Man Hypnotizes Himself Before an Operation

A quick article from BBC News about a man who hypnotized himself in preparation for hand surgery.  His surgery included the use of a hammer, chisel and a surgical saw.  He was aware of what was going on around him and remained completely free of pain.  It only took him 30 seconds to 1 minute for him to get to the level of hypnosis needed for pain-free surgery before the surgery started. 

The Hidden “Pains” of Pain

The most obvious problem associated with pain is of course the discomfort itself.  And for many the word “discomfort” is selling it short.  Beyond the base cause of pain are often a number of symptoms, or “pains” if you will, that affect a person’s quality of life.

Depending on the location of the physical pain, mobility can be seriously impaired.  Sciatica, arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, and any other type of pain related to movement can make it extremely difficult to move normally.  Not to mention the fact that we try to compensate for the pain by changing how we move.  Since this typically isn’t how we’re designed to move, it can cause even more issues as the body is thrown out of alignment.

This lack of mobility and decrease in the ability to do the things we want to do can also affect us emotionally.  Feelings of frustration and anger are common as we just wish that the pain would go away.  Of course, these types of feelings tend to create more bodily tension and can increase the feeling of pain, which is clearly the opposite of what we want.

Mental characteristics such as focus and memory can also be negatively affected.  For many people who are in pain, the pain itself takes up a lot of mental attention, even if they don’t want it to.  Because it can be so overwhelming, it can be hard not to focus on it. 

While the unconscious mind can attend to an incredible amount of information, our conscious mind is limited to about 7 +/- 2 chunks of information at any given moment.  So if I can only handle about 7 things consciously and the pain is taking up about 50% of my mental attention, that is certainly going to have an effect on my ability to concentrate and complete mental tasks.  In this sense, it is easy to see how job performance and other activities can be affected as well.

Lastly, one significant area that can be a relatively hidden area affected by pain is our relationships.  For those who suffer from pain and are cared for by their loved ones, they don’t suffer alone.  Even though the people in their support network may not have the specific ailment, they are often affected significantly and in many different ways.  Even the little things may fall more and more on supporters who, although they may do everything they do willfully, are still affected in one way or another.

As you can see, the impact of pain is not limited to its physical properties but can impact a person in many ways and in almost every aspect of their life.  The length of time that a person has suffered from pain can also affect their spirit including their will to overcome their pain and their belief in their ability to heal.  That aspect can be the most damaging of all.

I certainly hope that anyone who is in pain doesn’t lose hope and that they keep looking and trying different ways to resolve their problem.  While its certainly important to take care of the physical components of pain, it is also important to remember to take care of the emotional, mental, and the relationship aspects as well.

Dr. Feinberg Interview - Conscious Media Network

For many of our clients who come in to our office for NeuroModulation Technique (NMT), it is their first exposure to alternative healthcare.  As such, they may have never heard of the profound implications discovered in quantum physics in relation to consciousness and personal transformation. 

At the end of our first consultation, the individual often has a choice about whether they want to find out more and explore this new world including terms such as entanglement, the field, consciousness, muscle response testing and so on. 

Of course, they can also choose, as many of our clients do, that they will learn what they can as things come up in sessions, and that it’s not necessarily important for them to understand how it works, as long as it works.  As mentioned in a previous post, one client remarked, “I don’t understand how my TV works, but that doesn’t keep me from watching it.” 

Either approach is fine and doesn’t have an impact on the effectiveness of the NMT sessions.  However, for those of you who are interested in peeking behind the curtain, the following is for you.

Here is a link to an interview with Dr. Feinberg, Dr. Feinberg Interview, on the Conscious Media Network describing some of the elements of NMT.  Unfortunately, the Conscious Media Network requires you to establish a free account to view the video.  There are a couple steps to do this process but I think it is worth it for this interested in learning more about NMT.  The video is about 50 minutes in length.

I hope you enjoy.  If you have any difficulty accessing the video, please contact the Conscious Media Network as they change their format from time to time.  Their email address is info@consciousmedianetwork.com .

Autism Resources

From the Autism Society of America:

“Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others.  Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a “spectrum disorder” that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees.  There is no known single cause for autism, but increased awareness and funding can help families today.

Here are some signs to look for in the children in your life:

• Lack of or delay in spoken language
• Repetitive use of language and/or motor mannerisms (e.g., hand-flapping, twirling objects)
• Little or no eye contact
• Lack of interest in peer relationships
• Lack of spontaneous or make-believe play
• Persistent fixation on parts of objects”

You may find helpful information on the following websites:

• Autism Collaboration
• National Autism Association
• Autism Research Institute
• Unlocking Autism.org

Autism Blogs:

• The Online Autism Support Group
• Autism Diva
• The Joy of Autism
• Positively Autism - brand new blog by a special education teacher
• Asperger’s Diary

Remember to check out the NMT Autism study to see if it’s available in your area.

Importance of Nonverbal Communication

One of the most effective ways to establish rapport is by matching and mirroring a person’s communication.  This refers not only to what a person says but also to how they say it along with their body language.

In 1970, Robert Birdwhistell published a study suggesting that the words we use to communicate account for only 7% of our communication.  The remaining 93% of our communication is expressed through voice tonality (38%) and physiology (55%).  While there is some debate over the accuracy of these percentages, the importance of nonverbal communication is clear.  To see for yourself, do the following exercise.

Pretend for a moment that you are at work and someone says to you “Thanks a lot.”  Do you believe that they are sincere in their appreciation?  Next, imagine that someone is saying the same thing, only this time they say it sarcastically and are rolling their eyes.  Do you still feel appreciated?

The truth is that what we say is not nearly as important in communicating information as how we say it along with our nonverbal communication.  In essence, the words we use provide the content of our communication and our nonverbal communication provides the context.  Content is always dependent on the context in which it is presented.

Using this information, you can establish rapport with someone by matching and mirroring their words, voice tonality, and physiology.  Future posts will take a look at exactly how to do that.

Unconscious Rapport

While conscious rapport is certainly important, the most powerful form of rapport is established unconsciously.  When this happens, one or more of the parties feel connected beyond common experiences and common interests.  It is the type of rapport that is characterized by connection, receptivity, collaboration, openness, trust, and mutual understanding.

Beyond establishing rapport through common experiences and interests, unconscious rapport can be established through a process called matching and mirroring.  Matching and mirroring, as the names suggest, is when a person matches or mirrors the behavior of someone else by doing what they are doing.  The purpose of which is to create a connection with the other person based on being similar to the other person as a whole, rather than through common experiences or interests.

Matching occurs when a person does the exact same thing that another person is doing.  For example, if you were sitting across from me and you crossed your left leg over your right leg, I would cross my left leg over my right leg.  It would be the same behavior but would look reversed to you.

Mirroring, on the other hand, occurs when a person reflects back a particular behavior.  In the above example, when you crossed your left leg over your right leg, I would cross my right leg over my left leg.  As a result, you and I would represent mirror images of each other in terms of leg position.

As a result of matching and mirroring, you increase the likelihood of establishing rapport.  Most importantly, the rapport is established at an unconscious level.  If the mirroring and matching is done in excess, it may come across as mimicking or mocking, in which case, rapport is likely to be lost.

Part of the art of establishing rapport is finding the balance between overdoing it and being too subtle.  If the person you are talking to uses wild hand gestures while they speak, it is probably too much to swing your hands around at the same time.  They will probably think you are making fun of them.  Instead, you are more likely to establish and maintain rapport by using animated hand gestures when it is your turn to talk.

Warnings about being too blatant aside, I have been using NLP to establish rapport for over ten years and have never had anyone “call me out” on trying to establish rapport with them.  In that sense, you can actually be quite overt and it is unlikely that the other person is going to notice what you are doing.

Some people feel a little nervous about using matching and mirroring, fearing that they are going to get caught.  The reality is that even if they did notice that you were matching and mirroring them, what is wrong with trying to develop a positive relationship characterized by openness and mutual understanding?

I remember being at a business function talking with a therapist and another colleague and we were all in rapport with each of us standing and leaning off to one side.  When I shared that I do a lot of work with clients using NLP, the therapist, familiar with NLP, jokingly began changing his body posture quickly and encouraged me to match and mirror him to stay in rapport.  Of course, the whole thing looked quite funny and we all began to laugh.  After the laugh, we all resumed our positions, went back into rapport, and continued our conversation.

Conscious Rapport

People who are like each other, tend to like each other.

Do you agree with the above statement?  Think back on your experiences personally and professionally.  Who in your life do you have a good rapport with?  Is it someone with whom you have something in common?  Or is it someone with whom you disagree at every turn?  Chances are that you tend to have a better rapport with people who are more like you than people who are completely different from you.

What about “opposites attract?”  We’ve all heard the relationship adage that opposites attract and the truth is that differences can be attractive and exciting.  When people have a lot of differences, there can be a lot of fire and spark in the relationship.  The problem is that the “heat” in the relationship can easily turn to conflict and disagreement.  Unless there is common ground, a relationship of pure opposites can be difficult to sustain.

At the same time, if there is only sameness, there is no growth.  This concept is evident in the idea that if we both always think the same, then one of us isn’t necessary.  In a relationship, there needs to be a balance of similarity versus differences in order to create enough stability based on commonality as well as enough variety based on our differences.

In terms of establishing rapport, creating a sense of connection and familiarity is most easily achieved by creating a feeling of similarity.  You have probably done this many times in your life without thinking about it.  When people meet for the first time, they tend to ask questions about each other’s past until they come up with something that they have in common.  These questions focus on where you’re from, what you do, where you went to school, or identifying your favorite sports team, and they are designed to find something in common.

When that common ground is established, conscious rapport is created.  The commonality allows the individuals to feel that “this person is just like me” which makes it okay to like that person.  This experience is called conscious rapport because it is a connection that the individuals are aware of consciously. 

Hypnosis During Childbirth

HypnoBirthing^® is a program of preparing for childbirth with hypnosis and is based on the premise that childbirth is a normal, natural and healthy function for women.  A study on hypnosis and childbirth, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, found that women who used hypnosis during childbirth had shorter labor and used less pain medication.  Here are some of the results from the study:

1. First-time moms: average first stage of labor with hypnosis 6.4 hours compared to 9.3 hours without hypnosis.
2. Moms who had given birth before: average first stage of labor with hypnosis 5.3 hours compared to 6.2 hours without hypnosis.
3. Pain medication: both groups of hypnosis moms used significantly less pain medication than the non-hypnosis moms.

Essentially, hypnosis is a deep state of relaxation with focused concentration and a heightened state of awareness.  Hypnosis is not being out of control, divulging secrets, being unaware of what is going on or being unable to resist suggestions made to you.  While hypnosis does play a central role in HypnoBirthing, moms and their birth companions also learn techniques to encourage the release of endorphins, natural birthing positions, visualizations to prepare the body for birthing, and special deep breathing techniques.    

For following article provides more information about hypnosis: Scientific American: The Truth and the Hype of Hypnosis

 

Dateline’s two part story about hypnosis during childbirth:

Articles about HypnoBirthing:

• Time Magazine: Birth Bliss
• Canadian Parents: Childbirth Without Pain or Drugs

Negative Suggestions

The idea that its important to think positively has certainly permeated modern culture.  However, thinking positive, for many people, seems to become an internal battle in which they find themselves thinking negatively and then try to quickly cover it up by thinking positively.  Although this is preferable to thinking completely negative, its not quite the same as having completely positive expectations.

Illustrating the effect of negative thinking, particularly negative suggestions. Derren Brown’s Trick or Treat segment is quite an interesting series of events.  if you haven’t heard of Derren Brown, he has a show on the Sci-Fi Channel called “Mind Control.”  He has done some additional programs for Channel 4 in the UK.  Essentially, he is considered a psychological illusionist and mentalist and incorporates a variety of pscyhological phenomena in an entertaining way.

The following 4 videos are part of his Trick or Treat themed segments.  While his other segments focus on different psychological experiences, this one demonstrates the effect that negative suggestions have on behavior.

WARNING:  While Derren Brown is certainly an amazing performer, his work often brings in a darker psychological element.  So, if you consider yourself to be overly-sensitive, whatever you do, DO NOT WATCH the following videos.  Oh, and sorry for the negative suggestion, it couldn’t be avoided.  But seriously, don’t watch the following videos.

 

Chronic Fatigue

According to the Mayo Clinic, “chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complicated disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that doesn’t improve with bed rest and may worsen with physical or mental activity.”

MedicineNet.com outlines how chronic fatigue syndrome begins and the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome:

“For many people, chronic fatigue syndrome begins after a bout with a cold, bronchitis, hepatitis, or an intestinal bug.  For some, it follows a bout of infectious mononucleosis, or mono, which temporarily saps the energy of many teenagers and young adults.  Often, people say that their illnesses started during a period of high stress.  In others, chronic fatigue syndrome develops more gradually, with no clear illness or other event starting it.

Unlike flu symptoms, which usually go away in a few days or weeks, chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms either hang on or come and go frequently for more than six months.  Chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms include:

• Headache
• Tender lymph nodes
• Fatigue and weakness
• Muscle and joint aches
• Inability to concentrate”

The following links to NMT.md will take you to testimonials from clients who received benefit using NMT:

• Chronic pain and chronic fatigue down to 15-20%! 
• Chronic Fatigue