Certificate IV: Clinical Hypnotherapy (Academy of Hypnotic Science) Diploma: Clinical Hypnotherapy (Academy of Hypnotic Science) Certificate IV:

Ego State Therapy (Gordon Emmerson PhD) Diploma: Ego State Therapy (Gordon Emmerson PhD) Certificate IV: Counselling (Academy of Hypnotics Science) Certificate IV: Advanced Mind Dynamics (Australian Academy of Hypnosis) Certificates: I, II, and Masters Reiki (International House of Reiki) Certificate: seniors first aid (Red Cross Victoria) Certificate: Working with Children (Victoria) Member of Australian Hypnotherapist Association Provider for private health cover

My name is Lucia Pietralunga and I am a fully qualified clinical hypnotherapist, counselor and a Reiki Master/Practitioner. I am a graduate of the Australian Government Accredited Academy of Hypnotic Science, and a current member of the Australian Hypnotherapist Association. I was suggested to try a course of hypnotherapy to help heal a past traumatic event in my own life. During the course of treatment I found my experience to be empowering and I believe it was the catalyst that helped me change my life forever. Hypnotherapy, self help and the power of our own mind became a passion of mine. Following on from my own experience, I decided to begin studies so I can help others achieve their personal goals. Since graduating in 2009, Mind Phenomenon was born as my passion quickly turned into the pursuit of my own dream career and destiny. I am constantly reminded of the power of the individuals mind as I help facilitate change in those who seek my services. I chose hypnotherapy, as my way to help people reconnect with their own inner strengths. I have assisted many people of all ages in making positive changes in their lives and I look forward to the future.

My philosophy

We all have our own resources to help us heal, but often this ability is blocked by illness, pain, or trauma. Our own mind is one of the most powerful tools we possess to control pain, reduce illness, and overcome trauma. Unfortunately, in this hectic world it is all too easy to lose that natural ability, and instead we find ourselves constantly hurting, fighting stress, fatigue, addiction, pain, or worse. Its a vicious, devastating cycle of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual imprisonment. Hypnotherapy has the ability to provide you with the resources you need to help you access your own inner power. Whether you need help with chronic pain, quitting cigarettes, managing weight, addictions or overcoming a traumatic event in your past. My goal is to help you attain the positive changes you want in your life. I look forward to meeting you.

About Hypnotherapy
Many people mistakenly refer to hypnotherapy as alternative medicine. In fact, it was first adopted as an orthodox (meaning officially sanctioned) medical treatment in 1892, by the British Medical Association. This was ratified again in 1955. Many nations, including Australia and America, have since officially endorsed hypnotherapy as a legitimate form of treatment, for a huge variety of conditions. So what is it, exactly? The current accepted definition of a hypnotherapist is, a therapist who utilizes hypnosis as a primary tool for assisting clients to achieve their goals. A hypnotherapist often differs from other therapists by focusing on the role of subconscious behaviours and influences on a clients life. Hypnotherapy has the ability to empower people to change their lives for the better; it is a proven and extremely effective solution for many problems. The most common uses for hypnotherapy are to assist with:

Pain management Depression Weight management Overcoming addiction (especially smoking and gambling) Motivation Self-esteem and confidence Controlling phobias Overcoming personal trauma Anxiety Insomnia Stress-related illnesses Asthma Facilitate Healing And so much more

A recent study (1) concluded that if a patient used treatment for their condition, in the form of medication (valium, sleeping tablets, pain killers etc), targeted products (weight loss shakes, diet pills, nicotine patches etc), or self-help (books, tapes, exercise equipment etc), the initial success rate of these treatments was 27%. If hypnotherapy was included as part of the initial treatment, then the success rate more than doubled, to 74%. The study found that if a person was serious about wanting to take back control of their physical body, the best weapons they had was their own subconscious mind, and their hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapy is used to create a deeply relaxed state, in order to communicate directly with the persons subconscious, in order to achieve goals that have been set by that person. The human body is an incredible healing machine. Hypnosis can remove the blocks to healing that allow the machine to do what it knows how to do - and that is to be well and healthy. The core techniques used in hypnotherapy have been studied, developed, and perfected over a century of practice. These techniques are:

Relaxation
In order to access the subconscious in the best way for hypnotherapy to work, a person must be in a deep state of relaxation. When we are alert, our brain waves are known as Beta. During hypnotherapy, a person is gradually brought into a deeply relaxed state, generating brain waves known as Theta. This is where the subconscious functions, and accessing it directly via relaxation is the reason why hypnotherapy works. People are more receptive to ideas and suggestions while relaxed, sleeping, or in a trance.

Guided Imagery
The hypnotherapist uses this technique in order to give you a new relaxing, beneficial, positive experience.

Direct Suggestion
This ones self-explanatory. The hypnotherapist makes direct statements during the process, such as You feel safe and secure.

Repetition
The more an idea is repeated, the more likely it is to be accepted, and, more importantly, acted upon.

Post-Hypnotic Suggestion

During hypnosis, the hypnotherapist provides you a suggestion to assist directly after the session, usually along the lines of, When you re-awaken, you will feel refreshed and happy.

Hypnoanalysis
The client recalls moments from his/her past, but in a safe, secure setting. It is possible for the client to then calmly re-examine the moment that has caused pain in the past, confront it, understand it, and then release all the associated negative emotions, allowing him/her to move forward once more. It is similar to psychoanalysis, but less stressful (due to the deep state of relaxation), and much quicker.

Visualisation
Being guided through a situation, where the client sees himself or herself successfully achieving the desired outcome (not smoking, no longer in pain, no longer phobic etc). Rehearsing events in the relaxed subconscious mind before they take place significantly increases the clients success rate when confronted with the trigger situation. Ego State Therapy is a powerful therapy based on the premise that personality is composed of separate parts; rather than being a homogeneous whole, these parts (which everyone has) are called ego states. Lucia works directly with the state that can best benefit from change, the parts that are harboring pain, trauma, anger or frustration; she then facilitates expression, release, comfort and empowerment to those unresolved states that come out and makes us feel out of control. (The statement "I hate myself when I am like that" indicates two states lacking in proper communication). We are each made up of a number of different states; each has its own feeling of power, weakness, emotion, logic, or other personal traits. When we say, "Part of me wants to," we are talking about an ego state. When we say, "I feel at peace with myself on this issue," we are talking about our ego states agreeing, not having an internal struggle. Our various states help to make our lives rich, productive, and enjoyable. A state harboring pain can cause unrest and unwanted emotional reactions. The goal is to help you learn your ego states so that the states may be better used to your benefit (e.g., allowing you to, at one time, be open to enjoy emotional experiences and, at another time, be assertive to feel expressed when challenged). We are not born with our different parts or ego states. We make them as we live. Our ego states are formed when we do something over and over again. This over and over again learning creates a physical neural pathway in the brain that has its own level of emotion, abilities, and experience of living.

By repeating actions over and over again the brain will grow and connect in such a way that will create a physical neural pathway that is an ego state. We will switch into an ego state when a need for that state occurs, or when an injured part is reminded of the injury it may come out in an attempt to gain some resolution. That is why a bad feeling can come over us all at once. Each of our Ego states may be either, healthy and functioning well, or may be functioning in a way that prevents us from being the best we can be. Lucia was fortunate to be amongst the few privileged ones to have studied with the acclaimed Dr Gordon Emmerson. Gordon Emmerson continues to support my practice as a specialist mentor. Gordon Emmerson PhD author of Ego State Therapy 1. Normal Functioning, Functions with a positive role to the benefit of other states and the person. It is the purpose of Ego State therapy to help all states to be normal functioning. 2. Vaded, Overcome by negative experience to the point where it can no longer conduct its role. This state may interfere with the life of the individual when it comes to the executive, bringing with it bad feelings and a sense of being out of control. 3. Retro Functioning Maintains a role it learned in childhood that is opposed to other states or opposed to the benefit of the person. 4. Conflicted, A state that is in conflict with another state to the extent it is a problem for the person.

Advanced Mind Dynamics is a unique qualification to the Australian Academy of Hypnosis and specifically uses hypnosis and hypnotherapy to treat disease, illness and physical conditions. Hypnosis Advanced Mind Dynamics utilizes the mind-body connection as an allied therapy to improve the Quality of Life of cancer and Degenerative Diseases patients.

Mind Body Hypnotherapy

In 2005 in Perth Western Australia, Rick Collingwood and a pharmaceutical colleague Dr. Nathan Elliot conducted a full clinical trial to gather data on the effects of Rick's specialized mind body hypnotherapy techniques on the quality of life of cancer patients. Read more... If you are a sufferer of cancer, please get written permission from your medical doctor before you seek this treatment. Never, under any circumstances cease or change any medication or medical treatment with out first seeking your Medical Doctors approval.

These protocols
ARE NOT A CURE FOR CANCER OR ANY DISEASE; however they are safe effective protocols which have been shown by scientific analysis to considerably enhance the quality of life for cancer sufferers. Hypnosis for Cancer, Psycho-Somatic Conditions, & Mind Body Healing, integrates same protocol and the five treatments as used in the successful 2005 clinical trial. Hypnosis and cancer trial which can be converted to use with most physical and organic disease conditions. Although the techniques are relatively easy to apply to those who have learned them, and also completely safe for those who wish to use them, it is important to understand that they are Not standard hypnosis techniques as used by most hypnotherapists.

The most common uses for Mind body hypnosis are to assist with:

Cancer and other Degenerative Organic or Psycho-Somatic Diseases Skin Conditions, such as Psoriasis and Eczema Panic Attacks Fibromyalgia Chronic pain

And so much more

The Medical Acceptance of Hypnosis

In 1949, the society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis was formed in the U.S and became an international society with worldwide membership just ten years later. During the 1950s both the American and British Medical associations recognized Hypnosis in policy statements as a legitimate treatment method worthy and deserved for application in Medicine and Dentistry. It was a number of years after this before Psychology was given any credence and legitimized.

Meditation classes at Mind Phenomenon

Regular meditation practice helps increase self awareness and improves clarity of mind. Meditation is a self healing process; any form of stress is a sign of our negative thinking and Disease within our mind. If we don't attend to this disease in the mind we may find that chronic stress can lead to disease of the body. Meditation is a form of stress management that will allow our mind to experience an oasis of peace and love within our heart and mind. The aim of meditations is to bring inner peace within our self and the world in a positive and spiritual way. The world is not a peaceful place and within every soul there is some form of tension and stress. It is therefore essential to create positive and peaceful thoughts to bring peace to our mind. Meditation is one of the best methods to bring about transformation and nurture the natural qualities within. The best way that we can create that change is to change our thoughts from being negative to positive. The positive discovery about meditation is that we are focusing within our self and becoming free of negativity. Meditation techniques simply involve a process of transforming yourself, your thoughts, and recognizing the negative thoughts, and changing them into positive and peaceful thoughts. The best attitude towards meditation is to be very patient as the mind does not always want to focus. Having a sense of expectation towards positive results can create uncomfortable pressure and thus take away the enjoyment of the experience. By practicing meditation regularly, the person whom meditates gains a wonderful sense of the self. Most people find it difficult to be disciplined enough to schedule time to do the meditation that they need on their own. Coming to a regular group ensures that regularity and it helps instill the habit. Meditation in a group also allows you to experience the special group energy that may not be attained when you meditate on your own. The meditation group at Mind Phenomenom is suitable for beginners. You will be guided and all you need to do is relax and enjoy the moments of stillness.

The classes are held in Werribee over a seven week period, with the same group every week. Please call or email Lucia for the next session starting date.

Reiki - Rei is (Spiritual) Ki is (Energy)

Reiki is a natural form of healing therapy. It is applied through non-invasive gentle touch. This form of therapy aims to increase energy levels and promote relaxation and wellbeing. The underlying philosophy of reiki is that if a persons life force energy is low, they are more likely to be unwell or stressed. If it is high, however, they are more capable of being happy and feeling well. Reiki aims to release the bodys energy flow. Practitioners explain this by comparing the bodys energy to a river. Our energy should flow easily down through the body. Occasionally a pebble, or even a rock, will fall into that river and make the flow of the water a little more difficult. These pebbles are human worries, fears and anger. Each pebble builds on top of the other. Soon there is only a trickle of water running in that once free-flowing river. At this point, stress or physical pain may be felt. A reiki treatment aims to help the body release its own energy.

Reiki in the community

Reiki is a complementary therapy. In Australia, it is currently being provided in many hospitals, nursing homes, palliative care hospices and community service settings. The system of reiki works in conjunction with all other medical or therapeutic techniques to support the relief of side effects, reduce pain and promote wellness. This form of hands-on healing has been around for many centuries and is common in many different cultures. Reiki is not a religion; there is nothing you have to believe in to use or receive reiki. Reiki is a simple and powerful process. The treatments and their frequency are individually tailored to the client's needs and condition it is the perfect way to spoil yourself. A Reiki treatment is one-hour long and is useful for specific healing or general relaxation. The client remains fully clothed at all times as the practitioner goes through a set healing process as agreed with the client prior to the treatment. Sex, age and condition are of no concern as the client's own body controls the process. During the treatment the body will only take the amount of energy that it requires. A Reiki treatment is not intrusive; no private parts of the body are touched.

If a client is wishing to work on a specific issue or health problem it is advisable to book for three one-hour treatments. But first come along for one treatment to see if you like the experience. The Virtual Gastric Band Programme The weight control programme utilizing the concept of a Virtual Gastric Band it takes place over four weeks. Four, one hour sessions each utilizing techniques that are designed to bring about permanent change in a clients eating habits, and focus on the person they want to be, not on the person they dont. The reason this takes place over four weeks, is to form a habit, and generally it takes 28 days to form a habit in someone, remember this is not a programme designed for a short term fix, it is to get you to where you want to be, and to stay there. It includes a back up CD for you to listen to every day, which reinforces the new messages and aids that permanent change in behaviour. During the therapy your subconscious mind is convinced that you have had a gastric band fitted. Your body reacts by feeling full after you have eaten only a small amount of food. As well as reducing the amount of food you eat, you will eat healthier, less-fattening foods.

We know that diets dont work Most people who follow a traditional dieting system will lose weight, whilst they are on the diet, but as soon as they stop the diet it all goes back on again and normally a whole lot more as well. It is estimated that 95 percent of all people who lose weight on a diet put it all back on again. Most diets include some form or deprivation and o/or denial, some involve counting calories or points which just serve to programming the mind to think about food all of the time. Or. We deny ourselves chocolate, pizza, eat different meals to the rest of the family and three things happen, Our brain fights against this, our body fights against this and our day to day environment fights against this. How many times consciously every Monday morning do we say to ourselves thats it I am going to stop eating after Ive had my dinner, I am going to eat salad. Then usually by after a short while weve gone straight back to what we were doing before miserable again. Because of our eating habits are deeply engrained in our subconscious mind, and given a similar set of circumstance it will roll that same programme. Your subconscious thinks its doing it for your own good; its helping you out, its doing you a great big favour. If we consciously deny ourselves of something we want it even more. If we can eat a little less than we need but we can eat anything we want, we can lose weight. Cutting out our favourite foods is a bad idea. Cutting down how much someone eats it is doable and sustainable.

We all know that if we eat less and exercise more we will be slimmer, fitter and healthier, so this programme that incorporates a Virtual Gastric Band and other mind management techniques is not a diet, it forms a habit in someone in a new direction, a habit that they can stick with so that there is no deprivation, they gain freedom from thinking about food all of the time, and eat consciously, listening to what the tummy is telling them as opposed to their eyes or head, the result, sustainable weight loss without dieting.

The advantages of Virtual Gastric Band Hypnosis over traditional surgery are as follows:

Surgical risks are eliminated There is no pain involved Costs are a fraction of those for traditional surgery Stress and emotional eating are also addressed The procedure is totally pain-free

The fully inclusive cost of the Virtual Gastric Band therapy is substantially less than the surgery costs - in fact, it is less than a quarter of the cost of the surgery! The fee includes full support by telephone or email during the course of the treatment and our specially recorded hypnosis CD.

Virtual Gastric Band hypnosis the pioneering new way to lose weight When all the diets have failed, expensive surgery is no longer the last option for essential and serious weight loss. The Virtual Gastric Band may be new to Australia but successful results are already being obtained. To change your life, simply pick up the phone and call or email Lucia. Take the first step NOW to your healthier, lighter and more positive life! Virtual Gastric Band has been considered by many weight loss experts to be a safe and effective alternative to surgery; the Virtual Gastric Band will help you to attain your new lifestyle of healthy eating. See BBC interview..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19EMz_OCKAY&feature=youtu.be Lucia was one of the fortunate few to be trained in this technique by world renowned expert and pioneer in this field, Sheila Granger. If you have been thinking about gastric band surgery, consider the following facts: Gastric banding is a major surgical procedure to place an inflatable band around your stomach. A port is also inserted and stitched to the abdominal muscle wall so that saline solution can be injected or withdrawn. This allows for the tightness of the band to be adjusted. This limits the

amount of food you can consume. Gastric banding is now available under Medicare but there are a number of key issues to consider:

One person in every 2,000 dies because of complications with this surgery There is a stringent selection process - you must be morbidly obese or have serious health problems Includes counselling and is dependent on previous dieting history There is a long recovery period Potential medical complications including infection, internal bleeding, gastritis and ulceration The band can slip or in some cases be subject to erosion (i.e. the band works its way through the stomach wall allowing the gastric contents to leak into the body cavity) Vomiting or regurgitation of food The port may bulge through the skin The port can "flip over" so that the membrane can no longer be accessed with a needle from the outside (this often goes hand in hand with a tube kink, and may require repositioning as a minor surgical procedure under local anaesthesia) The port may get disconnected from the tube or the tube may be perforated in the course of a port access attempt (both would result in loss of fill fluid and restriction, and likewise require a minor operation). Medicare and private insurance covers about $1,000 leaving you to pay about $10,000 There are NO guarantees of success

Smoking

Heres something you may not know: The amount of nicotine in cigarettes has slowly increased over the past several years. According to a 2007 study done by Connolly et al and published in Tobacco Control, nicotine content of cigarettes rose by almost 2% between 1998 and 2005, across all major market categories for cigarettes.

Why is this so important?

Because nicotine is a poison, and when combined with tobacco, it is as addictive as heroin. By quietly adding more of it into their cigarettes, tobacco companies are making sure you dont quit their product. They made you need their poison more, and you probably didnt even notice.

Fact: in this country alone, one in two long term smokers will die an early death from a smoking related illness. Doctors attribute in excess of four hundred and fifty thousand heart attacks each year to smoking, as the heart of a smoker works so much harder, beating up to ten thousand extra beats every day, as it struggles to combat the effects of nicotine. Restricting, clogging, closing up the arteries and increasing blood-pressure as it strives to deliver oxygenated blood so necessary for the function of the vital organs of your body, the muscles and the brain. Each time you inhale cigarette smoke into your lungs, you introduce into your body in excess of four thousand different chemical compounds, many of them deadly poisons. Not to mention the chemical fertilizers and the insecticides that are sprayed on the growing tobacco crops remaining to be included in cigarettes and now absorbed into the tissues of your body. Hypnotherapy can help you stop smoking by helping you discover the subconscious needs that smoking fills for you, by reinforcing alternative means of meeting those needs, by creating a strong image of yourself as a nonsmoker, and by serving as a means of relaxation during the jitters of nicotine withdrawal.

These are just a few of the benefits you will gain when you quit smoking:

Within 20 minutes blood pressure returns to its normal level After 8 hours oxygen levels return to normal After 24 hours carbon monoxide levels in the lungs return to those of a non-smoker and the mucus begins to clear After 48 hours nicotine leaves the body and taste buds are improved After 72 hours breathing becomes easier After 212 weeks, circulation improves After 5 years, the risk of heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker After 10 years, the chance of lung cancer is almost the same as a non-smoker.

The impact of stress and anxiety upon your general health should never be underestimated. Cortisol, often referred to as the stress hormone because it is released into the body during the fight or flight response, has many positive qualities, in small doses. Unfortunately, studies have shown that our modern lifestyles are so stressful that many of us are triggering the release of cortisol too often, and in such quantities that our systems cannot cleanse it out from our bodies properly. The result, Higher blood pressure, lower immunity, increased abdominal fat (which increases your chances of heart attack and stroke), impaired cognitive performance, and blood sugar imbalances, to name just a few.

It is possible to detect elevated levels of stress hormones in the blood, up to forty years after a traumatic event. The best defence against this harmful cycle is learning how to reduce your stress and anxiety levels quickly after the fight or flight response has been triggered, so your system is not overloaded with stress hormones in the first place. Hypnotherapy can provide several of the more potent remedies for cortisol overload. Deep relaxation, breathing techniques, guided imagery, and self-hypnosis can all be experienced, and taught to you, in hypnotherapy. Not only will you learn how to relax, but your health will benefit also. Anxiety, fear, and phobias can be emotionally and socially crippling. Even more worrying is the added risk of chronic stress developing in sufferers who do not receive help and support for their condition. Once again, hypnotherapy is an ideal technique to fight fears. It has the edge over many other therapies, because the sufferer is always in a deep state of relaxation before the underlying reasons for the anxiety or fear are tackled. While in the state of hypnosis, Lucia will gently guide you through your fears, and provide your subconscious mind with positive strategies and thoughts to help you overcome your problem. The techniques best suited to combat anxieties are guided imagery, repetition, post-hypnotic suggestion, and visualization. Youre probably thinking, Its a horrible feeling you get when something is wrong with your body, and theres not much you can do about it Its a bit simpler than that. Pain is a message. Thats it. Just a message. Its an electrical impulse that travels from one part of our body, to a communications centre in our brain. The communications centre receives the electrical impulse, reads it as pain, and then takes the appropriate action. Lets say you stick your foot in a fire. Your foot will burn, causing an electrical message to rush to your brains communication centre. The reply is Remove foot from fire, so other electrical impulses carry that message throughout your brain and body, causing your leg to move away from the fire. All of this takes just nanoseconds, of course. The more urgent the message, the sharper the pain we experience. This is important, too. Our brain needs to be able to tell the difference between acceptable pain say, the fatigue of muscles during a long jog and important pain, such as burns or breaks. Okay, so pain is a message, sent from a part of our body, to our brain, in order to provoke a reasonable response or reaction, in order to keep us safe. Its an essential tool for survival. The problem many people experience is when the pain message never turns off. This is known as chronic pain, and it means that you have survived something, but part of your body is still sending the message, thinking its helping you stay alive. The question then becomes how do you deal with this chronic pain? How do you learn to cope with it? Minimise it? Is medication and barbiturates the only answer? I want you to imagine for a moment that you are in a rush. You dash out of your house, jump into your car, and slam the car door right onto your hand! Youve just crushed all your fingers in the car door. How much does that hurt? A lot, right? Its sharp, hot, horrible pain, and your brain is quickly taking the necessary steps to resolve the problem. Its made you kick the door open again, remove your hand, and gently hold it in your

good hand, checking for breaks. Youre already wondering whether or not youll even be able to drive now. If you were to give your pain a number out of 10, to describe the severity of pain that you are experiencing right now, what would it be? If 0 is no pain at all, and 10 is the most amount of pain you can ever imagine, then squashing your hand roughly in the car door would probably be a 6, maybe even a 7. Well call it a 7, just for the purposes of this exercise. Is there any way, right there and then, that you can change that? Is there any way you can turn that 7 into a 3? Or a 10? No? lets just see. Lets go back to the beginning, where youre in a rush, and you dash out to your car, and you slam the door onto your hand, and you experience intense pain that you would rate at a 7, and you probably cant drive now. The reason why you were in a rush was because youd just got a phone call, telling you that your 5 year old daughter has fallen off the monkey bars at school, broken her leg, and is on the way to the hospital, and asking for you. Hows your hand now? Is it still a 7? Do you still think you cant drive? Im willing to bet that your pain level would be 3, maybe 4, but that you will experience no problem driving. In fact, you probably wont even think twice about whether youre able to your child needs you, and your pain has just become irrelevant. Now imagine the reason why you were in such a hurry was because you were running late for a dental appointment, where youre about to have all four wisdom teeth extracted. Hows the hand now? Can you drive? Once again, Id be willing to bet that your pain level has suddenly gone from a 7, to a 10. Theres no way you can drive with that kind of pain. You have to cancel the dentist, and get your neighbour to drive you to the doctor instead. Same injury, different perspective. Now, imagine you were in a rush and bandaged your hand up because you are on your way to pick up your winning lottery cheque of $1 million. Im guessing youre thinking to yourself, as you drive to the Lotto store, how lucky you are that your pain levels are so low only a 2 given what a whacking you gave your hand! You make a mental note to get your hand X-rayed for breaks, after youve collected your cheque. Pain is a message. How we perceive that message is up to us. We decide whether were having a Winning Lotto Ticket Day, or a Trip to the Dentist Day, and thats what we filter our pain through. If we have a lot of negative things that are causing stress, concern, fear, anxiety, depression, or negative self-talk, then any pain we experience, no matter how light, will be made worse, simply because of our environment. This is why hypnotherapy is so successful when helping people manage chronic pain. Not only does your hypnotherapist access your subconscious, and suggest to it that you can handle your pain easily, but she can also deal with those other issues that add to your pain. Its pain relief, and life relief, and its all drug free. The truly worrying thing about pain is its side effects. People with chronic pain may experience an increase in stress, metabolic rate, blood clotting, and water retention. Pain patients can have delayed healing, hormonal imbalances, impaired immune systems and

gastro-intestinal functioning, mobility difficulties, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, suffering, low self-esteem, and depression. (Bedard Marcia E, PhD, Fact Sheet on Chronic Non-malignant Pain, [Online] July 15, 1997) None of these conditions can be cured by taking pain medications. Learning to control and decrease your pain through relaxation and hypnotherapy will have a positive flow-on effect to many other areas of your life. If you suffer from chronic debilitating conditions such as arthritis, rheumatism, irritable bowel syndrome, or tension headaches, studies have proven that hypnotherapy can lessen, and in some cases, eliminate, your pain. Hypnotherapy is also extremely useful for patients in the post-operative phase, especially where the patient is afraid of needles, or allergic to certain types of pain medications.

A word of caution
It is essential that the cause of pain be fully known and understood, before hypnotherapy takes place. Headaches could be a sign of stress, or they could also be a sign of brain tumour. Due to the success of hypnotherapy in dealing with so many different types of pain, from headaches to cancer, it could be possible to eliminate the pain, while leaving behind the tumour. It is therefore important that all medical care is taken to ensure there is not an undiagnosed underlying cause of the pain. If in doubt, consult your doctor before undergoing hypnotherapy for pain management. The trick to quitting alcohol, heroin, and smoking, is to not pick them up in the first place. Complete, total abstinence is the key to recovery. The problem for overeaters is that they must still ingest their problem around three times a day. Try helping an alcoholic to get sober, by forcing him to drink three whiskies a day, and see how well he does! The first rule of quitting any addiction abstinence is broken as soon as the problem is food, because humans have to eat, every day. Thats just the beginning of the challenges facing someone who wants to lose weight. So many of our family and friend rituals revolve around food in a social setting Christmas family dinner, Sunday brunch with friends, dinner and a movie, workplace birthday morning tea, weddings, Easter, barbecues the list goes on. Factor in our wealthy economy, where fast food is cheap, easy, and full of addictive fat; the most popular programs on television are cooking shows; best sellers in book shops are authored by Nigella, Jamie, Martha, Stephanie and Gordon and you have a recipe for a food obsessed culture. Just add a pinch of Im too tired to exercise today, a dash of Im so stressed I need to just chill in front of the TV, and a dollop of This cheesecake makes me feel better, and you have the full disastrous picture. Over fifty per cent of the population is overweight because its just so damn easy. Resisting all of this the easy eats, the glamorous TV chefs and their latest full-colour published offerings, the sedentary lifestyle, the social life revolving around food in one way or another is a great start, but only half of whats needed. If you are overweight, chances are youve got at least one other problem you need to tackle, and thats the hardest one. Its the Voice in your head grinding you down, destroying your will, weakening your determination. Its the saboteur annihilating your chances, from the inside. You know what that Voice says. It says, Youll never succeed. It says, Youve always been fat, so youll always be fat. How about Youre not worth it, youre not good

enough, and you dont deserve to be skinny and cute? Or You cant handle the pain or the pressure? Or Even when youre skinny they still wont like you? The Voice says a lot of hurtful mean things, and theyre all coming from you. Or, more accurately, your subconscious. This is where hypnotherapy really stands out in the fight for weight loss. It goes directly to the source of the Voice, and turns it off. The fascinating thing about our subconscious is that it is like a child it believes what it is told. It lacks the higher functions of the brain, which sorts information according to knowledge, experience, and expectation. The subconscious does not differentiate between true and false, right and wrong, fantasy and reality. Everything is real to the subconscious, everything is true. In a hypnotherapy session, you are gradually brought into a state of deep relaxation. In this state, the hypnotherapist can now communicate directly with your subconscious, excluding all those critical functions of the higher brain. When the hypnotherapist tells your subconscious that you are a wonderful person, the subconscious accepts this as true. So when the hypnotherapist suggests to your subconscious that you are in control of your eating, that you deserve to lose weight, and that you will enjoy the weight loss process, the subconscious believes it. In effect, hypnotherapy allows you to re-programme your brain, only this time you throw the saboteur out. Through techniques like Visualisation, Post-Hypnotic Suggestion, and Repetition, hypnotherapy assists you in handling social/food situations, improving your confidence, gaining motivation to succeed, and turning the negative Voice into a powerful friend.

Do you have one or more of the following symptoms?

An unusually sad mood that does not go away Loss of enjoyment and interest in activities that used to be enjoyable Tiredness and lack of energy Loss of confidence in yourself or poor self-esteem Feeling guilty when you are not at fault Wishing you were dead Difficulty concentrating or making decisions Moving more slowly, feeling agitated, or unable to settle Having sleeping difficulties or sleeping too much Loss of interest in food or sometimes eating too much

Depression is often misunderstood in the wider community, as I believe the one term really describes two separate conditions. Clinical depression is a condition where chemicals in the brain such as dopamine and serotonin are no longer being produced or processed appropriately by the brain, leading to a significantly lowered mood. The other form of depression is far more common, and presents itself after a person has experienced loss, trauma, stress, or even an extended period of insufficient sleep. A persons mood is lowered not from their own misfiring brain chemistry, but from circumstances around them that are often beyond their control. The other word for depression in these circumstances is despair. Both forms of depression are intensely painful to endure, and both can be treated. Clinical depression is best treated with medications, simply because a chemical defect requires a chemical fix. However, for those individuals caught in the snare of traumatic depression despair then one of the best treatment options available today is hypnosis. Teaching the unconscious brain to fight back against fear, loss, grief, guilt, stress or anger is what hypnosis does best. Using visualization techniques, the hypnotherapist will guide you to a place where you feel calm, relaxed, and strong. The hypnotherapist will then make suggestions to your unconscious, all focused on healing your mind of its worries and despair. You will be taught how to put the past, present and future into perspective, and given tools to lift yourself out of the rut that is slowly destroying you. A better life is possible. Defeat of depression is possible. It is up to you all you need do is regain control of your unconscious mind. Hypnotherapy will show you the way, and make life worth living once more.