We live in a world of fad diets and quick fixes which can make the search for a healthier lifestyle overwhelming and a little disheartening. But each of us has a secret weapon nestled within our minds. Finding this magic ingredient can transform our approach to wellness, health, and weight loss in simple and empowering ways.
Clinical hypnotherapy is a therapeutic technique that has gained attention for its potential to harness the power of the mind. It works by aligning our desire, boosting our determination to succeed, and using imagination to communicate this message to the powerhouse of the unconscious mind.
Power of the Mind
Research has taken clinical hypnosis beyond the realm of entertainment and mystery to a recognised method that is now available in hospitals, therapy centres and classrooms.
A recent study published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis shows that individuals who include clinical hypnosis in their weight loss journey shed twice as many pounds. Clinical hypnosis helps to break unwanted cravings, teaches people how to enjoy healthy food and motivates them to stick to their exercise routines. Other studies highlight that clinical hypnosis keeps on working even two years after you stop the therapy.
One reason is that clinical hypnosis uses the unconscious mind, to find the root causes behind why people eat unhealthily. It can also help them to form good attachments to food and themselves.
Therapy in Action
Each therapy sessions last about an hour. A trained clinical hypnotherapist will spend the first session talking to you about your goals. The next step is to guide you gently into a deeply relaxed state and to start talking to your inner mind.
People often compare the experience to a pleasant daydream or to meditation. Many describe their stress melting away, and coming out of the experience feeling deeply relaxed. But the hypnotic state is also powerful.
The skill of the therapist is to match their words with the client's desire. Once this happens the unconscious mind will accept the therapeutic suggestions absorbing them deeply and helping the client make the mental shift that can last even after the session is over.
Growing Acceptance
Clinical hypnotherapy is now recognised as a treatment for an extensive list of medical and psychological conditions. Research from Stanford University School of Medicine shows clinical hypnosis to effectively alleviate chronic pain. Brain studies demonstrate how it can reduce the activity in the areas of the brain that respond to suffering. It also encourages healthy rewiring of the brain's response to pain signals. Clinical hypnosis is routinely used in some hospitals in Europe and is also available at University Malaya for patients undergoing surgery.
About 90 per cent of individuals can easily experience clinical hypnosis. Most people experience it every day when they become absorbed in a movie, enter a pleasant daydream or just before they fall asleep. This very natural experience has profound benefits because it helps people to relax, metabolise their stress responses and facilitates communication between the different parts of the brain.
Staying Healthy
Clinical hypnosis can help individuals change their attitudes toward previous events and future outcomes. When people decide to lose weight, they often struggle with the idea of giving up the foods that they enjoy. They associate the tastes with events that were fun and consider the change in diet with giving up the things that bring pleasure. Getting healthy is often associated with feeling deprived.
Using clinical hypnosis changes this experience. The therapist will help the client focus away from the past and onto images of a future where they have already achieved their desired weight. The therapist includes special words, triggers and images that make this future image realistic and vivid. Clients are shown how to use their imagination to experience the future image as if it already exists. This helps them to create a new focus away from the unwanted habit and on to the new desired outcome.
The result is a world where willpower is your ally, the motivation for your goal is effortless and your unhealthy cravings are fading away. A British Psychological Society study shows that people using clinical hypnosis make better dietary choices, exercise consistently and are able to maintain their new healthy lifestyle. Other studies show that they have better control over emotional triggers and establish new healthier responses to food.
Exploring Clinical Hypnotherapy
Learning about clinical hypnotherapy can be profoundly rewarding whether you are exploring it for professional growth or as part of a personal journey.
The demand for qualified clinical hypnotherapists is growing. It is a field that offers flexibility, diversity, and the opportunity to specialise in mental health and lifestyle challenges. As a future career, it can be deeply satisfying to help people break habits of a lifetime and embrace healthy and positively enhancing lives.
Exploring clinical hypnotherapy is also a wonderful adventure for people yearning for a healthier, more vibrant life. Either way, this may be the time to turn inward and explore the endless possibilities that lie within the fascinating realm of clinical hypnotherapy.
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