Three Core Coping Strategies for Holiday Stress

Welcome to the ‘December’ holiday season!  This time of year can bring opportunities for fun and joy. But for many of us the bundle of events from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day raises our stress to uncomfortable, even unhealthy levels.

Holiday season stress triggers vary from one individual to another. Some of the more common situations might include:

• Gift shopping pressure, shortages, budget challenges, inflation ·        

• Traveling to holiday destinations

• Loneliness, spending holidays away from those you love

• Obligations to plan/host parties and get-togethers

• Social pressure to overindulge in food and drink

• Conflicts with family members

When I work with a client on managing stress, we focus on their particular situation and triggers. However, I teach every stress management client about the three core coping strategies that everyone can use.

1.      Take a moment and think about what is important to you during the holidays.  What makes the holidays the most meaningful?  Is it finding the perfect present, appreciating the spiritual meaning of the holiday for you, cooking gifts for family and friends, or celebrating being together with your family?  Whatever you decide, make this your focus.  You may want to sit down with family and friends and let them know what your focus will be this holiday if it is different than usual.

2.       Practice self-care. Plan time in your schedule for a massage, bubble bath or simply relaxing.  Find a like-minded friend to do something special with.

3.       Ask for help.  If you are overwhelmed because you are the designated host for events, include others in the planning process and encourage them to volunteer to help decorate, cook, clean-up, wrap presents, etc.  They will enjoy being asked to participate.

If you keep an Affirmations Journal as part of your daily practice, you may also want to add some holiday season specific affirmations. Here are some samples to consider:

• I plan and focus on what is important to me this holiday

• I take care of myself by communicating my needs to others

• I willingly ask for and accept help  

For more information about how to cope with holiday season stress, please give me a call (818-929-4944) to schedule a free consultation or join us any Wednesday on my Hypnotherapy Q and A. You can register here..

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lfu6trjIvGNZ8XkMGblRSB97cmXEKVT6p

Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

Dr. Haqqani talks more about how holiday stress can affect us:

https://www.ourmidland.com/opinion/voices/article/Dr-Haqqani-The-impact-of-holiday-stress-16645608.php

From the Heart Association, more ideas for coping:

https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/holiday-stress-try-our-top-5-tips-for-a-healthy-holiday-season

Five Practices to Bring More Gratitude into Your LIfe

November is national Gratitude Month. It culminates in the Thanksgiving Day holiday when American families and friends typically gather for a festive meal and maybe some conversation about people and things in their lives for which they are grateful.

In my book, The Power in Affirmations, I include matching gratitude pages for each affirmation page to support an integrated daily practice. When we talk about using the journal some clients report that they already keep a gratitude journal. Other clients talk about difficulty expressing gratitude or feeling very little gratitude in their lives.

If you see yourself in the second group, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday might be a strong source of stress and anxiety. Here are 5 practices that you can use to help you with expressing gratitude and bringing more gratitude into your life.

 1.      Begin writing in a gratitude journal as a daily practice.  I suggest writing the things you are grateful at the end of each day along with your affirmations.  If you need a copy of my book/journal, please let me know.

2.      Make it a priority to write and send thank you notes anytime you receive a gift or kindness from friends, family members, or co-workers.  It is amazing how appreciative people are of written thank you notes.  Make a positive impression while you show how much you appreciate the gift.

3.      Set up and use a thank you jar.  Keep a jar or box with slips of paper and pen to easily jot down what you are grateful for each day.  Once in a while, read your slips to  remind yourself how great your life is.

4.      Identify a person in your life who has never been properly thanked for what they have done for you over the years. Write a full page letter of appreciation and deliver it personally to that person.  I’m sure they will be very happy to know they mattered in your life.

5.      Find a prayer of gratitude that you are comfortable with and use it as part of your daily practice to start or end each day. 

Is gratitude a concern of yours?  I’d be happy to help you get on track toward a grateful and happy life. Please give me a call (818-929-4944) or join us any Wednesday on my Hypnotherapy Q and A. You can register here..

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lfu6trjIvGNZ8XkMGblRSB97cmXEKVT6p

Enjoy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

For an outstanding, comprehensive article covering what is gratitude, origins of gratitude, individual and social benefits of gratitude, gratitude interventions and more, please see the following:

https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf

You might also want to read this fascinating and informative article which covers how gratitude works and the neuroscience of gratitude as it may relate to anxiety, stress, grief and other conditions.

https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/

Pre- and Post-Surgery Hypnosis

“Patients who utilize hypnotherapy before a surgical procedure are doing both themselves and their doctors a favor,”explains Pierre-Etienne Vannier, MSc, CHt, a French-born mind-body practitioner.  “’Before’ is a really important step because, when you're able to reduce anxiety and tension, you help your body be ready for the procedure. When you have a more regulated nervous system, it makes the work much easier for everybody.”

After experiencing pain in my thumbs that made me cry each day after work, I had surgery to fix the severe arthritis.  Before each surgery, I envisioned the surgery successfully alleviating the pain.  As I went under anesthesia, I went to my special place to become extra calm and relaxed.  The doctor was impressed with how quickly my thumbs healed each time.  Since the surgeries I have been completely pain free and have been able to resume my hobbies of knitting and crocheting.  (Last year I made over 25 scarves and hats for the homeless.)

“It’s very empowering for people to be able to be in control of their pain and recovery,” Vannier says. Feeling empowered improves healing. Carol Ginandes, PhD, a Harvard psychologist and researcher, has been studying the effects of hypnotherapy on healing for decades. In 1999, she and Daniel Rosenthal, MD, a Harvard radiologist, showed that ankle fracture patients who practiced hypnotherapy showed improvement in healing, as evidenced by medical imaging, when compared to patients who did not use hypnotherapy. The patients had quicker recovery times, greater mobility, and less pain, and therefore needed less pain medication.

I also had debilitating pain in both shoulders. I could not get dressed easily.  Exercising and moving my shoulders was very difficult and painful.  When I finally had surgery on them, whenever I felt discomfort, I sent healing light and additional blood flow to that area with my mind.  My doctors expressed surprise as they told me I was healing faster than they expected.  My mobility was much better than earlier anticipated.

Post-surgery can be a good time to pamper yourself.  Getting enough rest, eating and drinking fluids help the healing process. Let others help you.

Wouldn’t you rather heal more quickly and have better results?  If you have a surgery in your future, you can consider pre and post-surgery hypnotherapy to help you reduce anxiety and tension and achieve faster healing. Please give me a call (818-929-4944) or join us any Wednesday on my Hypnotherapy Q and A. You can register here..

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lfu6trjIvGNZ8XkMGblRSB97cmXEKVT6p

Sincerely,

Cinda

HYPNONEWS AND RESOURCES

For more information on surgery and hypnosis, here are two articles:

https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/63334-mounting-evidence-on-the-benefits-of-perioperative-hypnosis

https://aedit.com/aedition/hypnotherapy-for-cosmetic-surgery-sedation-recovery-pain

Hypno-Desensitization - Coping with Out of Control Anxiety

Madeline’s husband loved to play golf and was excited to play Pebble Beach with an old college buddy. She wanted to make the road trip with him to Monterey (400 miles in 7 hours) but she felt scared, unsafe and out of control when he was driving. Around town together, she usually did the driving to avoid these fears. This trip was too long for her to use that coping technique and just thinking about it was making her so anxious that she was considering not going. How might I help her?

Hypno-Desensitization or Hypnotherapy facilitated Systematic Desensitization is an integrated method that combines the power of hypnosis and the proven behavioral therapy technique of Systematic Desensitization. It can empower you to manage, reduce and overcome a wide variety of specific, situational fears and the anxiety you experience in those situations.

In our first session together, we used hypnosis to help Madeline achieve a state of deep relaxation and I gave her an anchor.  An anchor is two words that “anchor” in the positive, relaxed feeling she felt in hypnosis.  She could close her eyes (as long as he was driving) and breathe in as she said “Beach” and breathe out as she said “Happy,” the two words that described her special happy place and the positive feeling it gave her. 

Next, I used systematic desensitization to help her let go of the feelings of being out of control and the anxiety that she felt when her husband was driving. She replaced the anxiety with the happy, positive feelings she feels at the beach.  In hypnosis, I reminded her that while the brain is a wonderful, complex organ, it can only have one thought at a time.  I encouraged her to get in touch with the feelings of being out of control while he was driving and then let those feelings pass and replace them with her feeling of being happy at the beach.  We did this several times until she was no longer able to access those feelings of being out of control.  This is systematic desensitization – replacing those negative feelings with a positive feeling of your special place. 

After a few sessions Madeline was able to go with her husband cheerfully to Monterey.  He thoroughly enjoyed his golf game.  She enjoyed the beach in Monterey very much and now uses it as a new anchor whenever she and her husband head out on a road trip.

Used in conjunction with Hypnotherapy, I find Systematic Desensitization very effective in empowering clients to manage and overcome unwanted fears and associated anxiety that limit their enjoyment of life.

Some common fears:

• Fear of Flying

• Fear of Public Speaking

• Fear of Driving

If this is something of interest to you, please give me a call (818-929-4944) or join us any Wednesday on my Hypnotherapy Q and A. You can register here..

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lfu6trjIvGNZ8XkMGblRSB97cmXEKVT6p

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

Here are 4 articles that go into more depth on fears and phobias and how they can be treated with Hypno-Desensitization.

http://www.positivehealth.com/article/hypnosis/the-hypo-desensitization-approach-to-the-treatment-of-simple-phobias

https://www.simplypsychology.org/Systematic-Desensitisation.html

https://web.wellness-institute.org/blog/bid/399324/hypnosis-in-the-treatment-of-anxieties-fears-and-phobias

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-would-aristotle-do/201105/the-fear-losing-control

Unwanted Food Cravings - Emotional Freedom Technique - Healthy Weight Management

Rachel had always fought to keep her weight under control. After years of yo-yo dieting her frustration level was higher than ever when she finally sought help from a therapist. Asked what she saw as her biggest challenge, she responded Anything Chocolate! She felt that her craving for chocolate was a 10 on a scale of 1-10.

As part of a hypnotherapy guided weight management program, she learned and experienced EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique or tapping) to eliminate her craving for chocolate. After one session she found that chocolate no longer held any special allure for her. With her chocolate craving eliminated, she began shedding unwanted weight and reached her healthy weight goal several months later.

Compared to a normal, non-specific  feeling of hunger (‘I need to eat something soon’), a food craving is usually defined as a strong, immediate urge to eat a specific food (‘I need my chocolate bar now’).

Your craving may come to mind seemingly out of the blue or it may be triggered by a variety of physical or mental/emotional factors. Emotions are one of the biggest contributing factors to specific food cravings.

If a specific craving is making it difficult for you to achieve and maintain your healthy weight goal, your craving may be mainly triggered by negative emotional factors such as

• chronic stress

• anxiety

• frustration

• anger

• sadness

When a craving arises you have a few basic responses you might choose from:

• Indulge in the craving (eat your favorite chocolate bar that you always carry with you or stock in the pantry at home)

• Eat a healthy snack ‘instead’ (and wait for the craving to pass)

• Distract yourself with some other non-eating physical or mental activities and let the craving dissipate (but no guarantees on when and how often it will come back)

Cravings are usually ‘satisfied’, one way or the other, in 10 to 20 minutes. However, research tells us that

• Regularly choosing the indulge response can have negative short term and long term consequences for your heath and weight goals

• The healthy snack and distraction responses both require constant disciplined effort to follow and can be frustrating and exhausting in themselves

Wouldn’t it be exciting if you could learn a way to seriously reduce the intensity and how often a craving comes up and even prevent it from arising in the first place?

You can!

If you want to reduce or prevent cravings for specific unhealthy foods, a trained  EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) practitioner can help you with that goal.

What is EFT? 

EFT is a proven, evidence based therapy technique that involves concurrently

• tapping on certain meridians, or energy pathways of the body

• acknowledging and accepting the craving

• affirming your self-acceptance and self-worth

EFT can be used for changing habits, weight loss, sports performance, eliminating fears, and changing negative thought patterns.

When I teach this technique to my clients, I tap along with them.  We say together the issue we are trying to change or correct while tapping at specific points on the face and upper body.

Used in conjunction with a hypnotherapy guided weight management program, I find EFT very effective in helping clients to control their cravings and reach their healthy weight management goals.

If this is something of interest to you, please give me a call (818-929-4944) or join us any Wednesday on my Hypnotherapy Q & A. Register here: 
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkd--rrz4oGdUY2gJJ5gp07WDIkkz3sz6g

Sincerely,

Cinda

HYPNONEWS and RESOSURCES

For an in depth review of the uses and effectiveness of EFT please see the following article:

Clinical EFT as an Evidence-Based Practice for the Treatment of Psychological and Physiological Conditions

https://www.scirp.org/html/35751.html

For a good overview of methods to help you manage food cravings in general, please see the following:

How do you manage food cravings?

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322947

Nine Things You Can Do To Help Yourself Sleep Better

Recently I worked with a client who was not sleeping well.  At his second appointment, he reported that he had had his first good night’s sleep in years. If you are one of the millions of people who don’t get the sleep you need, here are some of the things I shared with my client that he could do to lock in his better sleep habits.

1. Try and get to sleep by 10 pm every night.  Your body produces a very beneficial hormone for brain function and physical endurance.  The best hours for production of this hormone are between 10 pm and 12 am.

2. Sleep in a dark bedroom.  Melatonin is produced when the sun is down and it is dark where you are sleeping.  If necessary, invest in blackout curtains or shades.

3. No screen time 90 minutes before bed.  Blue light close to bedtime suppresses melatonin production.

4. Get as much sunshine as possible during the day. This helps your body’s circadian rhythm so that your body knows when to sleep and when to be awake.

5. A warm bath actually cools you and when you are cooler you get a better night’s sleep.  For sore muscles, Epsom salts can be helpful.  My favorite – Epson salt with lavender and bubbles.

6. The old fashioned remedy of a cup of warm milk actually works – even better with raw honey, saffron, nutmeg or poppy seeds.

7. Short naps are beneficial to your health – people who nap reduce their risk of heart disease death by 37%.  Take a couple a week, but not close to bedtime.

8. Take a tip from Indian feng shui expert Michael Mastro and sleep with your head in the south or east.  This can help with blood flow, circulation and digestion.

9. Try hypnotherapy – working with affirmations and gratefulness can help get you in a better place to sleep well every night.

I’d love to chat with you about how to help you sleep better

Give me a call (818-929-4944) or join us any Wednesday on my Hypnotherapy Q & A. Register here: 
 https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tdeGtqTkuGtZCVlhQCzVEeRkxbTigRbBW

Sincerely,

Cinda

HYPNONEWS AND RESOURCES

Here’s exactly what lack of sleep can do to your body.  Lack of Sleep.  Can It Make You Sick?  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/expert-answers/lack-of-sleep/faq-20057757

And another one:  What Not Enough Sleep Does to Your Body, Say Doctors

www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/not-enough-sleep-does-body-110204841.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFKM2S8GTeSSuULlKf7mTCl0V3WevsouyjalpHTEwAo4q7o1W1xMLven3CGT8jW4sgWWD

Pregnancy - Preeclampsia and White Coat Syndrome

It’s 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. You are pregnant and on your way to a 24 week checkup with your doctor. Your mood is excited, happy and confident as you muse about cute baby clothes, a name for the baby, shopping for a crib, and taking a healthy baby home from hospital.

One month ago, however, coming home from your 20 week checkup, your mood was much more anxious and distressed. The nurse practitioner had taken your blood pressure and other vitals. The doctor came to talk with you and shared her concern that your blood pressure was higher than normal and you might have preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia or toxemia is a potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy that is usually diagnosed by high blood pressure and water retention.  Your doctor talked about possibly prescribing oral or IV medications and monitoring you more frequently. There was even a possibility that the baby might have to be delivered early.

Back at home you began checking you own blood pressure readings on various days at various times. All your readings were within normal range. Hmmm! Could it be that you have White Coat Syndrome?

Google to the rescue! You learn that White Coat Syndrome means that your blood pressure reads high when taken in the stressful atmosphere of the doctor’s office but routinely reads normal when monitored in the calm environment at home. You also learn that Hypnotherapy can be very effective in training you to better control your blood pressure in anxious, stressful situations.

If you actually have preeclampsia, you should be appropriately treated by your physician. If White Coat Syndrome is triggering high blood pressure at your doctor’s office, hypnotherapy may help you to avoid unneeded medicine and medical interventions in your pregnancy.

In Hypnotherapy, you can gain skills to cope with your stress and anxiety.  You can learn how to anchor the calm and relaxed feeling that you feel in hypnosis to a physical trigger that you can use whenever you need. 

You will discover what you are telling yourself each day about your stress and replace that self-talk with a set of positive affirmations that are authentic and powerful for your particular situation. These affirmations will be embedded in your subconscious mind under hypnosis and you will learn how to reinforce them with daily practice. 

In my practice I have worked with many pregnant women whose doctors were concerned that they may be developing preeclampsia.  These women knew that they had “white coat syndrome.”  They wanted to have their blood pressure reading at the doctor’s office be as low as it was when they were at home.  Working together, we empowered them to approach their doctor visits with calm, relaxed confidence that they could keep their White Coat Syndrome blood pressure readings in the normal range. They did and they each delivered a healthy baby at term. 

For more information about these topics please see: 

Preeclampsia defined:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/preeclampsia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355745

White-Coat Hypertension and Masked Hypertension:

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/w/white-coat-hypertension-and-masked-hypertension.html

For a free hypnotherapy consultation you are invited to call 818-929-4944 or join us any Wednesday on my Hypnotherapy Q & A. Register here: 
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tdeGtqTkuGtZCVlhQCzVEeRkxbTigRbBW 

Sincerely,

Cinda

20 Pounds Post-COVID! What Now?

True confession – I gained the dreaded COVID 20 pounds.  I know, I’m a hypnotherapist who has helped women and men lose hundreds of pounds.  When it came to listening to my own counsel, I fell short.

I know all the right things to do:

1. Eat healthy food you prepare yourself.  Focus on eating vegetables, low-glycemic fruit and healthy protein.

2. Plan your foods ahead of time.  A good suggestion is planning your food for the next day the night before to make sure you have what you need on hand.

3. Limit carbohydrates and alcohol. That’s where the calories are and the more you limit carbs, the more fun, fresh, veggies you can have.

4. Exercise more and regularly. Again, make a plan ahead of time so that you know when and how you exercise.  If necessary, put it on your calendar as an event.

5. Get plenty of sleep.  Study after study has shown that the more sleep you get, the easier it is to lose weight.

6. Have a specific goal in mind. This works better because you can see your progress and celebrate when you achieve your right weight.

7. Keep a written journal. Track your progress and celebrate your wins.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?  But with all the pivoting and planning to keep my business going, I put my health on the back burner and ended up where I did not want to be.  My doctor told me that I need to lose weight because of added stress on my knees which is causing pain and probably some damage.  That scared me into taking action.

What now? I am committing to 1-7 above. I’m also going to use a food and calorie app to track my food.  It does help to see what you are eating each day and exactly how many calories that food contains.  As I tell my clients, it’s more about what you eat than how much you move.  Don’t get me wrong, movement is important.  For me, after a good walk or work out I’m more motivated to eat the right food.

I may make an appointment to see a hypnotherapist; I hear they can be very helpful on this weight loss journey.

What about you? Did you gain the COVID 20 pounds?  Are you ready to make some changes? If you are, give me call, we can get to our right weight together. 

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

Sleep More, Weigh Less - Yes, it’s true and here’s the article to prove it:  https://www.webmd.com/diet/sleep-and-weight-loss#1

Here’s an article from Psychology Today about how hypnosis helps with weight loss:  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-integrationist/201412/successful-weight-loss-using-hypnosis

Coping With COVID-19 Post-Lockdown Re-entry Anxiety

When baby elephants begin to get trained, one foot is roped to a post in the ground.  They are small and the rope keeps them from moving away from the post.  Initially they may try, but they are not big and strong enough yet to break the rope or uproot the post and get free so eventually they stop trying. In reality, a fully grown elephant could easily break away and run free, but by then they have been conditioned to go no further than the rope will reach. So they never try. 

Conditioning through physical restraint is an established and effective technique for training baby elephants. Conditioning people’s behavior is a bit more complicated.

For 13 months or so, we have been conditioned, not through physical restraints, but through information (factual or not), fear, guidelines, rules, executive orders and legislation. We have been conditioned to stay home, leave only when absolutely necessary and always be careful when out with other people. In this way, we have developed a conditioned response to our fears about getting and spreading COVID-19 and if we don’t stay home. 

Now, while COVID -19 is still out there, more and more people are getting vaccinated and it may be time to venture out. What can we do to cope with the inevitable anxiety that comes with overcoming the powerful conditioning not to step out, that we have experienced?

Unlike the elephants, as fully grown adults we can choose to break away from the guidelines, rules and laws and overcome the fears and inevitable anxiety that accompanies the conditioning which no longer serves us.

As we begin to re-interact with the outside world, what can we expect?  We may find that people will have very different ideas of what re-entry means.  Some will immediately return to pre-pandemic activities and mindsets. Other may move more cautiously and still only venture out when necessary.

Where will you land on this spectrum?  My suggestion is that you do what makes you feel comfortable, knowing that others may make different decisions for themselves.

At this point, understanding and patience on everyone’s part will be the best way to handle re-entry.

If you are having trouble with how to navigate re-entry issues, hypnotherapy can help you focus on your goals and make a specific plan to achieve them. 

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

 For more information about coping with lockdown and Post-COVID re-entry, please refer to the following two excellent articles:

https://www.wateringburysurgery.co.uk/coming-out-of-lockdown

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/coronavirus/looking-after-your-mental-health-we-come-out-lockdown

Embracing Change In the Hypnotherapists Garden

“The only constant is change.” - Heraclitus

As we enter the new spring season, I’d like to encourage us all to embrace the changes that are coming. There are two kinds of changes we each need to deal with regularly. One is change coming from an external source such as dealing with Covid-19 or being dumped by a partner. The other is change that you might want to make to improve your life. Losing weight, stopping smoking or improving your self-confidence are examples of this kind of change.

When I thought about writing a blog about embracing transition, the first thing that came to mind was my garden.  I love gardening for so many reasons. When I’m gardening I can pay attention to my thoughts.

When I began to explore where this love came from I remembered that every year my grandmother had a flower garden.  My grandparents lived in a small town in Colorado and I spent every summer there growing up.  Because it was cold and snowed every winter, she had to replant annual seeds and nurture her perennials and bulbs back to life each spring.  I loved helping her tend her garden and cutting flowers to bring inside to enjoy.  This week I have tulips in one of her antique vases – a wonderful memory to have about the changing of the seasons.

When my grandchildren visit, I usually ask them to help in my garden.  They love to play with water so I ask them to water the plants. They also helped repair the rabbit fence so that the rabbits would not eat my kale and sorrel!  I hope they will come to love gardening as much as I do.

Gardening translates into how I see my role in the world too.  I want to be able to nurture my family and friends and help them grow and become as beautiful as they can.  This is the role I see in my practice as well.  What can I do for my hypnotherapy clients to help them to grow and flourish in their lives? 

Whether it is overcoming a fear, feeling more confident in the work and life, stopping an unhealthy habit, or finding the opportunity in a changing world, I can work with you to embrace the change you want or need to make this season. 

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

For another perspective on the benefits of embracing change and some tips on how to go about it, please see the sources below:

https://www.jackcanfield.com/blog/embrace-change/

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200930-why-embracing-change-is-the-key-to-a-good-life

Exercise to Improve Mood, Reduce Stress and Anxiety

As the Covid-19 pandemic goes on, our levels of stress and anxiety continue to rise.  Hypnotherapy is one way of learning how to deal with these issues. Today I’d like to share another option.  My friend, Esta McIntyre, is a Corrective Exercise Specialist and owner of My Health Studio in Westlake Village, California.  I asked her to share some information about how exercise may improve your mood and help with stress and anxiety.

Esta, tell us a little about your background.

There is a quote that really resonates with me:

“When the world says, ‘Give up,” Hope whispers, ‘Try it one more time.’”

~ Unknown ~

I have been a fitness, nutrition and wellness coach for the last 15 years.  However, I’m not the “run-of-the-mill” stereotype of the quintessential, talented counterparts who share my chosen profession.  You see, I’ve never been a fan of exercise, I love to eat and I’m predisposed to bouts of crankiness and mild depression.

 How do you feel about exercise?

Although I’m less than enthused about the act of methodical exercise, I do like the by-products of doing so. I’ve read over and over about studies showing how exercise can help to lift spirits. When you think about it, exercise is a safe and effective remedy. That appeals to me, since my body typically reacts negatively to meds. The thing is, it’s difficult to get up and get moving when we’re simply not in the mood or simply don’t want to loosen our grip on the TV remote long enough to get off the sofa.

How can we get started?

If you’re experiencing mild depression, stress or just feeling moody, you may need strategies to help you start an exercise program and stick with it. Try these tips for working out when you’re feeling low.

• See your doctor. If you’re being treated for depression, let your doctor know about your plans. They can coordinate your treatment, answer your individual questions and help you to evaluate your progress.

• Start small. Your first step can be as modest as a walk around the block or 10 minutes of stretching in the morning. As your energy levels increase, it will be easier to tackle larger endeavors.

• Focus on aerobics. While lifting weights is critical to good health, research shows that aerobic activities are especially powerful in fighting anxiety and depression. Do something that speeds up your heart rate, like riding a bike or jumping rope or even dancing. Listen to music you enjoy

• Set realistic goals. Aim for targets you can reach. If you’re a bit deconditioned, sign up for beginner fitness classes. Exercise for a few minutes at a time if you need to work your way up.

• Make it convenient. Keep some gear at home that you can use anytime, such as resistance bands or a rowing machine. Do leg lifts and pushups while you’re brewing coffee or watching TV.

• Be consistent. Regular exercise delivers greater results and reduces your risk of injuries. Try shortening your sessions instead of skipping a day if you’re feeling uninspired.

• Move. Physical activity apart from formal exercise counts too. Block out time for gardening and housework.

 How do we stick with it?

 Once you start feeling better, it may be easy for you to rationalize slowing down – especially if lying on the sofa watching television is your favorite place to be.  Try these suggestions for sticking with the program (and I don’t mean the TV program).

• Enjoy yourself. Find a variety of activities that you love, so you’ll look forward to your sessions. You might take dance classes one day and go hiking the next. Listen to your favorite songs and go outdoors when you can.

• Create new challenges. Update your goals when you’re ready to aim higher. Slowly increase the duration and intensity of your workouts or learn a new skill.

• Think positively. You may criticize yourself harshly when you’re down, tired or cranky. Become aware of your thoughts and experiment with more constructive messages. List your personal strengths and the things you like about your body.

• Invest in yourself. Take care of your mental and physical wellbeing. Keeping fit also depends on eating a balanced diet and getting adequate amounts of restful sleep.

• Reward yourself. Recognize your efforts by treating yourself to something that gives you pleasure. You might buy a book or take a bubble bath.

• Seek support. Reach out to family and friends you trust and tell them what they can do to help you reach your fitness goals. They may offer words of encouragement or they may want to join you at the gym.

• Remember your purpose. Think about the reasons why you want a more active life. Your main concern may be relieving symptoms of anxiety or depression, or you may have other priorities, like wanting to stay independent as you age or provide a healthy role model for your children.

So, the next time you want to feel better, instead of heading for a bowl of ice cream or diving into a bag of chips, quit slogging around.  Get up, start moving, and make it a regular thing. Even small increases in physical activity can have a big impact on mood and self-esteem.

Thanks, Esta.  If someone would like to work with you, how do we get in touch?

My website is www.EstaMcIntyre.com and my email is getfit@MyHealthStudio.com.

For additional perspectives on the importance of exercise, please see articles below.

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

For additional perspectives on the importance of exercise, please see articles below.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-exercise-help-treat-anxiety-2019102418096

https://mtipt.com/managing-your-mental-health-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-with-exercise/

https://www.nuvancehealth.org/coronavirus/exercise-is-essential-for-well-being-during-covid-19-pandemic/#:~:text=However%2C%20here%20are%20a%20few,infections%2C%20including%20COVID%2D19.

Needle Phobia and Covid-19 Vaccination Anxiety

For nearly a year now you have been digesting the information about Covid-19 and solidifying the belief that it is a life threatening disease. Your stress and anxiety levels have skyrocketed as you struggled to determine and adopt new behaviors and practices that could slow the spread of the virus, help you to avoid getting sick yourself, and/or at least limit the severity of the illness if you do get infected.

Now, with the advent of at least three vaccines becoming available, the prospect for highly effective personal immunity is here. If enough of us get vaccinated our society may even achieve herd immunity.

How are you feeling about that news? Are you:

• Exited and grateful that all you have to do is get one or two vaccination(s) so you can see your friends and hug you children again?

• Happy that scientists have created the vaccines but a bit anxious about the safety of the vaccines or their side-affects that you may experience

• So anxious and fearful at the mere thought of getting a shot in the arm that you would rather risk getting Covid?

If you find yourself in the third group, at some point between mild fear and extreme anxiety, you may have a condition known as trypanophobia or needle phobia (fear of needles). You are in good company. Needle phobia impacts up to twenty percent of people and causes many of them to avoid needed medical care.

So what is needle phobia, where does it come from and can it be overcome when you need to face a needle in the vital interests of your own health and well-being?

A needle phobia is defined as a fear of medical needle procedures.

Fears in general are natural responses to perceived danger in our environment. The perception of threat or danger triggers our instinctive, physiological fight or flight response which helps us escape from or handle the threat.

Phobias are usually grouped into two categories:

• Specific or Simple phobias are learned response to an encounter with a certain object, animal, situation or activity. Fear of snakes, fear of flying, and fear of having an injection (vaccination) are examples of Specific phobias.

• Complex Phobias are responses to more general, everyday activities. Consequently they can have a larger impact on your life. Agoraphobia  is one of the most common Complex phobias.

Phobias, while related to fears, are different in several ways. A phobia:

• Is most commonly a learned response (not instinctual) which exists in your subconscious mind

• Can be triggered by just thinking about the situation or object of the phobia

• Is much more intense than a fear and can lead to major anxiety and even panic attacks

• Develops when you have an exaggerated or unrealistic fear about a specific situation or object

• Can cause great distress and hold you back from doing what you want/need to do

In the general context of fears and phobias, needle phobias would be classified as Specific or Simple phobias. You might have three different types of needle phobia:

• A phobia which developed from an early traumatic experience with a medical needle procedure

• A phobia which stems from an acute, intense hypersensitivity to pain or the sensation of a needle puncturing  your skin

• A phobia where you faint or nearly lose consciousness before, during or after a medical needle procedure. It is generally agreed that this type of phobia is based on your instinctive, vasovagal reflex rather than a learned response.

It doesn’t matter what type of needle phobia you might have. When you think about getting a necessary vaccination, the intensity of the fear, stress and anxiety that you feel can hold you back from ever getting it done. If you manage to make the appointment anyway, you will want to know what you can do to prepare and better manage your phobia during and after the vaccination event.

Wherever your fear arises from, there is more to overcoming needle phobia than simply willing it away. The key is learning to use the power of your subconscious mind to change the way you respond to a medical needle procedure.

Hypnotherapy can help in several ways:   

• In hypnotherapy, we first take a look at where the phobia began. Maybe it was a personal childhood trauma or an event you experienced as an adult. Maybe you learned from observing the experience of a parent, teacher, or other influential people in your life. Re-examining the event in a calm, non-judgmental environment can be a positive beginning.

• TimeLine Therapy can help you travel back in time to examine the phobia from your current perspective. Sometimes that can be enough to help you realize that it is no longer needed or relevant to your life and you are able to let it go.

•  Systematic desensitization may also be used.  You enter your deeply relaxed state (hypnosis), attempt to access the fear, let it pass, and then come back to your relaxed state. We repeat this exercise until you find it difficult or impossible to access your fear.

• We can also use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT or Tapping) to help you let go of fear.

• After you have explored your phobia and determined that you can manage or let go of it, we write affirmations that cement in those positive thoughts. “I conquer my fear”, “I love getting my vaccine”, “I am healthy and well”.

Needle phobia can be debilitating and life-limiting. If your phobia becomes overwhelming, hypnotherapy can help. I will listen, ask questions, and help you get information and gain an understanding of your phobia. We will develop transformative affirmations that focus on the positive outcome that you desire

If you would like to talk with me about your fear of needles or have questions, please contact me. 

Sincerely,

Cinda

 HYPNONEWS AND RESOURCES 

For additional perspectives on needle phobia and Covid-19 vaccination please see articles below.

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-to-overcome-a-fear-of-needles-so-you-can-get-a-covid-19-vaccination

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/dont-let-fear-of-needles-interfere-with-vaccinations

New Technology for Your Daily Affirmation Practice

As I wrote about in the THE POWER IN AFFIRMATIONS, there are 3 parts to a daily affirmation practice:

1.      Read and write them each evening just before bed

2.      Read and say them out loud first thing in the morning and

3.      Repeat them to yourself throughout the day

Recently I had the opportunity to talk with Mary Schulz, the creator of the AFFIRM Store app, a new tool you can use to help you remember and re-enforce your daily affirmation practice.  Today, it is my pleasure to share our conversation with you.

Cinda: Mary, thank you for agreeing to talk to us today about your new app, AFFIRM Store. To begin with, can you tell us how you first learned about affirmations?

Mary: My maternal grandparents were interested in positive thinking and familiarized me with affirmations early on in my life.  My grandmother would read from a daily affirmation book that had an affirmation and then a few paragraphs about the theme.  I realized that I liked having that positive thought as a theme for the day.

Affirming the positive things in my life and the goals that I wanted to come true, brought me a lot of comfort and success over the years, but I was never consist in using affirmations.

Cinda:  How have you used them recently in your life today?

Mary: In 2019, after years of struggling with being overweight, I had come to the decision to buckle down and get my eating under control.  I was referred to Cinda Roffman for Hypnotherapy and I was brought back to the power of affirmations. 

I used Cinda’s book to write my affirmations each night, as well as a few gratitudes.  During my sessions with Cinda, we would review my affirmations to see if I needed any revisions, and she’d state my affirmations while I was under hypnosis.  Between appointments was when I could see that I would be working through how to get to these goals…trying new approaches…thinking of things from different perspectives…gaining confidence to do what was needed.

Cinda: When do you use your affirmations?

Mary: I have to confess, I’m not great at reading my affirmations in the morning and saying them out loud.  I do have other practices in the morning that help me start my day off on a good footing.  But that is also why I love using AFFIRM Store to keep me focused on my goals throughout the day.

Cinda: Do you write your affirmations?

Mary: Yes, every evening while watching TV, I write a few gratitudes and my affirmations.  I’ve found that once I’ve headed to bed is not a good time for me to write and have the lights on.  So, I’ve compromised and write them while I’m relaxing in the evening.  

Cinda: What are some of your affirmations?

Mary: I change up my affirmations as the needs in my life change, but there are some that I have used repeatedly, especially for the harder issues in my life.  Here are just a few:

• I enjoy and relax in my new appearance

• I stick to my eating planT

• The food I eat satisfies me.

Cinda: How have you found that hypnosis and affirmations work together for you?

Mary: Some say that you have to believe what you are affirming…but I found that I could affirm things and with the power of hypnosis, introduce into my subconscious mind success that my conscious mind would never have believed.  In the process and over time, my conscious mind was able to find ways to start believing in the goals I set and the affirmations I was using, and I made great progress towards my goals. 

Repeating my affirmations before going to sleep and multiple times during the day really helped me. 

Cinda: Tell us about AFFIRM Store.  How does it work?

Mary: With a busy job and life, remembering to think of my goals during the day was hard.  So, my software developer husband and I decided to create the AFFIRM Store that randomly sends me my affirmations via text message throughout the day, during the times I designate, to help me stay focused on my goals and reintroduce them to my conscious and subconscious mind.  I can have an unlimited number of affirmations in the app, and it will cycle through them. 

When I receive my affirmation via text, I love to take a moment and read it out loud, if possible.  I find that I gain a sense of calm, similar to the calm I feel under hypnosis, and I can easily move on with the tasks of my day.  It’s a great touchstone to center me and the confidence I gain helps me to achieve my goals.

The Standard annual subscription in AFFIRM Store allows up to 5 texts per day and with Premium, up to 12 texts per day.  If you have less than 5 affirmations, the app will just cycle through and repeat affirmations until the amount you designate is reached.  

I’ve introduced it to a number of my friends, and they love having more than 5 texts per day and just love AFFIRM Store!

Cinda: Any concluding words?

Mary: With the help of affirmations, hypnosis and other programs that I was open to try, I’ve reached my “right-sized” body and have been maintaining it for months.

We invite you to try AFFIRM Store for 14 days for free.  Just go to https://www.AFFIRMstore.com to sign up and get started. Then tell us what you think at info@AFFIRMstore.com

Cinda: Thanks again, Mary, for this excellent new tool. If you would like to work together on setting your goals and designing you affirmations for 2021, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Cinda

 HypnoNews and Resources 

An interesting article about combining mindfulness and hypnotherapy into Mindful Hypnotherapy https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200615/Novel-intervention-for-stress-shows-positive-results-in-pilot-study.aspx

 One of my favorite authors, Jack Canfield, writes about the why and how of affirmations https://www.jackcanfield.com/blog/practice-daily-affirmations/

Goals, Visions and Affirmations Method - Part 3

This series introduces a new, hypnotherapy based method that you can use now and throughout the year to help set and achieve the goals your desire. Part 1 covered an exercise to help you get in touch with goals in different areas of your life. Part 2 helps translate your goals into an inspiring and motivating vision board. Part 3 is about using Affirmations to influence your subconscious mind and harness its power to help you reach your goals.

What’s dancing in your head? We have self-talk in our heads all day long.  What you are saying to yourself can make a real difference.  Is your self-talk negative or positive?  Do you constantly criticize yourself? Berate yourself for what you may not have yet accomplished? OR Are you telling yourself “I am powerful!”, “I am successful”, “I am a winner”?

One way to counter that negative self-talk is by creating a set of positive affirmations that you can use all day long.  Affirmations are very easy to write.  Just remember to keep them positive and begin with an “I” statement.  You do not have to believe your affirmations yet; they are about goals and aspirations.  They are a way of sealing in ideas that you would like to have be true.  “I am a permanent non-smoker.”  “I easily achieve and maintain my weight management goal.”

You can choose one affirmation each day to focus on. Make that your mantra for the day.  If you are going to be flying tomorrow and you are anxious, make your mantra for that day something like, “I love to fly and I am looking forward to my vacation in Bali.”

You can use AFFIRMATIONS to:

• Motivate yourself

• Keep your mind focused on your goals.

• Make positive changes in the way you think, feel and act.

• Influence the subconscious mind and harness its powers to help you reach your goals.

• Shift your mindset and life experience to a more positive, energetic and active world view.

The best time to repeat affirmations is the last thing at night and first thing in the morning.  Each evening our subconscious mind “Takes over” as we prepare for sleep.  This is the time when your subconscious mind is most available for programming.  As we are sleeping, the mind uses dreaming to deal with all the things that have happened during the day.  When you read your affirmations out loud before falling asleep, they enter your subconscious and begin to make changes.

When you write them as well, another part of your brain is engaged and the affirmations are even more effective. 

When you wake up in the morning, you still have some access to your subconscious mind.  Read the affirmations again to set the stage for your day.  Even better?  Say them out loud in front of a mirror.

I offer each of my clients a copy of my book and journal, The Power in Affirmations. Clients use this as part of their daily practice to reinforce their personal Affirmations and track progress toward their goals.  The journal also contains space to write what you are grateful for each day.  This is another way to focus on the positives in your life. 

If you would like to work together on setting your goals and designing your affirmations for 2021, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Cinda

HYPNONEWS and RESOURCES

For another look at affirmations from a different perspective -

https://www.mindtosucceed.com/positive-affirmations-self-esteem.html

The science behind affirmations - does science believe they work? https://positivepsychology.com/daily-affirmations/

Goals, Visions and Affirmations Method - Part 2

This series introduces a new, hypnotherapy based method that you can use now and throughout the year to help set and achieve the goals that you desire. Part 1 covered an exercise to help you get in touch with goals you may have in different areas of your life. Part 2 is about translating your goals into an inspiring and motivating vision board.

A vision board is a physical representation of the goals you want to achieve. It serves as a visual reminder of what you would like to see in your life, what changes you want to make and what you want to focus on each day. As you focus on your vision board images and words, it reinforces your subconscious mind to motivate and encourage you toward achieving your goals.

I like to make a new vision board at the beginning of each New Year.

My vision board for 2019 included beautiful pictures of a Mediterranean island – little did I know I’d spend time that summer on the Greek island of Corfu. 

It also included a picture of a family eating outside at a long table under market lights.  Last summer my son put market lights in my backyard and we have had many socially distanced family dinners out there together. 

One of the phrases I picked was “Clean Out”   --- Little did I know I’d have time to clean and organize my spice cupboard, my coffee cupboard, my pantry, my junk drawer and everything else!! 

Caution – be careful what you put on your board, it may just come true.

You can make the board all about one area of your life or a general board that encompasses all areas.  If your focus this year is on your business, for example, you might use words and pictures that remind you what you will achieve in your business this year.  If you are focused on your healthy weight management journey, you could choose images and words that inspire you towards that goal.  You might select pictures of yourself at your goal weight, pictures of activities you’d like to do and healthy foods that you’d like to include in your plan. 

I usually make one large board for all parts of my life and divide the board into sections in my mind so that one corner is business, one corner is personal, one corner is recreation and one corner is health. I like to see how they are interwoven. For me, keeping a balance between business and personal is important. I remember in one vision board I actually had a bridge connecting the different parts of my life.

Making a vision board is simple and fun.  Get a large poster board – I like to use one at least 3 feet by 3 feet, a stack of magazines, scissors, glue and some paper and markers. 

Take a moment after you have your supplies to pause, close your eyes and do a short exercise like the exercise in Part 1. Calmly sit, relax from your head to your toes and imagine your life at the end of the year. What changes would you like to see? What goals would you like to achieve?

Now, your job is to find pictures and words that speak to you of those goals.  After you have a group of pictures and words, lay them out on the poster board and paste them down.  If there are words or phrases that you couldn’t find you can write them down and add them to the mix. You can also print pictures and words from your computer – any source works.

When your vision board is ready, put it in a place where you can see it and be inspired by it every day.  You can even add to it if you find things that you might have missed on the initial board.

In a year, take a look and see which of the things you aimed for have come to be.  I think you may be very surprised.  I always am.

If you would like to work together on setting your goals and creating your vision board for 2021, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

Here’s a link to a great set of example vision boards for a wide range of goals and time frames:

https://parentuniversity.wws.k12.in.us/?p=3260

Goals, Visions and Affirmations - Part 1

Did you set some important goals for 2020 that may have been disrupted, derailed and blocked by pandemic events beyond your control? I know I did.

The good news is that 2021 is here at last and on a personal level, we all get to start again.

The extra energy that comes with beginning a new year makes it an optimal time to set clear, new intentions for our health, wealth and relationships and learn some new ways to help us achieve those goals.

Today I am excited to share a new, hypnotherapy based, 3 part method you can use now and throughout the year to help set and achieve the goals you desire.

Part 1 is about determining your goals for 2021.  Part 2 is about translating your goals into an inspiring vision board.  Part 3 concerns development and use of several affirmations to implement your goals. I will talk about Part 1 this week and Parts 2 and 3 in upcoming blogs.

To begin, let’s do a quick exercise to help you get in touch with what goals you may have for 2021.  Focus on what you want, not how you will get there.

Get in a comfortable position, feet flat on the floor if possible, legs and arms not crossed. Close your eyes (Unless you are driving)  Imagine a beautiful white light starting from the top of your head and flowing down through your whole body, relaxing each part as it slowly moves down from your head, over your forehead, eyes and face, down your neck and out through your arms all the way down to your fingertips.  The gentle white light now flows down your chest, into your stomach, thighs and down your legs all the way to your feet.  Take a moment and get in touch with how calm and relaxed you feel. 

Now imagine it is December 31, 2021.  What would you like to have achieved?  Take a look at areas in your life that you might want to improve.  Wealth, health, relationships or career are some possibilities. Pick two areas and imagine what the impact would be on your life if those 2 areas were to change significantly.

Now open your eyes and take a deep breath.  Remember the 2 areas that you would like to change.  Take a moment and jot down what your goals are in those areas and set your notes aside, ready for Part 2, translating your goals into an inspiring vision board.

If you would like to work together on setting your goals and writing affirmations for 2021, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Cinda

Did you set some important goals for 2020 that may have been disrupted, derailed and blocked by pandemic events beyond your control? I know I did.

The good news is that 2021 is here at last and on a personal level, we all get to start again.

The extra energy that comes with beginning a new year makes it an optimal time to set clear, new intentions for our health, wealth and relationships and learn some new ways to help us achieve those goals.

Today I am excited to share a new, hypnotherapy based, 3 part method you can use now and throughout the year to help set and achieve the goals you desire.

Part 1 is about determining your goals for 2021.  Part 2 is about translating your goals into an inspiring vision board.  Part 3 concerns development and use of several affirmations to implement your goals. I will talk about Part 1 this week and Parts 2 and 3 in upcoming blogs.

To begin, let’s do a quick exercise to help you get in touch with what goals you may have for 2021.  Focus on what you want, not how you will get there.

Get in a comfortable position, feet flat on the floor if possible, legs and arms not crossed. Close your eyes (Unless you are driving)  Imagine a beautiful white light starting from the top of your head and flowing down through your whole body, relaxing each part as it slowly moves down from your head, over your forehead, eyes and face, down your neck and out through your arms all the way down to your fingertips.  The gentle white light now flows down your chest, into your stomach, thighs and down your legs all the way to your feet.  Take a moment and get in touch with how calm and relaxed you feel. 

Now imagine it is December 31, 2021.  What would you like to have achieved?  Take a look at areas in your life that you might want to improve.  Wealth, health, relationships or career are some possibilities. Pick two areas and imagine what the impact would be on your life if those 2 areas were to change significantly.

Now open your eyes and take a deep breath.  Remember the 2 areas that you would like to change.  Take a moment and jot down what your goals are in those areas and set your notes aside, ready for Part 2, translating your goals into an inspiring vision board.

If you would like to work together on setting your goals and writing affirmations for 2021, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

Here’s a link for a great, comprehensive Goal Setting Tootkit:

https://www.mindtools.com/downloads/lbr5283hs/GoalSettingToolkit.pdf

For more ideas about goal setting, check out these articles:

https://www.addvantagehypnotherapy.co.uk/6-steps-goal-setting-self-hypnosis/#:~:text=The%20key%20to%20achieving%20your,your%20conscious%20and%20subconscious%20minds

https://www.google.com/search?q=making+hypnotherapy+goals+work+for+you&rlz=1C1BOHB_enUS678US678&oq=making+hypnotherapy+goals+work+for+you&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i22i29i30.22599j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Extinguish Negative Habits with Help from Hypnotherapy

As we approach the end of 2020, it can be a time to reflect on what you did right this year and what changes you might want to make for 2021.  With the COVID crisis, I think everyone has staying healthy on their mind.  I have had several clients during COVID decide that it was time to quit smoking.  One of them was a 66 year old female client who had been smoking for over 40 years. She was a caregiver for her 2 young grandsons and wanted to stay healthy to be able to keep up with them.  Her husband was having some health issues and she wanted to support him as he worked to stay healthy also.  This is what she wrote: 

“After years of smoking cigarettes and attempting to quit on my own, I turned to Cinda Roffman. After three sessions, I conquered this horrible habit with Cinda guiding the way, instilling positive affirmations and insights. Cinda figuratively took me by the hand, and helped me realize I could do this. She is an amazing therapist!”

Do you have an addiction or habit that you would like to say goodbye to as 2020 ends?

Whether it is smoking, nail biting, hair pulling or other negative habits, exploring why can be a first step to extinguishing these habits. Stress and anxiety can be a contributing factor in these negative habits.  Once we figure out why you are doing them, we can come up with behaviors that will not harm you and provide the same level of comfort.  For example, a warm cup of tea or a brisk walk can do a lot towards relieving the stress that can lead to these behaviors.

Negative habits may have originated as a response to stress or anxiety that you did not know how to cope with. Looking back on their beginnings can be enlightening. Maybe you began to smoke when it was cool and the hip thing to do.  Now we know more about smoking and the many medical problems associated with it.  Knowing that in our conscious mind, however, does not always translate to a change in behavior.  That’s where the subconscious mind comes in. When we convince the subconscious mind that smoking is bad for us also, it makes changing the behavior so much easier.  

We will also write affirmations that you can use to remind yourself of the changes you are making.  “I am a permanent non-smoker.”  “I have beautiful, long nails.”  “My hair is healthy and full.”   These affirmations will reinforce the suggestions made in hypnosis.

We will find your “happy place,” and anchor it to the calm, relaxed feeling you feel in hypnosis.  When you find yourself beginning to do the behavior you are trying to extinguish, you instead focus on feeling calm and relaxed.  Eventually, the behavior will be completely replaced by a feeling of calm.

Wishing you and your family and friends a happy, healthy holiday season!

Sincerely,

Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

For more ideas about extinguishing negative habits with hypnotherapy, check out these articles:

https://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/hypnotherapy/problem-behaviours/

https://www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk/articles/smoking.html#whystopsmoking

Navigating the Holidays during the Pandemic

My friend Lynne, who lives in Denver, put up her Christmas tree last weekend.  You might think this is a little early.  I did at first.  She said that she did it because it made her happy.  I’m OK with that.  This year the holidays – all of them – will definitely be different. Because of COVID, many of our traditional family events will not be possible. 

Holidays can be stressful in the best of times. This year the social distancing and isolation are adding to everyone’s anxiety.  So with Thanksgiving coming up this week, let’s take a look at the holidays and how to navigate them.

1.    Take some time to reflect on your feelings about the holidays. 

• Maybe even take a few notes or write in a journal  

• What is your level of concern about COVID transmission?      

• Do you have a pod you are comfortable getting together with?

• Are there some alternatives to in person meeting that might work for you and your family? 

• How do you feel about decorating this year? 

• What are the elements of the holidays that are meaningful to you? 

• How will your handle gifts if aren’t able to see each other?

 2.     Decide what is best for you individually

• After you realize what is truly important, consider new ways to make the holidays meaningful.  I’m thinking of decorating with a few things that bring me joy and make me smile.

 3.     Have a frank discussion with your family and friends

• Discuss with them your thoughts on getting together, decorating and gift exchanges.  The most difficult part of the discussion is beginning.  When navigating these discussions, emphasize that you care about your family and friends and your goal is for you all to stay healthy.  Hopefully starting from that point will encourage everyone to work together. 

So what about the Christmas tree?  I say do what gives you joy (with thanks to Marie Kondo). If you want to go all out and decorate – why not?  If you want to have a minimalist holiday this year, that’s fine too.  Start from a place of what makes you the most comfortable and share that in a loving way with your family and friends. Take into consideration their thoughts and feelings and come up with new holiday traditions.

 Wishing you all a healthy and happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,
Cinda

HypnoNews and Resources

For more ideas about navigating the holidays, check out these articles:

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/should-you-cancel-holiday-gatherings-this-year-because-of-covid/

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/4-mindful-tips-to-destress-this-holiday-season  

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20047544

And of course, here’s Marie Kondo’s famous book: The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up) by Marie Kondō 

Pandemic Dreams - A Hypnotherapy Perspective

A writer recently wrote in to “ASK AMY” in the LA Times about their anxious, strange and vivid dreams since the pandemic began.  Amy responded by referencing the work of renowned Harvard Medical School dream researcher Deidre Barrett whose newest book is titled Pandemic Dreams. The book has been described as a collection of vivid Covid-19-related dreams accompanied by her advice for practical exercises to control stress and anxiety while asleep. Amy commented that she was surprised to learn that “you might be able to control more of your dream content.”

Hypnotherapy also holds the view that yes, you can direct and control what you dream about to some extent.  Don’t forget, however, that dreams serve a very important function in mental health and you may or may not need to direct and control your dream experiences.

In an excerpt from Pandemic Dreams we read that “Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept around the world, and we began to shelter-in-place, people have reported unusually active dream lives. We’re remembering more dreams than usual, and those dreams are especially vivid and bizarre. The virus itself is the star of many – literally or in one of its metaphoric guises.”

 Below are 3 techniques you can use to help with Pandemic Dream experiences. If you are curious but not worried about your dreams consider item #1 before jumping into dream direction and control activities. If your dreams are contributing to and exacerbating your level of stress and anxiety consider items #2 and #3.

1.       Gain an understanding of the purpose and natural function of dreaming and dreams.

Everything that happens in our world during the day remains in the 10% of our mind that is our conscious mind.  At night, as we sleep, all that information is “downloaded” into our subconscious mind.  Dreams are an important tool to clear our mind and ready it for the next day’s input, similar to a computer restart.

 2.       Learn to direct the content of your dreams by programming your subconscious mind just before you go to sleep at night.  

Accessing the subconscious mind and implanting ideas for what you do want to dream about is best done just before for you go to sleep when the conscious mind is ready to turn control over to your subconscious for the night. “Tonight, I will dream about ……”

 3.       Train yourself to enter lucid dreaming and use the power of lucid dreaming to adjust and modify your dream experience as it is underway.

In a regular dream you don’t know that you are dreaming. A lucid dream is a dream during which you are aware that you are dreaming while in the dream. That awareness empowers you to exercise some control of the dream by doing things like recognizing and eliminating negative symbols or directly confronting fears without concern for you safety because its only a dream.

If you find yourself having pandemic dreams that disturb you, you might want more information. I am offering a free, online group hypnosis session every other Wednesday from 10-11 am pst. Our next session will be on November 18.You can register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMpf--rrDkiHdHHxRgKaamvgHt5fbvj2ADR

Help! I'm muted and no one hears me. [Hypnotherapy and At Home Learning]

My granddaughters recently stayed with us for 2 weeks.  I had an up close and real lesson in how hard it is for students, parents and teachers right now. 

My younger granddaughter, who is 7, didn’t really understand the keyboard and each day was a hunt and peck challenge.  One morning, in her first class of the day, she called out three times to respond to her teacher’s question. However, she was on mute and the teacher did not acknowledge her in any way. So she quit and sat through the rest of the lesson, frustrated and alone. Lesson learned? When no one hears you, just give up?

Another morning, when she finally did get online for school, the class session was filled with distractions. The teacher’s kids and dogs would randomly walk through the class, interrupting whatever concentration she might have mustered.

At the same time, her older sister was in another room working on a different schedule. Mom was teaching her classes in yet another room. Grandma and Grandpa were trying to help while maintaining some schedule of their own.  Sis, who is 10, fared a little better with the technology but was still easily distracted by YouTube videos and other things she could stream on a different device. And we had a ratio of 3 adults to 2 kids!  Anyone else feeling our pain? 

So what does this have to do with hypnotherapy?  Hypnotherapy can help you and your home student focus on the task at hand.  As you begin a task, take a deep breath and center yourself:  “Right now, I will only focus on the next 45 minute task or class.”  You will find that you will avoid distractions and work more easily.  Suggest that phrase to your student as well. 

It can be frustrating to be put in the role of teacher while you may be working from home.  This would be a good time to use your anchor, breathing in on a word that describes a positive time or place and breathing out on a word that describes the positive feeling associated with that time or place.  Shallow breathing and unconsciously holding your breath can contribute to stress. Focusing on your breathing can counteract that.

If you find yourself studying or working and teaching from home, you may want support in this crazy time. I am offering a free, online group hypnosis session every other Wednesday at 10 am.  Our next session will be on November 4th.  You can register here:
 https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEkcuCtrjsuEtbno4yNAHMDb7ZbSJRbVOpN

Sincerely, Cinda