Positive Changes for 2012!

Happy new year and welcome to a world of change!

I used to be afraid of change. I liked things to always be the same, consistent, predictable. I felt safe that way. I felt in control. Life is not about safety though; it is about growth. And safety is not always what it seems to be.

I've heard it said that A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for. The Tohoku earthquake and the ensuing tsunami proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that ships in harbor are not always safe. They can in fact be smashed to bits. The earthquake and the aftershocks showed us that safety is an illusion. We can never be perfectly safe, nor should we want to be.

We cannot ride out our lives in harbor. And we cannot be sure we'd be safe even if we did. Resisting change makes it harder than if we embrace it, to go with the flow. This is easier said than done, you might say, but we can always change when we want to change. And we can endure anything for short periods of time. Humans always have.

In 2011, many changes were forced upon us, but now, at the start of 2012, we can choose what changes we want to make for ourselves. for our own betterment this year. Do something new this year. Let the resistance wash away and free yourself.

Check out this video for inspiration!

Grab a Book!

When I was in high-school or home on a college break, my mother would often catch me with my nose in the pantry or the fridge. When she did, she would say, "Stop that restless grazing! If you're bored, read a book!" I would dutifully close the door and go grab something from my mother's bookcase.

My brothers ate constantly because they played sports like football and wrestling, which required them to bulk up and maintain weight. I also played sports and burned off calories quickly, but I didn't need to eat like they did. I snacked because I saw them doing it, and my mother redirected this into more productive behavior. I am glad she did, as reading has never harmed anyone but overeating certainly has.

In the days after the earthquake, I found myself doing a lot of two things: sleeping and eating. The sleeping I saw as beneficial. I felt much calmer and clearer after a nap. The eating, not so much.

At first, the food was comforting. It was reassuring to know that I had access to food when so many people did not, and some foods, such as sweets, release dopamine. I also rationalized the eating as biologically driven: bulk up now to withstand impending scarcity. By the third or fourth day of one meal blending into the next (punctuated only by naps!), I recognized my behavior for what it was: restless grazing. I picked up a book and started to read.

Once I started reading, I felt a lot better, a lot calmer. The book took my mind off the news, the crisis, the emails and reports coming in from around Japan and the world, and the constant wondering what the best course of action was. Caught up in the story, the world of my book, I didn't have any desire to eat.

The hysteria is dying down now. The tension of the first few days has faded. I am not so wound up that I retreat into slumber, food, or books.

I learned a lot about myself from my reaction to the crisis. I sleep and I eat. Next time, I will sleep and read.

What have you learned about yourself from the past week? Please share with your comments.

Crisis Resources

Here are some useful resources for residents of Tokyo and/or Japan

Foreign Residents Advisory Center (Tokyo Metropolitan Government)
03-5320-7744

Migration Agency
-Earthquake and tsunami information for foreigners in Japan
www.iomjapan.org/news/press_237.cfm

Metropolis Magazine
-Information on electricity and train operations, Tokyo radiation levels, earthquake relief, and more
metropolis.co.jp

Tokyo English Life Line
-Suicide prevention line and telephone counseling
03-5774-0992
-Earthquake news, help, and resources
www.telljp.com

Reduce Stress with Sleep (Earthquake & Aftermath)

Hello,
I hope this post finds all of you well. Certainly in stressful times like this, the best thing to do is to stay calm. In my case, staying calm has involved lots of sleep. Sleep restores the body to its best condition, better able to think and cope with the challenges we face while awake. If you are having trouble sleeping because of the stress, I suggest any of the following if possible in your part of Tokyo (access to milk, running water, etc.):

*journalling about your fears to process emotions
*drinking hot milk to induce sleepiness
*drinking chamomile tea or hot water to relax
*taking a hot bath to soothe the body
*stretching to release lactic acid and tension in the muscles
*exercising to burn off tension and restless energy
*deep breathing to release CO2 from the lungs and clear your mind
*meditating to center your mind
*hypnosis to relax mentally and physically

I am available for skype sessions if you need help relaxing or processing the emotions stirred up by this situation. Stay safe and get some sleep!

Best wishes,
Karen

Combating Stress with Hypnosis

There can be many factors contributing to poor health, but one major cause is stress. When we are under stress, our autonomic nervous systems switch into survival mode, slowing down functions that are not essential to surviving. These include the immune, digestive, and reproductive functions. This is why people who are chronically stressed get sick more easily and heal more slowly, develop ulcers and digestive problems, and experience irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, and sexual dysfunction. A form of hypnosis called guided meditation can be an effective means of combating this stress.

Few of us experience true danger in our daily lives, but our nervous systems react to traffic, time constraints, loud noises, and other stimuli in the same way that we used to respond to bears, battles, and other dangers. Stress causes the body to prepare for fighting, fleeing, or freezing, not growing, eating, and reproducing. To bring these normal, healthy functions back online, we need to shut off the survival response. We can do that by relaxing, but many people find that to be more easily said than done.

True relaxation requires mental and physical relaxation. Most of us know how to relax physically but many of us find it hard to relax mentally. Even while receiving a massage, for example, our minds might be active. A mind full of worries or woes is triggering all the same physical stress responses that a massage, a bath, a game of golf, a beer, etc., is trying to remedy. Unless we can quiet the mind, the body cannot achieve complete relaxation.

The best way to quiet the mind is meditation. While there are many different styles of meditation, most people find it easiest to begin with a guided meditation. Most forms of meditation focus on clearing the mind of all thought or focus the mind on a single concept or mantra. In guided meditation, the thoughts are directed. Because the imagination is engaged, guided meditation is actually a form of hypnosis rather than true meditation.

Guided meditation combines progressive relaxation with positive imagery. The progressive relaxation induces a hypnotic state, thereby switching the nervous system out of survival mode into growth mode. The positive imagery then redirects the mind away from obsessive thoughts towards peaceful thoughts, such as imagining a beautiful garden. Since it addresses the needs of both the mind and the body, guided meditation helps you relax both mentally and physically.

By consistently practicing guided meditation, your body will gradually learn what a normal, healthy state feels like. If you have been stressed for a long time, you body may have become stuck in fight or flight mode. Guided meditation will help you to retrain your body to switch out of survival mode so it will become less responsive to stressors and recover more quickly when exposed to them. Your mind will be more peaceful when you replace an active mind with a peaceful mind. Between the mental and physical benefits of guided meditation, you'll feel calmer and more in control of your life, and your immune, digestive, and reproductive functions will flourish.

Afformations

There are all kinds of therapy available to help you change your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors: hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, art therapy, music therapy, and more. One kind of therapy you can do by yourself is bibliotherapy. Perhaps you know how wonderful it feels to read a good book and escape into another world for a little while. That is one kind of bibliotherapy, but I am talking about self-help books.

You may think self-help books are not for you, but even business books can be considered self-help. Anything that helps you achieve your goals, that teaches you tips and secrets to get ahead or to approach challenges in a new way, is a self-help book. By reading a good self-help book, you can learn how to transform and release your perceived or actual limitations.

There is no shortage of self-help books on the market. Many of them are repetitive or insubstantial and some are even damaging or absurd, so it takes some wading through to find a good one. I am currently reading The Secret Code of Success by Noah St. John. The "secret" St. John presents is the concept of afformations. Afformations is a play on affirmations. In hypnosis, we use affirmations (positive statements) to change the way we think about ourselves. For example, if you often think "I'm a failure," you use the affirmation "I'm a success" to reverse that thought. Every time you start to think "I'm a failure," you substitute the affirmation. This can help over time if there is no benefit to thinking you're a failure. If there is a perceived benefit, then that belief would need to be examined through hypnotherapy or other means to release it. For example, being a "failure" may mean not having to try again, not having to change, not having to work, not having to move or leave home, not having to succeed, not having to maintain success, not having to be visible/responsible/independent/etc. There could be lots of subconscious benefits to being a failure. Until those perceived benefits are exposed and transformed, affirmations will never work.

In his book, St. John talks about afformations, which are questions rather than statements. Afformations are positive questions stated in the past tense, as though the goal has already been achieved. When we ask ourselves a question, our brain starts looking for an answer. For example, what did you eat for lunch yesterday? Your brain is looking for that answer now. By asking yourself an afformation, your brain starts looking for the answer. If there isn't an answer yet, then your brain will try to come up with a solution, like solving a riddle. This is how inventors, scientists, entrepreneurs, and other creative people work. By asking afformations, you are using your own creative subconscious mind to find solutions. St. John compares this to typing a few words into a search engine, like Google, and sending the query off to the internet.

So, to relate this to the example above, if you ask yourself, "Why am I such a failure?" your brain will start looking for answers to that question. Any answers you get are sure to be negative. If you transform that to a positive question, you would ask, "Why am I such a success?" and your brain would start looking for answers to that question instead. To make this an afformation, you would state it in the past tense or state it as if it were already achieved, such as "Why did I become such a success?" or "Why does success come so easily to me now?" This will get your creativity flowing so you can come up with even more answers. You might surprise yourself.

This is not all you have to do. Afformations is the "secret" in the book, but there are several steps that St. John outlines in his book to help you achieve your goals using afformations. It's a clear and handy self-help book with an interesting twist on the use of affirmations. If you like affirmations, use afformations to see if you can go even further. If you like to read, check out The Secret Code of Success. If you'd like to become a success, read the book, use afformations, and work through the action steps.

Choose Life!

Last month when I was visiting Tokyo, I heard a report on NHK that 30,000 people commit suicide in Japan every year. The number peaks in March, which is the end of the financial year. If you are feeling stressed as the financial year closes, you are not alone. The economic situation in Japan and abroad has affected everyone, some more than others. However, this is a temporary situation. Economies go up and down. Suicide is not the answer to financial or other problems. If you are contemplating suicide, please call someone close to you or call the Tokyo English Life Line (TELL). TELL provides free and confidential counseling in a variety of languages. You do not need to speak English or to live in Tokyo to use TELL's services. If you need to talk to someone now, please call TELL at 03-5774-0992 immediately.

Starting Afresh

Happy New Year! I hope 2010 has started off well for you. If not, here are two things to keep in mind. One is that it's never to late to have a happy childhood, and the other is that life is a journey.

When I read the books Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman and Negaholics by Cherie Carter-Scott, I recognized myself in many of the descriptions of negative people and negative patterns. I remember a conversation I had with one of my friends in 1994. She called me a pessimist and I said I was a realist. Her response? "All of us experience reality in our own way, but your way is negative."

I didn't agree with her and didn't feel I needed to change at that time... and perhaps I didn't. That world view worked for me at that point in my life. I was young and life was good. But eventually, seeing the world that way did not work for me, so I worked on adopting a more positive outlook. Books like the ones I mentioned above helped me see that thinking negatively was not helpful and was in fact quite harmful both mentally and emotionally. My negative outlook affected me physically as well. I needed to change.

One thing to change was the way I looked at the past. If you have experienced a negative event and you expect the future to be the same, then you naturally tend to be pessimistic. So it helps to revise your memory of the past. Instead of looking at the bad points, think about what you learned or gained from a negative experience.

I understand you may have had a serious trauma in the past. I did too. But there are people who came out of Auschwitz able to love again, able to trust again, able to succeed. Nelson Mandela came out of prison able to forgive and able to lead. These people are not divine masters. They are ordinary human beings. If they can move on from the past, then surely you can too. It takes time and effort but it is possible. When you can look back and see the good points or the learning points of your life, the future seems less scary. You can slowly dial down the negativity until you find that you no longer see the world so negatively anymore. You can have a happy childhood by reframing the way you see the past.

When you feel better about the past, it will be easier to face the future. Now go out and make it a happy new year!

How to Choose a Hypnotherapist

When I opened Tokyo Hypnotherapy in August 2007, there were only a few foreign hypnotherapists practicing in Tokyo. At that time, people chose a hypnotherapist primarily by location-- west Tokyo, east Tokyo, or central Tokyo. I estimate there are about a dozen foreign hypnotists, hypnotherapists, or hypnosis-trained psychotherapists practicing in Tokyo now. If you add Japanese practitioners, there may be several dozen. With so many to choose from, how can you decide? I recommend you consider purpose, experience, cost, and rapport.

1. Purpose

A hypnotist, a hypnotherapist, and a hypnosis-trained psychotherapist have different levels of education and training, and the purpose for visiting each is different.

A hypnotist can write suggestions for you, put you into trance, and then read the suggestions to you. This requires minimal training, perhaps as little as 50 hours. Many hypnotists receive their training by distance or in a weekend workshop. Hypnotists tend to specialize in one area, such as smoking cessation or weight loss. They frequently read the same script to every client, but the script can be very effective if it is constantly revised and improved. Suggestions that are written expressly for you, rather than a script, can also be very effective if you accept the ideas.

A hypnotherapist uses hypnosis to explore beliefs held at the subconscious level and then helps the client release these ideas through a combination of questioning and suggestions. This generally requires a minimum of 300 hours of training and includes supervised practice. Hypnotherapists are more effective than hypnotists when there is subconscious resistance to change, which is often the case. [The resistance is a protective mechanism, so the reason for it needs to be uncovered for it to be released.]

A psychotherapist has an advanced degree (usually an MSW, PhD, or MD) and can diagnose and counsel clients with mental health issues such as addiction, anorexia, bulimia, depression, domestic violence, schizophrenia, sexual abuse, trauma, and so on. Hypnosis may help with the treatment of some of these issues, but it should only be done by a licensed psychotherapist for your own safety and well-being. There are a few hypnotherapists in Tokyo who have doctorates in fields unrelated to psychology or who claim to have doctorates in hypnotherapy*. They are not trained to work with mental health issues. Please seek the help of a licensed psychotherapist for mental health issues. You can find one using the links to IMHPJ and TELL on the side bar.

2. Experience

Every mind is different. The more practice a hypnotist or hypnotherapist has in working with people, the more adept he or she becomes at writing suggestions and/or guiding the therapeutic process. Therefore, experience (and natural ability) is extremely important. Some of the best-known hypnotherapists had little formal training, including David Elman, Ormond McGill, and Gil Boyne. These three men became leaders in the field by developing their own processes through trial and error as they worked with thousands of clients over several decades. David Elman was self-taught yet became a seminal figure in medical hypnosis. His scripts are still widely used today. These men are exceptional. Most people need a good foundation before they can improve, but experience can produce powerful results.

3. Cost

The cost of a hypnosis or hypnotherapy session can vary widely. Hypnotists usually charge less than hypnotherapists unless they have a specialty. For example, some smoking cessation experts charge $500 for one session. Many of their clients quit simply because they spent so much money on the session-- money is a very powerful motivator!

Before you schedule a session, I suggest you consider whether you are ready to change and how willing you are to do so. If you are committed to change, then commit to the full course of treatment regardless of cost. Those who commit 100% always see the fastest results. If you stop going to sessions because you believe you cannot afford to continue, then you may stop short of your goal. On the other hand, if you choose someone inexpensive and inexperienced, you may never reach your goal. Most issues can be resolved in 3-6 sessions. For this reason, most practitioners sell packages to ensure their clients will reach their goals.

4. Rapport

Rapport is an integral part of an effective hypnosis or hypnotherapy session. All of us are intuitive. When you are in hypnosis, this ability is enhanced. If you do not trust the hypnotist or hypnotherapist, your critical thinking mechanism will reject what they say, and the session will be ineffective. Most hypnotists and hypnotherapists offer free consultations. Call the practitioner and ask a few questions. A good hypnotist or hypnotherapist will be able to establish rapport within 5-10 minutes and put you at ease before you schedule the session.

In sum, you have many options when choosing a hypnotist or hypnotherapist in Tokyo. First consider your purpose and seek the kind of practitioner who is best suited to helping you. Then consider the experience of the practitioner and how much you are able or willing to spend. Read a few websites, ask a friend for a referral, and speak to a couple practitioners before you make a decision. Finally, consider rapport. If you do not feel comfortable with the person you chose, then start the selection process over again. Ask yourself again if you are ready to change. Then commit 100% so that you can reach your goals. Then look forward to becoming the person you want to be.

* There is no doctoral degree in hypnotherapy offered by an accredited university in the US. There may be such programs in other countries.

Change in the Air

Tokyo Hypnotherapy will be closed from November 18 to January 5 while I relocate to the US and set up a medical hypnosis practice there. From January 6, 2010, I will offer health coaching and hypnosis by phone for clients based in Tokyo and around Japan. I will also return to Tokyo periodically to offer in-person hypnotherapy sessions and self-hypnosis workshops. The first of these visits is scheduled for February 22-26, 2010.

Change can be unsettling when information is limited, so I have answered some FAQ's about this upcoming change below.

How will phone sessions work?

In general, coaching of any kind-- executive, small business, life, etc.-- is conducted over the phone for reasons of time and privacy. Therefore, health coaching by phone is no different than other forms of phone-based coaching. I have been offering phone-based health coaching for clients in Japan and Asia since March of this year. (For more information on health coaching, please scroll down.)

In a typical hypnosis session, we discuss the issue you would like to resolve at the conscious level, then I induce hypnosis and give suggestions to you based on what we discussed. When we are finished, I bring you out of trance and assign you accelerators (i.e., homework). Telephone-based hypnosis requires a hands-free phone and a comfortable and stable chair or couch near the phone. If you have a speaker phone or a headset (such as for skype), then it is easy to have a hypnosis session by phone. If you do not have a hands-free phone or do not want to have trance induced over the phone, then I can make a personalized hypnotic recording for you following our telephone discussion. I began offering phone-based hypnosis in July of this year.

In a typical hypnotherapy session, we discuss the issue you would like to resolve at the conscious level, then I induce hypnosis and we discuss the issue again while the subconscious mind is open. This is to see if the conscious and subconscious minds are in conflict, and if so, we work to bring them into agreement through questioning and self-analysis. Since hypnotherapy is a deeper process than hypnosis, I will only be able to offer hypnotherapy in person when I am in Tokyo.

Why are you moving?

I originally envisioned Tokyo Hypnotherapy as a medical hypnosis practice. I am happy to work on any issue with anyone who truly wants to change, but I am especially interested in hypnosis for medical issues. I became a clinical hypnotherapist to manage my own medical ailments, so I am especially interested in helping people with chronic pain and illness. Unfortunately, the Japanese medical community is not as accepting of medical hypnosis as the American medical community, so I have decided to base my practice in the US.

When will you be back?

I will be in Tokyo from February 22-26, 2010. If you would like to have a hypnotherapy session now, please come in by November 17. From January 6 to February 17, hypnosis and health coaching will be available by phone. I can also refer you to a Tokyo-based hypnotherapist or to IMHPJ, which has some hypnosis-trained psychotherapists among its members. These are not medical hypnotists, but they would be able to help you with other issues such as insomnia, creative blocks, and confidence.

What do you recommend for childbirth hypnosis?

I am developing my own childbirth hypnosis program, which will be available from March 2010. In the meantime, I recommend the self-study kits from HypnoBabies or Hypno-Beginning.

What is health coaching?

Coaching is about asking the right questions to get you on track and then guiding and encouraging you as you move along that track. Executive coaches help managers move up the career ladder; career coaches help people find the right career for them or move further along the career path; and life coaches help people find work/life balance. I believe that no matter what you do, good health is a prerequisite to achieving happiness. My approach focuses on holistic health (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual balance), so I use the term health coaching. I combine coaching techniques such as motivational interviewing and NLP with healing arts such as acupressure and energy healing. Depending on your goal and your interests, we will use one or more of these techniques.

More Questions?

If you have more questions, please contact me so that I can address them individually or on this blog. Thank you for your patience as I undergo this transition.