Hypnosis as a means of weight loss may sound far fetched – closing your eyes and talking helps you lose weight, yeah right. Rather, hypnosis helps you adjust attitudes and habits that keep you from living the life you want. Think about this. What do you do when something is lost? You look for it! Then, why are we looking to lose weight? There’s something wrong with that way of thinking. And yet, we can all relate. That’s why we look for weight control.
Still, you may be asking, how does this help you find weight control? Let’s start with changing that weight loss perspective, you aren’t looking to lose anything. What are you are looking to gain? To feel more comfortable in your own skin? To live a healthier lifestyle? To feel better? Think of the possibilities if you were free from feeling that food is controlling your life.
Engage me for a moment, hypnosis causes a very real physical response within the body:
I would like you to close your eyes and using that creative part of your mind—your imagination if you will—-see a lemon. Now see yourself cutting into that lemon and the juice flowing or squirting out. Now slice into it—one single slice. See yourself actually now picking that slice of lemon up and taking a big bite. What happens? Do you notice a physical response? Did you begin to salivate as you took that bite? Did you taste the sourness of the lemon? This is just one small example how the mind can affect the body. The mind is amazing! Whether you are physically engaging or engaging in thought—the same response will occur within the body.
Now that you have a better understanding of how hypnosis can help you reach that part of your mind, let’s talk about
how hypnosis can help you find your goal. We realize habits in ourselves: not exercising enough, not eating well, binging on junk foods; we blame it on lack of willpower. Hypnosis helps you shift from blame to understanding. First of all, we all have a choice and it is a choice. Once you realize that, there are no excuses. Do you choose to put yourself first? If you don’t take care of yourself first and foremost, you cannot be there to take care of others. Put on your own air mask before assisting others.
Excess weight, we know, puts strain on the heart, lungs, joints and bones, decreases mobility, and in general, prevents you from living your best life. When I am talking with someone about weight control, I ask why now? What is the motivating factor? Many clients explain that they have tried everything but just can’t get there. They worry they have a lack of willpower.
Let’s talk about willpower; it’s not meant to be a long term resource. Willpower is finite and very short lived. Willpower lasts as long as you have enough sleep at night or enough glucose in your system. The more willpower you use, the less you have. Willpower lives in the conscious part of the mind. It’s also where our critical thinking is stored – our ability to analyze and problem solve. It’s also where our short-term memory is located and gives us our rationale and reasons why we think a certain way. With all that going on, the conscious part of the mind thinks it is in charge, but it’s not. While the conscious part of the mind, the subconscious is making sure you stay alive. While I write this, my subconscious makes sure I keep breathing and my eyes blink but I am not actively thinking about it. Although it is harder to type while you are thinking about it! Think about all of the processes your body is going through right now, it’s easy to get caught up but your subconscious handles all of that with ease. It keeps us safe from every kind of threat, real or imagined. There may be something there in that part of the mind that is not letting something go, afraid it may somehow occur again somehow—trying to protect us. That is just a sticking point. Hypnosis helps you work through those sticking points so you can change who is in control of your life.
Marie
December 2018