Zita Stanley

Can you answer YES to the following:

• Are you a yo-yo dieter?

• Do you know how many calories everything has?

• Do you try every fad diet usually for two/three days and then give up?

• Are you tired of regaining more weight each time?

Then hypnosis could be the answer for you. So why is losing weight such a minefield when putting the weight on is so easy? Well, we have two sides to our brain - a right side and a left side. The left side loves to diet, it loves numbers, counting points, portion sizes, calories etc. UNFORTUNATELY, WE EAT WITH THE RIGHT SIDE OF OUR MIND! That’s the emotional size. For this reason, any permanent weight loss can only be achieved with behavioural changes. That is where hypnosis comes in. Hypnosis allows direct communication with the subconscious which is where habits are formed. Hypnosis itself is perfectly safe. Forget what you have seen on stage shows. It is a deep relaxation where your mind and body can relax totally. During this deep relaxation, your subconscious mind is extremely suggestible and that’s when I, as a hypnotherapist, give new positive suggestions.

So how does hypnosis work on weight loss?

What’s the first thing you read on most diets ” DO NOT EAT..” In order not to eat something, your mind has to picture it first in order to discard it unfortunately, when you picture the banned item, you more than likely want to eat it right now! This is the problem with diets.  Emotions and food are interconnected. Our relationships with food are complex.

Hypnosis gives you the opportunity to redefine your emotional ties to food and break them. Then new healthier suggestions are given. Women, in general, tend to scold themselves for being “bold” if they have a treat or are “good” if they miss a meal (which you should never do). Magazines are being blamed for young girls now having eating problems when in fact, they are just emulating their mothers who, without realizing it, are passing on their food issues to their impressionable daughters.

Your mind is a powerful tool and you can use it to your advantage in the war against weight.

Hypnosis is not a magic cure all. You will not have a session and suddenly all your weight is gone.  What hypnosis helps you do is:

• establish a new relationship with food;

• feel better about yourself;

• become healthier and happy.

Remember, you must be realistic and I cannot stress that enough.  Using hypnosis in your weight loss changes your attitude towards food (unlike diets) so you are not going on or coming off a diet, it is your new way of living.  Hypnosis frees you from the emotional ties of food.

Tags: Weight Loss, Women's Issues by Zita
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Without stress man would not be here today. The stress response is the body’s way of shutting down function in the body in order to pump up the muscles for fight or for flight when threatened. A “perceived” threat is enough to start the fight or flight response in the body! When the threat abates, the body returns to normal function, or so the theory goes. 21^st century living for most people results in a quasi-stressed state all the time. This is not healthy. Do you suffer from backache or tension headaches? Is your mood up and down? Being stressed affects your eating habits. Perhaps you have ulcers or some digestive problems. Did you know that stress is repressed anger? Who are you angry with? Knowing how to express anger in an appropriate way has to be and can be learned. Anger is a valid emotion – it is how it is expressed is the problem. It is important to recognize your rise in stress levels – what are your triggers? Perhaps it starts with an upset tummy or a knot in the pit of your stomach. Feeling stressed triggers specific thought patterns. In hypnosis, these thought patterns can be interrupted and new suggestions are made so that you relearn how to think, behave and act to your benefit. These changes need to consist of assertive thoughts and behaviours which in turn lead to a decrease in stress.

It is not enough just to know how to be physically assertive. Your words and tone must be congruent with your body language. You need to feel you have the right to be assertive, know how to keep yourself calm and voice your irritation in a calm and controlled way. Have you ever noticed that when you are stressed how you may turn “everything” into a catastrophe. How easy is it for you to get into an argument? Is this the way you want to live? I don’t think so. Learning hypnosis can help the sufferer enormously. All hypnosis is self hypnosis. A hypnotherapist can help you reprogramme your subconscious mind to change your thoughts in a way that works for you. You practice you new assertive behaviours in hypnosis in role play. Learning to handle stress will have a huge knock-on effect in your life.

Do you ever find yourself having a couple of drinks after a day’s work? Has this increased from one drink to a couple to a bottle? Do you take recreational drugs? Then at least you know you have a problem and are self medicating. However, these do not help and only exacerbate the problem. Pick up the phone and ask for help. A hypnotherapist is non-judgemental, is not going to make you do anything or indeed will not give you a prescription for a stress free life. So why go? You need to rediscover your hidden strengths and an ethically trained hypnotherapist will help find these strengths as you discover a new way to harness the power of your own mind. Empowerment is the greatest gift you can give yourself. The number of stress management sessions will vary depending upon your stress levels. This can only be determined in consultation. However, visiting a solution focused hypnotherapist will ensure that the maximum length of time spent in therapy should not run longer than 10 sessions. It is important to ensure that you are open and honest with the hypnotherapist, after all, he/she is not a mind reader and the more information you give the better equipped the therapist in designing your stress management programme.

In summary, hypnosis can help you rewrite your internal programming with regard to stress. Work stress can be a particular problem, after all we spend most of your day in the office. Stress in small amounts is good – you know you are alive, it gives you motivation to make a change, pumps you up before a presentation. But it can also lead to unwanted physical symptoms. Is work particularly stressful – are you overloaded with work, can you ask for help? Maybe you have been promoted and you are having difficulty in your new position – is it through lack of confidence or lack of training. Do you hate what you do? Well, what do you really want to do? Make a plan and start working on it so that one day your vocation can become your real work.

Hypnosis is a concentrated relaxation and wouldn’t it feel good just to relax. Life should be enjoyed not endured.

Tags: Stress by Zita
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What are you feeling guilty about? Did you spend an extra five minutes in bed this morning when you “should” have made the effort to get up early? Are you a working mother - feeling guilty “all the time” about leaving your children or perhaps not feeling that you are not giving 100% at work? Do you feel guilty that you don’t feel guilty!
The last few weeks I have seen a number of young women with guilt in various forms. This is the reason for this thought for the month. Feeling guilty about episodes in our past has repercussions into the future.
What can be done? Hypnosis and hypnotherapy (i.e. therapy carried out under hypnosis) can help release your feelings associated with guilt so that you can move forward. Positive thinking is so much more productive than carrying guilt or negative thoughts about the past. However, it can be difficult to “will” yourself into positive thoughts. Hypnosis can help you put your feelings into perspective (not deny them), you learn how to let them go - my favourite imagery is to put all your negative thoughts into a hot air balloon, cut the ropes and watch it float off into the sky. How freeing is that!
So the next time you feel guilty about something, take a moment to think:
Why I am feeling like this.
What triggered this thought.
How does it make me feel?
Write it down - this can help clarify your thoughts. Perhaps perform a symbolic ritual of tearing up the paper and put your emotions into it and just through it away.
Exercise for today:
How can you feel differently?
Take a deep breath and hold for the mental count of 3 and exhale. Again. On the 3rd breath just close your eyes as you breath out.
Think about someone who loves you unconditionally;
Where do you feel that good feeling about this - in your stomach, in your heart, in your head - it does not matter where. Give this feeling a colour and a shape. Make it bigger, brighter and full of colour.
Feeling good now.
Open your eyes. How are you feeling? Good and happy.
Have a good day!

Tags: Guilt by Zita
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Just to let you know my PG Training includes:

Creative Analytical Hypnotherapy;

Weight Loss & Eating Disorders;

Stop Smoking;

Anger Management;

Stress Management.

Tags: Uncategorized by Zita
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