The project will require you to take part in 4 sessions, involving 2 sessions of hypnosis at Bunny’s practice in Verwood on the edge of Bournemouth and 2 recall sessions which can be either at her premises or at a location to suit you. The hypnosis sessions will take approximately 1.5 hours and the recall sessions about 15 minutes. The recall sessions need to be 1 day after each hypnosis session and the last session will include a debrief when the research can be explained in more detail and you will be able to ask any questions you may have had about the procedure.

The active hypnosis induction will require you to use a cross training machine for a brief period of time. This is designed to increase the hormones levels involved in activity and will not be above a very mild level, at which you feel comfortable. The time spent on the machine is controlled by you and is not a test of your physical fitness or stamina. Please therefore be advised that it’ll be best to wear comfortable clothes and trainers.

Whilst in hypnosis you will be asked to learn and memorise a short two way dialogue.

You’ll get confidentiality forms and an informed consent form to fill out to protect you throughout and I hope you can help. If so, get in touch with me and I’ll put you directly in touch with Bunny – someone who I really respect and appreciate for the work she is doing in this field.

Hope to hear from you.

There’ll be a couple of  blog entries from me before Christmas and that’ll be it until the new year, Katie and I are going for some winter sunshine in faraway climes for most of the festive season and there is a strictly no working rule!

To round off the year here on the blog, I am going to be offering up a couple of self-hypnosis techniques for enhancing self-esteem.

That crucial ingredient that affects vast sections of our lives and how we live them.

Self-esteem is shaped by a person’s behaviour and actions, as well as by society, culture, and important individuals throughout a person’s life. Self- esteem is more than self-worth. It is a confidence in your own ability to think, to make decisions, to cope with life’s challenges, and to feel worthy of your success through happiness and enjoyment of your accomplishments.

I go into self-esteem itself in much more depth in my books and audio programmes on the subject, but I thought I’d offer up a couple of techniques this week to help you feel good in your own skin and give you a self-esteem lift. It is of course a very complex subject and everyone is unique and therefore I recommend that you look at it in more depth if you have struggled with self-esteem issues for a long time – ideally see a professional who can help you. This technique is simply a nice way to give yourself a lift and help you to practice enhancing how you feel about yourself.

And as I was on the subject of splashing about in puddles, then why not extend the theme… I do like to get my tenuous links in each week, don’t I?

7 Steps To Create The Reflection Of Self-Esteem

Find a comfortable place where you are going to be undisturbed for a while, and sit in a comfortable chair rather than lying down in bed. Now sit back and relax with both feet on the floor, and place your hands on the armrests of the chair or in your lap — whichever is comfortable for you. Ensure that our arms and legs are not touching each other and your head is comfortably balanced upon your shoulders, and proceed.

Step One: Induce hypnosis.  You can do so by any means you desire or know of. You can use the process in my self-hypnosis book, use the free audio at this website to practice or have a look at the following articles as and when you need them; they are basic processes to help you simply open the door of your mind:

Using eye fixation for self-hypnosis

The Betty Erickson Self-Hypnosis Method video clip

Using Magnetic Hands for Self-Hypnosis

Once you have induced hypnosis, move on to step two.

Step Two: Using your imagination in whatever way is right for you, imagine you are walking by the sea or beside an ocean, or perhaps you are in the countryside – just pick somewhere in nature that you like the best and start to see the sights, hear the sounds and really engage with this place.

Allow the weather to be just as you like it, though you can tell from a number of signs that there has been some heavy rainfall in previous days.

Notice the puddles and pools of water and the colours of the pathways that show you it has rained.

Once you have got a vivid scene in your mind, see what you see; notice colours, textures and shades of light in the environment you are in. Hear what you hear; notice sounds that are near and others faraway in the distance, notice the kinds of noises of life and nature that are around you. Feel what you feel as you are in this place; enjoy feeling safe and secure in this place of your own creation.

Additionally, use this scene creation and development to deepen your hypnosis experience too, tell yourself that you go deeper as you imagine being in this place and as you become more absorbed and focused upon it, imagine that you are also going deeper inside your mind.

Once you have created this place in detail and made it as vivid as possible, then move on to the next step.

Step Three: As you walk along the pathway, or track or trail, you start to notice puddles and small pools of gathered water.

notice one that really stands out to you in some way. Look at how the surface of the water is calm and clear. Enjoy the reflection of light upon it’s surface and really engage with the surrounding area of this puddle or pool of water that is drawing your attention. Walk closer to it and as you get closer, you see more in its reflection, until you get close enough that as the sun reflects into the water you can see your own reflection in the water.

You notice that your reflection is slightly different to usual though…

As you look into the calm, still surface of the water, it becomes like a mirror and there is your reflection. Though this reflection is you as you deserve to be and are meant to be. Notice the expression on your face that tells you that you feel really good in your own skin, what it is about this mirror image of you that tells you that you look so self-assured.

Perhaps yo notice a sort of glow of natural, deep-rooted confidence, and with a large, genuine smile beaming all over your face.

Importantly, what is it that tells you that the mirror image relfection in the water is clearly feeling really safe and assured? Take some time and feed back to yourself how you can tell that is definitely the case with this image of yourself.

Also start to imagine and sense that you feel a growing sense of self within you as you look at your reflection upon the surface of the water. That’s the thing about reflections, isn’t it? They are actually just reflecting back what is there…

Take all the time you need to feel comfortable being you as you watch this reflection and guide it to show a deeply confident and assured version of you. Then start to think that as your reflection is looking and feeling that way, then surely you must be too, so start to imagine that you look and feel the same way – and the more you imagine it, the more you start to feel different.

When you start to notice some real difference in how you are feeling, then move on to the next step.

Step Four: Continuing to engage your imagination, now reach out a hand and softly touch the surface of the water and watch as the ripples you have created slowly increase and circle outwards… Watch them and tell yourself that you go deeper inside our mind as you watch that gentle movement.

As the water surface clams and become still again, now see that your reflection is showing you doing and being as you want to be. As you know you can be. Perhaps you see yourself doing that thing that you have put off in the past. Perhaps you see yourself living life that you want for yourself. Perhaps you see yourself being happier and enjoying life.  Whatever it is you see, you notice that you look full of self-assuredness, you look like you chose to be this way and made it happen on purpose.

Notice that you feel increasingly good about your ability to make the life that you want for yourself. Tell yourself how very wonderful this feels! As you look at that, tell yourself that you are going to make this happen and that you feel capable of making it happen and start to look at this with some genuine belief. Really enjoy this moment, tell yourself that this is going to be fun to achieve and take all the time you need to really notice a change in sensation within yourself. Again, if the reflection is doing this, then you know you are doing this.

Once you have spent some time enjoying watching this scene in the reflection, move on to the next step.

Step Five: Now gently touch the surface of the water again and watch the ripples circle outwards again and let yourself go deeper inside your mind again.

As it stills and calms, you see that there are a number of people around you. Watch the people and start to notice what they look like and how you can tell that they absolutely accept you for who and how you are. Notice what it is that shows that they love you and want the best for you. They may be created people, or they may be real people from your life. Watch them, notice how they accept you and express love towards you.

As they demonstrate an acceptance of you, start to notice and imagine a developing and growing feeling within yourself that you are building and developing an acceptance and love toward yourself.

Know that of course, this love is coming from you and start to create more of that love and acceptance as you alter the image of yourself in the reflected image. Create an image that shows that you love yourself and accept who and how you are, perhaps even someone who is happy to celebrate their own true self.

You know that you are investing this time in yourself which is itself a wonderfully loving thing to do, you are caring for yourself and showing yourself that yo are important to you. Enjoy that feeling and feel good knowing just that.

Start to repeat some powerful affirmations to yourself now as you look at the loving image of yourself in the reflection of the water:

I love myself.

I enjoy being me.

I trust myself.

I feel comfortable in my own skin.

I am assured.

I accept me.

And anything else that you feel is right for you. Say these things to yourself with conviction, in an undeniable manner, with meaning and inspiration. Notice that as you repeat these things, you start to feel even better.

Take all the time you need to feel how confident you are right now. Notice how your thoughts and inner perceptions affect how you feel and how you experience being you. When you have repeated these suggestions to yourself for enough time that you really feel different, then move on to the next step.

Step Six: So finally now watch as the beautiful, uplifting and deeply self-assured image you have created throughout this exercise upon the surface of the water, now starts to merge with you. Imagine this happening in whatever way is right for you.

Imagine that all the qualities in that reflection are being taken on and absorbed by you. Start to imagine how things are going to be different, how you are going to behave and react to situations, start to think about things you are going to do and make a decision to take those actions. Filling you up with more and more confidence, joy, happiness. Enjoy filling yourself with trust and acceptance.

Maybe you can imagine the feelings as a colour or a sound or a specific sensation that you now spread through your body and mind. Take all the time you need to merge that image with you and spread it through every cell of your being. Take a few deep breaths and let these feelings radiate throughout you. When you feel that you have totally taken it all on board and enjoyed basking in the glow of self-esteem, then move on to the final step to bring this session to an end.

Step Seven: One more big deep breath, wiggle your toes and fingers, open your eyes, tune in to your surroundings. Now go and take some action that is undeniable proof to you that you are feeling better about yourself and plan to practice this process a few more times to really build a strong base for self-esteem development.

There you have it, a really lovely process. And despite what the seasonal films from Walt Disney may portray at this time of year, remember that a mirror never lies… So use your mind to make sure you create the most self-esteem enhancing reflection and you’ll really reap the rewards.

I’ll be back at the end of the week.

Headache ensued the next day.

Since those younger days I have developed a penchant for many wines and even studied wine a little bit, though don’t really claim to be any kind of an expert, I still know how to taste my wine, note its character, aroma and depth. (Those who know me know I love deep luxurious full-bodied reds like Rioja, Barrolo and Chateauxneuf Du Paps and also very dry and crisp white wines such as Chablis and Sancerre)

If you have ever had a conversation with a proper wine expert or a sommelier, you’ll know that these guys have so much knowledge and expertise about wines and whenever I watch them drink and taste their wines, it is a joy to watch – they seem to be able to extract the most amount of taste, pleasure and joy out of the tiniest amount of wine; they raise the glass and look upon the wine, they raise it to their nose and breathe its aroma in deeply, then look at how it rolls down the inside of the glass. They assess it and then take a (sometimes noisy) sip along with plenty of air in the mouth and they roll it around the mouth to engage as many of the taste buds as possible. It is then spat out and the taste endures and lingers and they get other flavours and characters coming to the mouth before they cleanse the pallet with water.

All the senses get engaged and it is clearly a pleasurable and discerning way to enjoy the drink that I tend to quaff instead of enjoying as much as I should from time to time.

This artful way of tasting wine is something used by many hypnotherapists to illustrate how those wishing to reduce their weight can derive huge amounts of pleasure and satisfaction from eating much smaller amounts of food.

Major contributor to the field of hypnotherapy Theodore Barber is the earliest documented user of this approach that I can find, using this approach in the 60s, though it has been picked up and used by many hypnosis professionals and authors over the years. William S Kroger who I have quoted many times before on this blog promoted the use of the notion of “eat like a gourmet” back in the 70s and more recently Herbert Mann used the idea of “eating as an art” as he referred to wine tasters and coffee tasters in his approach that features in a number of books including the famed Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors.

The process that I am offering up here today takes this notion and makes it available to the self-hypnotist. With this process, we are going to mentally rehearse the idea of eating as an art form, then allow it to happen in real-life.

As I have been saying in other recent blog entries as we arrive at this festive season, we can make sure we do not arrive in the New Year in need of bigger trousers if we think about what we are doing in our minds when we are presented with excessive and unhealthy foods. If you think about the differences between my own younger wine tasting skills and that of the sommelier, then you can get a grasp of the difference between eating and stuffing ourselves to bursting point and compare that with someone who derives much pleasure and taste from smaller amounts of food.

Just run through the following 6 Steps To Use Self-Hypnosis To Eat Artfully:

Step One: Hypnotise yourself. You can do so using a number of resources we have to offer. You can read my book on the subject or use the free audio track we give away on most pages of this website.

Or go and have a look at the following articles as and when you need them; they are basic processes to help you simply open the door of your mind:

Using eye fixation for self-hypnosis

The Betty Erickson Self-Hypnosis Method video clip

Using Magnetic Hands for Self-Hypnosis

Once you have induced hypnosis, move on to step two.

Step Two: Think about a typical meal time, and start to think that you make a decision now to eat only at meal-times and when you eat you are going to place all your attention on that meal until you finish it, so as you think of a particular and typical meal time, notice that there are no distractions, no television, no books to read, no phone to tinker with…

You look at the food in front of you, look and examine the meal before you, observe the colours, the textures and inhale the aromas of the food before you.

All the time that you are examining the food in front of you, tell yourself that you are going deeper inside of your mind with each thought that you think and use this step to deepen your experience of hypnosis at the same time. When you have got that detailed meal in front of you and you have deepened sufficiently, then move on to the next step.

Step Three: Now start to eat the food before you (imaginary eating), and do this is a very particular way.

Firstly, take very small pieces. Either cut them up small or take small bites. Take only small pieces of food. Continue to take in all the colours and aromas of the food while you bring it to your mouth in a deliberate and controlled manner. And do make sure it is deliberate and controlled, so that you feel as if you are doing this on purpose.

Focus your complete and utter attention upon the food you then place into your mouth, put your cutlery down and move on to the next step.

Step Four: Now with the food in your mouth, making sure that your thoughts do not wander and you focus in on the phone, imagine chewing the food slowling and thoroughly and repeatedly. Let is pass across all of your taste buds and notice how your mouth is stimulated in a variety of different ways while you chew and eat. Chew a lot and make sure the food moves around your mouth so that you can derive the most amount of flavour and satisfaction from the smaller amounts. Let your tongue really engage in the food and let it linger over it for plenty of time before you swallow that food. Notice how easily and fully your taste buds are satisfied and how much pleasure you gain from such a small quantity of food.

Continue repeating this process for a while, rally focussing on each mouthful, highly aware fo each chew, enjoying each small amount of food to the maximum.  Then after 5-7 mouthfuls or so, move on to the next step.

Step Five: Now start to notice that as those mouthfuls arrive at your stomach, notice how satisfying and warming they feel in the stomach. Notice how easily full your stomach feels with the smaller and healthier amount of food in it.

Notice the sensation of fullness and satisfaction spread through your tummy and enjoy it more and more. Maybe you’ll feel full before you finish eating all the mouthfuls, but you know that by the end of the meal, for sure, you’ll feel satisfied and at ease and fulfilled with the food you have eaten.

Continue to take mouthfuls, focusing on them, letting them be slow and deliberate, thoroughly chewed, extracting as much taste and pleasure from each one, then notice each mouthful having a deeply satisfying sensation in the tummy.

If satisfaction were a colour, what colour would it be? If satisfaction were a sound, what sound would that be? Now as you imagine the feeling of satisfaction developing within you, now add that colour and sound and imagine yourself feeling more and more at ease, comfortable and full.

Notice how you start to take more time over each mouthful as the meal progresses and how much easier it is for you to become absolutely satisfied in a way that enhances your health and contributes to your well-being.

Step Six: Tell yourself that you do not necessarily need to avoid food or try to give it up, you just need to adopt the eating habits of a gourmet who extracts all the taste and pleasure from each morsel of food that is consumed.

When you have repeated that idea to yourself a few times, open your eyes, wiggle your fingers and toes and take a couple of deep breath to bring the session to an end.

Then, once you have practiced the above process 4-5 times, start applying this new way of eating at your real-life meal times and engage in the process that you have mentally rehearsed and practiced in your hypnosis sessions. Notice how you take your time over eating and make a deliberate choice to do so.

Start to adopt that process of eating like a gourmet and making an art of how you eat and it is going to help you greatly throughout the festive season.

That is the end of this little series of festive food related strategies, from here onwards I am changing topics in the build up to Christmas… Be back soon.

Hypnosis for Running, my new blog, will be seeing a lot more action in coming weeks, but is all set up and ready to go, my intentions for it are logged on the first entry that has been written there today. If you are interested, go and have a read. (The very first blog entry has a photo of me after my very first marathon over 10 years ago, I look very young!)

At the same time, my new hypnosis for running audio programme has been launched, I shall not repeat everything I say on the page explaining what it is all about, so if you have any tiniest interest in running and how to be better at it using your mind, then have a good read to what it is all about.

In the meantime, a slightly belated Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends celebrating that currently and I wish you all a fabulous weekend…. I’ll be back next week.

You should see the winter time mugs of hot chocolate that my wife makes when we go to the Beach Hut at this time of year when the sun shines. All wrapped up watching the sea, the beach quiet and a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Summer… Then she fills the mugs with hot chocolate, topped with cream and brimming over with marshmallows…  Then comes all the rest…

Mince pies. Mulled wine. Turkey feasts with roast potatoes and those delicious pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon). There is chocolate of every denomination. Huge hams. Slabs of smoked salmon.  It is the only time of year I eat dates and sugared almonds! There are snacks and nibbles that accompany every get together… And there is the booze… We have boozy snowballs which is cava with advocaat, not to mention that we get a barrel of real ale in and more wines and spirits that could get an army inebriated!

It wears me out just thinking about it. Thank goodness Katie and I are going away on a hot holiday for a week straight afterwards this year!

As I wrote about last week on the blog, a problem is created when we eat to excess. The more we eat, the more our mind and body wants to eat. When we eat to excess, especially loads of simple carbs and refined sugars, and then when we sleep less during party season and drink too much, general fatigue also contributes to us eating more.

Then we start craving stuff. We crave and are only satiated when we are stuffed full and snoozing again.  The cycle continues and takes all our might with our new years resolutions to get us on the straight and narrow again.

I get asked repeatedly about how to deal with cravings. The unwanted response is all about eating and drinking in such a way to ensure they do not occur in the first place. People don’t want to hear that stuff.  They always tell me that they know they should have eaten a particular way in the first place… So today I am not going to be writing about that stuff.

So the next best thing, is to have a process aimed at dealing with cravings as they occur.

The process that I am illustrating here today originated as a means of dealing with cravings for cigarettes for using with hypnotherapy clients; the Red Balloon technique of Walch (1976) and has been used extensively and championed in the (1978) work of Stanton. There are many version of this out this type of process that you can find and although I am showing you how to use self-hypnosis with this sort of process for dealing with food cravings, it is often used for emotional disorders that require to be let go of.

6 Steps To Let Go Of Food Cravings

This process needs to be practiced formally a few times persistently before it can be used in real-life scenarios, so run through this process in detail, step by step and then at the end I’ll write about how to do this process without the formalised hypnosis session.

Step One: Induce hypnosis.  You can do so by any means you desire or know of. You can use the process in my self-hypnosis book, use the free audio at this website to practice or have a look at the following articles as and when you need them; they are basic processes to help you simply open the door of your mind:

Using eye fixation for self-hypnosis:
http://www.adam-eason.com/2010/11/29/using-eye-fixation-for-self-hypnosis/

The Betty Erickson Self-Hypnosis Method video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCPaXkte2U

Using Magnetic Hands for Self-Hypnosis:
http://www.adam-eason.com/2011/06/08/using-self-hypnosis-to-have-magnetic-palms/

Once you have induced hypnosis, move on to step two.

Step Two: Now start to imagine that you are walking along a pathway, a pathway of your life.

Notice what the path is made of and imagine hearing the sounds of your own feet walking along it. Become aware of where this path is – perhaps a place in nature, or in an urban landscape, or near the sea, or in the countryside, you choose.

Notice the colours and details of the sights around you. Become aware of the textures and shades of the colours and all that you see. Notice how it makes you feel to be in this place and hear the sounds of the place, the volume of the various sounds, what is close up and what is distant.

Tell yourself that with each step you walk along the path, you go deeper inside your mind and take some time to use this to deepen the hypnosis you are experiencing.

Once you have engaged your imagination as fully as possible, deepened for a while,  then move on to the next step.

Step Three: As you walk, notice that you are carrying a backpack of some kind. As you walk along the pathway, notice that it is heavy and getting heavier. Notice that it actually is weighing upon you.

Imagine that the pack carries around with it all your cravings that you have accrued over recent times. Maybe it is those actual foods and drinks that are in this increasingly large pack on your back.

You notice that the pathway starts to move upwards slightly and as you walk uphill and as more cravings and foods are piled into the bag, it is becoming harder and harder to move smoothly and enjoyably.

Let yourself get to the top of this slope, feeling weighed down with those cravings and then move on to the next step.

Step Four: At the top of the hill, you notice that there is a large colourful hot air balloon with a basket sitting underneath it, tied to the ground you are stood on.

Now start to take one item at a time out of the pack on your back and place it into the basket. Notice what it is that comes out of the pack, become aware of what you were craving and notice that as you let go of them, you feel lighter and easier and more comfortable.

Let yourself start to free yourself of those cravings, place them all one at a time into the basket and notice that you feel lighter and more at ease with each and every item you place in there. Keep doing this, taking all the time necessary to completely empty the pack. Notice all the feelings attached to those foods, all the old desires and associations are leaving and being put into the basket. Watch it all sitting there in that basket.

Feel cleansed and free and in control of yourself. In fact spend some time to just feel a lighter sensation in your chest, in your stomach and your limbs. Really experience a genuine sense of lightness and easiness in your shoulders now that you have shed these heavy burdensome cravings.

Once you have spent enough time really noticing how much lighter you feel, then move on to the next step.

Step Five: Now go over to the ties attaching the basket and hot air balloon to the ground and untie it.

Watch all those foods, feelings, sensations, associations, cravings all start to float away into nothing ness. Watch it all drifting and floating into the distance. Smile as you wave goodbye to it all. Enjoy the sense of being in control that you get from this.

Watch it until it becomes a tiny speck very far away that eventually vanishes and is gone for good.

Now start to take some good deep breaths and notice the lightness you experience not just because you have let go of your cravings, but also because you have taken control of who and how you are and that feels really good.

Step Six: Once you have enjoyed the lightness for a while and you are sure that the balloon is long gone and the cravings are no more, then you open your eyes, wiggle your fingers and toes, take a couple of deeper breaths and go about your day.

Practice this process 4-6 times with real focus and concentration. Then, when you are out at a party or festive drinks, or if you are at home and it is not time for your proper meals, and you are presented with choices for more and more naughty stuff, then breathe deeply, close your eyes for a moment and imagine placing that craving or that urge into the basket and letting it fly away.

Let it pass without resisting it or fighting the feeling, breathe deeply and then go and take some other action, engage in a conversation and congratulate yourself for taking control.

There you go, enjoy this process, it is going to save you a lot of effort when you arrive at new year, I promise.