Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis offer a long term solution which incorporates happiness. So says Alexia Elliott,Clinical Hypnotherapist, Master practitioner of NLP &TLT at Empowerment Hypnotherapy Leicester: weight loss leicester
I began to think about the idea of being consciously aware when you eat, I realised I wasn’t, I could eat a full meal and maybe I would taste the first few bites, the rest of the meal would disappear in a flash. I would stop when I had cleared the plate, the empty plate was the signal for me to finish eating.
Now I practise conscious eating, I take great delight in discreetly observing people eat in public places, what I observe consistently is people go into a trance like zombie state when they eat, they switch off. I recommend all of the fast food restaurants. Fast being the operative word as this does not just apply to the service.
The idea of being a conscious eater was a real starting point for me, I embarked on a journey of observation and self study, to develop awareness, of my relationship with food and to begin to make changes in my relationship with food. I realised a large portion of the times (pun intended) that I had been eating it wasn’t due to hunger, it was a response to a different need, feeling upset hurt or angry, or that it was 12 o’clock which meant it was lunchtime.
As a Hypnotherapist specialising in weight loss and weight/food related issues, I know this is an extremely common phenomena. My starting point was to keep a food diary, with the aim to raise my consciousness and awareness around food and eating but also to discover, the deeper issues which lead to my psychological eating.
The food dairy recorded what the time is
Where I was?
What a rating scale of hunger before eating
If there were any emotions present?
What I ate?
Hunger scale after eating
This was albeit a little annoying, having to analyse every thought about food, and every time I ate and recording it. It proved to be a crucial step in freeing myself from the trap of food obsession, This diary keeping provided me with an understanding that the times when in the past I would eat without thinking, or that I was eating due to emotions, I had to question if I really needed food or that if the food would resolve the underlying issue. This gave me greater control over my decisions.
What I began to notice was several of my eating patterns or the things which triggered cravings for food were not just driven by emotions but also by external forces, what I mean by this, is the time, what others say or do, I wasn’t always connected to my body when making choices related to food. "Its 6pm I have to cook a meal for us all," "we must eat", of course this is quite a good habit to have, cooking for one's family in the evening, but it’s not good if you had eaten a large meal earlier in the afternoon at 3pm and in truth if you’re not hungry, the feeling of having to carry out this rule was very powerful, I remember doing many meditations to overcome this illusion.
A good place to start changing this is by asking yourself “am I really hungry?” And if you’re not hungry ask yourself “what do I really want? Sometimes it might be a simple physiological need such as a drink or that you are tired or you need to rest, it might be something such as telling your colleague you won’t do their job anymore.
I will outline a simple exercise which you can follow to gain awareness consciousness and understanding which will lead to you developing a positive relationship with food which works for you at the end of this blog.
How do we develop negative relationships with food?
I revisted my past and considered Was I born with not having the knowledge of knowing what my body needed?
I meditated back to when my daughters were toddlers and I was feeding them, I remember having a bowl of food which I had prepared for them, I would present the food to my daughter mouth while making funny sounds and actions to encourage them to enjoy the process, they would gratefully take each spoonful that I offered them. At some point they would refuse the spoon of food, I would be disgruntled I thought they were being stubborn and not doing as mummy wanted “of course I knew best didn’t I?” was it at this point I was teaching my daughters that I knew more about how there body’s or the bowl of food being empty was the trigger for them to stop eating? it’s quite possible.
You could consider some of the other food rules, or associations we create throughout our lives, were you ever rewarded with food for being good? Or denied food for being bad? Celebratory meals, ordering a Chinese takeaway as you have had a bad week at work. When you start to peel the layers of associations and rules which govern our everyday behaviours, it can become quite fascinating and liberating.
Here is a simple exercise, you can practise to increase your awareness and consciousness to make changes to your relationship with food. What I mean by being consciously aware is being in a state of being awareness.
Exercise
Spiritual traditions recommend that examining the feelings of cravings, so the next time you feel a craving for a some type of food see this as an opportunity to explore carefully and to identify what is beneath the craving. STOP whatever you are doing and explore the experience see if you can identify the underlying emotions and sensations in your body, thoughts, feelings and tensions, in and around you body. There may be a cluster of emotions they can often feel like they are burning or crushing you mind, it may feel like anxiety or fear if you don’t satisfy this cravings.
Your mind might become agitated at this point and some self destructive thoughts might kick in if you don’t eat this feeling won’t go” or “why stop this you will always be fat” these are only thoughts and they will only have power if you let them. We have millions of thoughts a day which we don’t respond to, I can think back to times when I have been really angry with one of my daughters and the thought of “I’ll kill them when I get hold of them” of course I didn’t carry it out, if you experience these self destructive thoughts, simply observe and experience the craving as this will help you to gain understanding of the structure and process and what is driving the craving. Recognise the cravings painful effects through awareness can leads to healing bringing awareness to a craving can begin to weaken it and examining a craving is an essential step in understanding healing.
Of course if you want a quick short term fix to weight loss, keep buying into the multi billion pound industry of dieting, but before you do, ask yourself, can I do this diet for the rest of my life? If you can’t, then why not try the above exercise, which might well lead you in the direction of liberation and freedom from diet mentality.
Love, Blessings & Respect
Alexia Elliott
Please contact me if you would like further information on weight loss weight control and how you can develop a heathly relationship with food
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Empowerment Hypnotherapy Leicester
Hypnotherapy in Leicester with hypnotherapist Alexia Elliott. Free consultation session at Empowerment hypnotherapy Leicester.
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