
• Imagining the feeling of looking good and being healthy
• Visualizing the process of achieving your weight loss goals
• Nurturing the patience to stick to your weight loss goals
• Appreciating the small incremental achievements you make
• Maintaining your motivation to stick to your weight loss plan
• Finding the motivation to resist the urge to eat anything unhealthy or eat even if you are not hungry

These methods and visualization techniques are just some of the many ways to help empower your mind and body, allowing you to finally take control of your lifestyle. With hypnotherapy for weight loss, you will learn to appreciate the value of eating healthy understand that feel-good sensations of eating fatty and sugary foods are just that—sensations. You should also realize that exercising is not just good for you—it actually feels good.

With consistent sessions, you should be able to enjoy what your body can do, instead of seeing it as just another source of anxiety. By building a solid foundation of healthy eating habits and a positive approach to exercise, your choices should also affect your other life decisions, changing you for the better in more ways than one.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Relaxing in the Grand Canyon

The inability to control alcohol consumption is a far more common problem than most people would like to admit. Although it would seem that something like binge drinking is a behavior that would be easy to control, these issues are much more complicated.

Whether it’s at raucous parties, drinking sessions with friends, or even at home with a bottle (or bottles) of wine, many people find themselves drinking excessively despite promising to have just “one or two” drinks. And no matter how you look at it, drinking to excess is never good for your health or personal life; even those who only drink excessively during weekends and stay completely sober throughout the work week are still harming themselves.

What Exactly Does Binge Drinking Mean?

So, is it a problem of motivation, then? Your mindset just might have something to do with it. Binge drinking is often defined as drinking with the intention of getting intoxicated. In other words, the desire to drink and get drunk stems from a thought pattern that begins even before the first drink.

For many people, binge drinking may very well be a coping mechanism to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression. These mental factors are precisely why hypnotherapy can be a viable form of changing this alcoholic behavior.

For many years, hypnosis has been used in combination with other treatments for substance abuse. According to one study published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, “[hypnosis] has been used with 18 clients over the last 7 years and has shown a 77 percent success rate for at least a 1-year follow-up.”

So, how does this happen and how is it connected to treating binge drinking?

Hypnosis Delves into the Part of the Mind that Forms Habits

To change the harmful habit of excessive drinking, a hypnotherapist can reach into the part of the mind that forms and stores habits. A hypnotherapy session typically begins by entering a deep state of relaxation through the same set of techniques used in meditation: music, soothing dialog, and visualization among others.

By working with the unconscious part of your mind, your hypnotherapist can help you replace the negative thought patterns that compel you to drink to excess, stopping your unwanted behavior for good. Instead of working on your willpower, which is a finite resource, hypnosis goes straight to the source of your behavior and urges, and, through the power of positive suggestion, changes the perceived important you place on alcohol and the sensation of being drunk.

For example, if your urge to drink is fueled by anxiety and deep-seated confidence problems, hypnotherapy can fix these issues first, which should then eliminate or at the very least reduce your desire to drink to excess.

It’s perfectly normal to want to have a good time, but it’s another story when your habits are harming your health and personal life. Binge drinkers who have successfully kicked their habit of drinking to excess often come out feeling free, at peace, and confident than ever before.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me hanging out with the birds

What does it mean to be charismatic? What does it take to have unlimited confidence? It is no secret that some people just seem have it. It’s a certain X factor, a social finesse if you will, that lets them excel at life, whether at work, when making new friends, or in everyday activities.

But what if there was a way to cultivate your own personal charisma, to raise your confidence and self-esteem in ways you never before thought possible? It seems like an absurd concept, but this is exactly what hypnotherapy allows you to do.

The idea is actually an old one. In 1971, one study found that the application of hypnosis could improve self-esteem using a technique called ego-strengthening. The idea was that a “psychologically impaired individual may benefit from positive suggestions of self-worth and personal effectiveness.”

Self-Esteem Shapes Charisma

Self-esteem and charisma are closely intertwined. You could even say that charisma, defined as “compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others,” is a characteristic of high self-esteem. But where does self-esteem come from?

The simple answer? The mind. Self-esteem is the sum of experiences, environment, and thoughts, all of which create an outlook of positivity and confidence. And because your thoughts are partially behind your worldview, hypnosis opens a way to transform your thought processes and biases.

To put it simply, hypnotherapy offers a way to reach a stage of increased awareness, making your mind malleable to positive suggestions. In fact, athletes use this same technique all the time before games and matches, only they call their version visualization.

How Does Hypnosis Work?

Hypnosis often gets a bad rap for its connection to the mystical and magical; the media often portrays it as falling into a trance where you forget everything that happens in this state when you “wake up.”

The reality, however, is much less exotic. Hypnosis induces a state of deep relaxation, very similar to what you could achieve with deep meditation. In this state, you’re both at peace and alert at the same time—your imagination runs free and you are more receptive to suggestions by your hypnotherapist.

Over the years, there have been several studies on the power of hypnosis to improve weight loss, help in smoking cessation, relieve stress, and even improve athletic performance.

The same principles behind these findings also apply to the development of personal charisma. Delving into the source of your charisma and confidence, your hypnotherapist can work on your emotional sensitivity, expressiveness, and control, helping you to see social interactions in a new light.

By using the power of positive suggestion, you can condition your mind to be confident and to nurture your latent self-esteem. Hypnotherapy gives you just the right push to bring out what you already have in the first place.

Considering all the benefits of hypnotherapy, its ability to develop your personal charisma only adds to a growing list of benefits just waiting for you to tap into.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me at a presentation earlier this month.

At some point in your life, you are going to want to apply for the perfect job, nail the perfect interview, or shoot for a raise. Perhaps you want to discover your passion in the hopes of finding a career you can feel proud and happy about or switch careers after being unhappy with your current path in life.

Whatever the case, we all want to have thriving careers that come from being good at our jobs. Unfortunately, your dreams and reality may not be consistent at all times. If you feel that you’re stuck or in a rut, or have ideas that never seem to be good enough, what you might need is a push in the right direction—a way to boost your confidence, which in turn, will help you find the motivation to keep going forward.

Hypnosis could be just what you need. Through hypnotherapy, you have an outlet to release your stress, all while improving your learning, motivation, attitude, and confidence. According to one study published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Cognitive Behavioral Hypnosis (CBH) is “at least as effective as behavior therapy (BT) and cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) treatments that employ imagery and relaxation techniques for anxiety disorders.”

But how exactly does hypnotherapy impact your job performance and motivation?

Imagining Your Future

Do you struggle to imagine where you’ll be, career-wise, in two to five years? Perhaps you have big dreams, but there’s always a voice inside you, telling you you’ll never get there.

That’s your subconscious talking, and it’s where hypnosis takes the fight to make you a happier, more productive person.

In a hypnotherapy session, a hypnotherapist puts you in a state of deep relaxation and uses the power of positive suggestion to:

• Imagine your dream job and help you define your career trajectory
• Start thinking of your dreams as real and attainable goals
• Put together a step-by-step plan with clear milestones instead of just vague dreams

In subsequent sessions, your hypnotherapist will help you follow-up on this plan, ensuring that you’re actively striving to reach each milestone.

Building a Strong Foundation: Confidence

Although it may seem that some people are born confident, the truth is that these individuals have a great support system of family and friends around them, or they’ve been conditioned from an early age to see life in a positive light.

The good news is that confidence is something you can build. A hypnotherapist can plant positive thoughts into your subconscious mind, helping you fight anxieties and fears caused by job-related challenges such as public speaking, job interviews, and time management.

You have everything it takes to build a strong foundation of confidence. A hypnotherapist will give you all the tools to do it one step at a time.

Job performance and self-confidence have a symbiotic relationship. The better you at your job, the more confident you become; the more confident you are, the more capable you’ll be at handling work tasks and challenges. Hypnosis can be the key to planning and managing this aspect of your life in ways that you never thought you were capable of doing on your own.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me at the Grand Canyon

Contrary to popular belief, anyone can be creative. Creativity is not limited to the world of writers, painters, sculptures, and musicians. All it takes is the right mindset.

Of course, we are all creative in different ways. You may be a skilled cook that somehow understands how ingredients come together without really thinking about it. Your friend may have a knack for coming up with great business ideas that can grow into full-fledged enterprises in just a few years. Another friend may have a talent for photography and capturing images on film and video.

Bottom line? There are countless ways to show unlimited creativity. If you think you have yet to discover your creative side, hypnotherapy may hold the key to unleashing it.

How Hypnotherapy Release Your Creativity

When done right, hypnosis can help unlock different aspects of your latent creativity. In fact, one study published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis found that a group of hypnotizable female volunteers “…consistently achieved higher scores on the Torrance scoring categories, and their performance was statistically superior on a composite index of overall creativity.”

During a hypnotherapy session, your hypnotherapist will enter your subconscious mind by putting you in a state of deep relaxation. This allows you to free your mind from its typical thought patterns, helping you to adopt a new mindset—one with a focus on creativity.

Through techniques like creative visualization, your hypnotherapist can guide you towards a creative flow, which is often described as being in a trance-like or meditative state. In real life, it is the equivalent of being “in the zone”—where things seem to move in slow motion, your mind is calm yet focused, and your perception of time is slower.

True creativity and inspiration can only happen when the mind is in a state of clarity, which is what hypnosis tries to achieve. After a hypnotherapy session, you will feel more relaxed and more able to express your thoughts and ideas, whether through the written or spoken word, through music, visual art, or any other kind of medium.

Hypnotherapy Removes Obstacles

Creativity can be notoriously elusive. On some days, you may feel like you are on a great creative streak, while on other days it seems like you have hit a dead end. You may have experienced the latter in the form of a writer’s block. Hypnotherapy can help you get over these temporary obstacles and realign your mind with your inner creativity.

Sometimes the problem is not so much the absence of ideas, as it is the lack of motivation and focus. Hypnotherapy can also help in these matters, clearing your mind and using the power of positive suggestion to reignite your willpower and drive.

Creativity requires a certain freedom of the mind, allowing it to explore and wander for inspiration. Hypnos can be a powerful tool to put you in this state, giving you a small push in the right direction.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me with a peacock in a tree

While hypnosis is by no means a cure for cancer, it is nevertheless a valuable and effective way to supplement conventional treatments used when caring for cancer patients. One study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that different “psychological and cognitive behavioral treatments can reduce pain severity and interference with function,” which include methods such as hypnosis and relaxation with imagery.

Specific applications of hypnosis for helping cancer patients include:

• Management of cancer pain
• Helping patients and their caretakers build rapport
• Regulating of pain perception
• Helping patients handle cancer symptoms
• Therapy for fighting depression, anxiety, anger, frustration, and loneliness

All these things point to how cancer, despite being an intense battle for the physical body, can also have an extreme toll on the patient’s mental health and emotions. In fact, for many patients, half the battle with cancer is just staying in good spirits, which is exactly where hypnotherapy can do wonders.

But how exactly does hypnotherapy work?

What to Expect

During your first appointment with a hypnotherapist, you’ll be asked a series of general questions about your health, your medical history, lifestyle, as well as your mental and emotional state. This will include questions about your sleeping patterns and how you’re feeling.

The hypnotherapist will then shift the discussion to the reasons behind your desire to seek hypnotherapy. Is it because you’re feeling anxious or depressed? Do you need an outlet from the stress of the disease? Do you want to be able to manage your pain?

Hypnotherapy is About Deep Relaxation

At its core, hypnotherapy is about putting you in a state of deep relaxation. In most sessions, you’ll be asked to sit in a comfortable chair or lie down on a couch so you can relax. The hypnotherapist will help you regulate your breathing, counting down from 10 to 1 until you fall into a trance-like state.

Once you’re relaxed, the therapist will use positive suggestion to help change your behavior and thoughts, as well as the way you see and manage your symptoms. You’ll begin to realize that your pain is the mind’s way of telling you that something is wrong with your body. Through self-hypnosis, you can condition your mind to relax and handle cancer symptoms more effectively.

Hypnosis often gets a bad rap for being mystical or magical in nature. But contrary to how the media portrays it, it’s actually just another way to enter a meditative state, one that relies on positive suggestion and the concept of mind over matter. More importantly, hypnosis is a gentle yet powerful way to make cancer treatments more effective.

I suggest you seek the advice of your medical doctor before using hypnosis.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

In today’s fast-paced world, many people no longer just see food as fuel, but as a way to cope with stress. But the real problem is not so much that we’re eating to cope with the pressures of life, but that we’re eating large amounts of unhealthy food such as pizza, French fries, ice cream, and other fast food. As you know, these are full of sugar, salt, and trans fats, all of which can have a negative impact on your health.

And there are many other unhealthy eating habits aside from gravitating towards low-nutrient food. These include under eating, skipping breakfast, and binge eating. The last habit is particularly common and tends to originate from psychological challenges such as boredom, stress, depression, mood swings, anxiety, and loneliness.

These psychological links raise the potential for hypnotherapy to be a viable form of treating these issues. In fact, a 2014 study published in the International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis found that 60 obese test subjects were able to lose weight after seeking two different kinds of hypnotherapy.

So, how exactly does hypnosis do this?

Hypnosis is about Changing Attitudes to Shape Reality

More often than not, people who have a tendency of binge eating have deeply ingrained beliefs such as “I can’t stop eating when I’m stressed,” or “I’m too tired to the go to the gym.” In turn, these beliefs trick you into thinking that you’re not in control of your eating habits, even when it’s all in your mind. In fact, just thinking that you’re stuck with your unhealthy eating habits actually makes it real—a self-fulfilling prophecy if you will.

A hypnotherapist addresses these issues by going into the heart of these beliefs—your subconscious mind. By putting you under a state of deep relaxation, your hypnotherapist can find the negative thoughts and ideas behind your unhealthy eating habits, replacing them with ones that are actually positive and helpful towards making a healthy change.

Hypnosis Supports Your Motivation to Eat Healthily

If your problem is a lack of motivation, whether it’s failure to control carb consumption or the inability to stick to an exercise and diet regimen, hypnotherapy can be a great way to develop your discipline and willpower. In fact, a 2014 study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that hypnosis was more effective in helping smokers kick their habit than traditional nicotine replacement solutions.

As anyone who has succeeded in changing their eating habits knows, it takes a combination of awareness and sheer will to change for the better. While it’s not exactly a shortcut, hypnotherapy can help you control your eating tendencies, pushing you towards the realization that your poor eating habits ultimately come from your mind.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)—sometimes referred to as ADD—is a common but little-understood disorder that seems to occur most in children. Symptoms of the disorder include challenges with concentration, short attention span, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Although the traditional method of treating ADHD involves a combination of psychotherapy and medication, it’s important to remember that people have varying responses to different forms of treatment, which is why there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to treating the disorder. Likewise, the multiple medications designed for treating ADHD/ADD also produce different side effects, ranging from anxiety and insomnia to reduced appetite and irritability.

Research on alternative and gentler forms of treatment for ADHD show that therapies like hypnosis can help people improve the focus, concentration, and stress levels of ADHD patients. One study published in the Public Library of Science found that “hypnotic suggestions have an effect on reaction times in the sustained attention task both in adult ADHD patients and control subjects.”

But what specific benefits does hypnosis offer?

1. Hypnosis Plants Positive Ideas into Your Mind

By placing you in a state of deep relaxation, a hypnotherapist can produce a state of heightened focus, which in turn makes you highly receptive to positive suggestions. For example, if your ADHD keeps you up at night because you can’t get away from the computer, a hypnotherapist can help you relax at will and find the motivation to want to rest at night. In addition, this approach frees your mind from runaway thoughts that keep you distracted and restless.

2. It’s Gentle and Doesn’t Require any Medication

Hypnotherapy allows children and adults with ADHD to hone their focus, concentration, attentiveness, and control of their symptoms, all without having to use any kind of pharmaceuticals. Besides their adverse side effects, many drugs for ADHD don’t really address the disorder’s root cause, but rather only take care of the symptoms. This is precisely why therapy will always be the best way to rein in ADHD.

3. Hypnosis Goes Straight to the Source of the Challenge

The subconscious is a powerful part of the mind that rarely receives any real attention. With hypnotherapy, you can directly access your subconscious mind to not only plant ideas, but to condition the way you think about your symptoms and compulsions.

If you’re constantly afraid that you’ll never be able to develop your focus, you’ll never make any real changes. A hypnotherapist can help you develop your focus and concentration, starting with something as little as imagining an island paradise, thinking of it long enough so you can relax and quiet your mind. If you do this long enough, you’ll eventually reach a point where you’re genuinely happy, healthy, and confident in your ability to succeed. 

Whether it’s for a child or adult, hypnotherapy can be a viable way to gently address the root challenges of ADHD, going directly into where the disorder originates: the mind. Although not a substitute for conventional therapy, hypnosis can be a powerful way to supplement your treatment and get the best results. I highly suggest you consult with a medical doctor before using hypnosis.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me enjoying a day in paradise

Anxiety issues don’t just happen overnight. You don’t wake up one day and start feeling anxious for no reason at all. More often than not, anxiety is the product of many years of repressed emotions and deep-seated issues, so much so that sufferers do not even know why they feel distressed and anxious in certain situations.

Much has been said about the potential for hypnosis to be a viable form of treatment for anxiety. As one study published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health notes how “The tremendous volume of research provides compelling evidence that hypnosis is an efficacious treatment for state anxiety (e.g., prior to tests, surgery and medical procedures) and anxiety-related disorders, such as headaches and irritable bowel syndrome.”

So, how exactly does hypnosis treat anxiety, and what specific problems can it address?

1. Physical Tension

Physical tension and pain, often stemming from emotional strain, can be treated with hypnosis. By going straight to the beliefs and biases that govern your anxiety triggers, your hypnotherapist can reduce the frequency and intensity of its physical manifestations, such as increased heart rate, profuse sweating, and shaking among others.

Through hypnosis, you can ease these feelings of strain and discomfort by focusing on positive thoughts and knowing your physical symptoms are simply in your mind.

2. Emotional Strain

Besides physical tension, chronic anxiety can also take a heavy toll on your emotions. The energy you use up every time you’re in a state of constant worry, sadness, and stress can quickly make you feel drained, and when left untreated, can sink you into mental depression.

With hypnotherapy, you can develop a more positive mindset and change unnecessary negative beliefs. For example, if your anxiety stems from being around new people, your hypnotherapist can plant the positive belief that there’s nothing to worry about and that meeting new people shouldn’t put you on edge.

3. Sleep Problems

Many people suffering from anxiety also struggle with sleep problems like insomnia and narcolepsy.

By putting you in a state of deep relaxation, your therapist can address your insomnia, teaching you to shut out the world and focus inwards. This approach trains you to push aside your negative thoughts, which can be all it takes to get a good night’s rest.

On the other hand, with narcolepsy, hypnosis can be an effective way to find a new sense of motivation and a need to be personally productive. This same approach can also address the motivational issues brought about by depression and low self-esteem.

In Summary

While hypnosis is definitely not a cure-all for all aspects of anxiety, it is nevertheless emerging as a gentle and effective way to complement conventional treatments for this mental issue. By using the power of positive suggestion, you can train your mind to respond to your anxiety triggers in a holistic and healthy way. Please consult your medical doctor before using hypnosis for anxiety.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me at the mixing board

There’s no denying that humans are creatures of habit. From an early age, we pick up behaviors we find useful or satisfying, repeating them until they turn into full-fledged habits. And over time, the subconscious part of our mind, where behaviors transform into habits, begin to thrive. They become familiar ways of behaving, with expected consequences that serve our satisfaction and needs.

But what about bad habits like nail biting, binge eating, and snoring? While they still serve legitimate needs, they come with familiar but negative consequences that are damaging to your health, emotional well-being, career, relationships, and confidence among other things. It’s the virtue and effects of these habits that make them “bad.”

Why do People Have Bad Habits?

More often than not, people form bad habits as a way to deal with stress and anxiety. Whether it’s chain smoking, heavy drinking, drug abuse, or binge eating, these habits are usually a coping mechanism to escape stress and feel better.

On the other hand, habits like nail biting, fidgeting, and hair pulling among others usually stem from childhood and is the subconscious mind’s attempt to relieve stress and self-medicate. These habits also form as a response to guilt and shame.

Of course, you’re probably wondering if there’s any way to let go of these bad habits. More often than not, it simply boils down to having the right combination of mindset and willpower. But sometimes, it helps to have someone give you a push in the right direction.

This is exactly where hypnotherapy comes in. Because most habits originate in your mind’s subconscious, hypnosis can serve as a shortcut to changing your negative habits right from their very roots.

Below are some examples of bad habits that can be treated with hypnotherapy.

1. Nail Biting

One study published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis found sufficient evidence of hypnosis treating tongue thrust and nail biting simultaneously. The subject, a 14-year-old girl, was recommended by her orthodontist to get rid of her tongue-thrusting habit to complete her orthodontic treatment. She also had a habit of biting her nails, further contributing to her dental issues.

2. Binge Eating

Yet another study found that self-hypnosis techniques have the potential of curbing binge eating, with the test subject, a 16-year-old boy, “able to reduce his anxiety by gaining an understanding that it originated as a result of fear of failure.” Besides binge eating, the boy also suffered from “anxiety, insomnia, migraine headaches, nausea, and stomachaches.”

3. Snoring

Even a habit like snoring has the potential of being treated with hypnosis. A case study published in The British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis describes how a 53-year-old man who sought treatment for hypnosis was able to leverage direct suggestion to force himself to sleep on his side when snoring at night.

“It was shown that the snoring symptom lessened and his wife commented on this at a time when she was unaware that he was coming for treatment,” the study notes.

As promising as hypnotherapy is for beating bad habits, it only really works if the patient is serious about making positive changes and is open to applying unorthodox techniques on a consistent basis. In other words, hypnosis as a tool for beating bad habits is only effective when used to its full potential.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Does it feel like all you do is work and worry about your next paycheck? Do you feel useless whenever you’re not doing anything useful? Come to think of it, when was the last time you stopped to enjoy your day doing nothing at all?

You need to stop, take a deep breath, and live in the moment. Known also as mindfulness, living in the now means having a mindset that pays active and mindful attention to the present. When you live in the here and now, you are no longer a prisoner of your thoughts, simply observing each moment of your life as it passes without judging.

In other words, living in the moment means experiencing life directly. You’re aware of what’s happening around you and you take the time to appreciate the sights and sounds, but you do all of this without worrying about making any judgments.

While being able to focus on the present is a trait often associated with ‘enlightened’ people like yogis, Buddhists, and priests, it’s a mindset the ordinary person can develop. Similar to nurturing a positive attitude, you can train your mind to live in the present.

Hypnotherapy has long been used as a way for people to develop a positive mindset. In fact, one study found that a hypnotherapy session before a major surgery had a placebo effect. “The team reported that patients who received hypnosis reported less post-surgical pain, nausea, fatigue, and discomfort,” the researchers noted.

But how exactly does hypnosis help you achieve the ability to live in the present?

1. It Puts You in Touch With Your Inner Child

In many ways, living in the now is about letting your inner child take over. Your hypnotherapist can help you connect with your memories as a child, some of them buried and forgotten in your subconscious. We have all been little children at some point, lost in the wonder of the world around us, without any worry about problems.

2. It Lets You See the World in a New Light

Through the power of positive suggestion, your hypnotherapist can ‘teach’ you to see the world in a new light, allowing you to let go of your fears and anxieties, even if for a few minutes. Indeed, hypnosis can be a powerful tool to help you ease stress, allowing you to focus your thoughts on new positive ideas and behaviors.

3. Hypnosis Allows You to Relax

Your hypnotherapist will help you to relax deeply, putting you under a trancelike state that opens your mind to positive suggestions and ideas. It also allows you to return to the source of your inherent innocent vision of the world, letting go of the fears and responsibilities that weigh you down.

Giving value to the present allows you to change your priorities in life, helping you live a healthier and less stressful lifestyle. With hypnotherapy, you can appreciate the life that you have now, and realize that finding abundance and blessings need not be a stressful race. In other words, living in the now means appreciating your journey in life more, instead of focusing on the destination.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Are you very conscious of your skin that you avoid looking at mirrors, feeling unhappy whenever you do? Are you so fixated on your acne that you no longer see your other physical attributes? Are you painfully uncomfortable in social situations because of your skin?

For better or worse, society places a premium on healthy and beautiful skin. As the body’s largest organ, our skin has significant symbolic value. It’s the canvas through which we express our identity, and when it appears damaged, it also negatively affects our ability to express ourselves and be confident.

Unfortunately, acne and other skin issues don’t automatically disappear when you turn 21. Although almost every person goes through a phase of skin challenges, especially during their teenage years, acne breakouts can still happen well into your adulthood. Eczema, rosacea, allergy rashes, boils, warts, and stretch marks are just a few of the many skin issues that can affect people regardless of age. In any case, the impact of these skin challenges can affect your quality of life and body image in many ways.

You may have heard that stress is one of the primary causes of acne breakouts in adults. This suggests that much of what causes acne and other skin problems begins in the mind. In turn, this opens up the potential for hypnosis to be a viable therapy for improving the appearance of your skin.

Indeed, one study published in the Journal of Psychology Research and Behavior Management found that “Adding hypnosis to cognitive-behavioral therapy can facilitate aversive therapy and enhance desensitization and other cognitive-behavioral methods.”

But how exactly does hypnosis improve your skin’s appearance?

Hypnosis Can Help Regulate Circulation

By putting you in a hypnotized state, your mind triggers a relaxation response that supports normal circulation and releases hormones. In turn, these hormones regulate other bodily functions not under your conscious control, which include allergic and dermatologic reactions, and even pain control and healing. If anything, this shows just how much influence the mind can have over the body’s physiological processes.

Hypnosis Relieves Stress

Hypnosis can be especially helpful in relieving skin diseases with a psychosomatic aspect, such as acne, psoriasis, eczema, and allergy rashes. Moreover, stress leads to the secretion of stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and DHEA, all of which can cause changes in the skin. For example, cortisol stimulates the production of sebum, too much of which results in acne breakouts.

Stress can also dehydrate your skin, making it susceptible to allergens, irritants, and other contaminants that can trigger skin problems like dermatitis and psoriasis.17

By teaching you relaxation techniques, hypnosis will help you develop your self-hypnosis abilities, allowing you to relax at will during stressful situations. Hypnotherapy trains your mind to think positively, using the power of suggestion to know how to handle stress effectively.

The benefits of hypnosis go beyond restoring your skin’s beautiful appearance. With the right approach, your hypnotherapist can also restore your radiant health.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me with Joel Geist, Craig Shoemaker, & Sarah Sweet after being a guest on the Laugh It Off program this week, where we talked about the power of expecting good things in your life.

Do you constantly struggle to maintain your concentration when working on important tasks or projects? Are you someone with a short attention span, prone to being easily distracted? Many people assume that focus is a trait you’re either born with or not, but the truth is that your ability to concentrate on a task ultimately boils down to your level of enjoyment while doing it.

For example, when you’re reading a book that you like, or watching a movie that you’ve been eagerly awaiting for months, concentration almost comes naturally—you’re not even aware you’re engrossed in what you’re doing. In contrast, when you’re assigned to read an essay for a class paper, concentration feels more like a chore.

The difference is in how you view both tasks. But the good news is that there are ways to apply the same kind of focus you get while reading a riveting book to other areas of your life.

Hypnosis is one such approach. One study published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis found that “students who scored highest on the CIS (Creative Imagination Scale, a measure of hypnotic responsiveness) had the lowest initial GPA, improved most during the course, and significantly increased their GPA in the quarter after.”

So how exactly does hypnosis improve your concentration?

1. Hypnotherapy Begins at the Root of Focus, the Subconscious

Your hypnotherapist’s goal is to enter your subconscious mind to change your belief systems and deeply held attitudes about focus. This allows you to tap into the state of mind you have whenever you’re concentrating on any activity that you enjoy, applying this same mindset to other tasks, whether it’s speed reading for an exam the next day, or leading a team of employees with sound decision making.

2. Hypnosis Allows You to Relax Your Mind and Slow Your Thought Process

The ability to concentrate comes from knowing how to slow your mind’s thought chain and focus on one process or one memory at a time. Your hypnotherapist can help you control your mind’s racing thoughts, making you less likely to be distracted as you acquire an improved ability to concentrate. If your short attention span has you constantly taking breaks from work to check your phone or Facebook, regular hypnotherapy just might help you.

3. Your Hypnotherapist Can Break Down the Concentration Process

Many times, we think that all it takes to concentrate on a task or project is to simply roll up our sleeves, settle down, and start working. But there’s more to effective concentration than that. You also need to prepare your mind for the task, which will steer you away from procrastinating and daydreaming. With repeated hypnosis sessions, you can train your mind to shift gears at will and enter a higher state of focus.

With time and repeated therapy sessions, the effects of hypnosis will continue to build, allowing you to enter a deeper and natural state of concentration at will. Hypnosis is gentle and harmless, and in many ways, is very similar to meditation.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Me sharing a positive attitude with a furry friend

Fear and anxiety can negatively affect your quality of life, preventing you from living it to the fullest and engaging in seemingly normal, day-to-day activities. For some people, anxiety is mildly distressing but very manageable; similar to how you would avoid certain foods that cause allergic reactions, all you have to do is avoid things that trigger your anxieties.

For others, however, fear and anxiety can be debilitating, to the point that stepping out of their own home feels impossible. Your severe fear of rejection, failure, commitment, and even a fear of success can prevent you from reaching your full potential.

As early as 1950, psychologists found that about 5 percent of the population suffered from some form of acute or chronic anxiety (Cohen and White, 1950). But where do these emotions and irrational thoughts come from? As you may have guessed, it’s all happening in your mind, which is why hypnosis holds significant potential for the treatment of these problems.

There’s been a great deal of research on the use of hypnosis for anxieties and phobias. One study published in the Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis found that “hypnosis may be employed effectively in conjunction with behavioral approaches, including cognitive restructuring and systematic desensitization, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and dental treatment.”

So, how exactly does hypnotherapy for your fears work?

1. Hypnosis Addresses the Underlying Cause of the Fear

Having a seemingly irrational fear, like a fear of commitment, doesn’t just happen overnight. Hypnotherapy attempts to discover the real cause of this fear, which is usually a traumatic event or experience that happened previously in a person’s life. It can also be a repressed memory—the mind’s defense mechanism to keep the trauma out of your immediate thoughts.

2. Hypnosis Puts You in a State of Deep Relaxation to Access Your Memories

To access your repressed memories, the hypnotherapist will need to put you in a state of deep relaxation. This technique allows you to block out everything in the outside world and focus on your subconscious thoughts. Addressing memories that are the root cause of your anxiety also allows you to understand your tumultuous emotions and see them in a way that’s no longer threatening, making it easier to break free and change.

3. Hypnotherapy Can Address Your Low Self-Esteem

Many times, low self-esteem is actually the cause behind many anxieties and fears. If you’ve always been shy, afraid of change, or afraid to try anything new, it’s probably your low self-esteem getting the best of you. And yet you struggle to change, because your fear of failure prevents you from breaking old habits.

A hypnotherapist can use ego-strengthening methods while you’re in a hypnotic state, using the power of suggestion to help you believe in yourself and find the willpower to be confident and welcome growth.

If you suffer from constant fear and anxiety, or simply want to have a more positive outlook in life, hypnosis can be a viable form of therapy. It’s safe, gentle, and offers a holistic approach to healing your mind.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve

Working on a project with Dr. Joe Vitale

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD for short, is a mental disorder characterized by uncontrollable obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.

Many people often joke about their obsessive tendencies, such as being “neat freaks” or “germophobes,” and refer to them as OCD. But for those living with the real thing it’s hardly a laughing matter. At its worst, OCD can rob you of your happiness, peace of mind, and health, as you do everything that you can to control your obsessive and compulsive thoughts and behaviors with little to no effect.

Some OCD conditions can traced to genetics and heredity, while others can be explained by problems within the neural pathways. But for the most part, OCD conditions are caused by emotional and developmental issues, which is why cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has emerged as one of the most popular psychotherapy treatments for OCD.

CBT identifies issues with your cognitions and behavior, and changes these patterns so you can change the way you feel and act.

Interestingly enough, hypnotherapy for OCD works in a very similar fashion.

1. Hypnosis Relieves Your Anxiety

Anxiety is a known trigger of OCD, and the worse your anxiety becomes, the worse your OCD symptoms get. It’s a problematic cycle that can be hard to break, which is where hypnosis comes in. At the basic level, hypnosis is all about finding a deep calm and relaxed mind—the first step towards addressing your negative OCD thoughts and actions.

In fact, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis found that relaxation and positive suggestion, combined with behavioral therapy, produced “rapid improvement” in OCD patients.

In time, you can be so adept at self-hypnosis that you can teach yourself to relax whenever you feel your OCD tendencies kicking in.

2. Hypnotherapy Traces OCD Issues Within Your Mind

In a hypnotized state, your hypnotherapist can help you identify your OCD thoughts and urges without actually pointing them out in a direct manner. You need to recognize these compulsions and obsessions on your own, building the confidence to realize that your problem is happening all in your mind.

By doing so, you can then practice from avoiding or even stopping the associated compulsive behavior.

3. Hypnotherapy Helps to Strengthen Your Ego

A hypnotherapist will typically use techniques designed to boost your ego during therapy sessions. This can be a powerful approach to solving your woes because your ego is often bombarded by obsessive-compulsive thoughts and urges. By using positive messages and imagery, your hypnotherapist can help you fight these negative impulses, helping you focus on positive thoughts and emotions more effectively.

Conclusion

If you or a loved one is suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, hypnotherapy can be a gentle and viable approach to improving your quality of life. I highly suggest you consult a medical doctor before using hypnosis for OCD.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steve