Progressive relaxation is a technique used to promote health by releasing tension through direct suggestions. Muscle groups begin to relax as we focus our breath and intention. Think of it as taking a tour through your muscle groups inducing relaxation from head to toe. I invite clients to imagine a healing, calming color and allow it to flow through every cell of the body, releasing all stress and tension. Breathe in peace and tranquility; breathe out stress and tension. Taking in some long, slow, deep breaths, counting from twenty-five down to one also begins to relax our body and mind. Relaxation exercises can be a great boost to our health as well as allowing us to feel more balanced, having peace of mind. I believe any type of relaxation/meditation is akin to preventative medicine. Besides physiological benefits, it de-stresses us.

Mindfulness teaches us to embrace the fullness of the moment. You might tune into your immediate body sensations to determine where you are holding fear, hurt, pain or other emotions. Gather up all the feelings and sensations that you are experiencing in the present moment. These may be related to a particular situation. You might give these feelings a form, such as a black p***kly ball or red molten lava. Move into this form and ask for a message.

What’s going on with this pain, this tightness?

What is it representing?

Do I need to learn something from this experience before I release it?

Trust the response from your wise self. If you are willing to release the constriction, you may choose to feel the healing rays of the sun melt down this clenched energy. You can use a cosmic vacuum to suck it up and transform it. When you are ready to release, let it go in that moment. One can use the breath to let go of both physical and emotional pain, clearing away any negative thoughts and detaching from the pain. This detachment allows us to open pathways to comfort. Learn to be very kind and compassionate to yourself in the moment. I usually invite a client to use a beautiful rose-colored light to fill the space where the constriction was held. This healing color, representing unconditional love, replaces the old energy.

Using mental imagery influences numerous body responses including blood pressure, heart rate and autoimmune performance. There is clear evidence that surgical and cancer patients who use imagery increase their likelihood for remission. Any consistent use of imagery can improve physical health and well-being. We can guide our thought processes to invoke and use various senses: vision, taste, smell, hearing, touch and movement. Imagery provides essential communication links between perception, emotion, and the body. Healing imagery is limited only by the scope of our own imagination. I had one friend who envisioned little “pac-men” ferociously attacking her cancerous cells, while another friend chose to send loving energy in the form of colorful bubbles to heal the cancerous cells.

Creativity, while in an altered state of mind, is useful to stimulate inner journeys for healing. One can imagine entering a healing room surrounded by Angelic helpers. In this room you can release all the fear and push out the harmful toxins in your body. See or imagine yourself filled with a radiant healing light releasing all that is not of love and health. In this room you have the ability to reinforce all the thoughts, words and actions that contribute to your healing process. You may choose to select healing lotions, cosmic capsules, and specialized tools to completely restore your body to health. For instance, people with chronic pain might imagine moving into a central control room in the brain and encountering a control panel. They discover where the circuits for pain control and emotional distress are stored. They can imagine on/off switches, dimmer switches or circuit breakers to disconnect painful reactions to past events. You can “turn down” the intensity of emotional or physical discomfort. Give the problem to the subconscious mind and trust that it will solve the problem. It intuitively knows what is needed.

Loving and accepting ourselves is the key to healing at any level. Many of us perceived growing up with a “conditional” love. When love is based on conditions, we feel imperfect and unlovable. Children need unconditional love and discipline, not punishment. Yet, it’s never too late to experience the self-love we didn’t receive as children. We can give it to ourselves now. Healing the child heals the adult. Be mindful of the wounded child within, and go back and reassure that little child that you are there for it now as a much wiser adult. Change doesn’t happen over night. It’s hard work. It takes persistence. The process of healing is really a process of remembering who we are, our God-connection.

Children can be taught that dreams are fun and adventurous. Dreams can present them with new ideas. Children may present a particular problem to their “dream-makers,” asking how it can be resolved for their highest good. Before drifting off to sleep, encourage your children to ask to remember their dreams. As they awake in the morning, before moving about in their bed, encourage them to get in touch with their dreams. Alarms often jolt us out of the dream state, so it is best to awaken before we actually have to rise in the morning. This can be programmed as well, just by asking. We are powerful beings!

Dreams speak to us in symbols, and everyone has their own interpretation of what particular symbols mean to them. For instance, whenever my daughter appears in one of my dreams, I know it is symbolic of my own inner child speaking to me. Yet, it’s so fun to have Laurie show up! I have learned that everyone in the dream state is actually a representation of myself. So when a particular friend ends up in my dream, I have to ask myself what that person represents to me. What part of them am I? It is often confusing, but dreams are not meant to be complicated. I suggest looking for the simple explanation.

Before going to sleep, ask your children to create their own imaginary dream-makers. Begin by inviting them to take three long, slow deep breaths. With these breaths, we put ourselves into the alpha state, which is a more relaxed state of mind. These dream-makers could be animals, fairies, Angels, elves, sci-five characters or anything that would be familiar to your child. I would suggest, however, these characters should be light and fun, rather than threatening and monster-like. Allow them to use their own creative imagination to describe these dream-makers. The more detail the child gets in touch with, the more the inner conscious will interpret the seriousness of the intent. Creatively drawing these images would be fun and meaningful for some children.

Each night, your children can imagine these dream-makers, and invite them to teach through clear, simple messages. Communicating with a team of dream-makers may be a fun, comfortable way to drift off to sleep! Once they are accustomed to hearing from their dream-makers, encourage your children to hand a specific problem to them before sleeping. Children may even want to put their need in writing, placing it under their pillow. A child may wish to determine a particular project for school, know which musical instrument they could be proficient playing, learn tips to be better at sports, etc. Don’t let them be discouraged if it doesn’t work the first night. Teach them persistence.

I believe sometimes we ignore messages in our dreams and sometimes we have a full- blown nightmare to bring something significant to our attention. Nightmares can also be caused by stress, traumas, and even some medications. It is also important to monitor the TV viewing habits of children, and that includes news-programs.

I would like to repeat a technique I shared a year ago, to teach children how to be in control of nightmares. Laura Silva, an internationally known mind-trainer shares:
“If during a dream you are ever confronted, attacked, or frightened by a monster or a bad person – point your index finger at that problem/person; each time you point your finger at the monster, it will shrink to half its size. Open and close your hand, over and over, pointing your finger until the monster is only a couple of inches high. You can then pick up the monster and play with it in the palm of your hand! Now ask the monster what he wants. That monster will never be a threat to you again!” This technique works just as effectively in the awake-state. Just ask your child what the monster might represent to them. What are the fears they are dealing with during the day? It certainly opens up some important communication between parent and child.

When I record my dreams, I am more likely to remember them. My inner conscious realizes that I am committed to understanding them. I would encourage you to get a special dream book/journal for your child. Encourage them to name their dreams and draw or put them in writing. (Spelling is not important here. We don’t want to cut off their creativity by being teachers.) An assortment of markers and colored pencils makes it fun. Reviewing the journal, children can be alerted to recurring dreams.

I have heard that Robert Lewis Stevenson would often start a story idea with his dream-makers before sleep, and create wonderful adventures for himself as he slept. His dream conscious took over and created fully developed narratives. Later in life, he tuned into these dream-makers while sitting at his typewriter, creating a “day-dream” for himself. Unlocking this creativity enabled him to become one of our most memorable writers.

Dreams are messages from our wise mind and can provide guidance and problem solving. Our dream-makers can be likened to imaginary friends. Dream adventures can know no bounds. I encourage you to assist your children in unlocking this powerful potential. Please share with me the results.
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Happiness Lies Within
Happiness Lies Within

As a hypnotherapist, I challenge people to change their thoughts to change their destiny. I believe the whole purpose of this incarnation is to learn to love our-selves first, and then to extend that love to others. Until we really learn to fully love ourselves, we put on a protective shield because we do not feel safe in the world. We create self-imposed limitations to love. The good news is that we can free ourselves from our self-limitations. We can change our mind about how we see the world by getting in touch with our inner spirit. At the core of our being we are love, so there is no need to search for it, just acknowledge it.

It is our inner critic, bombarding us with negative messages, which blocks our receptivity to love. Most of these messages we heard and accepted about ourselves date back to our early childhood. Our negative thought patterns may have come from parents, siblings, peers, relatives, authority figures or others who played a major role in our lives. Young and vulnerable, we made the decision to accept their restrictive messages as truth. Remember, those who gave us limiting information were dealing with their own negative internal messages. I believe that these people all did the best they could, even if it wasn’t good enough! We cannot change the past, but we can consciously make the decision to let go of our own limiting beliefs. It is a choice. Louise Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life, states, “ No matter what the problem, the main issue to work on is loving the self. This is the “magic wand” that dissolves problems.”

We seem to adopt personas or masks to “fit” in the world, gaining recognition or trying to please others at our own expense. As we grow, we become aware of “spoken or unspoken” expectations that others have imposed on us. Failing to meet these expectations, we take on the feelings of inferiority and unworthiness.
To blame others for our unhappiness only takes away from our own power, viewing our-selves as victims.
To free ourselves from these restraints, we can learn to love and accept all parts of ourselves, claiming responsibility for what we think, feel and do. We may even begin to look at our experiences as gifts. We might ask ourselves how our experiences helped us to evolve. We then become masters rather than victims.

I believe that once we are willing to take responsibility for our own lives, getting in touch with our joy and our passion, our life is transformed. The journey begins by getting in touch with the Divine part of us, our inner connection. We just need a little willingness to get in touch with our feelings and to love ourselves without judgment for what we are experiencing. We don’t need to change ourselves to love ourselves. We can love ourselves with all of our feelings of inadequacy and perceived limitations. I don’t believe we can love ourselves with our mind, the intellectual part, but rather with our heart. I invite you to participate in the following exercise to get in touch with your inner spirit.

Move into the heart area and take a few long, deep breaths.

Imagine a beautiful pink light surrounding the area of your heart.

Feel your Divine connection, that spark of the Light within each of us. Fill yourself with it.

Allow yourself to move into the awareness of this calm, peaceful feeling.

Get in touch with your feelings. Let go of any resistance to allowing all of your feelings.

When you take responsibility for your feelings, accepting them, you take charge of yourself.

Send this loving tranquility to each part of you that needs it. (the part that is feeling angry, unloved, judgmental, confused, scared, anxious, misrepresented, grief, insecure, etc.) Breathe that love into your being. Know that you are not alone in this transformative work. Ask for help.

I invite you to make these statements:
I know that all of my feelings are okay. I let go of my resistance to them.
I willingly release all things that no longer serve me in a healthy way.
I love myself for who I am right now, and for who I am becoming.
I am willing to give and receive love, knowing that I am a loving and lovable person.

Breathe that truth into the core of your being. This is allowing personal transformation.

Happiness does not lie outside of our-selves. It is getting in touch with who and what we are at the core of our being. We see our life as a journey with many choices. To experience freedom and happiness, we need to allow ourselves to have all of our feelings and to be okay with them. Surrendering to our feelings, allowing them to wash over us without judgment, brings credence to our experiences. If we deny or ignore our feelings, they will come back to us in another form until we have dealt with them. Learning to love all parts of our-selves expands our capacity to love others with their problems and limitations. Loving our-selves fully cancels out the fear to love others.

And so I invite you to direct love and tenderness toward yourself this week. Allow yourself to feel the emotions that are stirred through just living life. Feel the emotions, surrendering to them without judgment. Love yourself for who you are and what you are feeling in that moment. As you breathe in self-love, you will find a blissful, freeing state. Allowing the feeling without judgment transmutes the emotion. When we love ourselves fully, we are in the Oneness. In that place, we experience that happiness lies within us.

“A SMILE costs nothing, but gives much. It enriches those who receive,
without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the
memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he
can get along without it, and none is so poor but that he can be made rich
by it. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in
business, and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary,
cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is nature’s best antidote
for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is
something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some
people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none
needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.”

– believed to be based on the writings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch

When we are living our truth, we act on the guidance that we receive, even if our ego begins to question that guidance. Recently I attended a workshop in another state. I arrived early and looked forward to checking into a hotel to relax before the workshop. Suddenly I just knew that I was not to get a hotel; I would be invited to stay with another workshop participant. I experienced some resistance to the idea, since the workshop would end late in the evening and I didn’t want to be searching for a hotel at that hour. I let go of my ‘monkey-mind’ and allowed myself to move into trust. A kind family invited me to stay with them. To condense the story, I stayed with this family to bring up a feeling of shame, a feeling I had never been in touch with prior to this visit. As I meditated on the shame that came up for me, I discovered it went back to my two year old self. It was a wonderful, yet painful opportunity to learn a significant lesson. I was in awe of the power of this co-created lesson and how everything and everyone had to fall into place for this lesson to occur. Our wise self chooses the lessons we need to learn to remember the truth of who we are; lessons are wake-up calls for us. Trusting our guidance is essential.

Living authentically means that we continue our path regardless of the opinions and beliefs of others. Some of my friends drifted away as I pursued a journey that was not considered mainstream. My husband and I have been happily married for more that thirty years. But Tom is an engineer, relying much on the scientific proof of the Universe, and his perception of things is much different than mine. In the past I attended many spiritual growth workshops and witnessed couples sharing the same beliefs. I would visibly cry, feeling so alone, and wanting Tom to join me in my metaphysical journey. Then I realized that loving him meant accepting him just as he was, without judgment. He allowed me to have my beliefs, and even supported me in my personal, spiritual growth. He loved me unconditionally, and I realized that I needed to offer him that same kind of love instead of trying to change him. I know that Tom and I were meant to be together. Now I believe that we set it up this way as a test for me to take responsibility for myself. We were young when we married, and he was the extrovert. I looked to him for strength. We are both authentic beings, expressing Spirit in our own unique way. Relationships are our earthly assignments for mutual growth. Tom and I bring out the best in each other! The Course of Miracles states that the ego seeks intimacy through control and guilt. Holy Spirit seeks intimacy through acceptance and release. Today I can allow him to be who he needs to be without judgment or expectations. I can pursue my truth passionately, with or without approval of others.

Replacing fear with love allows us to replace the darkness with Light. I know that I am into my ego when fear comes up for me. It is my wounded child. Miracles happen for us when the ego steps aside and allows love to be present. Tom recently acquired a new job about seventy minutes away from our home. We are considering a move. The adult part of me is excited with anticipation, as I am ready for a change. I look forward to traveling a new highway. Yet, through introspection, I found that my little child felt threatened and afraid. It was the third grade child, the shy one, who once had a challenging move and transition. This child part just needed love and assurance that this move would not create chaos in her life. With love, compassion and understanding, the fear melts away.

Forgiveness is essential in an authentic life. I have never had much difficulty forgiving others because I realize that everyone is my teacher. Sometimes these teachers are disguised as a ‘challenge,’ but I love ‘getting it,’ and actually learn to appreciate and honor the role these souls have agreed to play in my script. My challenge has been forgiving myself. I deserve better from myself, and have expressed a willingness to enjoy this new journey.

Because our beliefs write our scripts, living authentically means releasing outdated, self-limiting patterns, moving into our greatness. I have spent years releasing beliefs that no longer serve me, and yet sometimes that need for perfectionism still lingers as a noose around my neck. My own expectations for myself put a lot of pressure on me, and I don’t always ‘fly lightly’ as I would choose. There is a feeling of inner peace when we can relinquish judgment of self and others.

Living authentically is being committed to the truth of who we are, pure consciousness. It is setting the intention to walk with God more fully and gratefully, experiencing love. This work is a lifetime process, but in each moment, we have a choice. What choices will you make to live authentically today?

Here is an ancient Chinese story, found in the Tao of Pooh that reflects this point of view. This old man has the philosophy that in the long run you never know whether something is good or bad. Wait and see.
In ancient China an old man lived with his son. One day he lost his only horse. All his neighbors came by to commiserate with him on his ill fortune. The old man countered, “What makes you think this is ill fortune?” Next month the horse returned, bringing with it a herd of other horses. The neighbors returned to congratulate the old man on his good fortune. The old man answered, “What makes you think this is good fortune?” With so many horses at hand, the old man’s son took to riding and one day fell off and broke his leg. The neighbors were back to commiserate with the old man on his bad luck. The old man said, “Why do you think this is bad luck?” It happened that the next year there was a war and because the old man’s son could not walk, he did not have to fight.

There is no good news. There is no bad news. There is just news. Thus, we see that events in themselves are neutral. It is the interpretation that we place upon them that give them meaning. I believe our primary purpose as spiritual beings, in human form, is to evolve into a deeper awareness of this spiritual self. We are here to recognize our inherent worth. Sometimes it takes an external challenge to force us to go within to find that inner connection.

I invite you to state these affirmations when you are in a situation that causes you to move into judgment:

• I am willing to withhold my personal judgment about this event.
• I accept this experience as a gift that is masquerading as a challenge.
• I ask for Divine assistance. Help me to see this situation with new eyes.
• I choose to focus on whatever good I can glean from this experience.
• I trust that God will take care of the details that I do not understand.

Transformational Healing is seeing our suffering with new eyes. It allows us to be a witness to it, then
experiencing what it looks like and how it feels. By shifting our level of awareness, we are able to look at our suffering differently. When we look at healing from our expanded awareness, we can have deep love and compassion for ourselves, and those involved in our dramas.

There are three stages of inner transformation: experience, release and transformation. Let me share with you an example:
One of my clients had a serious test anxiety. She was studying to be a nurse and failed a very important test. This required her to go back and retake some of her classes. Her instructors suggested she experience some hypnotherapy to get to the root cause of this issue. Her instructors knew that she had learned the material, but was unable to perform in a test situation. When she was regressed to the root cause of the problem, she realized it stemmed from three different circumstances where she had been inappropriately touched as a child. She had remembered these experiences, but never connected them with her test anxiety. The message she gave herself was that she was no good. She didn’t deserve to succeed in life. The unworthiness was overwhelming.

My client experienced her pain, was able to release her emotions around these circumstances, and transformed her outdated belief patterns. By focusing on the area around her heart, she was able to get in touch with the Divine part of herself. She witnessed the experience through new eyes and found an inner strength and compassion. She was able to see herself as deserving the life she wanted. This woman was actually looking forward to taking her next test, which of course she passed. Experiencing,
releasing and forgiving the past allowed her to move forward.

If you are in the midst of a life challenge, I invite you to follow these steps to Transformational Healing:

1. Do some journaling on this challenge to discover some of your own self-limiting beliefs. Some of the common beliefs surfacing with my clients are, “I am not a good person. I am not important. I am not lovable. I am not good enough. I am not worthy. I don’t deserve to be successful.”
2. Put yourself into a very relaxed state. Take in some long, slow, deep breaths and focus on your breathing. Call in your Higher Self, that wise part of you that knows. Explore with your deep inner mind what you need to pay attention to today regarding your particular situation.
3. Ask for help in discovering the root cause of this issue. You may have a thought, a feeling, or even a physical reaction. Some people may get impressions or pictures. If you are not visual, you will probably feel a particular sensation in your body as you focus on the issue. You might ask it for a message. Be willing to explore this. Be a witness to this experience without judgment. (If you feel resistance, just ask yourself to pretend that you know the root cause, for indeed a part of you does know.) Allow any information to come forth.
4. Realize that the thoughts, feelings and images that come up for you were in the past. These have limited you from being your true self. Release your feelings through journal writing, energy therapies, rituals, visualizations, or by just setting the intention to let them go. You have given yourself permission to let go of the past baggage. I like to use a healing body of water to assist clients in clearing the past.
5. Ask for help in determining the soul lesson. You might want to reframe it by looking at it differently now. Can you find a gift in this situation? How has it forced you to grow?
6. Forgiveness often follows this experience because one realizes that every one does the best they can at the time, even if it didn’t seem good enough. If forgiveness feels overwhelming for you, know that you only need a little willingness to forgive. Spirit will take over the doing. The following is a prayer I use with my clients, adapted from Larry Nims, author of Be Set Free Fast, an energy release technique:
   

   I forgive myself for taking this _________ on. I know I was only doing the best I could. As much as I am capable of forgiving others, I forgive anyone who may have purposely or inadvertently contributed to this issue I choose to resolve. I know they were only doing the best they could also. I love and accept myself. I no longer need this _______ any longer. I am now willing to replace this ______ with________. (I often suggest unconditional love and acceptance for oneself.

7.  The transformational stage occurs after you have fully experienced and released the original issue. Imagine that you are now floating above the situation. Invite in some healing light and water to fill every cell of your body until you feel lighter. Send it through to purify the experience you are witnessing. Move into the heart area and fill your entire body with compassion, unconditional love and acceptance. You might call in Angelic assistance to assist you with total loving energy.

We each have an inner guidance system to assist us in our healing. It brings forth our inner wisdom to transform the old pattern. I believe that everything we experience can be turned to good. Our higher consciousness calls us to explore, release and transform our deepest difficulties. Healing is a work of a lifetime, and it can be a wonderful adventure as we learn to move into our wholeness.

(I want to thank and honor Marilyn Gordon, friend and author of Extraordinary Healing for her valuable insights into Transformational Healing.)

The Moriah Center offers a full service practice of Hypnosis, guided imagery and Energy Psychology. We focus on helping clients in need of behavioral changes such as smoke-ending, healthy weight loss and maintenance and the diversity of stress issues. As a certified complementary medical hypnotist, We also work in conjunction with clients’ physicians for numerous medical conditions such as chronic pain, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer support, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Click on any service for full disclosure.

HypnoCounseling
The cornerstone of our work at the Moriah Center is to create positive change in the cognitive, behaviorial and spiritual challenges of our clients. Click here to learn more.

Hypnosis
Pain control, catastrophic disease, cancer support, healthy weight reduction, smoke ending, among other uses for hypnotherapy. Click here to learn more.

Energy Psychology/EFT
Emotional Freedom Technique is based on the ancient Chinese art of acupuncture. EFT is likened to acupuncture without the needles. Click here to learn more.

HypnoCoaching
The blending of hypnotic and neuro-linguistic tools with personal coaching to help the client achieve more than they ever thought possible- more easily, quickly, and effectively than personal coaching alone. The methods of HypnoCoaching include the use of both conscious and subconscious processes to help people transform their dreams into their reality.

Past Life Regression
A past life regression can be used to explore this life’s events and relationships to what you know and experience in your present life. Learn how relationships are connected in past lives; we seem to travel with many of our past relationships. A past life regression can bring understanding and clarity into some issues that seem to be blocking your progress in living joyously. This can be especially helpful for anyone who is having an unexplained difficulty in their daily living. Other issues to explore are: lack of personal power; career dissatisfaction; lack of commitment; unexplained anxiety or fear; unexplained illnesses and, unexplained reactions and feelings towards people. Click to read more.

Workshops and Support Groups
A schedule of events at the Moriah Center, including upcoming workshops and support groups. Click here for a list of available workshops.