Will Posthypnotic Suggestion Control Your Appetite?

Posthypnotic suggestion, thanks to movies and TV shows, the very word conjures up the depiction of a beady-eyed hypnotist swinging a pendulum and droning, "You are getting sleepy."

Do an AOL search, and you will find several million web pages devoted to the topic, especially weight loss hypnosis. Unfortunately, many websites that sell pre-recorded hypnosis programs for weight loss make crazy, unsubstantiated affirmations. I've been in this business since 1978. So I think that I'm more than knowledgeable enough to set the record straight on weight loss hypnosis.

First of all, self-hypnosis is a tool, just like a scalpel is a tool. Just as varying surgeons have different skill levels in the use of a scalpel, diversified hypnotists have varied skill levels in the use of hypnotherapy for weight loss. And to complicate the matter, there are many diversified forms and types of posthypnotic suggestion.

Here are a couple of the silly claims about weight loss hypnosis that I've seen on websites, along with the truth of the matter:

"Hypnosis for weight loss will speed up your metabolism." If you want to know the truth, the fact of the matter is that weight loss hypnosis won't speed up your metabolism. But it can be very useful at helping to program your subconscious with increased motivation to exercise, and exercise can increase your metabolic rate. Similarly, hypnosis to speed up the metabolism for quick weight loss can be effective by programming the unconscious to motivate the intake of increased amounts of protein, because that intake will step up the metabolism.

"Hypnosis will make you lose a few pounds." This is false. But weight loss hypnosis can be used to help cast away your appetite, so that you eat less, and eating less can help you to shed some weight.

The average person's appetite is caused by two subconscious programs:
A. When you pair eating with any other behavior, the other behavior will trigger cravings for food and a desire to eat. This is called a conditioned response. For example, if you eat while you drive, you will automatically get an urge to eat each time you drive your car.

B. When you feel tense, you feel an urge to put food into your mouth for relaxation and pleasure. This is the result of training that you received as a baby. When you got temperamental, your mom put a bottle in your mouth. You got distracted, relaxed, and probably fell asleep. Now when you get cranky (anxious or tense), you feel compelled to put something into your mouth for relaxation and pleasure.

C. There is a third unconscious program that is present for some people. It's called emotional eating. Emotional eating takes place when a person is motivated to make him or herself fat, because by being fat they will protect themselves in some way.

For example, if a person got their heart broken in a relationship, their unconscious will force them into an action that would prevent them from getting their heart broken again. Example: They are motivated to get fat to keep them out of new relationships, because that will do away with the possibility of another broken heart.

D. I have written several articles on hypnosis for weight loss and emotional eating that are available on my website.

There are some effective and powerful ways to use hypnotherapy to wipe out emotional eating. So just how can weight loss hypnotherapy fix the above problems? Let's cover them one at a time.

In paragraph "A" above: Conditioned responses can be "removed" quickly using an NLP technique that I call the "Flash." The flash trains the unconscious mind to setup a new set of triggers. In the above example, the subject had unconsciously banded together the impression of food in the hand, with the TV. Each time he / she sat down to watch the TV, the unconscious mind filled in the missing part of the visualization: It "Flashed" the picture of the food in the hand, and the subject felt an urge, and a craving to eat.

The Flash is a methodology that enables us to program the subconscious to use the impression of the TV as a trigger for a visualization of yourself watching TV without eating. When we lose the image of the food, we lose the cravings.

When we momentarily disassociate (see ourselves from the same point of view that someone else would), we are not able to sense our feelings (cravings and urges).

When we see ourselves in a behavior (watching TV without eating), we feel an urge to engage in that behavior. So the subject loses the cravings, and actually gets an urge to reject food.

In paragraph "B" above: The subject is eating and drinking for relaxation and pleasure. We teach the subject self-hypnosis for weight loss, because the very essence of the hypnotic state is deep relaxation.

And we utilize the "Flash" to program the subconscious to use the thoughts that are triggering feelings of nervous tension and affliction, as triggers for secondary thoughts that will trigger relaxation instead. When the subject feels greater relaxation overall, oral cravings are greatly diminished.

In paragraph "C" above: We discussed obsessive eating which makes the person overweight. The "behavior" of being overweight then provides some sort of emotional protection. So we use a methodology called an NLP reframe, which programs the subconscious to assume responsibility for making the subject automatically substitute some other more acceptable behavior that will provide the same emotional protection, in place of being overweight. And that reframe will get rid of the craving to eat for emotional purposes.

Self-hypnosis for weight loss can be a very effective methodology. I can only uncover the tip of the iceberg in this short tale. Please see my website for more comprehensive articles and information.

(c) 2007 by Alan B. Densky, CH. This article may be reproduced on your website as long as you retain all clickable links contained within.

Perhaps the most popular use of hypnotism today is to help people to drop a few pounds. But many people have unfounded beliefs about weight loss hypnosis and what it can and cannot do, and there are a lot of bald-faced lies being told about how useful it is. This theme will explore what the reality of the situation is.

Alan B. Densky, CH started his professional practice of hypnosis and NLP in Feb. 1978. He is the inventor of the Neuro-VISION quit smoking & appetite suppression video hypnosis, which garnered a US Patent because of its effectiveness.

Go to www.Neuro-VISION.us and retrieve Free hypnosis power relaxation mp3's, or subscribe to one or more hypnosis newsletters.

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