Working4Me

Mid-day Nap May Be Heart-Healthy

According to a report making the rounds this week, researchers believe that working Greeks (who also probably have more mediterranean-diet elements working in their favor) who take a mid-day nap have a lower incidence of heart disease.

It's known that many of us have that natural circadian rhythm that leads us to feel drowsy before  bedtime and shortly after lunch time. In the United States, napping is not part of the working culture and I myself do not take full naps but will frequently enter into a light trance, meditate, or even pray just when that drowsiness hits.

The researchers say that this is just a preliminary finding and that the world should not go ahead and adopt daily naps just yet, so take this news with as much salt as you feel necessary.

4 Simple Steps to Improve Your Health

Ready? Each step is the same, and you repeat them every day. Drink a cup of tea!
According to the Daily Mail, researchers are stating that intake of tea, even black tea, is a healthful practice with diverse benefits such as increased concentration, dental health and cardiovascular benefits.

I don't know how far we should go with this practice, but it's here in this article. 
I tend to drink quite a bit of tea, along with coffee (which doctors usually want us to drink less of) so maybe it will balance out somehow?

In any case, the process of brewing tea can be brought into your meditation practicce. The Japanese call it "tea ceremony".  While I am not a tea ceremony practitioner, I can advocate that the steps in making tea lend themselves to that quiet concentration that we strive for in daily life. Bring your full attention into the process of gathering your materials, boiling water, brewing and drinking the tea.  Use hyperaesthesia to amplify every sense and bring yourself totally into the present moment, and enjoy the calm of sipping your favorite tea blend.

Dr. Andrew Weil: For sugar cravings, hypnosis and stress control may help

Dr. Andrew Weil, pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, writes in the Tucson Citizen that sugar cravings may be helped by hypnosis, and the use of breathing techniques in order to reduce stress.

According to Dr. Weil: "Eating sweets can increase levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin,
which can help you relax, suggesting that some cravings are
stress-related. Studies at the University of California-San Francisco
reported last year that chronic stress may explain why some people
crave comfort foods."

Perhaps it's possible to ask your unconsious to help regulate your sugar cravings. The unconscious would have many resources at its disposal, most importantly the external behaviors that get us into trouble in the first place. Dr. Weil has suggestions for these behaviors as well, including choosing snacks with a low glycemic index, eating bitter foods, and he even recommends the supplement gymnema sylvestre.

For more information, visit the article itself on the Tucson Citizen web site, or visit Dr. Andrew Weil's own site.


Technorati Tags: hypnosis

ABC News Reports on Psychedelic Magic Mushrooms

Quite a surprise from the Google News site- the ABC News web site has published a Reuters article covering recent research into the beneficial effects of psilocybin mushrooms. Apparently 60% of the volunteers who received an extract of psilocybin reported a "full mystical experience".

But the interesting part  to me is the two month followup:

Two months after getting the drug, 79 percent of the volunteers said they felt a moderately or greatly increased well-being or life satisfaction, according to the report published in the journal Psychopharmacology.

Maybe we can't try and tease too much out of a wire story, but the  percentage of people from the study reporting a moderate or great increase in wellbeing evidently (according to this article) exceeds the apparent percentage of people who reported a mystical experience.

But other than this weird observation, perhaps we can ignore the means used to achieve a peak experience in this case and focus on the concept that peak experience can have lasting positive effects.
 
So are thosse of us using positive psychology, NLP, hypnosis, or even exercise and martial arts just chasing a high? I've heard that accusation leveled against  peak performance seekers many a time. Perhaps now, with research like this, we can begin to back up scientifically the lasting benefits of our personal mind tech.

Insomnia Drug May Reverse Vegeative State

This article from the BBC explains the findings of doctors who have administered the insomnia drug Zolpidem to patients in a persistent vegetative state.

According to the article, the drug seems to awaken dormant areas of the brain which then act as a sort of failover circuit to function in place of the damaged areas of the patient's brain, allowing them to have conversations and even in one case catch a basketball.

Caution: the article quotes another doctor who questions whether they were truly in a PVS, but acknowledges that if they really were, then this finding is very interesting indeed. Perhaps some of those who awakened under this drug were actually afflicted by some other condition.

Either way, what an awesome reminder of our capacity to recover and to route around damage.

Life Extension Foundation is Having a Clearance Sale

I'm not an affiliate sales site for Life Extension, but I value their products and, if you've been reading this blog, you know I support their mission :-)

For those of you that are members, or are thinking of becoming members, Life Extension is having a clearance sale of many of their popular supplements in order to make room for new formulations and fresh inventory. The cool thing about Life Extension is that they do the research, and they actually update their products in accord with the most current knowledge in nutritional supplements.

Discounts in the clearance sale range from 60-80% and the sale includes such items as Super Alpha Lipoic Acid with Biotin, Coenzyme Q10, Silybinin Plus, Cognitex, Resveratrol, Super CLA Blend with Guarana and Sesame Lignans, Acetyl-L-Carnitine, and of course several variants of Life Extension Mix.

Head on over to www.lifeextension.com/clearance to take a gander at their offer, and to join up hit www.lef.org

Technorati Tags: life extension, longevity, supplements, nutrition

L-Theanine: Take a Chill Pill

I've been using L-theanine supplements periodically for a few years now. And a lot of us get it through one of our favorite beverages, green tea. What's l-theanine? Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Theanine is an amino acid, commonly found in tea (infusions of Camellia sinensis), that can produce a feeling of relaxation. Theanine produces these effects by increasing the level of Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production. Theanine affects the levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. It also inhibits glutamic acid excitotoxicity.

Theanine is most readily available in green tea and can also be purchased as a supplement. Unusual for an amino acid, it crosses the blood-brain barrier in animal studies. It is also theorized that the GABA-binding properties of theanine reduce the caffeine buzz delivered in black tea versus that of coffee. It also promotes alpha wave production in the brain. Alpha waves are commonly associated with a state of alert relaxation. Theanine is not removed by the decaffeination process because it is not an alkaloid.

What's all that boil down to? L-theanine is espoused by the Life Extension Foundation as a vehicle to help reduce stress and fight free radicals. I've even heard it called "zen in a bottle".  I wouldn't go quite that far, but it may come in handy in certain circumstances.

If these claims are true, L-theanine might be useful as a supplement to help take the edge off a very stressful day. Readers of this site will no doubt have an arsenal of breathing techniques and hypnotic triggers set for relaxation and stress reduction. So maybe we don't need supplemental l-theanine at all, especially if we're getting small amounts of it through drinking tea.

I decided that its potential was interesting enough to begin tracking information about l-theanine like I'm tracking resveratrol, omega 3 (fish oil) and green tea for life extension and peak performance. While none of this information is validated by the FDA, for informational purposes we might want to keep an eye on supplements of this nature.

Green Tea: Antiobesity Effect Gets More Attention

The linked article's headline says "deserves more attention" but the article goes on to detail how green tea, and its component epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) are getting attention for their effects on obesity.

From the article: "Green tea, green tea
catechins, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) have been demonstrated
in cell culture and animal models of obesity to reduce adipocyte
differentiation and proliferation, lipogenesis, fat mass, body weight,
fat absorption, plasma levels of triglycerides, free fatty acids,
cholesterol, glucose, insulin and leptin, as well as to increase
beta-oxidation and thermogenesis."

Green tea is a beverage that's consumed around the world and as its health benefits are revealed, it's gaining popularity in the U.S., where obesity is a growing health concern. Other studies have suggested possible other health effects related to cancer and aging.

While I am not a doctor and can't authoritatively state that green tea is good for what ails ya, I can continue enjoying a few cups a day of this refreshing drink.

For the rest of the story, visit Life Extension Daily News.


Technorati Tags: green tea, obesity, weight loss, diet, aging, nutrition

iPod Video: A Portable Yoga Studio?

A few months ago I wrote about the potentials of the iPod as a self-improvement device or meditation machine. Audio books, seminar recordings, meditation sessions, and hypnosis mp3 files could be arranged in a subsection of your iPod library, enabling a portable audio dojo right in your pocket.

Imagine my surprise when I found this press release from YogaYak about going one step further: using the video iPod to create a portable yoga studio!

PORTABLE YOGA: YOGA CLASSES FOR CELL PHONES & IPOD AT WWW.YOGAYAK.COM (PRLEAP.COM)

Yogayak.com is an online yoga studio offering video classes in Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Sivananda Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama and a free community Forum. For $9.95US per month, our members gain access to our complete library of classes for PC’s, Mac and now, video classes for IPod and cellular phones. Our classes are also available in MP3 format for those wanting a selection of audio classes.

For travelers, business people, commuters, students or anyone wishing to take their yoga practice with them, Yogayak.com offers an exciting and low-cost way to bring meditation and yoga into daily life.

We take information with us virtually wherever we go, and we are always on the move; we take our stress with us wherever we go and now, with Yogayak.com we can take yoga, meditation and a deep breath with us wherever we go and whenever we need it.

~Yogayak.com is run by Yogayak Productions Ltd.; a Vancouver, British Columbia based company. We are committed to bringing quality multi-disciplinary yoga instruction to the online community.

Does Stress Really Make You Sick?

Following up on the quarreling couples article, I have news of another study showing that stress impacts the immune system. Courtesy of Life Extension Daily Update on December 5th, Agence France-Presse reports on an Australian study showing the link between stress and the release of neuropeptides that weaken the immune response.  Researcher Fabienne Mackay was quoted, saying:

"During periods of stress, nerves release a lot of NPY and it gets into the bloodstream, where it inhibits the cells in the immune system that look out for and destroy pathogens in the body," she said.

"That stress makes you sick is no longer a myth, it is a reality and we need to take it seriously."

Mackay was also quoted discussing the need for relaxation techniques and even yoga to help combat stress and its numerous effects on our health. As hypnotists, we already have the skills to keep stress levels down; how many of us actually use them?

In my own experience, I usually take a "trance break" either midday or in the middle of an intense work period in order to keep the stress down. Since I've undertaken this practice, sometimes using the Betty Erickson technique and other times simply using my own rapid induction anchors on myself, I have noticed a qualitative change in my stress responses. I also believe these breaks are consistent with Herbert Benson's "Breakout Principle" and enhance my creativity.

If we combine regular physical activity, a healthy lifestyle, and self-hypnosis, we may have the beginnings of performing at our peak.

Arguing Couples Heal More Slowly?

From Good Morning America: Couples that are quarreling have lowered levels of a protein that is vital to wound healing. Local levels of cytokines, which systemically are not so desirable for a long time period but are helpful in kicking off the wound healing process, were found to drop after couples in a study had a tiff.

The article contains a quote which seems to lend credence to the NLP presupposition that the mind and body are part of one system:

"The authors said there is already a sizable body of research showing that marital disagreement causes adverse health impacts ranging from high blood pressure and depression to the ability to cope with heart disease and heart failure."

The study of 42 couples, held  at Ohio State University, revealed an astounding 40% decrease in the rate of healing after the couples had an argument! This does not seem to be the subtle effect we might first imagine but more of a dramatic one.

Nobody wants to get into arguments in the first place, but I feel even more motivated now than ever to make sure my resourceful/flexible state anchors are firmly in place. I find a little flexibility goes a long way to diffuse or prevent arguments (really just another communication scenario in my book) and some of Richard Bandler's tapes help with this a lot.

Omega 3 from Fish Oil May Help Hyperactive Kids

Enough news of research into the realm of nutrition and its effect on performance has come across my radar screen that I'll be adding some of that information to this site as it comes up.  Remember to consult your physician before undertaking any kind of dietary supplement regimen.  Particularly with the supplements, it seems that one day a study will come out, only to have a contradictory one come out not long afterwards, so let the buyer beware.

From the Daily Mail:

During trials, Dr Richardson found children with dyslexia and ADHD tendencies experienced improved concentration, decreased anxiety and a reduction in disruptive behaviour, after three months of fish oils.

She admits: "We don't know the exact mechanisms of why fish oils help the brain, but they do.

Additionally, the article has a hidden gem buried at the bottom: a reference to the Food And Behavior Research group. This site is a must-read.

Source: Daily Mail

November 17th is the Great American Smokeout

Just a reminder that the Great American Smoke Out is coming up in the next couple of weeks

If you wish to quit smoking, now is the time. The holiday season is coming up, and many of us are feeling loss over relatives and friends who have passed on because of the effects of smoking on their health. Instead of becoming one of those people- become someone who will enjoy your healthy lifestyle. Get whatever help you need- enlist your friends, relatives, your local hypnotist, acupuncture, massage, prayer - and you will succeed.

Drink healthy amounts of water, eat healthy, and you want to change the circumstances around your old habits so that you can create new habits. Perhaps a nutritionist can assist with a regimen that will help you along.

For hypnotherapists and / or NLP practitioners, this is a great opportunity for developing your practice while helping the community.

People all over the United States will be refraining from smoking for just one day, many of whom will continue the endeavor and never smoke again. Make yourselves available to those that need your help this year. Perhaps offer a special rate for smoking cessation, or maybe hold a seminar for some group work.

Hypnosis and Religion

In your practice, it's likely that some of your clients are Christian, Jewish, or of another religious persuasion. Now, since they are already your clients, they may not have any specific qualms about the use of hypnosis but chances are that they may know someone who personally feels that hypnosis is counter to their religious principles. Perhaps you have even encountered directly someone with this idea (I have, and while I helped open their minds a bit, I feel I could have been much more persuasive and thorough).

It can be difficult to explain our position, especially in the light of hypnosis being employed by many in the New Age movement to enhance their own practices, and this is extending far beyond the well-known concept of past life regression! This article is not the place to challenge that practice, but I will propose that the marketing of such combined services can contribute (if composed in a confusing way) to certain messages reaching the public that may distort what hypnosis is perceived to be and how it's used. Remember that one of the NLP presuppositions is "You cannot not communicate!" Hypnosis is a tool, a set of skills, not attached to any religious (or atheistic, or new age) worldview yet it's compatible with most Judeo-Christian religions.

So what do we do? We educate ourselves so we can educate others. To that end, I would like to send you to Chaplain Paul Durbin's site. While is site as a whole is a complete treasure trove of educational material on hypnosis that every practitioner should have bookmarked in their browser at the top level, we'll focus on the article Hypnosis and Religion, which is a compilation of Durbin's writings along with those of others in the field.

This kind of material is seldom covered in today's hypnosis training- perhaps it's time it was added at least as an appendix to the training manuals! The question can be dealt with on many levels, technical, theoretical, scientific, and even authority- many churches have known positions on hypnosis and many of them affirm that it's a legitimate activity for adherents to their faith. Find out what specifically the objections are, and do your homework to answer them correctly and thoroughly. I sat down doing web searches to compile an article which would delve into specifics, but in the course of that searching I found the Durbin Hypnosis site which has already done the work. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Hypnosis and Diabetics

Hypnosis can help diabetics to dramatically improve their condition. Learn a hypnosis technique in this article.

(PRWEB) September 15, 2005 -- Hypnosis. For many, the word conjures up images that make a person uncomfortable. Many fear hypnosis because they fear a loss of control, yet a person is actually more in control of their body when he or she is in a state of trance.

This fact should interest people with diabetes, because control is exactly the issue that concerns them: controlling blood sugar levels.

Hypnosis can help diabetics to dramatically improve their condition. Learn a hypnosis technique in the following article by Devin Hastings, founder of the Diabetes Research Association of American and owner of MindBody Hypnosis.

Hypnosis has been a medically recognized phenomenon for well over four decades. In 1958, the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association made resolutions recognizing hypnosis as an accepted form of treatment in medicine and dentistry.

This was three years after the British Medical Association passed a formal resolution approving hypnosis as a valid therapeutic technique for treating neuroses and for relieving pain in surgery and childbirth.

One example of hypnosis helping people with diabetes is that it can change their insulin requirements and sometimes eliminate them. This is illustrated in a case study found in the book, Mind-Body Therapy, by Ernest L. Rossi, PhD and David B. Cheek, M.D.

In this book is an amazing story about a 33-year-old patient with insulin dependent diabetes who was pregnant. She was in the hospital because she and her doctors were considering ending the pregnancy because of severe toxemia and two diabetes induced comas that had occurred in her previous pregnancy.

Dr. Cheek, talked with the patient and her husband about using hypnosis to control pain and thus control her insulin needs. Upon her agreement, the patient was then trained to use hypnosis to achieve complete abdominal anesthesia.

She was also trained to be able to awaken from trance to respond to doctors or nurses questions so that they did not think she was in a diabetic coma.

Here's where it gets more interesting: "On admission to the hospital she was taking 180 units of insulin a day, using 60 units of protamine zinc, and filling out her requirements with Regular insulin. The response to the surgery was remarkable. She maintained a normal temperature, pulse, and respiration after a total hysterectomy under spinal anesthesia. Her blood sugar never went over 117 mg. / 100 cc. although she was eating a regular hospital diet from the day of surgery."

But it gets even more fascinating: "No insulin was used during the hospital stay. During the next 11 months, she used only an occasional dose of insulin during periods of emotional stress."

Please understand very clearly that this is an exceptional case that is discussed only so that the door can be opened to the possible benefits of hypnosis for diabetics.

Now, let's look some of the ways that any person with diabetes can absolutely benefit from hypnosis.

I discovered that there are 7 ways in which hypnosis can powerfully help.

I will discuss a couple in this article by starting with this question: What are some of the areas that cause problems for diabetics?

First and foremost of course is diet and exercise. Hypnosis has a long history of helping people to attain and maintain an ideal and healthy weight.

In other words, among many benefits, hypnosis can help the diabetic to more easily comply with the recommendations of their doctor. In their book, Clinical Hypnosis: Principles and Applications, doctors Harold B. Crasilneck, PhD and James A. Hall, MD state: "Hypnotherapy can often help in treating obesity, an observation that is one of the most clinically confirmed in all the literature on hypnosis."

This brings us to a very important point: Hypnosis is not meant to, nor could it ever, replace standard medical treatment.

In fact, hypnosis is most effective when used in conjunction with traditional health care. It is also important to note that most hypnotists are not licensed as medical practitioners.

Therefore, a hypnotist must always have a fully informed doctor's referral before helping anyone in any manner that is medically related.

What else can a hypnotist do for you as a diabetic? Well, you know that food management is crucial in diabetes. Visit any physical therapist that is helping a diabetic amputee to rehabilitate and you'll understand.

Many of those who have suffered amputations did so because of their out of control and indiscriminate eating habits. The results are horrifying. This is just one of the many devastating diabetes complications brought on by a destructive diet.

Can people with diabetes avoid this outcome without having to suffer a lifetime of denial?

Yes. Through the use of hypnosis, people can actually change their inner motivations thereby decreasing their desire for unhealthy food and unhealthy amounts of food.

At the same time, a hypnotist can help a person to increase their desire for better foods and to develop better eating habits.

How does this occur? The method is complex, but it can be described concisely. Hypnosis is your ability to convince yourself that something is true.

When you believe something, that belief is reflected in your thoughts, feelings and actions. So, once you use hypnosis to convince yourself that you prefer healthier foods and activities, then it becomes a habit to think and behave that way.

Think of hypnosis as a lever, a simple tool that can help people to remove blocks in their lives that were previously impossible to budge.

For each individual, the blocks are different. The mechanism by which hypnosis removes these blocks is that while in trance you have the ability to perceive things differently. When you see or think of something differently, its effect on you is changed.

Many people wonder if they have to do hypnosis on an ongoing basis. The answer is that it depends on the person and their situation.

Some people have been able to become nonsmokers after one session. For others, it takes a little while longer. Changing a belief is as personal and fickle as getting over a cold. But know this: it is absolutely proven that it can be done.

There are two reasons I am pioneering this approach to diabetes management. First, is that in 1992 I was going blind from diabetes but after using hypnosis, I regained 20/20 vision.

The second reason is that my mother has been devastated by diabetes and it is my passion to help so that another child does not have to watch their parent being taken apart piece by piece by diabetes.

Here's one way you can use the power of hypnosis right away. The next time you are faced with a difficult food choice, such as finishing off all the food on your plate even though you are not hungry, close your eyes and take five deep, belly breaths. With each breath you inhale, tell yourself that you feel very full.

With each breath you exhale, tell yourself that it is okay to not be a member of the clean plate club. Think about the fact that, whether or not you eat the food, it ultimately ends up as waste either in the restaurant trash can or in your toilet. By realizing this, you are releasing yourself from the harmful hypnotic command that you must eat everything on your plate. Practice this technique at least 10 to 15 times and you will notice a change.

How else can hypnosis help? Another area in which hypnosis can help the person with diabetes is exercise. The hypnotist's specialty is motivation. In fact, as defined by The National Guild of Hypnotists, a hypnotist is a stress-management consultant and a motivational coach.

Think of the benefits of being motivated to see exercise as something you want to do rather than something you have to do.

In conclusion, there is overwhelming medical evidence that hypnosis can help people with diabetes because it is a proven safe and powerful method of helping people to change.

Thank you for reading this article.

--Devin Hastings, founder of the Diabetes Research Association of America and owner of MindBody Hypnosis

"Speak well to yourself because your deep mind is always listening."

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