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Introduction:

In the journey towards weight loss, words hold immense power. They can evoke emotions, inspire action, and pave the way for transformation. In this chapter, we’ll explore four key words—love, power, fun, and freedom—and their synonyms, each carrying a hypnotic resonance aimed at guiding you towards your weight loss goals. Think of this as a template for all issues.

1. Love (Affection):

Love is the cornerstone of any transformative journey, including weight loss. When you cultivate affection towards yourself and your body, you pave the way for sustainable change. Affection towards your body fuels the desire to nourish it with wholesome foods and engage in physical activities that bring vitality.

Based on your client interview using the synonyms belonging and acceptance are motivational.

2. Power (Authority):

Embracing your authority over your choices empowers you on your weight loss journey. Recognize the power within you to make healthy decisions and take charge of your habits. With authority comes the ability to sculpt your lifestyle in alignment with your wellness goals.

Based on your client interview using the synonyms recognition and respect are powerful.

3. Fun (Enjoyment):

Weight loss doesn’t have to be a tedious endeavor; it can be infused with enjoyment and fun. Seek activities that bring you joy, whether it’s dancing, hiking, or trying new healthy recipes. By incorporating enjoyment into your journey, you create a sustainable lifestyle that you’ll love.

Based on your client interview using the synonyms learning and excitement

4. Freedom (Autonomy):

Achieving weight loss isn’t about restriction; it’s about embracing autonomy and freedom. Grant yourself the freedom to choose nourishing foods that energize your body and the autonomy to tailor your fitness routine to your preferences. With autonomy comes liberation from old patterns and the opportunity to embrace a healthier, more fulfilling lifestyle.

Based on your client interview using the synonyms independence and choice places responsibility

Conclusion:

As you embark on your weight loss journey, remember the power of words to shape your reality. By infusing love, power, fun, and freedom into your mindset, you pave the way for profound transformation. Embrace these words and their synonyms as guiding principles on your path towards a healthier, happier you.

Stay Calm by Breathing as Nature Intended

Anatomy and The Diaphragmatic Breath

The Eslinger Theory states that the natural breathing cycle is an abdominal/diaphragmatic breath. If we exaggerate the breath, we drop the diaphragm, which increases its tug on the Vagus Nerve and increases the amount of endorphin, melatonin, and serotonin released by the brain. The difference between a natural breath and the abdominal diaphragmatic vagal relaxing breath is the exaggerated downward expansion of the diaphragm. The two lower lobes of the lungs have more alveoli (air sacs) and blood vessels, so when expanded, more alveoli are exposed, increasing the amount of oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.

If you place your hand on your abdomen and breathe naturally, you should notice your hand moving forward as your belly expands. When you push the stomach out, the dome-shaped diaphragm flattens downward, increasing the thorax space creating a vacuum sucking air into the lungs and giving the two lower lobes more room to expand. The increased lung expansion allows more oxygen to enter the two lower lobes of the lungs, which have a more significant number of air sacks (Alveoli) and blood vessels for transporting oxygen (O₂). Alveoli collect the oxygen and transfer it into the vascular system, which then carries oxygen to the heart, which pumps the oxygenated blood throughout the body’s cells. The cells burn the O_2, creating the waste gas CO_2. The CO₂ is exhaled by the lungs, except for the CO₂ needed to stimulate the next breath. If we breathe too fast and/or too shallow, we blow off the CO₂ required to stimulate the next breath.

Simply put, the abdominal or natural breath automatically distributes air to all five lobes of the lungs. The downward movement of the diaphragm makes it possible for the expansion of the two lower lobes supporting more oxygen entering the two lower lobes, which contain more blood vessels and air sacks (Alveoli) to transport O₂ to the cells and the production of CO_2, which stimulates the next breath.

Oxygen is relaxing and healing and allows a decrease in stress resulting in comfort and calmness.

 

The Vagus Nerve

It is essential to understand that the Vagus nerve extends through and is connected to the diaphragm but does not innervate it. Therefore, two things happen every time we take an exaggerated or deep belly breath. (1) We increase the stretch of the dome of the diaphragm downward, which increases the tug on the Vagus nerve. That tug activates the release of the anti-stress and pain-killing hormones, endorphin, serotonin, and melatonin from the brain. (2) As mentioned earlier, increasing the chest space allows the lower lobes to expand and collect more oxygen.

The Phrenic Nerve

The Phrenic Nerve activates every breath. Unlike the Vagus nerve that passes through the diaphragm, the Phrenic Nerve has two branches that innervate the diaphragm on the left and right side. Each branch also has two branches, the motor branch that innervates the top of the diaphragm’s left and right sides and is responsible for breathing. The sensory branches pass through the diaphragm and innervate the bottom right and left sides.

Breath Holding

The motor branches activate the diaphragm muscle to stimulate breathing like a nerve stimulates the muscles in a finger to move. The sensory branches send signals back to the brain that the motor nerve is stimulating the diaphragm, and there is movement. However, when we hold our breath, the sensory Phrenic branches signal the brain that the diaphragm isn’t working, activating the beginning of a stress response. The CO₂ is building up, working harder and harder to stimulate inspiration. The motor branch responds to the CO₂ demand to breathe, and the sensory branches keep ringing the alarm that there is an irregularity in diaphragm movement, which means that with the build-up of CO_2, the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands are primed for fight or flight.

In reality, holding your breath and counting as described in the following breathing techniques does not cause a dangerous situation. However, stress is produced, which causes the opposite reactions expected by taking control of our breathing rather than breathing as nature intended.

Breathing Techniques

I learned as a nurse anesthetist that each breath is a 1:2 ratio, 1-in, and 2-out or in 4-counts and out 8-counts. A number is added for stress reduction to represent holding the breath.

4-7-8 breathing for anxiety. The 4-7-8 breathing technique, also known as “relaxing breath,” involves breathing in for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds. This breathing pattern aims to reduce anxiety or help people get to sleep.

4-4-4-4 Box Breathing, also known as four-square breathing, involves exhaling to a count of four, holding your lungs empty for a four-count, inhaling at the same pace, and holding air in your lungs for a count of four before exhaling and beginning the pattern anew. Also known as the Navy Seals breath and is endorsed by the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiologists (AANA) as a stress-reducing breath.

 Summary

A natural belly breath is breathing in and out at a ratio of 1:2,  and breathing out is twice as long as breathing in. The exhalation is in two parts, with the first half breathing out, and during the second half, there is no air movement. The lungs do not move until the CO₂ reaches a breath-stimulating level.

Many things can interfere with the regular breathing pattern described, including holding the breath between inhaling and exhaling, as taught in many stress management classes. Stress, worry, fear, exercise, and pain can also disrupt our natural relaxing belly breath. All these can cause faster breathing to supply the O₂ needed for the cells to function. If we breathe too fast or too shallow and do not allow time for the CO₂ to build up, we can lose respiratory drive, which many experience as panic attacks. When exercising, we breathe deeper and faster and automatically hold our breath to regulate respiratory movement. However, stress hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol take over during stress, anxiety, and fight or flight mode. The natural 1:1:1 ratio becomes a 1:1 ratio, not giving time for CO₂ to reset and stimulate the next breath. In this situation, breathing deep and slow or breathing into a paper bag can increase CO₂ and reset a regular breathing rhythm.

Thank you for reading this article.

5 – Simple Suggestions for Weight Loss

Ron Eslinger, MA, CRNA, BCH, CMI, FNGH, OB

1. Drink 16 ounces of cool water first thing in the morning. Then a total of half your body weight in ounces of water per day. You will lose a pound a month or 12 pounds in a year.
2. If you continue to eat and exercise the same but decrease your calories by 150 calories per day, you lose around 1 pound a month or 12 pounds a year. An average candy bar is 220 calories; an average cookie is 110 calories. Add to # 1, and that is 24 pounds in 1 year.
3. Walk 20 minutes at a brisk pace, and you will lose another pound a month or 12 pounds a year. Add to # 1 and # 2, and you lose 36 pounds in a year.
4. Eat six small healthy meals or three meals and three snacks about every 3hrs apart, and that is another pound a month or 12 pounds a year. Add that to # 1-3, which is 48 pounds in a year!
5. Practice self-hypnosis daily to reduce stress, and that is another pound a month or 12 pounds a year. Add all 5, and you have 56 pounds of weight loss.

 Or you can double up and lose 112 pounds this year if you have it to lose.

Most importantly, take a deep breathe every hour. Hold it for 5 seconds. Imagine yourself a realistic weight as if you are already that weight as you let it out.

 

Nursing and Hypnosis – A Perfect Combination
Ron Eslinger, Captain USN Retired RN, CRNA, MA, APN, BCH, CMI

Owner Healthy Visions Hypnosis & Wellness Center, Clinton, Tennessee

In her book Notes on Nursing (1859), Florence Nightingale wrote, “Volumes are now written and spoken upon the effect of the mind upon the body.”  She discussed in detail how nurses should help patients vary their thoughts.  Florence Nightingale was more in tune with complementary therapy in 1859 than most nurses and physicians are today.  She wrote at length on the benefits of music, color, aroma, physical activity, fresh air, and exercise.  She understood the power of words and how the use of hypnosis to help patients change their thoughts helped them heal.

Another nurse, Alice Magaw, a pioneer in nurse anesthesia, wrote an article in 1906 titled A Review of Over Fourteen Thousand Surgical Anesthesias.  The anesthesia death rate was one in one hundred anesthetics at the time. In the article she states, “In 14,380 anesthetics given by me, I have yet to see a death directly from the anesthetic.”  Magaw wrote that “Suggestion is a great aid in producing a comfortable narcosis and the subconscious or secondary self is particularly susceptible to suggestive influence.”  When patients were told what to expect and how to respond, the amount of stress was decreased to such an extent that she was able to use only 10% of the normal anesthetic dose.  Many anesthesiologists and thousands of nurse anesthetists use hypnosis as a part of their anesthesia.  Blue Shield of California reported in a research study that patients listening to guided imagery and hypnosis CDs prior to surgery saved Blue Shield an average of $2000 for each surgical patient.  Makes you wonder why hospitals don’t offer this service to their patients, doesn’t it?

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness. Patients entering hospitals, clinics or physician’s offices for procedures are in an altered state, which makes them more susceptible to suggestions by health care workers. No health care worker spends more time with the patient than the nurse; therefore, it makes sense that hypnosis and nursing are a perfect combination.

Nurses trained in hypnosis greatly enhance patient satisfaction and outcomes because they understand how to use positive and therapeutic language.  Unfortunately, for every nurse trained in hypnotic techniques there are thousands who aren’t. The nurse can say, “This won’t hurt,” but the patient is only hearing the last word – hurt.  Another nurse trained in hypnotic language may say, “Take an abdominal breath and think about your happy place.  You will probably be surprised at how much more comfortable this will be than you thought.”

You probably know someone who was told they had three months to live, or someone with pain being told they would have to endure it. Perhaps you’ve heard of a patient getting an MRI, being told it is dark, loud and scary in there, or when getting an injection being told to hold still, this is going to hurt. There are thousands of small comments that can greatly affect a patient’s response, either positively or negatively.  It is the nurse’s responsibility to know the difference between negative toxic language and therapeutic positive language.

An elderly woman, during her first cataract operation, was told to hold completely still or her eye could be damaged.  She refused to have the second cataract replaced because she was afraid she would move, and the eye would be destroyed. To counteract this, she was given a self-hypnosis CD and the nurse was instructed to tell her that she would hold her hand and it was OK to move if she let the nurse know ahead of time by a squeeze of the hand. Her second surgery went without incident.

Of all professions, nursing is the most trusted. This is because nursing care is based on rapport with the patient; a matter of gaining trust and confidence. For hypnotists, rapport is a light stage of hypnosis in which the client or patient accepts suggestions.  Research shows that when rapport (hypnosis) between the patient and the health care provider is optimal, the healing process is enhanced. According to The New Medicine, which aired March 2006 on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), many medical schools are making a course in bedside manner (rapport) mandatory. In the same manner that Alice Magaw used the extraordinary benefits of hypnotic techniques with her anesthesia, all nurses can benefit by understanding how they already use hypnosis as a nursing tool.

Unfortunately, as many nurses and nurse anesthetists talk to their patients they are not aware of how their words impact the patient in their hypnotic rapport state. Words can be toxic or therapeutic; therefore, to use hypnosis, suggestion and rapport effectively, it is important for the nurse to understand that a simple question can have either a positive or negative effect on the patient.  For example: “How bad is your pain?” is suggesting there is pain and that it is bad.  The Joint Commission 2000 standard states all patients are to be asked their pain scale.  At Beaufort Naval Hospital, instead of asking “What is your pain level?” healthcare workers ask, “What is your comfort level?” A different perception gives a different physical response, which in turn has been shown to lessen the patient’s pain.

 

Hypnosis is: An Altered State of Consciousness. A state of complete awareness of surroundings. The bringing forth of the subconscious level of the mind to accept suggestions. An avenue for therapy. A legitimate tool in the health care field to help people.

Hypnosis is not:  A state of sleep. The imposition of the therapist’s will. A form of black magic. An abuse of a person’s desires or capabilities. Mind control. Giving away secrets.

•  Hundreds of nurses use hypnosis to work with patients in:

• • Pediatrics – children are the easiest to hypnotize.
  • Surgery for faster recovery with less N/V and pain.
  • Diabetes to enhance compliance.
  • Dermatology to lessen skin reactions.
  • Gastroenterology to decrease IBS by 90%.
  • Burn units to decrease pain and to enhance the immune system.
  • HIV and AIDS counseling.
  • Wellness such as smoking cessation, stress, and weight management.
  • Insomnia to enhance sleep.
  • Childbirth (below).
  • Pain (below).
  • Cancer survival “I can-cer-vive” groups (below).
• Nurses work with patients in oncology using hypnosis to:
  • Create time distortion, making chemotherapy seem much faster.
  • Help patients have less N/V and hair loss when using chemotherapy.
  • Make IV insertion easier and more comfortable.
  • Help maintain the function of the immune system, decreasing possible opportunistic infections.

Hypnosis for Childbirth

Nurses can use hypnosis easily with other natural childbirth techniques such as Lamaze, Bradley, and Grantly Dick-Read. It is a great adjunct to chemotherapy and regional anesthesia during C-sections.  The author has used hypnosis as a stand-alone or an adjunct in hundreds of childbirths.  Its value lies in the fact that it is noninvasive and can be used as an adjunct to epidurals and either eliminate or greatly reduce the use of chemoanesthesia.

Research shows that hypnosis reduces pre-labor anxiety and can result in a pain free birth.  Hypnosis both reduces the amount of first trimester nausea and vomiting and is also a proven treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum.  It can prevent premature labor by prolonging pregnancy by 18% and decrease hospitalization for pregnancy-induced hypertension by 50%. There has never been a reported incidence of post-partum depression when hypnosis was used for childbirth.  In 2001, the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia saw the value of hypnosis and had all their Obstetric and Post Partum nurses trained in hypnosis.

Pain Management

The 2000 Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (TJC) listed pain management as the 5th Vital Sign and recommended that specific emphasis should be placed on the non-pharmacological management of pain. Research at the National Institutes of Health supports using hypnosis and relaxation therapy in the treatment of pain as well as sleep disorders.

There is no pain until it reaches the brain

“I don’t know how this works, but it does” Bill said, twelve weeks after his first visit to Healthy Visions Hypnosis Wellness Center, where hypnosis was used to teach him how to control his phantom limb pain. Bill had a 15-year history of taking pain medicine two to three times a week with occasional visits to the emergency room for intravenous pain medication. Bill is now pain free.

Why and how does this work? No one really knows.  However, when something creates pain, such as a burn or a cut, the pain is sent by an electrical signal to the brain. There is no pain until that electrical signal reaches the brain. Stop the signal and you stop the pain.  A local anesthetic or spinal anesthetic is an example of stopping the pain signal chemically.  The body can create its own anesthetic by releasing endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers (like morphine).  Amputees have pain memories that loop from site to brain. The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference from a memory of pain and a real pain. However, in hypnosis the memory can be changed, which changes the brain’s response.  The signal can also be turned down or off by the subconscious mind through hypnosis.

Hypnosis is an extension of nursing

Most hypnotists enjoy empowering others by teaching them to understand how their feelings and thoughts affect their lives. Nurses and Nurse Anesthetists are in a perfect position to use words to change thoughts. They can say to patients, as they enter general anesthesia, “You will wake up feeling better than you thought you would – feeling pleasantly hungry.” And when the patient is emerging from anesthesia, they can say, “You should be comfortable; if not let us know.” It makes such a difference that Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) nurses can tell you which anesthesia providers use hypnotic language and which ones do not.

When patients are rolled into PACU or returned to their hospital room, they are asked, “On a scale of 0-10, how bad is your pain, or are you nauseated?” It would have been just as easy and better for the nurse to ask, “On a scale of 0-10; 0 being very comfortable and 10 the most uncomfortable you have ever been, what number are you?” If nurses ask if there is pain, the patient’s interpretation is that there should be pain and they will comply with the nurse’s suggestion.

The nurse could also say, “It has been a long time since you have eaten. I bet you are hungry.”  A person cannot be nauseated and hungry at the same time.  The brain can only handle one thought at a time. Therefore, by channeling the patient’s thoughts, the nurse also channels the patient’s responses.  Positive channeling of thoughts gives a good response and negative channeling gives a bad response. Keep in mind that the medicines used in anesthesia and conscious sedation are classified as hypnotics, which means suggestions, made while anesthesia drugs are onboard, are post-hypnotic suggestions and can make a world of difference in the patient’s recovery.

Patients in an altered state of consciousness respond to words as hypnotic suggestions.  An example is a 34-year old woman referred for hypnosis with a two-year history of painful chronic cystitis, post-abdominal hysterectomy. She woke up in the PACU two years earlier, screaming in pain.  The treatment plan was to admit her for three days of drug detoxification followed by hypnosis.  The first session of hypnosis would be followed in three days by the second while she was still in the hospital. She would then be discharged from the hospital with follow up sessions at one-week intervals as needed. She emerged from her first session asking, “Why didn’t they send me to you two years ago? My pain is gone!”

One session and the pain was gone.  During a later hypnosis session, the patient was asked if she was willing to uncover the cause of the pain.  She stated she was and during the session she learned that while her surgeon was dissecting the uterus from the bladder, she had heard someone say, “This will be one hurting bladder when she wakes up!” She had no conscious memory of those words but her subconscious heard and did what it was told to do, and she hurt for two years.  She had only four sessions of hypnosis and many years have passed, and the pain has not returned.

Conclusion

Every thought we have affects some organ or gland in our body.  Simply imagining that you are eating a lemon may cause you to experience salivation and the tart tanginess in your parotid gland. In the same way negative thoughts (worry) can make us sick and positive thoughts can make us well.  Florence Nightingale directed nurses to use words to help patients to change their thoughts.  Words are still the most powerful tool a nurse has.