Cell Managers

This is a continuation of the last BOOK/BLOG. We are working inside the mindBody, looking for areas of tension that block the creative process. As you locate and then open these areas, the creative mind will open for you.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK – MEET YOUR CELL MANAGERS

In any given moment your cells are working in your behalf. Interactive Self-Hypnosis invites you to meet the managers of each and every one of your billions of cells. If you are like most people, you don’t think about them unless they scream out, but sometimes the screams come too late for change. We do, however, expect them to do whatever it is they do and give little to no consideration to their complex tasks, often offering no help and even placing them in harms way many times a day. Think for a moment about having to take over the tasks of one of your managers, perhaps to be a heart cell for a day, maybe one that is in charge of the electrical circuits. How comfortable do you feel being in the shoes of this manager and being responsible for your own life or death?

Why are we so complacent about something so serious as the workings of our heart, lungs, stomach and all the others? I believe it is because most of us are simply asleep, blind or lazy or so caught up in the web of addiction that life is just too overwhelming. Remember, when the fire is too big, containment is needed.

Our body is remarkable. It can walk, sit, reach, judge distance, digest food, see, touch, and the list goes on and on. Most of these things we take for granted. We don't appreciate these things until they are taken away. As we learn to tune into our body and it's processes, and be mindful, we make ourselves more real and alive. We can also utilize the awareness of body sensations to transport us to the door of the subconscious mind and proceed with our Interactive Self-Hypnosis work. This process re-energizes the body as stress chemicals are decreased and healing chemicals are enhanced.

SELF-EXPLORATION

It’s amazing how little our cell managers ask from us, especially as we come to understand the complexity of their tasks in light of our ongoing behaviors. As you move through this book I will ask you to visit particular paragraphs with Interactive Self-Hypnosis. This is because they are so vitally important. Just because the presented images appear simplistic and even funny, there is nothing funny about your work here on this path. For some people reading this book, this could mean the difference between life and death.

MIND EXERCISE

Here comes one of those paragraphs! After reading it, relax deeply and work with the imagery on your mind screen.

Sit straight up in your chair and deepen your body as you did earlier on. Call in the numbers, starting with four and when the number one comes in allow it to form your cookie cutter. Now tilt your eyes up and focus on your mind screen. One of your cell managers is inviting you in. As you enter notice the complexities of the interior. The wallpaper is genetically formed and you know from your own assessment work what that wallpaper looks like. You also know about your earlier self-care behaviors and addictions history, so have a close look at what your cell manager is up against. This is probably a good moment to ask for forgiveness for everything you’ve done and to assure the manager with conviction that things are changing. You are learning new tools now and you can be counted on to do what is needed.

If you are a smoker, notice the smoke hole in the wall. This is where smoke enters each time you take a drag. Each puff is filled with 5,200 chemicals, leaving the cell manager to drop whatever he/she is doing in the moment and tend to the emergency. The cell manager is showing you the delivery basket on the front door. This is where your nutrition is delivered. Every four hours the manager looks for nutrition, praying that it will be something healthy. There is also the area for fluids and again the prayers are for water. Some managers receive lots of alcohol and this can be very problematic in many instances depending on the wallpaper. You are being shown your record book. Open it. This is about you and what you have done to date in helping this particular cell manager do this complicated work. How do you rate yourself? Think about it for a moment. The manager is bringing you two future books and asking you to choose. Open them and look inside. One takes you towards health and the other away from health. Go ahead and choose.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK – RELEASING AND LETTING GO OF BODY SENSATIONS

Body scanning has many benefits beyond those already discussed. It helps develop concentration and flexibility of attention simultaneously. This is invaluable in performance of all kinds. It allows us the opportunity to release and let go. As we go through the body, noticing, placing flowers and then opening them, our brain becomes retrained in this opening, or letting go process. Letting go is the same as releasing. You will be carrying this discipline over to other areas of Interactive Self-Hypnosis training including the management of your thought bank, your emotional states and their crayon box, as well as aiding in the actual processing of suggestions and affirmation plants. Each time you practice you are actually working in the field of mindfulness, or being totally present in the moment.

Releasing or letting go is vital for health and also for performance. Let’s use the image of a completely cluttered desk. In fact, you can’t see the desk for the clutter. Let’s bring in some containment. This time we’ll use folders, but of course they need to be labeled so you will know what’s inside. Later on when you work with your Inner Coach you will have many opportunities to build folders for your life, but for now just label a few that you know are related to your collection of body sensations, perhaps your work and your major relationships. Start organizing your desk and notice that you can also use your wastebasket for things that simply need to be thrown out. Notice that papers you are filing are separate from each other. These are parts of the problem or issue. As you come to work with them later on, you can do so piece by piece. You will come to learn that you can also release in smaller portions.

SELF-EXPLORATION

As in all areas of life you can release a portion of a body sensation. You already know how to bring in the cookie cutter, so I won’t repeat the whole process. As you get more skilled with the tool of body scanning, you can do this in a matter of seconds. Once back in the cookie cutter, begin to scan down and locate an area that has a larger amount of sensations. Now take your flower and open just a segment of the area and if you like open another segment further away from the first flower. Leave this area, scanning downwards and now go back to re-evaluate your partial released body part. Notice the difference.

Sometimes it helps to utilize color when doing this work. When the sensation is bigger and before partial releasing color it red. When you return, notice the color has either faded or changed. What has happened here is that your subconscious mind has made adjustments in the tension of the entire area, despite the fact that you released only a portion. When you work in the awareness meditation chapters and apply these knowledge hooks to emotions and then other images, you will begin to fully appreciate the power of this magnificent tool.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK – RELEASING PHYSICAL CRAVINGS

Having an addiction, and especially a sugar addiction means having to deal with physical cravings. Not all cravings are physical and in this work you will come to understand the difference between the two. For most people, physical cravings are the easiest to manage. You have already walked the path of the nutritional chapters of this book and hopefully by now you have put your physical cravings to sleep, as most of them are related to reactive hypoglycemia. Sometimes emotional cravings will disguise themselves as physical cravings, thinking that you will fall into the trap and give them “the fix” that they want. This scenario calls for you to take your body scanner tool off of your tool belt and see if this is indeed an inside job of tension and stress that’s needs release.

SELF-EXPLORATION

As before, call in your numbers and put the cookie cutter in place. By now you probably know that you don’t have to be sitting, or even close your eyes to do this work in the moment. This is very different from skill building. This is an action application of your skill. When a craving calls, scan the whole body and not just where the craving sits. The reason for this is that the tension or stress may be in other areas and so it needs some flower power as well. Once you have accomplished this, go to the area of the craving and open it.

Next, call in the cell managers and ask what is going on. If you have missed a meal, or the meal was insufficient you will be told. The cells may need fluids or simply a moment of rest. Listen carefully and the subconscious messages will be delivered to your conscious mind. Your job is now to make whatever corrections are needed and to make some mental notes about what not to do the next time around. Remember, your job is to get better and better!

SUMMING UP AND GOING FORWARD…

As you work with body scanning, you will begin to find your breathing patterns change throughout the day. Your breath will sit on it’s own for longer periods of time in the lower abdomen. From time to time, notice it there. This noticing will actually engage in the slowing of your brain waves which releases stress chemicals and delivers you to the door of your subconscious mind.. This is very important in the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis, because you will want to stay in contact with your "inner librarian" so you can request anything you might need in the moment.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers

Tuning In

A strange as it sounds, we only have a vague idea of what we look like on the outside. Many of us can’t bear looking at self-photographs and work hard to keep cameras away. Of course not everyone is the same. Even if we like the way we look, and view photographs of ourselves, what we get to see is only a momentary image caught by the lens, now seen through our own perception and inner judging program. For certain, we do remain a mystery, both outside and inside!

A very large percentage of what resides inside of us, physical or emotional, tends to remain mysterious for most of our lives, mainly because we’re not attentive to the clues sent up by the body departments. Sometimes we awaken if the body part screams loud enough, but even then, little is done about the underlying cause. We may turn to medication to obliterate the symptom, or to another substance to mask the truths. If the family history pulls towards addiction, these symptoms then become the hooks, and an unhealthy pattern of behavior is etched into the subconscious mind.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK – WORKING WITH MOMENTS

The practice of interactive awareness helps us to work where the action is, right in the middle of the moment. It will be important to have a working image tool, representative of an actual moment. The reason for this is that moments are difficult to catch, especially in the beginning of your mind-body work. Most of us tend to auto-pilot through life. As you learn to catch moments, you will be practicing the techniques of releasing or letting go. Then, you will be able to add subconscious mind re-programming for managing the many facets of all problems or issues.

In my practice, students and patients work with dry lentils, keeping a jar of them on their desk. I suggest you do the same. Some patients have two jars, one symbolizing moments that are left in life, the other representing those that were missed because of inattentiveness. Of course, we cannot catch all moments. It is ridiculous to think that we would even want to, but we certainly do want to catch the key moments. Those will be different for everyone, but as you learn to work with the tools of interactive awareness and self-hypnosis, you will become aware of the areas where you need to wake up, then change. Your subconscious mind librarian will assist you.

READER QUESTION

"I’ve noticed that when I am eating lots of sugar foods or involved in disorderly eating, my body is filled with tension. I’m a runner and areas of old injury hurt more on these days. Perhaps the most frightening part is that I have an underlying anxiety that doesn’t seem to be connected to anything that is going on in my life. I just feel awful. I would like to understand what is happening and why. Knowledge is definitely motivational for me."

In this chapter you will begin to understand more about listening to your body communications. This reader is ahead of the game. She has already noticed that her body speaks a different language when her diet is inferior. More than likely, the underling general anxiety represents reactive hypoglycemia. In Chapter One you learned how food stress changes your biochemistry. Now you will begin to see those Knowledge Hooks as they appear in your own body and mind. Remember that it is not enough just to know something. You must go the next step, joining in the action.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK –MENTAL BIOFEEDBACK AND BODY SCANNING

Most of us are familiar with the term "biofeedback". Individuals are hooked up to a special machine, then taught relaxation techniques that help the body to maintain a healthy blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, etc. The person can see the special screen that shows their progress. This type of training can be very empowering, as the mind and body connection is personally experienced. This is especially important for individuals caught up in stress reaction that can be dangerous to health outcomes.

Body scanning is mental biofeedback. There is no need to be hooked up to a machine to change the way your body functions. This mind-tool holds a big advantage because in any moment in time, the person practicing mental biofeedback can change a mind or body outcome. There are also other advantages. As one learns to observe the momentary body sensations over a period of time, the body sensation patterns become clear. One can see how they are attached to particular emotional states, or perhaps other triggers such as situations or even relationships. Another advantage is the feeling of self-confidence in being able to change an unpleasant or frightening sensation, right there in the moment, whether it be peaking or just beginning to build. As one becomes more practiced in the skills of mental biofeedback, it becomes easier to catch the body sensations at earlier moments, when it is much easier to diminish or release them. This is extremely empowering. Later on you will learn many applications for doing this.

CONTAINMENTS AND RELEASE

Containments are invaluable because they allows us to work in big areas of our lives without feeling overwhelmed. Body sensations can be overwhelming, especially if they are not contained or released. In that circumstance, the body and mind will produce even more sensations to deal with. A good example of this is anxiety and panic disorder. Anyone experiencing this problem can certainly attest to this. It’s simple to set up a mind-container. Let me show you how. Take a moment to relax deeply. On your mind screen label a special container for body sensations. Later on you may decide to have several containers for different kinds of sensations, but for now we will work with one container. Notice a particular sensation in your body. Focus or pay special attention to that sensation. Now move it into the mind container. Pay attention. Keep the focus. You can now change the sensation. Practice diminishing it; making it smaller. Dim it, just with the power of your mind. Change the color to one that is pale or uninteresting.

We all have tons of body sensations, but sense very few of them, as they build through our daily physical, mental and emotional stress. The stressors do not have to be big. Low level or chronic stress is responsible for much of our illness. If you are addicted to sugar, practice disorderly eating, or partake in other addictions, you will tend to have even higher levels.

Through body scanning you will have a glimpse at more of them. Just this small peak will act like the lens of your camera. The sensation will be caught and now you can change it through the mind and body communication system provided by Interactive Self-Hypnosis tools.

SELF-EXPLORATION – TRAINING YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

The results you get will equal the amount of work you are willing to do. Mind training is no different from any other training. As you train with the tool of mental biofeedback, you can either become excellent or mediocre. The choice is yours.

You already know that it is not possible to catch and examine each moment. Your true purpose is to engage your subconscious mind in assisting you to release stress throughout the day. It is rather like hiring a highly skilled personal assistant whose job it is to check the body continuously, releasing as much stored stress as possible. The personal assistant will also bring to your attention any body sensations that are too big for it to handle. These you must release, as you did in the above exercise.

As your Therapeutic Self becomes highly trained, you will find yourself spending more time at the slow brain, or alpha level. You will be producing less stress chemicals at this level. In addition, when you are at the alpha level, you are also at the door of the subconscious mind. In this position you have all the freedom to practice many different Interactive Self-Hypnosis applications. You will be learning more about this later in this book.

MIND EXERCISE

You will want to practice body scanning or mental biofeedback several times during the day. It doesn’t take long to do this once you get the idea. You can also train with audio I’ve designed for this purpose, but you will still want to be practicing right in the moment as well. You already have a “mind container” and now I’ll help you design a body container. Please read through this exercise and then close your eyes to practice.
Sit up straight in your chair with your feet flat on the floor. Take a big yawn breath and hold it in your mouth for the count of four. Let it release slowly, taking time to do this. Place your fingertips gently on your lower abdomen, allowing it to rise and fall, just like a merry-go-round horse goes up and down. Next, image magnets pulling your body down into your chair, under your buttocks and behind your back, almost as if you were the chair and the air of the room was sitting on you. Tilt your eyes up about twenty degrees and on your mind screen image the number four coming in slowly from a distance. Allow the four to enter your forehead and now focus on the number three coming in slowly, noticing it entering your heart. The two is making it’s way in and entering your lower body and now the number one is coming towards you and outlining your body in white paint, just like a big cookie cutter. Notice you can take the cookie cutter image off and put it back on.

The cookie cutter is your containment. When you are wearing it, all body sensations are contained and you can read them easily. Start reading and inner communicating from the top of your head. Simply visit the areas and notice if there are any sensations. Place an image of a flower on each visited part and allow the flower to open. This is instructing your subconscious mind to open and release this area. Go slowly as you are currently building a mind program for this skill that will be carried on in the future by your own subconscious mind. Your etching is very important, so do take your time. Visit your eyes right and left, noticing they are different. And now, your nose, inner and outer, sinuses right and left, ears, mouth outside and in. Going down systematically visit your neck, both front and back. Go inwards and visit the inner structures placing flowers as you go. Downward now and into the upper chest looking into your heart, lungs right and left and further down into your esophagus, stomach, spleen, pancreas and liver. Now enter your lower abdomen, visiting your intestinal areas, kidneys and connecting tubes, urinary bladder and sexual organs, placing and opening flowers as you go. I suggest you do all bones and muscles systematically from the top to the bottom with special attention to your spinal column, just as if it were a long train and you were inspecting each car as if it were different.

Now bring your attention back to your cookie cutter and have it in place over your body. With your mind allow the cutter to sparkle and invite the sparkling to enter all visited areas holding opened flowers. There you have it….. you have build your first communication with your body and now you will be able to work further with this gigantic and powerful tool.

READER COMMENT

"When I relax deeply some of body parts, like my neck, are extremely painful. I thought they would feel better in deep relaxation, but instead I’m having the opposite experience. Am I doing something wrong?"

It’s not uncommon for certain areas of the body to communicate increased pain or discomfort during mental biofeedback. You are now in direct contact with your body. Earlier on you were on automatic pilot and the body part could not get your full attention. So it’s not that the area is having more tension, it is simply able to have your attention now and is communicating it’s truth to you. When this happens utilize an image of a flower. Place the flower on the body part and open it slowly. This will place a suggestion in your subconscious mind to release the tension in that area. Move on to the next area in your body scanning, and if the objecting part calls you back, gently return and place another flower or apply some mental light to the area. The following paragraphs will give you more insight, as well as suggestions in releasing sensations.

Continued in next blog

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers

BodySpeak

These mindBody exercises are a continuation from the last blog entry.

INNER MOTIVATION

Relax as before and bring forth one of your cells. This time I want you to go inside, observing the manager fighting an invader. This one happens to be a bacteria delivered at the water cooler. Notice the manager is looking for supplies in the way of deliveries of food and beverage. You know what you delivered today, so notice this and how the manager responds to what is available. Notice the state of affairs in the cell based on the deliveries of the past week. Notice the response of the cell manager. Open the door and notice that healthy supplies have arrived. Observe the cell manager in action as the bacteria invasion is managed. Know how important your behaviors and habits are to outcomes. Take this moment to make a commitment to a better relationship with your body.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Food allergies and sensitivities are not uncommon especially in those with sugar addiction and eating disorders. Common ones include wheat, corn and dairy. If there is a history of alcohol problems in a family, even if that individual does not drink or is a child, it is not uncommon to have grain allergies. These often surface with accompanying personality or behavioral changes including compulsions, anxiety and depression.
You are working to be aware of how your mind and body react to what you eat and drink. As awareness develops connections may become clearer, an allergist may need to be consulted. Sometimes it is as simple as removing a particular food group and then reintroducing it later on. Other ties the food group may need to be removed permanently to manage the symptoms. In the long run, even though this may not be poplar, the end results will far outweigh the enjoyment of the offending food or food group.

INNER MOTIVATION

The subconscious mind remembers and will pull information together for you. If you have lots of body communications, ask your subconscious mind to remind you to observe particular foods in relation to these outcomes. Ask to be alerted with flags. Sometimes we are so lost in automatic pilot that we simply forget about what happened the last time we had problems with a food. As you learn what you body has to say about something you eat or drink, you will be able to study it more carefully. It's amazing how common food sensitivities are. Relax for a moment and see yourself requesting this service offered by your own subconscious mind.

Now it is time to focus on eating patterns and behaviors. You will soon come to learn that these are just as important as food choices.

WAKING UP TO EATING PATTERNS

Waking up to eating habits is the first step in getting sugar and disorderly issues under control. This is also paramount in developing a nutritionally sound eating plan for your self. We live in a society filled with unhealthy food at every turn. Most of us walk around without any self-discipline. I know many children and adults who have never eaten a fresh vegetable or protein that hasn't been processed. People eat at all hours and often all day long. Few people know what a serving size looks like. Look around. It’s easy to find serving sizes that have multiplied to the point of being ridiculous. The next time you are in a restaurant focus on the plates that come out of the kitchen. The other day I spotted a plate of food that was taller than the woman who was eating it!

Then there are the people who don't eat at all. Many are addicted to nicotine and some to alcohol. They turn their backs on healthy breakfasts, often miss lunch and then have "whatever" for dinner. Addicted people tend to drink lots of caffeine in the form of coffee or soda. Thin people feel it is just fine to drink the regular versions. The more obese tend to drink diet versions, believing this is o.k. as the calorie count is low. Grazing behaviors have become the norm, often replacing regular meals while interfering with normal appetite levels.

Eating habits and the problems that plague them have an extraordinary number of facets. It will help you to observe those of others, even if you do not experience the same. As you collect more and more awareness, your own subconscious mind will feel confident in showing you additional facets of your own. This is key to self-improvement.

QUESTION FROM A READER

"I honestly don’t like “healthy food” and never have. Does this mean that I will never enjoy eating again if I choose to lick my sugar addiction? This doesn’t exactly motivate me to want to change!"

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

It’s not uncommon for those addicted to sugar to report not liking healthy foods, but this is more of a generalization that a fact-filled statement. If Pierce were asked to choose some foods that he enjoyed off of a table with a hundred or so choices, I will bet that some of the foods he would choose would fall in the healthy category. “Generalizing” is a common pitfall in the addictive personality, often used as an escape mechanism from dealing with the truth and making change. As you continue to explore this book you will find that managing sugar addiction is more about what you need to add to your nutritional intake and less about what needs to be taken out.

There is tremendous power in awareness and waking up from automatic pilot. As your awareness is heightened, new choices will appear almost magically. Change and lifestyle change in particular is often perceived as being difficult, if not impossible. While there may be some obstacles to overcome, if the new chosen behavior is imaged with powerful, positive emotional states and then placed hypnotically, the journey miles will be very different.

Lifestyle change means what it says. This is not something temporary, but permanent. This alone scares people who prefer to hang on to what they know, even if it is not working or is truly detrimental to their health. You can see examples of this without even looking very hard. In fact, why not look right inside yourself and find some very personal examples.

Earlier you learned about your family and personal medical history and how it connects to sugar and carbohydrate issues and how they connect to weight gain or yo-yoing. While it is important for everyone to pay attention to eating habits, it is paramount for those with sugar, carbohydrate or any other addiction. Not to do so is flirting with disaster in the present, as well as down the path. Make no mistake, every meal is important and can either take you towards chronic killer disease or towards a very high level of health and performance.

SELF-EXPLORATION

What time do you get up in the morning? Do you feel well rested? Do you dream? These are all-important questions and need awareness application. Some people are early risers and have a morning ritual. Others prefer to wait until the alarm rings for the third time and then find they rushing through their morning needs and often out the door without any nutrition at all. Smokers or those with a history of smoking often stop long enough for a morning coffee or grab this on their way to work.

I’m sure you have heard this before! Breakfast is a very important meal and must not be missed, especially if your goal is to manage a healthy weight and move away from addiction. While you don’t have to eat the minute your feet hit the floor, you must plan for breakfast. In the chapters that follow you will learn about healthy choices and what your body needs if you are sugar or carbohydrate addicted. These choices will also hold true if you have a problem with nicotine, caffeine, alcohol or drugs. In this work you are learning to observe and so do notice your appetite, determining if it is high, medium or low. You might also notice if you body sends communications about hunger such as tummy hunger, other physical signs and of course feeling shaky, lightheaded or weakness. At this point you haven’t learned about what you need to be eating and so make note of what you currently eat and drink. It’s important to set up a knowledge hook for this and later you will hang a motivation on it.

Review your past behaviors and notice if you ever skip breakfast and the reasons why you might do this. These are areas that will need correction in the future. You will learn how to defend the needs of your body from outside forces, such as schedules, business breakfasts, etc. Notice if you ever become hungry between breakfast and lunch and again make a note about this. If you do notice mid-morning hunger, determine the distance from breakfast and then think about what you tend to do about this, such as getting another cup of coffee, visiting the snack machine, or perhaps smoking. Later on in this work you will come to understand much more about why your body responds in this way and what needs correction.

Most of us live on auto-pilot and have little idea as to what we put in our mouths to care for our body cells. Water is a very important health drink and water consumption needs awareness work. Think for a moment about your water consumption in the early part of the day and make some mental notes about this. Few people consume sufficient water, instead filling the body with coffee, tea and soda, all of which take away from high level health.

QUESTION FROM A READER

" For some strange reason I gag on water. This is why I drink diet drinks instead. I can’t imagine ever being able to drink eight glasses of water a day for the rest of my life. I almost have to laugh thinking of it ! How can I manage this kind of change?"

INNER MOTIVATION

You may or may not notice that you are building a new structure for your lifestyle behaviors. Your map is like a blueprint. When architects work with blueprints, they also have drawings of what the building will look like when it is completed. I'd like you to put together some inner pictures of what you will look like, as well as how you will feel physically when you are at 100% completion.

Perhaps you've been there before and so you know what images to bring forward. If you haven't any idea, simply make something up, just as if you had a photograph sitting in front of you, and you could sense the body communication. Look at the photograph through a mind-magnifying glass. While this may sound like a silly game, it is not. It is serious mind programming. You get what you think about. Later on you will find out more about the power of your thoughts, but right now go ahead and do this part of the work. Now hang those photographs on your new knowledge hooks.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Managing sugar addiction means working continually to correct insulin resistance. This work could be called disease prevention. You must eat correctly every day. No day is an exception. Remember the bank account. Each and every day you must work to manage your emotional states and stress levels. It will take hot desire, motivation, persistence and self-discipline to achieve correction. Most of us have little or no experience in self-manufacturing inner chemical states, but this is what is needed to make a permanent lifestyle change.

Do know you are not a beginner. You weren’t born yesterday. Throughout life you have been building resilience that has been stored in your subconscious mind, and you can retrieve it. You have all kinds of resilience, big and small. Resilience means that somewhere along the road of life you have survived through something. The longer the survival process, the more resilience you will find in the memory. People who have stopped drinking, smoking or lived through a life-threatening experience, challenged disease or a disability usually have good resilience. However, if you feel you are short in this department, you can also build role models for resilience and actually transfer from them hypnotically. Let's practice.

INNER MOTIVATION

Let’s practice on the mind screen. Tilt your eyes up and locate it. Now take out your blueprint or map, placing a calendar of last month in the upper right hand corner. Tear off that calendar and place the calendar page for this month on the blueprint. Pick up the corner of this month's calendar and notice there is one under that for next month and one under that for the month after. In fact notice that there are unending calendars waiting to come to the top.

This is a mind program for understanding that the work you are doing is ongoing. It does not have a beginning or an end. Where did we ever get the idea that if we eat well this month, then next month we can eat whatever we want? It should be clear by now. The cell managers remain the same and need the same foods to stay healthy. That doesn't mean that you can't have certain treats, etc. and must live a rigid life. It does mean that you must be self-responsible and stay aware of what your body needs in order to function. Remember, you don't know how to be a cell yourself, so it is in your best interest that you stay in focus.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

It’s not uncommon for women to have gynecological or hormonal issues related to sugar addiction or disorderly eating. While there are other reasons for irregular periods, pre and post-menopausal symptoms, sugar or imbalanced eating can be the culprit. Be sure to check things out with your gynecologist. Then, correct your nutritional intake. You might be pleasantly surprised at how many symptoms are connected to not providing your body with what it needs.

KIDS AND SUGAR ISSUES

The sugar culprit begins its destructive work early in life. Even small infants are treated to this substance by doting parents who often have no idea that they are setting up a life long addiction in their precious offspring. In fact, most parents would deny that they do this at all. Many would insist that they only provide the very best nutrition for their children. I hear this over and over in my office. Then the truth is uncovered as we discuss what truly goes into the mouth of the youngster over a twenty-four hour period. This is why knowledge, coupled with heightened awareness is so very important.

I’d like to share a patient history here with you. Sarah was only five when she came to my office. As she was fair skinned and blonde, I had to look closely to notice that she had no eyebrows or eyelashes. In fact, a good portion of the hair on her head was also missing. Her Mother had cleverly combed it so it wasn't so noticeable. Sarah suffers from trichotillomania, or compulsive hair pulling. Although there have been no epidemiological studies to identify the actual number of people with this condition yet, it is estimated that in the United States alone, there are probably between 6 to 8 million sufferers of trichotillomania.

According to Dr. Doris Rapp, the author of Is This Your Child, children with tricotillomania respond well to dietary change including reduced sugar intake. Sarah's mother maintained that her nutrition was healthy, but my assessment didn't agree. Over 85% of Sarah's intake was in the form of very high-glycemic or refined sugars. The first order of business to help Sarah was to redesign her eating plan and eliminate a good number of the sugar foods. While it's a true challenge to clean up a child's diet, it is possible. It helps to allow the child to participate in the planning and shopping. Self-hypnosis etches new mind programs and helps the child manage the left over stress, once the food stress is in control.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Learning to listen to your body is one of our most important holistic tools. The cell managers communicate with you through body sensations. The process of body listening is known by many names including mental biofeedback. We choose to take messages through the practice of body scanning. This technique is taught in the top stress reduction clinics of the world and is a way of re-training the body to release stress chemicals. The body and mind often have much to say about the food connection.

You will be learning more about working with body sensations later on in this program. For now let us focus on the food connection to body sensations. If you are not eating a balanced or sufficient diet, your body will produce stress hormones that will communicate with you through body sensations. These stress chemicals include insulin, adrenaline, nor-epinephrine and cortisol. Some corresponding body sensations could include headache, muscle spasms, weakness, lightheadedness, poor vision, nervousness, exhaustion, fatigue, mood swings, as well as a variety of tension related symptoms.

Most of us tend to eat on automatic pilot, without any concern for the resulting mind and body chemistry. As we travel through our day, we might have a tendency to pick up small snacks, cookies, candy, pretzels, coffee, soda or juice. Perhaps a coffee mug lives on your desk. Each time you eat or drink, your body must perform its chemical balancing act, making special effort to keep the body in balance. If you continue along in this way, day after day, the body often develops food stress, or the inability to manage, especially if the rest of the nutritional intake is poor or inadequate.

INNER MOTIVATION

Take a moment to elicit your relaxation response. Tilt your eyes up slightly, placing one of your cells up on your mind screen. It doesn't matter where it comes from. Each and every time you eat something, the food rings the doorbell of the cell and the cell manager cannot say no to the delivery. If the delivery is healthy and timely, the manager is delighted, but if it is unhealthy and untimely, the manager is in trouble. Feel how good it is to know that you do know this now and that you have powers beyond what you thought before you had this knowledge. We are motivated towards and away from. This imagery exercise is a good example of both. Be sure to place it in a place of honor on your road map.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Boosting the immune system is another important focus of living holistically. The immune system is the defense system of the mind and body against microorganisms. One of the most negative results of excessive levels of stress, or poor body management is the effect on the immune response. This is often seen is someone who has frequent colds and other infections. There is much research in progress regarding how stress affects the immune system, and especially regarding autoimmune diseases including allergies and cancer. There is also the psychological aspect of seeing oneself as a frequently ill person. This can be potentially damaging to the self-image and self-esteem, thereby directing outcomes not in keeping with high level functioning.

How you choose to eat directly affects your immune system. There is little discussion about this fact of life. The problem is that we tend to be asleep to the needs of the body in the now, but more so in the needs of the body in the future. What you eat today has an outcome down the road as well. Imagery and self-hypnosis will help you to wake up and also to place permanent wellness programs into your subconscious mind. The work you are doing here is not difficult, but it is awake-work and this is where the difficulty lies for most people.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers

BluePrints & Road Maps

INNER MOTIVATION

You may or may not notice that you are building a new structure for your lifestyle behaviors. Your map is like a blueprint. When architects work with blueprints, they also have drawings of what the building will look like when it is completed. I'd like you to put together some inner pictures of what you will look like, as well as how you will feel physically when you are at 100% completion.

Perhaps you've been there before and so you know what images to bring forward. If you haven't any idea, simply make something up, just as if you had a photograph sitting in front of you, and you could sense the body communication. Look at the photograph through a mind-magnifying glass. While this may sound like a silly game, it is not. It is serious mind programming. You get what you think about. Later on you will find out more about the power of your thoughts, but right now go ahead and do this part of the work. Now hang those photographs on your new knowledge hooks.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Managing sugar addiction means working continually to correct insulin resistance. This work could be called disease prevention. You must eat correctly every day. No day is an exception. Remember the bank account. Each and every day you must work to manage your emotional states and stress levels. It will take hot desire, motivation, persistence and self-discipline to achieve correction. Most of us have little or no experience in self-manufacturing inner chemical states, but this is what is needed to make a permanent lifestyle change.

Do know you are not a beginner. You weren’t born yesterday. Throughout life you have been building resilience that has been stored in your subconscious mind, and you can retrieve it. You have all kinds of resilience, big and small. Resilience means that somewhere along the road of life you have survived through something. The longer the survival process, the more resilience you will find in the memory. People who have stopped drinking, smoking or lived through a life-threatening experience, challenged disease or a disability usually have good resilience. However, if you feel you are short in this department, you can also build role models for resilience and actually transfer from them hypnotically. Let's practice.

INNER MOTIVATION

Let’s practice on the mind screen. Tilt your eyes up and locate it. Now take out your blueprint or map, placing a calendar of last month in the upper right hand corner. Tear off that calendar and place the calendar page for this month on the blueprint. Pick up the corner of this month's calendar and notice there is one under that for next month and one under that for the month after. In fact notice that there are unending calendars waiting to come to the top.

This is a mind program for understanding that the work you are doing is ongoing. It does not have a beginning or an end. Where did we ever get the idea that if we eat well this month, then next month we can eat whatever we want? It should be clear by now. The cell managers remain the same and need the same foods to stay healthy. That doesn't mean that you can't have certain treats, etc. and must live a rigid life. It does mean that you must be self-responsible and stay aware of what your body needs in order to function. Remember, you don't know how to be a cell yourself, so it is in your best interest that you stay in focus.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

It’s not uncommon for women to have gynecological or hormonal issues related to sugar addiction or disorderly eating. While there are other reasons for irregular periods, pre and post-menopausal symptoms, sugar or imbalanced eating can be the culprit. Be sure to check things out with your gynecologist. Then, correct your nutritional intake. You might be pleasantly surprised at how many symptoms are connected to not providing your body with what it needs.

KIDS AND SUGAR ISSUES

The sugar culprit begins its destructive work early in life. Even small infants are treated to this substance by doting parents who often have no idea that they are setting up a life long addiction in their precious offspring. In fact, most parents would deny that they do this at all. Many would insist that they only provide the very best nutrition for their children. I hear this over and over in my office. Then the truth is uncovered as we discuss what truly goes into the mouth of the youngster over a twenty-four hour period. This is why knowledge, coupled with heightened awareness is so very important.

I’d like to share a patient history here with you. Sarah was only five when she came to my office. As she was fair skinned and blonde, I had to look closely to notice that she had no eyebrows or eyelashes. In fact, a good portion of the hair on her head was also missing. Her Mother had cleverly combed it so it wasn't so noticeable. Sarah suffers from trichotillomania, or compulsive hair pulling. Although there have been no epidemiological studies to identify the actual number of people with this condition yet, it is estimated that in the United States alone, there are probably between 6 to 8 million sufferers of trichotillomania.

According to Dr. Doris Rapp, the author of Is This Your Child, children with tricotillomania respond well to dietary change including reduced sugar intake. Sarah's mother maintained that her nutrition was healthy, but my assessment didn't agree. Over 85% of Sarah's intake was in the form of very high-glycemic or refined sugars. The first order of business to help Sarah was to redesign her eating plan and eliminate a good number of the sugar foods. While it's a true challenge to clean up a child's diet, it is possible. It helps to allow the child to participate in the planning and shopping. Self-hypnosis etches new mind programs and helps the child manage the left over stress, once the food stress is in control.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Learning to listen to your body is one of our most important holistic tools. The cell managers communicate with you through body sensations. The process of body listening is known by many names including mental biofeedback. We choose to take messages through the practice of body scanning. This technique is taught in the top stress reduction clinics of the world and is a way of re-training the body to release stress chemicals. The body and mind often have much to say about the food connection.

You will be learning more about working with body sensations later on in this program. For now let us focus on the food connection to body sensations. If you are not eating a balanced or sufficient diet, your body will produce stress hormones that will communicate with you through body sensations. These stress chemicals include insulin, adrenaline, nor-epinephrine and cortisol. Some corresponding body sensations could include headache, muscle spasms, weakness, lightheadedness, poor vision, nervousness, exhaustion, fatigue, mood swings, as well as a variety of tension related symptoms.

Most of us tend to eat on automatic pilot, without any concern for the resulting mind and body chemistry. As we travel through our day, we might have a tendency to pick up small snacks, cookies, candy, pretzels, coffee, soda or juice. Perhaps a coffee mug lives on your desk. Each time you eat or drink, your body must perform its chemical balancing act, making special effort to keep the body in balance. If you continue along in this way, day after day, the body often develops food stress, or the inability to manage, especially if the rest of the nutritional intake is poor or inadequate.

INNER MOTIVATION

Take a moment to elicit your relaxation response. Tilt your eyes up slightly, placing one of your cells up on your mind screen. It doesn't matter where it comes from. Each and every time you eat something, the food rings the doorbell of the cell and the cell manager cannot say no to the delivery. If the delivery is healthy and timely, the manager is delighted, but if it is unhealthy and untimely, the manager is in trouble. Feel how good it is to know that you do know this now and that you have powers beyond what you thought before you had this knowledge. We are motivated towards and away from. This imagery exercise is a good example of both. Be sure to place it in a place of honor on your road map.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Boosting the immune system is another important focus of living holistically. The immune system is the defense system of the mind and body against microorganisms. One of the most negative results of excessive levels of stress, or poor body management is the effect on the immune response. This is often seen is someone who has frequent colds and other infections. There is much research in progress regarding how stress affects the immune system, and especially regarding autoimmune diseases including allergies and cancer. There is also the psychological aspect of seeing oneself as a frequently ill person. This can be potentially damaging to the self-image and self-esteem, thereby directing outcomes not in keeping with high level functioning.

How you choose to eat directly affects your immune system. There is little discussion about this fact of life. The problem is that we tend to be asleep to the needs of the body in the now, but more so in the needs of the body in the future. What you eat today has an outcome down the road as well. Imagery and self-hypnosis will help you to wake up and also to place permanent wellness programs into your subconscious mind. The work you are doing here is not difficult, but it is awake-work and this is where the difficulty lies for most people.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers