"WINNER"

"WINNER"

 "R" was working through lifelong addictions when I met with her the first time.  She was charming and ready to leave 40 years of bad habits behind.  The last one she needed to conquer was smoking.  It had impacted her health, her fitness, and was threatening her life with COPD and the inability to walk without becoming breathless.  She was post heart attack with a chronic cough.  She described her skin as leathery.  It was time to quit.

After all she'd accomplished and all the therapy she'd experienced, R was very enthusiastic about trying Hypnotherapy to quit smoking.  I told her it would take 6 sessions and she was fine with that.  Things were moving along.  Her skin was glowing and her eyes were bright.  She was juicing in the morning and had gone from a pack and a half a day down to 3 cigarettes a day with one session remaining when trouble struck.  R encountered several troubling and very stressful situations in her life and was forced to cancel our sessions 3 weeks in a row.  Through that time, she struggled with managing her cravings.  Cigarettes were her "go to" for stress, but even though she knew that the nicotine always made a stressful situation a little worse, her manifestation of stress was to grab a cigarette.  I was delighted when she texted,   "I am ready to get back on track".

We sat down in her home for this session and were just chatting when a knock came at her door.  A "friend" shouted, "Hey!  You want to go out for a smoke?"  I opened the door and said, "No thank you".  We laughed and moved into our session.  This time we talked about how to handle those "friendly" invitations and spent time talking about and practicing other diversions to manage stress. 

At the end of our session, R told me, "It was different this time".  She handed me her pack of cigarettes and told me she was done with smoking!

Two days later, I received this text from her:

"Good Morning Bev!  I hope everything is well your way....and guess who is nicotine free!  It has been 48 hours and I'm not craving!  It's really remarkable. By now, normally, the cravings would be so intense I would have caved!!  I can't thank you enough, Bev.  You have changed my life!!  I'm a walking miracle!!  Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!"

R remains nicotine free.  She refers to herself as a "Winner"!  And she most definitely is! 

"The Dark Night of the Soul"

As you may know, I discovered SWIHA (The SouthWest Institute for Healing Arts) following my Cardiac Arrest, while on my Journey to find a way to help others manage their stress before it killed them too, or before it controlled their lives.  I continue to study at SWIHA and was very surprised to learn a new term today that so well describes what I experienced. 

Linda Bennett, CCHt, PhD wrote, "The Dark Night of the Soul, a term as ancient and timeless as the Earth’s first and greatest philosophers.  If you’ve been there, or going through it now, you definitely understand why this element of change is called the “Dark Night of the Soul”. External crisis in our life may precipitate the event for us.  Maybe it was the death of a close family member or friend, the loss of a soulmate or true love, facing our own mortality, or even the loss of a job or financial ruin.  Maybe it is a traumatic event or events.  Sometimes, it comes out of the blue, perhaps from our own sadness about the state of the world here on Earth. The most common symptoms are:

·       Questioning the meaning of life, and the desire to find your soul’s purpose;

·       Deep introspection, and need for isolation;

·       Feeling great emptiness that is devoid of joy, and the inability to move forward;

·       Inability to tolerate lies, and overwhelming desire for truth, clarity and universal answers.

The Dark Night of the Soul is the beginning of a leap forward in the evolution of YOU.  It is an integral part of the shift that is occurring in the world, and the evolution of the consciousness of humanity. For most, the leap cannot be made without experiencing the darkest places in our consciousness. Fears, distrusts, losses, and perhaps even an unexplained and very deep sadness about events will all begin to come to the surface for questioning and healing.  Many people with PTSD will go through this.  Usually around the time they are preparing to begin healing. 

Have you been through a Dark Night of the Soul, or known someone close who has?"

I read this homework assignment and began my response.

I found my way to SWIHA in the midst of “a Dark Night of the Soul”, although I was unfamiliar with the concept or term until this moment!  Following my Cardiac Arrest and Near Death Experience with a trip to Heaven, I questioned the meaning of life.  I had just survived a health trauma which kills 9 out of 10 people who experience it, and 7 out of 10 who experience it in the hospital.  “Why did I survive?”, I asked.  And, “why did this happen?”.  I have no heart defect.  It caused no heart damage. I had no symptoms.  Why did my heart stop upon registering for a yoga class at my (then) favorite yoga studio surrounded by people I know?  Clearly, there was a lesson in this.  And more importantly, a mission.  What was it?  None of this made any sense.  To recap:  I was healthy. I was practicing yoga.  I taught health and wellness.  I was a vegetarian/vegan.  I felt fine.  But my heart stopped. I had died of a stress induced Cardiac Arrest.  I didn’t know I was stressed.  I had no symptoms. 

Community Based Cardiac Arrest is fatal for 9 out of 10 people.  I survived.  Why was I saved?  Why did Lori, an ER nurse who lives 300 miles away, just happen to walk into the yoga studio a minute after my heart stopped?

As I recovered physically, I entered a period of Deep introspection but I do not recall much need for isolation. I needed some quiet time to think and to read, but I do not necessarily recall it as a need for isolation.  Or perhaps it was, but not for an extended period of time. 

I felt frustrated.  It was not coming to me.  Afterall, I had spent all but two years of my career in healthcare.  Most of that time was in marketing and business development through promotion of health and wellness.  I had been teaching people,  “Take Charge of Your Health” on “Your Journey to Wellness”.  I had taught personal healthcare accountability and responsibility through lifestyle habits.  The thought of simply returning to that did not seem to be the answer to my soul’s purpose.  Somehow it seemed that I needed to help people with their stress, but the only thing I knew was changing lifestyle habits and medications.  I was definitely Questioning the meaning of life, and the desire to find my soul’s purpose.  I saw this as a huge second chance.

For a while, I continued doing what I was doing.  I felt great emptiness devoid of joy, and felt an inability to move forward because I felt there was a purpose I was missing.  I became a certified Health and Wellness Coach. That was just more of same.  I became certified in Plant Based Living. Again, more of same.  I decided to pursue Yoga Teacher Training.  Maybe there was a clue about why it happened in the yoga studio.   Nope.  That wasn’t it.  I love yoga.  Just as I love health and wellness.  But teaching yoga wasn’t my purpose.  My life felt like it was missing something.  And then I felt ridiculous for feeling that!  I am a survivor.  I have EVERYTHING to be grateful for including four awesome sons who had each just become engaged.  How could anything be missing?!  But I continued to hear my Beloved Dad’s voice, when, in Heaven, he told me I needed to “go back”.  That I had “work to do”.  But what?

And then, in the midst of helping to plan four weddings, a banner scrolled across my computer screen.  “SouthWest Institute for Healing Arts”.  Okay, I had attended other schools.  I wonder what this is.  I clicked on it.  I picked up the phone.  I reached Tristan.  I asked her about Hypnotherapy.  I enrolled for my first class.  And I began to study. 

Somewhere in there I knew I had found my purpose.  What did it take to re-emerge from this period of transition? I had died of a stress induced Cardiac Arrest.  I didn’t know I was stressed.  I had no symptoms.  Through SWIHA I found a way to help others realize their symptoms are stress induced; to realize they are experiencing stress whether it is manifesting physically, and/or in fears, phobias, habits, anxiety.  I found a way to help them identify the root cause of their stress and their symptoms.  I found a way to help them manage their stress before it killed them or managed their lives in some other way.  I now practice what I call “HypnoFusion™”.  It is Hypnotherapy based, and primarily Hypnotherapy. But I use my certifications in health and wellness, plant based living, and yoga to guide my clients through their stress.

I celebrate each day and each client. 

I still experience an Inability to tolerate lies, and overwhelming desire for truth, clarity and universal answers.  Perhaps that is left over from my whole experience.  But I consider it to be a good thing.  I have no space for lies or those who deliver them.  But I CAN help them.  And as far as overwhelming desire for truth, clarity and universal answers, I continue to learn through SWIHA, through reading, from other light healers, and from my amazing clients.

And when I tell Linda and my other wonderful SWIHA teachers, Thank you and Namaste’, please know where it is coming from and that I mean it.

Unintended surprises from Ubering

I have been blessed with the opportunity to spend time with my children and grandchildren in Los Angeles.  I am also blessed with several friends in LA with whom I was anxious to visit.  Getting from here to there in LA is pretty simple:  press the UBER button on my phone and cars, usually a Prius for some reason, magically appear!  In my mind, I dedicated my UBER time to catching up on work and correspondence, and always a phone call.  Instead, I have found myself one-on-one with some very delightful people who spend part of their day helping people like me get from here to there.

My first LA UBER driver was a delight.  He stopped for a personal issue during our ride and I was thrilled that he was taking care of himself.  We chatted about raising adult children and the other challenges we are currently facing.  He asked what I do back in Ohio and when I told him he asked if I could hypnotize him to be able to relax and sleep at night.  YES!  I told him.  WHEN?  We scheduled an online session next week.

My next UBER driver was doing this for extra income to supplement working in a store on her feet all day.  She asked what I do.  (It must be part of UBER training to get to know your customers).  When I told her, she asked if I could hypnotize her to stop smoking.  YES! I responded!  LET’S SCHEUDLE THAT.  We are meeting this weekend via Skype.

The following UBER driving needed sleep and needed some relaxation to get back in touch with the creative part of him that sent him to LA.  YES!  We are meeting next week.  He prefers Google Hangouts.  I’m good with that.

Then I got into my next ride.  This UBER driver, like all of the others, is well educated and well informed.  And struggling with whether this is all worth it.  He has been molested and abused.  He is disengaged from his family of origin.  His wife and children are lovely and rather demanding and expensive.  As a minority, he has faced racism and inequality.  We are meeting next week.  He asked some interesting questions:  After your Near Death Experience, how do you feel about life? How do you feel about other people?  Are you treating others differently now?  YIKES!  Great questions!  So glad it was a longer ride!

I answered his questions.  I told him my NDE is the reason I now practice Hypnotherapy:  to help others manage their stress before it manages them.  I cherish every day, and every moment.  I almost missed them.  I am thrilled to be here.  I love other people and want to help them avoid the stress sandtrap I fell into:  Not knowing I was stressed.  Not knowing the manifestations of my stress.  Not managing my stress or my symptoms and instead dying of it.  And am I treating others differently?  Hmmmmm.  I guess.  Because now I look for the manifestations of stress in everyone and have dedicated myself to helping each person recognize and manage their symptoms.  And I have acquired, learned, developed, and implemented a wide variety of Healing Arts to do just that.  And it is working!

I am blessed.

"WINNER"

"WINNER"

 "R" was working through lifelong addictions when I met with her the first time.  She was charming and ready to leave 40 years of bad habits behind.  The last one she needed to conquer was smoking.  It had impacted her health, her fitness, and was threatening her life with COPD and the inability to walk without becoming breathless.  She was post heart attack with a chronic cough.  She described her skin as leathery.  It was time to quit.

After all she'd accomplished and all the therapy she'd experienced, R was very enthusiastic about trying Hypnotherapy to quit smoking.  I told her it would take 6 sessions and she was fine with that.  Things were moving along.  Her skin was glowing and her eyes were bright.  She was juicing in the morning and had gone from a pack and a half a day down to 3 cigarettes a day with one session remaining when trouble struck.  R encountered several troubling and very stressful situations in her life and was forced to cancel our sessions 3 weeks in a row.  Through that time, she struggled with managing her cravings.  Cigarettes were her "go to" for stress, but even though she knew that the nicotine always made a stressful situation a little worse, her manifestation of stress was to grab a cigarette.  I was delighted when she texted,   "I am ready to get back on track".

We sat down in her home for this session and were just chatting when a knock came at her door.  A "friend" shouted, "Hey!  You want to go out for a smoke?"  I opened the door and said, "No thank you".  We laughed and moved into our session.  This time we talked about how to handle those "friendly" invitations and spent time talking about and practicing other diversions to manage stress. 

At the end of our session, R told me, "It was different this time".  She handed me her pack of cigarettes and told me she was done with smoking!

Two days later, I received this text from her:

"Good Morning Bev!  I hope everything is well your way....and guess who is nicotine free!  It has been 48 hours and I'm not craving!  It's really remarkable. By now, normally, the cravings would be so intense I would have caved!!  I can't thank you enough, Bev.  You have changed my life!!  I'm a walking miracle!!  Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!"

R remains nicotine free.  She refers to herself as a "Winner"!  And she most definitely is! 

Will Hypnotherapy Make Me Cluck Like A Chicken?

Will Hypnotherapy Make Me Cluck Like A Chicken? 

Or, more eloquently asked, is your Smoking/Eating/other a habit or a symptom of stress?

I am asked so often, “Will Hypnotherapy make me Cluck like a chicken?”.  The answer is NO!  But if we are going to talk about chickens, my first question is why are they the subject of so much discussion?  Whether they are crossing the road, clucking, or coming first before their egg?  For purposes of our discussion and this blog, we are not concerned about the chicken or her egg.  We are concerned about whether you are you smoking because you are stressed?  Or are you stressed because you are smoking?  In other words, is your smoking a symptom of your stress, or the cause?  What did come first, the chicken or the egg?:)

I chose to get into Hypnotherapy to help people manage their stress. I learned that Stress Kills, and I decided I could spend my energy helping people get out of their own way.  Very soon into my journey, I faced a new reality.   People don’t necessarily even know they are stressed.  And sometimes the symptoms of their stress are stressing them out.  Confused?  So was I.  Confused enough to grab a cigarette or a bag of chocolate chip cookies to help you feel better?  If you answered “YES”, you have lots in common with many of my clients.  And how do you feel after that smoke or binge?  Better?  Or are you now stressed because you had been “doing so well, and then…..”.  Yep, same story.

Like most people I have asked when I meet with groups for Hypnotherapy sessions, or when I give presentations, I thought I knew the symptoms of stress. 

1.    Rapid heart rate? For sure. 

2.    GI problems including all the awful ones that we don’t like to talk about but which are the subject of television commercials promoting products to cure them?  Absolutely. 

3.    Sweaty palms?  Yes. 

4.    Blushing.  Yes. 

5.    Can’t catch your breath?  Shyness? Anxiety?  Insomnia?  Sleep too much?  No appetite? Pain? Discomfort? Sick to your stomach?  “Yes”, to all of those.

Okay, the list is endless.  According to http://www.activebeat.co/your-health/10-surprising-signs-symptoms-of-stress/10/, the list can include:

6.    weird dreams

7.    hair loss

8.    hair changes

9.    jaw pain and tooth pain, (Oh yes, the infamous TMJ and temporomandibular joint disorder!),

10.  twitching

11.  acne

12.  frequent colds and flu

13.  skin rashes

14.  abdominal fat

15.  irregular periods

16.  difficulty getting pregnant

The list is endless.  Sometimes it seems like a better challenge would be to name a symptom that is NOT a sign of stress. 

So yes, I set out to help people with all of that because it’s tough to be productive, or joyful, happy, even tempered with any of that going on.   

And then I faced a huge, new truth.   Other symptoms of stress include:

17. Fears! 

18. Phobias! 

19. Bad habits!  After all, what do my clients tell me when I ask why they eat too much, crave sugar, drink, smoke, or other substance abuse.  “I got aggravated”.  “My kids got on my nerves”.  “My husband/wife aggravated me”. “My boss is making me crazy”.  “I am just totally stressed out so I smoked and once I had one I couldn’t stop”.

So now I knew that part of helping people manage their stress and get out of their way meant helping them with the signs of stress they all knew about, but their bad habits were symptoms of stress, too. And that is a double edged sword.  After all, if stress causes you to smoke, what is the result of trying to quit and not being able to?  You can replace the word smoke with whatever habit is stressing you out.  Your habit is a symptom of your stress.  It is also a cause of your stress.

Honestly, I expected to help a few people close to me quit smoking.  I just thought I’d help them quit their bad habit, smell better, save some money, and get healthier.  Fifteen years ago I was part of the crew collecting signatures in Ohio to ban smoking in public places.  Two years ago, I served at matchmaker to two people I really liked and knew would be great together and it didn’t work because she smoked.  When I bought my first house, my mom’s best friend bought me ash trays so she could smoke when she visited.  I filled them with hard candy.  I don’t tolerate smoking even though the smell of pipe smoke brings back warm fuzzy memories of my dad, grandpa, and my uncles when they were together.  And I really had started to believe there weren’t that many smokers around anymore.  After all, no one I know smokes anymore.  And people aren’t smoking in restaurants. 

Maybe my head was buried in the sand.  When I began my Hypnotherapy practice, smokers began to call.  “Can Hypnosis really help me quit smoking?” they would ask?  And every second or third caller would ask, “You’re not going to make me quack like a duck/cluck like chicken/bark like a dog, are you?”. 

Yes, Hypnotherapy is a fabulous quit smoking/smoking cessation technique.  And, by the way, quacking, clucking, and barking are “Stage Hypnosis” or “Hollywood Hypnosis”.  Meant to amuse.  When we work with clients who want to rid themselves of bad habits, whether they are the symptoms of stress or the cause of stress, we mean business.  You will likely have fun during your session.  And you will feel completely wonderful and relaxed after.  But you won’t be a quacking, clucking, or barking!

What you will be is on the road to being a Non-Smoker.

So, why am I blogging about this today?  Well, this has been an interesting few weeks.  The word is out.  Hypnotherapy is a great smoking cessation tool. So I have been seeing smokers who are ready to quit.  And I have been seeing smokers who aren’t ready to quit, but their husbands/wives/children or somebody who loves them is ready for them to quit.  So we work together to get them ready.  And it works.

Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation is much like Hypnotherapy for all of the other symptoms of stress.  First we talk about why you decided to seek my help. (Or someone decided for you).   Then, together, we set an intention for our session.  I let you know that it will take more than one session, and that there are Smoking Cessation packages available.  I really would like to work with you 6 times.  And when you have quit, we will agree on a refresher session sometime in the near future to keep you on the road to breathing fresh air, smelling better, clean clothes, clear lungs, ending smoker’s cough, able to taste your food again, able to smell the flowers when you stop to smell them, and more. 

After we agree upon your intention for your first session, I help you to relax into a trance with a guided meditation.  And then we move into the Hypnotherapy portion of our time together.  When you come “back” from your trance, you feel wide awake, aware, refreshed, relaxed, and on the path to being a Non-Smoker! 

It doesn’t matter how many times you have tried to quit, or if you never have tried.  It doesn’t matter how many time you have actually quit, and then found yourself smoking again a year later.  Or eating sugar again.  Or returning to whatever the habit is that you would like to leave behind. Hypnotherapy works.

Call, text, or write.  I look forward to seeing you!  440-346-2630.  Bev@HealingWatersSolutions.com  

Healing Waters: Fusing Hypnotherapy with Wellness for your Health

Bev Waters Shankman

Founder, Healing Waters HynoFusion™

Bev works with you to recognize the symptoms of your stress, understand its' causes, and realize how it manifests in your daily life, often as fears, phobias, habits, anxiety.  Her personal struggle with unrecognized stress almost cost her life.  Today, Bev's mission is to help you manage your stress and “get out of your own way” to living your best life.  Bev seamlessly blends Hypnotherapy with wellness, nutrition, mindful breathing, walking meditation, and yoga to create a personalized roadmap with you for your journey.  www.HealingWatersSolutions.com, @Healing Waters on Instagram and Facebook. Together, you will move beyond the cause of your symptoms to a happier you.

I Am SURE I Can't POSSIBLY be Hynotized!

I met a believer yesterday.  During the introduction by a mutual friend, she told him "Bev practices Hypnotherapy".  I love that introduction because you never know how someone will respond.  We were standing in a wonderful local shop that sells crystals and other healing things so I expected the owner to be open; I just wondered "how open?".  "R" looked me straight in the eye with his piercing blue eyes and told me, "I am a believer!  Hypnotherapy saved my life several years ago". Okay, that was a new response, and I was giddy with excitement to hear his story.   Rightfully so.  Hypnotherapy removed "R's" unbearable, life-changing, disabling pain when he was told his only hope was more surgery.  A sixth surgery was not on his bucket list.  When he said he would like to refer people to me, I handed him a few business cards and we continued to talk.

R told me he suggests hypnotherapy to people all the time, and is surprised at how many tell him, "Oh, I can't be hypnotized".  R told our friend that you need to be smart to be hypnotized, and he just assumes anyone who can't be is not smart enough.  Since the Hypnotherapist who successfully treated R lives in another state, it is a hard "sell" to convince people to travel to try it. I told R that in practice, I have actually found that the more convinced someone is that he/she can not be put into a trance, the easier it is.  My theory is that those people are seated comfortably in my chair, settled in nicely, without a concern because they "know" this "isn't going to work anyway" so "I may as well get cozy and settle in for the ride".  Ie:  no distracting thoughts.  They settle in; they get cozy; they allow their eyes to drift closed.  Boom.  They are in a hypnotic trance and we are on our journey to resolve their issue.

I shared a few anecdotes with R and our friend, always protecting my client's privacy.  I arrived at Hypnotherapy from the medical industry.  I continue to live my HIPAA training, and am delighted to do so.  I don't even use client names on their records.  But I can create new names for clients in a heartbeat.

Take Barry.  He couldn't be hypnotized but he needed to resolved his fear of public speaking.  He had seen a "Hypnotist" in another city who shouted at him and hit his arm.  He never entered a trance and came to me trying to figure out what had happened.  Well for starters, it sounds more like some Neuro Linguistic Programming was attempted, and since Barry couldn't recall what had happened, I believe he was likely in a trance at some point.  He drifted into a trance for me beautifully and the next time I heard from him, he was successfully addressing large audiences much to the delight of his employer!

And then came Gerry.  No way could he be hypnotized.  Gerry was seeking a solution to his inability to focus and stay on task. "Totally ADD", he told me; certainly "couldn't concentrate long enough to listen much less enter a trance".  "Okay", I told him.  "So we will just relax you".  I tried a suggestibility test on him and he passed with flying colors.  According to this test, Gerry could easily be hypnotized.   Moments later, he was in a deep trance.  Four days later, his administrative assistant called to schedule an appointment for herself after witnessing the dramatic change in Barry.  Four weeks later, Barry came back for help with inability to sleep through the night.  That night he slept 9 hours.  Since then, his sleep is only interrupted by his dogs and his alarm clock.

I went on to tell "R" about my client who has called from multiple cities after we worked on her fear of flying and her initial fear of hypnotherapy.  I shared with him the story of a client who was so nervous she brought someone with her to just sit in the room and watch; they both went into a trance.  And I admitted to him that I was  convinced I could not be hypnotized.  I fully believed in it as a tool for those who could be, but that wasn't me.  My personal Hypnotherapist will tell you otherwise.  She planted a suggested years ago that still comes back to me when I need it.

So if you are struggling with a fear, phobia, stressor, anxiety, or habit you would like to be rid of; if you would like to get out of your own way and have been told to try hypnotherapy but you just KNOW you can't be hypnotized, call me.  So, like Gerry, we won't hypnotize you, either.  We will just relax you and teach you how to relax yourself.  And then we will bring you back to full awareness.

Namaste'!

Bev

Hypnotherapy for YOU

Healing Waters:     Resources for your Journey to Wellness

Welcome to our blog.  Healing Waters is here to support your Journey to Wellness. Today, I am  answering some Frequently Asked Questions about the role of Hypnotherapy in helping you reduce or reverse habits, fears, phobias, and anxieties that may be interfering your path to health and wellness.  Please write to me, Bev@HealingWatersSolutions to schedule your appointment and for any questions not answered here. 

What is Clinical Hypnotherapy?   Hypnotherapy uses the power of positive suggestion to implement changes you desire. We create a foundation through which you take control of the changes you want in your life. 

Will I remember everything?  Will I I lose control?  The primary job of your subconscious mind is to protect you; it is always on the job. Myths about hypnosis, perpetuated by Hollywood movies, urban legends and fictional books lead people to think all kinds of things about hypnosis. You are always in control, always know what is going on, and are able to "come back" to full waking state  anytime you want or need to.  Simply count to yourself, "1 - 2- 3", and open your eyes.

Hypnosis is a state of relaxed deep focus, the same "trance" you enter at least twice a day as you awaken in the morning, and fall asleep at bedtime, and likely much more often than that.

What is the process?  In our offices, we discuss with you why you are here, the changes you desire. We take careful notes, and together set your affirmation and intention for the session.  You will relax into a comfortable chair, and release any gripping in your jaws, hands, face, legs.  Listening to the sound of your hypnotherapist’s voice, you will be guided into relaxation.  Embedded in a guided meditation created just for you will be the affirmation and intention you have selected to start your journey to the change you desire.  You will be guided out of the trance just as gently, feeling relaxed and ready to return to your day.  You may notice changes immediately.  

What can be treated with hypnotherapy? Hypnotherapy has very broad application in helping you with stress, habits, fears, phobias, and anxiety.  We often hear from people wanting to reverse habits such as smoking, drinking, drug use;  manage weight for weight loss or weight gain; manage fears and phobias such as dogs and spiders; promote healing in conjunction with your physicians' treatment plan;  manage pain;  reduce, relieve, manage stress and its symptoms; encourage fertility;  create joy.  Dentists refer their patients to hypnotherapists for help with dental pain and anxiety.  Choose a hypnotherapist who is well trained, trustworthy, and in whom you are confident. Hypnotherapy is a safe and beneficial procedure when facilitated by an ethical and trained professional.  

What can NOT be treated with hypnotherapy?  Hypnotherapy is not a treatment or cure for mental illness, and people suffering from psychosis, suicidal depression, or who are on medications for psychological stability should only be hypnotized by an experienced hypnotherapist with the client's doctor or psychiatrist present.  Serious mental health and physical health problems need to be treated by psychiatrists or physicians.  Often, these professionals refer their patients to a hypnotherapist for pain control, hypno-anesthesia, and relaxation as well as supplementary treatment for substance abuse, family problems, and clinical depression.

Hypnotherapy is a very positive and effective way for you to take control of habits and processes that interfere with your Journey to Wellness.  

We look forward to supporting your Journey to Wellness and to hearing from you soon.  Please contact me, Bev@HealingWatersSolutions or call with any questions (440-346-2630) or to set up an appointment.  

Spring Equinox: time for Spring Cleaning the habits in your way

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, the Spring Equinox, that day when day and night are equal in length.  Not matter the weather on the first day of Spring, we know the new season is on its way and our step becomes a little lighter.  Many of us begin to think about Spring cleaning, the things we want to change inside the house, the things we want to change outside.  Many of us thing about our personal Spring Cleaning:  the changes we want to make to our external selves and the changes we want to make to our internal selves.  

I heard from several old and new clients already this week; people who know what changes they are ready to make, and are seeking some guidance in making them.  I am so grateful that they understand how Hypnotherapy can help them to make those changes.

And last night, I attended a Spring Equinox Workshop lead by my yoga teacher.  (You will read a lot from and about her in these blogs).  She took us through a discussion about the Spring Equinox, some wonderful, mostly restorative yoga poses to reflect each of the Elements:  Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, and, as is the gift each attendee gives herself by attending these workshops, a guided meditation.  We each left there refreshed, relaxed and even more ready for our own Spring.

So, imagine my delight today, as I sit with all of my windows open (the sun is shining and it is 51 degrees outside!), breathing in the Spring air, and enjoying the cross breeze as it winds through the house,....just imagine my delight to receive this text from my yoga teacher:

“The Virgo in you is the spiritual Gardener who helps others pull the weeds from their Garden that cause fear and unhealthy habits.  Then you help them replant healthier thoughts and patterns with Hypnotherapy so they can blossom”.

My heart sings with this amazing and loving tribute.  Thank you, Dana!

So, to you who have taken a few moments out of your day to read this note, enjoy the early Spring, and the knowledge that the seasons are changing and bringing new growth and all  new possibilities!

And as you prepare for your own Spring Cleaning, call to schedule your "Spring Cleaning" appointment.  Let me assist you in pulling those weeds from your Garden, the weeds getting in the way of living your best life and being your best self.  Together, with Hypnotherapy, we will replant healthier, more positive and productive thoughts and patterns so that you, too, will blossom!

Namaste',

Bev

440-346-2630

Bev@HealingWatersSolutions.com

Keep your communications positive.....

I just read something today that reinforces what I have always believed about communicating. Keep it positive. Enjoy this analogy from Cliff Swain-Salomon:  
Tell a dog, “don’t sit” and obviously the dog will sit. Likewise, our own brain hears the undesirable behavior, focuses on it, and reinforces it, rather than the desired outcome. Using words such as “but” negates the first half of the sentence, for example, “I love you, but... "
So please keep your language positive. INCLUDING YOUR SELF-TALK, please!

I have always suggested to my friends and to my kids when they were camp counselors that they focus on telling kids and campers what TO DO and not what not to do.  Did you ever wonder why a child reaches for the stove when you tell him/her not to touch a burner?  The subconscious mind only hears the suggestion and discards the negative language.

With Hypnotherapy clients, we focus on positive language.  I suggest to my weight management clients that they choose healthier foods to crowd out those they should stay away from.  Listing the foods they should avoid will create a craving!  Clients with fears and phobias learn to release those emotions and reframe with positive feelings.

So listen to yourself today.  Start with your self-talk!  Remind yourself how great you look, how wonderful you feel, how proud you are of your accomplishment!  And then pay it forward.  

Namaste',

Bev