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How Hypnosis Can Help

April 19th, 2010

Do you want someone to make you bark like a dog? How about cluck like a chicken? Unfortunately, this is now most people look at hypnotists. As performance art, hypnotists bring a lot of enjoyment to crowds of people on TV and at parties. However, as a practical therapeutic application, hypnosis can help you conquer everything from weight loss to smoking cessation, to possibly even overcoming fears.

The basic principle behind hypnosis is to make a candidate so relaxed that a hypnotist can help to implant positive reinforcements into the subconscious mind that the candidate is hoping to achieve. The truth of hypnosis is that no one can be forced to do anything they don’t want to do, even if the movies and television shows indicate otherwise. So, any idea a hypnotist is trying to impart upon you, it’s something that you’ve requested, and if you’re really serious about it then it has a better chance of taking hold.

How does a hypnotist do this? It’s not by swinging a watch in front of you and telling you that you’re getting sleepy, although that’s funny. It’s actually more of a series of relaxation techniques, which can include asking you to concentrate on something in the room while the hypnotist talks to you in a calming voice. More often, though, the hypnotist will have you lay down in a couch or lay back in a very comfortable chair, play some relaxing music, and then talk to you in a comfortable voice. Most people don’t actually fall asleep, but fall into more of a trance-like state of relaxation so the hypnotist can talk to you without your feeling threatened or frightened.

You will probably remember everything the hypnotist said to you, but that won’t matter. What matters is that the hypnotist reinforced into your subconscious mind what you wanted to do for yourself. People have stopped smoking, lost weight, finished projects, even just learned how to relax and sleep better because of hypnosis. What it takes it trust in your hypnotist, and if you can get past that point, then good things can happen for you.

You’re not done at that point, though. Most hypnotists will have a series of CDs with music specifically geared towards what you’re hoping to do because of the hypnosis. Some of it will have subliminal messages strewn within the music to help keep you on point. Other times, it’s the same music that was playing while you were being hypnotized, which helps you in recalling what you were aiming for while you were in a different state of consciousness.

Does hypnosis work? It works for those people who believe in it, and doesn’t work on those people who don’t. It’s pretty much like any other type of therapy. It can’t work miracles if the customer doesn’t want to participate in the process. But when it works, people feel good, achieve results, and offer nothing but praise for their hypnotist.

See also:

Hypnosis Relaxation Techniques
Craniosacral Therapy

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Yoga

April 14th, 2010

To most of us, yoga is just a lot of strange poses that help to improve one’s flexibility by stretching. To those who practice yoga, it’s more of a system that helps people bring their entire body and mind into focus and tranquility, sometimes to the point that a few people actually consider it a religion of its own.

True, there is a lot of stretching involved, but that’s only the start. There are literally hundreds of different poses and many different disciplines of yoga. The disciplines are known as the Eight Limbs Of Yoga, and each one concentrates on a specific area of yoga. They are:

• Yama – depending on who you follow, either 5 or 10 rules for virtuous living;
• Niyama – 5 guidelines for one’s following one’s own morals;
• Asana – yoga poses;
• Pranayama – breathing for exercise and relaxation;
• Pratyahara – learning how to withdraw from the pressures of the outside world;
• Dharana – learning the power of concentration
• Dhyana – learning how to meditate to block everything else out;
• Samadhi – learning how to be aware of oneself and their surroundings without thinking about it

Yoga done correctly takes a long time to learn, but for many people, it can be quite relaxing and a way to not only get away from it all, but to exercise at the same time. It’s always been known that muscles could be built up through a process known as dynamic tension, which would explain how animals like cats, which don’t seem to get a lot of exercise, still build up muscle.

With yoga, the idea isn’t to build up muscle as much as to tone the body and make it flexible, which means it’s harder to be injured. And, the process of going through all the steps can be relaxing because yoga is a deliberate practice, nothing you rush through.

Yoga is considered safe for anyone to try, and it will make a lot of people feel better overall.

See also:

Chiropractic Stretching
Massage Therapy

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Very Low Caloric Diets

April 11th, 2010

We hear all the time that Americans are getting heavier and that we eat too much. That may be well and good, but the truth is that most of us need a certain amount of calories a day to stay healthy, and if we don’t get that we risk all kinds of medical problems, including death. And you don’t have to be either anorexic or bulimic to have problems in this regard.

There are many diets that work on restricting calories. That’s well and good, but there’s a limit. It’s not recommended for most people to have a diet of less than 800 calories a day. If someone is extremely obese and under a doctor’s care, it’s possible that they’ll be put on a diet that can be as low as 500 calories a day. But that’s under a doctor’s care and being seen at least every couple of days.

Those are extreme cases. Many doctors believe that eating less than 600 calories a day could not only make the body start breaking down, but that it will affect the brain in negative ways. Indeed, it could be the low calorie diet of both anorexics and bulimics that makes them believe they’re still overweight.

There aren’t many certified very low calorie diets (VLCD) in the United States, which shows how difficult this process is and how limited the government wants it to be. They restrict their clients to between 500 and 800 calories a day, but plan the foods they eat to work with each other to not only stimulate weight loss, but to work with each other to help keep their clients feeling as if they’re not hungry.

The idea is to use the process of ketosis, which is the body burning fat for energy, rather than doing it through the foods that are eaten, as fat storage is what the body does with an excess of food. It’s actually a process that’s encouraged through low carbohydrate diets as well.

This isn’t a diet anyone should undertake on their own. It can be very dangerous and life threatening. If you feel you need a diet this severe, go to a therapist or doctor and get yourself on a safe plan instead.

See also:

Don’t Do VLCD Too Long
Chinese Food Therapy

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Enzyte

April 8th, 2010

Who hasn’t heard of Enzyte? Maybe you don’t remember the name, but almost everybody has seen the commercials with the main character Bob, who’s smiling broadly with the whistling theme in the background, women looking at him lustfully and men looking at him with envy. That should spark some memories, especially since most of those commercials are off TV at this time.

Enzyte promised something different than Viagra, which many people thought it was. Enzyte promised permanent male enhancement of one’s penis. The penis was supposed to be larger, thicker, and harder whenever the participant needed it to be. The commercials were funny; it’s just that none of the claims were true.

Enzyte was never Viagra. There isn’t a single pharmaceutical in Enzyte. There are things such as ginkgo biloba zinc oxide , saw palmetto and niacin (Vitamin B3 for most of us). It’s got a number of other things in it as well, some of them herbal, some of them just additives. It was initially marketed as a medication, although to be truthful more alluded to than actually specified, until the FTC got involved and made them change some of their wording.

One of the problems with Enzyte off the top is that there was never any proof that it did anything for anybody. Whereas studies have been shown that says zinc supposedly can help some men with erectile dysfunction, usually it’s men who zinc level is extremely low. Too much zinc in one system isn’t a good thing. The company itself has never been able to produce any studies showing that Enzyte really works, and really hasn’t tried to.

It didn’t help the company any when its creator, Steven Warshak, was convicted and sent to jail on charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. It seems that there was this guarantee that said if there were any men who found that the product didn’t work that they would get double their money back. Not only did that not happen, but in many cases consumers continued to get charged on a monthly basis even when they canceled their subscriptions. It was also stated during the trial that most of the people who worked for Enzyte knew that the claims it made were false.

This product is still on the market, although it’s starting to dwindle. The company has changed its name to Vianda LLC, and been taken over by a new owner. The new organization says that it will continue to market Enzyte as an herbal supplement, and that it has no plans for any new commercials at this time. Truthfully, it’s probably best to move on.

See More:
How to Compare Male Enhancement Pills

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The Truth About The BodyTalk System

March 30th, 2010

Woman Preforming Bodytalk on a Man

Photo Credit: conejobodytalk.com

BodyTalk is the latest holistic approach to feeling and living better by having a practitioner basically find places in your body that are not in alignment and, somehow, helping their clients to overcome all sorts of maladies that traditional medicines might have failed at helping.

How does this work? Well, once you work through a lot of talk about cells and atoms and balance, what you find is that it works through a process known as tapping, something it has in common with Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), but only viscerally. With BodyTalk, it’s the practitioner who is doing the tapping, first finding those areas of the body in disarray by touching parts of your body, then tapping certain areas to alter the flow of, well, whatever it’s altering, to help bring your body into alignment and thus promote better health.

Does it work? That depends on who you ask. For instance, there are many women who say that BodyTalk has helped them overcome symptoms from things such as headaches, PMS, anxiety, and a host of other things. There are stories of people who use BodyTalk along with traditional medical processes such as chemotherapy. And a few people have claimed it’s helped them with psychological disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder.

Then there’s the other side which says that there is no scientific studies that prove this process has any effect what so ever. There is no real way to study something like this as a clinical process. In some instances, participant are not even sick they are just looking for ways to better relax. There has been to study to date that tests a population of people on something like that.

In a way, it’s like the Reiki healing technique, only with touching instead of, well, not touching. How well it works probably depends on what the patient is looking for and how willing they are to be emotionally guided towards feeling better. The truth is that it’s painless and not invasive, which pretty much means it’s harmless for someone to try if they so choose. The results? Hard to say, but if one goes in with an open mind it could probably work as well as a placebo.

See More:
The Body Talk Center
Body Talk Video

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Halotherapy

March 24th, 2010

HalotherapyHalotherapy is the treatment of certain diseases by having a person to inhale the fumes of salt. It’s actually a very old therapy, having previously been known as Speleotherapy because, in the past, the only way someone could partake of this kind of therapy was to visit salt mines and caves.

The idea behind this is based on knowing that salt is a great preservative, although too much salt can help bring on high blood pressure. But salt in some form has many positive uses, and in this case, salt is seen as an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory way to address respiratory diseases.

As strange as it might sound on the surface to the Western world, it’s a therapy that’s not only been promoted in most countries around the world, but something that’s actually been tested and found to help in some situations. The New England Journal of Medicine even posted a study in 2006 that showed patients with cystic fibrosis who followed a course of treatment using salt for 48 weeks showed significant results without any adverse affects.

These days, instead of sending everyone out of the country, many clinics are being built that are called salt rooms, where there’s a measured concentration of saline air that matches what would be found in a salt cave. People go into chambers where they can sit or lay down, as the entire room is covered in salt, and in some places they have the option of keeping their clothes on or not, as salt is everywhere, including on the floors. The idea isn’t to rub oneself in the salt, although they can if they wish to, but just to breathe the air.

There are also some devices one can use at home to try to simulate the salt air, but they’re not as effective as being in a place that’s totally dedicated to the process. It’s recommended that a person stay in the room anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, and after a few weeks many people with breathing conditions state that they’re breathing better.

Halotherapy seems to be safe and does actually help some people, and luckily, you don’t have to book a trip to Romania or Poland or Greece if you’re not in the mood since there are more clinics coming your way.

See More:
Health Benefits of Sea Water

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Kinesiology In The Medical Profession

March 12th, 2010

Kinesiology TheropyIn general, Kinesiology is the study of human movement. It encompasses all areas of the body and interacts with other biological functions as well. Overall, Kinesiology is something that many physical therapists have some kind of knowledge and as they tried to define and diagnose what the patient’s injuries might be, and then come up with a plan to help them correct certain faults. At the same time, there are some people who view Kinesiology as a way to institute certain practices that might be considered as alternative forms of therapy.

For instance, there are some people who believe that studying a person’s body can give them insight into what types of collars a person could wear to help enhances their moods and their health. Sometimes known as Chakras, the theory behind this is that color has energy that can boost a person’s body, enhance their immune system, and make them feel good all over. There are many institutes that promote this theory, however there has been no scientific studies that prove this to be true. It has been proven that colors can alter the mine, but not there is any physical thing that connects the two.

There is also a belief that Kinesiology can help some practitioners determine the type of diet that their patients should be following to enhance their health. Once again, diet and exercise are always recommended to bring better health to the body, but studying movement to determine this has not been proven by scientific research. Having said this, there are many athletic coaches for high caliber athletes that will design both eating and exercise plans are geared to enhance the athlete’s body for what it is they do rather than for general overall health. And, since many of those athletes do end up going on to perform some amazing things, it can be understood why this kind of connection might be made.

Overall, Kinesiology is best used as a diagnostic tool to figure out why someone might be in pain and how to relieve it. By studying the body and how it’s moving, a therapist might notice imperceptible movements such as minor limps, the way a person leans, and maybe even if a leg is shorter than the other leg or the shoulders aren’t even. Therefore, Kinesiology has its place as far as a medical practice, but if used for any other reason could be questioned. However, no one will ever be harmed if they decide to try Kinesiology for any of these other reasons.

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Facts About Shea Butter

March 10th, 2010

A bowl of Shea butterShea butter has been one of the fastest growing skin treatment products over the last few years. There’s no doubt that your skin feels pretty good after you’ve applied it. Shea butter comes in many different scents which encourages some to continue using it. But the question is, is it any healthier than any other lotions or applications?

Shea butter is an application that has multiple uses, despite  most only knowing it as a skin product. There is actually a process that can make it edible to be used in chocolate. Another process allows it to be used for soap. Shea butter can also be made to use in medications. There are 5 different grades of the product, which determines which way it will be used.

When it’s used in medications, it’s normally used to protect or heal the skin in some fashion. It’s used in a variety of products to help fight rashes and eczema, burns, wrinkles and chapped lips. It’s also used in products that help fight ultraviolet rays. One of the worries about Shea butter is that there are few scientific studies on the product other than from the industry itself, so it’s not really know if the health benefits are true or not.

Shea ButterIt is a product that has been used in Africa for hundreds of years without many negative effects. When people do have negative effects, it’s usually a mild allergic reaction, such as itchiness or skin breaking out in a rash. This is proof that it’s not for everyone, but there are people who are also allergic to both cocoa butter and aloe vera. Sometimes it depends on the grade of shea butter that’s in a product. Inexpensive products might not use grade A or B shea butter, which means it’s not the most pure or safest grades.

The best thing about shea butter is that it’s a vegetable fat from an African tree known as the “Karite”, which is the name for “Shea”, and it’s considered all natural before processing. It’s very flexible to use, which is what makes it popular. It can retain almost any scent, and you’ll find a lot of homemade products using shea butter, which means it can be purchased almost anywhere. Overall it’s pretty safe for most people to use, but don’t get caught up in believing it’s a panacea for every health issue one might have with their skin.

See More:
How to Make Shea Butter

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Better Skin Through Better Foods and Drinks

March 4th, 2010

Nutritional Skin CareAt some point everyone has problems with their skin. Many times it’s just a natural progression of growing up and some are just genetic differences that can cause skin difficulties. There are many kinds of treatment, both traditional and alternative. Some of them involve food and drink options and here are a few of them.

  • Nutritional therapy believes that skin problems can be eradicated by changing how you eat. What happens is you get an assessment of your eating habits, medical history, blood samples and other lab tests as needed. Then you either get a computerized diet profile or additional tests as to the kinds of issues you may have with the foods you are consuming. At this point you’re then given a special diet, the combination of certain types of foods that not only help your skin, but your overall health as well. The diet will contain nutrients that are supposed to help your health such as more Vitamin C, beta carotene, and Vitamin E.
  • Water therapy believes that most people don’t drink enough water, and thus suffer problems with their skin such as it being too dry or oily, which can cause problems. The recommendation of 64 ounces of water is usually given to help with weight loss, but when it comes to skin care, some practitioners believe that you should be drinking as much water in milliliters as you are in the calories you eat each day. Therefore, if you eat 3,000 calories a day, you should be drinking 101 ounces of water a day.
  • Eating more fiber is considered crucial for maintaining good skin, with the premise being that a healthy digestive system leads to healthy skin. The recommendation is for most men to eat between 31 to 38 grams of fiber a day, and women to eat between 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day. These numbers are based on healthy weight levels of course, with the belief that most of us tend to eat less than 12 grams of fiber each day. Of course, if that is true, it will take a major change in dietary habits to reach these numbers, and there are many ways to do it, such as increasing the amount of certain fruits and nuts we eat, or whole grains such as brown rice instead of white rice.

 

Photo credit: www.healthspablog.org

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    Curves: Women Health Chain

    February 26th, 2010

    In simple terms, Curves is a health chain for women. It offers women the opportunity to work out in a safe environment since it’s a woman’s only health club. It is a place for woman to get healthy on equipment that offers ways to work out without hurting themselves.

    I have had two opportunities to walk through a Curves location; once with my mother, and once while trying to find my wife. You won’t see the kind of workout equipment you’re used to seeing in regular gyms. There are no heavy barbells; there is no heavy cardiovascular equipment. In essence, you see a bunch of smaller equipment scattered all over the floor that offers a lot of low impact training. Their slogan is that in 30 minutes, 3 times the week, you can get a complete workout to help you get more fit and live a healthier life.

    While there is no doubt that a woman will get some kind of health benefit from going to Curves, there is a lot of controversy as to whether it offers enough of an exercise for all women. It seems that if a woman doesn’t exercise often and goes to Curves it will most likely be beneficial to her. However, some doctors and therapists suggest that the kind of exercise women are getting has more to do with weight training than a cardiovascular workout, and therefore it’s not a complete workout. In other words, if a woman leads a sedentary life and decides it’s time to do something new for herself, Curves is a great place to go.

    There are a number of women who advocate for Curves in all the good it’s done for them. The response is that just like almost anything else that one might decide to try, there will always be some success stories from people who literally dedicate themselves to the process. In the case of Curves, it’s been found that those women who get the maximum benefit from the program not only go more than three times a week, but sometimes go twice a day as well. That plus maintaining a proper diet will definitely result in women losing weight and getting into better shape than others. Curves has its place as a workout option for women, even if it’s not considered the ultimate and best choice for optimum health long-term.

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