Archive for March, 2010

Have you seen the bumper sticker that reads “You don’t have to believe everything you think”? Well it’s true. Change your thought patterns – especially to manage the stress in your life – and your well being will change as a result.

The American Health Association and the American Medical Association have stated that stress is the number one reason for doctor visits. Stress is anger, sadness, hurt, guilt, fear, and the old voice that echoes “I’m not good enough” that manifests in your mind and in your body. People in the United States are now working more hours with less sleep and (surprise!) not experiencing as much enjoyment or fulfillment in life. This scenario sound familiar? Well, it can be turned around.

My personal breakthrough coaching helps you align with your true purpose and goals, and enables and activates your own inner strengths to lead you to resolve the negative patterns that are preventing you from having the life you want. Individual coaching works wonders with clients who really wish to deal with and minimize stress in their lives by creating effective, healthy patterns. Changing your response to your personal stress triggers is key – when you change your thought patterns you do indeed change the physical manifestations stress can have on your body (migraines, twitches, aches and pains, insomnia, and more).

It’s best to jump start this process to healing with individualized sessions. Then, on your own, my specialized CD programs can help reinforce the positive changes you experience in individual coaching sessions.

What are you waiting for?

In John Overdurf’s coaching perspectives classes, he talks about many studies about the brain and the unconscious mind.

The quantum Zeno effect (aka “a watched pot never boils!) is a concept you might be familiar with. This quantum phenomena was first demonstrated by George Sudarshan at University of Texas in 1977, and, in 2005, Stapp and Schwartz applied the quantum Zeno effect to mental experience. They found that attention and focus stabilize brain circuitry. Paying attention to any specific neural connection keeps the associated circuitry open dynamic and alive. Rapid and repeated observations not only stabilize transient chemical links, but eventually can alter physical changes in the brains structure. (Similar studies are conducted via neuro-plasticity research and can be read in The Brain That Changes Itself. All fascinating.)

So, the moral of the story is we get what we focus on–unconsciously!

And, you probably want to avoid the negatives in life, right? Suppose you have a panic attack. Your brain now has a neural pathway called anxiety or panic…then it happens again…so your brain now is really paying attention to panic. You could go to talk therapy and talk about your panic attacks. but what is happening in that situation? You are focusing on the panic and therefore repeatedly observing the panic, which then causes the neural pathway to light up and here comes the symptoms again. It’s quite a cycle of negativity.

I always tell my clients it’s like going down the same railroad track over and over again, consciously and unconsciously. And, not one client in over 20 years has told me that they can hardly wait to panic or are excited to be depressed. But, remember, by the time you experience panic there is already a mental pathway there for it to easily occur. Our work together is to help shift your conscious attention (your own attempt to solve the problem, the panic) to increased redirected unconscious activation (a new railroad track – get on it!)

Stay Confident, Stay Connected, Stay Focused are all effective CD programs that can be used to help your brain change to discover new neural pathways that can positively affect your life.

In my weight loss classes, most everyone tells me that they are eating for every other reason than hunger. There are serious and real emotional reasons that push people to overeat, anxiety and stress appear at the top of that list. Many of us cope with the stress of our lives by eating, often too much, and too late. People eat when they are upset, compulsively cramming emotions and reactions deep down inside them with food. The only reason we should eat are because we are hungry (or, enjoying a meal with loved ones.)

Studies have shown that when stressed beyond normal levels, the body can produce so much cortisol (the stress hormone) that it is no longer able to metabolize fat. Thus, even if one exercises, if stress levels and overeating are off the charts out of control, it will become impossible to lose weight, much less live in a healthy, natural state.

My CD programs are designed to help you to de-stress, relax, and eat like a naturally thin person. When you uncover and face your issues, you are on your way to creating healthy patterns for a healthy life! These programs are designed to teach you to eat like a naturally thin person, and perhaps more importantly, to reinforce what this really means. Guided imagery through hypnosis can help you to get and stay in control of your state of mind, which in turn, helps you to control your eating habits.

Learn to eat right. Learn to trust your body. Learn to avoid starvation and raise your metabolism through exercise. My specialized programs address these issues related to weight loss and, combined with a good weight loss manual, you will have results.

We all have an inner guidance that is greater than our conscious mind. In watching the Olympics it is obvious that some of the athletes have been trained to tap into this power. Some have headphones on right up to their race – what do you think they are listening to?

I always teach the athletes I work with to access the part of their mind that is beyond the conscious mind. This means to tap into their subconscious or unconscious mind. To best illustrate this, you might think of a computer or ipod with all of the amazing capabilities they both have. The face of the computer is the conscious mind and all the programs and capabilities the computer has is the subconscious or unconscious mind. Wouldn’t it be valuable to learn how to operate your subconscious mind to peak performance levels? That subconscious mind is running your body, after all. We all have and are born with this ‘hardware’ but usually it is our parents, teachers, friends, who add to or build our software. These software programs may or may not be working for you; few of us know how to use them. I teach my clients how to switch to the program they want to use when they are competing (or in other areas in life that doesn’t have extreme competition).

State of mind control is the most important talent to develop. We each have an inner switch (like a light switch) that allows us to turn on the confidence or turn off the negative chatter. There are many modalities I teach to allow my clients to be able to consistently accomplish this power. Think of the implications here – how these skills could improve performance or how these skills might improve your life.

My CD called Power Circle presents a state of mind switch that is easy to listen to and easy to follow for learning to retrain your brain to be confident. This is one technique that everyone can easily accomplish with a little effort!