Resist Mass Marketing Hypnosis to overspend at Christmas

£55 Million will be spent in the UK this Christmas. Without advance planning, most people pay for Christmas out of their December salary so go over budget and rely on credit. They are sucked in to the retailers’ enticing messages which are deliberately timed to make you spend more and more, even if you think you have bought all your shopping and are well organized. It really is a mass hypnosis to make us keep spending right up to the last moment when the shops shut.

Here are some hypnotic messages they spin:

Hypnotic principle #1- Scarcity- there is a limited supply and you will miss out if you are not fast enough in buying. Why do you think there is always a shortage of the most popular video games or toys? Do you really think they could not make an ample supply of Nintendo Wiis or the Dragon Fly or whatever the must-have item is?
Hypnotic principle #2- Social Proof- Long lines, stores opening at 4 a.m., everyone else will be there, will you be left behind? Early discounts are hot, you might just be a winner if you are fast enough, early enough or strong enough. (3 hour queues in some stores require mental and emotional strength).
Hypnotic principle #3- Reciprocity- If stores give you things for free or almost free, you feel obliged to do something in return. Like buy stuff.

Shopping has reached new levels of competition with stores putting you in a position of need. It is time to wise up! What looks like a bargain price is probably just a previously inflated price reduced to a normal price. They are not giving you anything - they are selling things at inflated prices that appear to be a great deal. These days, an item offered for 50% off makes you feel like the store is giving it away. But in reality, the sofa throw that is priced at £120 and marked down to £39, is not a deal! The stores buy these things in China, pay unbelievably low prices, then mark them up maybe 300-500%. That throw may have cost under £10 and that means on sale it is still at 400% markup.

Here is some sound advice to avoid a miserable January when the credit card bills arrive: FIGHT IMPULSE and here are the questions to ask yourself:
- Do I need it?
- Can I afford it?
- Can I buy it cheaper?
- Will I use it?
- Is it worth the price?
- Can I do without it?

When you shop, it is not what you need, it is what you do not need that is the problem.
If you are a compulsive shopper and need help to fight your addiction, I recommend this hypnosis Mp3 to relieve your need for compulsive shopping.

Just Say No! End Compulsive shopping. Order it now. Immediate download.

Relieve your need for compulsive shopping quickly and easily!

At only $12.95, this really is a bargain as think how much you will save when your compulsive shopping habit is under control! You can still enjoy Christmas but buy only what you need, truly enjoy giving, knowing that your spending is under control. This hypnosis Mp3 will end your compulsive shopping. Give yourself the gift of Immunity from Mass Marketing Hypnosis.

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Free Hypnosis Mp3

I have mentioned hypnosis Mp3s on this blog and on my website for a few reasons:

1. Not everyone can afford to visit a hypnotherapist privately.
2. Not everyone can find a reputable hypnotherapist within travelling distance.
3. Some people are reluctant to discuss an issue with a stranger, albeit someone caring who is there to help.
4. Some people have disability issues making it difficult to leave their home.
5. Some people are such a mess, embarrassed about their personal appearance or lacking in any self-confidence that they are too ashamed to meet others.

So, hypnosis Mp3s allow anyone, for a very reasonable price, to have therapy in the comfort of their own home at a time that is convenient to them. The Mp3 files can also be played on a CD player.

Also, some people like the reassurance of having that session available to hear again as reinforcement - or just because they enjoyed the whole relaxing session.

Even better than an affordable hypnosis Mp3 is a FREE hypnosis Mp3. This allows you to experience hypnosis, change your state of mind, change things about yourself or discover things about yourself.

Listening to a hypnosis Mp3 is the next best thing to a private consultation with a hypnotherapist. It is your time to focus on you and seek help with your problem. Your time of stress free heaven.

I remember a bath product advert in a woman's magazine which said,

"There are 168 hours in a week. Shouldn't at least one of them be for you?"

Exactly.

Find out more about hypnosis and your free hypnosis Mp3

PS You can also receive a free monthly newsletter 'Inspired Minds'with information on hypnosis.

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Big Brother's Jade Goody used Hypnosis for her Temper

London, 3 February 2007(ANI): Shilpa Shetty's Celebrity Big Brother tormentor Jade Goody has turned to hypnosis in a bid to get a leash on her temper.

Goody, who was evicted from the British show after her racist behaviour left audiences livid, was reportedly hypnotised during a day-long anger management course just before she went into rehab. And, it seems that hypnosis was not the only thing she received, for the disgraced reality TV star also learned meditation and breathing techniques at a clinic in Harley Street, London.

A pal said of Goody's revealed that the star had now realised how "messed up" she is in "the head", and insisted that she was working to sort out her problems.

"She is really messed up in the head. But she realises her mood swings are the reason she's got herself into so much trouble over the years," The Sun quoted the pal, as saying.

Meanwhile, Bollywood beauty and Big Brother winner Shilpa appeared on Sky TV on Friday, Feb 2, where she also had a dig at Goody, saying that she wasn't "very intelligent".

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know she wasn't very intelligent when she asked questions about Eskimos. When Jade said things, she never ever thought before she spoke," Shilpa said. (ANI)

Source: DailyIndia.com

Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy to treat Tinnitus

"All physical diseases including cancer, heart disease and even skin complaints have been helped with Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy. Several reports have concluded that psychological factors should be taken into account in the treatment and management of tinnitus(1).The power of suggestion and mental imagery is a tool all too often overlooked but it can be of help. We found one study conducted in England which concluded that over one third of tinniutus sufferers who were given hypnotherapy found it helpful. The report concluded that hypnotherapy "seemed to help them tolerate their tinnitus better, although loudness and quality were unaltered." (2)."

(1) Is tinnitus a psychological disorder? Gerber KE; Nehemkis AM; Charter RA; Jones HC Int J Psychiatry Med (UNITED STATES) 86 1985, 15 (1) p81-7 Tinnitus--incidence and handicap. Lindberg P; Lyttkens L; Melin L; Scott B Scand Audiol (SWEDEN) 1984, 13 (4) p287-91
(2) A controlled trial of hypnotherapy in tinnitus. Marks NJ; Karl H; Onisiphorou C Clin Otolaryngol (ENGLAND) Feb 1985, 10 (1) p43-6

I helped one woman in the UK who heard a different noise in each ear. By teaching her self-hypnosis, she was able to turn down the volume control of each noise and so make the condition more bearable. Learning to relax was of course hugely beneficial in itself. A hypnosis MP3 download to help cope with tinnitus is available.

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

The Hypnotic Diet

The Hypnotic Diet
(Triple CD)

A revolutionary new approach to weight loss.

"So why will this work when other diets have failed?"
Because diets based on willpower alone fail to recognise the massive impact that our unconscious mind has on our relationship to food. Habits formed over the years direct our attention and influence our actions around food, at a level that is beyond the reach of the logical brain.

How the Hypnotic Diet overcomes this fundamental problem
The Hypnotic Diet works completely the other way round. It starts by dealing with the instincts that force you to comfort eat, eat too much or crave sugary foods. Instead of having to force yourself, you feel like doing the things that are good for you. You desire healthy foods instead of unhealthy ones. You feel like doing moderate exercise, instead of having to beat yourself up to get yourself to do it.

The Hypnotic Diet is a triple CD pack for a very affordable price and free shipping worldwide.

7 Ways to Soothe your Shyness

Shy people instinctively know that they are missing out. Shyness equals lost opportunities, less pleasure and fewer social connections. Shyness can be crippling but there are tried and tested ways to make it a thing of the past.

When I was fifteen I was shy. I recall an attractive girl attempting to engage me in conversation. My shyness made me focus on me instead of her. I heard my own voice but not hers and I thought about what I was trying to say instead of what she was trying to say.

The formula for shyness is "too much focus on the self" plus anxiety. To make it even more unpleasant, sometimes when you are feeling shy you experience physical sensations which 'hijack' your calm logical self.

My pulse raced, my mouth dried up and I felt like the village idiot! I couldn't think what to say so I said nothing apart from making barely audible grunting noises! Cary Grant eat your heart out! When I detected pity in her eyes (or was it contempt, or boredom) I mumbled my excuse and got out of there. I hated being shy and was determined to change it.

How shyness is developed and maintained

Shyness really is a combination of social anxiety and social conditioning. To overcome shyness you need to learn to relax socially. This enables you to direct your attention away from yourself and gives you the space to practice certain conversational skills. In most cases, the heightened emotions of socializing when young simply condition the sufferer to respond to social events with fear, instead of excitement and pleasure.

Relaxed socializing is so pleasurable, not to say productive, but it is an advantage denied to many until they learn to relax. To start reducing your own shyness, I want you to absorb the following tips and ideas and start to put them into practice:

1) Think about the way you feel and behave around familiar people you are comfortable and spontaneous around. It's that feeling transferred to new people and situations that equates to your emerging social confidence.

2) Focus your attention away from yourself. Sure, you can think a little bit about how you are coming across, but if all your focus is on your own words and feelings then you might as well be by yourself. Notice what other people are wearing and make a mental note, listen to their conversation, imagine where they might live, make a point of remembering names. Not only does this give you more to talk about, it also 'dilutes' social anxiety leaving you feeling calmer.

3) Ask people open questions. Many people like to talk about themselves and will find you interesting if you find them interesting. Ask questions that require more than a 'yes'/'no' response such as 'What do you like about this place?' rather than: 'Do you like this place?' Once they've answered use 'add-on' questions connected to the first such as: 'What other places do you like in this city.?' Next you can express your views. This is a great way to get the conversation going. If the conversation doesn't 'take' then no matter, you've done your bit.

4) Stop trusting your imagination so much! Have you ever had an imaginary picture in your mind of a holiday destination only to arrive and find the reality is different from the way you had imagined? That's how reliable imagination is. Stop imagining what others think. I do lots of public speaking and I've long since stopped trying to second guess what others think of me - it's just too painful. Besides, what a person thinks about you has a lot more to do with who they are than who you are.

5) Stop using 'all or nothing' thinking. The 'completely this/completely that' style of thought occurs when you are emotional. People who are depressed, angry or anxious see reality in terms of differing extremes, simplistic all or nothing terms. An angry person is 'right' and you are 'wrong'; the depressed person feels like a 'failure' while others are a 'success'. In reality, life is composed of infinite gray areas. So stop fearing that you might say the 'wrong' thing! Or that people will 'hate' you. Once you start to relax more socially you'll notice much less black or white thinking because anxiety actually causes you to think in all or nothing terms.

6) Take your time. You don't have to blurt things out. Ask questions and if questions are asked of you can take time to consider your response (within reason). Don't just blurt out what you think might be the 'right' answer. A slow answer is a relaxed answer.

7) Finally, use hypnotic rehearsal. Hypnosis is the quickest way to change your instinctive/emotional response to any situation. Only think about meeting others when your mind and body is relaxed. This conditions you to associate relaxation with being around new people. In fact you'll find that when you relax deeply enough often enough whilst hypnotically rehearsing being comfortable around others you'll reach the point where you just can't be shy any more! This is what I call a 'happy inability!'

I now love meeting new people and suspect that my current social confidence would be unrecognizable to my fifteen year old self.

Overcome shyness now at HypnosisDownloads.com

Article by Mark Tyrrell of Hypnosis Downloads.com.

Weight Loss by Hypnosis may be the answer

Weight loss by hypnosis can be the answer to many people's prayers, if done correctly. For those who have struggled with weight loss, jumping from one diet to the next, hypnosis may hold the key that will finally enable them to change their life. There are many misconceptions about hypnosis. This article will explain what hypnosis is and what it isn't and how it can help with weight loss.

Hypnosis is not being put under another person's control. This myth has been made popular by stage shows. You will not cluck like a chicken or crawl around on your hands and knees when hypnotized. In reality, hypnosis is simply a natural state in which the subconscious mind can come forward and be modified to make a change in a person's habits.

Overeating, smoking and other addictions are habits that have gone beyond conscious control. Therefore, tapping into the subconscious will help you gain control of these bad habits and stop them once and for all.

An induction is defined as the act of bringing someone into a hypnotic state. This is usually done by imagery. It can be self-induced or done by a qualified hypnotherapist. You imagine yourself in a peaceful, safe place to help you become totally relaxed. You are then guided into a specific problem area.

A person that is overweight became that way because of unhealthy eating habits. These habits are very difficult to change on your own. Hypnosis can help you break these habits by decreasing your cravings for the unhealthy foods and helping you focus on making the right decisions.

It is important to understand that hypnosis is not like a "magic pill" that will suddenly make the pounds start dropping off. It is a tool to aid you in making a lifestyle change.

The great thing about hypnosis is that it is non-invasive. It is not a one size fits all solution. Since everyone is different, hypnosis sessions can be adapted to fit the individual.

Weight loss by hypnosis often succeeds when all other traditional treatments have failed. It will get to the core of why the person is overweight and help them change their beliefs that make them overindulge.

But be aware that hypnosis is not recommended for people who have post-traumatic stress syndrome, epilepsy or any other personality disorders. It will also require work. Hypnosis can change the way you think about food, but it's up to you to implement these changes through a healthy diet and exercise.

So if you have tried everything and nothing has worked, you may want to try weight loss by hypnosis. You have nothing to lose but a lot of extra weight!

By: Terry Edwards
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
By the way, you can learn more about Weight Loss and much more information on diets and weight loss plans at www.FatLoss4IdiotsReview.net

Treating Facial Tics with Hypnosis

Facial tics can be most annoying, both for the person and anyone looking at them. They can include involuntary muscle twitching, often around the eyes (squinting is a common symptom as is blinking), wrinkling the nose, twitching around the corners of the mouth, grimacing of the entire face, throat clearing and also involuntary grunting. Tourette's Syndrome is a more severe tic, often involving involuntary swearing.

Tics can be caused by some nutritional deficiencies like a lack of magnesium, but they can also very often be symptoms of other conditions such as Tourette syndrome, whose causes are thought to be neurological, and, to a certain extent, genetically inherited. Stress and anxiety have also been proven to provoke and considerably increase the frequency of facial tics.

Any facial tic is an unconscious act that is often made worse by anxiety or stress and because it is an unconscious, involuntary act, the best way to deal with it is with hypnotherapy, which accesses the healing power of your unconscious mind to simply switch the problem off. We do not just treat the anxiety or stress, though…

Physiological problems such as this often respond well to hypnosis, especially in conjunction with NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Responses such as excessive blushing, or excessive sweating can be substantially diminished using these techniques and facial twitching often responds in the same kind of way to this combination of techniques and approaches.

Facial tics are a way to relieve pressure when you are anxious or are facing a stressful environment. This unconscious association may be cured using hypnosis and NLP, since they make it possible to alter the kind of behavior your unconscious triggers when facing certain situations. If acute, the therapist will get rid of the facial tic by, for example, suggesting the unconscious make you move your toe instead. When the toe twitches it is not visible or apparent to other people. Hypnosis also makes you become much more relaxed overall, so it is a pleasant experience. It will help you eliminate both the anxiety and stress that aggravate facial tics.

Click here for an interesting article on Hypnosis and Biofeedback in the Treatment of Tics and Tourette Syndrome (PDF file)

Click here for Hypnosis MP3 to treat facial tics -
Stop Facial Tics Now

Treating Bulimia with Hypnosis

Like Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder which typically affects teenage girls and young women. From an obsession with weight and body image, they develop a pattern of eating, often binging, then ridding the body of the food by vomiting, taking laxatives, enemas, fasting or excessive exercise. A tell-tale sign is someone who always goes to the lavatory straight after eating, particularly if they have eaten foods high in fats and sugars. They satisfy their taste buds with 'comfort food' but then the emotion that follows pushes the person to purge, guilt and self-loathing. They might run a tap to hide the sound of vomiting and eat mints to hide the smell of vomit.

As in many disorders when affect young people, the question of control is often prevalent. They may feel they have no control in all or some areas of their lives. The parents may be overbearing, pushy or unable to show their love. The person is able to demonstrate control over eating. Coupled with this is society's emphasis on thinness, looking good and constant exposure to food and drink advertising.

The person becomes preoccupied with the control of their body weight so excessive eating seems contradictory. They will often know calorific count of hundreds of foods and spend a large proportion of their time thinking about food. This may include planning the next binge.

A bout of excess eating may be triggered by boredom, depression, unhappiness, anger, anxiety and general low self-esteem. A lack of seratonin has been identified as a possible physical cause but this is generally associated with depression.

Bulimics will often plan their day in terms of when and what to eat followed by how to purge the body of the food. The bingeing removes their self-control so they may not stop eating once they start, thinking that they can always throw up the food later.

Bulimics often report a trance feeling where everything else seems to fade into the background as they forget time passing or outside thoughts and ideas and just binge on particular foods.

Physical Complications of Bulimia:
o Dehydration
o Heart disorders (Arrhythmia, cardiomypathia)
o Acute gastric dilation
o Stomach ulcers
o Erosion of teeth enamel
o Swollen glands in neck and face
o Aspiration pneumonia (vomit in wind pipe)
o Seizure
o Polysistic Ovary syndrome
o Menstrual irregularities
o It can be life-threatening.

If left untreated, bulimia will take its toll on the body and on the mind with sore gums and bad teeth due to the stomach acid brought up during vomiting. Problems that can turn deadly are stomach ulcers and perforations, intestinal perforations, tearing of the aesophagus and an imbalance of the body's natural minerals and electrolytes, leading to heart failure.

Poor Eating Habits
The person fears putting on weight so rather than eat sensibly they will work against their healthy metabolism by eg skipping breakfast. By starting the day with a complex carbohydrate such as cereal, they would actually increase their metabolic rate and burn more calories as well as enjoying sufficient energy.

Choice in Therapy
Bulimia is like many other negative habits that people carry on unconsciously, often controlled by the habit which has become automatic. Bulimics usually have issues with perfectionism and body image or self esteem. Traditional mind therapies usually spend a great deal of time in the past understanding the root cause of bulimia, looking for hidden meanings.

Hypnotherapy in treating bulimia prefers a quicker approach rewriting the behaviour patterns associated with bulimia, allowing the person a choice rather than a label. Hypnosis provides fast access to the subsconscious mind which knows what is at the root of the problem. To the subconscious, any message or image presented is interpreted as real so the therapist can present a new image of control. This may involve regression to a traumatic event which has deeply upset the person and re-writing that event so the movie in her mind turns out in a preferable way. It is not that the traumatic event is wiped out as hypnosis is not brain-washing. Rather the conscious mind still knows what happened but the negative emotional impact is diminished. The person no longer needs to purge.

Instead of feeling bad and out of control, a hypnotherapist will ask the person to find a time when they felt confident, relaxed and in control then lock in that feeling overwriting the negativity caused by the bulimia. Positive post-hypnotic suggestions will be given to free the person from a need to purge and replace previous destructive, negative thoughts with new patterns of positive behaviour.

Usually 3-5 hours of hypnotherapy will produce dramatic results by changing how the person feels about themselves, their body image, their eating habits and eliminating the need to remove food from the body. Boosting and reinforcing self-esteem while the person experiences deep relaxation of body and mind is key.

While private treatment with a hypnotherapist is preferable, some may find this hypnosis MP3 for treating bulimia useful. There is also this audio book on Managing Bulimia with Self-Hypnosis:


© Antonia Stuart-James 2007. The author is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

What is a Phobia?

What is a phobia?
A phobia is an anxiety reaction triggered by an internal or external stimulus which causes the body's "fight or flight" response to activate. Phobias are extremely common, and can range in intensity from person to person. Often people can become phobic of non-threatening things which makes them appear irrational.

A phobia is different from a fear of something. It is natural to be frightened if being attacked by a dog, or being in a car crash, but not terrified at the thought of these things happening. Phobias can take over a persons life, restricting normal activities in order to avoid the object of the phobia.

There are two types of phobia:

Specific phobias
A specific phobia has an obvious trigger. This can be anything from a dog, going to the dentist (Dentophobia), vomiting (Emetophobia) or spiders (arachnophobia) right through to driving a car (Amaxophobia) or the sound of thunder (Astraphobia).

Non-specific phobias
With a non-specific phobia, it is not usually obvious what the trigger that causes the phobia is. Social phobia, for example, could be caused by a number of triggers such as a person not wanting to be the center of attention or being in a crowd or any number of other triggers. Other examples of non-specific phobias are agrophobia (fear of open spaces) and claustrophobia (fear or enclosed spaces).

Why do people get phobias?
Our evolutionary history has given us the mechanism for becoming phobic as a method for survival. In primitive conditions when coming into contact with something dangerous, the mind/body would learn to create the optimum state for survival - a panic attack.

This type of learning is not intellectual or rational. If you had to think, "now would be a good time to have a panic attack" our species would have died out long ago. This type of learning takes place at an emotional level so that the response can bypass the 'thinking brain'. Just like Pavlov's dogs were conditioned to salivate when they heard a bell, we can become conditioned to become anxious to any subject or situation.

An immediate phobic response to a predatory or poisonous animal would have been exceedingly useful as the anxiety gives the body the resources to either fight or run - this is where the term "fight or flight" comes from.

In today's complex world however, this learning mechanism often works in an inappropriate way. For example, a phobia of non-poisonous spiders is not appropriate, as they are not life threatening.

How do people become phobic?
To become phobic, all you need is a high anxiety state paired with an object. The object does not have to be the cause of the anxiety. For example, watching a horror film whilst there is thunder and lightning going outside can cause people to become frightened of thunder and lightning, even though the anxiety is caused by the film.

Phobias can also be generated through the misuse of the imagination - thinking often about having a phobia in detail (this is really negative self hypnosis) is enough to generate a phobia. Children often get phobias by seeing a phobia parent react to their phobia, or when they are told about a phobic reaction.

Source: http://www.instanthypnotherapy.com/articles/phobias-traumatic-but-treatable-4.html

Click here for hypnosis MP3 downloads to release phobias

Overcoming Fear of the Dark with Hypnosis

Nyctophobia is an overwhelming fear of the dark. Nyctophobia (from Greek νυξ nic-to-pho-bi-a: "night" and phobia, also called scotophobia, from σκότος - "darkness", lygophobia, from lyge - "twilight", or achluophobia or noctiphobia) is a pathological fear of the dark. Its symptoms include breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly or sensation of detachment from reality and death. Normally, since humans are not nocturnal by nature, humans are usually a bit more cautious or alert than in the day, since the dark is a vastly different environment. Nyctophobia produces symptoms beyond the normal instinctive parameters. (Source: http://allthephobias.blogspot.com/2007/06/nyctophobia)

Nycophobics imagine what might be lurking in the dark and darkness is used in scary movies for effect.

I watched a TV programme in which a Clinical psychologist used Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)to slowly make the phobic face her fears. First, he gave her a diving mask blacked out with duct tape to wear for a few minutes. The next step was to stay in a dark room equipped with a night vision lens so that the doctor ould watch her reactions. The doorframe was also sealed with tape. The girl said she felt as if she was "in a washing machine on the spin cycle watching 20 emotional movies one after each other – very emotionally drained". Finally, she had to spend a night in the woods alone in a tent, switching off various torches and lights gradually to achieve total darkness.

I found the therapy somewhat drastic and even questioned the reasoning, particularly behind asking someone to spend a night in total darkness.

Hypnosis also treats fears and phobias but in a gentle way, using deep relaxation of body and mind then desensitising the person to the cause of the fear. Within one session, a mind-controlling fear can be a thing of the past.

You can treat yourself for fear of the dark with a hypnosis MP3 download here.

© Antonia Stuart-James 2007. Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Overcoming Fear of Thunderstorms with Hypnosis

Astra phobia is a fear of thunder & lightning storms, the feeling that “something is wrong with God’s world and you’re in it”. It is true that lightning can maim and even kill us but it rarely happens and the chances are miniscule.

Thunder is a sonic boom caused when air expands after heated by a lightning bolt.
Lightning strikes when clouds build up electrical charge and release it to ground. The lightning bolt draws streams of opposing charges from objects on the ground eg trees and people.

I watched a programme in which an astraphobic chose Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to confront her fear face-on. She had to sit in a room with artificially created lightning strikes. Also listed to audio tapes of thunder and watch videos of storms. The intention was that she would become accustomed to the sudden noises and flashes and so her fear would diminish. The therapy had only partial effect and was not performed during the peak season for thunderstorms.

Hypnosis is effective at treating all sorts of fears and phobias in a gentle way, whilst the person is in deep relaxation. The process used is desensitization to the cause of the fear. While no one may ever like or enjoy something that has previously caused them fear, the aim is for them to handle the situation in a calm way rather than showing physical reaction to an irrational fear. Watching a thunderstorm can actually be a wonderful experience...when safely indoors.

A Hypnosis MP3 download is available to anyone wishing to overcome the fear of thunderstorms. Within 60 minutes of downloading the session, the fear could be history.

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Comprehensive List of Phobias

I have just received a document entitled "Comprehensive list of phobias" through a hypnotherapy news group. You can download it here:
Comprehensive list of phobias

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium

Treating Phobia of Bridges

Gephyrophobia is a fear of bridges. Crossing one or standing on one can bring on a panic attack.

I watched a TV programme about treating the fear of bridges with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). The young woman's fear was that her mind would somehow take over her body and throw her over the side of the bridge. She felt unbalanced. Even talking about the subject, made her feel nervous. When driving across a bridge, she believed that she would pull across to another lane and hurt someone. Jenn's fiancé said that she was a rational person in every other way. She suffered nightmares about the fear.

She consulted a clinical psychologist in Boston who said that Jenn had never stayed standing still on a bridge long enough to learn that she would not throw herself over. Jenn recalled an incident from her childhood when her father had grabbed her by the ankles just stopping her falling over a bridge.

No one should have to live with a phobia which impacts on daily life.

The psychologist took Jenn out on to a high-up fire escape to make her confront her fear. On a scale of 1-8, her fear was at 8. She felt dizzy, unblanced and fearful that she would throw herself over. After about ten minutes, her symptoms began to subside as she felt calmer.

She then drove the psychologist quickly across a bridge, feeling a fear score of 8 again. The next challenge was to walk back slowly across the bridge. Each time the intention was to confront the fear. She had never stood on the high point of a bridge. She was told that many bridges shake as their building materials have to give.

Her next bridge was even higher up. She had to look up and down into the water. She had to partially climb up and wave to passers by on boats.

The psychologist concluded that Jenn needed to repeat her walking visits to bridges often to reinforce the new behaviour.

A more gentle way of treating a phobia of bridges is with hypnosis under deep relaxation. Hypnosis is well-known for its wide-reaching application in helping people overcome all sorts of fears and phobias.

Click here for a Hypnosis MP3 Download on "Overcoming Fear of Bridges"

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people making positive change and overcome phobias.

Why is the Subconscious Mind So Important?

Sigmund Freud said "The conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg". What he meant by this is that the subconscious is where the majority of our life is controlled.

Our subconscious is responsible for controlling many autonomous bodily functions we do not have to think about. It also sorts, processes and retrieves information eg when you cannot remember someone's name and it comes to you hours later when doing something unrelated. Everything we have ever experienced, every place we have been to, every person we have met, every conversation we have had - all of this information is stored in the subconscious. If we were aware of this massive encyclopaedia consciously, it would drive us mad.

But the function of the subconscious that we need to be aware of is how it creates our reality and it does this in conjunction with our beliefs. "Whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're probably right." (Henry Ford)

We need to know the following important facts about how the subconscious operates:

1. Your subconscious always takes you literally; it does not understand jokes.
2. Your subconscious always attempts to link to previously stored information as a reference point.
3. Your subconscious acts on the strongest or more dominant programme:
- # times the same information has been presented
- the vividness of the programme, how specific and clear it is
"A picture is worth a thousand words".
- the emotions or feelings attached to the programme
- the perceived importance of the source of the programme, ie where you heard that idea.
4. Information presented to the subconscious triggers an emotional and physical response. Each thought sends a message to every cell of the body.
5. The subconscious will continue to operate on a programme until given a new programme. For example, "Money doesn't grow on trees" can be replaced with "Everything I need is given to me in abundance."
6. The subconscious cannot distinguish between actual reality and imagined reality.
7. The subconscious is a system of checks and balances.
8. The more relaxed your body is, the more relaxed your conscious mind will be. The more relaxed your conscious mind is, the easy it will be to access your subconscious mind and the more susceptible your subconscious mind will be to new suggestions as it gives less resistance by evaluating new information.
9. Every brain is a receiving set and a broadcasting station. This is the basis of the Law of Attraction = what you receive will determine what you think about and give out to the universe.
Have you ever thought of someone and picked up the phone to call them only to find they are already on the other end calling you? Or have you thought about someone for the first time in ages and received a call from them the next day? Some call that a coincidence. Those of us who practice the Law of Attraction know differently.
10. The subconscious is the doorway to infinite intelligence. Hunches, intuition and gut principles are all methods of receiving guidance from a higher power.
11. Time means nothing to your subconscious. It only understands the present tense although we speak in different tenses in our conscious mind. That is why it is important to state the new reality we wish to create in the present, not in the "one day" of the future.

Information extracted from "The Power to Create" by Jerry Clark, one of the courses available to members of the on-line Success University.

NB The above points explain why hypnosis is so effective. By allowing the body to relax quickly, the conscious mind relaxes and allows the doorway to the subconscious to open. Once we have direct access to the subconscious, we can quickly and effectively rewrite the programming. There may be areas of your life in which hypnosis can help you quickly and effectively to overcome whatever negative factor or habit is holding you back, allowing you to move forward and create the life you desire.
Click here for Self-Improvement Hypnosis MP3 Downloads.


Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change in their lives. She is also a student with Success University.

Get Rid of Phobias with Download Hypnosis MP3

I have set up a website listing a wide variety of fears and phobias with appropriate Hypnosis MP3 Downloads.

Hypnosis helps people to overcome fears and phobias, no matter how minor or limiting they are to the person, in a deeply relaxed and pleasant manner, rather than the head-on way used by Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).

Instead of being shut away in a box, you can overcome claustrophobia whilst relaxed. Instead of allowing large spiders or rats to crawl over you, you can overcome those phobias whilst relaxed.

Click here to visit Hypnosis 4 Phobias

The fears and phobias are grouped:

1. Social fears
2. Common fears and phobias
3. Medical Fears

Rather than live with a limiting fear, a hypnosis MP3 download can rid you of the problem within 60 minutes.

Click here to visit Hypnosis 4 Phobias

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Treating Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia is an exagerated fear of closed-in spaces,being in crowds or even in large spaces. We have a natural defence mechanism which seeks to prevent us being crushed, buried, suffocated to the point that we cannot breathe. The fear can lead to fainting and panic attacks. Just being in a crowd can cause panic.

Lifts/elevators are a common problem. A person will feel trapped and worry about every sound or jolt. Even the alternative stairs can feel repressive.

Any phobia leads to the perceived problem being exagerated, that the worst is about to happen. A desire for our own space, air and unfettered movement is normal but lack can cause panic. Classic fight or flight responses include rapid breathing, increased heart rate and shaking.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a popular form of treatment for any phobia but its many techniques involves heading the fear head-on and submitting oneself to the extremes of the fear. This seems like torture.

I watched a programme(1) with American psychologist Dr Michael Telch treating a 20 year old female claustrophobic. The girl said that she had been told that CBT is 100% effective but she doubted how being placed in extreme situations of fear would help. In the second session the girl was placed in an enclosed chamber or box to recreate the idea of a coffin and told that she had to lie there for a couple of minutes without screaming or attempting to escape. She started with a fear level and fear of danger of 85% and after two minutes, this lowered to 75% as her breathing started to slow. The next step was a private guided walk down into a cave, somewhere she had never been before but just a normal tourist walk, no attempt at pot-holing or climbing between cave crevices. Finally, we saw here walking along a river where previously she had fainted due to the crowd. She felt comfortable and enjoyed the walk. The therapist considered her relieved of her phobia.

Personally, I fail to see how exiting from a locked coffin with a high 75% fear level, walking around a large cave and then freely by a river means that the phobia has been eradicated. As someone who has suffered from the claustrophobic effect of being strapped into a MRI scanner, the idea of the closed box was unbearable.

Hypnosis is also very effective at treating claustrophobia but in a gentle, almost detached way. The unconscious mind cannot distinguish between real and imagined and under the deep relaxation experienced in hypnosis, the person seeking help is exposed to fearful situations but without provoking fear. The message is then rewritten direct in the subconscious so that the fear is released, calmly and permanently.

The basis of much hypnosis work is ego-strengthening, ie making the person feel more confident, more "comfortable in their skin" and part of this process is identifying a time when the person felt really good, positive, on top of the world and fully in control. The therapist then locks in that feeling, often with an NLP technique so that the person can recreate that feeling whenever necessary.

The hypnotherapist will then desensitize the person's fear by replacing it with positive emotions. The person may never love what has caused a phobia but the desired outcome is that the person will regain control over the fear and experience a "normal" reaction to the source of fear.

(1) "Phobia" produced by Pangolin Pictures for National Geographic Channel, 2002

Click here for a Hypnosis MP3 Download "Overcoming Claustrophobia"

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Can Hypnosis Really Help a Variety of Conditions?

Hypnosis links you direct with your subconscious mind. This part of your brain controls every part of your body, both the physical functions and the thoughts. It stores every experience you have ever been through and filters the day-to-day information given to the conscious mind. It is where habits and fears are formed, often for reasons of which we are unaware consciously. Through deep relaxation, first of body, then of mind, you relax the conscious part of your mind thus giving direct access to the subconscious. This focusses your imagination and allows positive change to occur very quickly.

You are always in control. Your hypnotherapist or recorded hypnosis session guides you into relaxation allowing that access and makes positive suggestions to help you. But hypnosis is not something that is done to you. For an effective result, you must use your powers of intelligence, imagination and concentration which sometimes involves imagining scenes or particular experiences. For example, you might be asked to recall a time when you felt on top of the world, extremely happy, unstoppable and a NLP technique can make a trigger for you to use allowing you to summon up that really positive feeling in an instant.

The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between real and imagined but it will create the image presented. So, if overweight, hypnosis will change the picture you hold of yourself in your mind into one of you after the weight loss you wish to achieve. See how that looks, feel how it feels and keep practising that image so that your subconcious creates that as a new reality.

Hypnosis is very effective and quick at overcoming unwanted habits such as smoking, nail biting, hair pulling. In fact, research has shown hypnosis to be the most effective way to stop smoking.

Hypnosis also helps overcome fears and phobias, lower anxiety, stop panic attacks, build confidence and self-esteem. Public speaking fear, exam nerves, poor sports performance despite many lessons with a trainer in the sport can all be helped by a hypnotherapist.

On the medical side, many illnesses are caused by stress and learning self-hypnosis is a valuable tool to coping with stress. In this way, high blood pressure can be reduced, irritable bowel syndrome can be treated without medication, also skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. In fact, a long list of medical conditions have been helped by hypnosis.

Hypnosis is also used as an alternative to anaesthesia, in such cases as dental patients who are scared of injections. The pains of childbirth can be lessened and specific techniques help pain control in general, even in extreme cases such as terminally ill cancer patients who are already taking high doses of morphine.

Having privately tailored hypnotherapy sessions with a hypnotherapist is always the best way to overcome a particular problem but if this is not possible for whatever reason, hypnosis MP3 downloads are an effective alternative. Hundreds of subjects are available.

Click on this banner for Hypnosis MP3 downloads



Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people making positive change.

Why Does Hypnosis Work for Such a Variety of Conditions?

Hypnosis links you direct with your subconscious mind. Through deep relaxation, first of body, then of mind, you relax the conscious part of your mind thus giving direct access to the subconscious. This focusses your imagination and allows positive change to occur very quickly.

You are always in control. Your hypnotherapist or recorded hypnosis session guides you into relaxation allowing that access and makes positive suggestions to help you. But hypnosis is not something that is done to you. You must use your powers of intelligence, imagination and concentration which sometimes involves imagining scenes or particular experiences. For example, you might be asked to recall a time when you felt on top of the world, extremely happy, unstoppable and a NLP technique can

The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between real and imagined but it will create the image presented. So, if overweight, hypnosis will change the picture you hold of yourself in your mind into one of you at the weight you wish to be. See how that looks, feel how it feels and keep practising that image so that your subconcious creates that as a new reality.

Hypnosis is very effective and quick at overcoming unwanted habits such as smoking, nail biting, hair pulling.

Hypnosis also helps overcome fears and phobias, lower anxiety, stop panic attacks, build confidence and self-esteem.

On the medical side, many illnesses are caused by stress and learning self-hypnosis is a valuable tool to coping with stress. In this way, high blood pressure can be reduced, irritable bowel syndrome can be treated without medication, also skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. In fact, a long list of medical conditions have been helped by hypnosis.

Hypnosis is also used as an alternative to anaesthesia, in such cases as dental patients who are scared of injections. The pains of childbirth can be lessened and specific techniques help pain control in general, even in extreme cases such as terminally ill cancer patients who are already taking high doses of morphine.

© Antonia Stuart-James 2007 - English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to make positive change.

Read This if You Are a Smoker

If you smoke:
• You will be 12x more likely to die from lung cancer.
• You will be 10x more likely to die from some form of lung disease.
• You will be 10x more likely to die from cancer of the larynx.
• You will be 6x more likely to die of heart disease.
• You will be 2x as likely to die of a stroke.

Stop Smoking today with a Download Hypnosis MP3 session

There are 4000 chemical compounds present in the inhaled smoke, 43 of which are known carcinogens. One ingredient is acetone, an ingredient in nail polish remover. Arsenic - the ingredient that is used to kill rats!

Heart disease is the biggest killer relating to smoking. Worldwide, there were 1,690,000 premature deaths from cardiovascular disease among smokers in the year 2000. In contrast, there were “only” 850,000 lung cancer deaths from smoking in the same year.

Smoking whilst pregnant can cause: Spontaneous abortion/miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, Abruptio placentae, placenta previa, Premature rupture of the membranes, premature birth and stillbirth. Plus there are risks to the fetus: underweight infant, birth defects, e.g. congenital limb reduction, increased nicotine receptors in baby's brain, increased likelihood of child smoking as a teenager, possible physical and mental long-term effects.

Smoking affects every part of the body:

- Hair: Smell and staining
- Brain and Mental Effects: Stroke(cerebrovascular accidents), Addiction/withdrawal, Altered brain chemistry, Anxiety about harm caused by smoking
- Eyes: Eyes sting, water and blink more, potential blindness through macular degeneration and cataracts.
- Nose: Less sense of smell
- Skin: wrinkles and Premature aging
- Teeth: Discoloration and stains, Plaque, Loose teeth and gingivitis/gum disease.
- Mouth and Throat: cancer of lips, mouth, throat and larynx, sore throat, reduced sense of taste and Breath smells of smoke
- Hands: Poor circulation(cold fingers), peripheral vascular disease, tar stained fingers.
- Respiration and Lungs: lung cancer, cough, shortness of breath, asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema
- Heart: blocks and weakens arteries, heart attack.
- Chest: cancer of the aesophagus.
- Liver: cancer
- Abdomen: stomach and duodenal ulcers, cancer of stomach, pancreas and colon, aortic aneurysm.
- Kidneys and bladder: cancer
- Bones: osteoporosis, spine and hip fractures
- Spine: degenerative disc disease
- Male reproduction: Sperm: deformity,loss of motility, reduced number, infertility, impotence
- Female reproduction: early menopause, cancer of cervix, Infertility and delay in conception
- Blood: leukaemia
- Legs and Feet: Increased leg pain and gangrene: peripheral vascular disease, Beurger’s Disease
- Immune System: Weakened

What Happens When You Quit
This is what happens to your lungs after you quit smoking.
* Within 20 minutes of quitting your heart rate begins to drop.
* Twelve hours off the smokes brings your carbon monoxide levels to normal.
* Between two weeks and three months smoke free you begin to lower your risk of heart attacks and your lung function improves.
* Within one to nine months, you will find that your coughing level is lowered and your lung capacity increases.
* One year and you have already cut your risk of a coronary heart disease to half of what it was when you were smoking.
* Fifteen years and you now have the same risk as a non smoker of having a coronary heart attack.

Don't waste any more of your life on cigarettes. They offer you absolutely nothing of value. Take back your life! You deserve to be free!

Four million people die every year due to tobacco use around the world. A smoking-related death occurs somewhere in the world every eight seconds, 365 days a year.

5 Reasons to Quit Smoking
1) Heart Disease
Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and the leading cause of death caused by smoking. The toxins in cigarette smoke cause plaques to form in the arteries, which leads to atherosclerosis, otherwise known as hardening of the arteries. Smoking is hard on the heart.
2) Stroke
According to the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, killing upwards of 150,000 people each year. For smokers, the risk of stroke is nearly 2-1/2 times that of nonsmokers.
3) Lung Cancer
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 213,380 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed - and 160,390 deaths will occur - in 2007 from lung cancer in the United States alone. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, and with 87% of all lung cancer cases involving tobacco, it is one form of cancer that is preventable.
4) Emphysema/COPD
Tobacco use is the number one cause of COPD, and quitting smoking is the best way to halt further damage. It is estimated that as many as 10 million Americans suffer from COPD, with upwards of 14 million others who may have it but are undiagnosed. In the US, it was the fourth leading cause of death in 2000 and projections place it as the third leading cause by the year 2020.
5) Oral Cancer
Oral cancer (mouth cancer) is included in a specific group of cancers called oral and head and neck cancer. It's estimated that 70 to 80 percent of all cases of OHNC are due to tobacco use and heavy alcohol consumption.

There's No Time Like The Present...
If you are thinking about quitting, a good place to start is exactly where you avoided going in the past. Delve into the facts and figures about how destructive tobacco is. Learn exactly what you risk when you light up, day after day, year after year.

Realise that nicotine causes addiction. Using nicotine patches or chewing gum to stop smoking just keeps you addicted to smoking.

Sources:
1."What are the Key Statistics About Lung Cancer?" 25 October 2006. American Cancer Society.
2. "Cancer Facts and Figures 2007." 2007 American Cancer Society.
3. "Facts About Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease." 2004. U.S. COPD Coalition.
4. "NCHS - FASTATS - Leading Causes of Death." 06 October 2006. National Center for Health Statistics
5. QuitSmoking.about.com

"Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking, according to the largest ever scientific comparison of ways of breaking the habit. Willpower, it turns out, counts for very little". New Scientist, Volume 136 issue 1845 31 Oct 1992, page 6)

You can choose to stop smoking today if you download a hypnosis MP3 session. Within 60 minutes from downloading, you can be a non-smoker, an ex-smoker, a healthy new person.

Download a Hypnosis MP3 session to stop smoking

The decision is yours.

"If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action." ~Douglas Adams

7 Public Speaking Survival Tips

I used to be terrified of public speaking - now it's natural and fun. Dry mouth, fast heart, sweaty palms, blank mind - yes I've been there! It's easy to fear public speaking. But I was never just content with overcoming fear. I wanted to be a great speaker. What I needed was a way of calming down and applying simple techniques and strategies to talk like a pro. When I'd learned to relax (more of that later) I learned and applied the following four steps:

1. Reassure your audience - they need to know you know your stuff and you are human!
2. Hook them by being interesting and relevant. Tell them why what you are saying is relevant to them.
2. Inspire them by giving them information and ways of seeing that are new and applicable.
3. Leave them on a high by telling a story them encapsulates your central message.

How do you become confident enough to apply the four steps? Here's some tips some of which are practical some of which are to do with the way you think about your public presentations and also how you can start to change the way you feel about them.

Tip One
Breathe your way to calm. When you breathe out you relax that's why people sigh when they're stressed. Breathing in without breathing out causes hyperventilation and worsens anxiety. Just before your speech take five minutes breathing in to the count of seven and out to the count of eleven (quick count-not seconds!). On the out breath hold it a second before breathing in again. This will produce quick and lasting calm. Remember extending the out breath calms you down

Tip Two
You have a responsibility as the presenter but relax you don't carry all the responsibility. Presenting is a team effort. Audiences are responsible for politeness, extending their attention and attempting to learn. It's not all you-it's a meeting of two halves. Never mind how they judge you. How do you judge them?

Tip Three
Use metaphor and stories. We all experience life metaphorically. The most technical logical person spends at least two hours a night dreaming! Talk detail if necessary but present patterns with metaphors. Folk from 4 to 104 love stories so use them.

Tip four
Captivate attention by using words that evoke all the senses. Describe how things look, sound, feel, smell and taste. Paint pictures and sensations in their minds with your words

Tip Five
Vary your voice tonality and speed of delivery. Keep them alert and engaged. Convey energy when need be and slow down when you need to 'draw them in close.' You are the conductor to their orchestra. And pepper your talk with humour. Your willingness to be funny shows personal confidence and confidence is contagious.

Tip Six
Tell them what they are going to get. What they are currently getting and then what they have got from you. Sell your sizzle!

Tip Seven
Watch and learn from other great speakers until compelling, relaxed speaking is a part of you. Rehearse positively. You need to rehearse how your going to feel as well as what you are going to present. Don't think about your forthcoming presentation whilst feeling nervous as this creates an instinctive association between fear and presenting. This natural negative self-hypnosis is very common with nervous speakers. Hypnotically rehearse your speech whilst feeling relaxed. This produces the right 'blueprint' in your mind. In fact when you do this enough times it actually becomes hard to be nervous! All great speakers know how to use great self-hypnotic rehearsal. Hypnosis changes attitudes and can bring emotion under control. I used hypnosis, to change my instincts around public speaking. Now I just can't get nervous whether it's 50 or 500 people. The world needs great communicators. Go for it!

Cure your fear of public speaking at HypnosisDownloads.com

Article by Mark Tyrrell of Hypnosis Downloads.com.

Psychological Aspects of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic, relapsing and usually lifelong condition. Patients with psoriasis often lose hope that their condition can be managed. This may lead to poor treatment compliance. It is a well established fact that in addition to physical discomfort and disability, psoriasis can produce anxiety, depression and other psychological problems, which in turn can aggravate the disease.

A number of studies have shown that psychological stress is often caused by psoriasis and can be a factor in flare-ups of psoriasis. Pruritis in psoriasis contributes to stress and the stress in turn can lead to more pruritis. This vicious cycle can contribute to psychological problems including depression, anxiety, aggressive behaviors, obsessional behavior, and alcoholism. The other psychological problems can include poor self-esteem, sexual dysfunction, and suicidal ideation. The mechanisms by which psychological stress can make pruritis worse are not clearly understood.

Psychological counseling may be helpful in some patients with psychosocial problems. A family counseling session may also help the family members to understand the nature of the disease better and realize the role that family members can play in reducing psychosocial stress.

Traditional psoriasis treatment regimens may be augmented with stress-reduction strategies. Biofeedback training, psychotherapy and hypnosis are examples of adjuncts to traditional medical treatment.

Hypnosis may improve or resolve numerous dermatoses, including psoriasis. In addition, hypnosis can facilitate aversive therapy and enhance desensitization and other cognitive-behavioural methods.

Cognitive behaviour therapy combines two kinds of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy and behaviour therapy. CBT has been very thoroughly researched. Numerous studies have shown CBT to be as effective as drugs in treating both depression and anxiety.

Smoking Quotes

"One thousand Americans stop smoking every day - by dying". ~Author Unknown

"If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action." ~Douglas Adams

"The best way to stop smoking is to just stop - no ifs, ands or butts." ~Edith Zittler

"The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide." ~Kurt Vonnegut

"I'd rather kiss a mad cow on the muzzle than a smoker on the mouth." ~Paul Carvel

"A cigarette is a pipe with a fire at one end and a fool at the other." ~Author Unknown

"Cigarettes are killers that travel in packs." ~Author Unknown

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium who helps people to stop smoking and remove other unwanted habits.

Fear of Moths

Hypnosis can have an advantage over traditional psychotherapy as it usually works far more quickly and allows the subject to 'root out' the unconscious fears that are responsible for phobic conditions..

Julie had been afraid of moths for as long as she could remember to the point where she could not stand to even look at one. She told me that she had been seeing a psychiatrist for about five years to try to resolve her problem which was no nearer to resolution than when she first attended.

During the first session Julie was helped to relax, something which she said she always had great difficulty in doing. She was given some post-hypnotic suggestions to feel better and go even deeper into trance next time.

On Julie’s second visit she said that she had been feeling better than she could ever remember. Using ideomotor signals it was discovered that her fear originated from the age of about a year. She was regressed her back to that age and after a few moments she began making brushing movements across her nose, which was followed by a long series of wails. Julie’s husband, Mark, who had accompanied his wife, was most alarmed, especially as Julie quite incoherent. She was reassured that everything was alright, she would not be afraid of moths or any other insects any more and that when she awoke she would remember in detail everything she had experienced.

When brought out of trance Julie was smiling. She recalled standing up in her cot as a baby, having woken in the night and was crying for her mother when she felt something fluttering around her nose. This incident had intensified her anxiety and made her cry even louder. Even so, Julie was relieved to be closer to the origin of her phobia and on her third visit she told me that she felt her fear had dissipated completely.

Using ideomotor techniques again to discover whether any other incidents were involved with this fear another occurrence was discovered at the age of six. She regressed back to a time when she had been left alone in the house for a short period whilst her mother was out shopping. Deciding to explore the house she went into the attic where she found an old box. When she opened the box a moth flew out and straight into her face. From that point on moths were anchored to that original traumatic experience and her phobia commenced.

On Julie’s fourth visit she said that she had, a couple of evenings previously, been sitting out in the garden with Mark when a very large moth flew very close to her face. Both Mark and Julie were extremely pleased with her calm reaction and she felt she had no need of any further sessions.

A year later Julie telephoned to say that she had not only been completely free from her phobia, but also that she had become much more relaxed in general and her confidence had improved greatly.

Source: Hypnotic World

Hypnotherapy can be used to treat various other phobias such as agoraphobia, claustrophobia, spiders, snakes, birds, dogs, needles, lifts and fears such as flying, public speaking, exam nerves, water, the dark, childbirth, dentists, illness and social fears such as using the telephone, interview nerves, rejection, failure, success, confrontation and sexual performance anxiety.

Hypnosis for Fear & Phobias MP3 Downloads

Stop Smoking with Hypnosis

At the University of Iowa, Frank Schmidt and research student Chockalingham Viswesvaran published a study in 1992 on the most effective method for stopping smoking. They used meta-analysis, utilising the results of more than 600 studies totalling nearly 72,000 people.

The amazing results, which included 48 studies of hypnosis covering 6000 smokers, were published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The result? Hypnosis was the hands down winner, beating aversion therapy, acupuncture, nicotine gum and nicotine patches. Hypnosis was three times more effective than Nicotine Replacement.

"Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking, according to the largest ever scientific comparison of ways of breaking the habit. Willpower, it turns out, counts for very little". (New Scientist, Volume 136 issue 1845 31 Oct 1992, page 6)

What are the other options for stopping smoking?
- Champix (Drug) up to 22% (with side effects)
- Acupuncture up to 25% success rate
- Zyban (Drug) with its side effects, up to 21% success rate
- Nicotine patches (with their side effects) up to 13%
- Nicotine Gum (with side effects) up to 11%
- Self-help books, 9%
- Willpower alone 6%

One organisation not surprised by the results is the British Society of Medical & Dental Hypnosis. Christopher Pattinson, the society's academic chairman, said, "Current hypnosis techniques are a far cry from their popular image of music-hall tricks involving swinging fob watches. The latest relaxation techniques achieve success rates of up to 60 per cent from a single session".

The advantage of hypnosis is that it removes the dependency and craving of quitting without risking the side effects of rashes and potential long term damage that has been associated with Zyban. Those using Nicotine replacement are known to have to try to quit on average six times before succeeding, thereby investing heavily in substitute products and addictive chemicals, before developing a stronger will or abandoning any belief in quitting altogether.

The American Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy published a report which showed that "94% of patients that stopped smoking through hypnosis were still not smoking 18 months later".

"..93% of Niotine patch users fail within a half year..." (Freedom From Tobacco - Quit Smoking Now).

Stop smoking with a Hypnosis MP3 Download

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people to stop smoking and overcome other unwanted habits.

The Power of Hypnosis in the Fight Against Aging

By Steve G. Jones, Better Living With Hypnosis

Time stands still for no one. That does not mean we have to let time take its toll on us. The mind and body are too important to let be controlled by chronological aging when much of how our bodies age is within our control. Hypnosis has several approaches to helping slow the affects of aging.

Keeping A Young Attitude
You are only as old as you feel when you have learned to think young. Hypnosis helps you maintain the same kinds of ambition, creativity and zest for life that you had in your early 20s no matter how many birthdays you have celebrated. Through a process of relaxation and then suggestion, hypnosis is able to create strong mental images of vitality both physically and mentally.

Staying Physically Young
Physical limitations can often impact our mental image of ourselves and how young we think and act. By maintaining strong physical health, such as exercising daily, eating right and keeping your immune system strong, you will feel physically well and young. The mental and the physical sides of your health will support each other in feeling younger. Hypnosis can improve your resolve and desire to exercise and boost your immune system too.

Relate As the Young
It is never too late to enjoy love and passion in your life. If you are older and single, the fear of a new relationship may be keeping you from enjoying the company and intimacy all people need. Hypnosis can help you overcome self-confidence issues, the fear of intimacy or rejection or the obstacles that are standing in the way of making that first move.

As good information about health and nutrition are reaching the masses along with medical advances people are living strong, vital lives well into their 90s. Being young at heart is as important as staying physically strong to get the most out of life at any age. Hypnosis provides the tools to overcome anything standing in the way of a youthful approach to aging.

Steve G. Jones is a board certified Clinical Hypnotherapist who works extensively with Hollywood actors, writers, directors, and producers, helping them achieve their very best. Go here for Steve Jones's MP3 Hypnosis Download on Reversing Ageing

Hypnosis Can Cure Female Sex Phobias

By Tamara McLean
Source: News.com.au

Hypnosis can help cure women of sex phobias like fear of sperm, a sexual health congress has been told.

Melbourne psychologist Dr Janet Hall told the gathering of sex therapists that she had successfully freed several women from their sexual problems by hypnotising them. Some of these women had a fear of sex sparked by a condition caused vaginismus, contractions which make intercourse painful and often impossible.

"I've found that with hypnosis you can get them to rehearse the sex act in the safety of their own imagination," Dr Hall told the conference in Sydney today.

"That way you can change their negative thoughts to positive and help them reframe the problem to show them there is a solution."

She said one Indian woman with a sperm phobia overcame her fear in three sessions and was now pregnant. Another woman used the therapy to successfully overcome the fear that her husband was going to be "swallowed up" during sex.

Dr Hall said a patient in her 30s came to her after a nine-year sexless marriage and a "terrible anxiety" around intercourse. "In hypnotherapy, she reverted to being age seven where a relative sexually abused her," the therapist said.
"She told me as if it was happening right then and there exactly what the perpetrator had done."

The controversial practice is dismissed by many as ineffective and even problematic but Dr Hall, who operates a private practice, said the benefits were clear. She said she had not had such positive results from women suffering vulvodynia, or chronic physical vulva pain.

"I can't say I can wave my magic wand to dispel the pain, but it can be used to overcome their fear of penetration," the therapist said.

"Hypnotherapy has a lot to offer women who suffer in these ways and I really recommend those of you who work with them to explore it."

NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming and was created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder about 30 years ago.

What is NLP?

It is basically an approach to improve thinking and communication skills

Why do people use it?

For a variety of different reasons including:

* Improving what they do now
* Developing particular business skills eg leadership, sales, executive coaching, presenting with impact and influencing
* Entertainment eg Paul McKenna and Darren Brown
* Changing habits eg stopping smoking, gaining confidence etc
* Seduction and enhanced pleasure
* Personal change and development

These can have a positive and significant impact on an individual's life

Where did it come from?

NLP is based on modelling good performance. The two co-founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder started NLP by modelling people who were able to help others develop and change.

NLP is particularly useful for anyone involved in personal or company change.

What are some of the basics?

NLP is really about exploring three areas:

1. Attitudes that lead to success
2. Modelling what works
3. Developing and using techniques that result from attitudes and modelling

What is the learning style?

It is learning by exploring. It is experiential, you learn by going first. If there is a key skill in NLP it is listening and watching without interpreting.

How has NLP helped you?

I have found that I am much more in charge of my life, communicating is easier and it has enabled me to open a lot of new doors.

Anything else?
Communication and learning leeds to change. It starts with yourself and not others. It can involve a certain amount of personal courage.

Source: Michael Beale, UK NLP Practitioner

Hypnosis with Children

As currently practiced, hypnotherapy most often involves teaching a child how to self-hypnotize in order to control bad habits, physical symptoms and other conditions. The child learns to use relaxation techniques and mental images — similar to a daydream or fantasy — to enter an “altered mental state” (in other words, to induce hypnosis).

Once in this altered state, the therapist makes suggestions aimed at producing the desired change in behavior, anxiety level, or symptom intensity. These may range from recalling times of feeling happy and well in a child with chronic pain, to thinking of the body as a “computer” that the child can “program” with his or her mind.

The child may also receive specific teaching about their problem as a means of helping them learn to exercise control over their body. For example, a child with nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) may be taught the basic anatomy and function of the bladder. Ultimately, the child is able to induce self-hypnosis when needed to achieve the desired changes.

What is the history of using hypnosis with children?
Hypnosis of children was first described in 1779 by Mesmer, who reportedly used hypnotherapy to treat a child with visual problems. Historically, hypnotherapy was rarely practiced with children because people thought that children could not be hypnotized. In the 1970's, however, observations suggested that children were easier to hypnotize than adults, and that hypnosis could be used in the treatment of behavioral and physical problems in children.

What are some uses of hypnotherapy in children?
Hypnotherapy has been used to treat hundreds of behavior disorders, chronic diseases, pain control and easing discomfort. Here is a partial list:

Behaviour problems:
- Habits, tic disorders, thumb sucking, trichotillomania (hair-pulling), Tourette's Syndrome.
- Nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting)
- Sleep terrors, nightmares and other sleep disturbances
- Swallowing problems, food aversions and choking (not related to anatomic problems or disease)
- Anxiety and stress

Chronic Conditions
Asthma
Case reports suggest that hypnotherapy may reduce episodes of wheezing or shortness of breath, and may decrease reliance on asthma medications.
Cystic Fibrosis (CF)
A study in adults and children with CF suggests that hypnotherapy can reduce symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, anxiety, and other problems commonly faced by these patients.
Migraine headaches
Cancer
See this summary of medical literature on the uses of hypnotherapy for children with cancer.

Control of pain, treatment and medical procedure discomfort and other symptoms:
Chronic pain in cancer patients
Initial results from small studies showing that hypnotherapy can be used to manage chronic pain in children with cancer; larger studies are likely underway.
Nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy
Several studies comparing hypnotherapy to anti-nausea medications and simple relaxation techniques show that hypnotherapy plus medications was more effective than medications alone in reducing nausea and vomiting. Children treated with hypnotherapy had less pre- and post-chemotherapy nausea and vomiting.
Treatments: pill-swallowing, injections, and medical procedures
Hypnosis has been shown to be very effective in helping children through painful procedures like shots, IV pokes, even spinal taps and bone marrow studies.

Source: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/hypnosis.htm Carolyn Lorenz, M.D., Neda Yousif, M.D. and Kyla Boyse, R.N. Reviewed by faculty and staff at the University of Michigan. Updated January 2007.

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people make positive change.

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness . Some people describe hypnosis as a normal state of focused attention. They say they feel very relaxed and calm. During hypnosis, the mind is more open to suggestion than usual.

Hypnosis is a natural mental state. For example, children are often in a state of self-hypnosis when they are playing imaginary games. Actors and athletes often use it to improve their performance. Because people are open to suggestion while in a hypnotic state, they can learn to change their thoughts, feelings, behavior, and attitudes.

People can take these changes that happen during hypnosis and use them for self-improvement in their usual state of consciousness. For example, hypnosis can be used to help reduce anxiety, control pain, control the perception of discomfort during medical procedures, lessen discomfort of physical symptoms and break unwanted habits.

Are there any popular myths about hypnosis?
Yes, there are lots of mistaken beliefs about hypnosis. Here are the facts:
Hypnosis does not:

- Allow the hypnotherapist to control the subject's mind
- Cause people to fall asleep
- Make the subject forget what has happened
- Make people do things against their will.

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Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people make positive change.

Stop Smoking with Hypnosis

You have seen and heard the warnings. You know what smoking is doing to your lungs. Perhaps you have tried to quit smoking before, but the gum tastes bad and no matter how hard you tried you just cannot pretend that the inhaler is a smoke. You have even tried counseling and prescription medications. So, what else is there for you to try? You should definitely consider hypnosis to help you quit smoking.

Why You Should Quit Smoking

Smoking does many things to your lungs. If you have seen the before and after pictures, you know how smoking takes a healthy pink lung and turns it into a black unhealthy one. Smoking can bring about cancer, emphysema and can increase your chances of heart attack and stroke. What causes this? The chemicals in cigarettes are outstanding and many of them are poisonous. There is also benzene, a chemical in petrol/gasoline; cadmium, found in batteries and oil paint and hydrogen cyanide that cause headaches, dizziness and nausea.

There are actually 4000 chemicals and of these 43 are cancer causing. One ingredient is acetone, an ingredient in nail polish remover. Arsenic, that is right, arsenic, the ingredient that is used to kill rats! Arsenic is what gives your lips a burn and your mouth a very bad taste.

What Happens When You Quit
This is what happens to your lungs after you quit smoking. Within 20 minutes of quitting your heart rate begins to drop. Twelve hours off the smokes brings your carbon monoxide levels to normal. Between two weeks and three months smoke free you begin to lower your risk of heart attacks and your lung function improves.

Within one to nine months, you will find that your coughing level is lowered and your lung capacity increases. One year and you have already cut your risk of a coronary heart disease to half of what it was when you were smoking. Fifteen years and you now have the same risk of a non smoker of having a coronary heart attack.

What Can Hypnosis Do?

Hypnosis is not what the cartoons and movies portray. You do not sit in front of a creepy man as he sways a dangling object in front of your face. The goal of hypnosis is to suppress the conscious side of the brain which is the “thinking” part of the brain with which you function most of the day. The purpose is to let the subconscious become available for tweaking by you and the hypnotherapist. Often, the hypnotherapist will work to teach your subconscious to equate smoking with something unpleasant, like nausea. While counseling only works on the conscious part of the brain, hypnosis works on the deep rooted subconscious levels of automatic thought.

Many hypnotherapists can help you quit smoking with just a single session of treatment

Source: http://www.hypnospot.co.uk/hypnotherapy-articles-sitemap.htm

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people make positive change.

Hypnosis for Nail Biting

Hypnotherapy has proved to be one of the most effective ways of stopping people biting their nails.

Most people bite their nails in times of stress or as a habit at an unconscious level, without even noticing they are doing it. Hypnotherapy can help you change your behaviour at an unconscious level and stop you biting your nails. See yourself in the future, with those long beautifully manicured nails.

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people make positive change.

Alfie the Ant and Hypnosis for Children

A new ebook for children, 'The Adventures of Alfie the Ant', includes the story of how Uncle Harry, the Hypno-Ant, hypnotizes Alfie to overcome his fear of the dark.

Author Dr Bryan Knight is Canada’s foremost hypno-psychotherapist.

“The Hypno-Ant story explains hypnotherapy in a way that makes it easy for a child to understand,” says Dr Knight. “And even shows a parent how to help his or her child conquer a fear of the dark.”

"Parents can also use hypnosis to help older children be calm for exams, to study better, increase their self-confidence -- even enhance their sports performance" adds Dr Knight.

"It's so easy to learn how to hypnotize other people, especially children," says Dr Knight. "In fact, children drop in and out of hypnosis naturally all day. When parents learn how to use hypnosis positively the whole family benefits."

On the front page of each ebook is the name of the child for whom it is intended.

“The Adventures of Alfie the Ant” contains five stories, illustrated by London, England, artist David Reeves.

‘Alfie is Sweet as Sugar’ teaches the value of cooperation.
‘Alfie Takes a Tumble’ shows, without preaching, how to deal with trouble.
‘How Alfie Saved Ant City’ is an exciting lesson in personal responsibility.
‘Alfie Explores the Magic Garden’ ends the ebook with a fun tale about playtime.

Dr Knight wrote the Ant stories in Montreal for his four-year-old granddaughter.
Illustrations were painted by her other grandfather in London, David Reeves.

Knight has authored many books, including "Enjoying Single Parenthood" and "Health and Happiness with Hypnosis." His vast website, Hypnosis Headquarters, [ hypnosis.org ] is packed with information about hypnotherapy, self-hypnosis and psychotherapy.

More about “The Adventures of Alfie the Ant”:www.hypnosis.org/Hypnotize-Alfie.htm

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people make positive change.

Can Anybody be Hypnotized?

It is said that about 95% of the population can experience hypnosis. The exceptions are: those who are educationally subnormal or suffering from senility, very young children (<5 years old), hard drug addicts, anybody under the influence of large amounts of alcohol and some say anybody suffering from epilepsy should never be hypnotised, but I have never heard of an epileptic fit being triggered by hypnosis. Where psychotic individuals are concerned, care needs to be exercised and regression/analytical therapy should most definitely not be employed.

Magic Wand in Treating Small Children with Hypnosis

I often tell clients that I cannot just wave a magic wand to cure them - however, this case history, sent in by Hypnotic World member Jenny Guy made me reconsider.

Jenny was asked to help a 5 year old girl with her fears. (Names are confidential, but we shall call her Kate). Kate had a fear of alarms, especially fire alarms and it caused her to get up several times a night to use the bathroom. She subsequently became a very nervous child.

Knowing that many 5 year olds believe in magic and fairies prompted Jenny to use this belief system to help Kate. So before the hypnosis session, Jenny made a 'magic wand' and placed it in a brightly colored box in her back garden, where a plant pot had been.

During the session, Kate was told that the fairies had left her a magic wand which would protect her from any bad feelings that she might have when hearing a fire alarm. All she had to do was to touch herself with the wand and she would feel fine. Jenny also installed in Kate's mind that if a real fire should occur then her mummy would warn her of it.

Afterwards they went out into the back garden and 'discovered' the magic wand.

Kate began to feel much safer and became more confident in herself, sleeping better and losing her fear of alarms.

A similar procedure was used in Steven Heller and Terry Steele's book 'Monsters and Magical Sticks' with a child who suffered from nightmares. This is a great little book packed with useful information.


Source: Jenny Guy

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people make positive change.

An Ericksonian Approach to Treating Thumbsucking

The child is made to feel that he really ought to suck his thumb which takes away most of the pleasure.

Thumb sucking is a deeply rooted habit which may have been with a child since before birth. It stands to reason that it will often take more difficulty on behalf of a child, to give up a habit of a lifetime than a habit that was more recently acquired.

Because thumb sucking is an unconscious habit, making it conscious can often be the key element in overcoming it.

I go along with Milton Erickson's methods here as I have found they can produce excellent results. All too often we say to our child things like, "Don't suck that thumb, big boys or girls don't do it, take that thumb out of your mouth . . ." etc.

The child is thumb sucking for comfort, and in effect we are taking away that source of comfort, without replacing it with a more effective one, which can create anxiety for the child.

Ericksonians will praise the child liberally for thumb sucking and may talk extensively about fairness and taking turns, relating that to how it is not fair to suck one thumb and not the other, or when you have sucked both of them, would it not be nice to give all the fingers a turn, and of course do not suck one finger for longer than the other because that would not be fair to the rest of them.

This dialogue is continued for a length of time, following the induction and deepener, if they are being used. The result is usually an initial increase in thumb sucking, which is always praised and encouraged, followed by total cessation as the child gets fed up of the habit.

The habit, by this time, has been taken from an unconscious level, to conscious level where it is easier to control. The child will often complain that he/she is fed up of thumb sucking because it takes up too much time (and of course, there are better things to do).

Source: www.hypnoticworld.com

Antonia Stuart-James is an English Hypnotherapist in Belgium helping people make positive change.