My Mother's Day Gift to You - Stress Free Moments

It's Mother's Day. The one day of the year when you can spend an entire day on you, doing wonderful things just for you. Without feeling guilty. I invite you to take time out from stress anxiety to relax, release, recharge and rejuvenate.

Start Your Day with Stress Free Moments

Ease into your day. Just by focusing on your breathing you can enjoy an easy form of meditation - and a reduction of stress symptoms. You will be keeping your thoughts in the moment. Not worrying about the problems of yesterday or tomorrow:

*Quiet Joy Every Morning

Take a moment to gaze out a window. Savor the joy of morning. Drink in the wonders of nature. Look up at the sky. Stop and allow yourself to be in awe of the grandeur of the vast sky with its crisp dawn colors or muted grays and the brilliance of the sunrise. Look for the changing patterns and faces in the clouds (remember when you were a child?).

Allow your gaze to glide over the majestic trees...their distinct shapes...their patterned limbs and sway of leaves. Listen to the morning sounds. Or quiet stillness - the morning hush. Stay in this beautiful moment. Just feel. Let the feeling flow. Let it slowly flow.

A word will come to you - this is really "peaceful, relaxing, soothing, calming, etc." That's your cue to close your eyes. Inhale slowly, mentally repeating your word. Hold your breath a few seconds and then slowly exhale. If a worry crosses your mind, say to yourself, "Not now. This is my moment, my time, my space, my peace of mind.

Inhale slowly, deeply, to bring oxygen and energy flowing through your body. Exhale. Repeat this breathing exercise until you are ready to open your eyes and continue on with your day.

*Excerpt from When You Need a Timeout

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Special - My Gift to You. You can download the Ebook, When You Need a Timeout for $5.00 (normally $9.99) from now until Mother's Day, Sunday, May 9, 2010. Available only at
www.smashwords.com/books/view/3838. At checkout enter the coupon code KG33P.

Hypnosis: A Powerful Relaxation Therapy That Works

A Natural State of Hypnosis

When I ask clients if they have ever been hypnotized, invariably they will answer no. But in fact people go in and out of hypnosis every day. Think about it. When you are daydreaming you are focused inward. That is a natural state of hypnosis. When you are engrossed in a good book and the children are yelling and the dog is barking, but you are oblivious to all around you. That's a natural state of hypnosis. How about when you are in a movie theatre full of people. When the lights go down, it's just you and Denzel or Leonardo DiCaprio on that screen. You are so narrowly focused that no one around you exists. A natural state of hypnosis.


Hypnosis Is

Narrowly focused inward, aware of but oblivious to outside stimuli. That is the definition of hypnosis. Specifically, it is a state of focused concentration characterized by very pleasant feelings of relaxation, heightened imagination and increased responsiveness to an idea. While you are fully conscious, you are tuned out to most stimuli around you.

A Powerful Relaxation Therapy

As a Stress Management Consultant, I was attracted to the study of hypnosis because it is a powerful relaxation therapy that helps people make rapid changes. A person with a lifelong fear of flying, for example, can take a plane trip after hypnosis. A person battling weight gain will lose her craving for fattening foods. A heavy smoker will throw away his cigarettes. A person suffering chronic pain can learn to manage it through self-hypnosis and live a better quality of life. A person burdened by a past mistake, trauma, abuse or guilt can have those painful memories neutralized through hypnosis and get to enjoy living life again.

Scientific Studies

Google "hypnosis" and you will find many scientific studies trying to define how hypnosis works. Using neuroimaging tools, scientists do know that it is not a sleep state. The brain waves are in alpha (relaxed) rhythm as opposed to delta (sleep) rhythm. A hypnotized subject when told a white sheet of paper is red shows activation in the color perception are of the brain. Hypnotically induced suggestions of pain activate the brain area as if the subject was in real pain. The phenomenon of inducing goose bumps on the arm of a hypnotized subject by pretending to rub an ice cube on the arm has been observed and documented.

Hypnosis: This Stuff Really Works!

While the scientific studies of hypnotic phenomena are ongoing let me share this anecdotal story. While practicing self-hypnosis I had taught her, my client realized a wonderful side benefit. The blinding migraine headaches she had been experiencing all her adult life were relieved through hypnosis. At her next appointment she reported this to me. Her astonished declaration was, "I don't know how...but this hypnosis stuff really works!