Practical Hypnosis for Stress Relief in Menopause
by Guest Blogger and Hypnotherapist, Kathleen Mission
Can hypnosis help with stress for women experiencing menopause?
After meeting Kathleen Misson, and learning more about it, I am excited to host a guest blog post and FREE recording about her service!
It's as inevitable as the changing seasons, yet for many it brings about new twists and turns in life, and changes in our bodies. Our emotions are often unexpected, and can make the road ahead a bumpy ride.
Look at the positive side!
(Special gift: find a free stress and pain relief hypnosis recording below!)
You come out with a new wisdom, having learned new things about your body and emotions that you could never have experienced otherwise. It is a powerful opportunity for learning and development. Hypnosis and mindfulness techniques can put you in the driver's seat so you can steer the way you want to go.
Look towards this change with interest and curiosity.
Try not to resist it.
Adapt and adjust. Be easy on yourself. Go with the flow and see what you can learn, you may be really surprised with something wonderful coming out of it all!
Using practical hypnosis techniques, women can use the power of their mind to find comfort to their symptoms naturally, to find equilibrium in eating habits and manage emotional ups and downs and stress.
Another strategy that just seems to fit perfectly with managing menopause is mindfulness. Especially since we seem to change eating habits, along with the melee of other changes going on within our bodies and around us. As Tanya Stricek, Mindful Eating and Holistic Menopause Coach, says: "Think about mindful eating this way. It brings awareness CONSCIOUSLY to the reasons you are eating. It helps you decide whether or not you are truly hungry or are eating for other reasons. There are many kinds of hunger beyond the physical. You can consciously decide to eat a small amount and experience pure satisfaction, or eat a little more as a conscious decision. Your brain may subconsciously decide that the appetizers were delicious enough, than you and for now, you will seek out meaningful conversation.”
Being mindful is a good strategy to help you to have a better journey through menopause, and a mindful eating coach is a practical yet powerful tool to help you make peace with food during menopause.
This blog post is the first in a series aimed to arm women with helpful hypnotic and mindfulness resources such as resources for:
· Stress
· Hot flushes, night sweats
· Weight gain
· Anxiety or depression
· Sleep problems
· Changing dynamics in relationships
The first on the list is perhaps the one that would take most of the load off all of the rest. Reframing stress can make the other things much easier to deal with.
But first, 'what is hypnosis?', I hear you ask.
Am I going to lose control? Or bark like a dog or flap about like a chicken? Is it possible to stay in hypnosis forever? There are so many myths but in reality, hypnosis used in a therapeutic setting is vastly different. You never lose control, you are always aware, it is safe, natural and enjoyable. It is a big topic, with too much information to include in one little blog post. There is a page on my website about hypnosis, if you would like to find out more about the basics.
How can hypnosis help with stress for women experiencing menopause?
Hypnosis uses various techniques such as breathing patterns and mind clearing patterns that allow you to access a deep state of relaxation. It really is a wonderful feeling; blissful. Once in hypnosis, which has been described as a 'concentrated state of awareness', your subconscious mind is listening and can receive positive suggestions that help your autonomic nervous system to make adjustments in your body and create or modify neural networks in your brain, which is how you create habits and beliefs.
When you are stressed, your body goes into the so-called fight or flight mode and releases chemical messengers that result in the production of cortisol, among other hormones. Which is fine, if there really is a danger, you need to react to it in the appropriate way to be safe. However, rather than any kind of real danger, certain situations, or perhaps people, can be triggers for a stress response that is unnatural. If it goes on regularly, or for long periods of time, the brain creates neural networks that send messengers that release even higher levels of hormones such as cortisol so that you can deal with the perceived fight or flight situation. You have a higher heart rate, your breathing is shallow and your blood pressure goes up, among other physiological reactions. If you reduce the stress, you produce endorphins, among other 'happy' chemicals, that can elevate your mood and reduce pain.
The best way to experience hypnosis is with the support of a professional hypnotherapist. He or she can tailor the experience to your personal situation and so that it is much more directed.
But for all you lovely readers of my very first blog post, I offer you a free gift of a professional hypnotherapeutic recording for stress relief and pain relief using modern clinical hypnosis and mindfulness techniques… The Tree of Life. The recording contains powerful yet simple breathing techniques, a mindfulness technique to help you to clear away negative or repetitive thoughts, deeply relax for a while and take on some new positive suggestions. Afterwards you will come back to the present moment feeling relaxed and refreshed and looking forward to the rest of the day with a new and more positive outlook.
I do hope you enjoy it and I hope you come back to read the next instalment of Magical Menopause on my website.
Here is the link to download the recording:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1n2aPVOrajn7jvDbpHsIbaHTMDA5VTCtw
Best wishes,
Kathleen Misson
Clinical Hypnotherapist