Dear Friends, Experience the power of professional hypnosis in the privacy of your own home or on the run in your MP3 player !!! These powerful, professional hypnosis recordings and guided meditations will assist you in achieving your goals, reducing stress, experiencing total relaxation, settling and clearing the mind, developing penetrating insight and deepening your spiritual practice. Most importantly, daily use of these hypnosis and meditation MP3s will infuse your ordinary daily life with a new energy. You will find that you experience a sense of relaxation, clarity, poise and insight throughout your day. It is recommended that you use these powerful recordings one time each day, in a quiet place, with no distractions. Start with the "Basic Hypnotic Induction" followed by any of the other recordings, close your eyes and let nature take its course... A bit about Michael R. Pekor MS, C.Ht., LMHC Michael R. Pekor MS, C.Ht. LMHC, began pursuing his interest in mind/body development in 1982 by undertaking a life long study of Far Eastern Martial Arts, meditation and psychodynamics/psychotherapy. With a BS in Communications and Psychology and an MS in the Psycho-Social Aspects of Physical Activity, Michael went on to pursue post graduate studies in Psychoanalysis at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis as well as extensive studies in Hypnotherapy. In addition to his private practice in Hypnotherapy, He holds Professional Certification in Hypnotherapy from the: International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association American Institute of Hypnotherapy Brookside Center for Counseling and Hypnotherapy National Guild of Hypnotists New York State Licensed Mental Health Counselor #001624 Here are the answers to some common questions regarding hypnosis: What Is Hypnosis? Hypnosis is a state of mental and physical relaxation accompanied by a highly focused awareness. During hypnosis the subconscious or unconscious mind is highly receptive to communications that are acceptable to that individual's moral, ethical and emotional standards and level of comfort. How Does It Work? Hypnotic communication bypasses the intellectual, critical, conscious mind and targets the subconscious mind. When communicating directly with the subconscious, new ideas and new ways of thinking and behaving are accepted and assimilated in a highly potent way. What is the "Subconscious Mind" The "subconscious mind" refers to any part of a person's thinking that is not usually within their awareness. We all have thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes that are within us and that drive our conscious thinking and behavior. It can be quite empowering to harness these subconscious energies and have them work for us! How Can Hypnosis Help? Many times it happens that our subconscious thoughts and attitudes do not support our current life goals and objectives. Old fears or patterns of thinking and behaving are difficult to change unless we are able to reach their roots in the subconscious mind. Through hypnosis we are able to affect real change by working with our client on a subconscious level. Can Anyone Be Hypnotized? Hypnosis is a cooperative effort and gets easier with practice. As long as the client is making an effort to follow the suggestions that the Hypnotherapist is offering, a light hypnotic state can be reached fairly easily. Some people have a natural talent for entering into trance, while for others it takes a bit of time to learn. It really comes down to a matter of intent and trust. If your intentions are good (you are really trying to follow the suggestions) and you trust your Hypnotherapist (you feel comfortable enough to "go with the flow"), you should be able to reach a satisfactory level of trance fairly easily. What If I Can't Get Into Trance? The beauty of hypnosis is in its effectiveness in achieving results. Not every person will feel as though they were in a "deep trance", but their therapeutic outcomes can be excellent! On the other hand, there is the possibility of achieving a deep trance and having only limited therapeutic success. Depth of trance and achieving your goals are two different things. Stress Management and Relaxation Stress and relaxation exist at opposite ends of the spectrum. The experience of stress can be one of the most uncomfortable feelings imaginable, while the experience of relaxation provides a sense of relief, rest and rejuvenation. HYPNOTHERAPY can help move your experience of life away from the stressful side and closer to the side of relaxation. While stress will always be a part of life, the ability to RELAX and the MANAGEMENT OF STRESS can greatly improve your health and sense of inner peace. Stress comes along with living. We all have multiple responsibilities and very little time to attend to them. We are in a constant struggle to perform well at our jobs, provide our children with everything that they need, and be a wonderful companion to our spouse or significant other. We eat lousy foods that lack nutritional value but are loaded with fat, salt and sugar, and we don't get nearly enough exercise. Sleeping well has become a thing of the past because worries and concerns flood the mind as soon as our heads hit the pillow. And when that long awaited two-week vacation finally arrives we try to cram in so much "enjoyment" as possible into those two weeks that we end up returning to work more burnt out and exhausted than ever! HYPNOTHERAPY teaches us how to tap into our own ability to RELAX. Relaxation is a LEARNED SKILL that we can all benefit from. Breathing techniques, visualization, guided imagery and T'ai Chi exercises are all examples of the many ways that we can combat the effects of stress. Through the use of HYPNOSIS we can also uncover the UNCONSCIOUS ROOTS of our worries and fears. Once we understand the underlying fears and worries that give rise to stress we can use many HYPNOTIC TECHNIQUES to take away their power. HYPNOSIS can also help us define our priorities and then align our daily time expenditures and areas of conscious attention accordingly. The health and wellness concerns related to stress are to numerous to mention. To name just a few, stress has been identified as a major cause in: Heart Attack Stroke High Blood Pressure Habit Disorders Psychosomatic Illness Depression Anxiety Disorders Sleep Disorders Overeating Family and Relationship Problems The list goes on and on. HYPNOTHERAPY can help improve your quality of life and sense of health, wellness and inner peace. A Note on Anxiety Disorders Anxiety can cause people to feel trapped within their own minds, tired, tense, worried and uncomfortable in their own skin. The ability to concentrate, sleep, experience pleasure or carry on a peaceful existence can be stripped away by the experience of anxiety. Unfortunately, anxiety comes in many forms and plagues hundreds of thousands of people. HYPNOSIS provides a powerful vehicle for accessing the unconscious and altering unwanted anxiety-producing thoughts, memories and images. Old associations are broken, and new, healthy thought patterns and reactions are formed helping to improve the quality of life. There are many theories pertaining to the causes of anxiety. The common theme that runs through all of the theories is that UNCONSCIOUS FEAR plays a major role in the experience of anxiety. The situations that provoke anxiety may or may not be known to the person experiencing the anxiety. However, simply recognizing that "the sight of blood" gives me tremendous anxiety does not necessarily mean that I know WHY the sight of blood brings on these feelings. Knowing that I experience horrible anxiety when I am "out in public places" does not mean that I know WHY I react this way. Discovering the ROOT of fear can play a significant role in the treatment of anxiety. Another part of treatment is digging this root out of the unconscious and working with it in the conscious mind. Once the root of the anxiety is available for conscious examination, we can more easily begin to diffuse it. Generalized Anxiety Disorder Some people experience anxiety almost all of the time and cannot identify any particular stimuli triggering it. They are chronically stressed, worried, tense and uptight. Sleep and relaxation are very difficult, and energy levels can be very low. This pattern is sometimes labeled "GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER". Although the symptoms of this disorder may not be as acute as those of some of the other anxiety disorders, GAD can sap you of your joy of living. Panic Disorder Many people experience bouts of ACUTE ANXIETY and PANIC REACTION (increased heart rate, sweating, rapid breathing, dizziness, confusion, fear etc.) for no APPARENT reason. Oftentimes, this can take place in public places. Because the person having the panic attack does not know why it happens or when it will happen next, the fear and anticipation of the next attack are always present. Phobias A phobia is the fear based, habitual avoidance of ANYTHING (person, place, thing, situation etc.). The fears underlying this avoidance are HIGHLY POTENT but IRRATIONAL. The seeds of a phobia are planted when a person has a negative experience that causes pain or fear, and then begins a pattern of AVOIDANCE. This usually happens early on in life when our minds are not fully capable of mature reasoning or putting things into proper perspective. As time passes, the habit of AVOIDANCE continues, and the unconscious fear of the avoided situation becomes broader and more potent. The cycle continues slowly but surely, and ends up as a full-blown phobia. Here is a brief example of how a phobia develops: A young boy is at a birthday party. He is playing with a friendly little dog. The boy unknowingly steps on the dogs tail and the dog reacts by biting him on the leg and growling. The boy is startled and terrified. He cries for a few minutes then goes on with his business having a good time and eating birthday cake. He stays away from the dog for the rest of the day, and looks over his shoulder every now and then to make sure this "terrifying monster" is not about to attack. As he gets older, he unconsciously continues to avoid dogs. He avoids all dogs. He eventually begins to avoid all furry animals (his mind has unconsciously GENERALIZED the fear to all furry things). He becomes terrified at the thought of being near anything that is furry and avoids this dreaded situation at all costs. He may or may not remember the initial incident at the birthday party. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder "Shell Shock" was the name given to this anxiety disorder when soldiers came back from war battles with a particular pattern of anxiety and intense fear reactions. Having been exposed to the sounds of bombs going off and guns being fired while at war, upon returning home these soldiers continued to experience terror and panic reactions to everyday sounds like a car door slamming or a balloon popping. Why is this? It is because they were about to be killed all day every day and watched people being blown apart right in front of them at the same time they heard the guns, bombs and everything else associated with the war going on. Their unconscious minds associate these sounds with the horror and threat of death and destruction. Once out of the threat of danger and back at home, ANY LOUD SOUNDS trigger these UNCONSCIOUS ASSOCIATIONS to an immediate threat of the greatest proportions. The associations are UNCONSCIOUS and AUTOMATIC. They cause the heart to race, breathing becomes rapid, terrifying thoughts are experienced and automatic self preserving reactions take place (hiding for cover, grabbing a gun, running away, etc.) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the name given to the ongoing experience of terrifying thoughts, memories and panic reactions following a terrifying event of any kind. Even though there is no longer any "real" threat, the UNCONSCIOUS mind reacts as though there is real danger any time an ASSOCIATED stimulus is experienced. Being raped, physically abused or attacked in some way are examples of "terrifying" events that can lead to PTSD. The victim may continue to experience fear, panic, anxiety and terror for years to come after such a horrible encounter. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder OCD is a debilitating condition that is marked by incessant obsessive thoughts and repetitive, compulsive acts which are aimed at alleviating these thoughts and the anxiety that they produce. Sufferers of OCD ARE AWARE of the irrational nature of their condition. This makes them feel as though they are helpless prisoners trapped within their own malfunctioning minds. OCD leads to depression as a result of the inability to escape the wrath of this gripping plague. Many medications are available to correct the chemical imbalance associated with a great majority of these cases. Weight Loss & Maintenance Unconscious factors play a large role in determining the effectiveness of any weight loss and exercise program. HYPNOSIS provides a window into the unconscious portion of the mind enabling deep changes to take place. HYPNOSIS provides the added support needed to take on the challenge of reaching your ideal weight. People unconsciously benefit from their extra weight in ways that they may not be aware of. For example, let us imagine that you have had a bad sexual experience that was very disturbing to you in your past. As a result, you unconsciously develop a powerful fear of and an aversion to intimate relationships. Unconsciously keeping yourself "heavy" or "unattractive" can help keep you safely distanced from romantic advances and the possible hurt that they can cause. This is what is called a "secondary gain" attached to the "symptom" of being overweight. Subconscious forces also drive eating habits. Eating may provide a way to "fill up empty space" inside, "bury" feelings of anxiety, sooth excessive tension, or provide pleasure in place of longed for intimacy, romance or love. Keeping extra pounds on can also provide us with a distraction from deeper, more troublesome conflicts. Grappling with weight issues allows us to avoid thinking about deeper issues and provides our conscious minds with a relatively manageable problem. The only problem is that if we do lose the weight, we lose the dynamic camouflage that once kept other issues hidden. We sabotage our own efforts to lose weight because we NEED to continuously work on that problem to keep other anxieties at bay. Reaching your desired weight and maintaining it can be a lifelong, losing battle. People struggle endlessly in an attempt to find the "magic method" that will enable them to look the way they want to look and feel the way they want to feel. There are countless diets and exercise routines being advertised as the "newest, most effective way" of reducing weight and keeping fit. People will grasp at anything that gives them a glimpse of hope at reaching their goals. This quest for weight loss and fitness is usually based on either vanity or health. The most successful weight loss and exercise programs are the ones that are specifically designed to fit the personality and lifestyle of the individual and take secondary gains into account. Every person is unique. Secondary gains, likes and dislikes, goals, age, time available, family situation, job situation, physical limitations, medical history, self image and many other factors must be taken into consideration when creating a weight loss and exercise program. Exercise Adherence The biggest challenge with any exercise program is to stick to it for an extended period of time. Very often, people begin an exercise program with loads of motivation and enthusiasm. Over time, these feelings naturally begin to fade out and the need for discipline, commitment and dedication come into play. This is where the trouble begins and where hypnosis can make the difference between success and failure. Exercise needs to be approached as a lifetime activity. Exercise is as important to overall health as eating and sleeping. Just because we can manage to live for a while without exercising doesn't mean that it's healthy. In fact, the effects of not exercising creep up on us and contribute to the most deadly and debilitating health conditions imaginable. Additionally, our moods are greatly affected by our physical condition. A regular routine of mild exercise can help to keep spirits high and blood pressure low. In order to give you every advantage in the challenge of adhering to exercise, there are several things to consider in addition to hypnotic motivation: First, you must clarify your goals. Are you interested in improving your appearance, losing weight, gaining muscle mass, improving strength, keeping your heart healthy, improving circulation, etc. Next you need to take into account your current health and fitness levels. Are you on special medications? Do you have any injuries? Do you have a heart condition? Are you obese? Are you being treated for any conditions that might require certain restrictions on your exercise routine? Another thing to think about is your schedule How many days per week can you REALISTICALLY commit to exercise? How much time is available to you on those days? Will you be able to stick to a regular work out schedule or does your job require that you be more flexible? Finally, what type of environment and equipment will you have access to? Will you be exercising in a gym? If so, what type of equipment is available? Will you be depending on good weather for outdoor workouts? Do you own exercise equipment? One more thing to take into account is whether or not you will be exercising alone or with a partner. Working out with a partner can make your experience more pleasurable and ads an element of motivation. Partners can encourage each other and provide support when needed. Having a partner to work out with is also SAFER than working out alone. A partner can "spot" you when you are using weights, and will be there to help you in the event of an injury or dizziness. Becoming A Non-Smoker Becoming a NON SMOKER is one of the most important decisions that you can make in your entire lifetime. However, making the DECISION to become a NON SMOKER is only the first step. The next step is to ACT. In order to make any significant changes in your life, you must ACT. As we all know, making any significant change can be challenging to say the least. HYPNOSIS will provide the added support you need to TAKE ACTION! The worst mistake a person can make is to wait for some SIGN or SIGNAL that TODAY IS THE DAY TO QUIT SMOKING, pay the bills, lose weight, etc. There are no special moments or magical signs to make changes in your life. YOU ARE IN CONTROL of your behaviors. YOU MUST BEHAVE THE WAY YOU WANT TO BEHAVE and in time the rest will take care of itself. If you would like to be COMFORTABLE as a NON-SMOKER one month from now, you need to STOP SMOKING TODAY. Any uncomfortable side effects associated with BECOMING A NON SMOKER pass relatively quickly and pose no real threat to you in any way. YOU CAN HANDLE being a non-smoker. Many people become phobic about quitting because they have avoided the imagined discomfort that they associate with not having a cigarette for so long. People convince themselves that the experience of NOT SMOKING will be too difficult to handle. NOT TRUE. Most of us have had our share of difficult circumstances and tough situations in our lives. We have handled those difficulties, and BECOMING A NON SMOKER is manageable as well. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE QUIT SMOKING ALREADY MANY, MANY MORE ARE QUITTING NOW MANY, MANY PEOPLE WILL QUIT SMOKING IN THE FUTURE YOU CAN QUIT SMOKING If you were dropped on an island with no cigarettes for a month you would be JUST FINE. You might crave nicotine for a few days, but as your body cleansed itself you would find that the cravings eventually fade away. However, the physical/chemical craving for nicotine is just one part of the puzzle. The associations that people have deep within their subconscious minds are powerful and real. Smoking becomes deeply associated with everything from drinking coffee, talking on the phone and driving to work, to memories of old times and special people in our lives. It is as if these normal behaviors and thoughts could not EXIST WITHOUT SMOKING. People also associate smoking a cigarette with "waking up", "calming down", "relaxing" and "taking a break". These are all activities that millions and millions of people all over the world learn to do WITHOUT SMOKING. These subconscious associations need to be broken. New associations need to be created in your subconscious mind that SUPPORT YOUR EFFORT TO BE A NON SMOKER. People are constantly in situations that they associate with smoking. These situations are PART OF LIFE. You cannot live in a bubble. You must continue to function in the world if you hope to accomplish anything at all. FUNCTIONING IN THE WORLD AS A NON-SMOKER IS COMPLETELY POSSIBLE. Hypnotherapy will provide the support that your subconscious mind needs to make the transition to BECOMING A NON SMOKER. Old associations will be broken, new associations will be created. Every client is a unique human being. The methods that will be used to assist you in your effort to become a non-smoker will depend on all of the unique qualities of your personality, character and style. Insomnia Whether you find it difficult to fall asleep in the first place, can't seem to remain sleeping for any significant length of time, or are only able to sleep for a few hours, HYPNOSIS CAN HELP!!! HYPNOTHERAPY can GREATLY IMPROVE your ability to FALL ASLEEP, STAY ASLEEP and SLEEP DEEPLY AND RESTFULLY throughout the night. You may find that the moment you attempt to close your eyes and go to sleep your mind becomes filled with problems, conflicts and worries. Unwanted, INTRUSIVE thoughts about upcoming responsibilities, problems at work and other issues can plague your mind and sabotage your sleep. What makes things even more difficult is that you then begin to WORRY about the fact that YOU CAN'T SLEEP! How will I make it through TOMORROW if I can't get any SLEEP TONIGHT? There is hope. HYPNOSIS will give you with the ability to fall asleep quickly and easily. You will remain sleeping throughout the night and wake up REFRESHED and RECHARGED. Problems, conflicts and worries will all be taken care of at APPROPRIATE TIMES and in APPROPRIATE WAYS by: Conditioning your UNCONSCIOUS MIND to sleep restfully. Replacing negative self talk with positive self talk and optimistic messages. Utilizing imagery, visualization and mental rehearsal. Learning to organize your concerns on paper, in journals etc. Refocusing on past experiences that were relaxing, peaceful and pleasurable. Reinforcing hypnotic work at home with personalized audio tapes. Much more... There are many other small changes that we can explore together that will assist you in achieving the degree of restful sleep that you need and deserve. Cutting down on caffeine, changing nighttime routines and activity levels and modifying eating habits are just a few examples. Academic Performance The importance of education cannot be overstated. The opportunities available to those who succeed academically are many. It is extremely vital to get an academic edge as early on as possible in order to reach your goals. HYPNOSIS IS THE EDGE YOU NEED! It can be a tremendous challenge to focus in on a particular academic task when your mind is easily distracted, racing or filled with anxiety.Only with a calm, cool and collected mindset can a student maximize study time.Whether you are sitting in class daydreaming or reading the same line over and over again in a book the problem is the same.Your mind is not responding to your wishes.Your mind is traveling off to a more interesting place.Although it can be quite helpful and entertaining to pass time fantasizing and daydreaming in some situations (like sitting in traffic), it can be quite harmful in situations that require your full attention and concentration (like when the traffic starts moving!). Many times, academic difficulties have less to do with subject matter and more to do with the ability of the student to study and absorb information effectively. Learning anything requires discipline, concentration and time. Without any of these ingredients mastery of any kind is unlikely. The most successful students are those who are able to relax, concentrate and focus their minds. Whether striving to finish your Ph.D. or learning to add and subtract the ability to focus in on that task at hand is vitally important. Hypnotherapy can provide you with the edge you need to make sure that you are getting the most out of your academic experience and performing to your full potential. Areas addressed include but are not limited to: Concentration and Mental Focus Confidence Building Environmental Approaches (changing the learning environment) Identifying and Overcoming Distractions Improve Memory Interpersonal Approaches (Utilizing the support of others) Multi-Sensory Approaches (Are you a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile learner?) Preparing the Mind and Body (Achieving the right mental and physical state for learning) Resource Management Reward, Reinforcement and breaks (making learning pleasant) Self Testing Study Skills (How to...) Athletic Performance It's no secret that professional athletes utilize HYPNOSIS and visualization techniques to boost their performance. In order to maximize the effectiveness of visualization it is important to incorporate as many details from all of the senses into the imagined experience. You must see all of the sights, hear all of the sounds and feel all of the feelings associated with the future athletic event. By repeatedly visualizing themselves successfully performing athletic events, athletes on all levels are able to condition their subconscious minds to EXPECT SUCCESS! When the time comes to really perform, your SUBCONSCIOUS MIND is working FOR you! Have you ever had a nightmare and awakened to find that your body is actually reacting as though there is a real threat? You may have found that your heart was racing, your breathing was rapid and you were in a cold sweat! All of these reactions took place because to your SUBCONSCIOUS MIND the nightmare was real! In the same way, the subconscious mind cannot separate an imagined "perfect shot" from a real perfect shot. You can actually use the power of your subconscious mind to give yourself the experience of HAVING ALREADY BEEN SUCCESSFUL in a future athletic situation. HYPNOSIS is also used in other ways to enhance sports performance. Many times athletes find it difficult to bounce back after a bad personal performance. They fear a repeat of this poor performance and this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. By using HYPNOSIS to "regress" to the time of the past performance, thoughts, images and associations can be altered. In this way we can actually change the emotional charge attached to the memory of the event and improve our outlook on upcoming performances. HYPNOSIS will give you the advantage that you need to maximize your athletic potential. Concentration and Focus Do you have trouble completing tasks? Is it difficult to concentrate for extended periods of time? Is your thinking scattered at all? Do you feel frustrated due to your own inability to focus in on important matters? If so, HYPNOTHERAPY can provide you with the tools that you need to take control of your own mind. Hypnosis trains the mind to become deeply relaxed and sharply focused. The ability to reach this highly concentrated state can expand your capacity to accomplish things that were never before possible. Athletic performance, academic matters, relationships and your career will all benefit from your increased ability to FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION. The beauty of HYPNOTHERAPY is that once you understand how to bring YOURSELF into the hypnotic state, you can utilize hypnosis at any time and for any reason for the rest of your life. The skill of relaxing and concentrating your mind can be one of the greatest gifts that you ever give to yourself. One last note. The ability to do ANYTHING well requires practice. Hypnosis is no exception. SELF HYPNOSIS practiced on a regular basis can improve your concentration SIGNIFICANTLY. Even just a few minutes each day will give bring real results. Think of HYPNOSIS as a form of exercise. It works best when you do it regularly. Relationships Quality of life is largely based on the QUALITY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS that we are involved in. It is often said that when a person reaches the end of his or her life and is about to die, they often reflect on their lives. They rarely talk about the cars that they drove, or the fancy house that they lived in. They almost always talk about the PEOPLE in their lives and the RELATIONSHIPS that they had with those people. HYPNOTHERAPY can help you MAKE THE MOST out of your relationships and IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR LIFE. Relationships require patience, sacrifice and acceptance. EVERYONE is different. No two people are alike. People have different tastes, different abilities, different opinions and different views of the world. In order to be in any relationship you need to ACCEPT people, be PATIENT with them and make many SACRIFICES. If you are not willing to be patient, accepting and make sacrifices than you are going to have a difficult time developing any relationships at all. There is another side to this equation. Many times the problems that people experience within the context of a relationship have to do with THEIR OWN INABILITY to EXPRESS THEIR OWN FEELINGS. This inability to express feelings is often the result of lessons learned early in life as young children. Not every child is fortunate enough to be received with patience and love. If a child is ignored, rejected or abused as a result of expressing needs to his or her parents, the child learns to bury feelings. The child develops a belief system that says "My feelings are bad, I shouldn't have them and they make me unlovable". The personality of the child is then shaped around masking feelings and burying them so deeply that they are not even within conscious awareness any more. This is all in an effort to avoid the rejection and abuse that the expression of feelings once brought on. We are left with a person who is out of touch with his or her own feelings and therefore unable to express them. Buried or "repressed" feelings do not "go away". They gnaw away at the person until they find expression in indirect ways. Behaviors and symptoms arise that the person cannot understand. It is as if there were some force inside that was trying to push it's way through to consciousness. As a result, anger, pain and fear must find other ways of expressing themselves. Shut out of consciousness, they act from the UNCONSCIOUS. Through HYPNOSIS we can get to the root of these feelings and learn to give them expression in ways that are not harmful to oneself or others. We can learn to EXPRESS feelings that we NOW REALIZE are within us. The difficulty lies in ACCEPTING these feelings as a part of us, despite the fact that for our entire lives we have lived AS THOUGH these feelings did not exist. It requires tremendous PATIENCE to allow our selves to gradually become AWARE of and ACCEPT our own feelings into our own self-concept. We've always viewed ourselves one way, and now we must begin the process of accepting ourselves with these newfound feelings. This requires patience and acceptance from not only ourselves, but from those close to us. The quality and success of your relationships can be GREATLY IMPROVED with the help of HYPNOTHERAPY. Pain Control Pain is an IMPORTANT SIGNAL that warns you that something is wrong. Taking away pain or reducing awareness of pain DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE UNDERLYING CAUSE HAS BEEN CURED. Long Island Hypnotherapy REQUIRES that before any treatment for pain begins, a FULL MEDICAL EXAMINATION is performed by your Doctor. This helps protect you from a medical condition becoming worse due to lack of MEDICAL ATTENTION. HYPNOSIS can provide a powerful vehicle for the reduction, alteration and removal of chronic pain. As opposed to addictive pain medications, the power of HYPNOSIS can bring great relief to those who suffer with chronic pain WITHOUT THE NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS of medication. However, in order for HYPNOTHERAPY to be effective, you must BELIEVE THAT RELIEF IS POSSIBLE. If you convince yourself that there is no chance for relief, than no amount of hypnotic work will change your experience. Having a mindset that is OPEN TO THE POSSIBILITY of change is the key to success. Pain often serves an unconscious purpose. It may help a person AVOID certain activities or situations, or it may ASSIST someone in getting the ATTENTION and CARE that they unconsciously desire. The list of possibilities is endless. HYPNOSIS allows us to delve into the UNCONSCIOUS MIND and discover and change the root causes of chronic pain. Stress also plays a large role in the development of chronic pain. In today's fast paced world people are living on tight schedules and constantly worrying about meeting deadlines. Family and relationship issues can also be tremendous sources of stress. If stress levels become to high, bodily felt symptoms often develop. HYPNOSIS can help you HANDLE and REDUCE your stress level, relieving you of the pain and suffering that has been brought on by the stress. HYPNOSIS is also used to change the way we PERCEIVE pain and EXPERIENCE pain. A "sharp, shooting pain" can be HYPNOTICALLY TRANSFORMED into a "soft, tickling sensation". Or, a "pounding headache" can be restructured to be experienced as a "gentle rhythmic sensation". HYPNOSIS can also change the INTENSITY of pain using many techniques and strategies. Hypnotherapy can provide you with the relief that you have been hoping for. Again, it is of the utmost importance that before using hypnosis or any other alternative modality you FIRST SEEK OUT MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR YOUR PAIN. This will help to rule out injury, sickness or disease as the cause of your pain. Habit Control We are ALL creatures of habit. We take a wake up, brush our teeth, shower, shave, get dressed, eat breakfast, travel to work, and do a thousand other things in the SAME EXACT WAY every day! We have HABITUAL ways of relating to people and HABITUAL behaviors that we engage in all day long. We are truly creatures of HABIT. Unfortunately, some HABITS are counterproductive and harmful to us. Smoking, excessive drinking, inappropriate drug use, over-eating, negative self-talk and being overly critical of ourselves and others are just a few of the thousands of harmful habits that we all fall prey to. HYPNOSIS is an extremely powerful tool that will empower you by freeing you from the grips of unwanted, unhealthy, counterproductive habits of all kinds. What makes habits so hard to break is that they are ingrained in and originate from the UNCONSCIOUS or SUBCONSCIOUS mind. When you reach for a cigarette, that next drink, or any other habitual behavior, you are acting based on a on a subconscious signal. When you think to yourself "I'm such and idiot" or "I'll never be good at this" you are experiencing thought patterns generated from the subconscious. It is extremely difficult to change these habits without altering the SUBCONSCIOUS ROOTS of these behaviors. Through HYPNOSIS we are able to uncover the UNCONSCIOUS ROOTS of habits and break their hold on our behaviors. We are also able to CREATE new thought and behavior patterns on the SUBCONSCIOUS LEVEL which make behavioral changes and changes in thinking much easier on the conscious level. You will be able to make the changes that you desire once you gain the COOPERATION of your UNCONSCIOUS mind. Discipline and Self-Control Many people have the mistaken idea that if you work out a lot, or practice your craft for eight hours per day, you have DISCIPLINE and SELF CONTROL. Not necessarily. Discipline is the ability to continue to do something that YOU WOULD RATHER NOT DO! It's easy to sit on the couch and watch TV for hours at a time if YOU LIKE TO DO THAT. But try to get someone with lots of energy and no interest in TV to sit there for hours staring at the screen. Now THAT would take discipline and LOTS of SELF CONTROL. Discipline is what enables people to be SUCCESSFUL in many areas of life. It is easy to achieve success in those areas that we enjoy and that come to us naturally. Attaining a high degree of SUCCESS in areas that we DON'T really like, but MUST participate in requires DISCIPLINE. For many people going to work every day requires DISCIPLINE. If you ask one hundred people if they like to go to work most of them would say they would rather not. It is rare to find people who would actually chose to go to work if they had the choice of doing other things and still receive a pay check! Relationships require DISCIPLE and SELF CONTROL. Many times the success of a relationship is based on the people involved having enough DISCIPLINE and SELF CONTROL to relate to each other in a peaceful manner even when feelings of hurt and anger arise. Sure, once in a while we would all like to blurt out nasty, hurtful comments to people when they upset us or make us angry. To the degree that we let ourselves respond that we the relationship suffers. DISCIPLINE and SELF CONTROL are two very important factors in determining the success of any relationship. HYPNOTHERAPY can help you achieve a higher degree of DISCIPLINE and SELF CONTROL that will lead you to SUCCESS AT WORK, SUCCESS IN RELATIONSHIPS and SUCCESS IN ANY AREAS THAT YOU NEED TO BE INVOLVED IN. This is accomplished by using various techniques aimed at INCREASING YOUR AWARENESS of when your mind is beginning to wander off task, IMPROVING YOUR ABILITY TO CONCENTRATE ON WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, ENHANCING YOUR SKILL AT DELAYING GRATIFICATION and MANY OTHER APPROACHES. Mind-Body Healing Hypnotherapy can be an excellent ADJUNCT to PROPER MEDICAL TREATMENT for many health related problems. It is of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE that you receive a FULL MEDICAL EXAMINATION AND TREATMENT before attempting to diagnose or treat your own pain, illness or disease. Have you ever noticed the feeling you get in your body when you hear horrible, shocking news? The changes that you feel are powerful and real. What about the changes that you feel in your body when you find out something extremely exciting and positive? Have you ever had a bad dream that actually made you breathe faster, increased your heart rate and maybe even made you break into a cold sweat? If you can relate to ANY of these examples, then you understand the MIND-BODY CONNECTION. Our body's chemistry is COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED based on the THOUGHTS that we entertain. MIND-BODY healing takes advantage of this very real connection that has ALWAYS existed. HYPNOSIS provides the OPTIMAL mental and physical state in which to encourage and improve mind-body healing. Through HYPNOSIS we are able to strip away the many unnecessary distractions of everyday consciousness and ZERO IN on the issues that need attention. By quieting and concentrating the mind, access to the powerful HEALING POTENTIALS deep within the UNCONSCIOUS MIND is gained and the healing process is accelerated. Thank you for taking the time to read this important information. Best of luck and enjoy the many positive changes in your life as a result of using these powerful recordings. Sincerely, Michael R. Pekor MS, C.Ht., LMHC