Based on my last post, I've created a hypnosis podcast: at www.julielevinmft.podbean.com
I'm slowly uploading recordings from a emotional eating group I run. The recordings are focused on self love, mindfulness and becoming an intuitive eater.
The first emotional eating podcast is up and called, Your Body Knows How to Eat Normally.
This is a guided visualization/trance to help you reconnect to your body's natural signals of hunger, fullness and cravings. Within the visualization are hypnotic suggestions about natural, intuitive, movement too, allowing listeners to reclaim fun and play through the body, instead of seeing exercise as a chore or a way to burn off calories.
Please listen at your convenience. I'd love to hear your feedback!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Emotional Eating and Hypnosis
Even though I'm trained in hypnotherapy, I've always resisted applying hypnosis in my work with compulsive eaters. Most people who want hypnosis for weight loss are stuck in a trance of self-hatred, and helping someone lose weight from that place just feels so wrong.
Then, a few months ago, I sat with a client who has become adept at self-acceptance, and who now wants to become attuned and dependable with her self-care. She wondered if we could use hypnosis to help her recognize when she was turning to food and remember to comfort herself instead? What a great idea!
In trance, we visited a recent memory when she wanted to eat, even though she wasn't really hungry. We were able to pause the memory like a movie, going frame by frame to listen to her body's signals.
"I feel a tension in my stomach area. It's not hunger, but it's a lot like hunger," she said slowly, reliving the experience in slow motion.
"Keep the movie on the screen," I suggested, "and start another movie from a time when you felt real hunger."
She started the second trance-movie, again going in slow motion, and feeling the sensations in her stomach that came from physical hunger. Then she went back and forth between these two paused memory-movies, feeling the similarities and differences between real and emotional hunger. "They're in the exact same place," she said. "And they are both a kind of tugging feeling. Physical hunger is colder. Emotional hunger is hot. Physical hunger stays in my stomach. Emotional hunger moves up into my chest. Emotional hunger always happens after dinner. Physical hunger usually happens before dinner time or lunchtime."
We hypnotically anchored her awareness of these differences so that the awareness would stay with her. Then I asked, "What would you like to do for yourself when you are emotionally hungry?"
"I want to take care of myself. I'm usually tired or overstimulated from my day. I want to lie down away from my family and away from the TV and the electronics. No buzzing, no artificial light. I want to rest my eyes or maybe read something fun. This is like when my kids were little. When they got overstimulated, I would lie down with them in a dim room till they settled."
"What are you seeing?" I asked, noticing her facial expression moving into deeper concentration.
"I see me taking my younger self upstairs, into the dark, closing the door and relaxing. It's like this younger part needs a parent to pull her away from the family. She doesn't want to miss anything. But I know she really needs to rest, even for five minutes."
"What's it like for her to go upstairs with you?" I asked."
"Even though she wants to stay and have fun, she's grateful someone is making her go. She needs this, even though she is fighting it a little."
"What would make it easier for her?" I wondered out loud.
"Knowing that the family isn't really doing anything she likes. They're watching boring television. They're playing Angry Birds. I don't really have any interest in those things" she said.
"What is it like for your little one to remember that?"
"Good. Very good. She can have what she needs and not have to miss anything important."
I helped her anchor her awareness that taking her inner child to a quiet space for a while would feel good. Then we wrapped up the session and she went home, wondering if anything we did would make a difference.
It's three weeks later, and she reports that she has gone upstairs to rest three to five nights each week, sometimes falling asleep, sometimes just closing her eyes for five minutes and rejoining her family. She is turning to food less as she becomes adept at nurturing herself and helping her inner child feel comforted and taken care of.
I can't wait to try this with others!
Then, a few months ago, I sat with a client who has become adept at self-acceptance, and who now wants to become attuned and dependable with her self-care. She wondered if we could use hypnosis to help her recognize when she was turning to food and remember to comfort herself instead? What a great idea!
In trance, we visited a recent memory when she wanted to eat, even though she wasn't really hungry. We were able to pause the memory like a movie, going frame by frame to listen to her body's signals.
"I feel a tension in my stomach area. It's not hunger, but it's a lot like hunger," she said slowly, reliving the experience in slow motion.
"Keep the movie on the screen," I suggested, "and start another movie from a time when you felt real hunger."
She started the second trance-movie, again going in slow motion, and feeling the sensations in her stomach that came from physical hunger. Then she went back and forth between these two paused memory-movies, feeling the similarities and differences between real and emotional hunger. "They're in the exact same place," she said. "And they are both a kind of tugging feeling. Physical hunger is colder. Emotional hunger is hot. Physical hunger stays in my stomach. Emotional hunger moves up into my chest. Emotional hunger always happens after dinner. Physical hunger usually happens before dinner time or lunchtime."
We hypnotically anchored her awareness of these differences so that the awareness would stay with her. Then I asked, "What would you like to do for yourself when you are emotionally hungry?"
"I want to take care of myself. I'm usually tired or overstimulated from my day. I want to lie down away from my family and away from the TV and the electronics. No buzzing, no artificial light. I want to rest my eyes or maybe read something fun. This is like when my kids were little. When they got overstimulated, I would lie down with them in a dim room till they settled."
"What are you seeing?" I asked, noticing her facial expression moving into deeper concentration.
"I see me taking my younger self upstairs, into the dark, closing the door and relaxing. It's like this younger part needs a parent to pull her away from the family. She doesn't want to miss anything. But I know she really needs to rest, even for five minutes."
"What's it like for her to go upstairs with you?" I asked."
"Even though she wants to stay and have fun, she's grateful someone is making her go. She needs this, even though she is fighting it a little."
"What would make it easier for her?" I wondered out loud.
"Knowing that the family isn't really doing anything she likes. They're watching boring television. They're playing Angry Birds. I don't really have any interest in those things" she said.
"What is it like for your little one to remember that?"
"Good. Very good. She can have what she needs and not have to miss anything important."
I helped her anchor her awareness that taking her inner child to a quiet space for a while would feel good. Then we wrapped up the session and she went home, wondering if anything we did would make a difference.
It's three weeks later, and she reports that she has gone upstairs to rest three to five nights each week, sometimes falling asleep, sometimes just closing her eyes for five minutes and rejoining her family. She is turning to food less as she becomes adept at nurturing herself and helping her inner child feel comforted and taken care of.
I can't wait to try this with others!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)