Increase Your Self Esteem Using Hypnosis

by Lyndsay Swinton

Have you ever wondered why some people in life are so successful and others aren't? Maybe you've faced an opportunity that you were afraid to take because you have low self esteem. If this has ever happened to you, you are not alone. Many people have low self esteem and don't make the most of their lives, but you can change all that. Here are some tips to help you increase your self esteem.

Your self esteem is what you think and say about yourself. If you trash talk yourself, you have to stop. You wouldn't verbally beat up a friend, so don't do it to yourself either. Take out a sheet of paper and make a list of all the bad things you think and say about yourself. Now make another list of positive things you could say instead. Whenever you catch yourself thinking or saying something negative, immediately stop and counter it with something positive. This will take some practice, but you will eventually be able to stop all the trash talk and think and feel much better about yourself.

Hypnosis is another way to increase your self esteem. The very root of all the negative things you think and say about yourself is in your unconscious mind. You can get to the root of it all by accessing that part of your mind with hypnosis. You will be able to replace all of the negative thoughts with healthier, more positive thoughts. As a result, you will feel refreshed, relaxed, and much better about yourself.

For example, you may think that bad things happen because of you - you're stupid, you're lazy, you're worthless. This negative view of the world tricks you into believing you are responsible for everything. If this is true, why are you so loathing to believe that when things go right? Hypnosis can help you change that negative view and be more fair and objective about the part you played in an event's success or failure.

Low self esteem can also come from believing that because one part of your life is broken, the rest of your life is doomed. Just because you were made redundant from your job doesn't mean your relationship with your family and friends will be ruined too. Hypnosis can allow you to compartmentalize your life and break down problems into manageable chunks that you have a fair chance of solving.

You can increase your self esteem by remembering that when bad things happen, they aren't forever. So you embarrassed yourself at a party. No matter, there will be hundreds of other parties to go to that you won't. Learning a new skill, such as self-hypnosis, can enable you to increase your self esteem naturally and quickly, and become the person you want to be.
Hypnosis Review
About the Author
Article by Lyndsay Swinton of 'How Hypnosis Works' http://www.hypnotics.co.uk/ This site explains how hypnosis works for all sorts of everyday problems and more unusual human troubles and challenges.

Hypnobirthing gives moms-to-be a drug-free alternative

By Elizabeth Olson, The New York Times
Chrissy Jensen and her husband, Chris, took all the usual baby prep classes, including Lamaze, baby care and even infant CPR. But the soon-to-be-mom, who lives in Venice, still felt something was missing.
"I kept saying, these are all great, but where are the classes that prepare your head for this?"
She found her answer when she attended a one-day hypnobirthing class taught by Michelle Leclaire O'Neill, a Pacific Palisades clinical psychologist and registered nurse who is the author of several books on the subject, including "Better Birthing With Hypnosis" (Keats Publishing; $16.95).
"I really liked it because it was all about the mind-body connection," said Jensen. "It wasn't just about physically giving birth. And it really helped me and my husband stay more focused (during childbirth)."
Although there are other practitioners who use the term, O'Neill developed her Leclaire hypnobirthing method in 1987, using hypnosis and meditation techniques that she'd employed to help cancer patients cope with pain. By teaching pregnant women and their partners how to achieve a hypnotic state where the mind is in deep concentration and the body is relaxed, the goal is to create a "natural physical anesthesia" during labor and delivery.
Hypnobirthing not only helps decrease pain and prenatal anxiety, says O'Neill, but it also allows pregnant women "to have the healthiest experience possible prenatally, in labor and in recovery." And dads (or whoever else may be the birthing partner) get to realize "they can support the woman by just being present."
Today, many women are reaching out to hypnobirthing as well as a variety of other drug-free childbirth alternatives, including aromatherapy and birthing pools, according to experts on gynecology and obstetrics. They are inspired by Web sites such as Urbanbaby.com, reality birth television shows like "House of Babies" on the Discovery Health Channel and celebrities including Angelina Jolie, whose sojourn with Brad Pitt in Namibia spurred speculation that they would have their baby using water birthing. Tom Cruise caused a stir when he said Katie Holmes would give birth according to the principles of Scientology — in silence. (He later explained that she could make noise but that others had to be quiet for a calm delivery of their baby, a girl, born on April 18.)
While "silent birth" raised eyebrows, even the more widely practiced hypnobirthing still draws its share of skepticism.
"When you hear 'hypno,' you think weird, hippie, earthy-type stuff," said Kelly Yeiser, 31, of Ashville, N.C., who had her first baby last August using the technique. "But it's really more about meditation and getting yourself into a calm, relaxed state."
Women who have attended classes say a big appeal of hypnobirthing is that it builds confidence and helps banish fears because it focuses on the positive. Jensen said she spent time each day during the last month of her pregnancy listening to a CD that was given to her during O'Neill's class. Often her husband would join her. "It helped to center me. It also got us to spend time together."
Obstetricians interviewed said that today's expectant mothers are more focused on finding new ways to reduce or even eliminate labor and birth pain.
At one end of the spectrum, women are opting for Caesareans in record numbers. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the combined percentage of women who had C-sections or used drugs to induce labor was about half of the 4.1 million childbirths in 2004.
Of the remaining women, many fear that drugs will hurt their newborns and want a way to avoid them as well as to control the pain.
Some of the alternatives they are selecting include water birthing, in which the woman immerses herself in a tub or pool to reduce labor discomfort, and sometimes for the birth.
Another technique is for the woman to change positions so she is not always lying down but is sitting on a giant ball, for example. Some women have acupuncture, and others use aromatherapy to create a soothing environment.
Regardless of what a woman's childbirth plans are, hypnobirthing can still be a part of it, O'Neill says. "Even if you've chosen to have a c-section this is the class for you because it's not just about birth. It's also about pregnancy and follow-up. It's something you'll have for the rest of your life."
The trend is toward nonmedical methods, said Dr. William Camann, associate professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and co-author of the recently released "Easy Labor, Every Woman's Guide to Choosing Less Pain and More Joy During Childbirth" (Random House).
Once, he said, "there was no overlap, and there tended to be animosity and distrust" between those who espoused natural childbirth and advocates of medical procedures. But that has changed, he added, because women are researching alternatives and finding them on the Internet.
Hospitals today are also more accepting of a woman's desire to be in control during labor and delivery, Camann said. "There's been a gradual trend toward acceptance of alternative methods, even though five years ago, asking for a hypnobirth was almost unheard of. Now it's much more common."
So, does it work? In 2004, the British Journal of Anesthesia said studies involving 8,000 women found that those who used hypnosis techniques during childbirth rated their pain as less severe than those who did not.
Yeiser of Asheville, whose baby was born after only 2 1/2 hours of labor, said, "I was so relaxed that I slept through the first stage of labor."
While many hospitals now permit hypnobirth, doctors are wary because they fear litigation. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists leaves it up to the individual doctor's judgment.
Such techniques are not a surefire way to avoid pain but rather "adjuncts and not the end-all to birth," said Dr. Jeffrey M. Segil, an obstetrician who offers a hypnobirthing option to patients in his practice in Dover, N.H.
"Women should not be set up to feel that they've failed if they can't follow through to a totally natural delivery," he said.
And after delivery, the technique can still come in handy, says Jensen, who is now happily at home with her 4-month-old son, Carver.
"After you have a baby, one day can just start to flow into the next. I definitely have listened to the CD a couple of times just to get back to centering myself."

The power of suggestion: Hypnosis

Hypnosis increasingly is used as serious therapy to help patients control pain and anxiety and alleviate symptoms.
Story by LISA LIDDANE
The Orange County Register

For a long time, hypnosis has been the Rodney Dangerfield of health care.
Yes, researchers have long been curious – even as they learn more – about the relationship of mind to body.
Still, among traditional practitioners of big-money, big-education style Western medicine, a practice used by magicians and carnival tricksters hasn't held much sway as serious therapy.
But that may be changing. A growing body of research indicates that hypnosis can help people quit smoking, blunt physical pain and decrease the symptoms of, among other things, irritable bowel syndrome. As a result, hypnosis is popping up as a health tool in places where it was once shunned.
"Hypnosis puts people in a state of hyper-relaxation," said Stephanie Buehler, a licensed clinical psychologist who uses hypnosis at the Center for Optimal Health in Irvine. "(While under hypnosis) a lot of the usual defenses are usually resolved, so that people are receptive to suggestions and more capable of incorporating them."

Researchers recently have shown what happens in the brains of people who are hypnotized. A 2005 study published in Proceedings of the National Academies showed that people under hypnosis demonstrated less activity in the part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex – which is linked to decision-making – than did people who weren't hypnotized.
Such studies are gradually stripping hypnosis of its showbiz history and legitimizing it in medical offices and hospitals. Doctors, nurses and psychologists increasingly use hypnosis to complement standard treatments. Likewise, an increasing number of patients seek out hypnosis as an alternative to more invasive treatments or drugs.

Buehler says she's used it to help patients manage phobias, such as fear of flying.
"I can put (patients) under hypnosis and desensitize them to the entire process of getting on the plane, the plane taking off, the patients being afraid of the flight, the plane landing and the patients exiting. Under hypnosis, I can teach them to go from something they are afraid of to a safe place. I can teach them that they can have some control and that they can relax."
At Children's Hospital of Orange County in Orange, nurses and psychologists help children manage anxiety and pain with self-hypnosis, said Heather Huszti, director of training for the psychology program at CHOC.

"It's not a substitute for pain medications, but a way to help medications work better," she explained, adding that patients practicing self-hypnosis sometimes require less pain medications.

In January, CHOC will kick off a training program to expand and deepen its health-care givers' understanding and experience in hypnosis, Huszti said.
Of late, self-hypnosis has joined the ranks of the Bradley Method and Lamaze as a popular tool for women to manage the pain of childbirth.

Before getting pregnant in 2004, Cassidy Feliciano of Cypress was determined to avoid epidural anesthesia during labor and delivery. "I didn't want any drugs for me and my baby," she said. So she took hypnosis-assisted birthing classes once a week for five weeks, starting during the sixth month of her pregnancy. Every night for three months, Feliciano, 31, practiced self-hypnosis techniques.

When she went into labor, she knew how to mentally block out the pain.
"I imagined a safe place," she said. "I was sitting in the park with the baby in my arms and my husband behind me. The park is a place we went to several times for picnics before we were even pregnant. It has a lake, with ducks swimming around. I was sitting on a blanket with my knees propped up and I was cradling the baby on my lap. My husband was kneeling behind me, his hand relaxed on my shoulder. His hand was my cue to go deeper into hypnosis."
Feliciano felt calm throughout the process. "It was never really painful. I felt pressure – just pressure, even though I had a sizable tear."

After Feliciano delivered her son, she felt euphoric. "I felt so empowered that my body could do what it did and that my mind had the power over my body to create a painless childbirth."
But some people are more susceptible to hypnosis than others, says Dr. David Spiegel, a prominent hypnosis researcher and associate chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.

"There's now evidence that genetic factors play a role in hypnotizability," Spiegel said. "Some people have a certain variant of the gene involved in making the neurotransmitter dopamine." Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain.
Children tend to be more hypnotizable, Spiegel said. Three out of four adults can be hypnotized.
How long the effects of hypnosis last varies. When patients undergo hypnosis with a psychologist and learn self-hypnosis, they acquire tools to help themselves, Buehler said. Those tools cease to be potent if patients use them infrequently or don't seek help when hypnosis isn't as effective.
And hypnosis doesn't work in vacuum. Buehler points out that people trying to lose weight still need to learn about proper nutrition and exercise so that hypnotic suggestions to make the right food choices can work. And people trying to quit smoking, she said, can still benefit from using a nicotine patch.

Buehler cautioned that it's important to be careful in choosing a health-care provider who is licensed to practice hypnosis. There are numerous hypnotists who can claim to treat a host of medical conditions, but may not be adequately trained to provide hypnosis, Buehler said.
The first step to finding a qualified hypnotist is to get a referral from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.
Meanwhile, the research on hypnosis continues.

More than a half-dozen clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health are looking at how hypnosis can help with preparing women for childbirth, alleviating pain during cataract surgery, relieving hot flashes in breast cancer survivors, and decreasing back pain. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle and The Alfred hospital in Melbourne, Australia, are conducting studies to find out if virtual-reality-assisted hypnosis can reduce burn victims' anxiety and pain.

"There are studies that show that hypnosis is stronger than the placebo effect," Spiegel said. "It's not mind over matter, but mind matters."

Hypnosis news

Hypnosis for fear of flying

Fear Of Flying? Just Relax It Away by Richard MacKenzie
The advancements in science and industry in that last 100 years have left us humans somewhat baffled. You will often hear it said that in the last century, we as human beings have made more accomplishments than at any other time in recorded history. But did it all get a little big, a little to fast?
It seems that these days' people tend to be more afraid of different things and as humans; we seem a lot more 'phobic' than our recent ancestors. I don't for one minute think that we have evolved into complete phobic beings, but more like the world, science and industry have all evolved and left us behind, thus creating loads of new unnatural scenarios to intimidate us.
I believe that one of these 'unnatural scenarios' is flying. For instance it was only a couple of life times ago (if that) that the Write Brothers created their flying machine. And It wasn't until the middle of the last century (not even a lifetime ago) that we began to fly commercially and start taking our holidays abroad, however just because it may be unnatural, it doesn't mean that we have to keep any fears of flying that we may have.

Hypnosis, EFT and NLP can all be used with extreme effectiveness to eliminate your fear of flying, however I use all three as to make sure it goes away and stays away! This way you aren't always sitting there just waiting for it to come back, but actually enjoying the experience that once terrified you.
Whether it affects you in your business life or just the family holiday, a fear of flying can cause no end of upset and unhappiness, however there is now an effective and in most cases a quick solution.
For years Hypnotherapy has been used by so many people worldwide to allow them to swiftly get rid of their fear of flying and allow them to feel comfortable and in fact rather enjoy the whole experience.
If you are tired and always regretting not doing the things that you have always wanted to do because of a fear of flying, then why not see how Hypnotherapy and Self Hypnosis can help you further.
The process is so simple and natural that you will be amazed just how quickly you will see the benefits! Just imagine yourself laying on that beach now. A thousand mils away and not a care in the world! How fantastic would that be?
About the Author
Leading Hypnotherapist - Richard MacKenzie has a great site where you can get infomation on hypnosis for fear of flying, he also has a very effect hypnosis downloads range

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Hypnosis Miracle Cures

Hypnosis: Panacea or Fraud?

It's very difficult for people to believe that hypnosis can create real physical changes in people. The thought goes something like "You can't really change the body with the mind. I mean, all of this 'mind over matter' stuff is well and good but you can't make substantial physical changes by thinking positively alone."

Western medicine has been very slow to recognize what is called "the mind-body connection." Saying the mind and body are connected implies that they are separate somehow. The mind and body are not separate. Even distinguishing between the brain and body is difficult at best. Did you know there are brain cells floating around the body? Did you know that recent evidence suggests that intelligence exists in other organs - not just the brain? And the mind is much more than the brain alone. So where is the mind and how do you consider it separately from the body?

Science (and as a result, medicine) often tries to understand things by breaking them down into their supposed parts and understanding the parts separately. Hey, I'm all for it - but realize the limitations! This kind of thinking sometimes leads to the "six blind men and the elephant" syndrome. Maybe you know the old fable about the six blind men describing an elephant. One man feels the trunk and say the elephant is like a snake. Another feels the body and say it's like a wall. Others feel the leg, the ear, the tail and the tusk and describe a tree, fan, rope and spear. The blind men fail to understand much about the elephant.

In this case, it's better to take a more holistic view of the mind/body (or an elephant, for that matter). Knowing that the mind and body are part of one system can lead you to realize that you can not change your thinking without making physical changes in the body! Emotions for instance, are reflected by changes is biochemistry. Thoughts create (or are created by) chemical and electrical patterns and fluctuations. Thoughts lead to hormone level changes, hormone level changes lead to thoughts. It's all one big mishmash.

Maybe you've heard about the study that took a group of senior citizens and put them back into the environment of their youth. They were surrounded with the music of their youth, they dressed like they did when they were younger etc. The results showed significant changes for many of the participants. There were decreases in symptom complaints for a variety of conditions and some of the signs of aging were reversed! There is no doubt that what you do with your mind affects what happens with your body. There is no denying it.
What are the limits of the mind?
But what are the limits of what we can accomplish with the mind? And what does this have to do with hypnosis? I believe there are limits to the changes we can make through changing our minds. The senior citizens did not completely revert back to the physiology of their youths. We are unlikely to grow and additional arm out of our forehead just by concentrating on the idea - right?

The truth is that we don't know what the limits are. Perhaps by adding hypnotic suggestion to the senior citizens' experiences, we could enhance the physical changes they went through. Perhaps there are different approaches within hypnosis that are more effective than others.
Hypnosis gives you increased access to the control centers of the mind. The part of our mind that controls things like blood pressure, insulin levels, digestive juices and other automatic body functions is more accessible during hypnosis. Unfortunately, this part of the mind (unless you educate it) doesn't simply respond to "Hey dude, lower my insulin level." It doesn't know what the heck you mean by that! The unconscious mind responds better to metaphor, analogy and experience.

Metaphor, Analogy & Experience: Warts and All

Just to give you an example, today I was talking to a friend of mine who's a hypnotherapist. She'd received a call from a woman who had a question about removing warts with hypnosis. Well, the unconscious mind probably needs more instruction than "Get rid of the wart." I remember reading about one technique where the client was to think about the wart being fed by an irrigation system (the bloodstream). They were to imagine (in hypnosis) turning off the irrigation to the wart so that all other areas received the proper nutrients but all support to the wart was cut off. Now there's something the unconscious mind can understand -a metaphor/analogy.

The senior citizens could be regressed back to a time when they were feeling wonderful physically and mentally and asked to come back to the present keeping all the wonderful feelings with them. The unconscious understands instructions to "Do like you did before." It's an experience.

There are pain control techniques that involve thinking of the nerve pathways as having a switch on them. The client is told to turn off the pain signal with the switch and keep the signals necessary for other functions. Once again - metaphor.
So, can hypnosis cure cancer? Can we re-grow hair with hypnosis? Can it make us taller or shall we say "enlarge" parts of our bodies?

The answers are not as simple as they would seem. There is some evidence that cancer patients treated with hypnosis live longer than those that aren't. The evidence for hypnosis being an effective treatment for the side effects of chemo and radiation treatment is overwhelmingly positive. There is anecdotal evidence of complete cancer remissions but no studies that I know of. No responsible hypnosis practitioner is claiming they can cure cancer with hypnosis.
Hypnosis for pain control? Tons of studies have been done, almost all positive (obviously, you need to work with a health professional with medical issues).

What I've seen so far indicates that hypnosis for hair growth gets no better results than a placebo. Perhaps better techniques need to be utilized. Hypnosis for breast enlargement - yep. Check it out for yourself. Google it. Milton Erickson once told a story about a man who apparently grew (height wise) as a result of Erickson's suggestions. He didn't report it to the medical journals because "no one would believe it."

So, the next time you hear about a hypnotic miracle cure consider carefully. What are the limits of the human mind? How much do we really know about what hypnosis can do? What is truly possible? I certainly don't know all the answers. Please join me in finding out.

Hypnosis

Zen Type Thoughts for the Day

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead.Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaking tire.
3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the best time to do it.
4. Sex is like air. It's not important unless you aren't getting any.
5. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
6. No one is listening until you fart.
7. Always remember you're unique...Just like everyone else.
8. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
9. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
10. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes That way, when you criticize them you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
11. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
12. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
13. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
14. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
15. Some days you are the bug; some days you are the windshield. 16. Don't worry; it only seems kinky the first time.
17. Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
18 The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
19. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
20. Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
21. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
22 Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.
23. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
24. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
25. We are born naked, wet and hungry, and get slapped on our butt...Then things get worse. 26. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
27. There is a fine line between "hobby" and"mental illness."
28. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
29 There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday...around age 11. 30. Everyone seems normal until you get toknow them.

THE MOST WASTED DAY OF ALL IS ONE IN WHICH WE HAVE NOT LAUGHED

Hypnosis and Pain Management

I generally look upon pain management and healing as inseparable and see no reason why stop only on using your mind to manage pain, when you can successfully use your mind to bring about healing. After all, pain is a messenger letting you know that some part of your body requires special attention, and often it is not advisable just getting rid of this helpful signal without taking care of the underlying problem.

Traditional hypnosis is more often used for pain management than for healing. This is quite understandable since one can often go into hypnosis to a depth of anethesia first. In the days before chemicals many doctors used hypnosis for painless surgery. Once chemicals came into play it fell out of favor. Only in recent years has hypnosis been used again to eliminate or reduce the amount of anesthetics used on a patient, thus increasing safety.

We can sometimes be distracted from pain, perhaps in a conversation or engrossed in some activity where the mind is engaged. Once we return our awareness to the physical the pain returns.

I wanted to share with you a mind trick that works well and often instantly with headaches and migraines. To get rid of a headache, imagine that your hands are feeling very, very hot. You can add the imagery of your hands being immersed in hot water or being near fire, until they begin to feel very hot. What this does is draws the pressure (the blood) out of your head down into your arms and magically removes headaches.

Pain is a painted word. And using the word encreases ones awareness of pain. It is much better to stop using this word altogether and fill ones mind with pleasent images to distaract from the issue. The best way is to find a hypnotherapist qualified in pain management techniques. An example is a client of mine came to me with constant pain in her shoulder from a botched surgery on her rotater cup. I put her into a state of somnablulism then created an imaginary switch in her arm that she could turn on an off. When in the off position there was no discomfort.
As a safety precaution the switch only lasted for an hour at a time. Pain should never be completly removed, it is there for a reason, but it can be managed.

Pain management thru hypnosis is being used more than ever. Hypnosis can also be used for healing. More about that in my next post.