Hey Friend!

As the weather warms up and we find ourselves venturing out more and more into the world, I’ve noticed an increase in advertisements for fad diets and calls back to gyms so we don’t miss out on our Hot Girl Summer. In other words, “Diet Culture” is back in full swing.

Our society is OBSESSED with weight, and, not surprisingly, the diet and weight-loss companies have become a $71 Billion dollar industry. There is money to be made from you hating your body and forking over your money for the products and services that are guaranteed to “fix” you.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hyper-aware of my weight and body image since I was a teenager. Growing up in the 90’s, the ideal “it” body was one described as “heroin chic,” a super skinny, bony,  and pale body. But now, I’m at a point in my life where I just want to be free from what poet, activist and transformational leader, Sonya Renee Taylor, describes as “body terrorism.” I’m ready to try another way.

In Taylor’s book, The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-love, she offers these questions to help you uncover some hidden or not so hidden beliefs about bodies:
– Do I believe it’s okay to be bigger, just not too big? How do you define “too big”?
– Do I make assumptions about people’s health based on their weight?
– Do I believe that healthier bodies are better bodies?
– Do I use the word fat pejoratively to describe myself and others (including internal dialogue)?
– Do I believe that being fat is fine for others, just not for me?
– Do I believe fat people could lose weight if they just tried hard enough?
– Am I afraid of becoming fat?
– Do I dislike my own fat?

Taylor continues, “If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have some internalized fatphobia to work on. Here’s the good news…of course you do! It would be a feat of supernatural proportions for you to grow up in a fatphobic society and not have internalized fatphobic ideas.”

Taylor argues that the only way to defeat diet culture is to practice radical self-love for our bodies. To help combat hurtful ideas and beliefs about bodies, Taylor suggests a few important changes:

Make Fat Familiar
“Become familiar with the lives and experiences of fat people. Are your bookshelves lacking fat protagonists…Who are the fat heroes or heroines on your television…are they empowered or do they spend their lives chasing thinness…how about your social media feed…You are better positioned to challenge fat bias and weight stigma when you have proximity to the lives of fat people.”

Actively Disrupt Fatphobia and Weight Stigma
“Intuituve Eating and Health at Every Size (HAES) are two alternative models for moving us away from diet culture and toward providing your body the nourishment and care that are best for you.

Know Your Body Shame Origin Story
To root out shame, we have to know where it resides in our minds. I’ve adapted an exercise from her book into a healing self-hypnosis session:

Get into a deeply relaxed state and then “recall your first memory of body shame; it’s likely that your story would have at least one of the following:
-Developed in your youth*
-Was a response to rapid or unexpected body change*
-Occurred when you became aware of difference*
-Led you to assume there was some “should” about your body*
-Was reflected or enforced by familial, social, cultural, and political messaging and systems of body-based oppression*
-Was attached to a story or belief about your value and worth in the world”*

Once you’ve identified the story, hold onto the memory and the feelings that come up and give yourself some healing. There are a variety of ways to do this; you can comfort Little You in that memory (give her a hug, explain why she didn’t deserve that, etc.), you can confront the bully/offending person(s) on Little You’s behalf, you can flood the memory with forgiveness and compassion until the memory loses its emotional charge, or you can let the past memory go and visualize yourself being joyful, having fun and looking great exactly as you are now (this helps build feelings and beliefs of worthiness). Remember that the self-hypnosis session is happening in your mind, a place of endless possibilities, so give yourself a healing in whatever way feels right for you. Repeat this exercise often. See what daily actions you can take to feel happier and more loving towards your body. You can also listen to these guided self-hypnosis recordings from our Group Hypnosis sessions on Body Confidence and Forgiveness and Letting Go.

Remember, YOU have the power radically love yourself exactly as you are. You deserve health and vitality, and true health comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes. There is not one way to look or be. By creating new neural pathways of thoughts and beliefs that reinforce your worth and value at any and every size, you break free from the pain, shame and “shoulds.”  Wishing you lots of joy and love in your amazing and powerful body!

Happy editing,
Robin

You may have sought out hypnotherapy as a last resort to help you quit smoking, conquer your fear of flying, lose the baby weight or cure your insomnia, but you probably stuck with hypnosis because of the little known side benefit of a daily hypnosis practice: you’ve never looked or felt better in your life!

According to the Mayo Clinic, “When you’re under hypnosis, you usually feel calm and relaxed, and are more open to suggestions…hypnosis can be used to help you gain control over undesired behaviors.” A consistent hypnosis practice, in any form, be it daily self-hypnosis, hypnosis recordings or one-on-one sessions with a hypnotherapist, alleviates stress in the body by prompting the relaxation response, and it changes thoughts, habits and beliefs in the subconscious mind through a process known as neuroplasticity.

The Ugly Truth About Stress

Stress, especially chronic stress, wreaks havoc on our bodies and our lives. In a Finnish study published in 2013, researchers found that men find the faces of women, who have higher levels of cortisol to be less attractive than women with lower levels. In Caroline Beaton’s Vice article, “Anxiety and Stress Are Messing With Your Good Looks,” she elaborates on the results of the Finnish study, stating that, “High cortisol levels make individuals appear less fertile, thereby reducing their attractiveness. Stress inhibits sex hormones, and sex hormones influence physical attractiveness.” But, it’s not only sex hormones that play a role in making one appear less attractive. Beaton goes on to say, “Perhaps most alarmingly, stress may impede digestion, thereby inhibiting absorption of vitamins that are essential for healthy teeth, skin, and hair. Stress can even trigger premature aging on a cellular level.”

Furthermore, In the article for NewBeauty magazine, “The Shocking Ways Stress Directly Affects Our Appearance — And How to Beat It,” by Tatiana Bido, New York dermatologist Julie Russak, MD, stated, “At times of stress, valuable vitamins and minerals are prioritized for our body’s vital metabolic processes and the production of stress hormones.” Most alarming in Russak’s statement is the conclusion that the radiance of our skin is not a priority in a body that is riddled with stress. Russak goes on to state that, “Consistently elevated levels of cortisol…[means] we are breaking down and failing to repair tissues, which leads to decreased collagen and elastin production.” Overtime, a stress-filled body reduces collagen and elastin production, which ultimately leads to dull, wrinkled and sagging skin. Stress ages us, messes with our ability to attract a partner and diminishes our beauty.

Lastly, Bido’s NewBeauty article also reveals holistic nutritionist Jennifer Hanway’s take on the negative effects of stress on one’s health. She states, “We are more likely to overeat at times of stress, reaching for foods high in carbohydrates and sugars that release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes us feel good.” It’s no surprise that while under stress, we are more prone to crave comfort food as a way to numb negative emotions, but Hanway warns against this coping mechanism, stating, “studies show that women with high cortisol levels tend to store more visceral fat, the ‘deep’ fat stored further underneath the skin and around the organs linked to metabolic diseases and increased inflammation.” Aside from not looking and feeling your best, finding effective ways to alleviate stress in the body really can be a matter of life and death.

Why Hypnosis is the Tool to Looking AND Feeling Your Best

Unlike many other stress reducing tools and modalities, Hypnosis can access the subconscious mind and over time positively change thoughts and behavior patterns. A consistent hypnosis practice optimizes healthy lifestyle changes by creating new neural pathways in the malleable human brain.

Affirmations and helpful visualizations repeated while in a hypnotic state, which is just a theta brainwave state, can motivate you to stick to a healthy eating plan, move your body everyday or feel more confident about your body. By carving out time every day to practice hypnosis, especially when you encounter situations that would typically evoke a stress response and subsequent negative thoughts and behaviors, you combat bad patterning that no longer serves you and you take back control of your life. With this new awareness of thoughts and behavior patterns, a hypnosis practice allows you to make the changes you want, thinking the thoughts that make you feel good and acting in ways that support your goals for your life.

A daily hypnosis practice can shift your attitude and shape how you show up in the world. Che Garmen, creator of the blog, Affirm Your Life, writes, “The greatest beauty secret of all time is simply this — our attitude towards life is reflected in our face for all to see. Our attitudes are reflections of our beliefs. And our beliefs are created by the thoughts we have repeated throughout our lives. We begin to look exactly how we think and feel.” Incorporating a hypnosis practice into your daily routine will help to create more beneficial thoughts and over time to increase your confidence and self-love — and your inner peace and contentment will shine on the outside for all to admire.

So, it turns out that beauty is actually in the mind of the beholder. When searching for the best beauty tool to combat the stressors of our fast-paced world, look no farther than between your ears. Accessing your subconscious mind through hypnosis is an incredibly effective, easy and painless way to access and upgrade your thoughts and behaviors. It’s really as simple as committing to a daily practice (for just a few minutes a day), and before you know it, you’ll look as great as you feel.

As a hypnotherapist and founder of Mind Edit Hypnosis, I love teaching people how to implement a daily hypnosis practice in their lives. The Mind Edit Hypnosis YouTube channel has 3 and 10 minute guided self-hypnosis videos for you to listen to daily (see videos below). Just grab some headphones and close your eyes.

Happy editing,
Robin