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Why and How this Works

• For Stress Management & Relaxation
• For Health & Fitness Lifestyle Changes
• For Weight Reduction & Management Goals
• For Personal Goal Motivation & Attainment

    This uniquely effective combination of guided imagery, visualization, relaxation and self-hypnosis works, because it improves your response to any type of stress and strengthens your ability to implement desired changes, in at least three areas at the same time: physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Physically, the experience of this combination shifts your mind and body from being “on alert,” vigilant, tensed, and geared to react to “a threat” (that is, any stressor or form of stress), to instead calming down, being in a more relaxed, unguarded, peaceful state. Your body and mind instinctively react to any perceived threat or stressor by releasing chemical messages (like adrenaline) to prepare to fight or flee, setting in motion a chain reaction of physiological responses - whether that threat is external, tangible and severe... or whether the stressor is internal, intangible, and seemingly minor. In other words, whether the stressor is a physical assault or a near-accident, or a psychological worry or merely being late and stuck in traffic, an identical stress chain reaction can be produced; as “the source” of the stress makes no difference, in that your mind and body prepare to deal with it in the same heightened manner. The stress reaction can automatically occur over and over during the day, the week, with its negative impact on your body and mind building until perhaps there is a chronic state of tension, anxiousness, or fatigue. This stress chain reaction that could take an accumulated toll on your body, mind, emotions and health is curtailed, reduced and “stopped before it starts” by learning to intervene and redirect with relaxation and stress reduction skills.

The physical shift from being “on alert” to being relaxed is facilitated by the direct skill of progressive muscle/body relaxation, and also at a deep level by the use of guided imagery, visualization and self-hypnosis. When you visualize or create a mental picture of a peaceful, tranquil scene that is restorative for you - your body reacts as if it were there in that serene setting. The mental picture and experience you create is what your body responds to, as your brain sends the message “you can relax, let down, and slow down now... no need to tense up... it is safe here... you can do this.”

Mentally then, not only does the guided imagery, visualization, and self-hypnosis help to create a new frame of mind and therefore experience of “reality” which sends a correspondingly different calming chemical message to the body, but also the process involves reinforcing positive thoughts or ideas and positive behavior changes or actions. These positively affirming or motivating words and images (positive self-talk and visualization) replace the negative, anxiety-provoking thoughts or habits. The new beneficial self-statements and visualizations genuinely encourage, uplift, motivate, and energize; rather than discourage, feed pessimism and anxiousness, and reduce energy and initiative, as the negative ones had done.

Emotionally, the calming, healing and strengthening blend of guided imagery, visualization, and self-hypnosis increases coping skills, enhances the sense of control, cleanses disabling and limiting intense emotions, re-energizes and builds confidence and self-esteem - all of which reduces anxiety, fearfulness, worry, agitation, tension, self-doubt, even hopelessness or immobilization.

Utilizing these tools and techniques to reduce stress and enter a relaxed state enhances your immune system, reduces the negative impact of stressors on your body (including improving certain health problems), strengthens your ability to respond in a beneficial and constructive way to life’s challenges, emotional stresses, physical and emotional demands - all because your body and mind’s resources are no longer being drained by chronic and/or intense stress or tension. It is truly an empowering process: knowledge plus effective tools and the skills to use them gives you personal power to create change, solve problems, and accomplish what you strive for.

To further explore possible applications of the tools and techniques, select from the following areas of interest:
Stress Management/Reduction
Relaxation Skills
Fitness & Healthy Lifestyle Change
Weight Reduction & Weight Management