Recent brain research indicates that it is possible to talk to the amygdala, a key part of the brain that deals with certain emotions. Hypnosis is not sleep, but an altered state of consciousness in which a person accesses that part of his or her mind that is capable of adjusting the problem without the conscious, thinking mind directing it.

Numerous scientific studies have emerged in recent years showing that the hypnotized mind can exert a real and powerful effect on the body. The new findings are leading major hospitals to try hypnosis to help relieve pain and speed recovery in a variety of illnesses... Whatever the form, it is increasingly being used to help women give birth without drugs, for muting dental pain, treating phobias and severe anxieties, for helping people lose weight, stop smoking or even perform better in athletics or academic tests.

Here's how hypnosis works.  With hypnosis, you have a relaxed, focused awareness.  When you're in this relaxed state, you're mind can accept suggestions.  These suggestions go directly into your mind and take hold so that your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes are permanently changed.  All action comes from someone's thoughts.  When you think differently, you'll behave differently...and get the results that you want.

The large majority of challenges you have in your life are a direct result of you being out of rapport with your subconscious mind.  So in the battle between subconscious and conscious minds, who wins? Your subconscious mind kicks your conscious mind’s butt every day of the week.

You're tired of being negative. You're ready to change. You need a plan. Read on, my friend, for this is the process of releasing negativity and restoring your spirit. Change is good.

An interview. Based on his experience as a therapist and creativity coach, Eric Maisel created his book Ten Zen Seconds to provide an accessible mindfulness strategy based on traditional practices and cognitive psychology.

Ideas, goals, and dreams could be a reality if only you could make yourself do the necessary steps to achieve them. That is how hypnosis works to motivate you to put into action the plans you have been waiting to implement “someday.”

Hypnosis has the ability to withdraw that which is deep within the mind but often pushed aside by thoughts needing more immediate attention. Such is often the case for those latently creative individuals that know that deep within them is the next great American Novel or musical masterpiece. Through hypnosis creative connections are made and the motivation to put the thoughts into tangible creations is possible.

Some letters from readers had me wondering about the role that self-hypnosis might play in the creative act. Being curious, I adapted techniques used in recent experiments with students at the Architectural Foundation in London, England.

By Alan B. Densky: Hypnosis was accepted by the AMA in 1958 as an effective method for treating stress and stress related symptoms. But does it really work, and what should a person look for when seeking a therapist, or purchasing hypnosis tapes & CDs?