The Self-Hypnosis Diet Book

The library just called. I have one overdue item. I think it's this one, so I will review it and then return it today!

The Self-Hypnosis Diet, Use the Power of Your Mind to Reach Your Perfect Weight, by Steven and Joy Gurgevich. This is an excellent book for hypnotists, or anyone who might be interested in adjusting their weight or shape. When I work with someone who wants to slenderize, I choose my words carefully. The tendency is to find things you have lost, or regain pounds you lose, so that's why I said slenderize. This book is about the relationship you have with food. It says you should have a loving, nurturing relationship. It says it is possible to be attracted to healthy foods and it even goes so far as to say it is easy and natural for you to attain and maintain your perfect weight. I love it!

It has lots of positive examples which help keep you motivated. They also mention a few different techniques to keep you moving in the right direction, and to keep you moving (exercise). What I love most is the non-surgical gastric bypass. A woman, using imagination and visualization (self-hypnosis techniques) successfully adjusts her weight whenever she needs to, by implementing a gastric bypass, which makes it possible for her to eat whatever she wants an still slenderize. Whenever she thinks the scale is over her perfect number, she just implements this technique. The beauty is that it is reversible, unlike the surgical kind. And it works just like the surgical to speed up her digestion process. And somehow her appetite cooperates, because she is also aware of eating more fruits and vegetables and consuming smaller portions, so that's why after 2 or 3 times, she doesn't have to implement it over and over again!

I highly recommend it.

Bad Hair Day!

All right, this is me after my presentation. I asked a few of my closest friends and advisors if I should publish it. The results were split actually, but I decided to post it because of this comment from my friend Allegra, "Not too scary for the blog! I think you hit the mark perfectly fusing the 80's notorious wild-style and good taste."

Next time I will have help with my hair and makeup! And if the National Guild of Hypnotists is reading, I think they better videotape my next presentation!

More Healthy Habits

Good News! I just read this about Healthy Aging!

MSN has a health article entitled, Healthy Sex Life Can Extend into your 80s.

(I wonder why they don't go beyond the 80s...???)

The article discusses findings that were recently published in the The Journal of Sexual Medicine, including that more people are enjoying sexual activities in their 70s and 80s.

"It's definitely whether you're elderly or "wellderly" that makes a difference," said Dr. Virginia Sadock, director of the program of human sexuality at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City. "Illness and medications make a difference in sex lives."

I like that term, "wellderly."

I will use it in my next workshop, called The Hypnotic Fountain of Youth, starting September 17, in Palm Harbor. See www.EnlightenedHypnosis.com for details.

Healthy Habits

I think reading is a good activity to keep your mind working...I'll have to read up on that.

I discovered a book at the library not long ago, called Who Gets Sick: How Beliefs, Moods, and Thoughts Affect Your Health, by Blair Justine.

The title says a lot. In days past, about 20 years ago, most doctors believed that moods and beliefs had nothing to do with the physical process of disease. In fact, in 1990, a doctor set out to prove that mental and emotional states had nothing to do with the outcome of cancer. So he invited 86 women who were beyond treatment, in the final stage of breast cancer to participate in a study. He provided one hour per week of "psychotherapy," which included instruction on self-hypnosis, to 43 of the women. The other 43 were considered the control group, and received no psychotherapy. After TEN years, 3 of the women were still living. They all belonged to the group with psychotherapy. And the others in that group had survived twice as long as the control group. So now there have been numerous studies exploring the relationship between mental and emotional states, and even personality characteristics and disease.

The article named above says that close personal relationships are correlated with health. And that Positive Outlook has a strong effect on healing. It says that hypnosis and imagery, which are used for relaxation, help strengthen the immune system and counteract the cortico-steroids which are produced by stress.

It contains a quote by D. Burns:

You can't help growing older, but you can help growing old.

Interesting article, which supports the others I have been reading about staying healthy into old age. I hesitate to use that term, it is very subjective. Some are old at 50, some are young at 80. We are living longer, so we have to find ways to maximize the experience, by optimizing our health. And there are some very simple habits we can cultivate to do this. Stay tuned to this channel for continuing updates in the rejuvenation frontier.

Hypnotic Fountain of Youth

I just got back from the National Guild of Hypnotist's Convention in Massachusetts. I did 2 presentations this year! It was fun! There must have been 50 or 60 people at the Hypnotic Rejuvenation seminar, but I don't think they realized that I was dressed as a fugitive from the 80's: teased hair, tons of makeup, and BIG shoulder pads! You see I was immersing myself in the music and fashion of 20 years ago to facilitate my own rejuvenation. I mentioned that I was doing my own research, but I guess I wasn't specific enough....

See verbalImpact.blogspot.com for more details.

How to Stay on Top

How does one stay on top of things? Many if not all of my clients seem to suffer from too-busy-syndrome. No one talks about stress anymore. It is just an accepted part of life. You’re alive. You have a job (or 2 or 3) and you have stress. No one wants to reduce stress. Stress is the new status symbol. The more stress you have, the more important you are.

But in my research I have found that it is desirable to have a way to manage stress. Yes, every life is stressful. Even good things like weddings and births stress us. Even imagined things like worrying about getting laid off exert stress on us. Stress may be necessary to motivate us. If we never felt hunger, we would never bother to hunt for food. But too much stress causes memory loss, irritability and physical illness. We know it causes anxiety attacks and even heart attacks. So how do we find that balance between stress that motivates us and stress that kills?

I think self-hypnosis is the best way. It is something you can do every day, as many times per day as necessary, and it’s relatively inexpensive. You don’t need any special equipment and the risk of injury is low. You can learn it quickly and easily. And if done every day, you receive all the benefits of the relaxation response. You will sleep better, concentrate more easily, have more patience, and improve your physiology. Practicing self-hypnosis just 10 minutes per day can lower your blood pressure, if high. It raises your frustration tolerance, which means that you feel more calm and in-control, even in traffic. That means less Road Rage!

So it is a good idea to stay on top of your stress level. Top of the morning to you!