**this is an excerpt from my book Fit 2 Love: How to Get Physically, Emotionally, and Spiritually Fit to Attract the Love of Your Life**

“Your relationship with yourself is the central template from which all others are formed. Loving yourself is a prerequisite to creating a successful and authentic union with another.” Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott

One of the tools that was pivotal in helping me manifest and manage all my relationships since 1998 was Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott’s book, If Love is a Game, These are the Rules. It was the first time I really understood the concept that how others treated me was a direct result of how I treated myself. When I could stand back and be objective about my behavior toward myself and what messages that sent out to others, I realized that the relationship I had to focus on most to get what I wanted was with myself. If I was not willing to treat myself like a queen, then how could I expect someone else to?

Your turn.

How do you treat yourself? When you wake up in the morning, what do you say to yourself? Do you compliment or criticize your body? Do you try on clothes, pinpointing all of the negative things you can, secretly wishing you could have someone else’s body?

If you do, you are not alone. This common practice of most women is the exact behavior that drives the fitness and weight loss industry—and I hate it. We focus on perfect bodies and how can I spot reduce this area so I will like myself, or so someone else will find me attractive and valuable? The underlying emotion here is fear. Many spiritual teachers of mine over the years have all agreed that our actions are motivated consciously or subconsciously by either love or fear.

Fear is defined as a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by present or imminent danger and a feeling of disquiet or apprehension. Fear can be a good tool when you think your life is in danger, but most people live in this emotion all day long with no such threat. Fear is uncomfortable to be in and around. Fear can also be defined as lack of trust.

Love is defined as a deep, tender feeling of affection and care toward a person, such as that arising from kinship or a sense of oneness, and a person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction. Love feels good, and we seek it all the time. We hold others as objects of our attention to give love to, and we want to receive love from others.

Which of these is activated more in your life when you deal with your body? Is it mostly love or fear?

How many times in your relationship life do you attract people who do the same thing or change the way they treat you as the relationship progresses? They start off complimentary and wonderful in the first two or three months, then the compliments stop coming because you either did not receive them or you argued about them.

You trained them how to treat you.

How often do you deflect a compliment? Someone tells you that you look pretty, and you say, “Oh no, I just rolled out of bed, and I am having a bad hair day.” This blocks a compliment.

Many women do it because they have a hard time receiving. You are not allowing yourself to receive the gift because your inner critic does not believe what the other person says. You want to feel attractive, then someone gives you a compliment, and you reject it. Can you see what message you are sending to that person? Why would anyone compliment you again?

Take out a sheet of paper and answer these questions to see what your body blueprint says about you based on every area of fitness and self-care, including exercise, diet, rest, play, and self-talk. We will then work on creating a new body blueprint that can yield more desirable responses.

1. List all the thoughts you can remember you had today, from the time you woke up to now, about how you look or any judgments on your character. For example, if you made a mistake, did you quickly internalize with a thought like “I am so stupid,” or did you think “Oh well, glad I learned that now?” List all of your thoughts in a single column.
2. Underneath the last thought, write a list all the actions you did today, from taking a shower to eating breakfast. Also include things you would have like to have done or should have done and didn’t. For example, you did not take your supplements today.

You should have one long vertical row that contains all the thoughts you were aware of today and all the actions you have accomplished so far. Now make another column to the right of the first one and answer these questions.

1. Next to the thoughts you had, write down if they were positive comments or negative. If you criticized yourself, that is negative. If you brushed your teeth, that is positive.
2. Next to the actions, write down a brief reason for doing that action and whether it came from love or fear. For example, if you wrote down ‘had a cup of coffee, went to work and skipped breakfast,’ do you think skipping breakfast was an act of love or disregard? You know the body needs fuel, so if the reason you skipped breakfast was because you were too busy, you put work before yourself, which sends the message that you are not as important as your work. Keep going through your list and be honest with yourself about the messages you are sending.

What Does Your Body Blueprint Say?

Answer the questions below and identify the message you are sending with each of your answers.

1. Exercise: How do you take care of your body? Do you exercise regularly? What kind of exercises do you do and why?
2. Diet: What foods do you consume on a regular basis? Are they high energy, clean foods that provide vitamins and nutrients for your body? Are they processed, chemically created foods that contain large amounts of fat and sugar with no nutritional value? Do you consume the amount of water your body needs to function optimally every day? Do you ingest toxins and drugs?
3. Rest: Do you sleep at least seven to eight hours a day? Do you unwind before going to bed? Do you take breaks during the day to relax and recharge your mind and body?
4. Play: Do you have fun on a weekly basis? Do you laugh often? Do you feel joy and do things you love every week?
5. Self-talk: How do you treat yourself with the words you use in your mind? If you talked to someone else the way you talk to yourself, how would they respond?

The thoughts you are aware of and your actions are part of your consciousness. You can change those behaviors starting now. But before we start to focus on the steps of changing your body blueprint to build the kind of relationships you want in your life, let’s acknowledge how some of these habits got there in the first place. Why is it this way? Where did these patterns of thought come from?

___________________________________________________________

To order the book or get your free copy of the 4 Week Fit 2 Love Plan, please visit www.fit2love.info

If you ‘d like to listen to a 60 minute call about Your Body Blueprint, you can download the MP3 for free by clicking here.

To listen to the call online, click here.

Let me  show you how to Create a Food Love Affair-The allure of Energy and Superfoods in a 3 part series:

#1 – The Courtship

You want to know so many things. What is it?
Where is it grown? When does it grow? How do I prepare it?

Juicing (green apple, lemon, cucumber, spinach, celery)
Unique Seasonal Fruits
Majool Date

Wednesday, September 7th from 6:30-7:30 pm

Space is limited. Please rsvp sprdb.marketing@wholefoods.com to reserve your seat.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

#2 – The Engagement

You’ve decided to commit, you’ve made a decision to engage. Plant a garden, make regular visits to Whole Foods Market, or the local farmer’s market. Give it your energy.

Soup- JJ’s Easy Veggie Soup (onion, garlic, olive oil, water, zucchini, broccoli, parsely, kale, raw cashews, sea salt, pepper)
Berries with Chocolate Dipping Sauce ( raw, unsalted almond butter, chocolate powder, agave, vanilla bean or extract)

Wednesday, September 14th from 6:30-7:30 pm

Space is limited. Please rsvp sprdb.marketing@wholefoods.com to reserve your seat.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

#3 -The Marriage

When you commit yourself, managing your relationship is what
makes the difference between a healthy or an unhealthy union.

Kale Salad
Nut Cream with Berries (raw macademia nuts, medool dates, 2-3 oranges)

Wednesday, September 21th from 6:30-7:30 pm

Space is limited. Please rsvp sprdb.marketing@wholefoods.com to reserve your seat.
OR sign in on facebook clicking HERE

Fit 2 love final for WF RB class

Over the next year and a half, I proclaimed that I was NEVER (ha ha) giving up dairy because I loved my cheese and I was already gluten free.  That was in 2009.  In February of 2010, I decided I could give up dairy for 4 months to clean out my system and strengthen my digestive system.

Did you know that about 80% of your immunity comes from your digestive system?

Several nights a week I would experience congestion before bed so I knew it was something I was eating or drinking that was causing a problem.  After getting the results back of my Alcat test, I made a video to share all the products I picked up in order to substitute my favorite foods as an easy transition into a new diet.

After completing a few months of dairy free living, I added it back in.  It was no shock to have the congestion come back and I realized that maybe I need to remove it from my diet period.  When it comes to gluten, I rarely have it.  Maybe once every 6 weeks-but I plan for it.  I take some enzymes and usually have it while I am on my menstrual cycle because there are days I am more bloated anyway.

I still consume some dairy but I have cut down dramatically. Cheese was a part of my daily diet and would appear in often 2 meals a day.  Nowadays, I probably have cheese once a week.  The substitutions I made when I eliminated it for 4 months have stuck.  I use mostly coconut creamers, almond and coconut milk and buy hemp or coconut ice cream if I want some dairy-like dessert.   The products I have been using have become my favorite products and I honestly don’t miss the cheese.

My friends, before the wedding, would tell you that I was a cheese-a-holic.  And I clearly was not ready in 2009 to even consider it.  But as time went on, I realized that it is ONLY food and at the end of the day, my health and body are important to me.  I found some suitable substitutes and my palate has changed.  Thank god.

Growing a garden has been the best way to enter into a healthy marriage with my food- this reference is from the food chapter of Fit 2 Love: How to Get Physically, Emotionally, and Spiritually Fit to Attract the Love of Your Life.

Our garden is small and we don’t currently have enough planted to produce vegetables for lunch and dinner every day.  When we do, I get very excited about finding new ways to prepare what we are harvesting.  But right now we are in mid-season.  The eggplant is growing, the tomatoes are in process and the zucchini is starting to take off but none are ready to eat.

A few months ago, I was interviewed on film for a documentary about Raw Food.  The chapter in Fit 2 Love was a missing piece in the film about our relationship to what we consume and how to nurture a healthier relationship with food.

I consume raw products but I have always thought it was too hard and unrealistic to eat Raw 100% of the time.  But I have hit a point in my life where I love focusing on my food and I need a new goal!  Going raw for a week or two seems like the next step for me.

Here is the trailer for the movie, I am in frame 3:26. The Raw Natural Movie that is due out this summer!

http://www.therawnatural.com/

I have one or two people who are going to be doing this experiment with me.  If you’d like to join me, we start on Saturday July 30^th!

Mark your calendars because I will also be doing a 3 part class at the Whole Foods Redondo Beach in September to transform your relationship with food! Based on the Fit 2 Love principles, get your copy today and look for the emails about registering. The class is limited and it is FREE!

The presentation was centered around stress, its effect on the body, the benefits of laughter and self esteem.  It was a fun presentation to give!

As with all presentations I do, I use my own life and experiences as examples.  One of the slides was entitled “how to laugh more” and noted to “Laugh about the unlaughable”.

The story I told was my most recent event around something that was initially not laughable for me-an accident.

A few Sundays ago, my husband and I were at the laundromat doing the weekly laundry (our machine broke and we haven’t decided on a new one yet).  While we were sitting there waiting for the dryers, my architect husband pointed out that the room was 29 feet long. (He likes to observe how things are made and teach others about it since that’s what he does).  I said “ok”.

Then he said, “do you know how I know that?”  “No”, I said.

“The tiles on the ceiling and floor are each 1 foot long and there are 29 of them across.” He explained.

“OK.” I said.

Then I looked up at the ceiling and back at the floor and could swear that the floor tiles were slightly larger than the ceiling.  So I said “The ceiling tiles look smaller than the floor.”

“They may be” he said.

“Well I am going to measure them” I said.  Because we had at least 10 more minutes to wait for our clothes to dry and I just happened to have a tape measure in the car!

At this point, my husband thinks I don’t trust him and I have to prove him wrong.

No.  I wanted to know if my eyes and perception were accurate.

That’s all.

And I had 10 minutes to do nothing!

After going out to the car to get my little breast cancer awareness retractable tape measure (I think I just wanted to use it!  It’s new!), I proceeded to measure the floor tile.  It was 1 foot long on each side

Next, I stepped up onto the window ledge so I could reach the ceiling.  As I was starting to straighten up, I hit my head on the edge of the framing around the window.  I had my sunglasses on my head.

“OUCH!”

The first thing I did was check my sunglasses- I swore I heard a crack.

Nope- glasses were in tack.

But as I was examining them and holding my hand on my head, I noticed blood drip onto the floor.  I looked up to have my husband telling me my head was bleeding and he handed me a paper towel  to wipe the blood that was now dripping down my face.

Yikes.

I have never had blood running down my face before!!  Or from my head!!

My first thoughts were that I may have a concussion.  I was in a bit of shock but doing ok.  My husband was more set off by this as he ordered me to go sit in the car and keep the pressure on my head.   I will spare you the middle of the day details which include Brian telling me I needed to go to the hospital for stitches ( no way, not happening) and me sitting on the couch with an ice pack on my head ALL DAY.

Here is a picture of the ice pack on my head while Brian was folding the laundry.  At this point, I was laughing.  There were 7 loads of laundry and he would not let do any more work.

He is a good husband.  He probably thinks I am nuts because I was laughing at this point especially since the ice pack around my head is hilarious to me.

What else can I do?  I didn’t have a concussion, I felt mostly fine, the cut wasn’t that big and it stopped bleeding within 20 minutes of when it happened.   It didn’t swell, it looked like I was going to live so why not LIGHTEN UP and laugh at it???

Here are some highlights from the presentation I gave about the BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER:

• Dissolves tension
• Reduces conflict
• Brings out warm feelings
• It’s light cardio and can increase heart rate and blood flow
• It’s an ab exercise- haven’t you felt sore abs after laughing really hard?
• Because the diaphragm squeezes the abdomen, your internal organs get massaged
• Respiratory system gets exercise by the increase in intensity of air in and out
• Increase endorphins so you feel better
• Reduces stress hormones
• It’s free and you can do it as often as you like!

You always have a choice about how to process an event or situation. The story you tell will dictate how you feel about it.  If you want to REDUCE STRESS, you might try creating some NEW STORIES!

I think I have watched this video ten times already-or more.

I play it for every client I see who I think needs to hear it- which is most of them!

Why I love this video by Marianne Williamson is because she focuses on how we START our day. It’s about having intention, flow, a stable base coming from love, breath, and readiness VERSUS what most of us do (me included sometimes) which is REACT, REMEMBER, and REPEAT all the crap we did, thought and felt from the day before.  Especially when it’s negative.

It’s part of Law of Attraction as well.  I will give you a perfect example of how it can go very wrong.

Last week as I was getting ready for an early client, I noticed that one of our new towels was discolored.  I decided to get upset about it and write my husband a note- this was one of the FIRST  things I did to start my day on the way to the shower.

Since I started off focusing on something negative, the rest of the day went that way.  Traffic was awful and I was late for my first client.  On the way to my next appointment, I got off the wrong exit and turned the wrong way using up all of the spare time I had before my doctor appointment that I was going to use to get an oil change.  I had no more time because I used it up driving in the wrong direction!

Then at the doctor’s office, I had to wait. ( I HATE waiting when I was told I wouldn’t have to).  Anyway, you get the drift.  My day did turn around when I decided to get a $35, 75 min reflexology and massage around the corner from my last appointment of the day.  I had a coupon and I decided I needed some help with my energy shifting!

And it worked.

Most of my mornings, I start off by playing an appreciation game.  I intentionally verbally make a list with a partner what I appreciate and what I am excited about manifesting.  This is to create the positive energy and direct myself into that good feeling place. Or to redirect to a more general place if I happen to “not be feeling it” that day.

Most days, things flow well and I see clear evidence of my efforts in choosing to see the possibilities and stepping over the little things that could be bothersome- they aren’t worth my time.

This “bad” day is not the JJ typical day which is why I had to recall it and laugh.  I know better but now I am reminded how not being deliberate in my thoughts and focus can have me really frustrated!!

It’s all about HABITS.  What habits do you have and how do they support you or sabotage you?

What do you do first thing in the morning?

Do you turn on the TV to see what to worry about today?  Or do you read, meditate, exercise, journal, connect with your family, etc?

When Marianne talks about literally having more time when you meditate, it’s because you ground yourself into who you are FIRST, then you can choose how to process the information coming to you.

Without doing this, you allow your environment to dictate what and how you do and feel.  You become a victim and lose control.  It can be done very differently.

I invite you to change something about your morning routine and see how differently your day goes.  Or how you attract different, possibly better things.

Let me know how that goes.

My husband and I both really liked the movie and plan to see it again. Regardless if you are a man or woman, there are some profound questions the movie asks that apply to us all.  It’s an overall “life” focus.

Well I just finished reading Women, Food and God.  I started and finished it in 4 days.  It actually inspired me to write another book- now.  Like “Eat, Pray, Love” this book asks big, uncomfortable but critical questions about your relationships- especially to food.

I think it’s a great book for anyone with an addictive personality of any kind: food, drugs, alcohol, coffee, sugar, too much TV, work-a-holic, etc.   If you are ready to dive deep, peel another couple layers off the onion to reveal your truth about why you may numb yourself and your pain, I highly recommend this book.  But only if you are ready.

I have been ready to use information in this book with clients of mine.  I have started to attract people who are REALLY READY to get to the bottom of this weight loss rollercoaster and KNOW that it’s not about the food and exercise really.  It’s about what’s underneath.

One of the tools we have to make changes now and rather easily is the 6 Week Beach Body Program.  It’s a do it yourself program that use hypnosis and journaling to change some behaviors and relationships to food and your body.

But I have started to REALLY want to put on a small retreat to help you get there faster and actually have a transformation.  That’s what I am really interested in: helping people have a transformation.  Quick weight loss can be fun temporarily but if underlying issues are not resolved and let go, long term success is virtually impossible.

I’d like to use some of the tools from Women, Food and God plus others to create a 4-7 day retreat where you can come, face the music, let it all go and have a transformation.  Does that interest you?

I have some details in place so I can tell you it would be in California.  I would want to keep it manageable so it would probably be no more than 20 people.  There will probably be a screening process to make sure participants were really ready for this kind of work so just because you may want to go, I may not think it’s the best use of your time or money at this point for you and would recommend some other steps to prepare yourself for the next one.

Get the book, read it, let me know.

Here are some fun facts that aren’t so fun about detoxing and why we need to detox our bodies. There are over three new chemicals introduced into the planet each day.  In fact, we enter a world with over 200 chemicals in our body.  The environmental working group found that samples of blood taken from the umbilical cord of newborns contain an average of 200 chemicals that can cause cancer, brain damage, birth defects and other serious illnesses.  Now although our bodies do have a natural detoxification system, it is necessary to assist our liver and our body at least twice a year so that it can work more effectively to eradicate these toxins from our bodies.  I recommend 4 times a year on our 6 Week Beach Body program.

Step 1: Cleaning House. I want to talk about cleaning out your house, but I want to do it in a way that has you think about energy.  If you’re in a room full of people that are very happy and very positive, you know that you’re eventually going to feel happy and positive because you’re going to “calibrate” to the people around you because they’re going to lift you up.  You’re going to want to be at their level.  Not only because feeling good feels good and having positive energy feels good, but because you’re in the minority and the dominate energy in the room is happy.  So you will find yourself sort of sliding up the scale to feeling better just because of the people that you’re surrounded by.

Now on the opposite side of that of course if you’re in a good mood and you walk into a room full of very upset angry people you can pretty much guarantee that you, over time, whether you ever get to the level of anger and negativity as they are is not important but you will definitely slide down the scale from where you are which was happy to the dominate energy in the room which is negative.  It’s the same thing in your body and it’s the same thing in your environment.  When it comes to your space (office, home, work), de-clutter, move things around to shift the energy and identify any energy vampires in your environment and eliminate them!

Step 2: Your Kitchen. In your kitchen, I want you to be really honest with yourself and look in your kitchen and cabinets.  I want you to identify your stress-eating foods, your boredom foods and the snack foods.  If you were on my 6 Week Beach Body Program, I would be telling you to pack it all up and give it away. I’m not a big fan of wasting food and I definitely am not encouraging anyone to waste food.  You have the option of throwing out the things that you know you want to get rid of or the alternative choice would be to package it all up and take it to a friend’s house or donate it.

Step 3: How many days? How long should the detox last? The detox program I facilitate on our 6 Week Beach Body Program has a duration of nine days. Some detoxes last 14 days or even 30. I suggest starting with 9 and working your way up depending on your goals for a detox.

What is the cost? Of course doing a detox will cost something to get the proper products and supplements but you should think of this as your food budget for 9 days. You would need to eat for 9 days so use that money to invest in a good detox program. There are a few books out there about detoxing, one of them I used in helping me to create the one for our program and it’s called The 7 Day Detox Miracle by Bennett and Barrie.If you are doing this on your own, let me give you some tips.

Step 4: What to avoid?

• dairy,
• caffeine
• alcohol
• sugar
• meat
• fried foods
• packaged foods
• salt

Step 5: What to include?

• a protein shake
• eggs
• salmon and low mercury fish
• fruits
• vegetables
• rice
• kefir
• nuts,
• Seeds
• green tea
• and lots of water!

You want to sweat everyday for at least 10 minutes, sleep 6-8 hours and focus on something that keeps you inspired and your mind occupied.  When people do a detox for the first time, they often focus on a lack of food or restrictions causing unnecessary stress.  However, I am sure we can all find days in our lives where we didn’t eat because we were too busy- it’s all about the mental focus.

For more info on the 6 Week Beach Body Program, visit http://www.6weekbeachbody.com or call JJ at 800 571 5722 x 84 to find out how to get your detox started today!

Recently I have been reading “French Women Don’t        Get  Fat” by Mireille Guiliano. I have known about the book for years but have not gotten around to reading it until now. (I have a feeling that as I start writing my book, I am also going to be reading a lot more books period!)

It’s a very cute book-several times throughout it I thought “I must be French!”  And even though I don’t fully agree with everything she says, her overall points are great and are underutilized here in the US for sure.

One of the points she makes that I have been doing for years without identifying it as a strategic behavior for me is how to eat in line with the seasons but also the time of day. Since the winter brings us heartier vegetables like squash, potatoes and pumpkin, people often are concerned with winter weight gain.

With the likelihood that winter also brings less movement (unless you do winter sports or live in CA), it makes sense that we might have this concern.  How I have always balanced my daily intake of calories during the winter, and what Mirelle Guiliano is calling “very French”, is to make soups!

Yes, soup!

And homemade preferably, not out of a can.  During the winter, I love making my vegetable nut soup. Soups are hearty but also provided loads of vitamins and minerals from more vegetables than I would eat in one sitting every day.

Making a soup is a great way to get in those veggies you don’t eat often.  Having soup for dinner balances out the calories over the day and warms your insides as you wind down for the day.

In fact, she inspired me to make a chicken rice soup today!  I got to use the leftover parsley, onions, garlic, carrots and celery from my Thanksgiving preparations.  We had some chicken to use and I was getting bored with chicken dinners so I thought how perfect!  And the weather has been chilly lately so I needed some internal warmth for dinner.

So one of the secrets to staying slim is to incorporate soups regularly into your diet.  If you make them homemade, they most likely will be healthier and enjoyed more for the effort and care you put in.  Plus, making soup is fun!  It’s a one pot meal!

Next week, I will share a few favorite soup recipes like this chicken rice I made today. Until then, happy soup making!

Written by JJ Flizanes of Invisible Fitness. www.invisiblefitness.com, Creator of the 6 Week Beach Body, 90 Day Health and Body Makevoer Program, The 30 Day JUMP Start Program and more!  800 571 5722

In the last few weeks, I have been busy traveling around in meetings, business trainings and new clients. I have been on different time zones, I have had irregular sleep and I haven’t really slowed down all that much.

So I have adrenal fatigue.  It’s a mild case compared to when I had it last year after my wedding when I came home from the honeymoon and my body crashed literally for a month or more.  Taking a walk got my heart rate up!  I could tell by how my body was responding and acting that it had taken on too much stress and it would need some time to heal.

I haven’t gone that far this time but for sure my body was telling me to slow down.  I have actually started on some bio-identical hormones as well and will show you everything I am doing and why so you can get a first-hand look at it all.

The bottom line for most of us is- WE ARE NOT MACHINES.  And for us women, we are not MEN.  Men have more testosterone and can “hunt the deer” for many more hours than we are supposed to.  So when women push and drive like men, we burn out quickly.

I have always had a lot of energy but I do push myself mostly because frankly, I can.  But my body pays the price and at least I love myself enough to catch it early and be proactive about it.  If I didn’t, I’d have no one to blame in 5-10 years when I have chronic pain or a disease or sickness.  What you do now creates your future in every way.

Here is me getting needled!  It’s my #1 favorite way to take care of myself in addition to eating well and exercising!

Here is a list of all my favorite local acupuncturists!

Heather Lounsbury 310.259.5165  For anyone in Santa Monica, Hollywood, West LA

Maria Ravis: 310 640 2129  For anyone in Southbay area (El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach)

Bill Flanagan: 949 244 5170 for anyone in Orange County (Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna )

Shaheed Abdullah:  310 993 6903  for anyone in San Diego area

Since our 6 Week Beach Body Program uses MIND TOOLS such as EFT, hypnosis and meditation, I wanted to share with you WHY and HOW you can lose weight by changing the way you THINK.

For some of you , the idea of hypnosis is being told to act like a chicken.  Wrong.

This article was written by Susan French, C.Ht.

Hypnosis is a powerful tool but exactly HOW does it work? The real magic is that hypnosis works as both a “magic wand” and as a “snowball gathering snow.”

Let’s take a look at each separately and then how they work together.

The magic-wand effect is when you have a hypnosis session and your issue is solved instantly and without further effort. Magic!

The snowball effect is what you experience with several hypnosis sessions, in which each session reinforces and enhances the relief created by previous sessions.

The reality is that both effects create permanent change. Hypnosis creates the initial change. Reinforcement ensures that the change lasts.

Reinforcement occurs when you regularly use a reinforcement CD made by your hypnotherapist, induce self-hypnosis, or through continued subsequent sessions with your hypnotherapist. Your hypnotherapist guides you in creating the initial change and reinforcing it, thereby accomplishing your goal of permanent, positive change.

Now, let’s look at it a little more closely.

We use hypnosis to change responses and behaviors. All responses and behaviors are learned. All that hypnosis really does is cause very rapid learning (or relearning) to take place so that new responses and behaviors become automatic.

Hypnosis allows this rapid learning to occur by interrupting the conscious, critical factor of the mind/brain. For reasons of survival, the critical factor of the mind/brain slows down the learning process. However, when those initial survival reasons are no longer necessary, it makes sense to interrupt or bypass the critical factor, which is precisely what hypnosis does – painlessly, safely, and effectively.

We know that no learning is INSTANT. You didn’t learn to ride a bike instantly. You didn’t learn to speak instantly. You didn’t learn to read or write instantly. You were taught the initial ideas and methods and those ideas were repeatedly reinforced until they become automatic.

Hypnosis allows that learning or relearning to happen more rapidly. However, as with any learning process, it needs to be reinforced. Thus, hypnosis is both a “magic wand” and a “snowball gathering snow.”

Let’s take a look at Joanna’s experience to get a better idea of exactly how hypnosis DOES work:

Joanna was sitting in the waiting room at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute. She was waiting for her first hypnotherapy appointment. She was desperate to lose weight. She had lost and gained at least three hundred pounds in her thirty-two years. Now, here she was, seventy pounds overweight again. She had tried everything.

She had heard some say that hypnosis could be like a magic wand. She had heard others say it didn’t work at all. Her best friend Martha had just lost fifty-five pounds using hypnosis. She said it was easy and it worked, but that Joanna would have to do her part too. Would it work for her?

If this reminds you of your own questions about weight loss and hypnosis, keep reading.

We can call the habit of overeating a food addiction, compulsive overeating, or a self-destructive habit. Whatever we call it, though, once that kind of behavior takes control, you will need to unlearn old, destructive behaviors and relearn new, constructive ones.

Joanna followed through with her hypnosis for weight loss. She learned the reasons she ate for comfort and she altered those behaviors. She learned that eating good, fueling foods were essential, and she incorporated those ideas into her daily life. She also learned that she needed to move her body more. Exercise became her oasis. It became her “me-time” every day.

Joanna lost her seventy pounds easily and happily and has maintained her new weight because she created a new relationship with food, with her body, and with life itself. That was five years ago.

Hypnosis makes the process of transforming counterproductive behaviors to productive behaviors easy, effective, and empowering. Any behavior that does not serve your goals and dreams can be changed using hypnosis.

Hypnosis accelerates your learning process so that what might have taken you twenty years to “learn” can be restructured in four to six sessions.

Hypnosis is being used in major medical institutions, such as, Harvard Medical School, UCLA, Stanford, Kaiser Permanente, Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital, and many burn centers, to ease pain, fear, and treatment [, and accelerate healing] for their patients.

Hypnosis is approved by, both, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) for Complementary and Alternative Medical Treatment and as an adjunct to traditional treatments.

The moral of this story is this: if you are wondering if hypnosis is a magic wand or a cumulative change response (snowball effect), it is both!

If all else has failed and you are ready and committed to achieving your goals, it is time to try hypnosis. It works!

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And that’s why we use it as the foundation for changing your MIND on the 6 Week Beach Body Program.  We want you to have long lasting change, not temporary results!   http://www.6weekbeachbody.com