Meditation Reduces Pain Without Endogenous Opioid System

Everyone knows that stubbing your toe hurts. What makes it stop hurting is the body's main pain-blocking process - the natural production of opioids.

Cognitive-based approaches found to reduce pain, such as hypnosis, acupuncture, distraction and even the placebo response, have been shown to work through this system. But does meditation also use opioids to reduce pain?

In a study published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, a team led by Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, reports that mindfulness meditation does not employ the endogenous opioid system to reduce pain.

"Our finding was surprising and could be important for the millions of chronic pain sufferers who are seeking a fast-acting, non-opiate-based therapy to alleviate their pain," Zeidan said.

The Institute of Medicine estimates that approximately 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain at a cost of more than $600 billion annually for treatment. And due to the increase in the number of people addicted to opiate drugs, from prescription medications to heroin, the Centers for Disease Control has labeled the problem an epidemic.

To determine if meditation uses the body's opioids to reduce pain, the Wake Forest Baptist researchers injected study participants with either a drug called naloxone, which blocks the pain-reducing effects of opioids, or a saline placebo.

In this randomized, double-blinded study, 78 healthy, pain-free volunteers were divided into four groups for the four-day (20 minutes per day) trial. The groups consisted of: meditation plus naloxone; non-meditation control plus naloxone; meditation plus saline placebo; or non-meditation control plus saline placebo.

Pain was induced by using a thermal probe to heat a small area of the participants' skin to 49 degrees Centigrade (120.2 degrees Fahrenheit), a level of heat most people find very painful. Study participants rated their pain using a sliding scale.

Zeidan found that the participants' pain ratings were reduced by 24 percent from the baseline measurement in the meditation group that received the naloxone. This is important because it showed that even when the body's opioid receptors were chemically blocked, meditation still was able to significantly reduce pain by using a different pathway, he said. Pain ratings also were reduced by 21 percent in the meditation group that received the placebo-saline injection.

By comparison, the non-meditation control groups reported increases in pain regardless of whether they got the naloxone or placebo-saline injection.

"Our team has demonstrated across four separate studies that meditation, after a short training period, can reduce experimentally induced pain," Zeidan said. "And now this study shows that meditation doesn't work through the body's opioid system.

"This study adds to the growing body of evidence that something unique is happening with how meditation reduces pain. These findings are especially significant to those who have built up a tolerance to opiate-based drugs and are looking for a non-addictive way to reduce their pain."

The next step for Zeidan's team is to determine if and how mindfulness meditation can affect a spectrum of chronic pain conditions.  "At the very least, we believe that meditation could be used in conjunction with other traditional drug therapies to enhance pain relief without it producing the addictive side effects and other consequences that may arise from opiate drugs," he said.

Source: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

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Brain Volume Changes After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

After just nine weeks of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy, the brain of patients suffering from social anxiety disorder changes in volume. Anxiety is reduced, and parts of the patients' brains decrease in both volume and activity. This study could help us develop more effective therapies for one of the most common problems in mental health.

We have known for many years that the brain is remarkably adaptable. For instance, previous studies have shown that juggling and video games affect brain volume. However many questions about how the brain adapts remain unanswered.

A group of researchers from Linköping University and other Swedish universities has studied how internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) affects brain volume and activity. The researchers focused on patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD), one of the most common mental health problems. Before and after treatment the brains of patients were examined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The researchers found that in patients with SAD, brain volume and activity in the amygdala decrease as a result of ICBT. The results are presented in Translational Psychiatry, a Nature publication.

"The greater the improvement we saw in the patients, the smaller the size of their amygdalae. The study also suggests that the reduction in volume drives the reduction in brain activity," says doctoral student Kristoffer NT Månsson, who led the study together with Linköping colleague Gerhard Andersson and researchers from the Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University, Umeå University and Stockholm University.

The study comprised 26 individuals treated over the internet for nine weeks, making it a relatively small study. However, it is unique in that it investigates multiple factors at the same time: post-treatment changes in both brain volume and brain activity.

"Although we didn't look at that many patients, this work provides some important knowledge -- especially for all the sufferers. Several studies have reported that certain areas of the brain differ between patients with and without anxiety disorders. We've shown that the patients can improve in nine weeks -- and that this leads to structural differences in their brains," says Kristoffer NT Månsson.

Kristoffer NT Månsson sees the study as a first step in a larger project. Ultimately the aim is to better understand the psychological and biological effects of treatment -- in order to develop more effective therapies. The research team is now moving forward with studies on more patients. One study aims to identify the point during the treatment where the change in the brain occurs.

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Are Coupon Deal Websites Good For Your Hypnosis Practice?

Coupon deal websites like Groupon could be one way to promote YOUR hypnosis services.  Or they could COST you.  So, before you start offering $30 hypnosis sessions on these websites consider this…

Everything serves a purpose:

For example, if you’re just starting out, your purpose might be to get some warm bodies into your chair so you can get more experience and build your skills.

Also, if business is slow, your purpose may be to offer some quick deals in an effort to get a few more paying clients to help cover the monthly bills.

Finally, if your purpose is to compile a few testimonials for your website, offering a discount in exchange for some positive feedback might be an effective way to getting some.

Whatever your needs and goals may be, you just need to be clear in setting conditions of the deal while having a strategy.   

However, it’s NOT a smart way to conduct normal business:

Sure, getting a flood of new “clients” to help put a few dollars in your pocket, and offering a deal in exchange some kind words may sound like a win-win situation for everyone.  But there are a few drawbacks to this fairy tale.

The main one to consider is that the majority of people who take advantage of these coupon offer websites are bargain hunters.  In fact, since they would never be willing to pay your usual fee, getting a “deal” is really the only benefit they’re interested in.

What's more is that since they are bargain hunter shoppers at heart, they will usually expect you to bend over backwards by demanding an even higher level of attention than a regular client who just happened upon your website.

The next thing to consider is your reputation.  Once you elect to list your services on these websites, in the eyes of the ad reader, you are not a quality Hypnotherapist who offers a great service that changes lives - instead you are a bargain hypnotist who offers cheap deals to get more customers.  Sorry but that is the reality.         

And the last problem is that offering select people a discount it is not a consistent way of doing business.  Word of mouth in business seems to travel quickly, and this could irritate your regular clients who find out that they paid more simply because they were not lucky enough to find your coupon ad online.  So, you may need to get ready to offer some partial refunds if the word gets out.

In the end, there is nothing wrong with using these websites if you are simply running a special, releasing a new product, or just starting out in business.  Also, you should include any specials directly on your website to give ALL potential clients the same opportunity to take advantage of any deals you are offering.  However, if you are an established professional in the field, using these websites to simply scoop up more business can end up doing more harm than good because this is what will set the public tone for what type of hypnosis provider you are...

"The Discount Provider" or "The Experienced Professional."

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5 Science-Backed Health Benefits Of Hypnosis

1. Hypnosis can help improve deep sleep.
In previous studies of the effects of hypnosis on sleep, study participants were simply asked to report back on how well (or poorly!) they felt they slept after hypnosis. But in a recent study, Swiss researchers were able to measure its effects by monitoring brain activity in a group of healthy, young women as they took a 90-minute nap after listening to a hypnotic suggestion tape. The women who were deemed the most susceptible to hypnosis spent 80 percent more time in slow-wave sleep (the deep, restorative phase of our shut-eye) after listening to the hypnosis tape than they did after listening to a neutral spoken text. "[T]he results may be of major importance for patients with sleep problems and for older adults," lead researcher Maren Cordi of the University of Zurich said in a statement. "In contrast to many sleep-inducing drugs, hypnosis has no adverse side effects."

2. It can ease symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
In a 2003 study, 71 percent of 204 irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients reported improved symptoms after 12 weekly hour-long hypnosis sessions, the APA reported. Of those who reported improvements, 81 percent continued to feel better up to six years after the hypnosis treatment had ended, according to the study. In a 2012 study, 85 percent of IBS patients who reported improvement after hypnosis still felt better up to seven years later. "The conclusion is that hypnotherapy could reduce both the consumption of healthcare and the cost to society, and that hypnosis therefore belongs in the arsenal of treatments for IBS," researcher Magnus Simrén said in a statement.

3. Hypnosis can quell hot flashes.
Among postmenopausal women who reported at least 50 hot flashes a week, five weekly hypnosis sessions cut hot flashes by 74 percent 12 weeks later, a 2013 study found. Meanwhile, women who did not receive hypnosis but instead had weekly sessions with a clinician only experienced a 17 percent drop in hot flashes.

4. It can ease pain.
Hypnosis is perhaps most well-researched in the context of managing pain. Two meta-analyses of existing pain and hypnosis research, published in 2000 and 2009, deemed hypnosis effective at lowering pain associated with a number of conditions, including fibromyalgia, arthritis and cancer, but noted that few psychologists were using it, and those who were had little standardization in administering hypnotherapy.

5. Hypnosis can calm nerves.
Because of its ability to harness the powers of the mind, hypnosis is often employed to relieve anxieties related to other medical procedures, like surgery, scans or even giving birth, called state anxiety. "The mechanism may be similar to the placebo effect -- in which patients' expectations play a major role in how they feel," Melinda Beck wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2012. "Hypnosis, in turn, can help patients adjust those expectations to minimize pain, fear and disability." More research is needed to determine if hypnosis might alleviate generalized anxiety disorder or what's called trait anxiety, or anxiety relating to personality rather than a specific event, according to a 2010 review of the research. Preliminary studies have started to examine hypnosis in depression treatment as well, but more research is needed.

To learn more about the many benefits of hypnosis, be sure to visit Positive Change Hypnosis today!

December Talk

While the month of December is not normally a busy month in our hypnosis office, this December has proven to be different.

Be it a gift option for someone else or maybe as a holiday present to themselves, we noticed a huge increase in people downloading our hypnosis MP3’s. In addition, many people have taken advantage of our holiday hypnosis gift certificates. Again, maybe as a present to other people or maybe they ran into some extra holiday cash and purchased it for themselves.

Either way, it is nice to see that the holidays have not stopped people from taking time out to care for their health and well being. It is also nice to see that although the enormous flat screen would make a wonderful gift, many people realize that the opportunity for a whole new life is nice as well!

And so, as things begin to slow down as the holiday’s approach, we hope you have taken advantage of our gift options and ideas. If not, there is still time. Just head over to the Positive Change Hypnosis website for more information.

We wish you and your family a very special holiday season and see you next year!

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Hypnosis Speeds Fracture Recovery

Will hypnosis sessions one day join crutches and casts as standard treatment for broken bones? A study suggests so.

Of a dozen adults with broken ankles, half had hypnotherapy. Their bones healed quicker, they felt less pain, used fewer painkillers, and were able to walk farther and bear more weight on their injured legs than those who used casts, crutches, and painkillers alone (Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Mar 1999).

The hypnosis group also found it easier to walk down stairs at 6 weeks and had greater mobility at 9 weeks, says study author Carol Ginandes, PhD, a clinical psychology instructor at Harvard Medical School. "The x-rays support this," she adds. "At 6 weeks, the fractures appeared to be almost 9 weeks healed."

Hypnosis has an added benefit: "When you're in pain and need to use crutches, you may feel angry or depressed. Hypnosis addresses the emotional issues as well as your physical symptoms," says Dr. Ginandes.

Choose a licensed psychologist or other licensed mental health care provider who has received advanced clinical training in medical hypnosis for this kind of treatment.

Source - Prevention Magazine

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Do you stick to your standards?

Standards are agreements that we make with ourselves to stay within some form of integrity with ourselves, our beliefs and our values. Think of it like your conscience mind, except that you can program this part of your mind. Your conscience mind automatically tells you right from wrong but YOU program your standards and set them however you want.

It is important to have standards because standards work as a safety net to catch us when we might have otherwise failed. For example, if we have standards which say that we will never find yourself in temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, then, when the temperature approaches 32 degrees, we will take preventative action to avoid the situation. That safety net catches us and tells us to get inside or put on a coat or take some other action which will prevent you from crossing that threshold of going against your standards.

Sometimes we aspire to certain standards but we have challenges maintaining them. For example, you are heading out for a night out with your friends when you decide not to drink more than three drinks. While you are out, you are having such a good time that the next thing you know, you are waking up hung over from drinking too much. And what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? In most cases people feel guilty for going against their standards and they find themselves thinking or saying "I should not have done that!"

Other examples of breaking your standards would be:

• Dating someone who you feel is not appropriate for you in order to avoid loneliness.
• Not doing your job as well as you feel you should even though it is within your potential to do so.

So, what is the downfall of breaking our own standards? When we consistently violate our standards by telling ourselves one thing and doing another, we send a signal to our subconscious mind that our words are meaningless. We reinforce a "loser" mentality in our minds. If we repeat this sort of cycle often enough, we end up hypnotizing ourselves into expecting to fail, and expecting to let ourselves down. And sadly, when we expect to fail, we usually do.

So, what's the answer? It is very simple.

Don't say one thing and do another. That is the most counterproductive thing that you can do. In fact most folks would agree that the number one thing that they look down upon is when someone says that they will do one thing yet they do something else. Be honest with yourself about where you are in life and the habits you have. Stop hiding your "bad" behavior and instead confront them. Stop making excuses and start believing in yourself and your ability to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and march to victory.

YOU can do it. YOU can live in integrity with yourself. IF you take the first step of self-honesty, self-improvement will be a logical next step.

So, admit where you are, remember your standards, and move your life into alignment with those standards.

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Our Own Success Story!

We are often complimenting our clients for achieving their goals and accomplishing more with hypnosis.

However, we want to take a moment to congratulate our own Office Manage Gretchen for accomplishing her goals with hypnosis.



Approximately two weeks ago Gretchen began using the very same Weight Loss hypnosis MP3 that we offer on our website. And as of today (June 08, 2011) we are proud to announce that she has lost 13.5 pounds!

Gretchen says "I feel more motivated to eat healthy, exercise and just take better care of my health in general. The best part is that I really didn’t have to give up any of the foods that I enjoy eating. I simply eat smaller portions and being more active takes care of the rest."

Nice job Gretchen!!

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One key to success

Many people ask us what exactly contributes to our success. We believe that it all boils down to under promising yet over delivering.

For example, if you promise someone a thousand dollars and end up earning them a million, he or she will be one happy camper. However, if you promise them a million dollars but only end up earning them a thousand, you should expect to receive a knock at your door and very soon!

When we first started off more than 15 years ago, there seemed to be a lot fewer hypnotists. Over the years many people caught onto the fact that this hypnosis stuff works and decided to open up shop. Now, in and of itself, this is not a bad thing because hypnosis is a very helpful tool for many people. So there is no problem with many people wanting to offer it as a service.

However, here lies the problem. There are many hypnosis companies out there that oversell the magic of hypnosis. They make it sound as if people come to them with all sorts of life problems, all of which get cured in a 45 minute session. By setting this unrealistic expectation, they are not only setting themselves up for failure but that are also leaving behind one more person who feels like they have failed or that hypnosis itself has failed.

This is where we differ from many other hypnosis companies. While it is true that most of our clients do not require more than a session or two and many of our MP3 clients see success very quickly, we are very up front and honest with people. We do not beat around the bush and we do not sugar coat what we do. We perform "true" hypnosis therapy and along with that comes the reality that we very well might not be able to "cure" everyone’s problems within a 45 minute hypnosis or by listening to our MP3’s one or twice.

Now, some folks may say that this can actually hurt our business because we are competing with companies who are boasting a super fast turn around almost like hypnosis is some magical force. However, we would rather lose a client or two and remain strong with our 98% success rate rather than have it drop to a 90% success rate by promising the moon to everyone who calls on us for service.

So in closing, just remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. If a hypnotist is promising you a magical million, just don't be so surprised when you end up with far less.

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Even in dark times, there is light!

I am a huge advocate of staying positive and trying to see the bright side of life especially through the hardest of times. On the flip side I am a realist and I understand that this is a difficult task that requires consistent reminding to ourselves. Nevertheless a smile upon our face and taking things with a grain of salt can somehow make even the bumpy roads feel a little bit smoother.

Here is a good personal example of this. I begin every day in pretty much the same way. I get up at 4 AM and proceed to brew my morning coffee as I feed my dog and cat. Afterwards I head down to my home office, log onto my computer and I begin each day by checking my email accounts. As a business owner I have about 8 separate accounts that are used for all different purposes ranging from customer feedback to business and PR.

So while I am in the process of signing into one of the accounts I realize that it is prompting me to change my password. As strange as this seemed at the time, I confirmed that this was not a phishing page and decided to go along with the request. Everything seemed legitimate as I receive a conformation at my secondary email address confirming the change.

So I then attempt to sign in but was unsuccessful in doing so. It kept looping me back to a "verify password" screen. At this time I began to worry that this email address had been comprise and hacked into. However I wasn’t very worried as I do not use it for personal information and it is used for very limited client contact.

And so, I attempted to try and get email support for the error and while doing so, I was informed that this email address was indeed compromised and that there was scheduled maintenance being performed on the email client server. I would need to wait until later in the day to log into it. During this time, I am assuming the worst. What did this hacker do to my account and how many spam emails we sent out to people on my behalf? I would have to wait to find out.

Later in the afternoon I again attempted to sign in and presto, success at last! Not much seemed out if place except that I had four emails form past clients. These clients all took the time to inform me that they had receive spam from my email address and that they were aware that it had to be some type of problem with a hijacked account. I quickly responded to each of them explaining that my information had indeed been compromised and that the emails did not originate from me sending them out.

What happened next was amazing. Most of the clients responded back to me saying that it was no big deal. However, two of the four clients added that ironically, they had been waiting to book another hypnosis session with me to work on other areas that they want to improve and that they just have not gotten around to doing so.

So in the end, what seemed like a bad start to a bad day turned out to actually be beneficial in the long run. The spam email that they received from my email address acted as sort of a reminder to them and they went ahead and booked a hypnosis session with us. I guess in strange way, I sort of owe this hacker a little bit of gratitude because thanks to him or her, I have two additional clients for hypnosis next week. So you see, even in what might seem like the darkest of times, things have a funny way of working themselves out and are not as bad as they seem.

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What makes a hypnotist better?

What makes one hypnotist better than another? We are not even sure that this is a fair question because there are major differences between hypnotists and their practices. In fact, we find it a bit humorous that some people actually think that we are all the same. It is just like saying that all automobiles are the same when we know that there is a huge differences between let’s say a brand new Ferrari and a broken down 1978 Yugo. Sure they both have 4 tires but let’s face it, nobody would argue that there is a difference.

So what makes all hypnotists different? To answer that question we would have to spend the rest of our lives visiting every single hypnotist in the world in order to truly compare them with each other. Without visiting every hypnotist on the planet, we can tell you what we feel sets us apart from many other companies and what we feel contributes to our success.

To begin with we work from a home office. Now, beside the fact that this allows us to keep our session rates low, there is actually a psychological affect behind this. When was the last time you ever heard someone say that they were heading on over to a doctors or dentists office in order to get a little peace, quite and relaxation? Most likely never. In fact we actually perform hypnosis to ease the anxiety that is associated with visiting a medical offices for many people. So to us, it just didn’t make much sense to build a hypnosis environment that mimics a medical clinic when some of our clients are actually attempting to overcome this very fear. Since hypnosis is all based on ones ability to relax and generally speaking more people are relaxed in the comfort of their own home or apartment, we have found that offering the same relaxed environment contributes to a successful hypnosis session.

The next thing is that we include a FREE follow-up subliminal hypnosis MP3/CD with our live sessions. Now, let’s be realistic, we don’t care what anybody says, hypnosis is not magic. Therefore, we may not be able to magically erase 40 years of a smoking habit in a single one-hour session. Now, this is not to say that it has never happened because it has. However, the fact is that there are times that it takes more work. Providing this FREE follow-up MP3/CD gives our clients something to fall back on and continue with once they leave our office. Some hypnotists charge extra for such an item. So again, since we provide it for free, this means more success for our clients.

Since we are on the subject of MP3’s, ours DO NOT contain spoken hypnosis scripts like a person would experience at a live hypnosis session. Instead they are music and/or relaxing sounds blended with embedded subliminal message in the background and we make them like this for a reason. When a person listens to a hypnosis audio with spoken words like that of a live session, after a few times of listening they can actually become immune to it because it becomes memorized until finally there is no more mental visualization left, which is one of the dynamics of hypnosis. It is sort of like watching the same movie over and over again. It may become less gripping simply because you know exactly what to expect. With our audio items people are listening to music or sound which keeps them interested. But more importantly, while they are listening, the subliminal message in the background is what’s helping them to change.

And one of the last things that we believe sets us apart is that we truly care about people and their success. For example we discounted our prices a few years back when our economy was in bad shape. We also offer free hypnosis sessions to cancer patients. We have also been known to work out payment plans for regular clients who can not afford to pay for their hypnosis sessions up front. In other words we go above and beyond when it comes to helping people out. So although we are a business we also believe that what goes around comes around. When we treat our client’s right, we actually get back in the long run.

So in closing, we cannot say that other hypnosis companies do not offer some of the same things that we do. But we can say that not all hypnotists are the same. We can also say that the little things we do and the little things that we offer makes us very successful which in turn, means our clients are more successful. And if you are a client on the receiving end of the service, this is what should really matter most to you.

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Can the Economy Make You Fat?

Being in debt and worrying about how you are going to make that next credit card and mortgage payment can make you overweight. That’s the word from researchers, who say that “the recent credit crunch will have health implications,” and that “debt can be associated with the probability of being overweight or obese.”

The investigators from the University of Mainz, Germany, studied more than 9,000 people and found that 25 percent of the 949 people in debt were obese, compared to only 11 percent of the remaining 8,318 participants. One of the biggest factors in the relationship between debt and being overweight is stress; another is having to choose less expensive, often sugary and fatty foods.

According to the American Psychological Association’s “Stress in America” report, 43 percent of people say they overeat or eat unhealthy foods when they are under stress, and worries about work (or the lack thereof) and debt, especially house costs and medical costs, are among the most stressful.

The biology of stress, debt, and being overweight begins with biochemistry. When the body is in a stressful state, it releases large amounts of stress hormones, especially cortisol. The longer cortisol and other stress hormones remain at high levels in the body, the more damage they can cause, including memory problems, insomnia, depression, fatigue, a buildup of fat in the arteries that can lead to heart disease, and accumulation of fat molecules, which can lead to overweight and obesity.

Actually, stress and cortisol work in two ways to promote weight gain: retention of fat molecules and triggering overeating as a way to deal with the stress and depression. High cortisol levels can increase food cravings, especially for sweets and foods high in fat. People in debt may turn to “comfort foods,” such as ice cream, cookies and cake, candy, and other sugar-rich foods because they have a calming effect.

When sugar hits the taste buds, they release endorphins, the body’s natural pain killer. The endorphins tell the body to release the hormone serotonin, which can make you feel good. Eating lots of sugary foods quickly raises the body’s blood sugar levels, giving you a temporary high. The higher you feel, the harder you will fall, causing you to feel down and depressed. The solution: you eat more comfort foods, starting the cycle again and promoting weight gain.

Given the current economic climate, it does not appear that the stress associated with debt and money worries will go away soon. In the meantime, here are some tips on how to avoid overeating and overweight during these trying times:

* Think before you eat. If you’re going to eat something to make you “feel better,” go take a walk, call a friend, read, play a video game, or anything that will distract you.

* Don’t buy sugary and other tempting foods. If they are not in the house, you are less likely to eat them.

* Change your habits. If you typically eat cookies while you’re driving in rush hour traffic, bring a bottle of spring water instead.

* Never grocery shop when you’re hungry

* Do not engage in other activities while you are eating, such as watching TV or driving. This leads to mindless overeating and overweight.

* Practice stress-reduction methods such as yoga, meditation, exercise, tai chi, or hypnosis.

Positive Change Hypnosis

Mythbusters on Hypnosis

Interesting video about the effects of hypnosis, coming from a TV show...

Hypnosis – Changing our thinking

Did you know…
An idea, once accepted, will remain firmly in place until it is replaced by another. For example, up until the fifteenth century, people believed that the earth was flat. When it was proved that the earth was a globe, the people of that time simply accepted this new fact, replacing the old belief with the new one.

And that is the basis of hypnosis. It changes your way of thinking about something so that you actions will automatically follow. You no longer smoke because you are no longer thinking like a smoker. Or you naturally lose weight because your eating habits have changes.

Isn’t time to start giving your mind credit for what it is capable of accomplishing?

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Top Rated Hypnosis Services in Providence, Rhode Island

Thumbtack has recognized Positive Change Hypnosis in RI as one of the top rated hypnosis services in Providence RI

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Mel Gibson is learning hypnotism.

The 54-year-old actor-and-director has reportedly spent 10 days with Australian expert Rick Collingwood, who visited his Los Angeles home and taught him the powers of suggestion and how to put people into a trance.

Rick, who is a friend of Mel's brother Chris, said: "I was heading out to Los Angeles for work so Mel invited me over. I was with him for 10 days teaching him the technique.

"Mel's a natural, he's got the look as well as piercing blue eyes. He's going to be a great hypnotist.

"Chris talked to Mel about it over the phone and Mel got interested, too."

Though the 'Braveheart' star took to learning the technique instantly, Rick is unsure if he has any plans to use it.

He said: "He is very, very interested in it. He didn't say he wanted to learn it for a specific reason. He was just curious.

"I think he's just interested in the mind and human nature."

The award-winning actor - who took an eight-year hiatus from the profession to direct movies such as 'The Passion of the Christ' - recently announced his return to the front of the camera.

He said: "I walked away from it after 'Signs' because I just felt I was stale and I needed to maybe... it wasn't ringing my bells. So I focused on directing and writing and producing and all that kind of stuff, and then it was time to come back.

"I got the acting bug back because I felt like, all of a sudden, maybe after all these years, I might have something to offer again."

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/hypnotist-mel-gibson_1148975

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Attracting money with hypnosis

Have you ever wondered why some successful people seem to be on top of their game at all times? Even if presented with a financial crisis, they seem to bounce back with an even greater level of determination and usually come right back out on top.

Most millionaires will tell you that luck played a part in their success. But this is simply a kind way of saying that they do things so naturally that they truly can't explain what contributes to their success. So the bad news is that if you believe that success and wealth is all based on luck then the reality is that unless you get lucky, you will never get rich. However, the good news is that luck has nothing to do with success and wealth.

If you look a little deeper, you will uncover something that all successful people have in common. It is a "millionaire mind-set." If you want to be successful you have to think like a successful person. However, what’s even more interesting is that millionaires don't have much else in common. There is no standard for academic achievement nor is there any 'special knowledge' that these people possess.

In fact, here is an experiment that you can perform yourself. Grab your telephone and dial up the number to any college of your choice and tell them that you want to enroll in their “becoming a millionaire” course. After they finally begin to take your phone call serious, they will gently explain that there is no such course.

When it comes down to it, success is a mindset, a habit, an attitude and a behavior that successful people act out each and every day of their lives. This is not something you can learn from a textbook or anywhere else for that matter of fact.

When you think like a wealthy person, you will automatically move towards success, which in turn leads to wealth. And hypnosis does just that…it changes your way of thinking and when we think differently, our actions and life changes follow. There is a vast flowing river of money to be made in the world. Isn’t about time you dipped your bucket in and start collecting some for yourself?

Attracting Wealth With Hypnosis

Cigarettes Harbor Harmful Bacteria

Newswise — Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.

The research team describes the study as the first to show that "cigarettes themselves could be the direct source of exposure to a wide array of potentially pathogenic microbes among smokers and other people exposed to secondhand smoke." Still, the researchers caution that the public health implications are unclear and urge further research.

"We were quite surprised to identify such a wide variety of human bacterial pathogens in these products," says lead researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health.

"The commercially-available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans," explains Sapkota, who holds a joint appointment with the University's Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and the department of epidemiology and biostatistics.

"If these organisms can survive the smoking process - and we believe they can - then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke," Sapkota adds. "So, it's critical that we learn more about the bacterial content of cigarettes, which are used by more than a billion people worldwide."

The study will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives and the pre-copyedited manuscript has been posted online.

PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE

The researchers describe the study as the first snapshot of the total population of bacteria in cigarettes. Previous researchers have taken small samples of cigarette tobacco and placed them in cultures to see whether bacteria would grow. But Sapkota's team took a more holistic approach using DNA microarray analysis to estimate the so-called bacterial metagenome, the totality of bacterial genetic material present in the tested cigarettes.

Among the study's findings and conclusions:

* Commercially available cigarettes show a broad array of bacterial diversity, ranging from soil microorganisms to potential human pathogens;
* The is the first study to provide evidence that the numbers of microorganisms in a cigarette may be as "vast as the number of chemical constituents;"
* Hundreds of bacterial species were present in each cigarette, and additional testing is likely to increase that number significantly;
* No significant variability in bacterial diversity was observed across the four different cigarette brands examined: Camel; Kool Filter Kings; Lucky Strike Original Red; and Marlboro Red;
* Bacteria of medical significance to humans were identified in all of the tested cigarettes and included Acinetobacter (associated with lung and blood infections); Bacillus (some varieties associated with food borne illnesses and anthrax); Burkholderia (some forms responsible for respiratory infections); Clostridium(associated with foodborne illnesses and lung infections); Klebsiella (associated with a variety of lung, blood and other infections); and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (an organism that causes 10 percent of all hospital-acquired infections in the United States).

"Now that we've shown that a pack of cigarettes is loaded with bacteria, we will conduct follow-up research to determine the possible roles of these organisms in tobacco-related diseases." Sapkota says.

For example, do cigarette-borne bacteria survive the burning process and go on to colonize smokers' respiratory systems? Existing research suggests that some hardy bacteria can be transmitted this way, the researchers say. This might account for the fact that the respiratory tracts of smokers are characterized by higher levels of bacterial pathogens. But it's also possible that smoking weakens natural immunity and the bacteria come from the general environment rather than from cigarettes. Further research will be needed to determine the possible health impacts of cigarette-borne bacteria.

RESEARCH TEAM

Sapkota is the lead and corresponding author. She conducted the research with Sibel Berger under the guidance of Timothy M. Vogel in 2007 at the Environmental Microbial Genomics Group, Laboratoire Ampère, UMR CNRS 5005, Ecole Centrale de Lyon in Lyon, France.

Quit Smoking With Hypnosis

Does Subliminal Messaging really work?

Although live hypnosis is different than subliminal messaging they are sort of tied together in the sense that they both have to do with reprogramming our way of thinking. And as a leading hypnotist, I also carry my own line of subliminal audio products for our clients. Now, I admit that if I tried every single minute for the rest of my life to convince everyone in the world that subliminal messaging works, I would still never be able to do so. I mean heck, there are people alive today that still will not accept that we landed on the moon.

And so, this blog post is not meant to prove or debunk whether subliminal messaging actually works. But rather, it is to simply show that despite whether you believe that subliminal messaging works or not, the fact that it is still often used does show that there is something behind it and therefore, very real.

In 1978, Wichita, Kansas TV station KAKE-TV received special permission from the police to place a subliminal message in a report on the BTK Killer (Bind, Torture, Kill) in an effort to get him to turn himself in. The subliminal message included the text "Now call the chief," as well as a pair of glasses. The glasses were thought to be of significance to the killer because when BTK murdered Nancy Fox, there was a pair of glasses lying upside down on her dresser. So, police felt that the glasses would stir up some remorse emotion and included them in the subliminal message. Although the attempt was unsuccessful and police reported no increased volume of calls afterward, the fact that they tried this method demonstrates an acknowledgment in the effectiveness of subliminal messaging.

Before the re-election of French president François Mitterrand in 1988, a subliminal picture of him was mixed in the title sequence of French national television daily news show, and it appeared for several consecutive days.

The subject was also prominently featured in the 1999 film Fight Club. Pictures of the main character, Tyler Durden, flash onscreen at various points during the earlier parts of the film, before Durden is introduced. Also, Durden is shown at his job as a projectionist, splicing pornographic flash frames into a film he is showing. A picture of a penis flashes before the end credits.

During the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, a television ad campaigning for Republican candidate George W. Bush showed words (and parts thereof) scaling from the foreground to the background on a television screen. When the word BUREAUCRATS flashed on the screen, one frame showed only the last part, RATS. The FCC looked into the matter, but no penalties were ever assessed in the case.

In the British alternative comedy show The Young Ones, a number of subliminal images were present in the original and most repeated broadcasts of the second series. Images included a gull coming into land, a tree frog jumping through the air, a man gurning, and the end credits of the movie Carry On Cowboy. These were included to mock the then-occurring matter of subliminal messages in television. Although they may fall foul of the FCC guidelines, these images do appear in the U.S. boxset DVD Every Stoopid Episode.

Shaun Micallef's Australian 'Micallef P(r)ogram(me)' shows contained strange subliminal messages that can be seen on the DVD's. As they are of random, humorous statements, questions, etc., they are not regarded as advertising. They were usually images of politicians, as is the case with his more recent Newstopia.

In Warner Brothers' 1943 animated film "Wise Quacking Duck", Daffy Duck spins a statue which is holding a shield. For one frame the words "BUY BONDS" are visible on the shield.

The December 16, 1973 episode of Columbo titled "Double Exposure", is based on subliminal messaging: it is used by the murderer, Dr. Bart Keppler, a motivational research specialist, played by Robert Culp, to lure his victim out of his seat during the viewing of a promotional film and by Lt. Columbo to bring Keppler back to the crime scene and incriminate him. Lt. Columbo is shown how subliminal cuts work in a scene mirroring the real life James Vicary's experiment.

A McDonald's logo appeared for one frame during the Food Network's Iron Chef America series on 2007-01-27, leading to claims that this was an instance of subliminal advertising. The Food Network replied that it was simply a glitch.

In Formula One racing, the paint scheme of many cars would carry messages intended to look as if they were of banned tobacco products in many Grands Prix where tobacco advertising was banned, though many of these were jokes on the part of the teams (for example, Jordan Grand Prix ran Benson and Hedges sponsorship as "Bitten and Hisses" with a snake-skin design on their cars). A similar procedure was used by NASCAR driver Jeff Burton after the AT&T Mobility advertising was banned by a court order in 2007.

On November 7, 2007 Network 10 Australia's broadcast of the ARIA Awards was caught out for using subliminal advertising in an exposé by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

In June-July 2007, Sprite used a type of obvious subliminal message, involving yellow (lemon) and green (lime) objects such as cars. The objects would then be shown inconspicuously in the same setting, while showing the word "lymon" (combining the words lime and lemon) on screen for a second at a time. They called this "Sublymonal Advertising." The previous year, Sprite used a similar advertising campaign, but this time it was tied in to The Lost Experience, an alternate reality game.

In Week 11 of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart in which candidates have to create an ad for the Delta's former low-cost commercial airlines Song, the team Matchstick used a 1/48th of a frame image at the bottom-right corner with the Song Airlines logo.

So again in closing, people will ultimately decide for themselves whether subliminal messaging works or not. But is it real? We believe that the above information not only shows that it is real but also makes you wonder…why would folks put so much work and effort into something that simply has no merit whatsoever? Seems like an awful waste of time.

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How Safe is Sensa Weight Loss-Part 2

Lately we have received a lot of interest in our Sensa blog post. So much so that we felt that it might be a good time to do a follow up blog.

Being a professional hypnotist doesn’t make me naive to the realities of the world. And although I often promote the benefits of using hypnosis as a standalone item in place of diets, pills, medications and drugs, I also understand that things like nutritional value and proper exercise are also part of a well-balanced and healthy lifestyle. I simply feel that before people run out and begin purchasing that “new breakthrough” item a few things ought to be considered beforehand. That being said, let’s begin.

My personal opinion is that I am much more concerned about trying something that I know very little about, then I am about using something that I already know to be unhealthy for sure. My reason for this is simple. At least if I already know that something is harmful for me I have the choice based on all the facts-NOT to use that item. However, when there is a lack of data about a product due to no long-term studies being performed...well let's just say that I am not sure that I want to be a test subject for any company.

So let’s take a look at what Sensa is anyway.

This fad is often called “The Sprinkle Diet”. The premise is that by sprinkling some granules on your food before you eat will help you eat less and in return, lose weight.

These sprinkles were developed by Dr. Hirsch, who focuses his studies on taste and smell. The sprinkles are supposed to heighten the flavor of the food, making sweets sweeter and salty food saltier, tricking your brain into thinking you’re full. The Sprinkle Diet promises you that you can eat whatever you want without a thought for nutrition or health and that you’ll still lose weight because you’ll eat less.

So for many people this sounds like a dream come true. We have suddenly found the magical key to the entire kingdom. We have located that missing puzzle piece and solved all of our weight problems. If Albert Einstein were alive he would be scratching his head in disbelief at what we have accomplished. After all, this idea sounds even more awe inspiring than putting a man on the moon. Or is it?

Let's take a closer look at some overlooked factors.

When people talk about an item being safe or dangerous and healthy or unhealthy, there are always several factors involved in determining that outcome. For example, I could write an article that says “Cigarettes Are Safe.” And in my article I could go on to explain that I have had a cigarette sitting on my coffee table for 30 years now and it has not killed me so far. And so, in a sense this would 100% true. However, once I light that cigarette and begin smoking I am now playing by a whole new set of rules.

For that cigarette to actually be considered a harmful item I would most likely need to smoke many cigarettes every single day for an extended period of time before I begin to see exactly what affect smoking has on me. So this in and of itself, is what’s wrong with simply implying whether something is good or bad for you. A lack of knowledge and understanding about all of the factors involved.

So let’s look at why sprinkles may not be the best choice.

The #1 major flaw with The Sprinkle Diet is that the majority of people who are overweight and/or obese eat when they are NOT hungry and DO NOT stop when they are full!! If you’re overweight you’re very likely an emotional eater, a compulsive overeater, a binge eater, a food addict, or some combination of these. So even if The Sprinkle Diet tricks your brain into thinking it’s full, if you have any of these eating disorders you’ll still overeat just like you always have. It won’t matter if you think you’re full or not!

The second thing to look at is that there is no nutritional education involved. This item is all about eating the very same fast food, processed food, and junk food which contains sugar, unhealthy fats and loads of sodium. And these are the items that bring your metabolism to a slow crawl. So if you put weight loss aside and only look at health, you are still be eating the very same foods as before which causes inflammation in the body, the #1 cause of disease.

The third thing to consider is that there is no exercise plan. The Sprinkle Diet does nothing to promote regular cardiovascular activity or strength training because it is designed to be a "quick fix". Therefore, even if it does help you lose weight your body will only look thinner but that does not mean you are healthier. Remember that people who suffer from anorexia or who are diagnosed with cancer frequently lose weight. But that does not mean that their bodies are healthier for it.

The forth reason on our list is the lack of long term results. If you find that the Sprinkle Diet does work for you and you are happy with the results then you will have to continue to use those sprinkles forever. Realistically could a person do that? Sure, if the item is still available in the future and if you’re willing to continue paying $60.00 every month for the rest of your life, assuming that there will never be a price increase.

Number five is that the product is relatively new. They can call it "safe" all day long but the reality is that nobody truly knows what the long-term affect of putting these sprinkles on your food will be on your health in years to come. Look at Splenda for example, that’s a sweetener that greatly enhances the sweetness of your food and has been around for a while. Yet we still don’t have any idea what the long-term health effects are from using it.

And the last reason is that there is a lack of naturalness. Although we haven’t found the actual ingredients posted anywhere, the media reports that, “the sprinkles are non-caloric and contain artificial and natural ingredients approved for use in food products”. This is very misleading. After all, what else is currently approved for use in food products but necessarily healthy? Crystalline fructose, sodium, high fructose corn syrup, Splenda, MSG, and plain old table sugar just to name a few. Although these are all approved for use in food products, none of them are truly healthy for you and they certainly don’t help you lose any weight.

And so to wrap things up...The Sprinkle Diet does nothing to help you understand why you are overweight and why you overeat. It’s not a cure for depression, low self-esteem, a lack of nutritional understanding, emotional eating, a sedentary lifestyle, or unhealthy habits. So it’s a $60.00 a month POSSIBLE short-term fix with no long-term health benefits and to date, unknown long-term health risks.

And as for the health studies…Dr. Hirsch states that he did a “peer reviewed clinical study of nearly 1,500 people who used the sprinkles on everything they ate without changing their diet or exercise routine” and found that there was an average weight loss of 30.5 pounds in 6 months.

However, we don’t know who those 1500 people were. We don’t know if those people were already leading a healthy or semi-healthy lifestyle by exercising regularly and eating healthy the majority of the time. Because if they were, then most likely they were already on the path to losing weight anyway. So naturally if you give The Sprinkle Diet to a group like that then of course you’re going to see weight loss because they’re already working on it!

My conclusion: if you are considering dropping $60.00 or more per month for those sprinkles I strongly urge you to put your money into something that will give you a lifetime of healthy results. Spend 1/2 of that monthly Sprinkle Diet money on something like hypnosis, which can help you by encouraging you to eat healthier. And maybe take the money that you saved and invest it into something else that will actually make you feel better about yourself. No matter how you slice it, Sensa is just another unnatural magical mask that hides the root cause of something rather than actually fixing it.

Lose Weight With Hypnosis