Don't over do it over the holidays, over the top is so last year

We DO hear our body signal us that we are full, but then often we choose to ignore the signal and eat past full for various reasons (it's there, you paid for it, you don't want to waste it, etc.). We give our bodies a gift when we honour that full signal. Try it and see how your body feels. You may like it enough to make it a habit!

every little change will change your life

At Grassel hypnotherapy, we gratefully acknowledge Sandy from Mindwise bodywise for permission to broadcast little tidbits of information to help people effect change in thier lives.

Sometimes the turn of a phrase is all it takes for a reader to sublmate and absorb that tiny spark to wake up and change their lives for the better!

Fitness is a lifestyle. It’s more than a new year’s resolution, or short term goal for an upcoming even such as a holiday, reunion or wedding. If you’re like many people, fear may be stopping you. You may feel afraid of doing something wrong, or you choose to do nothing rather than make a mistake or look foolish. Maybe you’re not sure where to start?

Baby Steps to great leaps

Remember the first step in beginning an exercise program literally begins with the first step. Walking is an excellent form of exercise but regardless of which exercise activities you choose, start slowly, visualise success, keep it simple and learn to enjoy moving and using your body. Most people can see significant visible results within just a few weeks of starting a new program. Stick with it until then and you’ll begin to appreciate the results you are looking for, which will in turn motivate you to keep going. You are worth the effort!

it's all in the mind

--> Fitness is a lifestyle. It’s more than a new year’s resolution, or short term goal for an upcoming even such as a holiday, reunion or wedding. If you’re like many people, fear may be stopping you. You may feel afraid of doing something wrong, or you choose to do nothing rather than make a mistake or look foolish. Maybe you’re not sure where to start?

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy - Learn the Truth

The Health Education Authority has said: “Research shows that there is more scientific evidence for Hypnotherapy than any other Complementary Therapy...by using hypnosis people can perform prodigious feats of will-power and self-healing.”

So what exactly is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is the application of a number of natural methods to induce trance – an altered state of consciousness – in the patient. (‘Trance’, ‘hypnosis’ and ‘hypnotic state’ all mean the same thing here and can be used interchangeably in this context.) In the hypnotic state you become more relaxed than usual and more able to concentrate. You become more susceptible to suggestions made by the therapist (or yourself), and more able to access memories and emotions from the past. One or more of these characteristics of hypnosis is utilised by the therapist, depending on the type of treatment employed.

Trance itself is entirely normal and natural. We all go in and out of various levels of trance spontaneously on a daily basis. We enter trance when we become so absorbed by one thing that, for a while, we are completely unaware of anything else. This could be while watching television, reading a book, listening to a lecture, driving, or when startled. We also enter trance when we are relaxing, day-dreaming or half asleep. The only difference between this and hypnosis undertaken with a therapist is that, with a therapist, you are guided into the state by somebody else for the purpose of achieving an agreed goal.

There are a number of methods available to the therapist to induce trance, but the most common is simply talking. The therapist asks you to close your eyes and talks to you for a while about relaxation, sleep, hypnosis or trance. You may be asked to do some relaxation exercises, and/or to imagine certain things – often being in very beautiful and tranquil surroundings. Sometimes you may be asked to focus your eyes on one particular spot for a short period of time, known as eye fixation, while the therapist continues talking. There are also a number of quick methods of inducing trance that can be used when appropriate.

Most people experience hypnosis as pleasant and relaxing, or not very much different from normal (see Hypnosis Myths below.)

What is hypnotherapy and what is the benefit of it?

Hypnotherapy, in short, is the combination of hypnosis with psychotherapy and counselling methods to bring about therapeutic change. As a hypnotherapist AND psychotherapist/counsellor I believe that hypnotherapy can be successful where other therapies are not, and that it can speed up the process dramatically.

Many of our difficulties are deep rooted or the result of subconscious programming. It is the subconscious mind that stores past experiences, emotions, and habits or responses that may be hurting us. Counselling and psychotherapy alone do affect the subconscious, but rather indirectly via the conscious mind or behaviour change. Hypnotherapy attempts to treat the subconscious more directly, bypassing the conscious altogether.

But the conscious mind must not be left out of the equation. As we work with the subconscious we also need to integrate our experiences into our conscious life, to rationalise them and give them meaning. Therefore, hypnotherapists should work with a variety of hypnotic and psychotherapeutic techniques, so that hypnosis is used for some, but not all, of the time.

Click here for information on different types of therapy available

Hypnosis Myths

Myth 1. When you are hypnotised you are asleep or unconscious.

You do not go to sleep and you are not unconscious. You will remain aware throughout the session, no matter how deep the trance. Some people find that their senses seem to be heightened and that they are even more aware.

Myth 2. The hypnotist takes control of you – like on the television or stage show. (See also caveat 1 below)

There is no question of losing control or being made to do anything against your will by using hypnosis. You are in control throughout the session. This has been tested experimentally and no evidence exists to indicate that hypnosis increases the control of the hypnotist, or exerts any unique form of control, over and beyond that already present prior to the hypnotic induction. (Ref 1) The unwanted or noxious suggestion usually causes the person to wake up from the hypnotic state and is always rejected.

Television and stage shows are easily explained. The hypnotist is skilled at knowing which people want to take part and are highly suggestible subjects. He can tell this by observing the behaviour of people in the crowd and/or doing certain tests. Many people enjoy the excuse to have fun and show off. Although subject-volunteers feel compelled to act upon the suggestions given, the hypnotist does not suggest they do anything that they might really object to. Together with rapid induction techniques (which require moderate skill and a lot of confidence), this creates the illusion of control. People who don’t want to play the part do not get called, and people who are especially unwilling don’t attend. If a difficult participant does make it onto the stage he will be given a more ordinary role to perform, like fetching a chair or being the recipient of someone else's behaviour.

You should also bear in mind that stage hypnotists are skilled illusionists. They employ a number of tricks to fool both audience and volunteers that have nothing to do with hypnosis.

Myth 3. "But I didn't feel hypnotized/I didn't go under."

There is no such thing as a ‘hypnotised feeling’ as such, and a lighter trance might not feel very different from normal. Individuals vary in how deeply they go into trance, yet a light trance is all that is needed for many types of therapeutic work. The therapist has a number of ways to tell when a suitable level of hypnosis has been achieved to begin treatment.

Myth 4. After the session everything that took place in the session will be forgotten.

This is generally untrue. Most of the time you will remember generally what the therapist said. It is very rare that the therapist will attempt to make you forget what happened, because ordinarily there is no benefit to this and the suggestion usually wears off anyway in time.

However, if you enter a deep trance you might find that you’ve forgotten most of the details of what the therapist said. You may realise when you wake up that you missed certain parts altogether, and wonder whether you fell asleep. If you responded to suggestions to wake up at the end of the session, it is unlikely that you fell asleep. In a deep trance the conscious mind more or less switches off and stops creating conscious memory. This gives the sense that you were ‘out’ for that time, or asleep, when really you were still aware.

Myth 5. You can just be hypnotised and your problem will go away.

This is usually not true. Hypnosis is only a tool to go along with the real work of psychotherapy. It is not an instant fix for most problems, and you may find that you have to participate in joint effort with your therapist over a number of weeks or months to get better. This is in common with other psychotherapies. Hypnosis is a powerful therapeutic aid and it can usually speed things up, but it is not magic.

Myth 6. "I can’t be hypnotised."

This is almost the opposite of the last myth, in that it unduly predicts failure.

Although the level of trance achieved varies from person to person, almost everyone can be hypnotised to a level deep enough to begin some kind of therapeutic work. This is good news: it means that by far the majority can benefit from hypnotherapy. The few exceptions include people who are intoxicated with alcohol or drugs, people who have a learning disability or dementia, and one or two uncommon mental and neurological conditions. All told these probably amount to no more than 1% of the population. If you are capable of reading and understanding this text and forming an opinion about it, then you almost certainly can be hypnotised to some degree!

Myth 7. Hypnosis is un-Christian or spiritually dangerous – by giving up control you become more susceptible to immoral or demonic influence.

This is a common belief within certain church and religious circles. Potentially this has some merit but not within the context of what we do here.

We have carefully researched this issue and found it to be untrue within the context of what I do in terms of psychological/clinical work. In Christian circles the fear stems from Old and New Testament verses that speak against sorcery, witchcraft, spirit channelling, and other pagan religious practices. In the Christian bible, all references that can be translated to relate to any kind of trance/hypnotic behaviour are in that context. Therefore, it is not the trance state itself that is the problem, but what the trance helps to achieve. Prayer, for example, is a trance state for many people. In my work trance is used only to bring about psychological and health benefits. I do not practice past-life regression, psychic or intuitive counselling. There is no connection to Spiritism or any kind of non-Christian religious practice. (see caveat 1 below).

As stated earlier, we all enter trance spontaneously on a daily basis. Concerns about hypnosis on spiritual grounds must assume that trance facilitated by a therapist is inherently different from trance that we enter spontaneously, or that deep relaxation is somehow different when facilitated by a therapist. But neither are; trance is trance, and relaxation is relaxation, whether or not they occur with a therapist. You can see that if spirits could enter or attack us in the hypnotic state without invitation everyone would be being spirit possessed everyday!

You will recall also that you are not giving up control; you cannot be made to do anything against your will or that you would morally object to. (see caveat 2)

Caveats:

1. Not everyone is the same as me on this issue, and some complementary therapists do include practices that are strictly forbidden in the Christian bible. Always check first if you are concerned about this.

2. Be aware that stage (entertainment) hypnotism may not involve any kind of vulnerability/risk assessment and has caused a minority of subjects to become markedly distressed. Avoid it if you have any reason to think you might be vulnerable to any kind of mental illness.

Ref 1. Orne MT (1972): Can a hypnotized subject be compelled to carry out otherwise unacceptable behaviour? a discussion. Int J Clin Exp Hypn Apr 20(2):101-117

be a better you--slim, trim, toned, shapely, healthy, sharp!

If I told you I had discovered a way to lose weight, would you be interested? You may be.
Now, what if I told you that the method would involve lots of physical and mental anguish, that it would affect your social life, that you would and feel miserable and deprived, and that it involved incredible amounts of willpower and self-control, and the best bit – the method has a 95% failure rate - would you still be interested in trying it? I’ve just described a diet. Grassel Hypnotherapy can help you become one of the top 5% that WINS, that top 5% that successfully createsTHE BETTER PERSON inside you that YOU BECOME.  michael@grasselhypnotherapy.com.au   

Suicide by laziness

Cause of Death	How to Prevent These Deaths	2006 Deaths
AIDS	condoms, education, research	12,113
Asthma	no prevention, only treatment	3,613
Auto Accidents	seatbelts, airbags, highway safety, training	45,316
Bike Accidents	reflectors, lights, helmets and training	714
Breast Cancer	mammography and medical research	41,210
Diabetes	medical research	72,449
Drowning	life jackets, swimming lessons, supervision	3,579
Influenza	treatment, vaccines	849
Falls	awareness, safety harnesses and helmets	20,823
Fires & Burns	alarms, extinguishers, education and planning	3,109
Gun Accidents	deprive children of access and hunter training	642
Hepatitis	vaccine (A&B) and clean needles & testing (C)	7,250
Illegal/Legal Drugs	motivation, education and support	24,400
Leukemia	research, exercise, diet, and no tobacco	21,944
Lightening	stay indoors and wear rubber shoes	57
Liver Disease	sound diet, max. 2 oz. of alcohol, research	27,555
Meningitis	vaccinations	634
Murder	police, courts, prisons, awareness	18,573
Poisoning	secure cleaning fluids, poisons and pills	27,531
Prostate Cancer	testing, exercise, diet, research	28,372
Shark Attacks	awareness, education	1
Skin Cancer	limit sun exposure, use screening products	8,441
Snake Bites	awareness, boots, vaccines	5
Suicide	counseling, medication and love	33,300
Syphilis	abstinence, condoms, education	36
Tuberculosis	treatment, vaccine, education	652
Ulcers	avoid tobacco, alcohol and caffeine	3,323
	TOTAL OF ALL OF THE ABOVE	397,479
SMOKING	TOTAL ANNUAL U.S. SMOKING DEATHS	443,000
Death by Tobacco Suicide?  Murder?  Accident?  Stupidity? © WhyQuit.Com 2010

over weight is from habits

How does a behaviour become a habit? You keep doing it. Eventually it will just be the something you do. You have the ability to reprogram yourself. If you want to be more slim and healthy, check your habits.

Past Life Regression

A lot of people ask me about past life regression.
Is it provable? ---The proof is with the experience of the client.
Is it real?  --As real as any thing we can percieve or experience.
Is it really me? -- Our sense of identity is based upon our perceptions of ourselves; Do we have a focus on external ego or internal ego?
Will I be traumatised? --In many years of practice, every client has come out of hypnosis [trance] with a smile, feeling relaxed, refreshed and feeling good about themselves.

All regression hypnotherapy programs take a client back in time, evoking memories and experiential memories.
  

There are two schools of thought with past life regression.

 1) Yes we have all lived previously existence(s) and our souls retain all memories.  This is not proveable in the same manner as all major religions on the planet which promise heaven or hell or purgatory are not provable. Religions that tout life after death, or reincarnation have absolutely no scientific proof.  If the only way to prove life after death is to die, then no living person can conclusively say that they have proof.   We rely on random, surprising memory bits that pop into our heads, rely on bits of deja vu' or other coincidences to support our theories/beliefs.

2) The regression process takes a client back as far a necessary to see the root, the cause, the trigger, the trauma or the ecstasy that makes them feel a certain emotion about a particular issue or concept that they experience on a recurring basis in their current [stage of] life. Sometimes it's easier to use the parable concept, the fairytale concept, rather than a specific, possibly painful, traumatic experience, maybe from childhood. Using the concept of past life, allows the mind to distance itself from deeply imbedded trauma, much in the same manner as watching a scary movie as compared to actually experiencing that same sensation of fear/dread/anxiety/worry in real life.

mindwisebodywise

Your body has no interest at all in overeating. Only your mind overeats when it is scared of future deprivation or when it wants to escape uneasy feelings. Your body wants to stop at satisfaction point not full. Remember that eating for comfort leads to DIScomfort.

Every time you eat food that your body didn't ask for, it has no choice but to store it as fat. Did you know that your stomach is only the size of your fist, and it only takes a handful or two of food to fill it? When you don't overfill your stomach, you will feel light and comfortable after eating.

~mindwise bodywise 

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a safe and healthy therapeutic modality for creating change in your life.

In simple terms, the hypnotherapist guides you into a meditative state which allows your subconscious mind to process your goals and the steps needed to accomplish them. Then on a daily basis your subconscious mind, works for you, behind the scenes, making it happen.

You easily  focus on the attainment of what really matters to you.

There are no side effects and you always remain in    complete control.   You create your goals and your future

click for more information--> Grasselhypnotherapy

more about Hypnosis and more importantly: Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy - Learn the Truth

The Health Education Authority has said: “Research shows that there is more scientific evidence for Hypnotherapy than any other Complementary Therapy...by using hypnosis people can perform prodigious feats of will-power and self-healing.”

So what exactly is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is the application of a number of natural methods to induce trance – an altered state of consciousness – in the patient. (‘Trance’, ‘hypnosis’ and ‘hypnotic state’ all mean the same thing here and can be used interchangeably in this context.) In the hypnotic state you become more relaxed than usual and more able to concentrate. You become more susceptible to suggestions made by the therapist (or yourself), and more able to access memories and emotions from the past. One or more of these characteristics of hypnosis is utilised by the therapist, depending on the type of treatment employed.

Trance itself is entirely normal and natural. We all go in and out of various levels of trance spontaneously on a daily basis. We enter trance when we become so absorbed by one thing that, for a while, we are completely unaware of anything else. This could be while watching television, reading a book, listening to a lecture, driving, or when startled. We also enter trance when we are relaxing, day-dreaming or half asleep. The only difference between this and hypnosis undertaken with a therapist is that, with a therapist, you are guided into the state by somebody else for the purpose of achieving an agreed goal.

There are a number of methods available to the therapist to induce trance, but the most common is simply talking. The therapist asks you to close your eyes and talks to you for a while about relaxation, sleep, hypnosis or trance. You may be asked to do some relaxation exercises, and/or to imagine certain things – often being in very beautiful and tranquil surroundings. Sometimes you may be asked to focus your eyes on one particular spot for a short period of time, known as eye fixation, while the therapist continues talking. There are also a number of quick methods of inducing trance that can be used when appropriate.

Most people experience hypnosis as pleasant and relaxing, or not very much different from normal (see Hypnosis Myths below.)

What is hypnotherapy and what is the benefit of it?

Hypnotherapy, in short, is the combination of hypnosis with psychotherapy and counselling methods to bring about therapeutic change. As a hypnotherapist AND psychotherapist/counsellor I believe that hypnotherapy can be successful where other therapies are not, and that it can speed up the process dramatically.

Many of our difficulties are deep rooted or the result of subconscious programming. It is the subconscious mind that stores past experiences, emotions, and habits or responses that may be hurting us. Counselling and psychotherapy alone do affect the subconscious, but rather indirectly via the conscious mind or behaviour change. Hypnotherapy attempts to treat the subconscious more directly, bypassing the conscious altogether.

But the conscious mind must not be left out of the equation. As we work with the subconscious we also need to integrate our experiences into our conscious life, to rationalise them and give them meaning. Therefore, hypnotherapists should work with a variety of hypnotic and psychotherapeutic techniques, so that hypnosis is used for some, but not all, of the time.

Click here for information on different types of therapy available

Hypnosis Myths

Myth 1. When you are hypnotised you are asleep or unconscious.

You do not go to sleep and you are not unconscious. You will remain aware throughout the session, no matter how deep the trance. Some people find that their senses seem to be heightened and that they are even more aware.

Myth 2. The hypnotist takes control of you – like on the television or stage show. (See also caveat 1 below)

There is no question of losing control or being made to do anything against your will by using hypnosis. You are in control throughout the session. This has been tested experimentally and no evidence exists to indicate that hypnosis increases the control of the hypnotist, or exerts any unique form of control, over and beyond that already present prior to the hypnotic induction. (Ref 1) The unwanted or noxious suggestion usually causes the person to wake up from the hypnotic state and is always rejected.

Television and stage shows are easily explained. The hypnotist is skilled at knowing which people want to take part and are highly suggestible subjects. He can tell this by observing the behaviour of people in the crowd and/or doing certain tests. Many people enjoy the excuse to have fun and show off. Although subject-volunteers feel compelled to act upon the suggestions given, the hypnotist does not suggest they do anything that they might really object to. Together with rapid induction techniques (which require moderate skill and a lot of confidence), this creates the illusion of control. People who don’t want to play the part do not get called, and people who are especially unwilling don’t attend. If a difficult participant does make it onto the stage he will be given a more ordinary role to perform, like fetching a chair or being the recipient of someone else's behaviour.

You should also bear in mind that stage hypnotists are skilled illusionists. They employ a number of tricks to fool both audience and volunteers that have nothing to do with hypnosis.

Myth 3. "But I didn't feel hypnotized/I didn't go under."

There is no such thing as a ‘hypnotised feeling’ as such, and a lighter trance might not feel very different from normal. Individuals vary in how deeply they go into trance, yet a light trance is all that is needed for many types of therapeutic work. The therapist has a number of ways to tell when a suitable level of hypnosis has been achieved to begin treatment.

Myth 4. After the session everything that took place in the session will be forgotten.

This is generally untrue. Most of the time you will remember generally what the therapist said. It is very rare that the therapist will attempt to make you forget what happened, because ordinarily there is no benefit to this and the suggestion usually wears off anyway in time.

However, if you enter a deep trance you might find that you’ve forgotten most of the details of what the therapist said. You may realise when you wake up that you missed certain parts altogether, and wonder whether you fell asleep. If you responded to suggestions to wake up at the end of the session, it is unlikely that you fell asleep. In a deep trance the conscious mind more or less switches off and stops creating conscious memory. This gives the sense that you were ‘out’ for that time, or asleep, when really you were still aware.

Myth 5. You can just be hypnotised and your problem will go away.

This is usually not true. Hypnosis is only a tool to go along with the real work of psychotherapy. It is not an instant fix for most problems, and you may find that you have to participate in joint effort with your therapist over a number of weeks or months to get better. This is in common with other psychotherapies. Hypnosis is a powerful therapeutic aid and it can usually speed things up, but it is not magic.

Myth 6. "I can’t be hypnotised."

This is almost the opposite of the last myth, in that it unduly predicts failure.

Although the level of trance achieved varies from person to person, almost everyone can be hypnotised to a level deep enough to begin some kind of therapeutic work. This is good news: it means that by far the majority can benefit from hypnotherapy. The few exceptions include people who are intoxicated with alcohol or drugs, people who have a learning disability or dementia, and one or two uncommon mental and neurological conditions. All told these probably amount to no more than 1% of the population. If you are capable of reading and understanding this text and forming an opinion about it, then you almost certainly can be hypnotised to some degree!

Myth 7. Hypnosis is un-Christian or spiritually dangerous – by giving up control you become more susceptible to immoral or demonic influence.

This is a common belief within certain church and religious circles. Potentially this has some merit but not within the context of what we do here.

We have carefully researched this issue and found it to be untrue within the context of what I do in terms of psychological/clinical work. In Christian circles the fear stems from Old and New Testament verses that speak against sorcery, witchcraft, spirit channelling, and other pagan religious practices. In the Christian bible, all references that can be translated to relate to any kind of trance/hypnotic behaviour are in that context. Therefore, it is not the trance state itself that is the problem, but what the trance helps to achieve. Prayer, for example, is a trance state for many people. In my work trance is used only to bring about psychological and health benefits. I do not practice past-life regression, psychic or intuitive counselling. There is no connection to Spiritism or any kind of non-Christian religious practice. (see caveat 1 below).

As stated earlier, we all enter trance spontaneously on a daily basis. Concerns about hypnosis on spiritual grounds must assume that trance facilitated by a therapist is inherently different from trance that we enter spontaneously, or that deep relaxation is somehow different when facilitated by a therapist. But neither are; trance is trance, and relaxation is relaxation, whether or not they occur with a therapist. You can see that if spirits could enter or attack us in the hypnotic state without invitation everyone would be being spirit possessed everyday!

You will recall also that you are not giving up control; you cannot be made to do anything against your will or that you would morally object to. (see caveat 2)

Caveats:

1. Not everyone is the same as me on this issue, and some complementary therapists do include practices that are strictly forbidden in the Christian bible. Always check first if you are concerned about this.

2. Be aware that stage (entertainment) hypnotism may not involve any kind of vulnerability/risk assessment and has caused a minority of subjects to become markedly distressed. Avoid it if you have any reason to think you might be vulnerable to any kind of mental illness.

Ref 1. Orne MT (1972): Can a hypnotized subject be compelled to carry out otherwise unacceptable behaviour? a discussion. Int J Clin Exp Hypn Apr 20(2):101-117

[Cut & Pasted from David Kay]