Smoking Cessation, No Butts About It
Smoking cessation. I don’t talk about it much, but it, along with weight loss, is one of the two subjects most associated with Hypnotherapy by the general public. A lot of hypnotherapists, myself included, consider it hypnotherapy 101, something you can advertise to build a clientele but something you generally drift away from as more diverse cases come your way. (And I have.)
I had a conversation with an old client the other day and it really made me take a look at my attitude on the subject. While Stop Smoking programs are relatively simple exercises, they are programs that profoundly change the lives of the clients.
The behavior of smoking is almost tailor made to be dealt with by hypnosis. The actually physical addiction, while very strong, is actually very short lived. Most of the physical withdrawal is over in a week or less. Amazingly, nicotine is not the worst culprit with cigarettes. It’s all the other chemicals that have been added specifically to add “punch” to the nicotine hit and cause the psychological addiction. Case in point, you almost never, and I have never, seen a client with an addiction to nicotine patches or gum. So the vast majority of the addiction is not physical. It has to do with the client’s mental associations to smoking, their feelings about it and how it applies to them. It is therefore able to be dealt with efficiently with hypnosis.
So, smoking is mostly a learned behavior and smoking cigarettes is literally one of the worst “lose-lose” behaviors a person can have. Smokers may believe that it: calms them down, suppresses their appetite or just makes them look cool, but it actually does none of those things. It is a stimulant that, instead of calming them down, actually “jacks them up.” It only seems to suppress appetite because it deadens the taste buds, suppresses the sense of smell and generally makes food taste crappy. It doesn’t look cool; it looks nasty and smells even worse. And of course it has the pesky little issue of causing SLOW PAINFUL DEATH. This makes smoking cessation one of the more profound programs a hypnotherapist can do. Instead of helping cancer patients with pain and the nausea of chemo, wouldn’t it be better to stop the cancer from happening in the first place?
With that in mind and with the RelaxNow program up and running, I have started taking Stop Smoking clients for the first time in many years. Since my schedule only allows for a few individual clients, I’ve also started putting my mind to creating a recorded program to take it past what can be done one on one. I’ll post more as things develop.
RelaxNow for Adults trial is underway
We’ve just sent out the trial version of RelaxNow for Adults™ to our field test group. We have sent it to a variety of people, both neurotypical and neuroatypical, in three different countries. The goal is to have it trial tested by a broad range of people because we’ve been hearing reports from the parents of the children using the original program. These parents are telling us how much they get from listening to the RelaxNow program themselves. We realized there is a need for a RelaxNow program for adults, a program not just for people overcoming chronic issues, but one that can be used by anyone who needs a good tool to deal with the stresses and anxieties of life.
These things always seem to take longer than expected (at least to me), but barring any major changes I expect RelaxNow for Adults to be ready for wide release in the next few months.
Wes Graham Co-Founder of RelaxNow
Change: your mind, your energy, your body, your life
“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon”-Joni Mitchell In a very real sense there is nobody on earth who is more than 15 years old. To be more precise there is N…
Source: Change: your mind, your energy, your body, your life
What is RelaxNow?
Sheila and I recently spent 2 days at the Families for Effective Autism Treatment (F.E.A.T.) conference in Dallas answering questions and having great conversations with therapists, educators and parents all striving toward the goal of doing good for these amazing kids. After this experience, I believe I’ve come up with a more understandable answer to the two most common questions we get: What is RelaxNow and how does it work?
What is RelaxNow?
RelaxNow is fundamentally “brain training.” A major league baseball pitcher doesn’t have to “think” about how to throw a fastball. These professional athletes develop “muscle memory” until that action becomes an unconscious habit. RelaxNow is a short, easily downloadable audio program designed to create what could be called “Mental Muscle Memory” in that it teaches a mind how to self-regulate its response to stress, anxiety or unwanted emotional levels.
How does it work?
RelaxNow works on multiple levels. On the surface it is a pleasant easy-to-listen-to program, similar to a guided meditation or self-hypnosis recording that is familiar to most people. Anyone who has attended a yoga class or studied martial arts will recognize this portion of the program. While the surface layers of the program generate in the user a relaxed, calm and focused state of mind, below the surface the program contains sounds, tones and subliminal vocal tracks to develop a memory trigger. Once the user is in this calm and focused mental state, we use techniques to establish and attach the memory trigger.
When the mental trigger is used by the RelaxNow user or for the user, it lets them recall that relaxed, calm and focused state of mind and use it to regulate their current circumstance.
For more info go to our website RelaxNow.info
Autism, ADD, ASD, spectrum
New programs from RelaxNow
Very excited. RelaxNow will be an exhibitor at the FEAT DFW Autism Conference February 4th & 5th. We will be premiering our new RelaxNow for Older Children and RelaxNow Atmospheres programs at this event.
Ideomotor Response (Your own personal truth detector)
“Ideomotor phenomenon: is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously.”
The ideomotor response is an interesting tool used by hypnotherapists and others. It uses involuntary muscle movement to facilitate gathering information from the unconscious mind.
A simple method, that requires no trance at all, is to use a pendulum. This is something you can try for yourself. Find something that can be used as a pendulum, a necklace, or even just a small weight tied on the end of a string. Sit comfortably so that you may rest your elbow on your leg, the arm of a chair, or on a table. Just place yourself in a position where you can hold forearm and hand steady and motionless. Gently grip the pendulum between your thumb and forefinger so that it can hang straight down and move freely. Don’t move it, just let it hang there.
Now you must “set” the pendulum by letting your unconscious mind know what motion means to answer yes and what means to answer no. (You only have to do this once, the “set” will last a lifetime.)
Relax as much as you can and start thinking the word yes over and over. As you are thinking the word yes, just imagine the pendulum swinging front to back. Important: Do not swing the pendulum just think about it swinging. Very soon the pendulum will start swinging front to back seemingly all on its own. Once it is moving steadily front to back, start thinking the word no over and over and imagine the pendulum swinging left and right. Once again, do not physically do anything to make the pendulum change direction or affect it in anyway. Just keep your arm and hand relaxed and steady and imagine it changing directions and then wait for it to happen.
Continue using just your mind to change the direction of the pendulum from left to right to front to back several times. You may even add a non-response; if the answer to a question is unclear pendulum will swing in the circle. After you can reliably change the motion of the pendulum using just your mind, put it down, walk away and do something else for a while.
You now have your own “personal truth” detector. If you are ever in doubt of what you really think about something you can use the pendulum. You can write a question on piece of paper and hold the pendulum over it and observe its motion. Or you can just hold the question in your mind. Just remember you must simplify the question down to its essence and have it in a form that can be answered with a yes or a no.
This is just one kind of ideomotor response. There are many others. In a hypnotherapy setting (or any talk-therapy) it can be as simple as telling the client that his/her index finger will move for a positive response and the middle finger will move for a negative response. Then have the client sit back, close his/her eyes and discuss his/her issues. You can see if the ideomotor response is contradicting the verbal responses. This can help pinpoint where the motivations of the unconscious mind contradict and work against the desires of the conscious mind. The client may be adamantly telling you how much she desires to: lose weight, quit drinking, relieve chronic pain, etc. But the fingers are screaming no, No, NO!
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
RelaxNow for older children and Adults
I’ve just finished the recording and the first mix downs of the new version of RelaxNow . This version is slightly longer the original and geared more for older children and adults.
I have also have taken some of the natural sounds of the RelaxNow programs and created, what we’re calling for now, Ambient background tracks. These are designed to be played softly in the background to help with sleep or just to unwind. These peaceful sounds can be relaxing for anyone but for someone who has regularly used the RelaxNow program they should be doubly effective.
We now start the testing and editing process. With luck these new recordings will be available in a few week (hopefully) or a few months (if past is prolog.) 🙂
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
Please visit us on the web:
RelaxNow Homepage Like us on Facebook RelaxNow YouTube
RelaxNow is finely here!
After long development RelaxNow is available to the public.
RelaxNow is a simple downloadable, easy-to-use, yet revolutionary therapy tool designed for use by parents, educators and therapists who work with children with spectrum disorders, sensory integration disorder, processing and language delays. It is ideal for children who struggle with controlling the highs and lows of their energy and emotional levels.
RelaxNow puts the control of behavior directly in the hands of the child. It works by using a combination of soothing sounds (either rain or the ocean) and a soft, calming male voice that instructs the child to relax both mind and body throughout the exercise, while in this state, the brain opens itself up to suggestion. The suggestion presented in during the exercise is the phrase: Relax Now. When this phrase is used outside of the RelaxNow therapy itself, the child’s mind recalls the state of relaxation and calm present during the exercise, and can instantly bring emotions in line with desired levels of behavior.
Please visit us online.
RelaxNow Homepage Like us on Facebook
Hypnosis and Autism, a new project
As so often happens, the greatest of projects can start from the smallest of things; a chance meeting or in this case a random bit of dinner conversation. Over the Christmas holidays, my wife and I were having dinner with a couple we have known for close to 20 years. The wife, Sheila S., runs a school for children on the autism spectrum. She is also a well-respected consultant to both the parents of autistic children and to their teachers. During the course of the evening the talk turned to “her kids.” She mentioned that she had started doing something she called “Relaxation Time.” She would have the kids lie down and she would quietly tell them to “let your feet go to sleep, your legs, etc.” Those of you already involved with hypnosis will recognize as I did that she was unknowingly doing a basic fractional relaxation hypnotic induction. I was instantly hooked, and I asked if I could observe one day and she agreed.
While watching Sheila go through her Relaxation Time routine with the kids I observed that some of the kids were truly drifting into a very light trance state. I immediately saw the potential to do some good here if I could devise a way of developing a deeper trance state in children whose sensory perceptions and mental processes can be profoundly different from my own.
After much consideration I settled on a combination of an abbreviated traditional hypnosis induction and my Audio-Homeopathy techniques along with with subliminal reinforcements (to avoid over stimulation). I also needed to determine what would be best to use as a first hypnotic suggestion. I began to observe the classes on an ongoing basis and saw the first and foremost need these children had, at least in this environment, was energy management. The minds of these kids can sometime be overwhelmed by situations and sensory inputs that a person not on the spectrum might easily miss or ignore. I soon had a test program recorded and we began our first trials.
The first suggestion/tool I choose for this program was a relaxation trigger that the child could use on themselves or have an authority figure such as a parent or teacher use for them. I chose the words “Relax Now” as the trigger with the suggestion that: when the child says out loud or silently “Relax Now” he instantly relaxes “to an appropriate level.” Appropriate level is a key point. This suggestion is not an on/off switch to be “flipped.” It’s more like a throttle that the child can use to rein in his or her response to mental or physical overstimulation.
Right from the very first day the results were promising. About an hour after going through the Relaxation Time program, one of the students began to become agitated. Sheila S. used the Relax Now trigger and there was a small, but noticeable de-escalation. I honestly did not expect to see any results until the children had been through the program several times and was very pleased and more than a little surprised to see a visible result the first day. There was a noticeably calmer mood to all the classes after Relaxation Time that day. Sheila S. also reports a generally calmer demeanor in all the participating classes throughout the entire six months of our trial period.
I can’t emphasize enough that Relaxation Time is not a program to control children; it is a program for children to use to help control themselves. Others can assist, but when others use the trigger words the child is always the final arbiter of who they will respond to and how much they will respond.
The benefits of a program of this type are not limited to children on the autistic spectrum. I can see where it could be useful for children with ADD or any child that sometimes gets overwhelmed or has issues with focus.
Over the last six months we have had 25 students participate in the program and after several small modifications I am happy to say the Relaxation Time program is now ready for public release. I am currently working on the new website and I will soon have a link here on this page to where Relaxation Time can be purchased and downloaded. In the meantime please feel free to use the Contact Me link on this blog to ask me any questions you have.
Thank you very much,
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
hypnoenergetics 