Self-Hypnotic Tools

Your mind is like a DVD player. But this is no ordinary piece of equipment. Think of it as radar or a servo-mechanism, bringing towards you whatever you're playing. And because each disk is charged emotionally, it will either take you towards success or failure. Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Sugar....the Hidden Eating Disorder - Who's Killing the Kids is a book/workbook/workshop in our Parenting the Parent Series. Visit with me as I design the metaphors for this & other projects in progress including Lifestyle Change Made Easy & Changing Your Mind - An Introduction to Interactive Self-Hypnosis.

I'm happy to share some complimentary mp3 downloads with you. Each is a full interactive self-hypnosis session. Current ones include...
Serious Goal Building &
Becoming Consistent

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Your subconscious mind is a like a vast library with an infinite number of selections stored. It has an instant retrieval system and an endlessly cross-referenced subject catalog. You might like to image it as your personal DVD, knowing whatever disks you place there, become your goal & your subconscious mind librarian will go to find any & all cross-references to assist you in achieving this goal. This is great if you are playing a positive goal image, but what about if you are playing a negative goal image? You’ve already had some practice with identifying these in the earlier parts of this book or workshop that focused on Interactive Awareness & Emotional Management exercises, but now it is time to get even better at subconscious mind programming.

Visualizing negative outcomes or memories can stir up anxiety or depression. Besides the images or visualization, it is not uncommon to speak internally to yourself in quite critical ways. During the “practice” of putting yourself down, you are essentially in a light trance state, preoccupied & internally focused. What am I driving at? You guessed it! A negative self-hypnotic program is busy being etched right into your subconscious mind & is busy becoming a goal.

It's so easy to get caught up in negative mind programming, but once you learn to work in a healthy partnership with your subconscious mind, you can ask for all sorts of help. All of this is accomplished on your mind screen.

For example, during the programming of your subconscious mind for success, you can request your inner librarian to bring awareness to any unproductive emotional states or corresponding behaviors that may have set up barriers to your chosen success goal. This allows you to dismantle them right in the moment & avoid interference or stalling. When awareness exercises are joined with specific images for inner management, change can occur spontaneously. In real life, it's like being on a bus going towards your goal when all of a sudden you realize that you are on the wrong bus. Of course you are going to want to change right then & there & not an hour or a day later!

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

In hypnosis we alter our internal world. By utilizing our imagination in special ways we stir feelings while altering behavior & attitudes. When you change how you think, visualize & imagine things to be, your feelings & behaviors begin to change. You not only see what is possible, but the subconscious mind will send up other suggestions for your approval, perhaps things you never even considered that will take you even closer to your goal, or enhance it in some way.

The mind works backwards. When it sees the ideal goal picture clearly in great definition, it makes the action plan. Changes just seem to occur, as if the goal took on it’s own life. Things that were difficult in the past often become simple & you might be left wondering what the commotion was all about.

Our subconscious mind stores all memories, anything & everything we have experienced through our entire life. This includes memories of each & very sense, including taste, touch, sight, hearing & emotion. It’s all there filed in an orderly fashion. This means that you have a wealth of resources on which to draw as you focus on your future. Most of us never utilize these assets, often continuing to see everything as a struggle. If one continues to see things in this way, everything will be a struggle for one always gets what one asks for in the mind’s eye.

As you learn to relax, to let go, asking for appropriate resources from the inner bank vault, you can change with a new level of comfort. However it's a totally different experience when you are tense, for whatever reason. In this physical state, the subconscious mind cannot get your attention & so you cannot share the bounty. As you learn to relax during actual stress, the stressors will work as catalysts, opening the door of the subconscious mind, freeing you to work with this powerful part of yourself.

MIND EXERCISE

Although I'm going to address the subject of this book/workshop here, these exercises can be applied to any situation. Working with subconscious mind programs will make your management of disorderly eating & addictions much easier. You already know about containments & since you are more skilled than you were earlier on in this book or workshop, this is a good moment to build a few.

Simply relax deeply, tilt your eyes up about twenty degrees. Place a mind movie, perhaps seeing yourself in your containment area, placing an appropriate label on a facet of your disorderly eating. Your inner librarian will take care of the rest. Take an extra moment to study the contents. What does your disorder or addiction look like? Notice some of the DVD programs that you play in relation to this issue. Are they worn out from over-playing? Have you already made some corrections and celebrated them? Always be sure to celebrate both big & small accomplishments. Remember small ones tend to pile up and become very big ones!!

Have a look at your emotional children, noticing the crayons that they are applying to this special containment. Remember, your subconscious mind does not judge. What you play is what you get. This will be subconsciously enhanced for you. When working with your subconscious mind in this way, you can make changes right in the moment if you choose. If there are any emotional visitors or crayons you would like to remove from this containment, please go ahead and do so. Just image yourself completing the action. Your librarian will take care of the rest.

You may wonder what you are actually doing. The right brain is very creative and sees this as a re-programming. Whenever the subconscious mind finds your actions in real life being incongruent with subconscious mind programming, the inner programming will win out. You will instantaneously be pulled into heightened awareness, finding yourself going towards behaviors connected to the inner program.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

The art of working with mind images is often called imagery or visualization. My word for this is imaginology. I define this as the study of your own imagination or mind creativity. This speaks to the special work you are doing here.

In the practice of imaginology, you see with your mind’s eye. This is very different than seeing with normal sight. Sometimes people report that they can’t see images, becoming discouraged in working hypnotically. This is simply a matter of communication, understanding of how the tools work & what to expect. Each & every person reading my words is working with imagery.

Whenever you notice an idea or a thought flowing through your mind, this is imagery. Whenever you hear someone telling a story & you form pictures in your mind about it, this is imagery. The reason one has less problems with those examples is that there is little to no efforting. When someone tells you a story they don’t say, “now I want you to see images in your mind as I tell you what happened to me on the way to work.” Images just naturally come to mind. Your job here is to take the efforting out of the process of imagery & imaginology, allowing free flow.

It helps to practice & so in this chapter you will be presented with some skill building exercises. There is no right or wrong way to do this work. It is simply the doing that is important. Your work is to get out of your own way, allowing your subconscious mind to simply take the ball and run with it.

MIND EXERCISE

Let’s practice. As your eyes read these words, if you choose, you can easily see your bedroom in your mind. You don’t have to elicit the relaxation response to do that, do you? The image just came forward. Now notice you can see yourself going to that bed, turning back the covers. You can also “mind experience” this, sensing your body walking towards your bed & feeling the covers as you turn them back. In another instant you can be in your car, driving down any street. Go ahead and practice seeing yourself driving, now sensing yourself actually driving. Feel the steering wheel, the seat beneath you, and touch the rear view mirror.

You can then transfer to your office, looking for some files, or seeing/sensing yourself doing that. Those are two different kinds of imaginology. Next, be in the supermarket choosing all your favorite foods. Feel them as you take them off the shelves. Notice they all feel differently. Now practice seeing yourself participating in an entire supermarket excursion in a few seconds. Don’t you wish it could be like that in real life?

Mind Etching Tools

Your subconscious mind programs are valuable assets that can be edited thereby increasing their value. With desire & the right tools, each moment can be opened & worked to your benefit... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Sugar....the Hidden Eating Disorder - Who's Killing the Kids is a book/workbook/workshop in our Parenting the Parent Series. Visit with me as I design the metaphors for this & other projects in progress.

I'm happy to share some complimentary mp3 downloads with you. Each is a full interactive self-hypnosis session. Current ones include...
Serious Goal Building &
Becoming Consistent

KNOWLEDGE HOOKS

As your perceptions change, so will your outcomes. As you follow this workshop blog, you are learning to observe your inner mind programming, noticing what is helpful, as well as what is not. These are extremely important observations as they give you the opportunity to evaluate & then change course if necessary. You are also learning to choose to make changes in small moment fragments, even those these appear small on the surface, understanding that they are also taking you towards or away from your goals. Every moment, every thought, every emotion, every expectation is like buying a bus ticket to go there.

Heightened awareness is on your tool belt. You are getting better at observing the facets of your larger patterns. You are now seeing the auto-pilot responses you play without thinking, as well as how they are connected to your particular emotions, or those of others in your relationships.

If you are following along, you now have your Personal Assessment Plan in your pocket telling you where you are, where you want to go & what you need to get there. If you look at your tool belt, you will notice that you have room for more. You can see the nutritional tools, perhaps surprised at how many there are, but feeling confident that you truly understand the directions that accompanied them. You might have noticed changes already in place, as if someone else was holding the reins. This is the power of interactive self-hypnosis. You can also see your tools for mental biofeedback, emotional management & crayon awareness.

In this section of the book you will receive many advanced mind management tools to help open your subconscious mind, as well as place even more detailed programs into your inner file cabinet. Like all tools, these are meant to be utilized, not to be left on the shelf to get rusty. You already know it's not enough to read about things, simply expecting them to happen. You must take appropriate action, while managing your mind & body connection in order to etch new programs into place. The more skilled you become, the better your outcomes.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Mind tools have been utilized in the practice of medicine for thousands of years & continue to be utilized in top Universities of the world. There is even a special area of medicine called psycho-neuro-immunology, PNI for short, that encompasses research in the area of mind & body medicine.

MEET AMY

I have been working with noticing my emotions and especially those that appear during my emotional craving times for sugar. I have improved my food & so the body cravings are much improved. However, I notice when I get bored or overwhelmed with work I think about eating junk. This is also a problem for me in the evenings when I’m finally finished with cleaning up & the children are in bed. I find it amazing how the same emotions come to find me at the same time every day. Will this ever change?

Amy is now awake & aware of her emotional connects to specific happenings in her day. This is extremely useful, because now she will be able to program her mind for change & then etch those new programs in place, motivating them with both inner & outer motivational systems.

MIND EXERCISE

Interactive awareness allows us to see tremendous detail in the moment. The more you stay in the position of producer/director, the more you will see. You can even ask for the scene to be replayed in slow motion. Relax deeply before doing this, so your focus will enhance at a lower brain wave speed. Bring your attention to your mind screen & choose the scene you would like to micro-study. Take your time. If you feel a block or your thoughts are wandering, don’t allow your compulsive desires to push you around in this important moment. The deeper you go into your observation mode, the more powerful the change program will be once you place it. Be patient. Everything you need to know is coming to you, but in small spoonfuls. This is the way to the knowledge hooks. When you notice something that invites change, act as if you were the director of this scene, for indeed you are. Simply stop the action & tell the actors in the scene, including the actor playing you, to follow your new direction. Now.... observe as this takes place.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Imagery, or the thoughts you play in your mind are everything. They are the crux of how you experience your body, your environment, your relationship to yourself , your relationship to others, as well as your spiritual life. You image continually like a VCR that is never turned off. Unfortunately, the most common imagery consists of negative, non-trusting, insecure, failure-orientated, worrisome, highly judgmental inner radio & visuals. These images are often followed by behaviors that match the program blueprints, thereby reinforcing the negative mind programs. You are now in the processes of exploring change & transforming your own existing images into ones that form the basis for managing your disorderly eating, your addiction, or any other problems that are taking you away from optimum health and performance.

MIND EXERCISE

Take a mini-mind break, allowing your body to sink into the chair where you are resting, perhaps yawning deeply, allowing a blue mist to encircle you, encouraging all stress & the need to rush through this material to exit the ends of your fingers. See yourself on your mind screen taking in small spoonfuls on powerful information designed to change your life in so many ways. Observe the words you have just read sinking into the library of your mind, like rain being absorbed into a road surface on a hot summer day. Allow your body to enjoy the blue mist for another moment and then continue with the next hook.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Until recently hypnosis has been viewed by the general public as a mysterious technique performed by people with strange skills & special powers. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing mystical or magical about hypnosis. It is simply a state of very deep relaxation & quiet focus. Emotions are put to sleep & awareness is heightened. It is a state of consciousness that we enter naturally, commonly known as automatic-pilot or daydreaming.

Hypnosis is not something someone does to you. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. In this book you have already practiced various levels of deepening or trance for specific purposes or mind exercises. You have been programming your mind for change from the first page forward.

Interactive self-hypnosis is a health tool, perfect for changing lifestyle behaviors, managing addiction, disorderly eating, bringing any & all performance to the highest levels. It allows the healing of both mind & body from the stresses of life while inviting acceleration of learning & goal achievement beyond usual expectation.

The next workshop blog entries will introduce you to more advanced interactive self-hypnotic tools & exercises. Be sure to sign up for the RSS feed so you won't miss out on these Knowledge Hooks & new mp3 downloads.