Breathing Exercises. Losing Weight

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Breathing Exercises. Healthy Treadmills Losing Weight

Hypnosis - Who Will It Work For, And Why

Hypnosis was accepted by the AMA in 1958 as an effective method for treating stress, and stress related symptoms. But does it really work, and what should a person look for when seeking a therapist, or purchasing hypnosis tapes & CDs?

There are many different hypnotic methods that are used to reach the unconscious mind to invoke change. Each method has it's strengths, and it's weaknesses. Every person is different, so it stands to reason that the best results will be obtained by utilizing the methods that each person will respond to.

A beach that has feelings. Isn't that ...strange to... you?

Most hypnosis tape venders offer programs that consist of standard traditional hypnosis techniques. A few vendors offer much more modern and effective Ericksonian hypnosis techniques. And fewer still offer NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques. The newest and possibly most effective technique available is video hypnosis. Video hypnosis utilizes the latest NLP mind patterns to produce instant change in an individual. Video hypnosis methods are not subliminal in nature.

With "Traditional Hypnosis," we simply make direct suggestions to the unconscious mind. In case you are wondering, as far as I'm concerned, the term unconscious, and subconscious are interchangeable - they refer to the same part of the mind. This type of hypnosis works well for someone who generally accepts what they are told without a lot of questions.

Most hypnosis tapes sold today are based on "Traditional Hypnosis" techniques. The reason for this is that it really doesn't take much training or experience to write a script and just tell someone what to do. Unfortunately Traditional Hypnosis is not very effective for people who are critical or analytical in their thinking processes.

By contrast, Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP techniques work far better for most members of today's generation! This is because today people are taught to question everything, rather than just follow the flock. So these methods do work very well on people who are critical or analytical in their thinking processes.

These methods are much more effective at reaching and influencing the unconscious.

However, it can take years of training, study, and most of all experience to learn how to apply these techniques effectively. This is a challenge that is only accepted by the truly dedicated Hypno-therapists.

With "Ericksonian Hypnosis," we use little stories, called metaphors, to present suggestions and ideas to the unconscious mind. This is a powerful and effective method, because it usually eliminates the blockage of and resistance to suggestions that is often caused by the conscious mind. There are two types of metaphors, "Isomorphic," and those of the imbedded command or "interspersal" nature.

Isomorphic metaphors offer direction to the unconscious by telling a story that offers up a moral. The unconscious draws a one-to-one relationship between elements of the story and elements of a problem situation or behavior. For example, if a child is telling a lot of lies, the parent might tell the child the story about the "Boy who cried wolf." The unconscious would draw a parallel between the boy in the story and the child, and realize that telling lies could lead to disaster, so the child would probably stop lying.

With the Embedded Command technique, the hypnotist tells an interesting story that engages and distracts the conscious mind. The story contains hidden direct suggestions that are usually accepted by the unconscious. For example: While the client is in hypnosis, he might hear the hypnotist say something like: I'm going to tell you a story about ...a beach that has feelings. Isn't that ...strange to... you? It's a warm summer's day, and... the beach feels great.

The hypnotist pauses, shifts his voice tonality, and emphasizes the bolded text. The unconscious recognizes a "Selectional restriction violation." Beaches can't have feelings. So it's like the unconscious says to itself: "Wait a minute, a beach can't feel anything, so that must mean that I'm supposed to feel great."

Since the suggestions are embedded in a story that is distracting the conscious mind, its unlikely that the conscious will realize that it has just received a command, so it won't block it or resist it.

Process Instructions direct the unconscious to find a memory of an appropriate learning experience from the past, and then apply that experience to making a change in the present.

With "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" (NLP), rather than using suggestions, we use the same thought patterns that are creating a problem, like an excessive appetite or stress, to eliminate the problem. NLP in the hands of an experienced practitioner can be very effective.

NLP Anchoring: Have you ever heard an old song and had it trigger feelings from the past? When you originally heard the song, you were feeling those feelings, and they unconsciously became attached to the sound of the song. So the song became an Anchor for the feelings. Now when you hear the song, it triggers the same feelings again.

Anchoring can be a very useful technique. Suppose that you have a memory of being commended for having done something well in the past. If you go back into that memory, you'll be able to recreate the feelings of self-esteem that you had at that time. If you touch two fingers together while you re-experience those feelings of self-esteem, that touch will become an anchor for the feelings of self-esteem.

Now suppose that you want to create motivation to stick to a diet and lose weight. If you make a mental image of yourself with a thin, sexy body, and simultaneously trigger the anchor - (press the two fingers together again), your unconscious will attach the feelings of self-esteem to the image of you with the thin body and your level of motivation to lose weight will increase dramatically.

NLP Flash: This is a very powerful Neuro-Linguistic Programming technique that can be used to "flip" things around in the unconscious, so that thoughts and experiences that used to trigger feelings of stress actually trigger relaxation instead.

The NLP Flash technique is also extremely effective for extinguishing conditioned responses. For example: If a smoker has a cigarette while drinking coffee, his/her unconscious will pair the two behaviors together so that he/she automatically gets a craving for a cigarette anytime he/she has a cup of coffee. The Flash will cause the smoker's mind to disassociate the image of a cigarette from the cup of coffee so that he/she does NOT get an urge to smoke just because he/she is drinking coffee.

With "Subliminal" programs, the recording has two tracks. One track contains a cover sound that is heard by the conscious mind. The cover sound could be anything from music to nature sounds. The second track contains direct suggestions that are heard by the unconscious mind. These suggestions are repeated hundreds of times during a session.

Subliminal programs can be played in the background while you are working, or watching TV. You don't have to stop what you are doing and relax like you do with hypnosis or NLP. Subliminals can be an addition to hypnotic programs. But Subliminals will never replace Hypnosis or NLP because they are not as effective! They don't even come close!! Some studies have claimed that it can take up to 80 hours of listening to a subliminal recording before it will have any effect on many people. The last form of hypnosis that we're going to discuss is Video Hypnosis, which is the most effective form of hypnosis! The techniques used in video hypnosis are based on the Neuro-Linguistic Programming technology. NLP works based on the utilization of a person's existing thought processes instead of post-hypnotic suggestion.

Over 70% of the population learns much more quickly and easily by seeing, rather then by hearing. Think about it. If you feel an urge to eat or smoke when watching television, it's because your mind recorded the video image of either food in your hand, or a cigarette in your hand, and then associated that image with the image of the TV. You never spoke to yourself and told yourself in words to associate them together, did you?

And that's why the Video Hypnosis technology is so effective. Video Hypnosis is not hypnotic in the traditional sense, relying on the spoken word. But if you've ever cried when watching a sad movie, then you know how effective Video Hypnosis can be at reaching the unconscious mind. With this technology, results usually start with the very first viewing!

Alan B. Densky, Pres.
Neuro-VISION, INC.
Change Your Life In A Flash!
Video and Audio Hypnosis & NLP CD's
http://www.neuro-vision.us/

Mr. Densky is the developer of the Neuro-VISION Video Hypnosis Technology, which received a US Patent because of it's uniqueness and effectiveness. Mr. Densky's latest undertaking has been to make the Neuro-VISION Appetite & Smoking Control Videos, and a long list of his other recorded hypnosis titles available to the general public thru his company's web site.

Visit the Neuro-VISION site and download one of our FREE Ericksonian Hypnotic Power Relaxation MP3's or signup for one or more of our FREE world class hypnosis newsletters.

“When we meditate, we do just the opposite of concentration At that time, we enter into something vast. When we meditate, we try to feel inside us the vast sky, the vast ocean or the infinite universe. We try to expand our consciousness as far as possible.”

The Shaolin Workout - Harmony

There are intrinsic harmonies between certain parts of the body. Your hands are in harmony with your feet. Your elbows are in harmony with your knees. And your shoulders are in harmony with your hips. As you continue to train the warrior's way, you will begin to find all the muscles and joints in your body working in harmony, giving you a strength and endurance you've probably never felt before. The Shaolin Workout trains your body from head to toe. No single muscle or limb can be anywhere near as strong as when all your muscles work together.

When our minds, hearts, and bodies are in harmony and in balance, the chi flows freely, helping us to live beautiful lives.

These physical harmonies reflect spiritual and mental harmonies: Your heart is in harmony with your mind. Your mind is in harmony with your chi. Your chi is in harmony with your power.

These are inseparable relationships. You can't separate your heart from your mind, or your mind from your body. The physical and the mental are linked. When your body is weak and tired, so is your mind. When your body falls asleep, your mind stops working, too. And by the same token, if you exhaust your mind, your body will be exhausted, too. If you're thinking and worrying so much at night that you can't rest, the next day your body will have no chi. You'll be doing your workout Sleeping Style!

That is why we relax both our bodies and our minds. We want flexible minds in flexible bodies.

If you find yourself getting stressed-out today -- at your desk at work, in a long line at the supermarket, wherever it is -- take a moment to relax. If your mind is stressed, your body tenses. You feel the muscles in your neck tighten, and your shoulders hunching. Your chest constricts, and you can't breathe right. You can give yourself a headache or stomachache.

When you're tense, you can't celebrate your beautiful life. Loosen up. Relax your body and your mind. Stand up from your desk and do your neck stretches and shoulder rotations. Or do them standing right there in that supermarket line. Who cares if other people are watching? Untense those muscles, and you'll relieve some of the mental stress as well. It's not magic or mumbo jumbo. It's your body and mind working in harmony. And now that you're relaxed, you'll see how much easier it is to get through the task at hand. A relaxed mind in a relaxed body allows the chi to flow and releases your power.

Reprinted from: The Shaolin Workout: 28 Days to Transforming Your Body and Soul the Warrior's Way by Sifu Shi Yan Ming © 2009 Rodale Inc. Permission granted by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098. Available wherever books are sold or directly from the publisher by calling (800) 848-4735 or visit their website at www.rodalestore.com.

an excerpt from the book The Shaolin Workout
by Sifu Shi Yan Ming
Published by Rodale; May 2006;$29.95US/$39.95CAN; 1-59486-400-4
Copyright © 2009 Sifu Shi Yan Ming

Sifu Shi Yan Ming, a 34th-generation Shaolin warrior monk, is respected not only in the martial arts world but also in the entertainment world by stars like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes, and the Wu-Tang Clan. His kung fu classes have been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, New York Daily News, and Entertainment Weekly. Brian Gray of Inside Kung Fu magazine has called him a "living treasure of China." He has also appeared on the Discovery Channel, MTV, and CNBC, among other major networks. Sifu Shi Yan Ming lives in New York City.

The Shaolin Workout - More Chi!

Chi (also spelled qi) is often translated as "life force." It is similar to what we in the West mean by "energy," but it's much more than that. Chi is the vital force that flows through all things -- humans, animals, plants, rocks, microbes, mountains. Chi connects us to all other things in the universe. It is the source of all spiritual, mental, and physical energy and health. It is dynamic, circulating in us like our blood. It has been compared to electricity flowing through circuits, and to the force flowing around magnetic poles.

When our lives are out of balance, the chi may be blocked or depleted. Stimulating the correct flow of chi can heal us when we are sick and invigorate us when we are tired.

Chi is the force that gives kung fu masters like Sifu their incredible power. It is through stimulating and guiding the flow of chi that we train and push our bodies to actions we might never have known we could do before. This is why we constantly cheer one another on with the cry "More chi! Train harder!" The more chi you put into your exercises and movements, the harder you are able to train. The harder you train, the more you master your body and its movements, and the more chi you'll have.

Some beginners fear that they'll never be able to master certain stretches or movements. It's not unusual to experience some muscle pain when first performing certain exercises and stretches. A "pulled muscle" is a muscle that's not used to being stretched and worked. In the modern world, we use our legs for so little. We sit all day in our cars, at our desks, on the sofa, watching TV. Now you're suddenly asking your muscles to do some work. It's no wonder they're sore!

The wrong way to respond to that sore muscle is to tense up, physically or mentally. Tension will only block the flow of chi to that muscle.

The right way to respond is to relax your body and your mind, extend your body and your mind, and train harder. Athletes have that saying, "No pain, no gain." That's what "Train harder!" means as well. Don't back away from the work, don't tense up, and certainly don't give up. If you give up on your exercises, you give up on yourself. Have faith and confidence in yourself, and tomorrow the stretch you found difficult will feel easier. The next day, it will be easier still.

Today, think about how you can apply this warrior's attitude to your whole life. The more chi you put into your life, the more you'll get out of your life. When you feel like you just can't face another day of washing and folding the kids' laundry . . . when your boss drops an extra stack of paperwork on your desk an hour before quitting time . . . when you get home exhausted after fighting rush hour and plop down on the sofa, and your son asks you to help him with his math homework. Whatever chores, problems, or responsibilities you face today, don't flinch from them, don't avoid them, don't feel defeated by them. Tackle them head-on. Put more chi into it and get it done. Train harder!

an excerpt from the book The Shaolin Workout
by Sifu Shi Yan Ming
Published by Rodale; May 2006;$29.95US/$39.95CAN; 1-59486-400-4
Copyright © 2009 Sifu Shi Yan Ming

The Shaolin Workout - Body and Mind

It's most important to stay loose and relaxed in mind and body. To enjoy your life, you must be relaxed. When we were children, our bodies were loose, relaxed, and flexible. We could do splits, flips, jumps, and twists without thinking about it. We were pure mind in babies' bodies.

But you're never too old -- we just get too tense, too stiff. We think too much. One of the most important lessons you can learn doing the Shaolin Workout is how to get back that childlike relaxation and flexibility -- to be at home in your body again. It makes no difference if you are in your twenties, fifties, or eighties. Relax. Never feel old. Tell yourself you're not getting older every year -- you're getting younger!

Sifu explains that there are two kinds of meditation: action meditation and no-action meditation. In the West, we're most familiar with the no-action kind. We can all form images of Buddhist monks sitting with their legs crossed and their eyes closed, still and silent, for hours and hours, as they strive to achieve enlightenment.

The only problem is that too much no-action meditation can be as bad for your joints, your back, your neck, as sitting at a computer all day. This is what Da Mo saw happening to the monks at Shaolin. They spent so much time sitting in meditation that their bodies were as stiff as wooden dolls. He saw that Ba Tuo had not given them the proper tools to adapt Buddhism to Chinese life. Why do we meditate? To cleanse our minds and open our hearts. But if we burden our bodies with tension and pain, our minds and hearts can't be cleansed. Your mind and your heart and your body are inseparable.

Kung fu is action meditation. The goal of kung fu is to relax your body and your mind, to extend your body and your mind, to cleanse your body and your mind. To be relaxed in your body, and relaxed in your life, is how you live fully in the present, experiencing this moment, here and now.

In our modern world, there's another benefit to action meditation. We all have lives, jobs, families. We have wonderful things coming into our lives every day. Who among us has the time to sit and meditate for hours a day, like monks in a monastery? As you'll find out, a half-hour of action meditation can be as liberating, for your body and your mind and your heart, as several hours of no-action meditation.

Kung fu and martial arts represent a refined form of action meditation. But any exercise program can be a form of action meditation -- running, swimming, playing tennis, riding a bike. In the West, we speak of that point in an exercise routine where we "get in the zone," where we "release endorphins," where we achieve "the runner's high." Those are all Western ways of approaching the same concept: action meditation. A relaxed mind in a relaxed body.

As you go through your day today, relax. Stay loose. Be flexible in your body and in your mind. Enjoy your beautiful life every minute of the day.

Breathing Exercises for Meditation

In meditation we are trying to quieten the mind and to stop our thoughts completely. If we can stop the usual thoughts of the mind we can feel a new consciousness developing within ourselves.

Breathing can have a significant impact on our state of mind. If we are flustered or stressed we may be given the advice of “taking a few deep breaths” This is not an attempt at meditation just a realisation that be slowing down our breathing there will be a calming influence upon our mind. However by practising certain breathing exercises we can help our meditation practise, enabling a quiet ming. In the yoga systems of ancient India much has been written on the art of pranayama, pranayama is the art of breath control. Aspirants through practising these breathing techniques can gain increased concentration. It is also said to improve physical and mental health. Some of these pranayama techniques require great effort and detailed knowledge but for the purposes of meditation we can stick to relatively simple breathing exercises.

In the beginning we should try to breathe in very quietly and gently so that if a feather was placed in front of our mouth it would barely move. The breathing should be natural and relaxed there should be no tension. We should also be fully focused and aware of our breathing. This is the key to any type of meditation, - being fully concentrated on our practise.

The first breathing exercise to try is to try and focus on breathing in certain spiritual qualities. In the beginning it may feel like imagination but imagination has its own power and it can be the precursor to a real feeling. Many people meditate to achieve greater peace of mind. Therefore whilst breathing in you can imagine a sea of peace entering into your body as you breathe in. As you breathe out you can imagine letting go of any restlessness or tenseness. After focusing on breathing in peace, you may wish to concentrate on another quality that appeals to you such as happiness or joy. If any thought disturbs you during the exercise. Feel that as you breathe out the thought is discarded into the universal consciousness.

Another very simple breathing exercise is called one – four –two. As you breathe in count one. Then hold the breathe for a count of four, then as you breathe out count two. Even better than counting numbers is to repeat in silence the name of a sacred word.

This could be God, Christ, Supreme or if you prefer a spiritual quality like peace. It doesn’t matter so much what the word is, but it is something that should inspire you. It will give the exercise more meaning and greater inspiration. By doing this exercise you will be able to bring divine qualities into your body. When you hold your breathe for 4 repetitions these qualities will reverberate within yourself and as you breathe out negative thoughts and emotions will be released. In the beginning meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy advises not to practise this exercise for too long. It is quite powerful and if practised too intensely can create problems. With meditation it is always best to make gradual progress, developing our capacities to meditate rather than trying to achieve everything in the shortest time frame. If we overdo breathing exercises it is a bit like eating too much we suffer from indigestion. We should build up the length of time gradually and we shouldn’t do things that overly tax the body. If we feel stressed or pressure when meditating we have to know this type of meditation is not for us.

Another exercise is alternative breathing through the nostril. We place our thumb on our right nostril and then breathe through the left. We then hold the breathe for 4 counts and breathe through then breathe out through the right.

Breathing exercises can be very beneficial for meditation they enable us to develop concentration and calm the mind. However they are not indispensable for meditation. Real meditation involves the expansion of our consciousness. As Sri Chinmoy says:

This type of meditation comes when we have a real aspiration for diving deep within. To do this breathing exercises are not essential. However breathing exercises are very helpful especially in the beginning.

Richard teaches free meditation classes for the Sri Chinmoy Centre. The 6 introductory classes to meditation give seekers an introduction to the basics of meditation, including breathing exercises as mentioned in the article.

More Healthy Related Articles on Breathing Exercises

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My Meditation Practice - I have been influenced by Zen meditation, yoga relaxation and breathing practices, visualization techniques, mantra repetition and even dancing techniques to name a few.

Preksha Meditation - Kayotsarga has two implications--complete relaxation of the body and self-awareness.

Open Focus Meditation - Once you feel centered, look around and see that everything you need is here – perfect peace, vibrant health, constant love, endless supply for all your needs.

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